'Back to health' Dodgers mull options with Edman's return - ESPN

LOS ANGELES — Tommy Edman came off the injured list and started in center field Wednesday, providing a glimpse at what the Los Angeles Dodgers' alignment might look like at full strength.

Edman's return, after sitting out the past five weeks because of a recurrence of a right ankle injury, pushed Andy Pages from center field to left, with Teoscar Hernandez remaining in right and the struggling Michael Conforto relegated to the bench.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who scratched catcher Will Smith from the lineup with a recurrence of the right-hand soreness that kept him out of last weekend's series in Baltimore, said Edman will get the majority of his starts against opposing left-handed pitchers — like Kyle Freeland, the Colorado Rockies' starter on Wednesday — and that Conforto will still be in the lineup when the Dodgers face righties.

Edman is a switch-hitter who has fared better this season against lefties (.737 OPS) than righties (.647), but is navigating a down year altogether, slashing .228/.281/.396 in 86 games. His presence should at least improve the team's defense, though the ideal setup has Pages in right field because of his superior arm strength.

Hernandez has graded out as one of the worst right fielders in the sport this season, with minus-nine outs above average, but Roberts left him there because of his comfortability at the position — while adding that his defense has improved of late.

«I'm toying with it,» Roberts said of flipping Pages and Hernandez. «Obviously like Andy in right, like the arm. Teo finished the season last year in left field [after Mookie Betts returned to right], so we've shown we can win a championship with him in left field. Not quite there yet, but thinking about it. And a lot of