Dodgers still interested in adding pitching, linked to Yovani Gallardo

LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers acquired two starting pitchers in their 13-player, three-team trade with the Marlins and Braves, but with the non-waiver trade deadline looming on Friday the club might not be done adding pitching.

"We are continuing to have conversations now, so I don't want to talk about the deadline in the past tense yet," said Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman on Thursday. "But we feel like we solidified our bullpen and lengthened our starting rotation options, and we're in better position today than we were a couple days ago."

The Dodgers added Mat Latos, a free agent after 2015, and Alex Wood, who won't be a free agent until after 2019. But Friedman said the club is still on the lookout for more.

"We're focused on how we can continue to make the Dodgers a better and deeper team. We're having a number of conversations on a number of different fronts. I don't ever think there will be a deadline where we won't talk about pitching, so we'll continue to talk pitching," Friedman explained. "At this point we feel good about what we've done to date, but by no means are we kicking our feet up."

Rangers starter Yovani Gallardo will be a free agent after this season, and the Dodgers are reportedly still interested in him, per Jon Heyman of CBS Sports and Jon Morosi of Fox Sports.

It's hard to see how Gallardo would fit, unless the Dodgers have another move lined up (to flip Wood perhaps?).

As it stands now, Friedman said Latos likely will start on Sunday against the Angels, following Clayton Kershaw on Friday and Zack Greinke on Saturday, and that those plans would be finalized on Friday.

Kershaw was pushed back a few days from his scheduled Wednesday start with a sore hip, though Friedman referred to it as a sore groin, something that was said in passing and something nobody followed up on (I, for one, didn't catch it until listening to the tape).

"We went into July continuing to focus on adding as much pitching as we could. Starting pitching depth has been a priority for us, since November," Friedman said. "Obviously we've had some injuries to date. Brett walking off the mound only heightened it. Kersh's minor groin soreness continued to heighten it. "

Even without Gallardo, there are too many cooks in the Dodgers rotation, and the odd man out is Mike Bolsinger.

"It's nothing that he's done. He's obviously been great for us. It's one of the unfortunate things in this. He's done everything we've asked and more, but this is where we are right now," Friedman said. "We expect Bols to continue to make a big impact for us down the stretch."

Friedman said the club hasn't decided yet whether to option Bolsinger to Triple-A Oklahoma City or to use him in the bullpen. Bolsinger has been highly effective the first two times through the batting order all year. Batters the first time through are hitting just .243/.280/.287, and the second time through are hitting .218/.292/.290.

He could make an excellent long relief option. Batters the third time through are hitting .275/.383/.391 against Bolsinger.

"He's pitched extremely well for us this year. He gets where we are right now. We just wanted to be straight with him and tell him what's going on, and I think he appreciated that," Friedman said. "But I think he like competing every fifth day and helping his team win, and we don't blame him. We feel like he will continue to contribute to this team going forward."

Another pitcher who got bad news Thursday was Brandon Beachy, fighting his way back from Tommy John surgery but was designated for assignment as the Dodgers ran into a roster crunch. Friedman said he wasn't yet sure if Beachy would remain in the organization.

"He was a pro. Those phone calls are never easy to make. We handled it straight up and honestly, let him know what's going on. We told him what we were doing and why," Friedman recalled. "He's worked so hard to get back to where he is right now, but he knows it's going to take him a little bit more time, just with that amount of time, to get his pitches, to be able to sequence his repertoire in the way he wants to is just going to take a little time."

The non-waiver trade deadline is 1 p.m. PT on Friday. After that, players will have to clear waivers before being dealt, adding another layer of complication to the process.

"Once we get to August 1, it's much more difficult to add starting pitching over the final two months of the year," Friedman said.