3 players the Dodgers should keep and 3 they should trade

3 players the Dodgers should trade

Austin Barnes

As far as backup catchers go, the Dodgers could do a little better than the 34-year-old Barnes. He appeared in 53 games at the backstop on Will Smith's off days or when Smith was DH'ing, and he had his worst batting year with a .180/.256/.242 line. Barnes came over to the Dodgers from the Marlins in 2014 with Kiké Hernández and Andrew Heaney, and has made all of his major league appearances with LA. 2017 was his best year by far; he played in a career-high 102 games and batted .289/.408/.486, but he took a quick downturn in 2018 and hasn't managed to get even close to those numbers again.

He signed an extension with the Dodgers for 2023-2024, with a club option worth $3.5 million for 2025. Given the team's dependence on Smith and Barnes' corresponding decline in playing time (and a powerful glut of catching prospects behind him), the easiest thing would be to keep him through the year and make a decision about picking up his option at the end of the season. However, he could also be packaged up in a trade for a perhaps younger backup catcher and a prospect or two. It doesn't seem like he'll be getting much better with the Dodgers or even have much of an opportunity to do so with Smith putting up All-Star numbers.