Roster Expansion

So, who is coming to help on Saturday when rosters CAN expand?  The current 40 man is filled with players on the DL.  How many of those are legit, who knows?  Well I guess FAZ does.  Another consideration might be how many of the Rule 5 eligible draftees do the Dodgers want to take a look at in September.

 

Current Dodger relievers on the 40 man:

 

Julio Urias

Adam Liberatore

Dennis Santana – On 60 Day DL – Started his throwing program but is not expected back this year.

John Axford – (10 Day DL) – He probably will not be back before mid month, if at all.

Tony Cingrani – Already on the 60 day DL, and I do not see how he can benefit the ML club in a playoff crunch.

Josh Fields – (60 Day DL) – Gave up 2 HRs in 0.2 IP last night in a rehab assignment.

Erik Goeddel – (10 Day DL) – Right elbow inflammation.

Daniel Hudson – (10 Day DL) – Right forearm tightness (previous TJ surgery).

Zac Rosscup – (10 Day DL) – Left calf strain (????)

JT Chargois – (10 Day DL) – Nerve irritation in neck.

 

I fully expect Urias, Liberatore, Cup, and Shaggy to be in LA on Saturday.  I still hear concerns about Fields and his comeback.  He is currently on the 60 day DL, so a player is going to need to be DFA for him to come off. 

 

Hudson and Goeddel are potential 60 day DL candidates if FAZ wants to look at players not on the 40 man or when Fields comes off 60 day DL.

 

Others expected on Saturday are Chase Utley, Kyle Farmer, and Chicken Strip (if not before).  Alex Verdugo, Andrew Toles, and Tim Locastro will be up some time, but may be held back with OKC if they are playoff bound.  It will not be because of the playoffs, but more due to increased AB’s.  Brock Stewart will also be back in LA once the OKC season is complete.

 

What surprises might we expect?  I am not sure that there is a difference maker not on the 40 man, but there are a few that will be considered.

 

Manny Banuelos – Pacific Coast League All Star pitcher.  He has been transitioned to the bullpen probably with September in mind.  Manny is this year’s Wilmer Font.  I think the chances are good that he gets a spot on the 40 man once OKC wins the PCL or is eliminated.

 

Zach Neal – Has pitched well since he was reacquired from Cincinnati but is he a better option than any of the other borderline pitchers?

 

Zach McAlllister – I do not know why, but somebody must have seen something.

 

Joe Broussard/Brian Schlitter/Stetson Allie – OKC relievers.  Nothing special. 

 

Rule 5 draft eligible that may merit consideration:

 

Edwin Rios – Continues to be a good offensive weapon.  Has been playing more OF lately.

Matt Beaty – Finally healthy. Playing a lot of 1B.

Josh Sborz – Just came off DL.  He would not be ready except to maybe determine if he should be protected for Rule 5.  Is he a potential high leverage reliever?  If not, he will not be protected or added in September.

Connor Joe – Has played well this year and may warrant a look.  It could be that the Dodgers bring up both Beaty and Joe to see which one they will protect.  I am not sure they protect both unless they remove others via trade before the Rule 5 draft.

 

Unfortunately, this could (and probably will be) the end of Rob Segedin on the Dodgers 40 man.  The Dodgers use the 60 day DL to keep players around, and that is certainly possible for Segedin.  But it may be that Segedin gets DFA so he can move on.  I see no way he is on the short or long term Dodgers plan.

 

LAST NIGHT ON THE FARM

 

Julio Urias (RC) –  pitched 2 scoreless innings for RC last night, allowing 0 hits and 2 walks with 4 K’s.

Dustin May (Tulsa) – Touched 96 but did not have a swing and miss pitch last night.  He pitched 5.2 innings allowing 5 runs on 9 hits and 2 walks, with 4 K’s.

Brock Stewart (OKC) – 5.0 IP, 3 runs on 9 hits and 1 walk with 4 K’s.

Jose Chacin (GL) – 7.0 IP, 2 runs on 2 hits with 2 walks, and 4 K’s.

