The Dodgers are talking to “numerous teams” about a possible Alex Guerrero trade, according to Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com.
Guerrero, a career .303/.386/.528 hitter in Cuba, had a .233/.261/.434 slash line last season after falling into a deep second-half slump. Besides having no obvious place in the Dodgers’ batting order, Guerrero hasn’t had a primary position since he defected either.
A shortstop in Cuba, the Dodgers used Guerrero primarily at third base and left field last season when he wasn’t biding his time as a pinch hitter. Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman recently asked Howie Kendrick to take reps at third base as a possible backup to Justin Turner, further pushing Guerrero down the depth chart.
Friedman gave a tepid response last week when asked to identify how Guerrero fit into the team’s plans: “we’ll look at how we want to configure our roster; which pieces fit and which pieces don’t as well.”
Guerrero can become a free agent at the end of any season in which he is traded. In a trade, he’s basically a one-year, $7.5 million rental. If he remains a Dodger, the club will owe him $15 million over the next two seasons.