Dodgers finally make much-needed call-up to replace Shohei Ohtani (but it's not who fans wanted)

An unfamiliar face showed up in the Dodgers' dugout on Friday in Arlington. Well, he was familiar, actually, but not in this uniform. For a solid hour-plus, the question lingered: who would he be replacing? And would the Dodgers finally pull off the move everyone had been waiting for?

Dave Roberts did something kind of uncharacteristic when he told reporters that Andy Pages had a 150 at-bat window of opportunity in the majors. It was a fair question, given Pages' struggles at the plate in the Dodgers' first 20 games, but it was a bit unusual for Roberts, who usually likes to stay pretty diplomatic when it comes to talking about his players.

It was a clear message to Pages, though, to get his act together quickly or get sent back to Triple-A. Pages was the only position player on the Dodgers' Opening Day roster with minor league options, and therefore their most expendable. Besides, the Dodgers had a clear replacement for Pages waiting in the wings in Oklahoma City in Hyeseong Kim.

Kim was optioned to the minors to start the season, but he's been hitting well enough there that if the Dodgers were going to call up an outfielder, fans would assume that it'd be Kim.

However, ahead of their series opening against the Rangers in Arlington, Dodgers' offseason signing Eddie Rosario was spotted at Globe Life Field instead of Kim. That meant Los Angeles needed to open a 40-man roster spot for him while he replaced ... Shohei Ohtani, who's going to the paternity list.

Dodgers call up Eddie Rosario, not Hyeseong Kim for season debut after raking in Triple-A

Rosario signed a minor-league deal with an invitation to spring training in February but, to no one's surprise, he didn't break the Opening Day roster and was sent to Oklahoma City to start the season. With the Comets, he's batted .339 with a .948 OPS, two homers, and 12 RBI over 14 games. He has 10 years of major league experience under his belt and, despite a sharp downturn over the last few years, even received MVP votes in 2019 and 2020 and, according to Roberts himself, "kicked our ass" in the 2021 NLCS.

However, fans have to wonder when the Dodgers will finally decide that the time is right to give Kim his major league debut. It's highly unlikely that the Dodgers will look at Rosario as a long-term option, but with Kim's stats looking relatively comparable to Rosario's in Triple-A, it's hard to see where exactly the Dodgers' benchmarks are.