July 29th, 2019 at 8:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka Late Sunday night, the Dodgers announced that they had acquired 33-year-old utility infielder/outfielder Kristopher Negrón from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for minor league infielder Daniel Castro.
Negrón, who was born in Willingboro, NJ but grew up in northern California, was originally drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the seventh round of the 2006 MLB First-Year Player Draft out of Cosumnes River Junior College in Sacramento but was traded to the Cincinnati Reds on August 14, 2009. He made his MLB debut with the Reds on June 7, 2012, and granted free agency following the 2012 season. He has played parts of six major league seasons with the Reds (96 games), Arizona Diamondbacks (16 games) and Seattle Mariners (27 games) while also spending a combined 14 seasons in the minor leagues.
(Photo courtesy of Seattle Mariners)
Negrón appeared in nine games for the Mariners this season, batting .227 (5-for-22) with three runs and one RBI. Prior to having his contract selected on July 16, Negrón was batting .310 (95-for-306) with 12 homers and 61 RBI in 82 games with their Triple-A affiliate Reno Aces. He has a MLB career slash line of .216 / .289 / .328 / .617 with seven home runs and 25 RBI. He has also played every defensive position except pitcher and catcher in majors (sound familiar?), with a combined career fielding percentage of .984 in 307 total chances.
Castro spent the majority of this season with the Dodgers Triple-A affiliate Oklahoma City Dodgers, where he posted a slash line of .241 / .304 / .295 / .600 with six doubles, one home run, and 11 RBI in the 45 games in which he appeared with the Dodgers Triple-A affiliate. The 26-year-old Guaymas, Mexico native has spent nine seasons in the minor leagues, with 2019 being his first in the Dodgers organization. He signed a minor league contract with the Dodgers on November 20, 2018.
Although the trade comes as somewhat of a surprise, it wasn’t entirely. With the (extreme) likelihood that Dodgers utility infielder/outfielder Kiké Hernandez will be placed on the 10-day injured list for a left hand/wrist injury, and with fellow utility infielder/outfielder Chris Taylor already on it with a left forearm fracture (and likely to be moved to the 60-day IL), the Dodgers are (were) in desperate need of a second baseman / back-up shortstop.
As a result of the injuries to Taylor and Hernandez, utility infielder Max Muncy has been getting the lion’s share of playing time at second base, with outfielder Joc Pederson filling in for Muncy at first base. The unfortunate by-product of this is that Pederson (and his team third-best 23 home runs) has committed five errors in 146 total chances at first base for a team-worst .966 FPCT among the seven Dodgers who have played the position this season.
Needless to say, the Dodgers are hoping that they have found yet another diamond in the rough … just as they did with Taylor, Hernandez, and Muncy.
Play Ball!
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Lol, dealing away a 26-year old career minor leaguer for a 33-year old career minor leaguer? Unless Negron has a glove gifted from the baseball gods, I don’t see how this helps the Dodgers moving forward this season (unless it’s the OKC team, that is). With both Taylor and Hernandez out for what’s gonna be a considerable amount of time, there’s only one choice left: CALL UP LUX!!! Fans are demanding it, management needs to get with it. This year belongs to the homegrown kids, it’s THEIR time now.
😉
I agree Manuel,but the Dodgers are limiting Lux’s time in the major for control purposes. Stupid!
I don’t think team control is the issue. The Dodgers do not have a place to play Lux regularly as long as Pederson is at first base and Muncy is at second base. Bring Lux up to sit on the bench is not a good plan. If Dodgers trade Pederson then Lux moving up to play second base with Muncy at first makes sense.
Concur, SoCalbum about Lux. And the way I see it at the present time, Joc is not hitting enough to even warrant this 1st base experiment much longer. He can be part of a deal along with a few others NOT NAMED Lux, May for any pitching help. And Negron is a temp move as ya indicate. As soon as either Kike or CT 3 should return I am sure Negron will be sent packing.
Another name available for a package is Barnes. I doubt we’ll be seeing him in Dodger Blue again, but I do think he’ll go on to a decent career. A catcher who plays solid defense will always be wanted somewhere.
Another reason why Pederson should’ve been dealt the moment they started “experimenting” with him at 1B: HE’S HOLDING LUX BACK RIGHT NOW! That kid is so ahead of schedule he’s starting the make management look foolish with these silly moves they’ve been making on the parent club roster lately. Sooner they get Joc the hell on outta there (thanks for what you did in the 2017 WS, but you knew it wasn’t gonna save ya in the end), the better. Now I’m wondering what CAN they get back in return for him should they finally get around to it? He’s still in his prime at 27 and putting up very good power numbers against righties at least. He also has at least one more cost-controlled year left before he turns FA. Maybe Jesse can shed further light on this because the writing’s been on the wall long enough for Joc in particular…
And a 33 year old utility player with no minor league options, so as soon as Hernandez, or Taylor return Negrón will have to be DFA. Basically he is an insurance policy in case Seager needs a day off or is injured.