The Dodgers, on the periphery of a lucrative free-agent shortstop market for much of the winter, have made their move at the position. Los Angeles traded for Miami Marlins shortstop Miguel Rojas, the team announced Wednesday, reuniting the 33-year-old infielder with the club he debuted with in 2014. In return, the Dodgers are sending infielder Jacob Amaya to Miami. Here’s what you need to know:
- Rojas will make $5 million in 2023 as he enters the final year of a two-year, $10 million extension he inked with the Marlins after the 2021 season.
- This move will, at least temporarily, push the Dodgers’ luxury tax figure above the first threshold of $233 million, a projected $237.2 million according to FanGraphs’ Roster Resource.
- He’ll represent something of a stopgap for the Dodgers at the position that was an area of strength for half a decade with Corey Seager, Manny Machado and Trea Turner leaving elsewhere for $300 million deals.
- Rojas is coming off a career-low .605 OPS in 2022, but graded out as a plus defensive shortstop, recording 10 outs above average at the position according to Baseball Savant.
Deal is done, source said. Miguel Rojas to the Dodgers for infielder Jacob Amaya. https://t.co/LijTId1Yv0
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) January 12, 2023
The Athletic’s instant analysis:
Backstory
The Dodgers did not advance beyond cursory discussions to retain Turner this winter after acquiring the two-time All-Star at the 2021 trade deadline, with the 29-year-old eventually inking an 11-year, $300 million deal with the Phillies. Los Angeles also showed interest in former Braves shortstop Dansby Swanson but remained well on the outside of his top suitors before he signed a seven-year, $177 million deal with the Cubs.
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Instead, they’ve focused much of their pursuit on the trade market, while also touting former top prospect Gavin Lux’s ability to slide over to the position if need be. Milwaukee’s Willy Adames has represented one of the club’s top trade targets at the position before pursuing a deal for Rojas.
What Rojas brings to the Dodgers
Adding Rojas at the shortstop position allows the Dodgers to keep Lux at second base — where he put together his best big league performance as an everyday player last season — and frees Chris Taylor up to bounce between second base and the outfield, another area of need for the Dodgers.
Rojas will also get to add another chapter to his time in Los Angeles, which included a sterling defensive stab in the seventh inning of Clayton Kershaw’s 2014 no-hitter and his inclusion in the first major trade of Andrew Friedman’s tenure as Dodgers president of baseball operations — he, along with Dee Strange-Gordon and Dan Haren went to Miami for a return that netted the Dodgers left-hander Andrew Heaney, reliever Chris Hatcher as well as two core members of the 2020 World Series-winning club, Enrique Hernández and Austin Barnes. — Ardaya
Required reading
- Dodgers winter blues? World Series picks? Future Hall of Famers?: McCullough’s mailbag
- NL West roundtable: Offseason progress report for each team and what’s next
(Photo: Megan Briggs / Getty Images)