Los Angeles Dodgers Could Call Up Yaisel Puig, Joc Pederson

The Los Angeles Dodgers are currently last in the NL West and seven games out of first place in the division, so this is definitely an under-achieving team that is desperate for answers- and potentially a shake-up. Desperation through the first two months of baseball can sometimes go awry, but waiting things out is also a risk in case there are fundamental issues with a team beyond simply “gelling” or “luck”. According to Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times, Don Mattingly stated that the Dodgers have discussed promoting touted outfielders Yaisel Puig and Joc Pederson.

Although the Dodgers are 18-26, the problem isn’t with the outfield, and they have one of the strongest triumvirates in the OF in Carl Crawford, Matt Kemp, and Andre Ethier. Those three guys are locked into their respective spots in the outfield, so it looks like there isn’t place for either Puig or Pederson. The Dodgers may want a shake-up and probably do need to try something different, but is making this kind of a move in the outfield really going to help? But, it’s important to keep in mind that the Dodgers are just “discussing” this stuff, and there’s no harm in mulling things over.

Puig, who was arrested last month for reckless driving about a week after being placed on the disabled list, has a terrific .964 OPS in the minors on the strength of six big flies and a .385 OBP. Pederson has actually bested those numbers at Double-A Chattanooga with eight home runs and a .400 OBP to go with 13 steals.