Earlier today, we learned that the Dodgers are interested in adding a reliever, as well as a bench bat. The club has already added two right-handed starters this month, acquiring Roberto Hernandez and Kevin Correia. Now, comes word Zack Greinke has skipped his between-starts side session with what manager Don Mattingly called “some soreness and things like that,” reports ESPNLosAngeles.com’s Mark Saxon. The Dodgers, who have lost starters Josh Beckett and Hyun-Jin Ryu to the disabled list, are hopeful Greinke will make his next start Thursday. Here’s more out of the NL West..
- Giants GM Brian Sabean said he is skeptical making of any roster additions in August, tweets Andrew Baggarly of CSNBayArea.com. Heading into tonight’s slate of games, the Giants trail the Dodgers by 3.5 games in the NL West and hold a thin lead on the second Wild Card spot.
- New Padres GM A.J. Preller has successfully pried veteran executive Don Welke away from the Rangers, two sources tell Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News. The Padres have confirmed the hiring announcing Welke will serve as their vice president of scouting operations. The Rangers had the right to refuse but chose not to get in Welke’s way of taking a job with San Diego. Welke, a long-time scout under Pat Gillick in Toronto, was in his eighth season with the Rangers after coming over from the Dodgers.
- Earlier today, the Padres optioned right-hander Jesse Hahn to Double-A San Antonio as a way to taper his workload, according to Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune. The 25-year-old has tossed 110 1/3 innings this season between San Diego and San Antonio and is expected to rejoin the parent club when rosters expand in September.
- The Dodgers are having bullpen problems, but acquiring a quality reliever at this point of the season is downright impossible, writes MLB.com’s Sarah D. Morris. The Dodgers’ bullpen has been performing below expectations all season long, but losing both Paul Maholm and Chris Perez weakened it even further.
- Carlos Gonzalez underwent left knee surgery today (his third different operation this year) and says “everything went perfect,” reports Nick Groke of the Denver Post. The rehab, however, is expected to extend into Spring Training as the Rockies outfielder will be in a walking brace for three months and a determination on his status won’t be made for another two months after that.
Edward Creech contributed to this post.
Losing Maholm and Perez didn’t weaken the bullpen at all. What a ridiculous narrative. Best things the Dodgers did was promote two power arms in Baez and Frias.
Yeah that was a headscratcher, but Frias and Baez haven’t been much of an upgrade just yet, especially Frias. Hopefully Yimi Garcia gets a shot soon.
It could be any August from 2001-2014 and the quote would be the same, “Brian Sabean said he is skeptical making of any roster additions in August”.
No need to limit that quote by stamping it with “2014”.
The poor guy must have nightmares about roster moves and player acquisitions. Good thing his job doesn’t depend on it.
He’s made a lot of great low key moves in the past that have helped the Giants win a lot of games such as Kenny Lofton, Randy Winn, Javier Lopez, Ramon Martinez, Marco Scutaro, and Hunter Pence. Like any other GM, he has made some bad moves now and again. But his under the radar deals and trades are a huge reason why the Giants won championships in 2010 and 2012.
I’m sure he has made some great moves. But, the guy rings the same bell every time a trade needs to be made or a free agent is available. Either “There’s no good players to trade for” or “There’s no money to sign players”. He says the same thing, 3 times a year, since 2001. That’s all that I was trying to point out.
He needs to DFA Crawford pronto.
Sabean should trade Kyle Crick for Carlos Beltran.
Someone needs to look at why the Dodgers are dropping like flies. I know injuries happen, that’s part of baseball, but this is consecutive seasons where the roster is being held together with sticky tape and hope. What is the training staff doing to make these guys so brittle?
It’s just the way things go. Sometimes injuries are flukey. Just ask the Rangers, they got destroyed far more than the Dodgers did this season.
Is Zach Lee a complete bust? Teams don’t ask for him in deals anymore and dude could be playing in the NFL after 2 yes at LSU. That $5M might start to look small, or I hope he saved the Dodgers’/money.
Given he’s still just 22, I wouldn’t call him a bust just yet. Still, disappointing season to be sure, and he’ll have a lot to prove next year.
Welke is one of the truly great scouts in the game.
Utley would be a great upgrade at the hole in second base
Dodgers can only hope Baez only any other reliever in their farm like Yimi can produce for now