The Dodgers aren’t placing Mookie Betts again in proper subject.
Or, at the least, they aren’t actively contemplating it but.
Supervisor Dave Roberts made that a lot clear this week, saying the membership has had no such discussions with the Gold Glove proper fielder-turned-success story at shortstop.
Thus far, not even Teoscar Hernández’s defensive limitations or Michael Conforto’s offensive disappearing act have but pushed the workforce to that theoretical excessive.
“We have not talked about right field at all,” Roberts stated this week, because the noise round Hernández’s shaky glove grew louder following a pair of misplays in a Monday loss at Colorado.
“The way Mookie is playing at short,” Roberts added, “not bouncing him around, I think we feel very good about.”
Nonetheless, because the Dodgers enter the ultimate 34 video games of their schedule, beginning with an important collection in San Diego in opposition to the second-place Padres this weekend, the membership’s outfield points stay an issue.
And whereas Betts won’t be the apparent resolution this time — like he was final 12 months when he made a late-season change to proper — the Dodgers will nonetheless have to search out some solutions.
Coming into play Thursday, their two nook outfield positions mixed ranked simply nineteenth amongst MLB golf equipment in whole wins above alternative, and twenty second in defensive score, in line with Fangraphs.
“Defense is a big part of postseason baseball and winning baseball,” Roberts stated.
Listed below are the choices the Dodgers should take into account over the approaching month and a half:
The present forged
Dodgers outfielders (from left to proper) Teoscar Hernández, Michael Conforto (23) and Andy Pages run towards the infield to have a good time with teammates after a win over the Miami Marlins in April.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Instances)
For now, the Dodgers don’t have a lot different alternative however to roll out the identical couple lineup variations they’ve been sporting because the commerce deadline.
Most nights, which means having Hernández in proper subject, the place, regardless of a current uptick from his as soon as slumping bat, the 32-year-old ranks within the backside half of MLB proper fielders in defensive runs saved (-1) and outs above common (-9); and Conforto in left, the place the one factor worse than his lowly rated protection (-2 DRS, -5 OAA) has been a .186 batting common that may be a distant final amongst MLB hitters with 350 plate appearances (subsequent closest: Oneil Cruz’s .207 mark).
Ideally, the Dodgers would profit from shifting Hernández to left subject (the place he additionally struggled whereas enjoying primarily final season, however made fewer of the obtrusive errors which have marred his final couple weeks) and relegating Conforto largely to the bench.
However, that requires another choice they belief to tackle extra enjoying time some place else within the outfield.
And if it’s not Betts, then Alex Name represents the present roster’s solely potential match.
Name arrived final month as one thing of an underwhelming deadline acquisition. Positive, he was having a pleasant season with the Washington Nationals, and burnished his repute as a tricky at-bat on opposing pitchers. However he wasn’t Steven Kwan, or Ramón Laureano, or Harrison Bader, or any of the extra established big-league outfielders that had been commerce targets on the deadline.
Thus far, that’s been mirrored within the Dodgers’ utilization of the 30-year-old hitter, beginning him simply eight instances in three weeks.
Name did have a robust exhibiting within the Rockies collection, reaching base eight instances in 13 plate appearances, together with a double and residential run in a four-hit sport Tuesday. He’s batting .281 since becoming a member of the Dodgers, and has flashed (largely) strong play in both nook outfield spot.
In time, maybe he may step into extra of a main position. His versatile glove (he has additionally performed heart within the large leagues) and make contact with capacity make him a possible floor-raiser for the lineup.
For now, nevertheless, given the workforce’s short-handed, injury-plagued bench, Roberts has dedicated to successfully platooning Name in left subject alongside Conforto — the $17-million offseason signing whom the Dodgers appear to be giving one final probability to stage some type of late-season turnaround.
The IL reinforcements 
Dodgers utility participant Kiké Hernández watches from the dugout throughout a sport in opposition to the San Diego Padres on Aug. 15.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Instances)
Ultimately, if Conforto continues to hunch and Name can’t command extra enjoying time, the Dodgers should discover a higher choice.
