Tommy Edman will return to the Dodgers’ active roster tomorrow, manager Dave Roberts confirmed this evening (relayed by Katie Woo of The Athletic). L.A. will need to create space on the active and 40-man rosters to reinstate Edman from the 60-day injured list. The latter could be achieved by transferring Kiké Hernández to the 60-day IL, but the active roster move would be a tougher decision.
Stopgap backup catcher Chuckie Robinson and fourth outfielder Alex Call are the only players on the L.A. bench who have minor league options remaining. They can’t send Robinson down while Will Smith is on the injured list, and Call has done a decent job as a short side platoon outfielder all season. The only other position players they could consider optioning are Ryan Ward, who is hitting well as the left fielder against right-handed pitching, and starting second baseman Alex Freeland.
Assuming they don’t want to drop to 12 pitchers, the decision probably comes down to Freeland versus Santiago Espinal. They’d need to designate the latter for assignment to take him off the roster, which they already did a few weeks ago. They like Espinal as a clubhouse presence but haven’t gotten him much playing time as a multi-positional infielder. Freeland has played regularly since being recalled on May 27, hitting a league average .231/.340/.359 with one home run in 16 games.
Edman has positional versatility but won’t immediately jump back into an everyday role. The 31-year-old is coming back from last fall’s right ankle surgery. Roberts suggested they’ll continue ramping him up slowly, starting him a few times a week while moving around the diamond. Edman is primarily a second baseman but can spell Max Muncy at the hot corner and play the outfield. A switch-hitter who is better from the right side of the plate, he could take some at-bats against lefty pitching that would’ve otherwise fallen to any of Call, Espinal or Miguel Rojas.
Acquired from the Cardinals at the 2024 trade deadline, Edman has hit .229/.280/.392 over 530 regular season plate appearances in a Dodger uniform. He had a fantastic playoff run, including an NLCS MVP award, two years ago. His October production last year was more middling, presumably at least partially because of the ankle injury. Edman had started the ’25 season hot, connecting on eight home runs through the end of April, but hit .213/.264/.315 while playing at less than 100% the rest of the way.
