Dodgers Trade Damon Keith To Brewers
The Dodgers are trading minor league outfielder Damon Keith to the Brewers for cash, reports Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. The 25-year-old is expected to begin his tenure in the Milwaukee organization in Double-A.
Keith played the entire 2025 season at that level. He struggled to a .226/.296/.386 line with 11 home runs across 362 plate appearances. Keith swung and missed too often and struck out a near-31% clip. Whiffs have been an issue for the 6’3″ outfielder going back to his selection in the 18th round of the 2021 draft.
Eric Longenhagen, James Fegan and Brendan Gawlowski gave Keith an honorable mention in their writeup of the Dodgers’ farm system in December. They praised his right-handed power while unsurprisingly flagging a lack of bat control that has led to the whiffs. Keith ranked among L.A.’s top 30 prospects at Baseball America a few seasons ago but has fallen off the list as his strikeouts climbed at the higher levels.
Keith hasn’t played center field since he was in High-A during the 2023 season. He’s a corner bat who’ll look to put himself on the radar for a Milwaukee organization with a lot of outfield depth. Keith has gone unselected in the past two Rule 5 drafts. He’ll be eligible again next offseason but won’t reach minor league free agency until the end of the 2027 season if the Brewers don’t put him on the 40-man roster before then.
Dodgers Hire Clayton Kershaw As Special Assistant
Clayton Kershaw is back with the Dodgers in a non-playing role. The club hired the future Hall of Famer as a special assistant in their front office, reports Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. Kershaw retired at the end of the 2025 season, though he was included on the Team USA roster for this spring’s World Baseball Classic. That was largely symbolic, as he didn’t make an appearance and was subbed off the roster before the semifinals.
Kershaw tells Sonja Chen of MLB.com he’ll “be involved” with the organization. Special assistant roles around the league vary. Some of these hirings are ceremonial or public relations moves, while others involve working with MLB players and/or prospects during Spring Training and throughout the season.
In either case, it’s fitting that Kershaw remains a Dodger in some capacity. He spent all of his legendary career in Dodger blue, posting a 2.53 ERA in a little under 3000 innings. Kershaw won the NL MVP in 2014 and is still the most recent pitcher to do so. He won five ERA titles, three Cy Young awards, and three championships.
Kershaw is in L.A. this weekend for the season-opening series against the Diamondbacks. He was part of NBC’s broadcast team for last night’s opener. He’s back at Dodger Stadium tonight as part of the World Series ring ceremony.
Jason Heyward Announces Retirement
After spending parts of 16 seasons in the majors, outfielder Jason Heyward is calling it a career. The five-time Gold Glove winner and 2016 World Series champion announced the end of his playing career this morning in an appearance on MLB Network (video link).
“After 16 major league seasons, I’m going to announce my retirement,” Heyward said. “I’m glad and happy to be stepping to the other side of the game. I look forward to being a potential mentor to any of the young players coming up — anybody that’s in the game right now. I feel like the game is in good hands. I look forward to being a fan and seeing what other ways I can give back. … Thank you to everybody that’s been there to support [me]. The fans, teammates, coaches, staff, ownership groups — thank you for allowing me to live out my dream.”
A Georgia native selected by Atlanta with the No. 14 overall draft pick back in 2007, Heyward debuted for his hometown Braves as a 20-year-old back in 2010. He entered that season ranked by Baseball America as the Game’s No. 1 overall prospect and wasted little time announcing his presence in the big leagues; with two men aboard in the first at-bat of his career, Heyward deposited a 2-0 fastball from Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano into the Braves’ bullpen and circled the bases with the first of his 186 major league home runs (video link).
Heyward hit .277/.393/.456 as a rookie and spent the next four seasons starring in his home state as a key force in the middle of the lineup. With Atlanta rebuilding in 2015 and Heyward only a year from free agency, the Braves flipped him to the Cardinals in a deal bringing young right-hander Shelby Miller to Atlanta.
That swap worked out nicely for both clubs. Heyward posted one of his best seasons with St. Louis in 2015, slashing .293/.359/.439 with elite defense. He rejected a qualifying offer following the season, and the Cardinals netted a compensatory draft pick. The Braves, meanwhile, got an All-Star season out of Miller before trading him to the D-backs for Dansby Swanson and Ender Inciarte.
