Dodgers Make Enough Moves To Compete With Giants In The NL West

The Dodgers finally get the better end of the stick against the Giants in the 2015 season, but it wasn’t while playing on the baseball field, it was what happened before the trade deadline.

On Thursday evening, both the Dodgers and Giants made trades to help their pitching rotation, as they both look towards the end of the season to see who will take the NL West title this year.

Dodgers (57-45) lead the Giants (56-45) by half a game in the NL West.

The Dodgers began this year’s trade deadline with literally making the biggest splash. With a 3-way trade between the Miami Marlins and Atlanta Braves, involving a total of 13 players.

More from LA Sports Hub

The Giants responded with acquiring RHP Mike Leake from the Cincinnati Reds for 1B Adam Duvall and RHP Keury Mella.

Both these moves were exceptional moves for the NL West race, but the Dodgers got the better value.

The Dodgers received a lot of what they needed to improve their team for the playoffs.

As they added more arms in their starting rotation, with starting pitchers Mat Latos (from the Miami Marlins), and Alex Wood (from the Atlanta Braves), and in the bullpen with the addition of Jim Johnson and Luis Avilan from the Braves.

The addition of Mat Latos, and Alex Wood. Adds the depth the Dodgers have struggled all year to have, as they’ve depended on young unproven starting pitchers, or using their relief pitchers to fill in the void.

So for the Dodgers, this trade brings great value to the bottom of their rotation to go along two of the best pitchers in the MLB.

To put this in a better perspective, the Dodgers have started fourteen different pitchers this season, which is the most in the Majors.

That alone should show you, how the Dodgers’ rotation has lacked the consisted play this season, and why they needed to make some moves to get more pitchers in the starting rotation.

The Dodgers as well added more depth to their already crowded outfield with a trade that was processed after the trade deadline.

Jose Tabata is a great acquisition for the Dodgers, but it astonishes me how the Dodgers have all these outfielders on the roster.

And then they choose not to package a pair of outfielders for another starting pitcher, or relief pitcher.

Just think of this, the Dodgers have more outfielders then infielders with seven outfielders compared to four infielders — but three of the outfielders play the infield positions as well.

Scott Van Slyke could play at first base as well as in the outfield, but why would you replace him for Adrian Gonzalez.

Alex Guerrero, and Enrique Hernandez could as well play a variety of positions (second base, shortstop, or third base) besides in the outfield.

But just because the trade deadline passed, doesn’t mean the Dodgers can’t make any more moves.

For any other questions regarding the trade deadline, you could checkout Jeff Sullivan’s article on SB Nation.

With looking at the trades done by the Dodgers and Giants.

I’m glad to say that even though the Dodgers didn’t get any big names like Cole Hamels, David Price, or Johnny Cueto.

I believe the Dodgers made the best moves in their division, to help them win the NL West title for a third consecutive year.

Home/Los Angeles Dodgers