President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman may have another pesky contract issue on his hands. Before his arrival, the Los Angeles Dodgers signed Cuban defector Alex Guerrero to a four-year, $28 million deal and it could be a problem heading into 2015.
The 28-year-old middle infielder could be headed for the trading block. According to Steve Dilbeck of the Los Angeles Times, Guerrero has a clause in his contract that does not allow him to be optioned to the minors in 2015 without his permission, and with no room for him on the Opening Day roster, it looks as if this will cause some tension.
"The team does not know what they are going to do, but all I can control is keep working hard and they will get the final word," Guerrero told Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com. "I don't want to go down. I'm not going down. I feel like I can get better here at this level and play every day. I think that's what every player wants. You want to be in the Major Leagues and play as much as you can."
Guerrero tore up Triple-A Albuquerque in 2014 and slashed .329/.364/.613/.978 with 39 runs scored, 15 home runs and 49 RBIs in 65 games. He played in a total of 12 games between the rookie league and High Class-A Rancho Cucamonga before earning his promotion to Triple-A and obviously feels ready for the big leagues. He only got 13 at-bats in 11 games with the Dodgers in 2014, which didn't give him enough of a chance to prove his worth.
He's expected to see some time at second base, third base and the outfield during spring training, writes Dilbeck. Shortstop is likely out of the question because Rollins will occupy that post in 2015 and top prospect Corey Seager is the top candidate to take over there in 2016. Additionally, the outfield is already crowded enough with Carl Crawford, Joc Pederson, Yasiel Puig and Andre Ethier, while second and third base are occupied by Howie Kendrick and Juan Uribe. Dillbeck says that if the Dodgers don't have room for him on the 25-man roster, their options are to trade him or cut him.
There is certainly a demand for middle infielders throughout the league, but Guerrero is a largely unproven player with three years and $21.5 million remaining on his contract. Cutting him is probably out of the question because the Dodgers need to utilize costly players at this point after paying $32 million to get rid of Matt Kemp and eating the $9.5 million salary of Brian Wilson upon releasing him.
Spring training will be the tell-all for Guerrero. If he excels then he'll make a strong case for earning a spot on the roster and boost his trade value, but if he struggles then perhaps his agent, Scott Boras, convinces him to start the year off in the minors.
Manager Don Mattingly says Guerrero "seems a lot more relaxed in camp this year," so we'll see what happens.
