CINCINNATI — The Dodgers have already clinched a losing record in July, entering play Monday with their worst single-month winning percentage since May 2013.
Their league-leading offense has remained stuck in a nose dive, ranking bottom-four in the majors entering Monday in runs scored, batting average and OPS this month despite some short-lived signs of life from their lineup last week.
For a while now, the team has known it would target a high-leverage reliever ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline. But suddenly, amid a protracted slump that even president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman acknowledged he didn’t see coming, the deadline might feel incomplete without the addition of another position player as well.