The Los Angeles Dodgers have been holding onto the top spot in the NL West for the most part of the 2015 campaign, as expected, but not in the way that was envisioned. Going into this season, the addition of Brandon McCarthy, Joc Pederson taking over in the outfield, and J-Rol being the head veteran in the infield, the Dodgers were expected to win with them leading the charge, but that hasn’t been the case. Since the beginning, Kershaw has not been his usual MVP self, Hyun-Jin Ryu along with Brandon McCarthy are most likely out for the season, and Jimmy Rollins is only batting .211, but despite their set backs, LA is still in first place. Most of it is due to the offense, lead by Adrian Gonzalez, who is having an MVP worthy season, but the pitching (especially the starting rotation) has suffered. Only having Kershaw and Greinke will not win a ring, as the baseball world has seen the past few seasons, so the new “money ball” type front office will be looking for a move to bring in a starter or two at the trade deadline.
Right now in the trade market big names like Johnny Cueto, Jordan Zimmermann, and Cole Hamels are floating around, but those guys are too big of a reach for the blue-crew; but, they don’t need that much to get over the hump anyway. However, guys like Scott Kazmir, Jonathon Niese, Mat Latos, and Dan Haren are on teams willing to deal. So, with Kershaw not being himself, and only Greinke being atop his game, one of the smaller targets would be a nice push. The top rumor out in the market right now is that since the Mets recently brought up Steven Matz, so they are looking to trade away Jonathon Niese, and LA along with the Cubbies are top suitors. In order for the Dodgers to get a big name they would have to give up some huge prospects, but to acquire say Niese and Kazmir, it wouldn’t take much.
With Brandon Beachy returning possibly after all-star break for the Dodgers, and Mike Bolsinger coming into his own, the Dodgers need to make a move for one of the underrated starters on the market, so that they have a rotation to give them a shot at a title in 2015. With many relievers recovering from minor injuries currently, patching up the rotation during DL time will create a solid enough pitching staff to go for it all in the fall. The Mets don’t have room for Jonathon Niese anymore, and the A’s are down in the dumps willing to take any kind of prospects, so with the addition of Neise plus Kazmir, the Dodgers could very well be crowned the 2015 champions.
