The trade deadline is still six weeks away.
But in the wake of an injury to star right fielder Mookie Betts, a lack of obvious replacement options in the organization and a monthlong slump from the lineup at large, the Dodgers felt compelled in recent days to seek out another right-handed hitter.
On Monday, they found it, acquiring Trayce Thompson from the Detroit Tigers in exchange for cash considerations.
In trading for Thompson, the Dodgers will get a six-year MLB veteran who has shown the ability to hit for power. Though he is just a career .205 hitter, Thompson has 26 home runs in 640 big league plate appearances.
A 31-year-old Los Angeles native who went to high school at Santa Margarita Catholic and is the younger brother of Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson, Trayce previously played for the Dodgers, appearing in parts of two seasons with the club during 2016 and 2017.
Since then, he has bounced around to various organizations. In 2018, he spent time in the majors with the Oakland A’s and the Chicago White Sox, the team that originally drafted him in the second round in 2009. Last season, he played 15 games for the Chicago Cubs.
This year, he signed with the San Diego Padres in March and went one for 14 in six games with them before being designated for assignment in May. He signed a minor league deal with the Tigers after that.
In 41 triple-A games this year, he has 17 home runs, a .305 batting average and 1.086 on-base-plus-slugging percentage.
The Dodgers’ need to acquire another right-handed bat became magnified in recent weeks.
Earlier this month, Kevin Pillar was lost for the rest of the season because of a left shoulder fracture.
On Sunday, the team placed Betts on the injured list after discovering he had suffered a fractured rib in a collision with Cody Bellinger a few days earlier, an injury that will hold Betts out for at least a couple of weeks.
Without Betts or Pillar, the team used left-handed hitting infielder Eddy Alvarez twice in three games against the Cleveland Guardians this past weekend, but he misplayed several balls Sunday that contributed to the club’s loss in the series’ rubber match.
Many of the team’s other organizational options in the outfield, such as Zach McKinstry or Jake Lamb, are also left-handed hitters — which would…