James

Tibbs III

Thomas isn’t the most exciting option from a pure fantasy perspective, but he makes the most sense as a short-term stopgap for the Dodgers with Andy Pages set to miss 4-5 weeks with a fractured hand. The 26-year-old defensive specialist is an excellent defender in center field and is already on the 40-man roster. He’ll split time with Tommy Edman and Enrique Hernández for the next couple weeks. There’s a chance that a top prospect like Josue De Paula, Mike Sirota or James Tibbs III get a look once rosters expand, but that seems unlikely at this juncture.

The calls for Tibbs to reach the majors are going to get exponentially louder with Andy Pages set to miss 4-5 weeks with a left hand fracture. It figures to be Alek Thomas, who is already on the club’s 40-man roster, that gets the call to join the Dodgers as a defensive specialist with Enrique Hernández and Tommy Edman taking over for Pages in center field. It’s possible the Dodgers decide to give Tibbs a look in left field, especially if they decide they need the spark in their lineup. However, his arrival in the big leagues doesn’t feel imminent. The same goes for top prospect Josue De Paula, who isn’t really an option in center field at this stage of his development at Double-A Tulsa. Fellow top prospect Mike Sirota would make a ton of sense as a short-term stopgap, but that feels unlikely with both Edman and Hernández capable of filling the void for the final month of the season.

Pages underwent X-rays that revealed the fracture after being hit by a pitch during the early stages of Friday’s game against the Pirates. Roberts didn’t say how the Dodgers intend to replace Pages, but former Diamondbacks center fielder Alek Thomas, who is already on the 40-man roster, seems like the obvious choice. He could come up and play against most righties, with Tommy Edman moving to center against lefties. That would free up some infield time for Enrique Hernández and Miguel Rojas. There’s an extremely small, but non-zerp possibility that the Dodgers bring up one of their top outfield prospects like Josue De Paula, Mike Sirota, or James Tibbs III.

It’s the best-case scenario for the Dodgers and fantasy managers as Hernández is likely to only miss a couple weeks. Los Angeles opted to bring up Ryan Ward, who is finally getting a real opportunity at the highest level after years at Triple-A, as a short-term stopgap. It sounds like they considered bringing up red-hot prospect James Tibbs III, but he’s been dealing with a forearm issues that has limited him to DH exclusively of late. His opportunity figures to come later this summer.

Tibbs took Astros elite closer Josh Hader deep to cap off his third multi-homer performance of the season. The 23-year-old slugging outfield prospect won’t be receiving the call to replace an injured Teoscar Hernández (hamstring) with the Dodgers turning to Ryan Ward instead as a temporary stopgap. However, he’s certainly shown enough to be under consideration as a mid-to-late season call-up as a platoon specialist.

Hernández left last night’s game with a left hamstring strain and figures to miss multiple weeks. The 33-year-old corner outfielder had produced an .892 OPS in a resurgent May. Alex Call would figure to get more playing time going forward if Hernández’s injury doesn’t force the Dodgers into thinking about some of their better prospects, like James TIbbs III, who has a 1.028 OPS in Triple-A Oklahoma City with 12 home runs.

It seems like a possibility that Hernández will require a trip to the injured list, depending on the severity. The 33-year-old veteran slugger suffered the injury while attempting to beat out attempting to beat out a second-inning grounder. He was replaced in left field by Hyeseong Kim. There should be some additional clarity on his status prior to Friday’s series opener against the Phillies. There’s no shortage of options for the Dodgers in the upper minors with Ryan Ward and Alek Thomas representing in-house options already on the 40-man roster while prospect James Tibbs III might be a consideration as a potential solution. Tommy Edman (ankle) is at least another week or two away from returning from the injured list.

Tibbs is hitting .474 AVG in nine games with four doubles, seven home runs, 13 RBI, and a .535 on-base percentage. Tibbs came over to the Red Sox as part of the Rafael Devers trade, but didn’t seem to respond well to coaching in Boston and was shipped off to the Dodgers for Dustin May last year at the trade deadline. That may go down as the worst trade of the Craig Breslow era in Boston.

There’s no path to for Tibbs to play regularly in Los Angeles this season, barring an unexpected development, but he’s making some serious noise on the doorstep of the majors. The 23-year-old former first-rounder, who was traded by both the Red Sox and Giants last year, is hitting .545 (12-for-22) with three homers and nine RBI through five games. He’s going to cool off at some point soon, but it’s looking like he could force his way to the big leagues at some point later this year.

Tibbs impressed this spring and is off to an 8-for-13 starts with six extra-base hits in three games for Oklahoma City. The Dodgers might not ever need the twice-traded 2024 first-round pick (first from the Giants to the Red Sox in the Rafael Devers deal and later to the Dodgers in the Dustin May trade), but he could be a big part of another deadline deal this summer.