One camp battle opened for the Dodgers this week. Manager Dave Roberts confirmed that Tommy Edman would begin the season on the injured list as he works back from right ankle surgery. That leaves the season-opening second base job up for grabs among a handful of players.
As Jack Harris of The California Post writes, that could be most meaningful for Hyeseong Kim and Alex Freeland. Kim played in 71 games as an MLB rookie, hitting .280/.314/.385 but striking out in more than 30% of his plate appearances. He had an overaggressive approach and rarely hit the ball hard. Kim’s profile in the KBO was built around his speed and middle infield defense, and his early MLB results align with that.
The 24-year-old Freeland is one of the organization’s better position player prospects. He struggled in a 29-game debut, batting .190 while punching out 35 times across 97 trips to the plate. Freeland had a strong year with Triple-A Oklahoma City, though, hitting .263/.384/.451 with 16 home runs and 18 stolen bases. He walked at a huge 16.3% clip while striking out 22% of the time in the minors.
Kim is a left-handed bat, while Freeland is a switch-hitter who was much better from the left side last season. Either could work in a second base platoon with righty-swinging Miguel Rojas, who projects as their top utility infielder. Kim has the leg up from a versatility perspective, as his plus speed also allows him to back up Andy Pages in center field. Freeland can move around the infield but isn’t a burner and has no professional outfield experience. Both players have minor league options remaining and could be sent to OKC without going on waivers. That’d be more plausible if a non-roster invitee like Santiago Espinal or Ryan Fitzgerald plays their way into a bench job with a strong spring.
Edman’s injury also subtracts from the early-season outfield depth. He’d have been in line for a decent amount of center field work if he were at full strength. Kim could play that role instead, particularly late in games for defensive purposes. That’d occasionally allow Pages to slide to left field, where Teoscar Hernández will pick up the majority of the playing time. Hernández is changing corners after the Kyle Tucker signing.
It wasn’t a lock that the two-time All-Star would remain on the roster all winter. Hernández came up in some trade rumors, with the Royals among the teams known to have interest. President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman acknowledged that the front office took calls on his availability but downplayed their desire to trade him at any point (link via Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic).
“Teams call and ask about different guys all the time,” Friedman said. “Some that get out there, some that don’t. But we very much value clubhouse chemistry. It’s not something that we would be willy-nilly about. I don’t blame teams for asking. … But obviously it’s not lost on us the importance he has, not just on the field but in the clubhouse as well.”
There’s no indication that any talks have carried into Spring Training. Hernández remains a potent power threat coming off a 25-homer season, but the rest of his production dropped. He hit .247 with a career-worst .284 on-base percentage across 546 plate appearances. Hernández also had a second straight tough year defensively. The 33-year-old said today that he never felt at full strength after a mid-May left groin strain.
That only required a two-week injured list stint but certainly could have impacted his mobility after he returned. That said, Hernández has never been a great defender and is unlikely to improve much in his mid-30s. He’s not an ideal roster fit on a team that can’t offer playing time at designated hitter, but he’s signed for another two years and $33MM (including an option buyout for 2028). Even with the majority of those salaries deferred, that’s more than he would have landed as a free agent this offseason. The Dodgers have no need to force a salary dump and were unlikely to get much of value in a trade return.
Their season is already over! Time to start the rebuilding process.
The Dodgers must despise baseball and hate everything about it. What did baseball ever do to you, Dodgers?? The National Pastime was just minding its own business, until you came along and had to ruin everything. Dodgers must be why we can’t have nice things. Thanks for nuthin’, Dodgers….
If you threw all the teams that are “ruining baseball” into a barrel, the Dodgers would be near the top. Bottom of the barrel? Yankees. So Go Dodgers, keep squashing the Yankees. Thank you for your service to making baseball better.
You’ll never make Dodger Nation do anything but laugh at all of this vitriol, because we treaded through the sludge of the Frank McCourt era.
Joking but true.
Blame McCourt and Fox.
And after that?
Blame the Astros and Rob Manfred and his response to the cheating scandal.
I don’t see why collecting pieces of metal is ruining baseball.
Hernandez isn’t going anywhere now, and never was. He’ll be fine in LF. If any position is concerning on this roster, it’s CF.
Yes you should trade your young cost controlled 3.8 war CF he isn’t good enough for you
Uh, what? LA fans love Andy Pages, but he’s still got a lot to prove, especially when his bat went missing for the entire postseason.
Picky picky picky.
A number 8 hitter with -274 BA with 86 RBI and 27 HR in his second campaign with a great arm and good range. Man are we spoiled.
And yet, hee still has to prove his worth. I’m pretty sure that @BlueSky refers to something very important, consistency. Something is not right when you are benched when it’s more relevant, when it matters the most
Thank you for getting it. Pages has to find the right balance between patience and aggressiveness at the plate. The team had him being more aggressive at the start of the season and it worked, for a while, but he tailed off substantially as the season went by, to the point of him being completely owned in the postseason. He’s a work in progress, for sure. The CF problem is the Dodgers don’t really have a great Plan B if he doesn’t bat his weight. Edman will probably be playing 2B when he comes back, at least until his ankle is fully healed.
