Dodgers mailbag: Is the team more likely to acquire a hitter or a pitcher at the deadline?

The Dodgers are 48-37. That translated to a 91.48-win pace across 162 games, so let’s be charitable, round up and call it a 92-win pace. Hey, the team has earned it. The group has won five in a row and has declined to fold in the wake of Clayton Kershaw’s entry onto the disabled list.

But there are still plenty of things to discuss. The trade deadline is approaching, which means I am being asked to predict the future. If you have questions, as always, send them to me on Twitter @McCulloughTimes. Let’s do this.

Based on supply and demand, it makes more sense to expect the Dodgers to add arms instead of bats. The team has already done so by acquiring Bud Norris. There are just more arms available than hitters, especially in the bullpen, where the Dodgers could use a few upgrades.

At this time of year, there are always relievers available. The Dodgers may not be able to snag a star like Yankees left-hander Andrew Miller. But there should be pitchers who represent improvements over the middle relievers like Chris Hatcher and J.P. Howell.

As for the rotation, the team will give Brandon McCarthy and Hyun-Jin Ryu a chance to provide stability. If that backfires, they’ll certainly take a look at their options on the market.

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When it comes to the offense, the team is always considering the value of the acquisition versus the cost of the acquisition. For example: Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy is a better player than Yasmani Grandal. But some people in the organization view the gap between the two players as smaller than the public perception. And it would cost a fortune for the Dodgers to wrench Lucroy away from Milwaukee. So why make the trade?

That’s the sort of calculus required this time of year. Jay Bruce is having a nice season. He’s also a defensive downgrade from Yasiel Puig in right field. Do you move Puig to left? Do you trade Puig? Is Bruce, who posted a .695 on-base plus slugging percentage in 2014 and 2015, the sort of player you want to give up a prospect haul and remake your roster for?

It’s an old saying: Sometimes the best deals are the ones you don’t make. The Dodgers do practice caution in these situations, and they do consider more than the immediate consequences. In a summer where there isn’t a frontline player like Cole Hamels available, that strategy practiced by the front office of Andrew Friedman could prove quite wise, even if it infuriates a certain subset of the fan base.

Nothing really changed with Trayce Thompson. There’s a reason most scouts viewed him as a top-notch fourth outfielder before this season began. Thompson looks to be a bit more valuable than that, but his offensive profile still has some holes. His swing features a good deal of miss – he’s struck out in 23.3% of his at-bats, which is in line with his career averages in the minors – which allows him to fall into slumps. When you end a quarter of your at-bats without putting the ball in play, you are more prone to going cold due to a combination of bad BABIP luck and giving away at-bats.

That said, Thompson has been quite useful for the Dodgers this season. Any outfielder who can post a .782 on-base plus slugging percentage, as he has, and play all three positions, as he can, is valuable. To me, he seems like a perfect No. 6 or No. 7 hitter, the type of guy who can do damage on mistakes, but shouldn’t be expected to carry a lineup.

The biggest signing would be Cuban infielder Yulieski Gourriel. Everything else would involve a trade.

I’ll use this semantic gaffe to discuss Gourriel, who worked out at Dodger Stadium in late June. He’s also worked out for the Mets, Astros and a few others. The consensus I’ve gathered from, admittedly, a thin pool of evaluators who have seen him is the skills at the plate are obvious, but there are questions about his readiness in 2016. One executive suggested he may not be ready until September, at the earliest, given his lengthy layoff from competitive baseball.

This is not the worst thing in the world for the Dodgers, who are already set at third base and second base in the present. But with Justin Turner headed to free agency, the team could view Gourriel as a replacement with high upside. The cost, however, will not be cheap. ESPN’s Jim Bowden recently pegged Gourriel’s bidding war to finish somewhere between $55 million and $75 million.

Can the Dodgers afford that? Of course. They are, as you may have heard, the Dodgers. But more than a few investments in Cuba have burned the team. Alex Guerrero was cut. Erisbel Arruebarrena exists in a semi-permanent state of minor-league suspension. Signed for $30 million this winter, Yaisel Sierra has already been outrighted off the 40-man roster. I’m curious to see if they’ll take the plunge again. Gourriel may be worth it. He’s also 32, and in the midst of a lengthy remove from top-flight competition. It’s a gamble.

Dave Roberts isn’t suffering from anything that a three-man party featuring Bud Norris, Brandon McCarthy and Hyun-Jin Ryu won’t fix. He would also be willing to accept a swift recovery from Clayton Kershaw and an improvement in his team’s overall situational hitting.

1. I do not expect a frontline player to be traded. Joc Pederson is on the disabled list, which makes Yasiel Puig less expendable, even if the team gets a reasonable offer for him. Andre Ethier has 10-5 rights, which can prohibit any trade.
2. Why am I answering this. 
3. I do not know how far the team can go if they do not land a big bat. My crystal ball is broken.

I assume Seth Rollins will win. It sets a bad precedent to put the title back on Roman Reigns so soon after a suspension. And, to me, at least, Dean Ambrose is not a money-drawing champion.

His work is sloppy (he still can’t throw a working punch). His moveset is lame (that slingshot clothesline is comically corny). And his gimmick is tired. How can you sell a wrestler as “crazy” on a PG show? Yes, Ambrose is so crazy that he never curses, or hits his opponent in the head with chairs, or does, really, anything outside the boundaries of normal behavior.

So Rollins makes the most sense. He’s the best of the three on the mike, he’s the best of the three in the ring and his future path is the most clear.

I doubt I’ll watch every episode. I’ll be sure to catch Kota Ibushi and Zack Sabre Jr. To me, Ibushi is ready to go for NXT. Sabre needs to tighten up a few things – I’ve mentioned before in this space my distaste for his propensity for breaking his own holds – but his style is intriguing and he’s already quite over with the Full Sail set.

Brand New used to be my favorite band. They are still probably my favorite band, but I know they definitely used to be. Here is the list.

1. “Sowing Season”
2. “You Won’t Know.” I played this song on a TouchTunes at a bar in Chicago last month, and it really upset David Vassegh.
3. “The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows.” When I listen to this song in my car, I punch the roof when the drums kick in. Other Brand New driving quirks include, but are not limited to: I tend to take my hands off the steering wheel during the guitar solo in “1996” (“Morrisey Song”), I drive irrationally fast during “Not the Sun,” and I unconsciously sing along whenever “Okay I Believe You, But My Tommy Gun Don’t,” “I Will Play My Game Beneath the Spin Light” or “The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot” comes on.
4. “Soco Amaretto Lime.” I apologize for nothing.
5. “Nobody Moves.” There was a time in college – right around the time the “Fight Off Your Demons” demos leaked – that I started telling people that Brand New was going to become the American Radiohead. You can put this in a time capsule, because that is the exact sort of thing people like me said at college in America in 2006. It did not turn out like that, of course, because the band freaked out when the songs hit the Internet, and I’m pretty sure Jesse Lacey nuked most of them. Even so, it’s an incredible document. Six of the eight songs on here are classics, and one that I didn’t enjoy, “Yeah,” became “Sowing Season.” 

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