Podcast: 'Dugout Blues' episode 7 -- Dodgers, Kemp, debuts, draft

In this episode, Jared and I discuss Matt Kemp reinjuring his hamstring, which will keep him out a month. We talk about the man called upon to replace him -- Alex Castellanos.We touch on the season debuts of Ralston Cash and Angelo Songco.

We also spend a good portion of the podcast previewing the MLB Draft (Monday, 4 p.m., MLB Network) by giving some prospects we like and whether the Dodgers would select them.

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It's almost that time of year. You know, July 31? Trade Deadline? All that craziness? Well, one name has already been linked, heavily, to the Dodgers: Kevin Youkilis.

A couple of articles hit the Web on Friday:

Danny Knobler's story:

"The Dodgers and White Sox are two teams that have already seen Youkilis play, and colleague Jon Heyman reports that the Dodgers are stepping up their scouting of him. He would also seem to be a fit for the Phillies, Reds, Diamondbacks and possibly the Giants. Even the Rangers have checked on him, according to sources.

The Red Sox could look to unload most of Youkilis' money (in that case, the Dodgers may make the most sense), or they could offer to pay much of the salary and get a better return."

Mike Petriello's blog post:

"I wouldn’t want to trade Zach Lee, but if the package required including an Ethan Martin? An Aaron Miller? A Matt Magill? An Allen Webster? The 3-4 other guys who are just like them? Any bullpen arm, majors included, that wasn’t Kenley Jansen? Maybe they want depth to replace Youkilis and might like Scott Van Slyke? It wouldn’t be only one of those guys, of course, because the Red Sox are going to require real actual talent to give up Youkilis, but sure, I could definitely live with that; Youkilis’ back woes and salary mean that I don’t expect this to be a “Carlos Beltran for Zack Wheeler” situation from last year, not that the Dodgers have a Wheeler to give away anyway.

You could argue, and I might just do so later this month, that Paul Konerko is a better choice, since he’s a bigger bat having a better season. He’s also older, can’t play third base, and on a team which may be less inclined to move him. Either way, I think we can all expect that the Dodgers are going to do something over the next two months. If the price is right, Youkilis could be a great fit for a team that’s badly in need of help at the infield corners. Besides, his OBP next to A.J. Ellis? Delicious."

This is on top of a Jon Heyman tweet saying the Dodgers were going to take an increased interest in the Boston corner infielder.

"#dodgers‬ are stepping up scouting of youkilis. clear signal is the new LAD will do what it takes to win."

Ken Gurnick chimed in a short time later with his information about this story.

"The Dodgers' interest in Boston infielder Kevin Youkilis is only lukewarm, meaning they don't want to pay his salary or deal a top prospect."

So, it's really anyone's guess what the plan is right now. Just expect to hear Youkilis and the Dodgers connected from now until he's either traded or July 31 passes.

Photo credit: dbking, Flickr