Los Angeles Dodgers Swing And Miss At Trade Deadline

With all of the speculation that was looming about the Dodgers and their plans for the July 31st Trade Deadline, the Dodgers did not live up to the hype.

Being tied to virtually everyone, the Dodgers lost out on everyone. Meanwhile, teams that plan on contending for a playoff spot strengthened their teams. The Atlanta Braves, Washington Nationals and the Houston Astros came away as the clear winners of the Trade Deadline. The Houston Astros may have actually sealed their invitation to the World Series by acquiring Zack Greinke.

So what really happened today with the Dodgers? They were in an aggressive staring contest with the Pittsburgh Pirates for closer Felipe Vazquez. The asking price was either Gavin Lux or Dustin May and Keibert Ruiz. Sticking to his guns as he has always done, Dodgers President of Baseball Ops and current General Manager, Andrew Friedman, decided that he would hold on to his highly touted prospects. After all, they are the real prize in the long run, right? Potentially.

Dodgers didn’t do what everyone said they should have done and that is cashing in their chips and going for the most dominant reliever on the market, Felipe Vazquez. They also didn’t really cash in and grab any of the players that they were linked to. No Shane Greene, he went to Atlanta. No Jake Diekman, he went to Oakland. No Edwin Diaz, either. The New York Mets decided to keep Zack Wheeler, Syndegaard and Diaz in hopes of making the playoffs this season.

Overall, this was an extremely underwhelming Trade Deadline for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Their biggest acquisitions today were Jedd Gyorko from the St. Louis Cardinals and Adam Kolarek from the Tampa Bay Rays.

Gyorko was acquired for Tony Cingrani and a minor league prospect, Jeffry Abreu. The Dodgers also acquired international cap space and cash considerations in this trade.

Adam Kolarek, the Dodgers backup plan for a left hander, was acquired for a minor league outfielder named Niko Hulsizer.

In a way, we can’t be mad at Andrew Friedman and co. We can’t say that Friedman doesn’t make big trades because he does. Since coming to the Dodgers, Andrew Friedman has traded for: Rich Hill, Josh Reddick, Yu Darvish, Manny Machado. These were all serious deals that did benefit the Dodgers but did not ultimately get them the top prize, a World Series Championship.

The clear message that was made to the current Dodgers team and to Dodgers fans is simple; The Dodgers believe in their players and they know that they are capable of being a World Series team without additional talent from outside the organization.