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The Dodgers had a roster move in the works before Kiké Hernández‘s left oblique strain forced their hand in a different direction, per a report aggregated by heavy.com citing Fabian Ardaya. The implication: the front office was already looking to shake things up before Hernández’s emotional return was cut short by injury, and that original move may have been shelved — or at least delayed — once the situation changed.

This is the kind of detail that tells you a lot about how Andrew Friedman’s front office operates. They don’t sit still. Even on a night when Hernández was collecting two hits and the team was rallying past Colorado, someone upstairs was working the phones or filling out paperwork on a separate transaction. We don’t yet know exactly what the move was — whether it involved optioning a player, a DFA, or something else entirely — but the timing is notable. Hernández going down with the oblique strain clearly reshuffled the deck.

Hernández himself had just returned from a lengthy absence, having been activated after Santiago Espinal was designated for assignment. That DFA already signaled the Dodgers were willing to make tough calls to get the roster right. If they were lining up yet another move on top of that, it suggests the front office sees more roster optimization to do — and they’re not waiting around.

For context, the Dodgers are already juggling a number of moving pieces. Max Muncy remains out after being hit by a pitch. Shohei Ohtani took a pitch off his right wrist that could affect lineup decisions. Tyler Glasnow and Yandy Díaz have their own return timelines. Tommy Edman is working his way back as well. That’s a lot of bodies in flux, and every roster spot matters when you’re managing that many variables.

I find this interesting because it reinforces something we’ve seen all season: this front office is proactive, not reactive. They weren’t just responding to Hernández’s injury — they already had something cooking. The oblique strain just changed the calculus. Now the question becomes whether that original move resurfaces in the coming days, or if the Hernández IL stint (which seems likely at this point) absorbs whatever roster flexibility they were trying to create.

We’ll be watching the transaction wire closely. When Friedman’s group starts moving pieces, they usually aren’t done after just one.

Source(s): Fabian Ardaya (heavy.com) | First reported: May 27, 2026 12:09 PM UTC

God Bless and Go Dodgers