Santiago Espinal is going to get designated for assignment on Tuesday as the corresponding move to the Los Angeles Dodgers activating Tommy Edman off the 60-day injured list.
Manager Dave Roberts revealed the impending roster decision after the Dodgers’ 4-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday night. It’s going to represent a second time Espinal has been DFA’d by the Dodgers since signing a Minor League contract during the offseason.
In both cases it’s a byproduct of their roster crunch. In the first instance, Espinal was the odd man out when Kiké Hernández was ready to make his season debut. That unfortunately backfired as Hernández only appeared in two games before going back on the injured list with a left oblique strain.
Fortunately for L.A., Espinal cleared waivers, elected free agency and quickly re-signed with the team. He’s now poised to go on waivers yet again and if unclaimed once more, will have the right to refuse a Minor League assignment to Triple-A Oklahoma City in favor of free agency.
Espinal has hit .268/.276/.375 with three doubles, one home run and seven RBI in 36 games over his two stints with the Dodgers. He primarily played second base and third base, but also appeared in three games at first base.
Understanding why Dodgers will DFA Santiago Espinal
The Dodgers had multiple options available to them in order to activate Edman, but in choosing to DFA Espinal, it certainly is the cleanest route.
Any other conceivable path to bringing Edman back would have required two moves by the Dodgers. One option seemingly available was to transfer Hernández to the 60-day injured list in order to make room on their 40-man roster. Hernández is not expected to return until late July or early August from his oblique strain.
That could have then been followed by sending Alex Freeland or Ryan Ward back to Oklahoma City. There was some though Ward would potentially get demoted given Roberts has revealed Edman will be a candidate to play left field.
Particularly since Espinal is one of the few right-handed hitting options currently available off the bench. But with Edman poised to fill a utility role, keeping Espinal became somewhat redundant.
“The fit right now with our ballclub, it just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense,” Roberts explained.
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