At the trade deadline the Dodgers made a shocking deal, trading away prized free agent signee Hector Olivera before he had ever made a major league at-bat. The Cuban import, 30, was on the disabled list with a hamstring injury and still netted Braves left-hander Alex Wood and infield prospect Jose Peraza. A recent update on Olivera’s hamstring makes the move look more sensible.
The Braves are now saying Hector Olivera (hamstring) will not begin playing rehab games for another 10-12 days.
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) August 6, 2015
Olivera was raking in the minors, but seemed blocked by what the Dodgers already had at the MLB level at shortstop (Jimmy Rollins), second base (Howie Kendrick) and third base (Justin Turner). Olivera came to the U.S. with elbow problems and defensive questions, so shortstop was a stretch regardless of how much Rollins’ bat has declined. Kendrick and Turner are simply playing too well to move aside for a new player to make his debut.
Olivera was crushing the ball at Double-A, slashing .318/.400/.455 in seven games before quickly getting promoted to Triple-A. In eight games there, Olivera improved, slashing .387/.387/.581. Then he went down with a bad hammy and it’s taking longer than expected to clear up.
Hector Olivera (hamstring) is still more than a week away from being cleared to play rehab games https://t.co/cLvY6NXRMB #Braves — Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) August 7, 2015
In his stead the Braves have run Adonis Garcia out to the hot corner, and in 14 games he’s batted just .220 with four home runs and six RBIs. The Braves are expected to promote Olivera to the big leagues quickly when he’s ready to play and get to reaping the rewards on their new acquisition, to whom they owe $35.2 million through 2020.
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