Already in possession of the majors’ best record, the 60-32 Dodgers will get a pair of familiar reinforcements back when the second half of the season begins. Shortstop Corey Seager and center fielder A.J. Pollock will return from the injured list Friday, Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register tweets.
Seager suffered a serious left hamstring strain June 12, guaranteeing him a second straight injury-marred season. The 25-year-old missed most of 2018 after undergoing Tommy John surgery in May, but Seager impressed in his return this season prior to his IL stint. So far, the former NL Rookie of the Year has slashed .278/.359/.468 (119 wRC+) with eight home runs and 2.0 fWAR in 270 plate appearances.
Seager was truly heating up in the days before his injury, making his absence that much more unfortunate for him and the Dodgers. But the depth-laden team more than weathered Seager’s injury, as it’s known to do when key players go down. Seager’s primary replacement, Chris Taylor, helped keep the train rolling over the past few weeks.
Taylor has also seen some action at center fielder in place of Pollock, who hasn’t played since April 28 because of surgery on his troublesome right elbow. It was rookie Alex Verdugo who saw the lion’s share of time in center when Pollock was out, though. Verdugo, like many other Dodgers, has turned in praiseworthy production this season. Pollock has been one of the few exceptions, which isn’t what Los Angeles expected when it signed him to a $60MM guarantee in free agency. The oft-injured 31-year-old – perhaps owing in part to his elbow problems – hit a meek .223/.287/.330 (64 wRC+) with two HRs across 115 PA before going under the knife.
Despite his struggles earlier this year, Pollock’s track record indicates he’ll give the Dodgers no fewer than five starting-caliber outfielders upon his return. They already have Verdugo, NL MVP candidate Cody Bellinger and Joc Pederson in leading roles, while the versatile Taylor can also handle himself in the grass.
Bye Beaty and Garlick
Garlick was already sent down. Beaty is the obvious one, but after him… gets a bit questionable. They could send a reliever and go back to 13 players/12 pitchers. Otherwise the only person they would send down would be Verdugo, which would be a shame. But their roster is flexible enough that he will be back the first injury to anyone.
It’s not that tricky at the end all 3 Rookies are going to be sent down Rios, Beaty, & Garlick.
Beaty’s ops is light for a Dodger coming in around .700 but he’s been clutch quite a few times. The kid can hit and he could be part of a package for Will Smith.
You seriously think the giants and doyuers will trade with one another? I don’t think so.
Zaidi worked for Friedman in LA, so, yeah, that formerly almost unthinkable thing could happen.
Doubtful. You’re speaking to a historic rivalry that had persons in management or offices go to the other and they have only traded like 5 times since 1890s one of them was stopped after they worked it out.
Better off seeing Yankees and Mets trade
I can’t honestly believe the 1890s are very relevant to today’s decision-making process. These two teams are in a very different place for now, with the Dodgers thinking about this year and the Giants thinking much more about 2-3 years down the road. Those are the sorts of circumstances on which deals are built. Not saying it will happen, only that it shouldn’t be counted out on merely a historical basis.
I used that as a start point. The rivalry is real. It’s just as real as the Yankees red sux. There is no way the giants would ever help them out.
Zaidi already said he’d trade with LA. His thought process is if he can get young talent from them, it weakens the Dodgers future. Not sure I agree with any of it but that’s what’s been said.
It’s not the gms call. It’s the owners. The gm May run the team but thugs are still ran through the ownership.
Sure the rivalry is real, but if you think ownership is invested in that, you have another thing coming. I mean, they’re in Chicago. What do they care about except the money? In-division trades aren’t real popular throughout baseball, but they do happen. In fact if you are thinking about the Giants not wanting to help the Dodgers, the shoe is more on the other foot. The Dodgers would be getting a rental most likely and the Giants a player the Dodgers could potentially be seeing in a division-rival uniform for years.
Exactly from the Giants point of view its a no brainer to trade with the Dodgers if its the best deal. Dodgers are the ones who should be weary of aiding a Giants rebuild
Hate to say it as a Giants fan, but this really might be the year
Pederson has been playing 1b more than OF recently. Log jam averted.
Freese will be back soon too.
A little bullpen help and the Dodgers will be hard to the beat on the NL side. It’s their NLCS to lose. This also may be the best Dodgers team of the last couple seasons. They are deep.
At this point best money is on a NY/LA World Series. In the AL Houston might play the spoiler but in the NL when you take the strength and experience of the Dodgers, well as you say it’s theirs to lose.
Yep those three teams have to be the favorites. I’d bet on Houston/LA at this present time.
The Yankees might be the fan favorite matchup for the Dodgers, but strangely enough, it isn’t what the numbers say is the most likely one at this point in the season. The numbers say both the Twins and the Astros are more likely to be in the series than the Yankees. Not by much, but not by nothing, either.
My only thing about the numbers is they don’t take into account experience and experience always seems to count in the postseason. There’s no denying the Twins are a good team but the Yankees have more playoff experience.
