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An old friend is returning to the Dodgers, with catcher Tim Federowicz signing a minor league contract with the team, according to Federowicz himself.
I’m back in Dodger blue! So excited to be back with the team that first gave me chance to reach my dream of playing in the MLB. Year 14 and counting.
— Tim Federowicz (@FedX19) December 16, 2020
Federowicz caught parts of four seasons with the Dodgers, hitting .194/.247/.300 in 89 games from 2011-14. He was traded to the Padres in the Matt Kemp/Yasmani Grandal trade during the winter meetings in 2014, and has played in the majors for five different teams since.
This is Federowicz’s sixth straight year in big league camp as a non-roster player, with his sixth different team:
- 2016 with Cubs
- 2017 with Giants
- 2018 with Astros
- 2019 with Indians
- 2020 with Rangers
- 2021 with Dodgers
Though he was in Texas’ player pool last season, Federowicz didn’t play in the majors in 2020. Federowicz, now 33, presumably will spend time in Triple-A, where he played 507 total games from 2011-19.
That makes six known Dodgers non-roster invitees for spring training, including four with previous time in the organization. The club announced minor league deals for Brandon Morrow, Jimmy Nelson, and Brock Stewart last week, along with left-handed pitcher James Pazos and infielder Carlos Asuaje.
Links
- Jorge Castillo at the Los Angeles Times outlined the possibility of the Dodgers acquiring a frontline starting pitcher, with a focus on free agent Trevor Bauer.
- On Wednesday, Major League Baseball officially recognized the Negro Leagues as a major league. More info from MLB.com here.
- Bob Kendrick, the president of the Negro League Baseball Museum, told Tyler Kepner of the New York Times, “It gives greater context to the Negro Leagues in a quantifiable way, but I can tell you this: for those who called the Negro Leagues home, they never questioned their own validity”
- Clinton Yates at The Undefeated wrote, “Major League Baseball is one league in one country. In 2020, joining the globe in recognizing that Black folks are real people without whom you could never survive is not a reason to say, ‘you’re welcome.’ It’s a reason to say sorry.”