Dodgers News: Despite Chris Taylor’s Return, Dave Roberts Still Expects to Add Right-Handed Bat
The Dodgers have a clear need to get more right-handed hitters at the trade deadline. They have Mookie Betts, Will Smith, J.D. Martinez and Chris Taylor but not much else. The other right-handed hitters that they were relying on at the start of the year haven’t performed up to par and the team now needs to look in a different direction.
Thankfully LA just got Taylor back from injury and he has been solid since his return. He had a hit in his first three games back, and it culminated with a massive grand-slam to give LA the lead late against the Baltimore Orioles on Monday night.
It was a reminder of who Taylor is as a player and why he has been so valuable to this team for years. However, despite the return of Taylor, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts says that the team will still look for more right-handed hitting as the trade deadline approaches.
“When I was posed that question, he was on the IL and not knowing his fate,” Roberts said after Monday’s win. “Even right now, with where he’s at, we’re kind of hanging in there with it. It’s not something that we can really bank on. I don’t think anyone can bank on his health the rest of the season.
Per The OC Register
Roberts said this before Jake Marisnick went on the injured list, so the need is now even bigger.
As for Taylor, the grand-slam that he hit helped propel LA to a 6-4 over over Baltimore, getting them the opening win of the series. LA was down 3-0 at one point and things looked bleak but they never gave up and kept battling. Taylor just finished off the offense for the night and the Dodgers bullpen did the rest.
“Yeah, he was really spotting that fastball up in the zone. He threw four or five up there,” Taylor said. “There was one I missed that I probably should’ve hit that was more middle-middle. But he’s got a good heater. I was just trying to stay more line-drive approach on him. He threw me a bunch of them in a row and I was able to get to that one.”
Per The OC Register
Taylor has been a bit inconsistent this season so it makes sense why LA would want to keep looking for more reliable bats from the right side. On the season, Taylor is hitting .208 with 12 home runs and 31 runs batted in. It’s been a down year for him from the plate but his power numbers are up as he only hit 10 total homers last season.
LA will have plenty of options to choose from at the trade deadline but it’s just a matter of who fits for them and how much they want to give up. The team sits in first place within the NL West division so they are still very competitive and have a great shot to win it all this season if they can make some upgrades before the deadline is complete.
Guys like Tim Anderson from the Chicago White Sox, Adam Duvall from the Boston Red Sox or Tommy Pham from the New York Mets could be available to give this Dodgers team a boost. Or, the Dodgers could target a buy-low candidate like Tyler O’Neill. Of course, there are other names, as well, and knowing President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman, he will make a deal for someone that nobody saw coming.
But whatever LA decides to do, they should make the moves sooner rather than later to give this team a better shot at going all the way.
Photo Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
Have you subscribed to our YouTube Channel yet? Please subscribe and hit that notification bell to stay up to date on all the latest Dodgers news, rumors, interviews, live streams, and more all year long!
