{"id":769705,"date":"2026-07-18T05:46:23","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T05:46:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/769705\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T05:46:23","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T05:46:23","slug":"with-will-smith-out-indefinitely-dodgers-need-to-trade-for-catcher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/769705\/","title":{"rendered":"With Will Smith out indefinitely, Dodgers need to trade for catcher"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NEW YORK\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Lost amid the headlines about Tarik Skubal<\/a>, the Dodgers<\/a> face this unexpected reality as the trade deadline looms: They would like to add a starting pitcher, but they need to add a catcher.<\/p>\n

Will Smith<\/a> has not played in six weeks. In a \u201cbest case\u201d scenario, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Friday, Smith would miss another month.<\/p>\n

That left Roberts to make a jolting admission, when I asked him if the team really can count on Smith returning this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t know,\u201d Roberts said, \u201cbut we certainly are counting on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Would it be nice for the Dodgers to get their three-time All-Star catcher back in time for October? Of course.<\/p>\n

Should the Dodgers count on it? Of course not.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers won\u2019t know where Smith stands by the Aug. 3 trade deadline. That means now is the time to acquire a catching option they may or may not need later.<\/p>\n

Dalton Rushing<\/a>, the primary catcher in Smith\u2019s absence, has a .799 OPS. Among the 24 major league catchers with at least 200 plate appearances entering play Friday, Rushing ranked fifth in OPS.<\/p>\n

He is hitless in his last 13 at-bats. His batting average: .266 before Smith\u2019s injury, .233 since then.<\/p>\n

On defense, Rushing ranks next-to-last in defensive runs saved among major league catchers, ahead of only the Angels\u2019 Logan O\u2019Hoppe. On Friday, in the Dodgers\u2019 2-1 victory<\/a> at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees scored their only run on Rushing\u2019s passed ball.<\/p>\n

In past Octobers, the Dodgers have prioritized defense at catcher. In the 2020 World Series, Austin Barnes caught ahead of Smith in four of the six games, including the final two.<\/p>\n

In 2025, with Smith recovering from a hand injury, Ben Rortvedt started ahead of Rushing in the Dodgers\u2019 first four postseason games. Rortvedt was a trade deadline acquisition last summer, picked up with pitcher Paul Gervase from the Tampa Bay Rays for catcher Hunter Feduccia.<\/p>\n

\"Will <\/p>\n

Will Smith bats for the Dodgers against the San Francisco Giants on April 22.<\/p>\n

(Ezra Shaw \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Rortvedt, currently playing in triple-A for the New York Mets, fits the profile of what the Dodgers need now: a defense-first catcher with major league readiness. With Smith injured, the Dodgers first tried and then cut minor league journeyman Chuckie Robinson at backup catcher. Their current backup, Eliezer Alfonso, made his major league debut in his ninth professional season; he is hitless in nine at-bats.<\/p>\n

Could the Dodgers pursue an established catcher, say Ryan Jeffers<\/a> of the Minnesota Twins or Francisco Alvarez<\/a> or Luis Torrens<\/a> of the New York Mets? Possible, but probably not necessary.<\/p>\n

Rushing could be their guy. Smith could be back.<\/p>\n

Smith has started and re-started baseball activities, only to find out that the inflamed disk in his neck flares up.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe hasn\u2019t been able to get over the hump,\u201d Roberts said.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers are trying another round of complete rest before asking him to try hitting or throwing again.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe felt that, if he\u2019s inactive, it gives it a good chance to get all the inflammation out, the soreness out, the pain, increase flexibility, all of it,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cThen he has a fighting chance to work his way back. Trying to do everything \u2014 even at a lesser dosage \u2014 just wasn\u2019t feasible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Trying to trade for Skubal might not be feasible, at least so long as his Detroit Tigers remain in the American League wild-card race. The Tigers won seven of their final 10 games in the first half, and they face teams with losing records in 13 of their 16 second-half games ahead of the trade deadline, starting with the Angels this weekend in Anaheim.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers do not need a depth starter. However, they might do well to find someone they would feel comfortable starting the third or fourth game of a playoff series, lest they count on Blake Snell<\/a> (elbow) and Tyler Glasnow<\/a> (back) and Shohei Ohtani<\/a> (knee) all returning to the mound healthy and effective.<\/p>\n

Important, yes. As important as another catcher, no.<\/p>\n

For a team that will spend almost half a billion dollars on its player payroll and luxury tax this season, its most important trade deadline pickup could be a catcher making maybe $1 million.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Lost amid the headlines about Tarik Skubal, the Dodgers face this unexpected reality as the trade deadline…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":769706,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[42124,39126,21341,22363,6052,4279,2310,5460,10156,328589,363,36408,99,4706,1599,6533,4277],"class_list":["post-769705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-angels","tag-ben-rortvedt","tag-catcher","tag-dalton-rushing","tag-defense","tag-dodgers","tag-friday","tag-game","tag-injury","tag-major-league-catcher","tag-mlb","tag-roberts","tag-sports","tag-tarik-skubal","tag-team","tag-trade-deadline","tag-will-smith"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=769705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/769706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=769705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=769705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=769705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}