With Dave Roberts confirming on Thursday that Teoscar Hernández will go onto the IL with a hamstring injury, in a perfect world, it would have have set the stage for the promotion of James Tibbs III.
Tibbs has had an offensive breakout since arriving in LA's organization, and he's taken it step further with a 1.028 OPS through his first 240 plate appearances at Triple-A this season. Unfortunately, there's a less than ideal reason why Tibbs won't be with the Dodgers this weekend.
The Dodgers never turn down the chance to add talent, and that often means taking gambles on players they don't have an exact need for at the moment. That's essentially what they did earlier this month by trading for former Arizona Diamondbacks starting center fielder Alek Thomas. Thomas was designated for assignment by the Diamondbacks, and if nothing else, was added outfield depth for the Dodgers in case of an emergency.
Two weeks later and it would seem that Thomas is the reason why Tibbs won't be how the Dodgers respond to Hernández's injury. Thomas wasn't who the Dodgers selected as the corresponding move for Hernández's IL stint, considering he's working on his swing in the rookie complex league, but he is taking up a spot on the team's 40-man roster.
Dodgers can’t call up James Tibbs to replace Teoscar because they’re wasting 40-man roster spots on Alek Thomas and Kyle Tucker
— Jon Anderson (@JonPgh) May 28, 2026
Not an ideal set of circumstances for James Tibbs III
It's hard to fault the Dodgers' logic when they made the trade for Thomas. A former second-round pick, Thomas has flashed signs of being a capable center fielder at the major league level. He's just never put it all together, and the Dodgers have the runway to let him figure things out.
What's problematic is that Thomas is taking up a 40-man roster spot while doing so. Not having a spot on the 40-man seems to be the biggest hurdle left for Tibbs to clear in his path to the big-league club.
Looking for a silver lining, the indication is that Kiké Hernández is dealing with a pretty serious oblique tear. An easy path for the Dodgers to make room for Tibbs on the 40-man roster would be to transfer Hernández to the 60-day IL. At the very least, it kicks the can down the road on other 40-man roster decisions the Dodgers have to face this season.
