Ruthless Dodgers cut Chris Taylor another veteran who helped win two World Series

Even winning two World Series titles — and delivering in some clutch moments along the way — doesn’t guarantee a roster spot with the Dodgers anymore.Backup catcher Austin Barnes learned that earlier this week.And on Sunday, veteran utilityman Chris Taylor discovered that reality, too.The Dodgers designated Taylor — who played more than 1,000 games in Los Angeles and secured a pair of World Series rings in 2020 and 2024 — for assignment to clear a pathway for Tommy Edman’s return from the injured list and for rookie second baseman Hyeseong Kim’s role the rest of the season.The move occurred just four days after Barnes was also DFA’d to give top prospect Dalton Rushing a shot in the majors.Taylor, 34, had collected just 35 plate appearances this season across 28 games, hitting just .200 with a lowly .457 OPS.But from 2017-23, he served as a regular in the Dodgers’ lineup, appearing in 100-plus games in all of the full seasons across that stretch — and logging 56 during the condensed 2020 campaign — as both an infielder and outfielder.In 2017, Taylor was named co-MVP of the NLCS, and four years later, his two-run homer over the left-field fence — with two outs in the top of the ninth inning — helped the Dodgers secure a win in the wild-card game.He homered four times in 11 playoff games in 2021, in addition to launching another four balls over the fence during Los Angeles’ run to the title the previous season.“This has been a very emotional week for all of us,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman told reporters Sunday, according to the Los Angeles Times.

“Barnsey and CT have been in the middle of some huge moments for this organization.Both guys have left an indelible mark on our culture and where we’re at this point.

So the decisions were incredibly difficult.The conversations were tough. “But with where we are, the division race, the composition of roster, everything, we felt like this was in the Dodgers...