DETERMINED DODGERS
Does LA need big deal before deadline?
Gabe Lacques
WASHINGTON – They’ve won tangible titles, like six straight division crowns and consecutive National League pennants. Mythical ones, too – those the baseball punditry award for prospect development and tradedeadline conquests.
Yet the Dodgers, an organization that considers optimization not a concept but a way of life, had to watch as the Astros and Red Sox celebrated World Series titles on their home field each of the past two seasons.
They were outcomes neither Yu Darvish nor Manny Machado could prevent.
Now, less than two days before baseball’s trade deadline forces the Dodgers to lock in who might join them on what looks to be a third consecutive World Series team, they are again positioned so optimally.
At 69-38 with a 141⁄2-game lead in the NL West going into Monday, the deadline is more an opportunity to shore up their bullpen and deepen, not redefine, a championship-caliber team.
A championship drought going on 31 years has compelled the club to re
double its focus, think long term but excel in the near term.
“Losing two World Series in a row has kept guys hungrier than ever to achieve what we want to achieve,” Justin Turner, the third baseman and clubhouse linchpin, told USA TODAY. “Who knows – if we win that Game 7 against the Astros two years ago, who knows what we do last year or what we do this year because, as much as you hate to say it, maybe guys are complacent and satisfied and don’t work as hard.
“But because we’ve had that bad taste left in our mouth two years in a row, I don’t know if the eagerness or willingness can get much higher than this group has.”
Be it five consecutive walk-off wins – part of a 40-14 Dodger Stadium record – or the coldly efficient way they churn out younger, better players, this edition has a penchant for the ruthless.
So why will this October be any different? Perhaps because the Dodgers might be deeper and, yes, even more determined.
‘Don’t mess them up’
Make no mistake: The Dodgers have a flair for the glitzy. It’s L.A., after all, and so the occasional hired gun such as Machado paired with beloved stalwarts like Clayton Kershaw and Kenley Jansen satisfy the 3.9 million fans traipsing through Dodger Stadium each year.
The pipeline is as complex or as simple as you choose to view it.
“You start with good players,” said NL All-Star starter Walker Buehler, “and don’t mess them up, and good things tend to happen.”
Buehler was the 24th overall pick in the 2015 draft; three years later, after an anticipated detour for Tommy John surgery, he threw seven scoreless innings against the otherwise indomitable Red Sox in Game 3 of the World Series.
Almost any team could have had Buehler, and a year later the same could be said for shortstop Gavin Lux (picked 20th overall in 2016) and catcher Will Smith (32nd). Now, Lux is blowing the doors off Class AA and AAA (a combined .357 average, 21 home runs, a 1.054 OPS) and Smith celebrated his first game as the Dodgers’ everyday catcher by driving in six runs Saturday against the Nationals.
It goes far beyond the first-rounders. Matt Beaty was a 12th-round pick in 2015 out of Nashville’s Belmont College. In the Dodgers’ matchup-heavy calculus, he’s provided a .814 OPS over 132 plate appearances – a part-time player who nonetheless completes their circle of dominance, acquired in a round where roughly 90% of the draftees don’t even make the major leagues.
He joins a conga line of undistinguished contributors, All-Stars Chris Taylor and Max Muncy among them, acquired in minor trades, off the waiver wire or at a point in the draft when TV cameras have long been turned off. So what’s the pixie dust?
“The amount of details and work and willingness to step out of the box on the minor league side and develop players is second to none in this organization,” says Turner.
Or, a simpler mantra: You do you. Muncy, who has a .938 OPS and 61 homers the past two years, trailing only MVP favorite Cody Bellinger and AllStar starter Hyun-jin Ryu in Wins Above Replacement in that span, says, “They don’t want you to do anything you’re not comfortable doing, so instead of telling you to basically improve on your weaknesses, go out and improve on your strengths.”
The confidence is palpable. Beaty, Smith and Alex Verdugo became the first trio of rookies to hit walk-off home runs in three consecutive games, effectively burying the Rockies last month.
Lux, stuck behind Corey Seager, might not impact the club this year. But rookie Tony Gonsolin will be summoned for another spot start Tuesday in Denver. Top pitching prospect Dustin May, for now a walking trade rumor, might impact the club’s postseason plans should it deem him ready.
If he’s called upon, that’s the culmination of a long and proven process.
“I think our scouts and executives do a very good job of identifying upside on certain players,” says manager Dave Roberts.
It also helps knowing who to flip and who to hold.
‘I used it the right way’
The front office’s stubborn refusal to deal top prospects during this run of success has served them well; Seager and Buehler are just a few of the untouchables turned All-Stars.
Verdugo figures to join that list. He was a top-100 prospect each of the past four seasons, but as his star rose the Dodgers held him closer.
“Personally, I knew I was ready to be up here and I wanted to be up here and wanted to contribute,” says Verdugo, 23. “I was a little bit upset about it; I used it the right way, though, to fuel me and help me do even better in Triple-A to try and bang down the door a little more.”
Then Roberts called him in December with news that outfielders Yasiel Puig and Matt Kemp had been dealt to Cincinnati. Even the signing of free agent A.J. Pollock couldn’t block Verdugo.
He is already a 3-win player this season and teams with Bellinger to form perhaps the most effective corner outfield tandem in the game. They rank second and third among NL outfielders in Defensive Runs Saved, a crucial bit of lockdown defending.
“It’s cool to hit a homer, man,” says Verdugo, who has struck 12 of them. “But this game is so much bigger than the homer. Especially when you get into the postseason and the teams with really good bullpens, really good pitching staffs. What you can do is you can spray the field, you can situational hit, you can go out and play defense and take away some runs.”
In a sense, he embodies the growth the Dodgers want to see in their young players and the acceptance that follows.
The finishing touches
Naturally, the clubhouse will shift, perhaps significantly, in the next two days. The singular trade deadline means club president Andrew Friedman must identify any October needs now. A bullpen arm is certain to come, and perhaps another starting pitcher.
There won’t be a Machado or a Darvish and probably not anything that remakes the roster core. Perhaps that’s just as well for a club that knows no July deal is truly an elixir.
“I feel a lot of peace and solace knowing that whatever we do or don’t do will be best for our ballclub, for ’19,” says Roberts. “There’s deadline (deals) made every single year for teams in contention and there’s only one champion. Our guys are very in tune with that. I’d like to think after being here for four years, they’re pretty realistic.”
That they are. Hungry, too.