The Los Angeles Dodgers' roster, often the envy of the industry, is currently a mess -- lined with stars but muddled by underperformance and, most of all, ravaged by injury.
When the All-Star break arrived this week, the Dodgers had 15 players on their injured list, more than any other team in the major leagues. Their once-decorated starting rotation had been stripped down to the studs, composed of three rookies and little else. Their lineup, considered one of the sport's deepest when the season began, is now strikingly top-heavy. There is uncertainty at shortstop and throughout the outfield, but also concern about who will absorb innings and who might hold leads -- more problems than one might expect for a team that spent more than $1 billion in one offseason.
And yet, in spite of it all, the Dodgers began the second half of their season in an enviable position: 15 games over .500 and seven games up in the National League West, with a plus-88 run-differential and reasonable hope, considering who's on the mend, that their best baseball might be ahead of them.
The trade deadline is 10 days away, and no team possesses a wider spectrum of potential outcomes. The Dodgers have the prospect capital to do practically anything and, in some ways, the justification to do nothing. They have an array of holes that need filling, but in the words of a veteran scout who has seen a lot of them this season, "All the answers to their problems are on their injured list."
A bevy of stars making up the Dodgers' IL is expected back at some point within the next six weeks, but most of their statuses won't be resolved until after the trade deadline. And so the Dodgers must come up with answers to questions before obtaining all of the information. Their strategy: To chase what little high-impact talent might be available this month, in what is expected to be a deadline light on stars.
Below is a look at how the Dodgers will prioritize their search, based on conversations with multiple people familiar with their thinking.