Dodgers' trade deadline was a bet on their stars figuring it out

What in the moment appeared to be posturing from the Los Angeles Dodgers brass instead foreshadowed what their MLB trade deadline would entail.

This group is really talented and I would argue its better than the team that won the World Series last year, Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes said on July 22.

Advertisement Translation: They are betting on their superstars to figure it out.

The Dodgers (63-46) appear vulnerable.

Their division lead is just three games, and the San Diego Padres (60-49) once again won the trade deadline in hopes their season will end in a meaningful banner.

Mookie Betts hasnt hit all year.

Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernandez havent caught fire since May.

Their offense slumped, bullpen collapsed and defense reared its ugly head over a miserable 10-14 record in July, just their second losing month in seven years (the last, either ironically or informatively, was last July).

The Dodgers haul amounted to just two big leaguers, a signal that they felt their record spending this past winter would be enough.

They said theyd hoped as such at the time.

Now, even after the Dodgers didnt break baseball the way some critics feared, theyre repeating it.

Coming into the year, felt like this was as talented a roster as weve ever had, Gomes said after the deadline on Thursday.

Were in a position where were in first place, and I dont even think weve played our best baseball yet.

Brock Stewart and Alex Call could be sensible, productive solutions to some of the Dodgers problems.

Stewart, 33, is a controllable reliever who came at a minimal cost, almost unheard of in this market.

He is death on right-handed hitters, a plug-and-play replacement for Evan Phillips, who is out for the season.

Call doesnt necessarily profile as an everyday solution, but he represents better depth than what the club has run out on the field for much of the last month.

In a market where the best position player moved was Eugenio Suarez, who never fit, and where relief pitching prices fell out of the Dodgers comfort zone, theres a path to talking yourself into what the Dodgers did.

That they got some intriguing pieces to boost their farm system was a bonus.

Its a system that was already deep enough to land whatever target theyd want, if needed.

The Dodgers chose not to cash those chips in this week.

Advertisement The biggest truth might be this: Even had the Dodgers managed to pry Steven Kwan from the Guardians or swung the deal to get Jhoan Duran instead of Stewart from the Twins, nothing shifts the Dodgers chances of being baseballs first repeat champs in 25 years more than their existing stars figuring it out.

Betts needs to hit, breaking out of a season-long funk that has become an increasing storyline with each successive month as hes hitting .240 with a .681 OPS.

Freeman collected three hits in the penultimate day before the deadline and homered Wednesday for the first time since June 28.

Hes hoping to move past a June and July where his OPS was just .616.

Teoscar Hernandez is having a good trip after struggling to rediscover his timing in the months since coming off the injured list.

The Dodgers need Max Muncy to come off the injured list next week and recapture the form he was in when Michael A.

Taylor slid into his left knee.

Calls acquisition would be less of a necessity if Michael Confortos $17 million signing translated more to what he was in July (.827 OPS) rather than what hed been before it (.602 OPS).

On Thursday, Gomes highlighted Confortos strong month as a reason to keep giving him opportunities.

Even Shohei Ohtani, who set a career-high with five straight games with a home run earlier this month, has been increasingly prone to whiffs.

A lineup that still has scored the second-most runs in baseball this season certainly didnt look the part in July; their 91 wRC+ for the month ranked 26th in the majors.

They need players to be healthy.

Blake Snell makes his third start of the season on Saturday night.

Tyler Glasnow missed extended time and finally looks physically right.

Ohtanis cramping incident that cut short his pitching outing on Wednesday was a bullet dodged in a doomsday scenario.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto has already exceeded his workload from last year.

Michael Kopech has pitched a total of seven innings this season, Blake Treinen is only just now back, and Tanner Scott is in the early stages of a throwing progression.

Advertisement If Scott gets through this forearm scare OK, he and Kirby Yates need to show that the dollars the Dodgers spent intending to avoid getting a reliever at this deadline were a sound investment.

This is already a bullpen group that has had to log the most innings in the sport this season after already carrying a heavy workload last October.

The Dodgers rotation on paper looks strong enough that they traded away a starter in Dustin May rather than add; they will need to log enough innings to help their bullpen find its footing.

The Dodgers are banking on enough of these scenarios to flip in their favor.

Trading for more pieces could have given themselves even more wiggle room, but the bet is still the same one theyve committed nearly $400 million to.

As we saw last year, whats most important is to peak at the right time and hit our stride in that second half and be strong going into October, Gomes said.

So the belief in this group, and what we can accomplish, is strong and we feel great about what we can do.

(Photo of Mookie Betts: Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Getty Images).

This article has been shared from the original article on theathleticuk, here is the link to the original article.