Melvin Jimenez (GL) – 1.0 IP – Retired all three batters with strikeouts.

Isaac Anderson (RC) – 6.0 IP, 1 run on 6 hits and 2 walks, with 2 K’s.

Jordan Sheffield (RC) – Continues his transition to reliever with 1.0 scoreless inning allowing 2 hits and 1 walk, with 1 K.

 

Cristian Santana (3B – RC) – 4-5 with 2 doubles (20).

Connor Wong (C – RC) – 4 RBI’s with a triple

Carlos Rincon (RF – RC) – 3 RBI’s

Jacob Amaya (SS – GL) – Coming out of his slump with a 2 hit game after a 3 hit game.

Luke Heyer (1B – GL) – 3-5

Errol Robinson (3B – Tulsa) – 2-4

Jacob Scavuzzo (LF – Tulsa) – 22 HR and 72 RBI.

Gavin Lux (SS – Tulsa) – 0-2 but with 3 walks in the leadoff role, with a SB.

Donovan Solano (SS – OKC) – 2-4 with his 20th double

 

This article has 21 Comments

  1. Last night the Loons went into the top of the ninth inning down 2-1 after successful outings by starter Jose Chancin and under-rated reliever Devin Hemmerick as well as a 3-K inning for closer Melvin Jimenez, all by swinging strikes. With two out clutch Chris Roller drove in the tying run. The Loons would go on to score another four runs in the inning to take a 6-2 win and a 4.5 game lead over the Whitecaps with six games remaining. Plus they have a 3.5 game lead over the Fort Wayne TinCaps. They had five hits in the inning with only one of them being for extra bases – a double by Gersel Pitre. They did have an IBB for Deacon Liput. Only one of their outs in the inning was a strikeout while another was a runner thrown out trying to score. The five runs scored after those two outs.

    1. The Loons are on a 7 game winning streak; 17 out of their last 20; have won 20 games in August; 33-15 since July 7 for the best record in the Midwest League. Their magic number for clinching a playoff spot is down to 2. The Loons and the Quakes should be the two hottest teams entering the playoffs.

      1. Fort Wayne and West Michigan play each other for the last three games in the schedule but I think the Loons eliminate one of them before then.
        .
        The Loons relief pitching is starting to look a bit like the 2016 Loons relief corps. Jimenez, Kolek, Hemmerick, Drury have been especially good. Both starters John Rooney and Bryan Warzek are on a 45/50 pitch limit or three innings limit. Warzek may well piggy back with Rooney. Warzek has 32 strikeouts with three walks in 18.2 innings. That is Caleb Ferguson territory when Caleb was a Loon.

  2. The 2018 playoff season began yesterday with the DSL – The six teams in the playoffs are the DSL DBacks, DSL Rangers 1, DSL Rangers 2, DSL Cardinals Blue, DSL Rays 1, and DSL Colorado. After going 1-2 last year in the DSL playoffs, neither of the two Dodgers DSL affiliates made the playoffs this year.
    .
    The US playoffs begin today with the AZL playoffs. 6 teams made the single elimination tournament. AZL Indians 2 face off against AZL DBacks while the AZL Indians 1 play against the AZL Rangers. Tomorrow, the winner of those two games will face the two bye teams; AZL Cubs and AZL Dodgers. The winner of those two games will play each other for the AZL playoffs.
    .
    Ogden Raptors (Pioneer League), and RC Quakes (California League) are already in the playoffs.
    .
    With a very strong second half, the Great Lakes Loons (Midwest League) have a comfortable 3.5 game lead in the wild card race with 6 regular season games to play.
    .
    Tulsa Drillers are 2.5 games in front for the 2nd half, but have a 3.5 game lead over the next potential playoff participant, NW Arkansas Naturals (KC). The Drillers have 8 games remaining with 5 games against the Naturals beginning today. The next five games should determine which team gets to the playoffs.
    .
    OKC has a 0.5 game lead in the PCL American North over the Colorado Springs Sky Sox (Brewers). OKC has 9 games remaining, with the regular season ending Monday, Sept 3. They finish the season with 5 games against the Sky Sox, which will determine the PCL American North Champion.
    .
    The Dodgers have a very good chance to get 6 teams into the playoffs. The regular season ends 9/3/18 for OKC, Tulsa, and Great Lakes, while it ends 9/9/18 for RC and Ogden.

