After the latest round of cuts, the Dodgers have 42 players remaining in camp: 23 pitchers, 19 position players. 35 are on the 40 man roster and 7 of the 42 are Non-Roster Invites:
NRI Pitchers still in Camp (2) – Antoine Kelly and Chris Campos
I do not believe either pitcher will break camp with the team, but Kelly has put himself in the discussion for seasonal callups. In his 8 games, Kelly compiled 7.2 scoreless IP, 3 hits, 4 BB, 10 K. I still believe that he will battle Ronan Kopp (40-man) for the first LHRP called. Kelly has options (2) remaining once added.
As I wrote about him a couple of days back, Chris Campos has put himself on the radar. Will he stay a starter, or will he be transitioned to the bullpen? For now, I think he gets lengthened as a starter. But his future role could be out of the pen. He is absolutely someone to watch this year.
NRI Position Players still in camp (5) – Nick Senzel, Santiago Espinal, Eliézer Alfonzo, Seby Zavala, Ryan Fitzgerald
Realistically only Espinal has a genuine chance (okay probable) to make the 26 man, at least until Tommy Edman is ready. The 40 man roster is at 39, so Espinal can be added without a corresponding move from the 40-man.
I do not know the contract status of Nick Senzel or Ryan Fitzgerald, so I do not know if they can be assigned to OKC or if they can opt out and become free agents. Senzel is a first round, 2nd overall (1/2) draft pick, so he has tools. He has not been able to consistently apply those at the MLB level, but I am guessing that he has piqued the interest of some scouts. Has Fitzgerald? He is older. Or are they poster players of a AAAA infielder. Nothing wrong with that.
With Dalton Rushing struggling in all phases, is he in competition for the backup catcher position with Alfonzo or Zavala? I think he is safe as neither Alfonzo nor Zavala have pushed themselves to that level this Spring.
40-Man Roster Still in Camp:
Pitchers (21): Ben Casparius (R), Edwin Díaz (R), Jack Dreyer (L), Tyler Glasnow (R), Brusdar Graterol (R), Edgardo Henriquez (R), Kyle Hurt (R), Will Klein (R), Landon Knack (R), Bobby Miller (R), River Ryan (R), Roki Sasaki (R), Tanner Scott (L), Emmet Sheehan (R), Blake Snell (L), Brock Stewart (R), Gavin Stone (R), Blake Treinen (R), Alex Vesia (L), Yoshinobu Yamamoto (R), Justin Wrobleski (L).
2-way Player (1) – Shohei Ohtani
Position Players (13) – Dalton Rushing, Will Smith, Mookie Betts, Tommy Edman, Alex Freeland, Freddie Freeman, Hyeseong Kim, Max Muncy, Miguel Rojas, Alex Call, Teoscar Hernández, Andy Pages, and Kyle Tucker.
40-man roster players assigned to MiLB Camp (4) are Paul Gervase, Ronan Kopp, Michael Siani, and Ryan Ward. I do not think it will be a surprise when Alex Freeland is added to this list. He needs to return to OKC to begin his climb back.
Also included in that group of 42 are 5 pitchers and 1 position player destined to begin the season on the IL (6). Some could be moved to the 60-day if a spot on the 40-man is needed: Brusdar Graterol, Gavin Stone, Blake Snell, Brock Stewart, Bobby Miller, Tommy Edman.
IMO, the non-pitcher portion of the 26 man roster is locked.
2-Way Player – Ohtani
Catchers – Smith, Rushing
INF – Freeman, Kim, Betts, Muncy, Rojas, Espinal
OF – Hernández, Pages, Tucker, Call
To be reassigned – Freeland, Senzel, Fitzgerald, Alfonzo, Zavala
Pitchers are a different story. There are multiple questions as to the direction the team is going to go. For my exercise, I am going with a 5-man rotation to start the season.
- Yamamoto
- Glasnow
- Ohtani
- Sasaki
- Wrobo
The first two are locks as is the 3rd, although his innings will probably be limited. I include Sasaki only because both Doc and BG says he will start, at least at the beginning of the season. I include Wrobo because he is the next LHSP after Snell.
I prefer Sheehan or Ryan over Sasaki, but as long as management is sticking with Sasaki, he is going to get his runway. Will the Dodgers include a piggyback option for Ohtani? If so, this would be a logical spot for Sheehan. As of now, they are going to need a piggyback for Sasaki. Does that open a spot to River Ryan?
