The Los Angeles Dodgers have tons of uncertainty surrounding them ahead of the trade deadline, but the pitching roster hasn’t had any sense of clarity since spring training.
Amid the injuries that have been with the team all year, in addition to some of the healthy options underperforming, the trade deadline has added new fuel to the fire of rumors regarding the team’s pursuits.
Manager Dave Roberts recently spoke on right-hander Dustin May and did not have an answer as to what is next for the 27-year-old.
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“I don’t know yet,” Roberts said Sunday regarding murmurs of the Dodgers being open to potentially dealing May.
“We’ll kind of push it down the line a little bit,” Roberts said. “But in all honesty, things seem to change a lot in each week. So I think that right now I don’t want to put anyone into a corner right now. We’ll just kind of read and react after this start.”
There was a recent attempt to change May’s role to the bullpen earlier this month, piggybacking off of Shohei Ohtani’s start against the Minnesota Twins, where May gave up no runs. His next outing, a start against the Boston Red Sox, saw less success, giving up four earned runs on five hits to go along with five strikeouts and no walks.
May was solid until the fifth inning, but a triple followed by a two-run shot put quite the damper on his day.
With a 4.85 ERA across 104 innings of work this season, there is certainly room for improvement, but perhaps another team with a clear need for starting pitching will strike a deal to recapture his past value. May is known for his elite stuff and movement on his pitches, but when batters make contact, they are usually getting quality swings on his offerings.
May is in the 16th percentile in terms of average exit velocity, with hitters averaging 90.8 mph off the bat against him, and ranks in the 15th percentile in both swing-and-miss percentage and getting batters to chase pitches outside of the strikezone.
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Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
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3 Responses
Probably wouldn’t bring back much in a trade. Need to put him in the bullpen.
He will be gone in a few days.
Sad that we won’t be seeing him too much going forward. May was rapidly becoming a fan favorite right out of the gate. But, like so many pitchers who exit for a year or more, he just didn’t regain his effectiveness. Dodgers seem to thrive on acquiring pitchers with a history of injuries, hoping they will regain their former selves. Maybe a team with like thinking will pick him up before the deadline. Dustin is a free agent at the end of the year. At best, he will be a potential long reliever, and he won’t be resigned.