Chad Billingsley

The MLB trade deadline is just two weeks away and talks are beginning to heat up around the league.

This year's deadline is sure to be filled with sellers as a lot of teams are looking to free up cap room in an ever-struggling economy. Despite a meager bank account and not many prospects for improvement, the Dodgers view themselves as buyers.

The lack of a solid starting rotation has prompted the Dodgers to reach out to several teams regarding pitching, but the Dodgers seem unwilling to part with core talent.

It's finally over for right handed knuckleballer Charlie Haeger. The Dodgers designated Haeger for assignment on Friday, effectively ending Haeger's days as a Dodger.

The 26-year-old holds a 1-5 record as a Dodger while allowing 35 earned runs in just 30 innings pitched.

Haeger never really got on track in two abbreviated seasons for L.A., and spent several days on the DL in two separate stints with Planter Fasciitis in 2010. During both minor league rehabs, Haeger was impressive and earned a promotion back to the major league roster. 

A very thin starting LA rotation is about to get thinner. The Los Angeles Dodgers placed RHP Chad Billingsley on the 15-day DL because of a groin strain—the move is retroactive to June 12th.

Billingsley has had a real up and down season in 2010. In his first six starts the Dodger righty was 2-2 with a 5.06 ERA. Then, in his next 5 starts, Billingsley went 4-0 with a 2.45 ERA. Over his last two starts, Billingsley is 0-2 with a 7.71 ERA.

So as you can see, not everything has been roses for Billingsley in 2010.

Just when it seemed as if things were getting brighter for the Los Angeles Dodgers pitching staff, the team was dealt another blow on Tuesday afternoon, when they announced that Chad Billingsley would be placed on the 15-day disabled list with a groin injury.

According to team reports, Billingsley suffered the injury sometime during his start in Friday's 10-1 loss against the Los Angeles Angels.

This late in the season, it is rare to see bona fide stars sucking, but that’s what you get from Nate McLouth , Aramis Ramirez , Chone Figgins ,or Jake Peavy . All of these guys were drafted with expectations of big fantasy numbers, but all have floundered this season.

As of this writing, the Los Angeles Dodgers are in last place in the National League West, with an 11-16 record. The Milwaukee Brewers have scored 11 runs on them the past two nights.

Most Dodger fans did not expect this, with the team coming off two straight NLCS appearances with a good core of young players.

However, when the season started, I was afraid that this swooning futility might happen, sorry to say.

Here, in my humble opinion, is why the Dodgers are where they are at this point:

Injuries

Through two weeks and 12 games, the story remains the same for the Dodgers bullpen. The pitchers coming out of the gate can't seem to close out games when handed big leads, nor can they keep their team in it while the game is close. It has become clear changes are required as soon as possible.

Dodgers manager Joe Torre is poised to make some moves this week with Hong-Chih Kuo finishing up his minor league rehab assignment successfully.

The Los Angeles Dodgers appear to be the perfect mix of youth and veteran players on paper. With great young talent in Matt Kemp, Andre Either, and Clayton Kershaw, and solid veteran leadership from Casey Blake and Rafael Furcal, this team is set for another run at that elusive National League Championship. That is, if they can make the playoffs.

This is a series of posts leading up to the season preview which will be posted sometime next week.

This post will look at the No. 1 and 2 starters for each team in the NL West (other than the Giants, since these posts will concentrate more on what the Giants will be facing in 2010 in various categories).

One thing to note about these posts is that I'm not looking specifically at the No. 1 and 2 pitchers in the rotation according to MLB.com depth charts.