Wrinkle in Santiago Espinal’s contract hints Dodgers’ roster move won’t be so simple

With Mookie Betts set to make his 2026 debut on Monday against the against the San Francisco Giants, the Los Angeles Dodgers are faced with a difficult decision for the corresponding roster move. Conventional wisdom would point to the Dodgers designating Santiago Espinal for assignment, but a recent contract rework suggests that may not be the move.

The Athletic's Katie Woo (subscription required) reported that when Espinal signed a one-year deal with the Dodgers ahead of spring training, his deal included a clause that would have allowed LA to release the utility infielder within the first 45 of the days of the regular season and not pay the money remaining on the deal. Highlighting the looming roster decision, Woo reports that the Dodgers and Espinal recently restructured his deal, pushing back the deadline for the advanced consent clause.

At the very least, the impression from the reworked details for Espinal's contract is that he will remain with the Dodgers until at least one of Tommy Edman or Kiké Hernández is ready to return. Edman was recently transferred to the 60-day IL, pushing his potential return until the end of May. Hernández has started a minor-league rehab assignment, and his return shouldn't be too far off.

Despite struggles, Santiago Espinal appears to be sticking around

From a production standpoint, Espinal was the obvious move to make with Betts' impending return. The 31-year-old is slashing .188/.188/.250 through 34 plate appearances. Espinal may hold onto his spot for now, but the writing does appear to already be on the wall regarding his future with the Dodgers.

With Espinal seemingly safe, the expectation is that one of Alex Freeland or Hyeseong Kim will be the odd man out once Betts is activated. While Kim has often been the victim of previous roster crunches, the impression from Dave Roberts over the weekend is that the Dodgers have a plan in place to utilize him moving forward.

Freeland has certainly seen some improvement from his 2025 struggles, but he is still striking out over 28% of the time. Couple that with his limited positional versatility, in comparison to Kim, and it feels like he is ticketed for Triple-A Oklahoma City.

Most importantly, for the Dodgers, Betts' return comes at time when the offense has been having mixed results. The hope is that with Betts in the starting lineup, LA's offense finally lives up the bar that has been set in past seasons.

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