My Bullpen locks include:
- Edwin Díaz
- Tanner Scott
- Alex Vesia
- Blake Treinen (By default)
- Will Klein
- Ben Casparius
- Jack Dreyer
That opens it up for Sheehan and Ryan. Others that will be considered are Edgardo Henriquez and Kyle Hurt.
- Do they send Ryan to OKC to keep him stretched out, and use Hurt as a multiple inning reliever?
- Do they find that Treinen has an injury? They are not going to release him.
- Is Sasaki a starter or reliever? If starter do they send him to OKC to work on getting up to 5.0 innings in a couple of starts?
- Ohtani starts on Wednesday. Will that answer questions or raise more?
- Yamamoto starts Friday. Will he get 5-6 innings and 90 pitches? His next start will be Opening Day.
- Who will follow Ohtani and Yama? Will we see more Jerming Rosario or Lucas Wepf, or Robby Porco?
- When do we start to see relievers go back to back? Could Casparius or Vesia go an inning on Wednesday? Or do they wait until the Freeway Series? Or do they hold off until the season starts?
We are down to 6 games in Spring, and there are still a lot of questions. And I am pulling for Kelly to get an early call.
Who is ready to apply for Brandon Gomes’ job and make the decisions?
Embarrassment of riches.
How many guys ticketed for OKC would make the rosters of other teams?
I checked the OKC roster and noticed that David Bote, the former Cub, is still listed on their roster as on the restricted list. According to baseball reference, he never played a game for OKC last year after he was sent down after spring training. He has been on the restricted list since March 28th of last year.
Keping Bote on the Restricted List keeps him under control of the Dodgers. He cannot sign with any other team. I cannot remember who it was, but there was a player on the list for several years. I do not know the reason, but he may have refused to report ot OKC even though he did not have that right under his contract. Dodgers could then have said fine, but you are not playing for anyone else. That may not be the case, but a former player gave me that scenario when I asked about someone else on the restricted list.
I am sending Sasaki down. Hasn’t shown he is ready. I trust River Ryan more.
Agree. He has not earned a spot on the roster. Sheehan and Ryan have.
Agree. He has electric stuff but cannot throw strikes consistently enough. I think he’s going to OKC and River gets the nod.
Yeah, he might get a start or two at OKC but his stuff is beyond AAA. He belongs in the starting rotation or where he was to end the season last year. I won’t be surprised if he stays or if he goes.
And I would get all the starters used to pitching once a week. 6 innings once a week is not too much to ask of guys who are paid in upper 10% of MLB.
I think Sasaki makes the team and begins in the rotation.
He will be in the rotation according to Doc.
I do too. Hope so anyway.
Interesting puzzle and soon to be solved.
I’m ready for the gridlock.
I like the roster, just not the bullpen. Yes, we added a closer but after Diaz the talent falls off a cliff.
I don’t agree with that at all. Scott has a ton of talent and looks more like his old self. Vesia has returned and looked very good. Their pitching won the day last year and that bullpen did a lot of heavy lifting. Henriquez, Klein, both have electric stuff. Kyle Hurt looks like he is back. Most of the pitchers getting knocked around the last few days have been minor leaguers. The team is 17-8 in spring training.
The “starters” won the day. Tanner and Treinen were horrible. I think the Dodgers will need to add quality depth–ie, a dependable 8-inning guy.
I like the upside of Klein, Hurt, Henriquez,et al as the next guy but don’t think they will necessarily mature into dependable high leverage arms this year.
Scott has been a different pitcher this spring. Most of the relievers who will make the team have pitched well. Treinen has not. Yes, the starters won when it counted and there were several blown saves. But this is a different year and a different team. They have plenty of pitching depth. The AAA team is loaded with pitching.
I believe the bullpen will work itself out over the 162 game season. There’s a wealth of talent in this system and few of the better arms, Phillips, Graterol, Stewart, are yet to be seen.
It’s my opinion this team is built to score runs first, with a billion dollar pitching staff a close second. If, always an if, the starting 9 stay on the field for 85% of the season, 140 games or so, Steve Garvey and Willie Mays would laugh at that ask, the team should win the Division with over a week to spare.
In the NLDS, the Dodgers scored 13 runs and the Phillies scored 15. Dodgers won 3 of the 4 games. Phillies were better in all 4 slash lines. As a team the Dodgers had a .557 OPS. The Dodgers won because of pitching not offense.
In the NLCS the Dodgers outscored the Brewers 15-4. Again, it was the pitching that shutdown a very good offensive team. Dodgers average 3.75 runs per game.
