The Dodgers plan to use a fifth starter next Sunday in San Diego and could choose to call upon Tim Redding, who is not on the 40-man roster, writes MLB.com's Ken Gurnick. Adding the 33-year-old would require guaranteeing his $750K salary and moving a player off of the 40-man roster to make room for him.
Alternatively, the club could call upon John Ely, who is already on the 40-man roster, to make the start. The Dodgers will have both Ely and Redding pitch Tuesday in an extended spring training game, which puts them on schedule to pitch Sunday. Right-hander Jon Garland is also lobbying to make the start as he recovers from a strained oblique.
Redding last pitched in the majors in 2009 for the Mets, making 17 starts and 13 relief appearances. In eight major league seasons, Redding owns a 4.95 ERA with 6.0 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9.
Yes, Padilla is on the DL as well. We all know Ely is the better option, GIVEN the options, but knowing management, aka NED, we’ll use Redding (this year’s Ortiz – take your pick which one), we’ll lose someone of actual value from the 40-man, and when Garland or Padilla come back, we’ll drop Redding from 25-man roster, and ultimately cut him from the team when he goes back to AAA and ultimately bombs.
Uf! I have seen Redding’s handiwork firsthand on several occasions, and for sure that dude’s got desperate measures written all over him!
Anyone know anything about Luis Vasquez or Javy Guerra? If they add Redding to the 40-man roster they seem like the obvious choices to get DFAed to me, other than maybe Mitchell or Schlichting.
Durrrrrr, anybody in the Dodger organization heard of Rubby DeLarosa? Geeshforgoshsakes.
I agree – Rubby seems the obvious choice.
Rubby DeLarosa and it ain’t close. To pay the Putrid Redding $750,000 to make a start or two is insane…
To bring Ruby up and waste an option when he’s not going to stay with the team is insane. He’d be brought up to make a spot start – once Garland comes back from the DL, they’d be sending Ruby back down. Why force them to drop someone from the 40-man roster to bring up Redding for 1 start? Why waste an option year & start the service clock on Ruby for 1 start? Ely is on the 40-man, he’s just as viable an option, and he should be the choice for a spot start as our 5th starter when needed this season. Ruby isn’t getting the call until rosters expand in September.
John Ely should basically be our Eric Stults from a few years ago – send him back & forth from AAA to LA, and use him as your spot starter/fill-in when needed (primarily due to player stints on the DL). In reality, Padilla is filling that role, but if he spends significant time on the DL this year, Ely should be “that guy”.
I’d like to think that Ely is more than this year’s Stults. He has shown some flashes of brilliance but also the need for more seasoning. I’ll leave this call to the coaches and manager. We don’t know why he melted down so dramatically last season but I’m sure they’re working on it and I would not want to see him sent back up before he’s ready.
not adding to the conversation at all but this definitely goes onto the pile labeled ‘bad/not ideal solutions’.
to put it in a more entertaining way, Vincent Vega would be threatening Jules over handing those inept thieves the money from his wallet.
General principle argument I think it was.
i dont care who they pick. but they better show up. i like ely but he had a big melt down after a strong start. then redding i have no idea about him. so i would pick ely because they know what to expect either the good young pitcher they saw for like 4 starts last season. or they can see the guy who had a big melt down. i just want to add can Carlos Monasterios make a spot start or no and he just a bull pen arm
I agree. No need to bring up Ruby for a “spot start” in an instance where Ely would work just fine. There’s no reason to drop someone from the 40-man roster in order to bring up Redding for (probably) 1 start, and the Dodgers shouldn’t waste an option bringing up Ruby for that 1 start either. Now, if they want to start his clock with a September call-up when rosters expand, I’m OK with that.
Padillia had relatively minor arm surgery a couple of weeks into spring training, but he’s still not ready to return. Garland is closer, but probably won’t be ready in time for needing the fifth starter. (Got to say it again: two Dodger pitchers go on the DL in spring training and this site makes no mention of it.) Ely probably is the better choice for a spot start, but what we get out of him in any given game is big mystery. He was sent back down for a reason. Some Dodger fans are talking with their hearts on Ely.
What’s their potential though? Are they going to be contributing soon?