Another Will Smith injury update feels like a Dalton Rushing trade deadline ploy

Dalton Rushing has been the subject of vague trade rumors since before he even made his major league debut. A trade only made sense — after all, were the Los Angeles Dodgers really going to stick their No. 1 prospect behind Will Smith for a decade? — and even with his on-field antics, LA probably wouldn't hurt to find a suitor and a respectable return package if they really wanted to move him.

The answer up to this point has been 'yes, the Dodgers are really going to stick their (former) No. 1 prospect behind Smith for a decade,' but that won't stop the rumors. Jeff Passan name-dropped the Texas Rangers and New York Yankees as teams that could be interested in Rushing, should he be made available.

Dodgers insiders have shut down the notion, but fans didn't really even them to do that to know that, for whatever reason, LA's sticking with this guy through thick and thin.

But if they change their mind, Smith has given Rushing even more time to drive up his trade value. During the Dodgers' second game against the Arizona Diamondbacks this weekend, David Vassegh relayed that Dave Roberts "doesn't see Smith coming back anytime before the end of July."

Will Smith's prolonged IL stint gives the Dodgers more fodder for a potential Dalton Rushing trade

Rushing looked unstoppable at the plate in April and hasn't quite matched that level of performance since, but he's getting close to it in July. He's hitting .308/.367/.538 this month and played walk-off hero against the Colorado Rockies on July 6 (the same day he seemingly instigated a shouting match with Cole Carrigg). He's hitting .254 with a .812 OPS in 61 games on the season going into the All-Star break — not the kind of production you can sniff at from a backup catcher.

Sure, Rushing's on-field antics could hurt a potential trade market, but if the Yankees would be willing to take him on despite the controversies, they haven't seem to have done a lot of hurt.

It's more likely than not that Rushing will stay put and the Dodgers will keep running him out there as long as Smith's timeline just keeps getting longer and longer, but he could also be the perfect solution for the Dodgers' stated trade deadline goal: focus on acquiring minor league depth. Now that Smith has had another setback, Rushing has a couple extra weeks to make himself look even more enticing to buyers.

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