Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The trade deadline has now passed, and the Dodgers basically checked all the boxes they needed to check. Yesterday, they traded for Tommy Edman, Michael Kopech and Amed Rosario (which Dustin wrote about here and here) to raise their floor. Today, they acquired Kevin Kiermaier (half for defense, half to ruin all your brackets I assume) and made their big splash minutes before the deadline, adding Jack Flaherty to the rotation (which Chad wrote about here, Kiermaier didn’t get a post). This is roughly the squad they’ll have down the stretch and in October, which should look a lot stronger when injured players (hopefully) return strong.
The active roster hit rock bottom for the season over the weekend in Houston, as injuries continued to mount up and Freddie Freeman returned to LA to be with his family. They managed to avoid getting swept with a 6-2 win on Sunday, which coupled with a Padre loss put the Dodgers 6.5 up in the West heading into this two-game series. They’ll meet again in LA to wrap up the home portion of the Dodgers’ regular season schedule, but this is the final regular season trip to San Diego for LA. The Padres have won five of eight against the Dodgers this season and have taken two of three in both series’ they’ve played in the US. The two teams haven’t played since May 10-12, when the Padres took two of three in San Diego. The Padres have been hot lately, as they won seven straight in Cleveland, Washington and Baltimore before dropping the finale against the Orioles last night. The hot streak might have pushed them into more aggressive buyer territory, as they gave up a haul to add Tanner Scott to their bullpen today after adding Jason Adam yesterday.
 |
 |
||
|---|---|---|---|
| 6:40 P.M. | San Diego | ||
| DH | Ohtani (L) | DH | Arraez (L) |
| C | Smith | LF | Profar (S) |
| 2B | Lux (L) | 1B | Cronenworth (L) |
| LF | T. Hernández | 3B | Machado |
| RF | Heyward (L) | 2B | Bogaerts |
| CF | Pages | CF | Merrill (L) |
| 1B | Biggio (L) | RF | Peralta (L) |
| 3B | K. Hernández | SS | Kim |
| SS | Ahmed | C | Higashioka |
| P | Glasnow (R) | P | Waldron (R) |
Tyler Glasnow makes his second start off the IL tonight. Glasnow started last Wednesday against the Giants and struggled a bit. He only allowed two runs, which was a welcome change after a pair of five-run outings before the IL stint. However, he matched his season-high with four walks and only struck out four batters, which is his third-fewest in a game this season. All the damage came in the fourth inning, as he allowed a leadoff homer and a double followed by an RBI single. Glasnow kept the Dodgers in the game through his five innings, but Yohan Ramirez and Joe Kelly combined to allow six runs in the eighth to put the game out of reach. Glasnow’s struggled a bit in his three starts against the Giants this season, but has fared much better in his two starts against San Diego. He started the season-opener in Seoul and fared better than all the other starters out there, which isn’t a high bar to clear. He walked four batters but only allowed two hits and two runs over five innings. He started in San Diego in May and was pretty dominant, allowing one hit (a Luis Campusano solo homer) and two walks over seven innings while striking out 10.
Knuckleballer Matt Waldron goes for the Padres tonight. Waldron had a very good nine-start stretch that kicked off with his start against the Dodgers on May 11. He allowed two hits and two runs in 5 1/3 against the Dodgers, and went on to post a 1.95 ERA/2.67 FIP and .539 OPS against over those nine starts. He’s come back down to earth over his five starts since, with a 4.30 ERA/5.13 FIP and .734 OPS against. He’s allowed three or more runs in four of the five starts, but has also gone six or seven innings in four of those starts. The Padres lost four of those five starts, but won his most recent start in Washington. He allowed three runs and four hits over six innings, but the Padres put up 12 runs in the first five innings for a comfortable win.
Waldron’s knuckleball isn’t as slow as the typical knuckleball usually is. He’s averaged 77.6 MPH on it and has thrown some in the low-80s. He also doesn’t solely rely on the knuckler. It’s his most-used pitch, but he’s thrown it 39.1 percent of the time this season and threw it a season-low 30 percent of the time in his last outing. He’s thrown a sweeper 20.6 percent of the time, four-seamer 19.9 percent of the time, sinker 13.7 percent of the time and a cutter 6.8 percent of the time. He has one of the slower average fastball velocities in the league at 90.7 MPH.
Freeman remains out of the lineup, with Cavan Biggio getting another start at first.
Dave Roberts said he doesn’t anticipate Freddie Freeman returning off emergency family leave during this series in San Diego.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) July 30, 2024
Freeman isn’t expected back for these two games. Obviously his son’s health is much more important than these games, so good vibes to the family.
——
The only deadline acquisition currently with the team is Edman, who is still on the IL.
Tommy Edman is here. pic.twitter.com/fENZ89d52D
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) July 30, 2024
The wrist issue that landed him on the IL has apparently healed, but he sprained his ankle while rehabbing. They’re evaluating him in SD before deciding how much longer to keep him on rehab, as he didn’t play the field in his rehab time with the Cardinals.
As for the rest of the acquisitions, they’ll come in later.
#Dodgers Dave Roberts said Jack Flaherty could join the team in SD but won't start until Oakland series. Kevin Kiermaier might take a few days to join the team. Amed Rosario maybe tomorrow
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) July 30, 2024
Flaherty could arrive before they leave for Oakland, but won’t make his Dodger debut until the weekend. Kiermaier might not arrive for a few days, and Rosario could be in SD tomorrow.
——
As mentioned, Kiermaier was acquired, which completed another transaction as well.
The Los Angeles Dodgers acquired OF Kevin Kiermaier from the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for LHP Ryan Yarbrough.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) July 30, 2024
The Dodgers had to make some 40-man roster moves to make room for the new guys. Gus Varland and Nick Ramirez were DFA’d.
#Dodgers have DFAed Gus Varland and Nick Ramirez to clear roster spots for Jack Flaherty and Kevin Kiermaier.
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) July 30, 2024
Edman is still on the 60-day IL, so another move will be coming when he gets activated. There’s still a number of guys on the 60-day IL expected to return this season (Mookie Betts, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Ryan Brasier, Brusdar Graterol, maybe Max Muncy), so a few more roster spots will eventually be needed.
——
First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 PM PT and will be shown on SportsNet LA.
