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Santiago Espinal has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Oklahoma City, keeping him within the Dodgers organization, per Dodger Blue staff. Espinal was designated for assignment earlier this week as the corresponding move when Kiké Hernández was activated off the 60-day injured list. No other team claimed him, and he’ll now report to OKC rather than hitting the open market.

This is a pretty telling outcome for Espinal. When you get DFA’d and all 29 other clubs pass on you — even for free — that says something about where your stock is leaguewide. Espinal came to the Dodgers with a decent reputation as a versatile infielder who had shown flashes of solid contact ability during his time with the Blue Jays. He won a World Series ring with Toronto in spirit if not in action, and the Dodgers picked him up hoping that defensive flexibility and a right-handed bat off the bench could be useful pieces. It just never materialized. His at-bats this season were largely unproductive, and we covered earlier this month why the front office was still hanging onto him despite the struggles. That patience finally ran out when a roster spot was needed for Hernández’s return.

Hernández’s activation is the other side of this coin. He’s been working his way back from a significant oblique tear that was initially feared to be a hamstring issue, and the Dodgers clearly valued getting him back onto the active roster more than keeping Espinal around as a bench option. That’s not a controversial call — Hernández, when healthy, brings far more to this team both offensively and defensively than Espinal was providing.

For Espinal, Triple-A becomes a chance to rebuild some value. He’s 27 and still has time to put together a stretch of performance that earns another look, whether from us or from someone else. The Dodgers outrighting him rather than releasing him outright suggests they see at least some organizational depth value there. If he rakes in Oklahoma City, he could find himself back on a 40-man roster at some point — but right now, he’s a long way from that conversation.

From our perspective, this is just roster housekeeping. The Dodgers needed the spot, Espinal wasn’t producing, and no one else wanted him at his current salary. The real story here is that the roster is getting healthier. Hernández is back, Tommy Edman is on a rehab assignment with OKC, and Evan Phillips is reportedly nearing a return as well. The bench and bullpen depth that looked thin a few weeks ago is starting to fill back in. Espinal moving to Triple-A is a footnote in that larger picture — a necessary transaction to make room for players who actually move the needle. I won’t pretend this is a dramatic development, but it does officially close the book on the Espinal experiment at the big-league level, at least for now.

Source(s): Staff (Dodger Blue) | First reported: May 29, 2026 1:03 PM UTC

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