Dodgers insider hints at objectively wild move if Max Muncy continues to spiral

Former Reds first-round and second overall draft pick Nick Senzel has looked like a complete bust for years, but the Dodgers — who love themselves a fixer-upper — signed him to a minor-league deal on Friday after a short stint in the Mexican League to start 2025.

He had a decent enough rookie season in 2019, batting .256 with a .742 OPS, but went onto the IL in September with a torn labrum before missing about two-thirds of the COVID-shortened year. Injuries persisted in 2021, and then he batted .233 with a .644 over his last two seasons in Cincinnati before the Reds finally decided they'd had enough and non-tendered him in 2023.

Jumping from two basement-dweller teams in 2024, the Nationals and then White Sox (the latter was initially on a minor-league deal), and continuing to play poorly for both clubs doesn't inspire a ton of confidence that even the Dodgers would be able to fix him up and turn him around.

However, the LA Times' Houston Mitchell threw Senzel's name out as a potential solution if a key piece of the Dodgers' lineup — Max Muncy, who is still sort of playing like he's never seen a baseball before — doesn't start working.

The LA Times proposed a Nick Senzel-Max Muncy swap if Muncy continues to slump with Dodgers

If we were to be charitable and say that a Senzel-Muncy swap had even the smallest possibility of happening (it doesn't), it certainly wouldn't be until next season, after the Dodgers have made a decision on Muncy's $10 million club option for 2026. Even then, though, it's far more likely that the Dodgers would sign another star free agent or make a trade for one (one has to wonder if Nolan Arenado actually performing well this year will finally get the Dodgers to reciprocate his interest).

Muncy has been working with coaches to make adjustments to his swing and did pick up three hits in the Dodgers' last two games against the Pirates and Marlins, but he's still waiting for his first homer and has been stuck at just four RBI since April 19. He represented a run for the first time on Monday after failing to do so since April 16.

Muncy is a non-factor in this lineup right now, and the Dodgers will have to do something about it at the end of the season if this continues throughout the year, but Senzel — who has yet to make his OKC debut, but who fans shouldn't get their hopes up about — has, at best, only a very, very distant possibility of being the solution.