Heyward went on to sign an eight-year, $184MM contract with the Cubs — a record deal for the team that still stands as the largest contract in franchise history. Though he’s credited for rallying the team during his now-infamous rain delay speech during Game 7 of the World Series, that eight-year commitment certainly didn’t pan out as the Cubs envisioned. He hit .230/.306/.325 in year one of the contract, and while his 2018-20 numbers were solid (.261/.347/.419), Heyward was released as the contract’s seventh year drew to a close. He won a pair of Gold Gloves in Chicago but batted only .245/.323/.377 in 2836 plate appearances as a Cub.
A 2023 pairing with the Dodgers brought about a resurgent season. Heyward, still playing out the eighth year of that Cubs contract (but in a different uniform) slashed .269/.340/.473 and popped 15 homers in 377 plate appearances with the Dodgers. He re-signed in L.A. but struggled, finishing the season with the Astros and eventually signing a one-year deal with the Padres ahead of the 2025 season. San Diego released him after 95 unproductive plate appearances.
Though Heyward never developed into the offensive force most expected, he finished his career with a lifetime .255/.306/.408 batting line — about four percent better than league-average production, by measure of wRC+. He swatted 186 home runs, swiped 126 bases and tallied 306 doubles, 41 triples, 879 runs scored and 730 runs batted in.
It’s often easy to understate just how excellent Heyward was with the glove. He won five Gold Gloves in his career and very arguably should have won more. He has the sixth-most Defensive Runs Saved (159) of any player at any position since the stat was introduced.
Thanks to his superlative defensive acumen, solid overall offense (looking at his career as a whole) and positive contributions on the basepaths, Heyward retires with 34.8 wins above replacement, per FanGraphs, and 41.2 WAR by Baseball-Reference’s version of the stat. Not including his draft bonus, Heyward took home more than $211MM in salary. Focusing solely on his level of performance relative to the expectations associated with his free agent contract undersells the quality of Heyward’s play throughout his 16-year career. Few players ever achieve this level of accolade and production. Congratulations to Heyward on a very fine tenure in the big leagues, and best wishes in whatever the game has in store for him in the future.
Dodgers Sign Jake Cousins, Place Bobby Miller On 60-Day IL
12:25pm: Cousins is guaranteed $950K and can earn an additional $50K via incentives, Ardaya reports.
12:13pm: The Dodgers have signed reliever Jake Cousins to a major league contract, as first indicated on the MLB.com transaction log. The Frontline client will miss most or all of the 2026 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery last June but is controllable via arbitration through 2028. Right-hander Bobby Miller, who didn’t pitch this spring due to shoulder troubles, moves to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man roster spot. (Players cannot be signed directly to the 60-day IL, so Miller will head to the 60-day in Cousins’ place, but Cousins will hit the 60-day IL himself when the Dodgers next need a 40-man spot.)
Cousins, 31, has pitched in parts of four major league seasons. The cousin of NFL quarterback Kirk Cousins has suited up for the Brewers and Yankees to this point in his career, missing bats at huge rates and showing strong ground-ball tendencies but also battling repeated injuries and shaky command. Cousins has pitched 90 2/3 MLB innings, fanned more than 32% of his opponents, kept 47% of batted balls against him on the ground — and walked nearly 15% of the batters he’s faced. His career earned run average sits at a tidy 2.78.
Beyond last year’s UCL surgery, Cousins has been limited in recent years by shoulder inflammation (twice), a pec strain, a biceps strain and right elbow effusion. He’s never pitched 50 innings in a professional season but has consistently been effective when he’s been able to take the mound. He has a career 3.34 ERA in the minors with similarly impressive strikeout numbers. Cousins is a two-pitch reliever who’s averaged 95.3 mph on his sinker in his career and 82.5 mph on a wicked slider he throws at a whopping 61.2% clip.
At best, Cousins will be an option for the Dodgers late in the 2026 season and perhaps in the postseason, where his potent bat-missing ability could give Los Angeles skipper Dave Roberts an intriguing, under-the-radar option. For the time being, he’s a multi-year reclamation project whose name Dodgers fans can tuck away in the back of their minds.
The Dodgers also made a number of largely expected IL placements. Tommy Edman (recovering from ankle surgery) was placed on the 10-day IL. Pitchers Brock Stewart (recovery from shoulder surgery), Gavin Stone (shoulder inflammation), Blake Snell (shoulder fatigue) and Landon Knack all hit the 15-day IL.
