Dodgers News: Miguel Vargas ‘in Conversation’ for Postseason Roster Spot

Dodgers prospect Miguel Vargas arrived in New York on Wednesday, confirming previous reports that Vargas would join the taxi squad before being officially recalled on Thursday when the active roster expands from 26 to 28 players.

With Vargas’s arrival came the obvious question: Does Vargas have a chance at the postseason roster?

As Bill Plunkett reports in the Orange County Register, Roberts was quick to point out that Vargas isn’t auditioning for the postseason, but the manager also acknowledged that there’s a chance.

“Sure, absolutely,” Roberts said. “But, that still comes with not having pressure, just going out and playing. But yeah, it’s a performance-based business and if he plays well, and things break the right way, absolutely. He should be in the conversation.”

It’s already a battle to get enough at-bats for everyone on the 26-man roster, so playing time for Vargas won’t be easy to come by, but Roberts says he will find “ways to get him at-bats.”

“I just encourage Miguel to just go out there, and when he gets the opportunity, to go out there and be himself and take good at-bats, play good defense,” Roberts said. “Everything else is gonna work out the way it will. But I don’t think he should add any undue pressure on himself.”

While the Dodgers are the best team in baseball and have a lot of their postseason roster spots locked up, there are more opportunities than you might expect at first glance. Chris Taylor has been in a horrendous slump, and while it seems crazy to suggest it given the role Taylor has played the last five postseasons, his spot on the roster is not guaranteed. Cody Bellinger and Joey Gallo are different scenarios than Taylor, but similarly tenuous holds on their roster spots. And of course, as we learned last year, injuries can happen in September, too.

It’s probably not likely that Vargas will end up playing in the postseason this year, but team president Andrew Friedman is clear that it’s a realistic possibility.

“Right now, it’s about giving anyone and everyone runway to play when we can provide opportunities – and then assess,” Friedman said. “A lot of that will come down to who we’re playing, what things look like. I think anybody who’s on our active roster has a very legitimate chance to make our postseason roster.”

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