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Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has acknowledged the team doesn’t know if it can count on Will Smith returning this season, per Bill Shaikin at the Los Angeles Times. That’s a significant escalation from previous messaging around Smith’s status, and it puts catching squarely at the top of the Dodgers’ trade deadline priority list. If Smith is truly done for 2026, the front office has no choice but to go find a legitimate replacement.

Smith has been one of the best catching assets in baseball since establishing himself as the Dodgers’ everyday backstop. A switch-hitter with real pop and an increasingly refined approach at the plate, he’s been a cornerstone of the lineup for years. His ability to handle the pitching staff — including the unique demands of catching Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto — makes him nearly impossible to replace internally with anything close to equivalent production. Losing him for the rest of the season would be a blow that goes well beyond the stat sheet. Smith’s game-calling, his rapport with the rotation, and his offensive contributions from a position where offense is scarce across the league — all of that disappears if he’s shelved.

The Dodgers do have Austin Barnes on the roster as a veteran backup, and he’s a perfectly capable defender who knows the pitching staff well. But Barnes has never been an everyday player at this stage of his career, and asking him to shoulder a full workload through October is a lot. His bat, frankly, isn’t going to keep pace with what Smith provides. That gap in production could become a real problem in a lineup that already has questions to answer when guys go cold.

So what does the trade market look like? That’s the question Andrew Friedman and the front office need to answer quickly. Catchers with offensive value who are also available at the deadline are historically rare commodities. Teams don’t often let go of good catching, because good catching is so hard to find. The Dodgers will likely have to pay a premium — either in prospect capital or by taking on salary — to land someone who can hold down the position through a playoff run. Names will start circulating in the coming days, and I’d expect the Dodgers to be aggressive here. They don’t have the luxury of waiting.

This is one of those situations where the depth of the roster gets tested in a real way. The Dodgers came into the second half with legitimate World Series aspirations, and that hasn’t changed. But losing your starting catcher indefinitely changes the calculus at the deadline. Pitching was already going to be a focus — we’ve seen the Skubal talk — and now catching gets added to the shopping list. Friedman has shown before that he’s willing to make bold moves when the window is open. The window is open. This is a problem that needs solving, and it needs solving soon.

Source(s): Bill Shaikin (Los Angeles Times) | First reported: July 18, 2026 2:42 AM UTC

God Bless and Go Dodgers