Knack is the lone surprise on the list. The Dodgers haven’t previously indicated that he’s dealing with an injury, and the transaction log does not list a specific injury designation. Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reports that Knack is dealing with an intercostal strain. It’s not clear how much time he’s expected to miss, but he’ll be down for at least the first couple weeks of the year.
Poll: Who Will Win The NL West?
With Opening Day just around the corner, the offseason is more or less complete for MLB’s 30 clubs and teams. Until the playoffs begin, teams will be focused on a smaller goal: winning their division. In the run-up to the start of the season, we will be conducting a series of polls to gauge who MLBTR readers believe is the favorite in each division. The Blue Jays came out on top in the AL East, and the Tigers did the same in our poll on the AL Central. Yesterday, MLBTR readers overwhelmingly voted (66%) to predict the Mariners would win the AL West. Today, we’ll be moving on to the National League, starting with the NL West. All teams are listed in order of their 2025 regular season record:
Los Angeles Dodgers (93-69)
The Dodgers may have not even qualified for a playoff bye last year, but their dominant performance during the postseason quelled any doubt about the club being the class of the National League. Los Angeles did not rest on its laurels this offseason, adding two more superstars: outfielder Kyle Tucker and closer Edwin Diaz. That duo levels up a roster that already sports Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Mookie Betts among many other high-end players. As has become the norm, the Dodgers enter 2026 as the overwhelming favorite to win the division, although their aging and injury-prone core will surely start showing cracks at some point. Will this year be that year?
San Diego Padres (90-72)
On paper, the Padres might look to some as if they’re more likely to miss the playoffs entirely than overtake the Dodgers in the NL West. The silver living for San Diego, then, is that this was also true headed into the 2025 season. Despite that narrative, the Padres managed to spend much of the summer in a virtual tie with Los Angeles, and they were in sole possession of first place as late as August 23. This year, they’ll look to defy the odds once again with a patchwork rotation that offers little certainty outside of Nick Pivetta and a lineup that wasn’t substantially improved over the offseason. The biggest additions to San Diego relative to last year, in all likelihood, will be full seasons from star closer Mason Miller and veteran outfielder Ramon Laureano.
San Francisco Giants (81-81)
After a splashy trade for Rafael Devers last June, the Giants ended up selling at last year’s trade deadline. Their efforts to get back in the playoff hunt for 2026 this winter were more complementary than impactful. Tyler Mahle and Adrian Houser join a rotation that lost Justin Verlander. The lineup added a glove-first outfielder in Harrison Bader and a bat-first infielder in Luis Arraez. Still, the team looks solid on paper. Those additions leave the San Francisco offense without many obvious holes, and the rotation sports one of the game’s best starters in Logan Webb plus a former Cy Young winner in Robbie Ray. Perhaps the biggest question facing the Giants this year is in the bullpen. San Francisco traded Tyler Rogers and Camilo Doval last July and lost Randy Rodriguez to Tommy John surgery in September. None have been replaced. That could leave the club bleeding runs in the late innings without big steps forward from players like Erik Miller and Jose Butto.
Arizona Diamondbacks (80-82)
Just about everything that could go wrong on the pitching side did so for the Diamondbacks last year. Zac Gallen had the worst season of his career. Corbin Burnes, Justin Martinez, and A.J. Puk all underwent elbow surgery. Brandon Pfaadt and Eduardo Rodriguez had seasons to forget. Their team is weaker on paper headed into 2026 than it was in 2025, as their big offseason additions were reunions with Gallen and Merrill Kelly, plus additions at the infield corners (Carlos Santana and Nolan Arenado) won’t match the offensive output of those positions’ previous occupants (Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suarez). Even so, Ketel Marte and Corbin Carroll are legitimate superstars. Geraldo Perdomo might be one as well. If the team’s veteran pitchers can turn things around, perhaps the Diamondbacks could ride their strong offensive nucleus back into the postseason.
Colorado Rockies (43-119)
Following a 119-loss season in 2025, Colorado made some small moves under new front office boss Paul DePodesta but nothing that would truly move the needle. Jake McCarthy, Edouard Julien, Willi Castro, Michael Lorenzen, and Jose Quintana have certainly all had their fair share of success in the past, but each profiles as a complementary player at the best of times. Perhaps those moves working out plus steps forward from key pieces like Brenton Doyle and Ezequiel Tovar could help the Rockies avoid another 100-loss season, but a division title or Wild Card berth are both pipe dreams.
Who do MLBTR readers think will win the NL West? Have your say in the poll:
Who will win the NL West in 2026?
