How Dodgers can pivot after Mariners stole trade target Randy Arozarena

Late on Thursday night, the Rays and Mariners officially lit the flame on the hot stove when Tampa Bay traded Randy Arozarena to Seattle for two of the Mariners' top 30 prospects and a player to be named later. Arozarena was said to be available ahead of the trade, but the Mariners came in sort of out of nowhere to snatch him up. Seattle got away with a highway robbery by most accounts — the two named prospects were MLB Pipeline's Mariners' No. 12 Aiden Smith (OF), and No. 22 Brody Hopkins (RHP), which feels like an incredible undersell when the other end of the deal is a player who has two more years of team control. Sure, these rankngs haven't been updated since the start of the year, and there's a Player to Be Named Later involved, but...still, wow.

The Dodgers were reported as being "in" on Arozarena just a few days ago by Mark Feinsand. He was an obvious candidate to bolster their struggling outfield, but now he clearly won't be coming to LA anytime soon.

So where do the Dodgers go from here? We have no way of knowing if talks were ever actually that serious between LA and Tampa, but Arozarena was certainly one of the best outfielders expected to be traded and the Dodgers are going to have to pivot accordingly.

Where do the Dodgers look after Rays-Mariners pulled off a Randy Arozarena trade?

Luis Robert Jr. is still out there, and the Dodgers are reportedly angling for a blockbuster with the White Sox for Robert, Garrett Crochet, and Michael Kopech. If they could pull that off, there would be little need to mourn missing out on Arozarena. However, the Dodgers aren't the only ones in the running for any of those three players. Crochet has garnered interest from the Phillies, Orioles, and Padres — and that's just to name a few.

A couple of other outfielders in the mix — Jazz Chisholm Jr., Tommy Pham — wouldn't be great fits in LA, but they're still around if the Dodgers get desperate. However, the Nationals' Jesse Winker or Lane Thomas could do the trick; maybe even veteran Kevin Pillar, who's been having a bafflingly good 50 games with the crosstown rivals in Anaheim? Another Angel in Taylor Ward isn't having quite as good a time, but is said to be available.

None of these players are quite the guy that Arozarena is (or Robert is, for that matter), but the crowd is clearly about to start thinning out, and fast. The Dodgers just have a few more days to figure out how they're going to make this team look different (read: better) through the last two months of the regular season and into the playoffs.