Dodgers News: Jarret Martin, Yimi Garcia, Baez Added to 40-Man Roster

The Los Angeles Dodgers have until midnight eastern tonight to add players on the 40-man roster in order to protect them from being selected in the Rule 5 draft on December 12.

Earlier today, the Dodgers lost reliever Shawn Tolleson via waiver claim to the Texas Rangers and the 40-man roster stood at 31. However, the Dodgers official Twitter account announced they were adding three players before the deadline bringing it to 34:

#Dodgers today selected the contracts of pitchers Pedro Baez, Yimi Garcia and Jarret Martin — adding the three to the club’s 40-man roster.

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) November 21, 2013

All three are relief pitchers with Baez having converted from being a position player into being a reliever ala Kenley Jansen. Baez started the transition to pitcher this season at High A Rancho and then Double A Chattanooga. In 48 games between the two leagues, Baez was 3-3 with a 3.88 ERA. Not surprisingly, Baez doesn’t have the best control with a 2.39 K/BB rate, but he’s been clocked as high as 96 mph with off-speed pitches in the mid-to-low 70’s.

Martin was acquired in the Dana Eveland trade with the Baltimore Orioles back in 2011 and spent the last two years between Low A Great Lakes and Double A Chattanooga. He was 6-7 with a 4.30 ERA in 40 games with 14 starts and had 106 strikeouts in 96.1 innings pitched. It’s likely Martin starts the season again at Double A as the Dodgers clearly saw something to keep him on the roster.

Meanwhile, Garcia is someone most Dodger fans should know a bit about since he pitched during the Arizona Fall League with Corey Seager and the Glendale Desert Dogs. At Double A this season, Garcia was 4-6 with a 2.54 ERA and had a K/BB rate of 6.07 with 19 saves as the Lookouts closer. Depending on what the Dodger bullpen looks like at the end of the winter, there’s a chance Garcia challenges for a bullpen spot during Spring Training.

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