Dodgers sign former division rival infielder to minor-league contract

It only took the Dodgers a few days to scoop up a discarded player from their least intimidating division rival. Colorado is typically a place where careers go to die — just ask Kris Bryant about that — so LA was really doing Alan Trejo a favor when they signed him to a minor-league deal on Monday. Congratulations Alan Trejo, you are not a Colorado Rockie!

Trejo has been a constant Quadruple-A call up for Colorado for the last three years, but he made it onto the Opening Day roster this season after putting on a nice showcase during spring training. However, while Trejo has a track record of being fantastic Triple-A guy, he's never been able to make things stick in the majors. Before eventually being DFA'ed by the Rockies on June 29 and declaring free agency, he was hitting .143 with a .325 OPS through 28 games.

The Dodgers immediately put him to work down in Triple-A; he made his OKC debut just a day after the contract became official and went 2-for-3 with two walks and an RBI in a pretty great first introduction to the club.

Dodgers sign DFA'ed Rockies infielder Alan Trejo to a minor-league contract

Again, Trejo has always been a fantastic hitter in the minors. Over 12 games last year with the Albuquerque Isotopes, he hit .370 with a 1.028 OPS, and even with a larger sample size the year before (67 games), he hit .296 with a .882 OPS. But he's never been able to translate that to the bigs. So while Trejo's line leaving his first game with OKC (.667/.800/1.333) does leave a lot of room to be excited about what he could do with the Dodgers' far superior minor-league system and player development track, there's no telling if they'll also be able to get him over that bridge.

Still, it's pretty clear why the Dodgers went after Trejo. Second base has been a pretty desperate place since Gavin Lux moved there at the beginning of the season. His defense has been fine, but his bat has gone completely cold. With Miguel Rojas now primarily at short in Mookie Betts' absence, second is backed up by Kiké Hernández, who also hasn't been hitting this season.

It seems (or, rather, we can hope) that Lux will be given away at the trade deadline to any team that will take him, but if Betts' progress in recovery is stalled or the Dodgers decide to move him back to the outfield instead of second, they'll need to look for internal replacements, which is where Trejo could come in. If that happens, he'll get himself within closer proximity to a World Series ring than he's ever been before. Congratulations Alan Trejo, you are a Los Angeles Dodger.