The Dodgers have a few different storylines swirling at once, from a former roster flier finding a new home to Tyler Glasnow’s long-delayed return and Miguel Rojas dealing with a frightening personal situation back in Venezuela.
Buddy Kennedy’s brief stop in Los Angeles has now become another stop on a very busy baseball map. Kennedy spent seven games with the Dodgers in 2025, which technically made him a World Series champion. Los Angeles claimed him off waivers from the Blue Jays on Aug. 15 and put him right into the mix when Max Muncy landed on the IL with an oblique strain.
He ended up starting six games while Muncy was out, but the production never came. Kennedy finished with one hit and one RBI in 17 at-bats. Once Kiké Hernández came off the IL, the Dodgers moved on and designated Kennedy for assignment.
Kennedy cleared waivers, but he turned down an assignment to Triple-A and chose free agency. That sent him back to the Blue Jays, though he hit free agency again at season’s end.
His latest move came after a minor league deal with the Giants lasted just six months. San Francisco designated him for assignment and then traded him to the Mariners on Sunday for cash considerations, giving Kennedy the eighth major league organization of his career.
Glasnow’s return timeline still looks murky, and the Dodgers are clearly in no rush. The right-hander has been out since early May because of back spasms, and his path back has dragged on so long that his move to the 60-day IL in June barely raised an eyebrow.
Dave Roberts said Glasnow has begun throwing again, but added that the club is being “very cautious right now.” With a new throwing progression just getting underway and a rehab assignment likely still ahead, the Dodgers probably won’t see him for at least another month, and that assumes everything stays on track.
Rojas, meanwhile, has been dealing with something far bigger than baseball. After a series of earthquakes killed thousands in Venezuela, he said Friday that his wife and two children were in Caracas when the shaking hit. He said no one in his family was hurt.
“Literally two blocks away from where my family was, two buildings collapsed. The whole buildings,” he said.
“I'm lucky. I'm really lucky to have my family still alive and still with me.”
Rojas has since said he is working to get his family out of the country. Around the league, players have worn VZ on their caps to show support for Venezuela, including Wilyer Abreu on Sunday Night Baseball against the Yankees.
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Muncys homer was part of a two-RBI night that added another familiar layer to the Dodgers attack, while Ohtanis latest blast kept the star power front and center. The bigger oddity for Los Angeles, though, was tucked inside the box score and the matchup itself, a rare wrinkle involving Muncy that made this one stand out even in a win built on familiar Dodgers firepower. [Read more 🡒]
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Dodgers Fans May Forget How Rare Joc Pederson's Rookie Power Was
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One of the biggest came on June 29 against Arizona, when Pederson went big again in a game the Dodgers would lose at Chase Field. His power that year was not just loud, it was unusually long, too, with a 477-foot shot earlier in the season still standing as the clubs longest homer of the Statcast Era and another 472-foot blast in a doubleheader against Colorado. And while that rookie surge has been easy to file away as a fun memory, Pedersons later Dodgers run added one more layer to how rare that kind of early-season punch can be. [Read more 🡒]