Dave Roberts might've foreshadowed the end of Chris Taylor's Dodgers tenure

The thing that makes the Dodgers' roster look so formidable this season is the fact almost everyone feels essential, and players are hard to replace or impossible to replace. The rotation and the top of the lineup are the easiest areas to point to in this regard, but even further down into the lineup, guys like Will Smith and Tommy Edman have done a lot to earn their huge extensions.

Even Kiké Hernández and Miguel Rojas, who are on the bench, contributed in big ways last year; Hernández was a postseason force once again, and Rojas had the best year of his career in his age-35 season. Hyeseong Kim is turning heads at spring training and could be the Dodgers' regular second baseman.

If there's one exception to this rule — a weak link, even — it's Chris Taylor. Taylor is making $13 million this year after a season in which he barely batted above .200 and saw his playing time decrease significantly by the end of the year.

When asked about Taylor's role on the 2025 Dodgers, the team that already has the best odds to win the World Series per PECOTA, Dave Roberts was noncommittal. He said, "I don't know right now."

Dave Roberts said he's still uncertain about Chris Taylor's role on Dodgers' 2025 roster

Taylor is very clearly the odd man out on this roster, but the Dodgers could be keeping him for a number of reasons. Maybe they don't want to eat the $13 million they owe him (though that would be rich coming from a team that's this liberal with money). Maybe they're trying to get him to 10 years of service time to reach an MLB pension benchmark. Maybe they're hopeful he can still be the guy he was in 2017 and 2018.

But it's hard to see how the Dodgers, if they keep him, will give him playing time when Kim, Hernández, and Rojas can all function in a similar capacity to Taylor, and contribute more than he's been able to in recent seasons. The Dodgers traded Gavin Lux, who was far better than Taylor last year, because he didn't quite come along quickly enough and they probably didn't want to put him in their power-packed lineup. Taylor has a history of greatness with the team, but will it really be enough for the Dodgers to give him a few pity at-bats?

It feels like the Dodgers will keep him and continue put him in the lineup at least for the first few months of the season to see if he can bounce back. If he can't, though, it might finally be time to let him go.