Dodgers Dugout: Farewell, Chris Taylor

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. Let’s hope the Dodgers don’t have to face the Angels in the postseason.

Last week, the Dodgers designated longtime backup catcher Austin Barnes for assignment to make room for Dalton Rushing. The other shoe dropped Sunday when the Dodgers released Chris Taylor to make way for a returning Tommy Edman.

Taylor is a longtime fan favorite whose last good season at the plate was 2021. After that season, he signed a four-year, $60-million contract. He also had elbow surgery that offseason, and was never the same after that. Still good-to-great defensively, but on offense, well, the numbers speak for themselves:

2022: .221/.304/.373, 89 OPS+
2023: .237/.326/.420, 102 OPS+
2024: .202/.290/.300, 72 OPS+
2025: .200/.200/.257, 29 OPS+

Taylor had only 35 at-bats spread over 28 games this season. When Hyeseong Kim came up from the minors and played so well, there was no reason to keep Taylor when Edman came off the IL. It would have been really hard to justify sending Kim down.

But, showing that it’s possible for two conflicting thoughts to be true at the same time, while it was the best thing for the Dodgers to release him, it’s still hard to see him go.

“This has been a very emotional week for all of us,” president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman told reporters before Sunday’s game. “Barnsey and CT have been in the middle of some huge moments for this organization. Both guys have left an indelible mark on our culture and where we’re at at this point. So the decisions were incredibly difficult. The conversations were tough. But with where we are, the division race, the composition of roster, everything. We felt like this was in the Dodgers’ best interest in terms of how to win as many games and put us in a position to best win the World Series this year.”

Taylor, who went to Virginia, was selected by the Seattle Mariners in the fifth round of the 2012 draft. He reached the majors in 2014 with the Mariners and was considered a disappointment at the time after hitting only .240/.296/.296 in 86 games with the Mariners. The Dodgers acquired him on June 19, 2016 for one-time top prospect Zach Lee. Not much attention was given to the deal, and the attention it was given was for the Dodgers giving up on Lee.

A few years later, Jerry DiPoto, who was GM of the Mariners for the trade, called it the worst deal he ever made.

Taylor hit .207 in limited playing time with the Dodgers over the rest of the 2016 season, before the Dodgers, or Taylor, or both, unlocked something offensively. He hit .288/.354/.496 with 34 doubles, 21 homers, 72 RBIs and 17 stolen bases in 2017 while playing five different positions and was a key player on the team that reached the World Series before losing to the Houston Astros*. Taylor hit two homers during the NLCS and one during the World Series. He was named co-MVP of the NLCS with Justin Turner. Little-known fact: He didn’t make the team out of spring training. He was brought up for the minors on April 19, 2017 when Logan Forsythe suffered a broken toe when hit by a pitch. How would Dodger, and Chris Taylor’s, fortunes have changed if Forsythe wasn’t hit by that pitch?

in 2018 he hit .254/.331/.444, with 35 doubles and 17 homers, .262/.333/.462 with 29 doubles and 12 homers in 2019 and .270/.366/.476 during the COVID-shortened 2020 season. He made his first and only All-Star team in 2021. And then the wheels started falling off.

Here’s a guy who has been with the team since 2016, and what do we know about him? Not much. He never sought the spotlight, just did his job every day to the best of his abilities.

“He is the consummate pro, the way he did a trust fall when he got here,” Friedman said. “He came in hungry and wanting to get better, and dove in with our hitting guys, with our position coaches. … He was a huge part of so much success that we’ve enjoyed. Can’t say enough about the human, the worker, the teammate, the player.”

If you dig a little deeper about Taylor, you discover he quietly helped families who were hurt by the devastating wildfires earlier this year. His CT3 Foundation raised millions of dollars for organization in L.A. and his hometown Virginia Beach, including Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Variety Boys and Girls Club, The Friendship Foundation, Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation, Children’s Hospital of the Kings Daughters, and Roc Solid Foundation.

