The Dodgers Make Their First Round of Roster Cuts
The Los Angeles Dodgers have begun to cut their roster down from 61 players as they have sent five pitchers from major league camp.
According to Alanna Rizzo, the team optioned left-handed reliever Adam McCreery and reassigned left-hander Josh Smoker and right-handers Joe Broussard, Daniel Corcino, and Jesen Therrien.
The #Dodgers optioned left-handed pitcher Adam McCreery, and reassigned LHP Josh Smoker and RHPs Joe Broussard, Daniel Corcino & Jesen Therrien to minor league camp. They now have 56 players in camp, including 23 infielders/outfielders, 27 pitchers and six catchers.
— AlaNNa Rizzo (@alannarizzo) March 7, 2019
The difference between being optioned and reassigned is players on the 40-man roster need to be optioned while minor league players can just be reassigned.
The team now has 56 players in camp; 27 of them are pitchers.
All five of the pitchers sent to the minor leagues were long-shots to make the opening day roster.
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Analysis
McCreery, 26, has the best chance of getting called back up during the season. He was acquired from the Braves in the off-season for cash considerations. His high spin rates and minor league stats make him an intriguing sleeper for later in the season. Being a left-hander already on the 40-man roster also makes it likely he will be back up at some point this season.
Smoker, 30, has the most major league experience of the group. He has pitched 79 career innings with a 5.35 ERA. It would be surprising if he gets back on the active roster this season.
Broussard, 28, was drafted by the Dodgers in the 15th round of the 2014 Draft. He’s likely just a quad-A type player but he could pitch some innings for the team this year after spending the last two years in AAA. He posted a 3.12 ERA in 66 1/3 innings last season for the Oklahoma City Dodgers.
Corcino, another 28-year-old right-hander, actually pitched 4 innings for the Dodgers last season. He’s thrown 22 2/3 major league innings with a 3.97 ERA. It’s unlikely he makes his way back to Los Angeles but he provides solid minor league depth.
Therrien, 25, was signed last season after having Tommy John Surgery. The team most likely has some hope that he could be a good reliever since they were willing to wait for him to recover. He has a strong minor league track record but he likely needs more time to rehab from his injury. It wouldn’t be shocking to see him called up later in the season.
If ML-baseball still has the 10-day IL, I’m pretty sure the Dodgers and all the other teams will manipulate it and we will see all the pitchers listed above in one or more stints aka “cup of coffee” in the Majors sometime in 2019. Although I was hoping that McCreery, being a 6’9″ LHP with those “high spin rates” would get a bigger oppotunity in the Majors.
robin, McCreery likely will get an opportunity but these others appear at the outset to just be minor league depth and most likely never be good enough to actually stick in MLB once they are considered.