The Athletic offers pipe dream starting pitching targets for ailing Dodgers

Against all odds, the Dodgers have actually managed to recover some of the starting pitching depth they lost in the first half. Yoshinobu Yamamoto has stayed healthy all year, but Clayton Kershaw is back, Tyler Glasnow is back, Shohei Ohtani is ramping up, and Emmet Sheehan has been a decent enough interim arm.

Blake Snell has made three rehab starts and is now in Triple-A Oklahoma City, so he could be back relatively soon, and Dave Roberts has hinted an August return for Roki Sasaki. Dustin May was bumped to the bullpen and could be a decent rental at the trade deadline, but the rotation is technically full at five.

So although it seemed impossible a month ago, the Dodgers' trade deadline focus should be almost entirely on relief pitching. Tanner Scott and likely Ben Casparius just hit or will hit the IL, Evan Phillips is out for the year, and Michael Kopech can't come off of the IL until late August.

However, the Athletic named a number of new trade candidates for the Dodgers — and almost all of them are starting pitchers. Joe Ryan, Seth Lugo, or Tyler Anderson would be great additions, but they also feel unrealistic.

The Athletic connects Dodgers to starting pitching targets including Joe Ryan, but fans shouldn't get too excited

Ryan is the best of all of these options, and got the No. 1 spot on The Athletic's big board accordingly. The Twins have reportedly said that they don't plan to move him, but are open to listening to offers. Undoubtedly, he'd be an incredibly difficult get. He has two years of team control left and possesses the best strikeout-to-walk ratio of anyone in baseball aside from Tarik Skubal. The Dodgers are apparently already looking at the Twins' Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax, who also have two years of team control left, and they're going to be expensive as it is.

The Dodgers just, miraculously, don't really need starting pitching. When Snell comes back, they could keep Sheehan in the majors for a six-man rotation, and then if Sasaki does manage to return this year, they can send Sheehan back down. They wouldn't have the same luxury with Ryan, Lugo, or Anderson, which would make overpaying for them at the deadline a mistake.

So fans shouldn't get their hopes up to see any of them come to LA by the deadline. Relievers and maybe an outfielder — that's where the team's attention lies.