Stan Kasten: Dodgers looking to make big moves at trade deadline

Dodgers President Stan Kasten said he welcomes expectations that the team’s new ownership group will finance significant moves at the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline.

“I promise you we’ll explore everything,” Kasten said. “Look, as candid as we can be, we’re the Dodgers. We’re supposed to be big. We intend to be big. Will we look at big things? You bet.”

Kasten maintained the Dodgers have the financial flexibility to add to their payroll. He lamented that the organization doesn’t have more top-tier prospects who would be attractive trade pieces.

“I wish we were deeper in that regard,” Kasten said. “But if the resources involve money, we’ll be very flexible.”

In fact, Kasten said he would prefer to take on a greater percentage of an incoming player’s salary if it means they can acquire him for lesser prospects.

Can the Dodgers remain competitive even without adding players?

“That I don’t know,” Kasten said. “My guess is yes because if you look at how we were doing until two weeks ago, it was really extraordinary given what this group had done, given the injuries that we’ve had. Assuming that those guys are still here, plus we’re getting some people back in the near future, absolutely, we can contend with the group that we have now.”

Kasten, who described the Dodgers early in the season as a .500 team, said his team is better than he initially thought.

“Clearly it was,” he said. “I’ve been really impressed with the pitching. I did not see that coming. Given the history of injuries, I’m really impressed with the consistency I’ve seen from the pitching staff.”

Asked if the Dodgers would take on a bloated multi-year deal, Kasten replied, “Don’t ask me hypotheticals like that. We have to evaluate every deal independently, so I can’t answer things like that. I’ll say this: I can’t think of anything I’d rule out.”

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