The trade deadline is just 17 days away, and the hot stove is beginning to heat up as the summer season rolls along.
The Dodgers are in a situation foreign to them, where their expectations are set on maintaining the roster that they build over the offseason rather than buying high at the trade deadline. As a last resort, the Dodgers would have to make a move in desperation to their hitting core, especially given how the team uncharacteristically ranks 20th for team OPS in the month of July.
Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports that the Dodgers are one of eight teams that have checked in on Chicago White Sox outfielder Luis Robert Jr.
Robert is slashing a career-low .190/.275/.325 with nine home runs and a 65 wRC+ in 79 games with Chicago, and has a $20 million team option for the 2026 season. He is only two seasons removed from a monster 38-home run campaign where he finished 12th in AL MVP voting.
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Roki Sasaki’s 2025 season was thought to have received the final nail in the coffin once his throwing program was shut down in mid-June, with Dave Roberts saying that the team would have to potentially prepare to play out the rest of the year without him.
That, fortunately, isn’t the case, as Sasaki threw a bullpen session earlier this week, with a second session scheduled for Monday. The Dodgers are anticipating Sasaki to make his return around late August, per Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register.
“He threw one (bullpen session) two days ago, and touched 90, which was great,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “So it’s coming. The bullpens, the lives (live batting practice), then to get out on assignment. So, obviously, sticking to kind of a late August date is where we’re at.”
Third base coach Dino Ebel’s son, Brady, became the third player selected in the first round out of Corona High School on Sunday as he was taken 32nd overall by the Milwaukee Brewers, joining former teammates Seth Hernandez (sixth to Pittsburgh) and Billy Carlson (10th to White Sox).
Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times recounts Brady’s journey from shagging at Dodger Stadium as a kid to now being a first-round pick.