One of the central themes surrounding the Los Angeles Dodgers so far in 2024 is how they quickly go from scorching hot one day to ice cold the next, particularly on offense. Fortunately, the winning streak before Sunday’s 3-1 loss to the Blue Jays was one of the team’s best runs so far this season, keeping the club ahead of the pack in the National League West.
Obviously, the Dodgers will have a few bad days here and there, and even a slump or two spanning several games. However, getting swept at home against the Nationals, then turning around and manhandling them on the road is an excellent example of how schizophrenic the team’s production can be.
As we’ve been discussing all year, not having a 100% solid outfield core has been problematic for the Dodgers, especially with the bats. Any outfielder not named Teoscar Hernandez typically sits in the seven through nine holes with an average well below the Mendoza Line.
One of the few bright spots of that group, however, has been rookie Andy Pages. The righty slugger has now put together a semi-decent sample size, slashing .302/.326/.535 with four doubles and two long balls since his arrival in the bigs in mid-April.
Although it seems like Pages has been around forever, he’s only 23 years old and certainly still considered a prospect from an age standpoint. The 6-foot-1, 210-pounder agreed to terms with the Dodgers as an international free agent out of Cuba back in October of 2018 for a $300,000 signing bonus, just several months after the organization landed top Venezuelan catching prospect Diego Cartaya.
Currently, Pages is the team’s No. 3 rated prospect according to MLB pipeline, ranking behind righty pitcher Nick Frasso and catcher Dalton Rushing.
For years, Pages was buried in the organizational depth chart. Mookie Betts and Cody Bellinger had a stronghold on the outfield for several seasons, and players like AJ Pollock, Matt Beaty, Chris Taylor and even Edwin Rios for a while made up the secondary wave of players. It also didn’t help that Pages was always prone to striking out, as made evident by his 2022 season when he punched out 140 times and slashed just .236/.336/.468 in his first full season playing Double-A ball.
However, Pages hit an insane .371/.452/.694 with five long balls over his first 15 games at Triple-A in 2024, finally convincing the Los Angeles management team to give him a major league shot.
Of course, if Pages continues to play stellar defense and produce at the plate, there will be no reason for the team to demote him, especially when considering all the other options. Pages has excellent arm strength, solid range and can handle all three outfield spots. More importantly, he’s showing that he can hit major league pitching.
The big question is whether the team will pursue any type of outfield help at the summer trade deadline. If Jason Heyward ever gets healthy, he still doesn’t represent a huge upgrade for a team with playoff ambitions, particularly when both James Outman and Chris Taylor are hitting well below .200.
It’s too early to guess what teams will be dealing come August 1, but it’s probably a good guess to assume the Dodgers will definitely be negotiating.
Think Blue Planning Committee 
I’ve been extremely pleased with what I’ve seen from Pages. Of course, we now have to wait to see what the other teams do to adjust to what they’ve seen from him and how he ultimately adjusts to counteract that.
His strike outs both at this level and at AAA seem to be under control this year, at least so far.
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For right now, I would say give him a little more rope. I got to thinking about the Mat Kemp/ Andre Ethier duo. If Outman gets his legs back under him (which I believe he will); we could have a long-time lockdown of two outfield spots. Josue De Paula is a youngster to keep an eye on as well. Outman needs less swing and miss; and Pages needs that a bit less than Outman; but also needs to take a few pitches. He has NO walks in 43 at-bats. My guess is that when Jason Heyward gets ready to return; an effort will be made to IL someone for 10 games. Right now that would be Chris Taylor. Sad about that. He needs to do something in the next six or eight games: I would think.
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We also have another couple of promising outfielders at Rancho along with DePaula.
Kendall George, our first round pick in the draft last year and Zyhir Hope whom we got as part of the Busch trade with the Cubs. DePaula probably has the highest ceiling but we just might see all three of them in Dodger Stadium at some point, although not any time soon.
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Pages certainly looks great so far. Time will tell. It’s hard for me to understand why they continue to trot Taylor out there. He hasn’t made contact consistently in several seasons.
Outman reportedly works hard and listens. I think he will hit better eventually.
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Dodgers have a dilemma. They have three players who are not hitting well at all, but who have not let their struggles at the plate affect their defense, Lux, Outman and Taylor. Pages is not a center fielder by any stretch of the imagination. He is better suited as a corner outfielder. As for Taylor, he has a guaranteed contract for next season at 13 million. He also has an option for 12 million with a 4-million-dollar buyout. So, counting what he is owed for the rest of this year, approximately 11 mil or so, any team that trades for him is on the hook for at least 28 million dollars. The only time the Dodgers ate a contract near that was when they cut Carl Crawford loose while owing him 43 million. If the Dodgers were to release him, they eat the 24 million. In his defense, the last two seasons he has battled neck problems and various other injuries. Considering he hit .254 in 2021 and was one of the few players who had a good playoff run, the Dodgers are giving a hard working very versatile player a long runway to figure it out. Lux on the other hand, in my opinion needs to go to AAA, play every day and get his stroke back. He sure is not doing that at the major league level. Outman is also hitting in a lot of bad luck.
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After last night’s 4-5 performance including the walk off winner, is there any doubt? Some decisions coming. Treinen and Buehler about to be activated. Heyward is progressing and might be back in about 3 weeks. And Miller is now throwing off of a mound. Crissmat and Varland most likely candidates to be sent down or DFAd. Trea Turner lands on the 10-IL with a strained hammy. But sources say he will be out 4-6 weeks.
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Love the picture Bear! That hat (and of course the beard) suits you.
In the three weeks it takes JHey to come back, Pages could very well come back to earth. Remember how hot Outman started last year before running into a stone wall (figuratively speaking).
As most of us have mentioned more than once, it seems as though CT3 and Kike are a bit of a duplication. Depending on injuries and production, one of them might find himself in a different uni come Aug 1st. Taylor would be hard to move, but there are other bad contracts out there that we could take back, or we could just hand over a bunch of cash. And who knows, CT3 might be our hottest hitter in 3 weeks.
You say that Pages is not a center fielder but I think he’s quite capable of playing there on a regular basis. They weren’t saying great things about Outman’s fielding in center when he first came up but he improved dramatically once he had regular playing time out there. I think the main reason they seem to view Pages as a right fielder isn’t because he’s a bad center fielder but because he has a really good arm.
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As we all know, anything is possible in baseball. But if Jey-Hey comes back, he is more than capable of playing a high-level center field. Pages arm is more suited for a corner outfielder.
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I agree. I think Pages could probably handle all three outfield spots easily without giving away any runs.
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