Who do you believe?

Not always about the players the Dodgers might have who are considered better prospects. A lot of times, it comes down to who the team trading the veteran player covets the most. Hence, Montgomery and Stratton to the Rangers. I still expect at least one more starting pitcher picked up by the deadline. Two dark horse candidates would be Keller from the Pirates and Singer of the Royals.

Since the Dodgers are off tomorrow, they finish the month at 13-10. Considering how bad the starting pitching was, 6.18 ERA, the worst since 1944 when they posted a 7.31 in July. That is not a bad month. Their lead in the NL West is down to 2 as the Giants beat the Red Sox in extra’s. Next opponent is the A’s who come in with the worst record in the majors. Lance Lynn will be the starting pitcher against the hapless A’s who have lost 77 games already. Lynn is 5-2 in his career against Oakland. He has not faced the A’s this year. He also in his career is better at home than on the road. We will also know prior to the game starting if the Dodgers have made any other deals or player moves. For fans hoping for a impactful front of the rotation type pitcher, the waiting is the worst part. Coming away empty handed would make it even worse. Plan for now is that Kershaw could return as soon as the series in Arizona following the four games with the Padres. Grove is a prime candidate to be sent back to AAA. There is no real solution at AAA. Andriese is their winningest pitcher with a 8-5 record, but his ERA is over 5. Montgomery has the most experience as a starter, but he is still building up his innings. He has a 2.86 ERA in 9 games, 34.2 innings pitched. No, improvement is going to have to come from Urias, Gonsolin, Miller and Sheehan until they figure out who is who. Urias is key. He needs to get a whole lot better than he has been. Buehler will not be used out of the pen when and if he does return per Dave Roberts. He will be used as an opener going at least a couple innings to begin with.

One last thing before I put this to bed. There are no guarantees or sure things out there on the trade market who will guarantee you a trip to the World Series. There are players who will help, and some who might not. If you look at the Dodgers major deadline deals in the past, none got them the prize. Oh, they went to the Series in 17 and 18 after huge deals bringing first, Darvish, and then Machado the following year. Both of those guys crashed and burned in the World Series. Getting Verlander, or Bednar, would make them a better team, but not necessarily improve their odds of winning or even getting to the Series or the playoffs. Baseball is a team game. It takes all 26 men on the roster and even more coming up from the minors to help a team win. The Dodgers, considering their roster makeup and the injuries they have suffered are in a position no one expected. They are leading the west albeit by a hair. But this was supposed to be San Diegos year. Anything can and usually will happen in baseball. It is simply out of the fans hands.

So if they went for Jack Flarethy and Michael Lorezen and Barlow and didn’t add a right handed batter you think they would be contenders or behind the braves. Or if they add Verlander Pham and Flarethy they become leaders in the national league and jump over the Braves to get in the World Series. I think there going to look to add Verlander and a closer and keep the batter they have which we know how that goes 1 thru five in lineup tough but 6 thru 9 isnt a threat. I kind of think they use Taylor and minor leaguers to get a better right-handed hitter and a starter and closer. Tommorow rumors will be interesting is it Keller and Bednar from pirates and Tommy Pham from the Mets which is basically Peralta but he hits right handed

this could be the guys?????