By Don Wanlass
Contributing Writer
It was all there in a nutshell. The Dodgers’ 2023 season in a microcosm of one game in late July.Â
The Dodgers defeated the Toronto Blue Jays, 8-7 in 10 innings July 25, scoring the winning run on a double off the top of the right-center field wall by rookie centerfielder James Outman that scored Chris Taylor.
It included a six-inning start by Julio Urias, who was better than he was in his previous start last week in Baltimore when he gave up a career-high eight runs.
It featured a shaky bullpen, which gave up four runs in four innings.
It featured two home runs (Freddie Freeman and J.D. Martinez), a great defensive play by Mookie Betts and Will Smith to prevent Toronto from scoring in the top of the 10th inning and a hustling bit of base running by Smith in the bottom of the ninth to score the tying run from second base on a ball that barely left the infield.
The win left the Dodgers four games ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Francisco Giants on their way to a 10th division title in the last 11 years.
With the Aug. 1 trade deadline approaching, the Dodgers also made their first acquisition earlier in the day, bringing back Kike Hernandez in a trade for two minor league pitchers that no one will miss.
Hernandez has spent the last two and half seasons with the Red Sox after leaving the Dodgers after helping them win the 2020 World Series. He hit .250 with 20 home runs and 60 runs batted in his first year in Boston but has hit .222 over the last year and a half with 12 home runs and 76 RBI in that period.
During his six years with the Dodgers, he hit .240 with 68 homers and 213 RBI while demonstrating versatility on defense. He can play both middle infield positions and all three outfield spots.
He will add to the versatility of the Dodgers defense and provide the right-hand hitter the Dodgers have been seeking since Trayce Thompson hit the injury list in early June with an oblique injury.
Hernandez was in the starting lineup playing second base July 26, his first day back with the Dodgers.Â
A .238 lifetime hitter in his 10 major league seasons, Hernandez steps it up in the postseason, where he has a .269 career average with 13 home runs and 27 RBI. In game five of the 2017 National League Championship Series, he hit three home runs and drove in seven runs to spark an 11-1 win over the Chicago Cubs that advanced the Dodgers to their first World Series in 29 years.
While filling a need for a right-hand hitter, the Dodgers still need to improve both their starting rotation and their bullpen depth before the trade deadline.
They have been functioning with three rookies in the starting rotation: Bobby Miller, Michael Grove and Emmett Sheehan. Combined, they are 11-4, but manager Dave Roberts doesn’t trust any of them to pitch more than five or six innings at a time and that puts a strain on the bullpen, which has given up six runs in the last two games after doing a better than solid job for the last month.
Clayton Kershaw is due back from a shoulder injury in early August. He has been the Dodgers most consistent pitcher all season, but at 35 you have to wonder how many bullets he has left in that left arm.
Team president Andrew Friedman has proven adept at pulling off some great deadline moves over the years without sacrificing all of the team’s top minor league prospects and there are some good players available.
I don’t expect to see Shohei Ohtani coming up the freeway to help carry the Dodgers to the postseason, because Angels owner Arte Moreno would never live that down.
Friedman can wait until the offseason to go after Ohtani, but he does need to bring in at least one more starter and a high leverage relief pitcher.
Since being swept by the Giants in a three-game series June 16-18, the Dodgers are 19-9. They have reestablished themselves as one of the top five teams in baseball.
They have the hitting and the defense to make another late postseason run this year. But they need more pitching if they want that postseason to pay off with another World Series title.
TOP DOLLARS: For the next week or so — until Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals agree to a new contract — Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert is the highest paid quarterback (and player) in the National Football League.
Herbert and the Chargers have agreed to a five-year contract that will pay him $262.5 million. Not bad for a guy with a 25-25 record as a starting quarterback in three seasons with the Chargers.
Herbert was the sixth overall pick in the 2020 draft, the third quarterback taken behind Burrow, the No. 1 overall pick, and Tua Tagovailoa, who was the fifth pick in the draft for the Miami Dolphins.
He wasn’t expected to start as a rookie with the Chargers but Herbert was rushed into the starting lineup the second week of the season when starter Tyrod Taylor suffered a punctured lung while receiving a pre-game painkilling injection.
All Herbert did in his debut was complete 22 of 33 passes for 311 yards and a touchdown. The Chargers lost in overtime to Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs that day and Herbert has been the starting quarterback ever since.
Herbert has completed 1,316 passes in his first three NFL seasons, more than any other quarterback in league history. He also is in the top six in yards and touchdowns since entering the league.
By signing Herbert to a long-term deal, the Chargers have indicated they plan to build around him. The move may have alienated the Chargers’ second best offensive player, running back Austin Ekeler, who asked to be traded earlier this season when the team refused to give him a long-term contract extension.
Ekeler, who has scored 40 touchdowns during the last two seasons, eventually agreed to a deal that added up to $1.75 million in incentives to his $6.25 million contract for this season. He will be a free agent after the season.
All-Pro safety Derwin James also is nearing the end of his rookie contract, which pays him a base salary of $2 million this year. Safeties don’t get paid like quarterbacks, but James will want more money next year from the Chargers, which will put more strain on the team’s salary cap. It’s a problem every team in the league faces.
The Chargers hope to improve on last year’s 10-7 season that saw them earn a wild card berth. The wild card game, however, was a bitter pill to swallow as the Chargers blew a 27-0 second quarter lead before losing to Jacksonville, 31-30 on a field goal as the game ended.
The Chargers play in the tough AFC Western Division that not only includes the Super Bowl champion Chiefs but an improved Denver Broncos team where Sean Payton has taken over as head coach and Russell Wilson returns at quarterback.
By extending Herbert’s contract now, the Chargers are putting their future in his hands.Â
