The Dodgers announced today that they have outrighted Brandon Beachy off the 40-man roster. In announcing the move, the Dodgers noted that the right-hander “is still set to appear in big league camp,” so it seems that he’ll look to crack the 25-man roster once Spring Training gets underway. That’s notable, as Beachy could have rejected the outright assignment in favor of free agency (as is his right as a player with more than three years of Major League service time), though doing so would have meant forfeiting the $1.5MM he was guaranteed on the one-year contract he signed just three weeks ago.
The move is somewhat strange, as Los Angeles is effectively guaranteeing $1.5MM to a minor league signee, although if any team in the league is capable of that type of financial maneuvering, it’s the Dodgers. It’s unclear precisely how Beachy would fit into the Dodgers’ rotation picture, as it’s become rather crowded this offseason despite the departure of Zack Greinke. Clayton Kershaw will, of course, return atop the rotation, and he’ll be followed by lefties Scott Kazmir and Brett Anderson as well as right-handed newcomer Kenta Maeda. Beyond that quartet, the Dodgers have Alex Wood as an option for the fifth spot, with injured hurlers like Hyun-jin Ryu and Brandon McCarthy on the mend. Right-hander Mike Bolsinger, who made 21 starts with a 3.62 ERA for the Dodgers last season, remains in the picture as well.
Certainly, Beachy could compete for a bullpen spot as well, though the Dodgers have no shortage of options in that capacity, either. Kenley Jansen will anchor the back of the bullpen, and the list of right-handed relief options behind him includes Chris Hatcher, Yimi Garcia, Carlos Frias, Pedro Baez, Josh Ravin and the recently signed Joe Blanton. Lefties J.P. Howell and Luis Avilan should be locks for bullpen spots, and fellow southpaws Adam Liberatore and Ian Thomas are in the mix as well.
With the removal of Beachy, the Dodgers’ 40-man roster now stands at 39 players.
Makes one wonder why the Dodgers elected to free up a space on their 40-man reserve roster at this point in time? Perhaps a free agent signing or trade is imminent requiring that spot.
A little odd perhaps but as I pointed when the Dodgers signed Blanton, they put themselves in a place with the roster where they were likely going to have to either release or trade Beachy out Spring Training. If Beachy is okay with the assignment then the Dodgers have made a nice depth move.
Yes, although Joe Blanton had already been placed on the Dodgers 40-man roster after signing on January 19th. With Beachy’s removal they now have an open spot on the roster for an addition through free agency or trade.
Yeah, the timing of outrighting Beachy is curious. I’m also wondering who that 40th spot is going to be utilized by?
It will be used for the pending Yaisel Sierra signing.
That Yaisel Sierra deal was “reported” on January 12th. It’s been more than two weeks and still nothing “official”. Makes you wonder if another “pending” Dodger acquisition has hit a snag, similar to the Hisachi Iwakuma signing and Aroldis Chapman trade from earlier this offseason?
Right, but their hand was likely going to be forced on Beachy at some point anyway. Though as you say the timing suggests something is in the works now. Hoping it’s infield help. Uribe on a one-year perhaps.
Yasiel Sierra’s deal still has not been named official
Think he, Varvarro, Badenhop and other previously solid veteran types will be the guys looking around at the end of ST for jobs when camp breaks anyway. All have solid resumes, but pens will be filling up. Some will find a job, some will not like always and end up with a temporary MiLB deal again, like both Varvaro and Beachy do now.
We are seeing guys given way more than guaranteed AAA money just to stick around at MiLB teams also as depth to now.
If the Dodgers had decided to keep Beachy on the 40-man, they could have used one of his remaining options to send him to AAA. He has less than 5 years of service accrued, so he wouldn’t have been able to decline the option.
Outrights are a little different – a player can decline with only 3 years of service and/or having previously been outrighted. In this case, Beachy decided to stay with the Dodgers and collect his $1.5M salary.
Not really. Because he signed a major league contract he could have elected free agency instead of the assignment, which he would surely do if he could find more on the open market than the Dodgers were already committed to paying him. The situation was exactly the same last season. He was offered assignment and took it, but only because he sure wasn’t going to get a better offer somewhere else after those two awful starts. Why he took it this year is anybody’s guess.
Look at the Dodgers just throwing cash around because they can. What can’t they buy? Oh, I know – a World Series title.
They can buy the Braves and trade then with Cuba for the Cubans national team.
It’s funny because you call them out for trying to “buy championships,” and old-school Dodgers fans are calling them cheapskates. Interesting.
Cheapskates? Don’t they have the highest payroll in baseball?
Yes but a huge portion of the Dodgers’ $2?? million is spent on salary ballast in complex transactions, not actual performance.
Crawford is there for Gonzalez, Guerrero is a bad experiment, Olivera to get prospects, etc.
FWIW, the Dodgers didn’t really get any prospects for Olivera. Everybody the Braves sent them (except Arroyo) played in the bigs. The Dodgers also did not cover any of Oilvera’s payroll, only his signing bonus. Guerrero was a reasonable experiment that did not come at an unreasonable cost.
Umm, you have a strange perspective on the trade if not a spin.
He got half through a signing bonus which was also the front loaded portion and his main value after was Peraza to trade for 3 other guys.
Umm, you said he was traded for prospects, which was wrong. After Peraza, the names were Wood, Johnson, and Avilan, all current major league players. Strange perspective, indeed.
Well considering the contract is non guaranteed. I don’t see how they are throwing money around. But hey the generalization works.
If they win, they bought the championship. If they lose, it proves that you can’t buy a championship. The overs and unders are totally covered no matter what happens.
Radio report I listened to suggests that maybe he needs more time; that the rehab isn’t as far along as hoped for. Gives us time to see how the rest of the pitchers perform. He can ease into the staff in DL situations. Or possibly, as suggested, join the reliever role.