Cody Snavely
As the 2024 Major League Baseball all-star break draws to a close and the second half of the regular season is ready to commence, the Los Angeles Dodgers are left with more questions than answers compared to the beginning of the season in Seoul, Korea.
After an offseason that saw the Dodgers spend over one billion dollars bringing in star talents such as Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, and Teoscar Hernández, this Dodgers team was hoping to take the next step in their quest for the team’s first full-season World Series Championship since 1988.
However, despite a dominant two-month stretch that saw the team relatively healthy, the Dodgers could not escape the challenge of a one hundred sixty-two games season as the injury bug has caught up to them and has derailed the team for the better half of two months.
Since the injury to Max Muncy, who was placed on the 10-day injured list on May 17th, the Dodgers are 27-24, and since the injury to Mookie Betts on Father’s Day, June 16th, the team is playing average baseball with twelve wins and twelve losses in twenty-four games.
Entering the last two weeks of the regular season, the Dodgers have reached their lowest point. The offense, starting rotation, and bullpen have all been problems, leading to four mediocre wins in twelve games played in July.
During the last week of the first half of the regular season, the Dodgers concluded a six-game road trip, during which they were embarrassed by the National League-leading Philadelphia Phillies, who swept the Dodgers in three games at Citizens Bank Park. To make matters worse, the Dodgers, who could’ve closed out the first half on a high note, lost back-to-back games via a walk-off to the Detroit Tigers.
Despite recent setbacks, the Dodgers are in a stronger position than they were at the break last year. They currently lead the National League West by a significant seven-game margin over the second-place Arizona Diamondbacks, a stark contrast to their half-game deficit in the 2023 season.
However, the Dodgers’ recent performance, especially after the Philly series, has raised concerns about their readiness for October. Until they can address these issues, the team’s postseason prospects remain uncertain.
Additions to the starting rotation is a must
Despite the numerous additions that the Los Angeles Dodgers made this offseason to the pitching staff, the Dodgers, again, for the second straight season, are seeing their rotation on its last legs as we enter the second half of play.
During the 2023 season, the Dodgers entered the deadline with a similar pitching situation where the team was in desperate need of pitching depth with a young rotation relying on Bobby Miller and Emmet Sheehan after Clayton Kershaw went down with a shoulder injury.
Instead of Andrew Friedman swinging for the fences for a frontline ace, he opted for a cheap veteran option in Lance Lynn and a Swiss army knife in Ryan Yarbrough, who could start games and take on innings in the bullpen.
Long story short, we know how this story ended. The Dodgers were swept out of the National League Division Series by the Arizona Diamondbacks, in large part due to their starting pitching. Kershaw, Miller, and Lynn were not enough to stop the young Dbacks, who went on to win the National League Pennant. That cannot happen this year, or Friedman and the Dodgers will face the same outcome in October.
Entering June, the Dodgers’ starting rotation ranked among the top five in the National League in ERA, but entering the all-star break, that number dropped to the twelfth best, at 4.02.
From March to late May, the Dodgers’ starters were also among the top in the National League in innings pitched, with Tyler Glasnow, Gavin Stone, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto going six to eight innings on repeat. However, now the Dodgers have the sixth-lowest innings pitched by their starters in the league, at 490.2.
That is not a recipe for success in winning ballgames, even in an age where starters do not regularly go deep into games anymore. The Dodgers bullpen is also suffering because of it.
While the Dodgers bullpen still ranks third in the National League in ERA at 3.42, they have pitched the fifth most innings so far, and the injuries and inconsistencies are starting to pile up.
Currently, the Dodgers rotation looks like something you’d find in Oklahoma City representing the Dodgers Triple-A affiliate led by lefty James Paxton, Gavin Stone, Landon Knack, Justin Wrobleski, and Ryan Yarbrough.
While Tyler Glasnow will be back at some point, the righty, who has been plagued with arm injuries throughout his career, is a very real concern as he approaches his career high in innings pitched.
Dodgers legend Clayton Kershaw is also less than a week away from being activated and will no doubt provide the Dodgers with some depth, but come October, do we want this guy starting meaningful postseason games again?
Bobby Miller and Walker Buehler have been shells of themselves this season. Miller was optioned to Triple-A to work on his mechanics, and Buehler is doing his own private rehab in Flordia as he works through his struggles.
Andrew Freidman needs to look at the trade market for a legitimate starting pitcher who can help this team win now, not later, especially if Yamamoto’s rotator cuff injury keeps him out for the rest of the season, which is a real possibility.
In the trade market, there are options such as right-handed pitchers Jack Flaherty and Nathan Eovaldi and left-handed pitchers Garrett Crochet and perhaps Tarik Skubal. You have the prospects to get the job done.
