Insider: LA Dodgers Have 3 Shortstops On Their Radar for Trade Deadline

While questions continue to linger about whether Mookie Betts is the long-term solution this season for the Los Angeles Dodgers at shortstop, rumors emerged on Tuesday that LA does, in fact, have three shortstops—2 of them notable—on its radar in advance of next month's trade deadline.

The thought is that second base is a better fit for Betts defensively, and the addition of a shortstop would allow him to slide over and remove the underperforming Gavin Lux (.560 OPS) from the lineup.

Insider Ken Rosenthal posits that shortstop will be their "central focus" as we head toward July 30th. Three shortstops are at the top of the Dodgers' wish list — though there is a big gap between the first two and the third:

Bo Bichette, Toronto Blue Jays

Yes, we've heard that Jays GM Ross Atkins has said it "doesn't make sense" for them to trade either Bichette or Vladimir Guerrero Jr., but let it be said here that Atkins has done a lot of things that don't make sense in the past few years in Toronto.

Right now, the Jays are three games back of a Wild Card spot, so they're not in a seller's position just yet, but they also have several teams ahead of them to leapfrog as well. The Dodgers are keeping their hopes alive of a blockbuster move here.

Willy Adames, Milwaukee Brewers

The Milwaukee Brewers are first place by a comfortable margin atop the NL Central, so while it sounds strange to consider that they might trade their starting shortstop this season, let's just say that it wouldn't be the first time the Brewers, while in contention for the playoffs, have traded a key player (see Hader, Josh).

Adames is a free agent at season's end, and you just know the Brew Crew would love to recoup some assets for him from the Dodgers' impressive prospect list. But going back to that Hader incident at the 2022 deadline, would Milwaukee risk the clubhouse mutiny once again that a trade of Adames would likely bring on?

Paul DeJong

Ok, so let's assume that Bichette and Adames are off the trade block. The suggestion is that a resurgent DeJong would be next on the Dodgers' hit list at short. The 30-year-old is having his first better-than-league-average offensive season since 2018. He's still only batting .235 with the Chicago White Sox, but his OPS+ of 113 is the best of his career since his rookie season in 2017. He has 12 homers for the Pale Hose.