Dodgers Team News

Dodgers: Resetting the 40 Man Roster After Latest Moves for LA

When the Dodgers officially signed JD Martinez on Thursday, they had to designate Jake Reed for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster. That puts Reed back in roster limbo, as the Dodgers have seven days from the time of the DFA to either trade him or put him through waivers. If a team claims him off waivers, he’s automatically on their 40-man roster; if he goes unclaimed, L.A. could outright him to the minors, keeping him in their system but off the 40-man roster.

Anyway, all that 40-man roster talk on Thursday got us thinking it might be useful to look at exactly where L.A.’s roster currently stands. As of right now, here is the 40-man roster for Los Angeles.



Pitchers:

  1. Yency Almonte
  2. Phil Bickford
  3. Justin Bruihl
  4. Walker Buehler
  5. Caleb Ferguson
  6. J.P. Feyereisen
  7. Tony Gonsolin
  8. Victor González
  9. Brusdar Graterol
  10. Michael Grove
  11. Daniel Hudson
  12. Andre Jackson
  13. Clayton Kershaw
  14. Dustin May
  15. Shelby Miller
  16. Ryan Pepiot
  17. Evan Phillips
  18. Noah Syndergaard
  19. Blake Treinen
  20. Julio Urías
  21. Alex Vesia

Catchers:

  1. Austin Barnes
  2. Diego Cartaya
  3. Will Smith

Infielders:

  1. Jacob Amaya
  2. Michael Busch
  3. Freddie Freeman
  4. Yonny Hernandez
  5. Eddys Leonard
  6. Gavin Lux
  7. Max Muncy
  8. Miguel Vargas
  9. Jorbit Vivas

Outfielders:

  1. Mookie Betts
  2. Jonny DeLuca
  3. James Outman
  4. Andy Pages
  5. Chris Taylor
  6. Trayce Thompson

Designated Hitter:

  1. J.D. Martinez

The only unknown here is Trevor Bauer, who is currently off the 40-man roster but will need to be either added or cut by January 6.

Among these 40 players, 26 of them will be on the Opening Day roster. We won’t spend time predicting that exact list right now, but there are a few we can safely assume won’t be. Cartaya, Leonard, Vivas, DeLuca, and Pages were added to the 40-man to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft, and none of them are likely to crack the roster to start 2023. Busch and Amaya were added for the same reason, although they both have at least a chance of making the team out of spring training (Busch a much better chance than Amaya).

Feyereisen, Buehler, and Treinen will all be out for most or all of the 2023 season, and all three will be put on the 60-day injured list as soon as allowed and necessary. (Players on the 60-day IL don’t count towards the 40-man roster limit, but the 60-day IL doesn’t exist until spring training starts.)

The intriguing question when looking at the 40-man roster is: Who’s up next to be DFA’d if they need a roster spot? Vivas and Leonard were both added to protect them from a Rule 5 Draft that ended up not happening because of the lockout last offseason. Neither has played above High-A, but both have hit relatively well in the minors. It’s possible one of them might clear waivers, but not a sure thing. Hernandez was acquired from the A’s after Oakland had DFA’d him and he’s had close to zero success in the big leagues, so he might make sense to try to slip through waivers.

On the pitching side, the only real DFA candidate is probably Justin Bruihl, unless L.A. gives up on Victor Gonzalez. (There’s no reason to think they’re giving up on Gonzalez, but a guy who hasn’t pitched in the big leagues in over a year is always a candidate to be given up on.)

Of course, Los Angeles only needs to clear up a spot if they add someone, and if they add via trade, there’s a decent chance someone on the 40 is going the other way in return. There aren’t many free agents left, so it’s possible L.A. won’t sign anyone else this offseason.

So that’s where the 40-man roster stands at this moment. It could change tomorrow, or it could stay this way for a while.

Looking for more Dodgers News? Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Subscribe and hit that notification bell to stay up to date on all the latest news, updates, rumors, interviews, live streams, and more!

Jeff Snider

Jeff was born into a Dodgers family in Southern California and is now raising a Dodgers family of his own in Utah. During his previous career as an executive at a technology company, he began writing about baseball in his spare time. After leaving corporate America in 2014, he started doing it professionally. Jeff wrote and edited for Baseball Essential for years before joining Dodgers Nation. He's also the co-host of the Locked On Dodgers podcast, a daily podcast that brings the smart fan's perspective on our Boys in Blue. Jeff has a degree in English from Brigham Young University. Favorite Player: Clayton Kershaw Favorite Moment: Kirk Gibson's homer will always have a place, but Kershaw's homer on Opening Day 2013 might be the winner.

3 Comments

  1. Where is Edwin Rios? He was a free agent but I don’t believe anyone claimed him?

    1. A team doesn’t claim a free agent, they sign them. He’s definitely a player the Dodgers should sign to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training. Yonny is a waste of a roster spot.

  2. It has to be Yonny… it’s possible that J.P. slips through but why risk that to keep Hernandez.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button