Dodgers News: Padres Pitchers Makes Bold Claim About LA and New San Diego Roster

Padres pitcher Joe Musgrove is confident that San Diego's trade deadline acquisitions have pulled San Diego even with the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West.

The San Diego Padres were the most active team at the trade deadline, completely revamping their team with the additions of Josh Hader, Juan Soto, Brandon Drury, and Josh Bell. Despite (or perhaps due to) trailing the Dodgers by double-digit games in the NL West, Padres general manager AJ Preller went for it, trading away over a dozen prospects to land some big names.

The Padres paid a steep price for these acquisitions, including prized prospects CJ Abrams, James Wood, and Roberts Hassell III, but they see this as their year to compete, and they accurately assessed that the players they brought in will help them this year.

The Dodgers remain the team to beat in both the division and the entire National League, but the Padres feel confident. Padres pitcher Joe Musgrove, who had a big deadline deal of his own in signing a five-year extension to stay with his hometown team, seems to think the playing field is now level.

"With the Dodgers, sometimes you look at that and go, 'Gosh, this is going to be tough, we're going to have to play our best baseball every single night, no room for error.' I feel like with a couple additions we've made it's a very even playing field now."

The Padres definitely have a more potent offense with the additions of Soto and Bell to the heart of the lineup, representing significant upgrades over Luke Voit, Eric Hosmer, and Wil Myers. But have the pulled even with the Dodgers?

The Dodgers have been the best team in the National League this year. Their trade deadline was relatively quiet, with the biggest move being their acquisition of Joey Gallo from the Yankees. But they're looking forward to the returns of Blake Treinen, Brusdar Graterol, Chris Taylor, Walker Buehler, Dustin May, and others in the next few weeks. Only time will tell if Musgrove is right.