Dodgers News: Team Makes Some Roster Cuts
Another round of Spring Training cuts was made this evening by the Los Angeles Dodgers, and seven players in total were eventually sent down to minor-league camp to further progress in the spring so that the can get ready for the season down in the minors. A lot of these were expected.
Most notable among the roster cuts were second baseman Micah Johnson and pitchers Ross Stripling, Jose De Leon, and Julio Urias. Those three were vying for the fifth starter spot pretty much, and now it appears that Mike Bolsinger is going to be the leader in the clubhouse for it.
WEEKLY GIVEAWAY: Enter Our New Era 59FIFTY Cap GiveawayFrom the official Los Angeles Dodgers twitter account:
Today, the #Dodgers optioned Micah Johnson, Yaisel Sierra, Ross Stripling and Ian Thomas to minor-league camp.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) March 17, 2016
#Dodgers have also reassigned Jose De Leon, Julio Urias and Jack Murphy to minor-league camp.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) March 17, 2016
None of these should really come as all too much of a surprise. Johnson can now go down to the minors to get more seasoning before eventually getting called up at some point this season. In Sierra’s case, he’ll go down to the minors so that he can polish up his repertoire and control issues.
As far as the others, Stripling, De Leon, and Urias will all be in the minors for the foreseeable future before getting called up in case of emergency. This is actually good for both De Leon and Urias as it’ll allow them to build up their arm strength with more innings and progress at a steadier pace.
The Dodgers open up the season in a few weeks so these roster cuts were bound to happen eventually, but it just so happened that they occurred tonight of all nights. None of this delays anything as far as these players are concerned. They’re still highly thought of and will be relied upon in the near future to help Los Angeles contend.
Dodgers News: Keith Law Stokes The Debate Flames
De Leon and
Urias are not surprising. They are not on the 40 man, so they do not have to
lose an option.I would suspect that
once they are called up, they are going to remain on the roster.They both need to gain some success at AAA,
and if the rotation falters, but they remain in contention, I would expect one
of them to get called up (probably De Leon).
Micah
Johnson has had a good spring, but with Kendrick and Utley blocking him, it was
an obvious choice to send him down so that he could play every day.For all of the negative discussion about his
defense, he has played the second most innings of all of the position players,
and he has yet to make an error.He will
get called up if Kendrick goes on the DL.
Jack Murphy,
Ian Thomas, and Yaisel Sierra were not going to make the roster so that is not
surprising.It would appear that Thomas
is behind Liberatore as a LH relief.2016
is his third and final option.
Relief
pitchers are the last to get acclimated in ST, so their struggles are not too
surprising. The Dodgers have two LF relievers in Avilan and Howell.Regardless of how poor Howell continues to
pitch in ST, he is only going to be asked to face that tough lefty hitter which
he has generally been successful at.Avilan is better than Liberatore and Thomas, so he will make the 25 as
the 2nd LHRP.
The surprise
to me was Stripling.I do not know if he
can be an essential member of the pen right now, but he did deserve to stay
with the big club to continue the fight. If they needed to release someone, why
not Jamie Wright?None of Hatcher, Baez,
or Garcia have shown any ability to be a lockdown 8th inning setup
reliever.Maybe Coleman will be that
guy.He has pitched well this
spring.But Stripling should have been
able to continue to compete against Baez and Garcia, both of who have
options.Hatcher is out of options so he
isn’t going anywhere.Which Hatcher is
going to show up; 1st half 2015 or 2nd half 2015?
Relievers:
Jansen
Blanton
Howell
Avilan
Hatcher
Garcia/Baez/Coleman
(2 of 3) – Stripling should have competed for one of these.
I wish FAZ
had spent a little of that farm capital on a top level reliever.It sure would have been nice to somehow get
Odorizi and McGee from Tampa Bay.Now
Colorado has McGee, and really does not need a reliever of that level, and the
Dodgers have Howell and Avilan as their left handed relievers, neither of which
can be a lockdown 8th inning setup.
I was legitimately excited about the team at this time for the last several seasons, but not this year. The rotation has already fallen apart to the point that Bolsinger looks like the #4 starter at this point, which would be bad enough in a rotation that included Cy Young caliber guys at #1 and #2. With that #2 now in Arizona, and the lineup no sure bet to improve, just what are the strengths of this team?