Another Pederson Plug (from Plaschke)

No one, let alone the Dodgers, appears to be listening to Bill Plaschke's pleas to nab David Price. So, echoing others, tired ol' Plaschke has written another tired ol' article, this time in a plea for Joc Pederson:

If the Dodgers offense continues in this vein, even in the mediocre National League, their playoff hopes could eventually fall off. Despite ranking third in the league in runs scored, their bats have been wildly inconsistent, having scored three runs or fewer in 46 of its 99 games, going 13-34 in those games. This is an offense that needs a burst of energy. This is an attack that needs another July jolt like last season.

In this space previously, the call was for the Dodgers to trade two of their top three star prospects for Tampa Bay star pitcher David Price. Now another mandate has appeared. The one prospect they should keep, center fielder Joc Pederson, should be called up from triple-A Albuquerque immediately to give them that charge.

Pederson is athletic, powerful — with a 1.025 on-base plus slugging percentage — and energetic. Another veteran outfielder will have to be benched to make room for him, but the excitement the kid will provide will overcome any bad chemistry his presence might cause. The Dodgers' uniformed personnel can't say anything, but you know they would love to see a kid such as Pederson give a push to the stiff and struggling clubhouse veterans. Mattingly can't say anything, but you know he's tired of watching his veteran hitters casually toss away midseason at-bats as if they were pesky pieces of junk mail instead of the precious stuff of championships.

While Mattingly publicly continued to contend he is happy with his current roster, he acknowledged Saturday his team needed a spark and that "sometimes, it happens all of a sudden.''

Sometimes, Ned Colletti, it's just a phone call away.

Actually, it's 664 miles by flight, or 787 miles by car (through Flagstaff, Arizona).