The Dodgers have agreed to a minor league contract with veteran outfielder Steven Souza Jr., reports MLB Network’s Jon Heyman.
Souza, 31, spent the bulk of Spring Training with the Astros but didn’t make the team after going just 2-for-21 with 13 strikeouts in 27 trips to the plate. The former Rays slugger is still working to establish himself after a disastrous 2019 knee injury derailed his career.
Then with the Diamondbacks, Souza was lined up to serve as the everyday right fielder in Arizona when he tore the ACL, LCL, PCL and posterolateral capsule in his left knee on a play at the plate late in Spring Training. The gruesome knee injury obviously required surgical repair and unsurprisingly wiped out his entire 2019 campaign. Souza rehabbed into the summer of 2020 and wound up resurfacing in the big leagues with the Cubs, but he hit just .148/.258/.333 in 31 plate appearances last year before being cut loose.
At his best, Souza was a solid right field defender with above-average power and plate discipline. He’s always been prone to strikeouts (31.5 percent), but his 2017 campaign produced a .239/.351/.459 batting line and a career-best 30 home runs for Tampa Bay. Three seasons have elapsed since that time, and Souza has been dogged by pectoral injuries in addition to that horrific knee injury since that peak season. Assuming he heads to Triple-A with the Dodgers once that season kicks off, he’ll finally be able to continue his rebound efforts in a normal game setting — something that wasn’t possible in 2020 with last year’s lack of a minor league season.
thats a sneaky signing by friedman & co.
interesting
Just what the Dodgers need… a middle innings trombone player.
He’ll keep them marching on through the dog days.
Great move by both parties. Dodgers performance rehab people are incredible.
’bout time they got rid of that Betts kid.
Lol. Love it.
Dodgers are scary good, I can’t fault them with any moves they make, they’ll win 120 games easily.
Dodgers are scary good, they’ll win 120 games this year easily.
One more time
Dodgers are scary. Good. They’ll win. 120 games this year? Eas[]y….
dodgers so sneaky like a lil snake
On signing his contract, Souza was taken directly to the emergency room.
okay, that was a LOL on my end for real. good one!
Souza could do better monetarily in the short term by signing with an NPB or KBO team.
Probably not. They can only carry so many foreign guys per team, and I doubt anyone is giving him more than 500K min and potentially wasting a foreign roster spot on an injured guy
He probably takes more called third strikes than any player I’ve ever seen. He appears to think that the strike zone is 12 ” wide.
He has pop they’re probably going to compact his swing to create a Chris Taylor type of player. Essentially no cap hit, big upside.
He was horrible with the Cubs last year and lost his job to Carlos Gonzalez and then Jose Martinez. Think about that for a minute.
He can be a veteran presence at Oklahoma City who can probably still hit AAA pitching while not taking away from the development track of actual prospects. If he has a good year, maybe they bring him to LA with expanded rosters in September as an extra bench bat who can give the starters time off once the division is in hand.
September roster expansion is now just two players. That’s not what Souza would be for. He’s a low-risk depth piece.
Dodgers fo have a knack for finding journeyman value for the short term and long term, Morrow, Turner, Muncy, Rich Hill…
well rich hill was a trade i guess, but whatever. just because a guy looks like he doesn’t have anything left doesn’t mean that he doesn’t
Sometimes when you blow out 4 major ligaments in your knee at the same time, you need a bit of time to get back to full speed offensively and defensively. Seems reasonable, no?
Does anyone remember that incident with him and the Dodgers on the basepaths when he was with the Dbacks?
I think it was an accidental takeout slide at 2nd base and then something happened again at 3rd and he thought it was retaliation or something
Souza has little stories like that with a lot of teams.
Another low risk deal. Keep them coming!
Big waste of time. If a KBO team would not take him he’s better off on an independent league team. No longer an MLB hitter. Maybe a high school coach. And yes I think he does take a spot of a young developing player that deserves a chance. His agent must be good.