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Los Angeles Dodgers 66% (2,924)
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San Diego Padres 12% (523)
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Colorado Rockies 10% (449)
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San Francisco Giants 9% (403)
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Arizona Diamondbacks 3% (138)
Total votes: 4,437
Dodgers Option Hyeseong Kim; Alex Freeland To Make Roster
The Dodgers announced a round of camp cuts today, headlined by their decision to option utility man Hyeseong Kim to Triple-A. Infielder Nick Senzel, outfielder Jack Suwinski, and catcher Seby Zavala were also re-assigned to minor league camp. That leaves the door open for infield prospect Alex Freeland to make the team’s Opening Day roster, and Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic confirms that Freeland has been informed that he’s done just that.
Freeland, 24, was a third-round pick by the Dodgers in 2022 and made his big league debut last year. A consensus top-50 prospect in the sport last season, the infielder hit quite well at Triple-A with a .263/.384/.451 (115 wRC+) slash line across 106 games for Oklahoma City. Freeland swatted 16 homers and 30 doubles while walking at a whopping 16.3% clip and striking out 21.9% of the time. Those strong numbers didn’t translate to a 29-game cup of coffee with Los Angeles this last year, however, as he hit just .190/.292/.310 across 97 trips to the plate.
Despite that tough start to his MLB career, Freeland will round out a Dodgers bench that already includes Santiago Espinal, Dalton Rushing, and Alex Call. Call and Rushing figure to serve in pure bench roles, backing up the outfield and catcher Will Smith respectively. As for Freeland and Espinal, however, they appear likely to share playing time at second base with veteran Miguel Rojas to open the season, while also filling in for Mookie Betts and Max Muncy on the left side of the infield as needed. With both Enrique Hernandez and Tommy Edman on the injured list to open the season, there’s plenty of room in the club’s infield mix for Freeland to earn himself playing time in the early days of the 2026 campaign.
It’s at least somewhat surprising that opportunity won’t go to Kim. The 27-year-old hit a solid .280/.314/.385 (95 wRC+) across 170 trips to the plate in a bench role for the Dodgers last year while handling second base, shortstop, and center field as needed. It seems as though production during Spring Training didn’t factor into L.A.’s decision regarding their final bench spot, either; Kim slashed an incredible .407/.448/.519 in 30 spring plate appearances, while Freeland struggled during camp with a paltry .116/.286/.233 slash line across 56 plate appearances. Jack Harris of the California Post notes, however, that the Dodgers felt Freeland’s discipline (with 11 walks and 11 strikeouts) was impressive and that Kim struggled with his mechanics during and after his stint with South Korea in the World Baseball Classic.
It’s also plausible that the decision to roster Freeland is about getting him an opportunity while there’s a relatively clear shot at regular playing time. Edman is expected to begin the year on the injured list, and while his stay may not be very long it could still allow Freeland to get consistent MLB playing time for a couple weeks. That could be hard to come by on the club’s roster once Edman returns from the shelf, and the Dodgers have at times had prospects struggle to break through due to lack of opportunities in this past. If that’s the case, it’s not hard to imagine Kim being the next man up for a bench role in the event Espinal or Rojas either struggles or heads to the injured list. Whatever the Dodgers’ exact reasoning may be, Kim will open the season at Triple-A for the second season in a row and look to stay ready for when a big league opportunity eventually does arrive.
Dodgers Select Santiago Espinal
March 20th: Espinal will make a salary of $2.5MM, reports Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic.
March 18th: The Dodgers announced that they have selected the contract of infielder/outfielder Santiago Espinal. They opened a 40-man roster spot earlier this month when outfielder Jack Suwinski was outrighted, so no corresponding move is necessary today.
Opening Day is still over a week away. With the Dodgers selecting Espinal’s contract now, it’s possible he had some sort of opt-out in his minor league deal. At any rate, there wasn’t much mystery regarding his status. A couple of weeks ago, manager Dave Roberts said that Espinal was trending towards making the team.
Espinal should provide the club with defensive versatility, while ideally helping against lefty pitching. In his career, Espinal has played all four infield spots as well as the outfield corners. Offensively, his right-handed bat is best deployed as part of a platoon. He has a career .291/.344/.409 line and 107 wRC+ against southpaws, compared to a .245/.300/.316 line and 73 wRC+ against righties.
