Dodgers trade Diego Cartaya, might have Alex Vesia arbitration hearing

Dodgers prospect Diego Cartaya reacts in the second inning during the Futures Game on July 16, 2022, at Dodger Stadium.

Staff Writer

Jan. 9, 2025 Updated 6:42 PM PT

Two years ago, Diego Cartaya was the crown jewel of the Dodgers’ highly touted farm system.

On Thursday, he quietly departed the organization without ever coming close to reaching the majors.

A week after being designated for assignment to clear a roster spot for the signing of South Korean infielder Hyeseong Kim, Cartaya was traded to the Minnesota Twins for minor league pitcher Jose Vasquez, the team announced.

Vasquez, a 20-year-old right-hander, has a career 8.05 ERA in two seasons in the Dominican Summer League, coming to the Dodgers as little more than a long-shot flier.

Cartaya, once considered one of the best young talents in the sport after signing with the Dodgers out of Venezuela, was supposed to be destined for so much more.

A 6-foot-3 catcher with a powerful right-handed swing, Cartaya was ranked as the Dodgers’ best prospect by MLB Pipeline in 2022 and 2023. At one point he was tabbed as a consensus top-20 prospect by MLB Pipeline, Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus.

Though Cartaya was annually a subject of trade rumors, the Dodgers never involved him in a blockbuster deal, maintaining hope in his potential as a key part of their future. Alas, injuries and poor performance derailed the 23-year-old’s rise through the minors, stalling his career as other young catchers like Dalton Rushing and Hunter Feduccia passed him in the Dodgers’ organizational depth chart.

Cartaya’s best seasons in the club’s system came in 2021, when he batted .298 with 10 home runs and a 1.023 OPS in 31 games in single A, and 2022, when he hit .254 with 22 home runs and a .892 OPS in single A and high A and appeared in the MLB Futures Game at Dodger Stadium.

Entering 2023, Cartaya didn’t seem far from making Chavez Ravine his permanent home. Though he had battled back and hamstring injuries, his power at the plate and big arm behind it made him look like a rising star. He opened that season in double A and seemed primed to quickly climb the final rungs of the minor league ladder.

But that year Cartaya hit only .189 while splitting time between catcher and designated hitter. He hit 19 home runs but also struck out 117 times.

Early last year, Cartaya’s numbers rebounded slightly, earning him a promotion to triple-A Oklahoma City. Once there, however, he batted just .208 with a .643 OPS in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.

When the Dodgers needed a reserve catcher late in the season, they instead summoned Feducia — a lower-ranked prospect and former 12th-round pick.

Between that and the emergence of Rushing, the club’s top draft pick in 2022 and No. 1-rated prospect, Cartaya’s tenuous place within the organization was clear. And when the team needed to clear a roster spot last week, Cartaya became the easiest name to move on from, his once tantalizing potential having never come to fruition.

Dodgers reach deals at arbitration deadline

Thursday was the Major League Baseball deadline for teams and arbitration-eligible players to agree to contracts before having to exchange salary figures for a potential arbitration hearing. And the Dodgers could have a hearing for the first time in five years.

While the club agreed to deals for next season with four of their five remaining arbitration-eligible players, they failed to strike an agreement with left-hander Alex Vesia, one of the top arms in the bullpen during their World Series run.

According to multiple people with knowledge of the situation, Vesia filed for $2.35 million, while the team filed at $2.05 million.

While the sides could try to work out a resolution before going to a hearing — where a panel of independent arbitrators would select one of the filed salaries after hearing arguments from the player and club — the Dodgers are known as a “file and trial” team, meaning they rarely continue to negotiate one-year arbitration salaries after the deadline.

The Dodgers have not gone to a hearing since before the start of the 2020 season, when both Pedro Báez and Joc Peterson failed to come to agreements with the club.

The four players that did settle with the team Thursday, according to people with knowledge of the situation, were: