Dodgers may be alone in pursuit of 2 stars at trade deadline

The Dodgers' financial flexibility and farm system put them in a unique position at this year's trade deadline.

Playoff expansion has left a slew of teams in contention and dramatically reduced the number of teams willing to be sellers at the deadline. That's created a logjam of available players where asking prices on the trade market have climbed.

In a piece for ESPN , Buster Olney indicated that teams around baseball are skeptical of the White Sox's willingness to move their two prized assets left-handed starter Garrett Crochet and outfielder Luis Robert.

However, Olney also noted that other executives are under the impression that the Dodgers are thinking big and working toward a significant splash ahead of the July 30 deadline.

That all goes hand-in-hand with another note from Olney:

So often in Andrew Friedman's tenure as leader of the Dodgers, he lands the best and the biggest at the deadline, and rival executives say that L.A. is flashing its wallet -- and is willing to take on dollars in a way that other teams are not.

While teams may be ramping up asking prices, and Crochet may be looking for a new contract before pitching in October,  LA is in a spot where that won't deter them in the way it might for a contender with less money to spend. That's part of the reason Shohei Ohtani wanted to defer money in his contract was to give the Dodgers some added flexibility with their payroll to help them build the roster. Despite being loaded with stars, LA has room to add payroll-wise. Combine that with a desirable spate of prospects in their farm system and they have the ability to make seismic moves at the deadline.

Perhaps every other team believes Crochet and Robert are unattainable. That won't necessarily be the case for the Dodgers. Even if the asking price is high, they have to go for it because they can't go into October with their club as assembled and expect to win a World Series. They have to flex their prospect and financial muscle in 2024 to make the White Sox an offer they can't refuse and make those moves no other team can.