He’s a few years removed from his best years at the plate, which were with the Blue Jays in 2021 and 2022. He slashed .282/.340/.382 for a 105 wRC+ over those two seasons. Since then, he has a .245/.298/.325 line over three seasons, a period which saw him get flipped to the Reds. That includes a rough .243/.292/.282 line and 58 wRC+ in 2025. The Reds outrighted him off the roster at season’s end and he elected free agency.
Tommy Edman and Enrique Hernández are going to open the season on the injured list. That leaves the second base spot fairly open, with guys like Hyeseong Kim and Miguel Rojas in the mix there. Kim is a lefty hitter but he was better against southpaws in 2025, so perhaps a platoon with Espinal isn’t perfect. In any case, Espinal can add some depth on the bench.
The Dodgers have a relatively old roster, as guys in their mid-30s like Mookie Betts, Max Muncy, Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernández should have regular roles. If anyone in that group is banged up or just needs a day off, Espinal can move around as needed.
Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images
Dodgers, Logan Allen Agree To Minor League Deal
The Dodgers are in agreement with left-hander Logan Allen on a minor league contract, reports Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. Allen, 28, spent last season in Korea and is fresh off representing Canada in the World Baseball Classic.
A namesake of a current Guardians starter (who also pitched in the WBC as a member of Team Panama), this Logan Allen is a former Cleveland pitcher. Allen also suited up with the Padres, Orioles and Diamondbacks in an MLB career which has spanned parts of five seasons. His most recent big league experience came with Arizona two years ago. Allen allowed a 5.46 earned run average over 28 innings.
He signed with the KBO’s NC Dinos last winter. Allen took the ball 32 times and logged 173 innings but didn’t have great rate production. He allowed a 4.53 ERA in the pitcher-friendly league. That ranked 28th among the 38 KBO pitchers who reached 100 innings. Allen was 25th among the group with a 19.4% strikeout rate.
KBO teams are limited to four foreign-born pitchers, one of whom must be from Australia or elsewhere in Asia. Given that restriction, it’s not surprising the Dinos went in a different direction after Allen’s middling season. They re-signed Matt Davidson, former Cubs minor leaguer Riley Thompson and added Curtis Taylor (who spent last year in Triple-A with the Cardinals) as Allen’s replacement. Japanese-born Natsuki Toda is their Asian-born international player.
Davidi writes that Allen was set to sign with a Mexican League team for 2026. He got the WBC nod and pitched twice for Team Canada, working 3 1/3 innings of one-run ball. He impressed Dodgers evaluators enough to instead land a new affiliated ball opportunity. He’ll begin the season as rotation or long relief depth for Triple-A Oklahoma City.
Latest On Blake Snell’s Timeline
Blake Snell has had a delayed spring ramp-up after experiencing offseason arm fatigue. The two-time Cy Young winner is now certain to begin the season on the 15-day injured list, though he expressed hope he won’t miss too much of the regular season.
Snell threw a 15-pitch bullpen session on Thursday, his first mound work of the spring. He said afterward that he’s aiming to make his season debut by the end of April (links via Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic and Bill Plunkett of The Orange County Register). Snell said he’s essentially at the beginning of what would be a usual six-week Spring Training buildup.
Manager Dave Roberts was less eager to identify a specific timeline. Roberts pointed to the team’s rotation talent in noting that they “have the luxury of trying to err on the side of caution.” That’s the usual approach for the Dodgers when it comes to regular season injuries. Their roster is so loaded that they enter each season with overwhelmingly strong playoff odds. They can afford to have players skip a few regular season starts with an eye towards having them available later in the year when the games are more meaningful.
Snell’s 2025 campaign was an example of that. He only made 11 starts and threw 61 1/3 innings during the regular season because of shoulder inflammation. He was firing on all cylinders in October, though, working 34 frames of 3.18 ERA ball in the postseason. Snell had a trio of exceptional starts in the first three playoff rounds — one each in the Wild Card Series, Division Series and NLCS. The Blue Jays found some success against him over his two World Series starts, though Snell recorded a pivotal four outs in relief in Game 7 to help set the stage for Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s extra-inning heroics.
Yamamoto is the obvious choice to take the ball against the Diamondbacks on Opening Day, though the Dodgers haven’t made an official announcement. (They’re presumably waiting to see how Yamamoto’s schedule maps out during the World Baseball Classic.) Tyler Glasnow will follow. Shohei Ohtani isn’t pitching in games during the WBC, but he’s throwing side sessions and expected to be in the Opening Day rotation.