He was just shy of reaching 10 seasons in the majors. Once a player reaches 10 years of service, they are eligible for up to $265,000 per year if they wait until age 62 to activate their pension. Seasons are counted as 172 days on the 26-man roster, so if you are bounced up and down from the minors, only your time in the majors counts. That’s how Taylor can be listed as “12 seasons” in the majors on most stat sites, but really be shy of 10 seasons. He needed to be on the Dodgers until early August to make it. If some other team signs him, then his time there will also count toward his 10 seasons. Taylor is at 9.037 seasons. He has also been paid almost $74 million in his career, so he should be fine. He just beats me out by about.... $73,500,000. Austin Barnes was at 8.098 seasons of service. He has been paid $18 million in his career.

Taylor’s first career home run was a grand slam with the Dodgers. His 100th career home run was a grand slam with the Dodgers, making him the only player in history whose first and 100th home runs were grand slams.

He appeared in 80 postseason games with L.A., hitting .247/.351/.441 with 13 doubles, nine homers and 26 RBIs. The most important homer may have been his walk-off homer in the 2021 wild-card game against St. Louis. You can watch that here.

Taylor was a part of two World Series winning teams. There aren’t a lot of players who can say that. It seems likely some other team will pick him up and see if he can recapture some of his old magic. We wish him well and thank him for some great memories.

*-The Astros cheated during that season and postseason.

First outing

Clayton Kershaw had his first outing of the season Saturday and the results were.... mixed. He gave up three runs in the first inning and looked bad. Then he settled a bit before seeming to tire. His line: Four innings pitched, five hits, five runs, three walks, two strikeouts.

We can draw no conclusions from this. We couldn’t if he had thrown five hitless innings. It’s going to take a couple more starts to figure out just how Kershaw is.

“I love getting back out there. It’s a special thing to get to go back and pitch at Dodger Stadium,” Kershaw told reporters after Saturday’s game. “Obviously, I wanted to pitch better. I need to pitch better going forward. But I think there’s some glimpses of some of my stuff being there, which is good. The problem tonight was just command.”

Dave Roberts on Kershaw to reporters after the game: “The stuff overall, I was impressed with. The velocity was more than it’s been in quite some time. At times the slider was good. At times the curveball was good. He mixed in a lot of change-ups, which was good. The command just wasn’t consistent. He got to a lot of two-strike counts and couldn’t put hitters away, where typically that’s his hallmark.”

Pete Rose poll

We asked readers of our Sports Report and Dodgers Dugout newsletters, “Should Pete Rose and Joe Jackson be in the Baseball Hall of Fame?” After 19,803 responses

Pete Rose
Yes, 46.6%
No, 53.4%

Joe Jackson
Yes, 55.4%
No, 44.6%

All-time leaders

The Dodgers’ all-time leaders in batting average with two out and runners in scoring position, minimum 150 at-bats.

Franchise
1. Howie Schultz, .345
2. Freddie Freeman, .343
3. Billy Herman, .333
4. Del Bissonette, .332
5. Jack Fournier, .332
6. Mickey Owen, .330
7. Jake Daubert, .328
8. Corey Seager, .327
9. Augie Galan, .326
10. Dixie Walker, .325

Los Angeles only
1. Freddie Freeman, .343
2. Corey Seager, .327
3. Mike Piazza, .318
4. Mookie Betts, .317
5. Lou Johnson, .313
6. Paul Lo Duca, .311
7. Jeff Kent, .304
8. Steve Garvey, .295
9. Ron Fairly, .293
10. Adrián González, .287

Is there a top 10 Dodgers list you’d like to see Email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com and let me know.

These names seem familiar

A look at how some prominent Dodgers from the last few seasons are doing with their new team (through Sunday). Click on the player name to be taken to the baseball-reference page with all their stats.