Let’s hope for the best, hopefully he has worked hard to prepare for what’s coming. What I see is a batter who chase a lot and works very few BB’s. If you adds to that the fact that he is well below average in exit velo and hard hit rate, it results in a very bad combination. It is clear that his postseasons problems are not accidental. The pitching quality is completely different in those instances.
Dodgers fans prefer late season and postseason war vs early and middle season war. It’s the Kike effect.
I guess I didn’t get that memo. The Dodgers may start the season as the heavy favorites to win the NLW, but you will remember it was hardly a runway last season and they didn’t get a bye or the home field advantage they surely wanted.
Wrong!
The correct answer is 2B
2B is maybe the weak link but Edman will be back (though he sure has been hurt waaay to much) and the depth is good: Rojas, Kim, Freeland.
Exactly. I understand the concern about 2B, but this position is deeper than CF. For now the only option there if Pages continues his slump is Kim. I don’t see Edman playing a lot of CF when he returns (and we don’t know when that will be).
Pages is just fine. Choked in the post season but he’s young and the glove and arm are good.
Let’s tke a moment to compare the offensive stats for the Dodgers league minimum OF batting 8th or 9th and the Padres all universe, paid hundreds of millions, batting middle of the order OF:
Pages BA .272, 27 HR 86 RBI 14 SB with a slash line of .313/.461/.774
Tatis BA .268,25 HR, 71 RBI, 32 SB with a slash line of .368/.446/.815
Then let’s remind ourselves that Pages has a lot of upside as he is only starting his 2nd full season and no longer has to play CF. Candidly, I see no reason why the Dodgers would trade Pages this year.
@drew
“No longer has to play CF”
Not sure what you mean by that. Pages will be the CF (Teo in LF, Tucker in RF).
Sorry, I meant RF. Pages always looks a bit lost in RF. I suggest that steady work in one position will improve his batting. I’m assuming that when Edman, and his ankle, get back they will playing 2nd base not CF..
Edman will primarily play 2B. Any CF time for him will depend on the strength of his repaired ankle.
They said they are going to try and have Kim in center field here and there to get him more at bats
It’d be great if Kim breaks out this season. Jury’s out.
If he can control his strikeouts, he can be valuable with his speed.
And if we need a backup kicker for the Rams, with those quads he might work out there as well.
Weren’t Dodger fans calling for Pages to be released or traded about 6 weeks into the season last year because of how bad he was hitting?
No.
Not in this universe: “On April 28, 2025, Pages was named the National League Player of the Week, co-winning with Eugenio Suárez for the 5th week of the season after going 13-for-20 (.650) and slugging 1.250 with four home runs and six RBI in that period, including three doubles and a home run in a three-game home series against the Pittsburgh Pirates.”
But his cousin’s boyfriend’s stepfather was — so there!
I believe you are overlooking what I was referencing – the first “about 6 weeks”.
Yes, he started a turnaround in mid May but check out that sub .190 avg and .650 OPS that he carried up to that point – might have only been 5 weeks. All of April and some of first 2 weeks of May.
There was indeed a lot of crying for Roberts to stop playing him back then.
Thankfully, Roberts didn’t listen because he had a great year from mid-May on.
He batted .292 over the first month of the season, with an .891 OPS, so where you are getting your numbers I have no idea.
I have an idea but modesty prevents me from being specific.
On the other hand, and talking about “battles” and proving their worth. I don’t know how convenient it is for Kim to play for his national team. Freeland will have plenty of time to gain ground.
Good point.
Isn’t Kike Hernandez on this team? Why doesn’t he have a shot at 2b?
He’s also injured
A: Kiké is out probably until July and B: The other 2B options are better and C: Kiké has primarily been used in the OF the last couple of years though he has played some 3B when Muncy was hurt.
No deferral jokes about Edman’s late start? It’s like I don’t know you people anymore.
“Even with the majority of those salaries deferred ($33m over 2 years), that’s more than he (Teoscar) would have landed as a free agent this offseason. The Dodgers have no need to force a salary dump and were unlikely to get much of value in a trade return.”
So, Anthony, was this also reported by Smith in his LAT article or elsewhere? Do you have a source Anthony or is this conclusion your conjecture?
Based upon what has been reported (that I have seen), there is no evidence of what KC, the Reds (or any other team for that matter) would have been willing to pay Teo if he were a FA or offer to LAD in a trade?
Your comments seems like a sloppy throw away line without any evidence to support it.
They can just buy someone else. When you have unlimited funds who cares how you spend it. Unless you’re a Dodgers fan—but that’s like being a fan of the sun coming up.
Joe,
Mets fans cared last season
I’m a fan of commmenters who are as dumb as a rock.
Some rocks are pretty
Long live rock.
Rock on
And that’s a great thing! It’s part of the balance.
It has to be a very boring world where we all have the same abilities, the same levels of abilities, and that all people process and think the same way.
Welcome everyone!