The defending National League Champion Los Angeles Dodgers loss four games in four days to the Cincinnati Reds this past week. The Boys in Blue have seen their record fall to 16-24 as they continue to face hardships early in this season.
With a 4-8 record in the month of May so far and Clayton Kershaw on the disabled list, it might be time for the Dodgers to start looking to make some moves. Their roster, or their play, will have to improve if they want to find themselves in the World Series again.
As of right now, the World Series seems like a long-shot, but it is also a long way from now. The Dodgers have 122 more games left on their regular season schedule, so they have plenty of time to rebound from their woes.
There have been rumors of the Dodgers trading for Baltimore Orioles’ star third baseman Manny Machado. Machado entered the Dodgers’ sight after news of L.A. shortstop Corey Seager being out for the season broke.
“We still feel good about the lineup we can field on an everyday basis,” Dodgers general manager, Farhan Zaidi said following the news of Seagers injury. “We’re not as talented without Corey in there, but we’re going to have to adopt an approach of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. That’s what made us so good last year. We might have had a certain threshold [for a trade] and might be more motivated now, but we still have guys we think can take everyday at-bats.”
Machado is batting .350, with 13 home runs and 38 RBIs early in his season. The current top hitter for the Dodgers, Matt Kemp is batting .317 with just five home runs and 17 RBIs.
The current Baltimore third baseman would undoubtedly help the Dodgers, but just how much the Dodgers would have to give up is unknown. There are other contenders in the hunt for Machado’s services as well.
Even though it is early in the season, the Dodgers have to be careful not to knock themselves out of playoff contention. They’re just eight games behind first place for the NL West division, but another losing streak like this past week’s could be costly.
The Dodgers know they cannot count on another hot streak, like last year, to push them into the postseason.
RAMON ALVARADO 
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