In the WS, the Dodgers were outscored 26 to 34 and outhit. The Dodgers slash line was .203/.294/.364/.658, while Toronto was .267/.347/.398/.745. The Dodgers did have key HRs in the series, but if it were not for Yamamoto, Klein, and Glasnow, the Dodgers do not win that WS.
The only series where the LAD bats were prolific was against Cincinnati in the WC.
The Dodgers were second in MLB in scoring last year. They were 16th in pitching.
Right, this is why signing Tucker was a priority. If we lost last year, it would’ve been because the bats went quiet against Toronto. Game 3 was exciting, but really we went 10 innings without a run and then didn’t do much the rest of the series.
good point
A team built to score runs came up short in the WBC. Team USA was shut down by DR pitching and Venezuela pitching. Team USA pitching shut down the DR bats. You can’t always rely on the bats, especially in a short series. If it was not for the bullpen in 2024 or the starters in 2025, the Dodgers would not be celebrating back to back this year.
Good pitching beats good hitting seems to still be true.
I foresee an increased emphasis on contact over slug creeping back with some organizations; just not the Dodgers for nw.
I have read the claim that slug is what wins playoff games. It certainly didn’t for Team USA.
I think the DR and Venezuela had better pitchers to to bottom. For all the hoopla, getting 55 pitches of of Scrubal was a disappointment.
I’m interested in Ohtani’s pitching today but I can’t take 4 days in a row of day games at 100 degrees. I have a night game tickets at Surprise with the Royals and Rangers as well tonight. But this heat wave is taking its toll. 102 and 104 the next few days. Camelback Ranch is not the shadiest of venues.
Used to live there and I never saw it that hot in March. I question why a kid with less than 3 months in the majors was starting a championship game. I never even hear of him to begin with. He retained his rookie status after a 5-1 stint with the Mets.
Exactly. We start our extended spring training next Thursday, lasting 6 months.
Let’s see who wins out come Oct 1!!
Last year’s model worked well. Start fast, cruise through the summer, get geared up in September, kick ass in October. Just do it again. Easy peasy, Dodger breezy.
All that matters
One question has been answered. Kyle Hurt was optioned to OKC.
Makes sense. He’ll be back. Kelly remains intriguing.
He is still in Camp. He is now in the discussion. Still a longshot out of Camp, but I do think he pitches for the Dodgers this year.
Today’s lineup vs the Giants
2B – Miguel Rojas
1B – Freddie Freeman
SS – Mookie Betts
3B – Max Muncy
LF – Teoscar Hernández
CF – Andy Pages
C – Dalton Rushing
RF – Santiago Espinal
DH – Alex Freeland
P – Shohei Ohtani
Another question answered. Tanner Scott and Alex Vesia will be pitching on back to back days. Blake Treinen, Edgardo Henriquez, Will Klein, and Antoine Kelly are also on the list to pitch.
Santiago Espinal is getting a start in RF today. Yes, he is #26 on the 26 man. Good for him. There is nothing that Freeland can do now, except build back his confidence and get off to a good start in OKC.
NRIs Ryan Fitzgerald, Nick Senzel, Seby Zavala, and Eliézer Alfonzo are on the “travel” squad.
Multiple players from MiLB camp are also in the dugout for the game.
Freeland is 4-37 which translates into a .108 BA. He struck out 9 times and walked 10. As Tommy would say, this spring, he couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat.
Game called after 8 innings due to the heat. Always fun when they beat the Giants. Doc made the right move pulling Treinen after three hitters. He got the first two and walked the third who was immediately picked off by Vesia, who did not get to throw a pitch. Freddie got his first spring homer. No game tomorrow.
Espinal added to the 40-man roster as the Dodgers selected his contract today. Tommy Kahnle signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox. Buehler looks like a lock to make the Padres rotation.
With any luck Espinal and his projected .633 OPS won’t be needed.
Projections know nothing
I’m projecting Ohtani, Tucker, Betts, Freeman, Teo and Smith all have good years.
But you’re right. Nobody KNOWS.
Josiah Gray was sent to the minors to continue his buildup after ACL surgery. Rays looking to trade LHP Falter. Several players have opt outs that trigger today, including Conforto and Buehler. Profar’s 162 game suspension is upheld. He will miss the entire 26 season and will not be paid any of his 15-million-dollar salary, which makes him a real dumb ass.
He was already a dumb ass. 