The Los Angeles Dodgers made 3 big trades leading up to the deadline; acquiring Manny Machado, Brian Dozier, and John Axford. Machado was the blockbuster move of the summer as several teams were in the race throwing offers at the Orioles for their star shortstop. The Dodgers really pushed themselves to the front after learning their own young star shortstop Corey Seager would be out for the season with Tommy John. Seager joined a long list of Dodgers on the DL as it appears the short off season after losing game 7 of last year's World Series has taken a toll. Nearly the entire Dodgers rotation, Justin Turner, Yasiel Puig, and Chase Utley have all spent time on the disabled list this season. This is likely the cause for the slow start, but despite the injuries the Dodgers have rallied and are currently one game up on Arizona to lead the NL west.
The additions of Machado and Dozier have led to manager Dave Roberts having to adjust his defense and gives him options for his line-up. Dozier will take over for the fill in turned All-Star Max Muncy at 2nd, and now that Turner has returned from the DL Machado will move from 3rd to SS. Cody Bellinger's versatility really helps Roberts as Bellinger has the ability to play a high level 1B or CF which will give Roberts the ability to choose between Chris Taylor or Muncy depending on whether there is a righty or lefty on the mound for the opponent. The other options come in the corner outfield positions, Matt Kemp has been a pleasant surprise for the Dodgers as he had a resurgence of his past glory in LA, making the All-Star team for the first time since 2012. Kemp, Puig, and Joc Pederson will fill in the 2 spots left in the outfield depending on who's swinging the bat better at the time.
While the offense appears to be in great shape as that put 21 runs up against the Brewers on Thursday, we all know that hitting is streaky no matter how deep the line-up. The thing that wins championships is pitching, do the Dodgers have enough? Their rotation when healthy is one of the better groups in baseball, obviously led by Clayton Kershaw who got over his post season hump last year throwing well in the World Series. Their rotation will be good enough to be competitive in the postseason. Roberts will have more decision when Hyun-Jin Ryu and Ross Stripling come back from injury. Ryu didn't throw in last year's postseason and hasn't pitched is May and Stripling has been used both as a starter and reliever this season. The Dodgers also have the young Julio Urias expected back in September. The worry with him is he is coming off shoulder surgery late in the year. The Dodgers are likely hopeful that they could use him out of the pen to get lefties out, but I wouldn't bank on it.
The worry comes in the bullpen. As we saw from watching the post season last year, especially the World Series, Roberts likes to make a lot of pitching changes base on numbers. There isn't necessarily anything wrong with that, but that means you're running through 4-5 arms a night unless Kershaw gives you 8 strong. We saw last year where he pulled Rich Hill after just 4 innings in game 2 when he had given up 1 run on 3 hits and struck out 7, by all estimates on his way to a quality start. Roberts went on to use 8 more pitchers in the 11 inning loss to the Astros. Roberts did it again to Hill in game 6 after 4.2 again allowing just 1 run and he went on to use 4 more pitchers.
The questions is does the addition of John Axford do enough for the bullpen? Will Roberts trust his starters past 2 times through the order? The Dodgers have 3 guys in their pen with 20 IP and less than a 3.0 ERA, closer Kenley Jansen, Josh Fields, and Caleb Ferguson. If the offense isn't clicking on all cylinders in October the Dodgers may be in for another disappointing post season run.
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