The bottom of the order & bench is a problem…still
It is no secret that the Dodgers’ bottom third of the order and their bench have been a massive problem this season. Despite my optimism at the beginning of the season, it has been a trainwreck for the Dodgers.
Now, let’s address the stark contrast in Gavin Lux‘s performance. Once hailed as the top prospect in the Dodgers system, Lux has been given numerous opportunities to secure the starting shortstop position. However, he has failed to live up to the level of production that earned him the title of 2019 Baseball America’s Player of the Year.
In terms of ranking with a minimum of two-hundred-fifty at-bats, Lux ranks second worst in wRC+ (62), fourth worst ISO (.081), third worst in WAR (-0.1), and worst in wOBA (.252), and is inching closer to being beat out by Chris Taylor for being the most unproductive hitter on the Dodgers.
Lux is currently the starting second baseman on the team, but once the July 30th trade deadline comes around, Lux needs to be on the bench, on the minors, or on another team.
We all know the horrible start that Chris Taylor got off to start the season, where the veteran utility man struggled offensively and failed to record an extra-base hit weeks into the season.
Despite a hot stretch since June 15th, where Taylor has hit .241 with thirteen hits, two homers, six RBIs, and eleven runs scored in twenty games, Taylor has still hit .156/.273/.252 with a .525 OPS.
While Kiké Hernández has been a fan favorite since he put on Dodger Blue in 2015 after being acquired by the Miami Marlins, the thirty-two-year-old utility player has had a rough 2024 season.
The fan favorite is having the worst season of his professional career, hitting .191/.258/.299 with a wRC+ of 61 and a negative WAR. However, the saving grace for Hernández is his elite postseason hitting, which is a factor why the Dodgers re-signed him, according to general manager Brandon Gomes.
In two hundred-two postseason plate appearances, Hernández is hitting .274/.351/.542 with a .893 OPS and has had numerous postseason moments such as the three-homer game in the 2017 National League Championship Series against the Chicago Cubs and his Red Sox postseason debut where he clobbered five home runs in two series played.
The injury to third baseman Max Muncy has truly hurt the team. Their current carousel of Kiké Hernández, Chris Taylor, and Cavan Biggio has not gotten the job done, hitting a combined .174/.276/.267 at the hot corner.
Jason Heyward, who was a bright spot during the 2023 season after signing with the Dodgers after being released by the Cubs last offseason, played well enough for the Dodgers to re-sign the veteran left-handed bat for a larger role.
However, in 2024, the 34-year-old has battled numerous injuries throughout the season, such as a back injury that kept him out for the beginning of the season and a recent knee injury that he suffered trying to steal a Joc Pederson home run at Dodgers Stadium before the all-star break.
The lone bright spot on their bench has been Miguel Vargas, who was hitting over .300 with an OPS north of .900 but has since cooled down, entering the all-star break with a .246/.299/.459 slash line after hitting .148 with four hits, two homers, three RBIs, and four runs scored in ten games since July 1st, along with an 0-for-14 stretch to end the first half.
You can never have too many arms in the bullpen
If there is one bright spot on the 2024 Los Angeles Dodgers, it is the bullpen. Currently, it proudly stands as the third-best bullpen in the National League in terms of ERA, just under the Milwaukee Brewers and Atlanta Braves.
However, every World Series contender always looks to add an elite arm or two to the bullpen, and despite Andrew Friedman’s reluctance to trade for relief pitchers, there is a pressing need in the Dodgers’ bullpen. This is a crucial area that the team needs to address to stay competitive.
While the bullpen has held its ground all season, the Dodgers could add some more elite arms, especially a closer. This would allow right-handed pitcher Evan Phillips to return to the versatile role he held in 2021 and most of 2022.
The Dodgers currently have fifteen players on the injured list, five of which are relief pitchers: Joe Kelly, Connor Brogdon, Brusdar Graterol, Michael Grove, and Ryan Brasier.
Joe Kelly is expected to return sometime after the all-star break but has been a wild card his entire career. Graterol is also set to begin a rehab assignment, significantly boosting the bullpen. The righty posted his career-best ERA in 2023 at 1.20, but can we count on him after missing so much time?
If the Dodgers do decide to add a closer, it would be much better to set up their bullpen late in games, allowing Daniel Hudson and Blake Treinen to take the sixth or seventh inning, Phillips and Alex Vesia in the eighth, and a closer for the ninth.
One closer who has been linked with a reunion with Los Angeles since this past winter is Red Sox closer Kenley Jansen, who recently mentioned on Foul Territory that he’d like to retire as a Dodger.
If you are not fond of reunions, the Dodgers could consider Miami Marlins left-handed pitcher Tanner Scott. Still, he is expected to be heavily sought after this deadline, and the Marlins, in the middle of a massive rebuild, will want a haul for their players.
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