  3. I’m starting to dig Cristian Santana. I think he’s taken over Starling Heredia’s spot as raw future thumper who is still a ways away.

  4. Awesome stuff guys. Love hearing about our future. I did watch Urias’ outing last night. He had some nice swing and miss stuff. I also noticed he threw to 1b several times when a runner was on. I’ll take that as a positive re his shoulder, since the throw to first by a leftie is rather awkward.

    1. potential lh relievers in the playoffs: alexander, ferguson, urias, wood

      right now the rotation is clearly: kershaw, buehler, hill, & probably ryu based on his inability to come in from the pen

      in addition to winning the damn division, a key to the remainder of the season will be watching very closely the progress of chargois, floro, hudson, baez, fields, yimi, rosscup, goeddel, liberatore, axford?, stewart??, mcallister???, banuelos???? to see who can emerge from that group

      health permitting, jansen, maeda, & stripling are locks so there are not many spots available

      who knows if this strategy of pushing starters to the pen will work but i think we’re depending on it in a short series. apart from the starting pitchers, i could see a group of 4-5 relievers doing almost all the relieving for us. in a close game, you just know doc would call on stripling, maeda, & jansen (plus whichever lh is doing the best).

      orel got it right the other day: the other key is the back half of the lineup. muncy, turner, machado, belli, dozier are fine–it’s the other guys that need to step up.

  5. I look at that list and see Banuelos and Urias as really the only two pitchers that can help the situation, but I’m not counting on either. It would be nice if one steps up considering Rosscup isn’t a true big-leaguer to me. Utley, Toles, Verdugo, Locastro, Farmer will definitely help the bench, but I worry about how the guys will get used. Roberts is already guilty of running the squad like a little league manager trying to hard to play everyone. At least we won’t run out of position player by the end of the 9th inning again. Or will we? For all the people who cry about pace of play, September will be grueling baseball to watch. The September rules would be the first thing that I would change followed by an automated strike zone.
    `
    One thing about Kenley. We all know that he pitches better the more he pitches and he’s working to find his stuff again. I just don’t get why he wasn’t put in a couple of low leverage situations to work on his cutter Friday night and Sunday. Especially with last night off.
    `
    Could the front office go find a 3rd catcher considering Barnes is a hot garbage in the batters box these days?

  6. i think the idea of firing roberts is ridiculous. as is sending down taylor, barnes, bellinger, or whoever else has been in a recent slump. trading kemp fits into the same category as well.

    i do, however, think it’s time to let puig know that his hold on a starting job is tenuous at best. we have other outfielders and all the talent in the world doesn’t count for anything if you walk up to the plate with no focus, approach, or execution.

    the clock is ticking. hitting a hr tonight would ease a lot of stress on a lot of people. right fielders need to produce runs. an occasional amazing throw doesn’t cut it. puig, once again you’re on notice.

    1. Barnes’ “recent slump” has been year-long. Taylor leads the NL in strikeouts. Yet you are more concerned with Puig? Wow.

      1. Yeah, wow. Barnes is a back-up catcher and Taylor was my MVP last year. What are your baseball credentials since you’re obviously an expert?

  7. Hawk…Hot garbage??? I’m Thinking Nikki Sixx and Motley Crue…
    Never int Glam Rock…
    Puig!!! I’d trade him in a NY minute… The FO won’t, they got him pretty cheap for another year I think…
    God knows he’s got the talent, but pretty much steady as sin, he’ll break your heart!!!
    Lock n load… Nail two in Texas…

  8. Kenley looks lost since he had the heart issue. Even the bottom of the order is hitting him hard.

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