Upon completing trades with the Boston Red Sox and Minnesota Twins to acquire Mookie Betts, David Price, Brusdar Graterol and Luke Raley, the Los Angeles Dodgers designated Kyle Garlick and Tyler White for assignment in order to clear room on their 40-man roster.
That gave the Dodgers seven days to trade, release or outright Garlick and White. L.A. moved Garlick by trading him to the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for Minor League pitcher Tyler Gilbert.
However, White cleared waivers, was sent outright to Triple-A Oklahoma City and remained with the Dodgers organization as a non-roster invitee to Spring Training.
Now back in camp at Camelback Ranch, the 29-year-old addressed the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing scandal as best he could, via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
Tyler White is back in #Dodgers camp. Spent time in Astros organization including 2017. Acknowledged “it was wrong” what they did but said he was there so little that year that he couldn’t comment
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) February 18, 2020
The Dodgers claimed White off waivers from the Astros last July, but he only played a handful of games with the team before suffering right trapezius strain that ended up being season-ending.
In 26 plate appearances for the Dodgers, White had just one single, hitting .045/.192/.045 with a two RBI. Overall in 83 games between the Astros and Dodgers last year, he batted a combined .208/.308/.304 with three home runs and 23 RBI.
White’s best season with the Astros came in 2018, when he hit .276/.354/.533 with 12 home runs and 42 RBI in 66 games. While plenty of attention has been given to the Astros’ 2017 World Series title, Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred found the team cheated in 2018 as well.
How much, if at all, the Dodgers have privately questioned White is unclear. Ross Stripling didn’t see him until a stop on the team’s community tour in January.
“I kind of jokingly asked where he put his buzzer, and he had a joking response back. And that’s actually all that I had with him,” Stripling said at the time. “I hadn’t really decided, maybe others hadn’t decided (either), how they want to go about asking certain questions.
“I don’t think it’s awkward. Tyler is an awesome guy and I think he’s straight shooter. I think he’d tell you anything you’d want to know, especially in the locker room around us.”
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