A few days into the year, the Dodgers came out of nowhere to grab KBO utilityman Hyeseong Kim off the market in the final hours of his free agency. Kim was a curious target for the Dodgers — he doesn’t have the same kind of oomph in his bat as most of the lineup, and he didn’t have quite as strong a pedigree in Korea as Yoshinobu Yamamoto or Roki Sasaki did in Japan.

But they got him at a bargain: three years, $12.5 million, with options for 2028 and 2029 when he could earn up to $22 million. Shohei Ohtani reportedly played a large role in his recruitment and was pulling for him in LA, so Kim chose the Dodgers over the Mariners, Angels, Padres, and Cubs.

However, Kim came with the same asterisk as any player coming from overseas. MLB is just on a different level than both the KBO or NPB, and plenty of players have faltered after trying to make the transition.

But Kim is already receiving high praise from Dodgers’ brass at spring training, with Dave Roberts saying after some early drills, “I think that he can certainly win ballgames with his defense alone.”

So he’ll probably be on the Opening Day roster, operating in a Kiké Hernández-esque fashion and jumping all over the field. However, that would probably spell the end of former top prospect Andy Pages’ time in the majors, for the time being.

Hyeseong Kim is getting high marks at Dodgers spring training and it could leave Andy Pages off the Opening Day roster

Kim spent time at second base, shortstop, and left field in Korea, but he could end up as the Dodgers’ Opening Day second baseman, with Teoscar Hernández and Michael Conforto in the outfield corners and Mookie Betts at shortstop. That leaves Miguel Rojas, Kiké Hernández, and Chris Taylor on the bench, and both Hernández and Taylor can sub in almost anywhere as well.

Pages has only ever spent time in the outfield, with a single inning of work at third base back in 2022. That lack of versatility (and the club’s benefit of only having to pay him league minimum) will certainly hurt his chances of ending up on the bench.

Roberts even seemed to confirm as much at Camelback, when he said of Pages and James Outman, “On any other major-league roster, they would have a job” (subscription required). Both are likely to end up back in Triple-A to start the season and be kept in reserve in the event of injury.

It’s a shame, given Pages’ solid and encouraging performance last season, but the Dodgers painted themselves into a corner with their young players by stocking up on free agents this offseason, and they’re going to have a lot to puzzle out about their homegrown guys’ futures.