With Chris Taylor coming back from the IL, a roster move for the Dodgers was inevitable. There was a lot of speculation as to what they would potentially do. Well, they made their decision on Thursday.
Safe to say, it caught everyone by surprise.
In order to make room on the roster for Taylor, the Dodgers designated Jason Heyward for assignment. Despite limited production this season and no realistic playing time moving forward, this was a tough one to accept.
The move is even more perplexing, considering rosters expand by one position player on September 1. That is just a week away. The Dodgers could have gotten creative until then to keep everyone here.
Personally, I thought they were going to place Miguel Rojas on the injured list. He had a hamstring injury pop up the other day, which seemed like the perfect excuse to IL him for 10 days. By the time he’d come off the IL, the Dodgers would have a roster spot and everything would be good to go.
I guess they didn’t want to go down that route.
With Mookie Betts moving back to right field full time, there wasn’t a spot for Heyward. He was limited to only pinch-hit opportunities. Since August 11 he had only seven plate appearances. His numbers were significantly down from last season as well, as he was hitting .208 with an OPS of .682.
His final moment as a Dodger was a heroic one, as he hit a game-winning three run home run against the Mariners earlier in the week. I don’t think you could have asked for a better final at bat.
While his production won’t be missed, his presence in the clubhouse certainly will be. This guy was a Hall-of-Famer as a person and had a huge impact with the guys. I’m sure a lot of players are pretty bummed that he’ll no longer be with the team.
This is why it’s so confusing as well. Despite not playing much, he still could have been around the team in September and on the bench in October. Again, I guess the Dodgers have a bigger plan in mind here and would rather put that roster spot to better use.
When rosters expand in September, I’m guessing that the plan will be to call Andy Pages back up. He likely won’t have much playing time as well, but I’m guessing that’s the route they go down.
I did tweet this out yesterday, and it is something worth considering. I wonder if the Dodgers try this out in September in preparation for October. Against left-handed starters, Pages could start in right field while Betts can play second base.
Pages has a 145 wRC+ against lefties this season, while Gavin Lux has a 12 wRC+ against lefties. A reminder that 100 is considered to be league average. Lux is pretty much unplayable against LHP while Pages is extremely valuable. Then whenever a pitching change is made, the Dodgers can sub Lux in and send Betts back out to right field.
Just an idea. Not sure if the Dodgers consider it, but that would make sense considering they just DFA’d a clubhouse favorite.
Overall, it’s really a drag to see Heyward go. It would have been great for him to get another World Series ring. I really thought the Dodgers would go a different direction, but this is just the brutality of the business sometimes. Thanks for everything, Jason!
Makes sense to jettison him 9 days before rosters expand since no Dodger will ever get hurt again.
The hand-wringing over this move is admittedly confusing. Heyward had regressed significantly this year, to the point of being almost unplayable. And with Mookie back in RF (the right move all along), there were going to be no more opportunities for Heyward moving forward, outside of a very occasional pinch-hit spot. I get that he's a good dude and he's Freddie's BFF, but those aren't reasons to keep him on a roster that he's simply not good enough to crack.
Sure, CT has been lousy for most of the year, but LA was never DFA-ing a player to whom they owe $13M next year. If you're going to split 26th-man hairs between CT and Heyward, CT's defensive versatility still wins out there. And sure, Kike has been lousy for great stretches of the year, but he's still preferable to Heyward.
And finally, there's a reason the Dodgers made the moves for both Edman and Kiermaier. Both play ELITE defense in CF (while Edman is also an above-average defensive infielder), and the defense at premium positions takes precedence, particularly at this time of year.
This move really wasn't shocking, at all. Someone had to go--and they made the right call.