My take on the Dodgers as the trade deadline nears

DePodesta took a pounding at the trade deadline last season, when he traded away the heart and soul of the team, Paul LeDuca. He got Brad Penny out of the deal, which is a good thing, as long as Penny can stay healthy for a full season.

Again, over the winter, he got ripped a new one by the local and national media for dealing away Shawn Green and not resigning Adrian Beltre. He seemed to weather that storm as the Dodgers began the season red hot. To his credit, he did add Jeff Kent and Derek Lowe. He also took a chance on Milton Bradley last season after his temper wore out it's welcome in Cleveland. He IS trying.

Now, it's July, and the Dodgers are a sub .500 team in a very weak division, and the natives are once again restless. But, the realtity is, this division is still very winnable. Giants are out of contention without Bonds. Arizona has been up and down allseason. The Pads are a nice team, but they are clearly overacheiving, and seem to "want it more" when it comes down to it. Let's not even mention Colorado's "rebuilding" project every year or two.

The Dodgers need to add an outfield bat to the lineup RIGHT NOW. Werth, Grabowski, and Ledee ARE NOT the answer in LF and RF. That's worse than what the Braves had in April with Mondesi and Jordan (atleast Jordan is still decent). The starting staff should be okay, Odalis Perez is coming back this week, and the rsest (Lowe,Penny, Weaver) give your team a chance to win. The bullpen has obviously struggled at times with Gagne. When you lose your closer, especially one as dominant as Gagne, it makes it hard on the whole bullpen. Everyone has to move up a spot, and many times pitch in situations where they're unproven. The need a veteran arm down there to shore up things, and help out the younger guys.

If not, the Padres will pull away slowly but surely, as no one else in that division has what it takes to challenge them.

Dodgers must scramble after latest injury
Associated Press


LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder J.D. Drew broke his left wrist Sunday night when he was hit by a pitch from Arizona Diamondbacks rookie Brad Halsey.

J.D. Drew
Right Field
Los Angeles Dodgers
Profile


2005 SEASON STATISTICS
GM HR RBI R OBP AVG
72 15 36 48 .412 .286


"It was a fastball that hit me right on the wrist," said Drew, who homered three times in the previous two games. "I went out there to test it and it started to swell on me. I came in and got a clean X-ray, and it showed a clean break.

"It's going to be hard to pick up where I left off when I get back. It's out of my control. I was being aggressive at the plate and one just got away from him."

It wasn't immediately known how long Drew would be sidelined, but one Dodger said Drew told a few teammates, "I'll see you in about 6-8 weeks."

The injury-plagued Dodgers, already missing center fielder Milton Bradley with a torn ligament in his right ring finger and left fielder Ricky Ledee with a strained left hamstring, will be scrambling to find a suitable replacement for Drew.

The eight-year veteran signed a five-year, $55 million contract in December after establishing career highs with 31 homers and 93 RBI last season for the Atlanta Braves.

Drew, one of three batters plunked by Halsey in 5 1/3 innings of work, is batting .286 with 15 homers and 36 RBI and was just starting to feel good about his ailing left knee when this latest mishap occurred. He is scheduled to see a hand specialist Tuesday in Los Angeles, and will become the 14th different Dodgers player to go on the disabled list this season -- including outfielders Jayson Werth and Jason Grabowski.

"It's just amazing, how many people have gone down," rookie outfielder Jason Repko said. "And J.D. is a key player, so we'll have to see how it works out. But we're going to find a way to do it."

That will be up to general manager Paul DePodesta. When asked if the club could survive this latest bombshell, he took a stoic attitude.

"We don't have a choice. We have to at this point," DePodesta said. "This has been pretty remarkable. I don't think you could find anyone in this room who's ever seen anything like this, but those are the cards we've been dealt, so we've got to do something with it. We have an awful lot of prospects who I feel would be good trade chips, so we'll see."

Sunday night's 10-3 loss to the Diamondbacks completed the first half of the Dodgers' schedule. They are 38-43, six games worse than last year at this stage. The defending NL West champions are 6½ games behind division-leading San Diego, and two games behind Arizona.

The Dodgers suck and are not about to get any better. I read this in the L.A. Times saturday and thought it was perfect for this thread:

A short, short story: Once upon a time there was a highly respected, much admired and very competitive baseball team called the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The end.

Joel Rapp

Los Angeles