Dodgers Acquire A New Rook and Bishop

In an unexpected, last minute move before the playoff trade deadline, the Dodgers pick up big hitter Jim Thome and starting pitcher Jon Garland. The former Chicago White Sox slugger, Thome, will add to the already deadly offensive line-up primarily as a pinch hitter, while the former Arizona Diamondback, Garland, will probably slip into the 5th starting spot on the pitching line up. Both moves were made by giving up a few prospects, minor-league infielder Justin Fuller will go to the Sox, while a player to be named at a later time will head to the D-Backs. Sources inside the Dodgers organization claim that player will be Tony Abreu, a former top infield prospect who’s progress was slowed by injuries. All in all, it’s a relatively good short-term trade for the Dodgers. Thome is currently 12th on the all-time home run list. The addition of a head-game chess piece like Thome is Dodger-dandy, the real team issue has been somewhat addressed with the addition of a new starting pitcher.

The Dodgers have been stretched to find a 5th starter all year, and the loss of Hiroki Kuroda hasn’t helped the hunt. He was hit on the head by a line drive, a seemingly eerie omen for the head hunting that needed to be done by the Dodgers front office to secure another solid starter. They have it now in a durable Garland, who won a World Series with the White Sox in 2005. Garland has already been named the starting pitcher against his old team, Arizona, this Thursday. We’ll see how he fits in the line-up then.

Although these new assets make the Dodgers better today than they were yesterday, many in Southern California are feeling like this may be a little bit of a pointless scramble. A. Martinez of the Mason & Ireland Show on 710 ESPN Radio said “it feels like a move to get back in contention for the wild card… not to win the division and go onto win the World Series.” Was this too little too late? After the regular season trade deadline ended, many Dodger fans were upset that they weren’t able to acquire Cliff Lee. He was available and the Dodger front office said that they made an offer, but was refused. How good an offer? We have no way of knowing, but the question now is whether these two smaller additions make up for not getting Cliff Lee? And the even bigger question is, will it make a difference in October?

Dodgers Beginning to Slip?

Due to the HCG controversy, the seemingly outrageous contracts that stars get in baseball, and the fact that he’s only hit 4 home runs since the All-Star break, Manny Ramirez is receiving most of the blame for the recent “slide” in the Dodgers offense. Last night’s loss to the creeping Colorado Rockies is only adding a can of diesel to that flame. Starting at a base camp of 15 ½ games back of the NL West division leading Dodgers, the Rockies have almost reached Everest finding themselves only 2 ½ games back of the boys in blue. While Manny isn’t necessarily being Manny over the last month, the blame for slipping from their “best offensive team in baseball” status doesn’t necessarily lie with him.

Although his home runs haven’t quite been up to par, Ramirez is still hitting .306, by all accounts a quite respectable number. Last night, Manny was 2 of 4 at bats with a tying RBI. Not spectacular, but he did come up clutch in a major moment. Now let’s take a look at James Loney, Russell Martin, and Rafael Furcal: 0 for 5, 0 for 5, and 1 for 6 respectively, all with 0 RBIs. Russell Martin has been in a slump all year, making it one of his worst ever, so we leave him out of the equation. James Loney and Rafael Furcal have been almost non-existent on the offensive end for the last few months. Defensively, Furcal (SS) is still the leader and best player on the team, but that doesn’t make up for his lack of hitting when the Dodgers have needed it most. It also hasn’t made it any easier that he’s their lead-off hitter. When the lead man can’t do anything, it makes successful clean up batting (Ramirez) very difficult. Whoever wrote the article blaming Manny Ramirez for this “losing streak” needs to turn a watchful eye to these two players.

The Dodgers left 8 men on base last night, and there are no excuses for that, but since the beginning of the season the real problem has been that the Dodgers don’t really have an outstanding pitching staff. Maybe they didn’t do enough before the trade deadline, but who knew Cliff Lee would be this dominant for the Phillies? Regardless of any slump the Dodgers may be having right now, they’ll still probably make the post-season. But with an acceptable to mediocre pitching staff, it will be difficult to make it far in October without some astounding offense. A problem which the Dodgers need to solve. Quickly.