Pollock's return puts Dodgers at full strength

BOSTON -- Before play resumed on Friday night, manager Dave Roberts said the return to the Dodgers lineup of Corey Seager, AJ Pollock and David Freese amounted to a major trade.

Pollock was the last of the trio to come off the injured list since the Dodgers last played, the club making room for him on the 40-man roster by dealing left-hander Adam McCreery and Minor League catcher Josh Thole to the Angels for cash.

McCreery, 26, in his first season with the Dodgers, appeared in 30 games between Double-A Tulsa and Triple-A Oklahoma City and went 2-1 with a 4.04 ERA. Thole, 32, appeared in 47 games between Double-A Tulsa and Triple-A Oklahoma City this season and hit a combined .245 with one homer and 14 RBIs.

During the All-Star break, the Dodgers activated Seager and Freese and optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma Matt Beaty, Kyle Garlick and Edwin Rios to make room on the 25-man roster.

Pollock had been out since April 30 with an elbow infection and a pair of resulting operations. Seager missed nearly four weeks with a strained left hamstring, and Freese was out two weeks with a strained left hamstring.

All three were in the starting lineup for Friday night’s series opener against the Red Sox in a rematch of last year’s World Series. Roberts said Freese will serve as designated hitter all three games against three left-handed Boston starters. Pollock is expected to play four of the seven games on the trip.

Seager and Pollock returned to their starting positions of shortstop and center field, respectively, sending Chris Taylor to the bench. Roberts said he will continue to shuffle his lineups to keep Taylor and Enrique Hernandez relevant, but Taylor is likely to lose the most playing time after filling in productively for Seager at short.

“It’s a high-class problem,” Roberts said. “There’s going to have to be some unselfishness and give on the part of the players. But it keeps guys healthy and fresh.”

Worth noting

• Roberts said Clayton Kershaw and Walker Buehler will start Monday and Tuesday in Philadelphia.

“We just wanted to give Clayton and Walker extra rest coming out of the break. We’ve leaned on them a lot,” said Roberts.

• The Dodgers have signed 25th-round pick Jonny DeLuca. The Oregon outfielder received a bonus of $300,000 ($175,000 counts against the bonus pool), according to Jim Callis of MLB Pipeline. Callis also reports that Oklahoma left-hander Braidyn Fink signed for a bonus of $222,500 ($97,500 counts vs. bonus pool).

The Dodgers have signed all 11 of their selections in the first 10 rounds and 31 of their 41 picks overall.