[ad_1]
Former top-100 prospect Andy Pages established himself as an on a regular basis participant in his second Main League season, batting .272/.313/.461 with 27 homers over 624 plate appearances for the Dodgers in 2025. Now settled in because the common middle fielder, Pages’ spot within the group’s plans has but to actually prolong into their longer-term future, as The Athletic’s Katie Woo experiences that the Dodgers “haven’t broached any extension talks with” Pages and his reps at PRIME.
Pages is managed via the 2030 season already, so he’ll be 30 when he’s eligible without cost company within the 2030-31 offseason. There’s no rush for Los Angeles to essentially lock Pages up already, although since he’s on tempo to attain Tremendous Two standing and an additional yr of arbitration eligibility, an extension would enable the Dodgers to achieve some price certainty over what could be a sharply rising price ticket via Pages’ 4 arb years.
Then once more, cash isn’t precisely a urgent concern for the big-budget Dodgers. This similar willingness to spend can be a possible motive to forego an extension, as L.A. may need the pliability to pivot to a different high free agent or commerce goal within the outfield. For example, the outfield wasn’t essentially an enormous space of want for the membership this winter, but the Dodgers nonetheless broke the financial institution for a four-year, $240MM take care of Kyle Tucker (with $30MM in deferred cash and two opt-out clauses).
If Pages “solely” continues his 2025 degree of manufacturing going ahead, that also means the Dodgers have a 4.1 fWAR participant who contributes above-average (113 wRC+) offense and respectable glovework in middle subject. That doesn’t imply Los Angeles couldn’t transfer Pages right into a nook outfield function if a star middle fielder turns into obtainable, or if Tucker opts out or if Teoscar Hernandez isn’t retained when the assured portion of his contract is up after 2027. The Dodgers even have an extended checklist of highly-touted outfield prospects within the pipeline, so all or any of Josue De Paula, Zyhir Hope, Eduardo Quintero, James Tibbs III, or Mike Sirota might quickly be on the radar for big-league responsibility.
This being stated, the Dodgers haven’t been shy about locking up gamers they view as key roster items. It may very well be that the group needs to see yet one more full yr of manufacturing from Pages earlier than exploring an extension, simply to present the group a bit of extra information. Not that the Dodgers would put extra weight on the small pattern dimension of the postseason over the longer pattern of regular-season play, however L.A. may additionally wish to see how Pages rebounds from a dreadful .211 OPS over 55 playoff plate appearances in 2025.
[ad_2]
Source link
