The Dodgers aren’t putting Mookie Betts back in right field.
Or, at least, they aren’t actively considering it yet.
Manager Dave Roberts made that much clear this week, saying the club has had no such discussions with the Gold Glove right fielder-turned-success story at shortstop.
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To this point, not even Teoscar Hernández’s defensive limitations or Michael Conforto’s offensive disappearing act have yet pushed the team to that theoretical extreme.
“We have not talked about right field at all,” Roberts said this week, as the noise around Hernández’s shaky glove grew louder following a pair of misplays in a Monday loss at Colorado.
“The way Mookie is playing at short,” Roberts added, “not bouncing him around, I think we feel very good about.”
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Still, as the Dodgers enter the final 34 games of their schedule, starting with a crucial series in San Diego against the second-place Padres this weekend, the club’s outfield issues remain a problem.
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And while Betts might not be the obvious solution this time — like he was last year when he made a late-season switch to right — the Dodgers will nonetheless have to find some answers.
Entering play Thursday, their two corner outfield positions combined ranked just 19th among MLB clubs in total wins above replacement, and 22nd in defensive rating, according to Fangraphs.
“Defense is a big part of postseason baseball and winning baseball,” Roberts said.
Here are the options the Dodgers will have to consider over the coming month and a half:
The current cast
Dodgers outfielders (from left to right) Teoscar Hernández, Michael Conforto (23) and Andy Pages run toward the infield to celebrate with teammates after a win over the Miami Marlins in April. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
For now, the Dodgers don’t have much other choice but to roll out the same couple lineup variations they have been sporting since the trade deadline.
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Most nights, that means having Hernández in right field, where, despite a recent uptick from his once slumping bat, the 32-year-old ranks in the bottom half of MLB right fielders in defensive runs saved (-1) and outs above average (-9); and Conforto in left, where the only thing worse than his lowly rated defense (-2 DRS, -5 OAA) has been a .186 batting average that is a distant last among MLB hitters with 350 plate appearances (next…