The other truth though is it’s still July and most contenders still have a shot.
Not sure what to make of the Twins because I keep thinking they’re just taking advantage of a bad division. However, out of division they have a superb record.
Yankees and Astros have strong records against teams above .500. Boston doesn’t. Tampa doesn’t. Minnesota is 19-18. Still, that’s not a true reflection on what will go down in October.
Take only the Top 4 arms of each team and the projected 25-man roster in October and use wisdom as your guide. We will have a better indication after the deadline.
Sure. All I’m saying is we shouldn’t judge the likelihood of a team reaching the World Series based on how large a fan base that team has.
100%. I for one do not care about the size of the fanbase but rather the talent produced on the field.
Need to address the bullpen now. They will not win without a couple new arms.
A couple is the key word!!! Definitely some bullpen help and possibly a starter.
Beaty Joc Strippling= Bullpen hekp
They aren’t trading Joc and he has no value to a team that will be selling bullpen arms.
Beaty Joc Strippling= Bullpen hekp
Great to be getting Seager and Freese back, but Pollock needs to step it up if he wants to be more than a bench guy on that team. He was not pulling his own weight enough to displace anyone who can play in the outfield. I hope Roberts sticks with Taylor and Verdugo in CF if Pollock keeps playing poorly. Quite frankly, the Dodgers don’t need him. He will probably be back on the IL before too long, though.
Probably because the dang metal in his elbow was falling apart. Pollock is the only true CF on this team and it was clear he was missed out there. Ita not all about the bat. And speaking of that bat he is easily better than Hernandez who seems to play every day and more consistent than cT3
Agreed. A healthy Pollock could be a big contributor on both sides of the ball.
That’s the problem…he can’t stay healthy. People without Dodger blue-colored glasses knew that when he signed with the team. D’Backs fans knew it, too. They had already seen it.
Well he’s broken a lot of bones but to my knowledge nobody is medically prone to being hit in the elbow with pitches. Where I come from, that’s called rotten luck. The Dodgers as much as said so when they signed him. I think he’ll be fine, no matter what D’backs fans might say they know.
Actually, he has not been that guy for a long time, now.
I wouldn’t call this sect of Dodger fans those wearing blue colored glasses. We know he had injury issues, some freak ones to a certain extent. But if you were to ask Dodger fans as to whether they expected Pollock to play 140-150, realistic fans would say no. Ask FO they would say no. Would they care whether he missed a month or two, they’d say no. The depth they’ve built makes losses like these more than manageable especially if he rounds to form for the playoffs. The trade off was simple he may get injured and spend time on the IL, but the CF market is shallow at best, and you’re getting a RH plus potential CF on both sides of the ball. Mind you one, like Cain, that has the arm and pop to transition to RF should he need to as the contract winds down. I’m more than ok they took this gamble.
Let’s also not forget that there is a rookie wall that guys hit. We’ve seen it with Julio, we’ve seen it with Seager, we’ve seen it with Bellinger etc.. So why do we not expect it from Verdugo? Pollock doesn’t need to be a star he wasn’t given star money, he basically needs to be a complimentary piece. I’d argue the exact opposite. Dodgers do need Pollock even if in a bad scenario he is just a platoon RH with Joc, this season. It’s is a pretty easy fit, guys get days off and Taylor slides to 2nd sliding Muncy to 1st.
Embarrassment of riches.
Great, couldn’t they have waited a week so the Phillies could have avoided them…? Maybe the “rusty” factor will help…
-signed
-a jealous Phillies fan
Playoffs are won or lost in the bullpen, and I fear that Andrew Freedman will do as he typically does at July 31, which is to (a) wait until the last minute at which point all the better relievers have been signed / traded for and (b) then go cheap and either do nothing or get an average reliever who is no good in the 8th inning. Could easily lose a 5-game playoff series with the current pen. Apologies for my pessimism but losing a game 7 of the WS at home in 2017 is still a sore spot, even though that was not pen-related. I’d be happy to be proven wrong about the above!
Dodgers need pitching, if they are gonna win the WS. Although I love Kershaw, he cant out pitch Verlander or Cole. Houston is the most playoff built team in the AL based on pitching and bullpen depth.
Dodgers bullpen has been garbage again this year. Even if Kelly can fix himself, they need better RPs. Yimi Garcia and JT Chargois are not gonna win vs Altuve and Springer or the Yankees line up
Kershaw may not be able to out pitch Verlander and Cole, but I’m willing to bet Ryu and Bueler can.. That’s the difference between past Dodger teams and this one. The rotation isn’t completely dependent on Kershaw.. I agree with you that Yimi is a waste of time, but Chargois has looked pretty good lately.
When did Garcia & Chargois ever enter the discussion for the playoff roster? Of course they won’t win you a WS, but being mop guys/long men/ only used when guys need rest don’t pretty much send you an indication of how the Dodgers feel about them
*Doesn’t it pretty