{"id":115861,"date":"2026-03-18T20:36:55","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T00:36:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=115861"},"modified":"2026-03-18T20:36:55","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T00:36:55","slug":"veteran-infielder-dodgers-opening-day-roster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/03\/18\/veteran-infielder-dodgers-opening-day-roster\/","title":{"rendered":"Veteran Infielder Makes Dodgers Opening Day Roster"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It is probably the worst-kept secret of the Los Angeles Dodgers Spring Training Camp. Versatile Infielder\/Outfielder <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/e\/espinsa01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-03-18_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Santiago Espinal<\/a> has made the Opening Day roster, the club announced today. Espinal is expected to fill a hole left by <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/e\/edmanto01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-03-18_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tommy Edman<\/a> and Kike Hernandez as they recover from their <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/02\/17\/dodgers-who-wont-be-ready-by-opening-day\/\" target=\"_self\">respective surgeries.<\/a> It would be surprising to see the first six weeks of the season. Los Angeles wants them as healthy as possible before they return.<\/p>\n<h2>Veteran Infielder Makes Dodgers Opening Day Roster<\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Los Angeles Dodgers have selected the contract of IF\/OF Santiago Espinal.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Dodgers\/status\/2034386132818088405?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 18, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>The Right Fit?<\/h3>\n<p>Los Angeles has signed<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/01\/09\/dodgers-sign-former-tigers-infielder-to-one-year-deal\/\" target=\"_self\"> several infielders<\/a> this winter, looking for depth. \u00a0They needed a right-handed bat off the bench. None stuck until Espinal. The former Cincinnati Red forced the Dodgers&#8217; hand. He hit for over a .500 batting average for most of Spring Training. His glove has been sparkling as well, with several defensive plays that have shown his range and versatility. No doubt this opened a few eyes. Manager <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=roberda07,roberda05,roberda06,roberda03&amp;search=Dave+Roberts&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-03-18_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dave Roberts<\/a> said as much last week when he said Espinal <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/02\/27\/three-players-who-have-shot-dodgers-opening-day-roster\/\" target=\"_self\">was trending<\/a> towards making the team out of camp.<\/p>\n<h3>A Brief History<\/h3>\n<p>The veteran&#8217;s career has been rocky since making the All-Star Team four years ago. Last year, he struggled mightily with the bat. Espinal&#8217;s career batting average hovers around .290 against left-handers. However, last year, it dipped under .250. As a result, he was sent to the minors. He will undoubtedly give <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=muncyma01,muncyma02&amp;search=Max+Muncy&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-03-18_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Max Muncy<\/a> a few days off at third base against left-handed pitching. He can fill in the outfield as well. The 31-year-old has everything the Dodgers are looking for in a bench player.<\/p>\n<h3>Roster Space<\/h3>\n<p>It is unclear whether or not Espinal had an opt-out clause in his minor league contract. Whatever the case, the veteran takes an open roster spot and gets a fresh start with a winning team.<\/p>\n<p>It looks like the Los Angeles Dodgers are almost ready for the 2026 season.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credits: <span>Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It is probably the worst-kept secret of the Los Angeles Dodgers Spring Training Camp. Versatile Infielder\/Outfielder Santiago Espinal has made the Opening Day roster, the club announced today. Espinal is expected to fill a hole left by Tommy Edman and Kike Hernandez as they recover from their respective surgeries. It would be surprising to see [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5226,"featured_media":115888,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33,1071],"tags":[3310],"class_list":["post-115861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dodgers","category-mlb","tag-santiago-espinal"],"modified_by":"Evan Mazza, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5226"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115861"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115861\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115890,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115861\/revisions\/115890"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}