The Chris Taylor era in Los Angeles is over.
On Sunday, Taylor was released by the Dodgers, making him the second longtime team veteran, along with former backup catcher Austin Barnes, to be cut loose by the team in the last week.
In corresponding roster moves, the Dodgers activated Tommy Edman from the injured list and were expected to add pitcher Lou Trivino to the 40-man roster. Trivino was in Los Angeles on Sunday — occupying the same locker stall Taylor used to — after fellow reliever Kirby Yates suffered a hamstring injury Saturday night.
Taylor was in the last season of a four-year, $60-million contract with the Dodgers. The former All-Star was the longest-tenured position player on the roster, after Barnes was designated for assignment last week. But, just like with Barnes, Taylor’s declining production, coupled with the emergence of a younger and more productive alternative in rookie utilityman Hyeseong Kim, left the 34-year-old expendable.
Thus, for the second time in the last week, the Dodgers parted ways with one of the most familiar faces of the team, triggering another shake-up in an suddenly-evolving clubhouse.
Taylor once was one of the biggest success stories in the Dodgers organization. Acquired in a low-profile trade with the Seattle Mariners for Zach Lee in 2016, Taylor became a defensively versatile slugger in Los Angeles, batting .265 from 2017-2021 with 78 home runs and 292 RBIs with a revamped swing and increasingly prominent role.
He became an All-Star for the first time in 2021, then punctuated the season by hitting a walk-off home run in the National League Wild Card Game against the St. Louis Cardinals and three home runs in an elimination game against the Atlanta Braves in the NL Championship Series. The following offseason, the Dodgers signed him to his four-year extension just before Major League Baseball’s lockout of the players. The hope was that he would be a cornerstone of the franchise’s future.
Instead, he’s been a shell of his old self ever since.
After undergoing elbow surgery after the 2021 season, Taylor struggled to maintain the mechanics in his swing. In 2022 and 2023, he batted a combined .228 with a subpar .708 OPS.
Last year, the bottom fell completely out, with Taylor setting career lows in batting average (.202), OPS (.598) and home runs (four) while playing just 87 games.
This season, Taylor was the last man on the Dodgers’ bench, starting just six of the team’s first 46 games while batting .200 with two doubles and homers.
For a while, it was a tenable situation. The Dodgers had a player whom they trusted to play multiple positions, without having to worry about finding him regular at-bats.
In recent weeks, however, Kim’s emergence as a slick-fielding, left-handed bat with game-changing speed altered the equation. With Edman and Teoscar Hernández both nearing returns from the injured list, the Dodgers were facing a roster crunch. And rather than send Kim (who is batting .452 with three stolen bases in 14 games) back down to the minors, they elected to move Taylor off the roster instead, turning the page on one of the five remaining position players from both their 2020 and 2024 World Series-winning teams.