Saturday, May 18, 2024
Copyrighted by Sarah Morris, 2024
Before Friday’s 7-to-2 victory against the Cincinnati Reds, the Los Angeles Dodgers made several roster moves. The most surprising move was putting Max Muncy with a strain oblique on the 10-day IL.
During batting practice before Thursday’s game, Muncy pulled his right oblique. Immediately, Muncy stopped. Friday, the Dodgers had imaging on Muncy’s oblique that revealed a mild strain. The Dodgers Muncy will be back soon, but oblique strains can linger. Since everything in baseball uses oblique muscles, the players cannot begin doing baseball activities until the muscles are completely healed.
Muncy was playing surprising Gold Glove-caliber defense at third base. He was making every play. However, the Dodgers won’t be losing any defense capabilities when either Kiké Hernández play third base. Muncy wasn’t having a great offensive year though he brought left-handed power to the middle of the lineup. Hernandez can duplicate the average, and on Monday, against the San Francisco Giants, he had a game-tying home run. Rojas has had a good offensive 2024 season so far.
When the Dodgers activated Jason Heyward, who homered on Friday, they sent down James Outman to Oklahoma City. No one thought Outman would return to the minor leagues after he finished third in the National League Rookie of the Year in 2023. Outman hasn’t found anything in the 2024 season when he hit.147 with 3 home runs and 10 RBI. Many times Outman looked lost at the plate. With the emergence of Andy Pages, who recently has struggled at the plate, Outman has become expendable. If he finds his swing at Oklahoma City, he will be back in LA. If he doesn’t, the Dodgers can trade him.
To me, Outman is a streaky hitter, who is prone to prolonged slumps. During the 2023 season Outman had a couple long slumps. Pages has smoother swing than Outman. Pages’ defense is better than Outman’s.
The Dodgers also recalled Miguel Vargas. On Opening Day of the 2023 season, Vargas was the Dodger second baseman. However, a broken pinky during spring training limited his playing time and shook his confidence. At the All-Star break, the Dodgers sent Vargas to Oklahoma City.
This spring, after an offseason full with work, Vargas impressed in a new position, left field. The Dodgers didn’t have any room on the roster for Vargas. At Oklahoma City, Vargas continued to impress. According to Dave Roberts, Vargas will start in left field on Saturday.
The Dodgers will survive Muncy’s absence. If they can’t, they don’t deserve to win the world championship, their ultimate goal. Every team who wins a world championship faces challenges and meets them successfully.
