Los Angeles Dodgers rumors: Team concerned about Josh Beckett

The Los Angeles Dodgers did eventually end up trading for a starting pitcher mid-season to bolster their run to the playoffs. No, it wasn’t David Price or Jon Lester or Cole Hamels, but they did still trade for another arm for their starting rotation when they acquired Roberto Hernandez, the man formerly known as Fausto Carmona, from the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday.

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That is hardly the kind of headline-grabbing move people were expecting from the Dodgers during MLB’s trade season, but it was the one they deemed to be necessary because of concerns about the veterans in the back of their rotation. Primarily, the team is reportedly quite unsure what it will get from Josh Beckett for the rest of the year.

Tim Brown of Yahoo! writes the following:

"Beckett, after three months spent reclaiming his prime, has since struggled to remain upright and effective. He developed a torn labrum in his hip, which could require surgery……Because of the worsening hip injury and what are believed to be various other ailments, Beckett could miss significant time, a source said Thursday, though surgery has not yet been prescribed."

It will be interesting to see if the promise Beckett showed earlier in the season, including a no-hitter against the Philadelphia Phillies, actually ends up hurting the Dodgers’ chances in the long run.

Beckett’s solid stats (the guy still has a 2.88 ERA this season) along with the improvements of fellow veteran Dan Haren might have inspired enough confidence in the Dodgers to back off their pursuits of starting pitching help.

The top of their rotation can still match any, but it will be interesting to see how their spot in the playoff race is affected by the fact that a guy like Hernandez, who has been good this season with a 3.87 ERA but unsteady in his career, is now in the mix.