“Right now, where he’s at, I certainly think he’s playing an above-average shortstop. I think the metrics will agree with that,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said this week of All-Star Mookie Betts, adding that he would no longer consider using Miguel Rojas as a “defensive closer,” putting him in games late at shortstop and moving Betts to second. “I’d grade him out a solid B+ for me. … It’s really, really impressive. And it’s only going to get better.
The move seemed like only a temporary solution – echoing a reporter’s phrase, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts called it “permanent for now.” “We have not started wrapping our arms around the trade deadline yet. But the point in doing this was to give Mookie a runway.” The most frequent names mentioned in speculation are Milwaukee’s Willy Adames and Toronto’s Bo Bichette. The Brewers were unwilling to move Adames during the offseason and aren’t likely to be more motivated now that they sit in first place in a winnable division. The Blue Jays don’t look like contenders and could make Bichette available. But he is batting .205 with an OPS-plus thoroughly underwater and privately the Dodgers don’t think he would be an upgrade defensively over Betts.
“I’m trying to wrap my head around any comparable, as far as on the hitting side, the side,” Roberts said. “I haven’t seen it. You’re talking about a complete position change. And to play it at a high level at that position, I just haven’t seen it.”
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