The Los Angeles Dodgers have had a rough start to their season. Entering 2018 as one of the prohibitive favorites in the National League, they were among the most talented teams on paper and were coming off a very strong 2017 season. However, the season did not start well as the team has been plagued by injuries and underperforming players and for the first month or so of the season, they occupied the bottom of the NL West standings.
However, with players like Justin Turner and Clayton Kershaw getting healthy again combined with a resurgent Matt Kemp, the Dodgers are one of the hottest teams in the league again. With the Diamondbacks faltering a bit of late, the Dodgers find themselves in second place and just 1.5 games out of the division lead. It looks like the Dodgers have noticed and are looking to make a big push in 2018.
The #Dodgers are doubling down: They not only are aggressively pursuing #Orioles SS Manny Machado, but also #Tigers starter Michael Fulmer. The #Orioles, heavily scouting the Dodgers' minor-league system, want Class A pitcher Dustin May included in any package of prospects.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) July 3, 2018
Well, if you are going to go for it....go big. With Kershaw potentially opting out of his contract and some real question marks with their young position players, the Dodgers realize that they may need to make a big splash on the trade market to get to the World Series this year. Trading for either the Orioles’ Manny Machado or the Tigers’ Michael Fulmer would certainly be a positive move towards that end, although it is questionable that the Dodgers have the prospect capital to actually acquire BOTH Machado and Fulmer.
One thing to monitor here is that the Dodgers went to the Braves and traded for Matt Kemp in order to free up money this year to keep them in a friendly tax range. Whether or not those financial constraints would mean that the Dodgers would have to pony up a bigger prospect haul to save money in any deal is going to be something to keep an eye on.