On Sunday afternoon, the Dodgers announced that they had reinstated right-handed pitcher Yency Almonte from paternity leave and optioned left-handed pitcher Bryan Hudson and infielder Miguel Vargas to Triple-A Oklahoma City.

Whereas the Almonte-for-Hudson move was most certainly expected, the Vargas move may have come as a bit of a surprise for some, although it was, quite frankly, inevitable.

Despite his impressive start to the 2023 season and his above average middle-infield defense, Vargas’ slash line heading into this week’s All-Star break is a dismal .195/.305/.367/.672, with 62 strikeouts in his 256 official at-bats. This equates to striking out 24.21875% of the time which, quite frankly, is unacceptable at baseball’s highest level.

That being said, the real reason for the move is to create a spot on the Dodgers active roster for popular utility infielder/outfielder Chris Taylor, who is expected to return from the injured list for a bone bruise to his right knee suffered back on June 16 when play resumes on Friday following the mid-summer classic.

Although Vargas’ 62 strikeouts ranked seventh most on the team behind James Outman (104), All-Star designated hitter J.D. Martinez (95), All-Star third baseman Max Muncy (82), All-Star first baseman Freddie Freeman (70), All-Star right fielder Mookie Betts (65), and Taylor (63), those six have hit 11, 22, 21, 17, 26, and 11 home runs respectively while Vargas has hit only seven, tying him with outfielder David Peralta at ninth on the team among the Dodgers regulars. Again, quite frankly, unacceptable at baseball’s highest level.

Although Taylor wasn’t exactly ‘tearing it up’ prior to his injury, it’s hard to believe that his bum right knee didn’t have something – or everything – to do with his less-than-stellar .206/.275/.455/.729 slash line; something that non-Chris-Taylor fans need to keep in mind. In fact, during his rehab game with the Dodgers Low Single-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes on Sunday afternoon, Taylor homered and walked in his four plate appearances.

Then again, if Taylor’s offensive numbers don’t improve with his now (presumably) healed right knee (and those of James Outman), there very well may be additional ‘expected and inevitable’ roster moves in the not-too-distant future for the current (by .002 percentage points) NL West first-place Dodgers.

Play Ball!

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