Batters

Cody Bellinger, Yankees: .258/.331/.458, 178 plate appearances, 8 doubles, 1 triple, 7 homers, 28 RBIs, 123 OPS+

Michael Busch, Cubs: .255/.355/.463, 172 PA’s, 8 doubles, 1 triple, 7 homers, 25 RBIs, 131 OPS+

Jason Heyward, Padres, .177/.227/.278, 89 PA’s, 2 doubles, 2 homers, 12 RBIs, 42 OPS+

Gavin Lux, Reds: .291/.379/.399, 169 PA’s, 11 doubles, 1 triple, 1 homer, 19 RBIs, 113 OPS+

Zach McKinstry, Tigers: .281/.367/.418, 170 PA’s, 8 doubles, 3 triples, 2 homers, 17 RBIs, 125 OPS+

Joc Pederson, Rangers, .130/.259/.243, 136 PA’s, 5 doubles, 1 triple, 2 homers, 6 RBIs, 47 OPS+

Keibert Ruiz, Nationals, .280/.327/.363, 168 PA’s, 7 doubles, 2 homers, 17 RBIs, 97 OPS+

Corey Seager, Rangers: .300/.346/.520, 107 PA’s, 4 doubles, 6 homers, 12 RBIs, 148 OPS+, on the IL

Justin Turner, Cubs: .169/.291/.185, 79 PA’s, 1 double, 9 RBIs, 40 OPS+

Trea Turner, Phillies: .294/.352/.378, 196 PA’s, 7 doubles, 1 triple, 2 homers, 15 RBIs, 104 OPS+

Miguel Vargas, White Sox: .245/.328/.4219, 180 PA’s, 10 doubles, 6 homers, 21 RBIs, 114 OPS+

Alex Verdugo, Braves: .264/.322/.340, 115 PA’s, 8 doubles, 9 RBIs, 85 OPS+

Pitching

Walker Buehler, Red Sox: 4-1, 4.28 ERA, 33.2 IP, 32 hits, 9 walks, 29 K’s, 98 ERA+, on the IL

Jack Flaherty, Tigers: 2-5, 4.44 ERA, 46.2 IP, 42 hits, 15 walks, 56 K’s, 90 ERA+

Kenley Jansen, Angels: 0-2, 5.40 ERA, 8 saves, 13.1 IP, 15 hits, 3 walks, 12 K’s, 80 ERA+

Craig Kimbrel, Braves: in the minors

Kenta Maeda, Cubs: 0-0, 7.88 ERA, 8 IP, 9 hits, 6 walks, 8 K’s, 52 ERA+, in the minors

Ryan Pepiot, Rays: 2-5, 3.93 ERA, 50.1 IP, 48 hits, 17 walks, 45 K’s, 101 ERA+

Max Scherzer, Blue Jays: 0-0, 6.00 ERA, 3 IP, 3 hits, 0 walks, 1 K, 74 ERA+, on the IL

Ryan Yarbrough, Yankees: 1-0, 3.70 ERA, 24.1 IP, 21 hits, 10 walks, 20 K’s, 107 ERA+

Is there a player you’d like to see listed here? Email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com and let me know.

Up next

Monday: Arizona (Brandon Pfaadt, 6-3, 3.73 ERA) at Dodgers (Landon Knack, 2-1, 5.89 ERA), 7:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Tuesday: Arizona (Ryne Nelson, 1-1, 5.13 ERA) at Dodgers (Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 5-3, 2.12 ERA), 7:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Wednesday: Arizona (Corbin Burnes, 3-1, 2.56 ERA) at Dodgers (Dustin May, 1-4, 4.43 ERA), 7:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

*-left-handed

In case you missed it

Dodgers release Chris Taylor, parting ways with another veteran

‘A lot of gratitude and gratefulness to get back.’ Clayton Kershaw reflects on 2025 return

And finally

Chris Taylor hits a walk-off homer to win the 2021 wild-card game. Watch and listen here. Chris Taylor makes an incredible catch to preserve a 2018 NLCS Game 7 lead over Milwaukee. Watch and listen here.

Until next time...

Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com, and follow me on Twitter at @latimeshouston. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.