The Los Angeles Dodgers called Josue De Paula up for his debut straight from Double-A last season, and he proved he's ready for regular playing time in the big leagues.
In 11 games, De Paula slashed .323/.500/.581, and most of his work came at designated hitter while Shohei Ohtani was hurt. De Paula is one of the best prospects in baseball, and he is an outfielder. The problems with getting him regular playing time on the Dodgers are that the outfield is loaded and the designated hitter spot belongs to Ohtani.
Kyle Tucker and Andy Pages are not going anywhere, so that means Teoscar Hernández, who is entering the last guaranteed year of his deal, is the player the Dodgers need to move to get De Paula a spot. However, De Paula still has a ton to improve on defensively. If there is a lockout, there will be no way for the Dodgers to work with De Paula. That will make it difficult to evaluate if they are truly ready to trade Hernández.
"Because a pending lockout will prohibit clubs from contacting players on their 40-man roster, there will be no way for the organization to assess De Paula’s development throughout the offseason," wrote The Athletic's Katie Woo. "Per a team source, that has given the Dodgers pause about whether they should trade Hernández."
If De Paula is not making significant improvement defensively, the Dodgers may be fine with keeping De Paula on the roster as a fourth outfielder for the time being.
However, if they were able to work with him between Dec. 1 and spring training, they would have a better idea about whether he's ready to take over in left field and move Hernández.
The lockout is creating an odd situation for the Dodgers, and it may end up forcing the Dodgers to wait another year before handing De Paula the keys. They could look to trade Hernández at the trade deadline, but then they risk losing trade value.