On Thursday, two potential alternate options suited up throughout rehab assignments with triple-A Oklahoma Metropolis.
In heart subject was veteran October hero Kiké Hernández, who has been sidelined for months (and restricted bodily earlier than that) with an elbow damage he first sustained in Might.
In left subject, surprisingly, was South Korean offseason signing Hyeseong Kim, a second base specialist who dabbled in heart subject initially of the season, earlier than ultimately settling within the infield previous to a shoulder damage.
Each gamers may signify defensive outfield upgrades as soon as they return. Kim’s experimentation in left subject is especially intriguing, though he suffered defensive lapses throughout his temporary stint in heart.
The actual wild card on this equation, nevertheless, could possibly be one other title at the moment caught on the injured checklist.
A great model of the Dodgers lineup figures to incorporate utility man Tommy Edman in heart, Teoscar Hernández in left and Andy Pages in proper — permitting Betts to stay at shortstop; a mix of Kim, Kiké Hernández, Miguel Rojas (and possibly even Alex Freeland) to fill out second base; and Pages to maneuver to proper subject, the place his cannon of an arm is most respected.
Edman, although, has been dogged by an ankle damage for a lot of the summer time and nonetheless seems a number of weeks from returning. Questions stay as as to whether he can get to a spot bodily the place he may play outfield once more this season.
“His versatility is a superpower,” Roberts stated, in explaining why the workforce is attempting to present Edman as a lot time to return as attainable. “So the ability to play the infield, kick out to the outfield, and not be compromised by the ankle and not regress, that’s something we need.”
The Mookie state of affairs 
Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts throws out Milwaukee’s Caleb Durbin at first base on July 20.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Instances)
Although Roberts shut down discuss of transferring Betts again to the outfield, he was cautious to not slam the door shut totally when wanting over the remainder of the season.
“I think that’s a fair question,” Roberts stated. “But I don’t think that we’re there quite yet.”
It was round this time final 12 months, after all, that the Dodgers introduced Betts would shift from shortstop again to proper subject; returning him to a place the place he has six profession Gold Gloves.
And for a lot of this season, giant factions of the fan base have been ready for historical past to repeat itself, particularly amid hypothesis about how a lot Betts’ shortstop play has contributed to a career-worst season on the plate.
Nevertheless…
This 12 months’s Dodgers workforce just isn’t final 12 months’s Dodgers workforce. And this 12 months’s model of Betts’ shortstop play has added a brand new issue into a fragile equation.
Whereas Betts would virtually actually stay a reliable choice in proper subject, his defensive metrics at that place the final couple of years have grown pedestrian in comparison with his once-generational requirements.
In his prime, Betts was normally someplace between 15-30 in DRS and upward of 10-15 in OAA enjoying proper subject. However in additional than 1,000 proper subject innings the final three years, he has solely posted a plus-3 DRS and a net-zero OAA. His vary just isn’t what it was (Betts ranks in simply the thirty fifth percentile amongst major-leaguers in dash pace, per Baseball Savant). And he has remade his throwing movement to raised swimsuit the calls for of shortstop.
As Betts confirmed whereas enjoying proper subject final postseason, he can nonetheless make an impression there.
However as he has proven this 12 months, he will be beneficial at different spots on the diamond, too.
After struggling at shortstop final season, Betts now ranks third within the majors on the place in DRS (plus-11) and ninth in OAA (plus-3). Positive, Rojas or Edman may in all probability present comparable (and in Rojas’ case, possibly improved) shortstop protection. However Rojas, 36, has struggled to carry up bodily amid common enjoying time the final couple years. And if Edman’s ankle isn’t adequate to deal with heart, it’s truthful to marvel how restricted he could be at a key place like shortstop.
It’s why, for now, the Dodgers try to easily tread water with their present outfield group, whereas ready for a greater repair (both in Name or Edman or Kiké or Kim or, if they have to, possibly even Betts) to develop into clear.
What they do know: They have to be higher within the corners, on either side of the ball.
That was apparent earlier than the commerce deadline. It stays an issue now. And till they discover a resolution, it should loom as one potential stumbling block to their pursuit of a second straight World Sequence.
