The Los Angeles Dodgers’ struggles continued on Monday with their seventh loss in the last 10 games, and they also received some poor news related to a Chris Taylor injury.
James Outman replaced Taylor in left field in the top of the eighth inning, which Dodgers manager Dave Roberts explained after the game was due to injury.
“Chris hurt his (left) side throwing on a play in the outfield,” Roberts said. “What’s concerning is that he doesn’t come out of games. So we’re going to run some tests and see how he feels.
“That top half of that inning, he couldn’t go out there and throw, so that’s why we replaced him with James. It’s probably fair to say he’ll be down for a couple days, at the minimum.”
Roberts did not provide specifics of the injury, but a side injury could be presumed to be an oblique injury.
“I don’t want to say that word, but it’s something like that,” Roberts acknowledged.
Prior to coming out of the game, Taylor was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts. Over 40 at-bats this season, he’s hitting .125 with a .625 on-base plus slugging percentage, four home runs, six runs scored and seven RBI. Taylor’s only hit that has not left the ballpark is a single.
The Dodgers will rely on Miguel Rojas at shortstop and it should open up more playing time for Outman, who has been stuck in a platoon role. It also leaves the Dodgers without a backup shortstop on the roster.
Outside of Rojas and Taylor, no one on the roster has spent time at shortstop. It could be presumed that Mookie Betts can fill in, or Miguel Vargas is the emergency shortstop as moving from second base to the other side of the bag would be the most natural transition.
The Dodgers may be best off making a roster move, especially because Rojas has dealt with his own health issues.
Backup shortstop options after Chris Taylor
If the Dodgers decided to make a roster move, they are limited in their options. Middle infielders currently on their 40-man roster at the Minor League level are Michael Busch, Yonny Hernández, Eddys Leonard and Jorbit Vivas.
Busch is not an option at shortstop and Hernández is on the Minor League injured list, which leaves Leonard and Vivas as potential options. Neither has seen time above Double-A Tulsa, so the Dodgers may need to bring in someone from outside the organization.
Last season, the Dodgers acquired Trayce Thompson for cash considerations when they were in need of outfield depth, and they just recently signed Austin Wynns to address their catcher depth.
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