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SAN DIEGO -- With the first day of the Winter Meetings now behind us, here are some Dodgers notes involving new acquisition Ryan Lavarnway, shortstop Miguel Rojas and Thursday's Rule 5 Draft.
Rojas dislocated a finger on his left hand sliding into a base on Saturday while playing for Tiburones De La Guaira in the Venezuelan Winter League. But X-rays showed nothing broken and Rojas should return to the lineup shortly. Rojas thanked the home team training staff on Saturday for treating his injury.
Gracias a la organización de @Magallanes_bbc por el apoyo brindado está noche médicamente! Todo su grupo de trainers gracias !!!
— Miguel Rojas (@MRojasOfficial) December 7, 2014
"Fortunately it didn't sound like it was anything real, then we got the good news following up," said Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman on Monday night. "He's obviously a big part of our current shortstop situation."
That shortstop situation currently consists of Rojas, Erisbel Arruebarrena, Darwin Barney and likely a pinch of Justin Turner for 2015. Friedman said the club is weighing options to improve the position in a limited market.
"That's a real focus for us, figuring out whether to go internal or go external. It's not the easiest position in terms of supply."
Friedman also said the injury to Rojas would not impact the shortstop's readiness for spring training.
Lavarnway a hybrid
The Dodgers claimed Lavarnway off waivers from the Red Sox on Friday, designating Drew Butera for assignment. Lavarnway has been mostly a catcher throughout his career, though in 2014 between the majors and minors he only caught 15 games, playing more games at first base (40) and designated hitter (19).
Friedman said Lavarnway's role would consist of multiple positions in 2015.
"He'll catch some. He'll play some at first, and be a right-handed bat," Friedman said. "Obviously he's been a productive performer in the minor leagues. So much of every decision you make is risk/reward, and we felt like the reward outweighed the risk. He has a chance to come up and at the very least add some depth against left-handed pitching."
Lavarnway, a career .283/.375/.479 hitter in the minors, is out of options, so he'll have to make the big league club to remain on the 40-man roster.
Slow Thursday?
The Winter Meetings finish up on Thursday morning at 9 a.m. PT with the Rule 5 Draft, though as of now the Dodgers' 40-man roster is full. That would prevent them from making any selections in the major league portion of the draft.
"I don't expect us to be active [in the Rule 5 Draft]," Friedman said.