The Dodgers’ rotation stands at Brad Penny, Derek Lowe, Chad Billingsley, Hiroki Kuroda, Jason Schmidt, and Esteban Loaiza – six deep on the surface. But Kuroda has never pitched in the Majors, Schmidt is a question mark, and Loaiza may not have much left. More and more, it’s looking like Ned Colletti wants to add one more veteran starter.
Troy E. Renck believes the Dodgers are after Joe Blanton, with the A’s asking for Andre Ethier, Andy LaRoche, and a prospect. I could see this happening. Ethier is fairly expendable, and the Dodgers have not seemed keen on LaRoche recently. Maybe L.A. would move separately to acquire Joe Crede or even try to get Eric Chavez along with Blanton. Renck thinks the Dodgers may be interested in Livan Hernandez as an alternative to Blanton.
He also says the Reds are "pushing hard" for Blanton, which jives with the previous info. The Reds are still kind of shaky behind Aaron Harang and Bronson Arroyo.