Roki Sasaki has battled his command over two Spring Training starts, walking five batters in 3 1/3 innings. That led the Dodgers to shake things up, pitching him in a minor league outing against White Sox prospects on Tuesday. Sasaki struck out nine without issuing any walks and threw 59 pitches in that backfield appearance. Roberts reiterated that the 24-year-old will open the season in the MLB rotation, telling Sonja Chen of MLB.com and other reporters he ” just (doesn’t) see a world where (Sasaki) doesn’t break with us as a starter.”
Gavin Stone is joining Snell on the season-opening injured list. That all but ensures that Emmet Sheehan will land a rotation spot. They could carry a nine-man bullpen — Ohtani doesn’t count against the 13-pitcher limit as a two-way player — or turn to one of Justin Wrobleski or River Ryan to round out a six-man rotation. They’ll inevitably go to a six-man rotation at some point but might be content with a five-man group for the first week of the regular season since they have off days on March 29 and April 2.
Injury Notes: Gonzalez, Stephenson, Dunn, Edman
As of last week, Red Sox utility infielder Romy Gonzalez was experiencing shoulder troubles and received a platelet-rich plasma injection. He admitted that he would likely miss Opening Day, though he may end up missing significantly more time. Today, Sean McAdam of MassLive adds that Gonzalez will visit a shoulder specialist next week to see if he needs to undergo surgery. Gonzalez opined that surgery “is not a season-ender by any means, in my opinion,” though any longer absence for the lefty-mashing infielder will be a blow to the Red Sox’ lineup regardless.
The right-handed-hitting Gonzalez injured his shoulder at the end of 2025 and experienced renewed soreness in January while ramping up for Spring Training. He posted career-best offensive numbers in 2025, batting .305/.343/.483 with a 123 wRC+ in 341 plate appearances for the Sox. While his performance against right-handers was slightly below average (95 wRC+), he absolutely teed off on southpaws. In 143 PA with the platoon advantage, Gonzalez hit seven of his nine home runs and posted a 162 wRC+ that was tied for 12th-best among hitters with at least 100 PA against lefties. Obviously, the team will hope he avoids surgery, but with that kind of production, they’ll do what it takes to ensure Gonzalez comes back at full strength.
A few other injury updates from around the league:
- Angels right-hander Robert Stephenson faced live hitters for the first time on Friday as he works to be ready for Opening Day, per Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. Stephenson said there is understandably “a little polishing to do” but added that he felt good physically and reached 95 MPH on his fastball (he averaged 96.4 MPH on his four-seamer last year). Tommy John surgery and symptoms of thoracic outlet syndrome have limited him to 10 innings with Los Angeles. In his last healthy season in 2023, Stephenson threw 52 1/3 innings with a 3.10 ERA and a well-above-average 38.3% strikeout rate. When healthy, he should factor into the late-inning mix with fellow right-hander Ben Joyce, who is currently rehabbing his own shoulder issue.
- Reds outfielder Blake Dunn is going for an MRI on his left knee today, according to Mark Sheldon of MLB.com. Dunn hyperextended his left knee while attempting to make a catch yesterday. The 27-year-old was a 15th-round draft pick by the Reds in 2021 and appeared in 49 big-league games from 2024-25, though he has posted just a 63 wRC+. He fared much better at Triple-A in 2025, batting .291/.397/.401 with a 121 wRC+ along with 24 stolen bases in 98 games. Currently, Cincinnati has Will Benson, Dane Myers, and Spencer Steer on hand as outfield backups. A healthy Dunn will stay at Triple-A for depth. [UPDATE: Dunn is dealing with a lower-grade knee strain, manager Terry Francona told Charlie Goldsmith and other reporters. Dunn will be sidelined for a few days, but appears to have avoided a lengthy absence.]
- Dodgers utilityman Tommy Edman took light batting practice yesterday, per Fabian Ardaya of the Athletic. He could face higher velocity off a machine in a few days if he continues to progress, but he is still weeks away from being fully ramped up. Edman underwent surgery in November to address an ankle issue that plagued him all season. Manager Dave Roberts confirmed a couple of weeks ago that Edman would begin the year on the injured list. This news won’t move up his return, though in any case, the team wants Edman at full strength. He is entering the second year of his five-year, $74MM contract. He posted an 81 wRC+ in 97 games in 2025, showing a drop in power while also striking out slightly less than in 2024.
Photo courtesy of D. Ross Cameron, Imagn Images