Given the bunched-up nature of MLB’s wild card standings, it’s still unclear whether several teams will be buyers or sellers over the next few days.
Because of that, the Dodgers’ list of potential trade partners could still change by Tuesday afternoon, leaving currently unknown options as potential last-minute targets.
The Dodgers have long had interest in San Francisco Giants left-hander Blake Snell, who has become a popular deadline name with the club on the fringes of the wild card standings. It’s doubtful, however, that the Giants would trade Snell to their biggest division rival — or if they’ll even move him at all, sitting just 3 ½ games out of the wild card.
The Texas Rangers are another team the Dodgers have watched closely in recent weeks, as they’ve dangled on the edge on AL West contention.
Right now, the defending World Series champions appear more likely to try and stay competitive, sitting just 4 ½ games out of first in their division. But if Texas changes course, pending free agent pitchers like Nathan Eovaldi and Michael Lorenzen could be fits for the Dodgers’ pitching staff (Eovaldi as a potential playoff starter; Lorenzen as a possible swingman in either the October rotation or bullpen).
Elsewhere, the Washington Nationals have a closer, Kyle Finnegan, and outfielder, Lane Thomas, that could suit the Dodgers’ roster.
Yusei Kikuchi of the Toronto Blue Jays and Jameson Taillon of the Chicago Cubs loom as available starting pitching alternatives.
The Oakland A’s have two emerging stars in outfielder/DH Brent Rooker and closer Mason Miller — though may be content to keep both through this deadline.
The Angels also have two burgeoning bats in Taylor Ward and Luis Rengifo, as well as former Dodgers pitcher Tyler Anderson, all on the block; though, like with the Giants, trades between the Dodgers and their Southern California rivals have proven to be a rarity.
For several weeks now, the hope among people around the Dodgers organization is that the team can land either an impact player or enough piecemeal acquisitions to round out their top-heavy roster and prime a potential World Series push.
On the eve of the deadline, though, exactly what the club will do — or how urgently it pursues potentially pricy additions — remains to be seen.
“I still believe we need something,” Roberts said Sunday. “I just don’t know where, what it is or who it is.”
In other words, happy trade deadline season.