Like most other teams this offseason, the Los Angeles Dodgers have hardly made a splash with their free-agent signings. As the likes of Jake Arrieta, Lorenzo Cain and Yu Darvish remain available, the lone Major League addition they’ve made to this point was inking Tom Koehler.
Los Angeles did complete a salary dump of a trade with the Atlanta Braves, and a three-team trade with the Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals this month. Otherwise, the Dodgers have worked on the fringes of their roster and added organizational depth.
That isn’t to be taken lightly, as the Dodgers have relied on their depth in each of the past two seasons. And they appear to have taken another step in that direction by signing Donovan Solano, according to Chris Cotillo of SB Nation:
Source: Dodgers sign ex-Marlins INF Donovan Solano to minor-league deal. Was most recently in Yankees organization.
— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) January 19, 2018
Solano initially signed with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2005 as an amateur free agent out of Colombia. He became a free agent in November 2011 and quickly signed with the then-Florida Marlins.
Solano batted .257/.307/.328 with 38 doubles, six triples, eight home runs and 97 RBI in 361 games for the Marlins over parts of four seasons (2012-15). He spent each of the past two seasons in the New York Yankees organization, joining the Major League club in 2016.
In just nine games that season, Solano went 5-for-22 with two doubles, one home run and two RBI. The 30-year-old has played second base, third base, shortstop and left field at the Major League level.
Solano figures to join Triple-A Oklahoma City and be in line for one of the Dodgers’ first call-ups if and when they need a utility player off the bench this season.
