The Dodgers have activated a trio of relievers to augment their bullpen down the stretch. Lefty Tony Cingrani and righties John Axford and Yimi Garcia will all head onto the active roster, as Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times tweets.
Though the Los Angeles bullpen has actually been quite good of late as a unit, it had some notable struggles before that point and still features a fair bit of uncertainty. With work still to be done to reach the postseason, and playoff roster spots potentially at stake thereafter, the returnees will be most welcome.
In particular, Cingrani looks to be an intriguing (re-) addition to the relief unit. The southpaw has only a 4.84 ERA in his 22 1/3 innings, but has compiled an impressive 36:6 K/BB ratio. He also owns a career-high 13.9% swinging-strike rate, carrying over the leap he exhibited in 2017.
As for Axford, a summer trade pick-up, his first game with his new club was a complete mess but he came back for two effective appearances thereafter. Unfortunately, he has been on the shelf now for over a month. But there were obviously reasons that the Dodgers targeted him — his still-speedy heater and typically hefty groundball numbers perhaps chief among them — so the club still has cause to hope they’ll get some value.
As for Garcia, he had been on optional assignment after struggling with injuries and performance for much of the season. The 28-year-old has still not gotten back to the impressive form he showed as a rookie way back in 2015, with health problems — in particular, Tommy John surgery — limiting him to just 44 1/3 professional innings since that campaign. Garcia has thrown 17 2/3 minor-league frames without allowing a walk and while recording 18 strikeouts this year.
All of these hurlers will be pitching for their own benefit as well, of course. Cingrani and Garcia are both eligible for arbitration. For the former, padding his innings totals will help boost his payday; for the latter, it’s still unclear whether he’ll be tendered, though cost won’t be a factor since he’ll be extremely affordable. As for Axford, who’ll return to free agency at season’s end, his showing will be of particular importance.
I like Cingrani. Has decent potential and was sharp when healthy, and I even thought he wasn’t bad as a starter in Cincy, just needed a change of scenery. Hope the Giants give him an offer in the offseason.
Sharp when healthy in 2017* I do believe he played a portion of this year hurt, though.
In 160 games, 2014-2017 he’s 4-16 with a 4.54 ERA, 4.82 FIP (202.1 Innings) w/ Cincinnati 2014-2017.
Actually his ERA has been above 4.00 every year, since 2014. What do you see in him?
He had a 2.79 Era with the Dodgers in the second half of 2017. High velocity, tough on lefties. Considering how terrible of a pitching environment Cincinnati is, and how well he did with the Dodgers in 2017, i could see him fitting well with the giants. Seemed like all he needed was a change of scenery, which he got with the Dodgers and succeeded.
Dodgers need to dump an outfielder or two that they never get rid of pitching
Also, since the Giants are *fingers crossed* reloading in 2019, taking flyers on guys with good stuff like Cingrani (as the K/9 shows) isn’t a bad idea and can’t really hurt. If you sign 5-10 of these guys, similarly to what the Dodgers do, you might end up with a Brandon Morrow in the bunch, and the Giants desperately need a cost controlled closer seeing that Smith departs at the end of next season.
If you include 2018, his stats are still terrible: (Including his “great” second half)
188 games, 5-18 with a 4.57 ERA, 4.55 FIP (224.2 Innings)
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cingrto01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-#2014-2018-sum:pitching_standard
These are his numbers 2014-2018. His last “good” season was 2013 as johnrealtime said. If you turn him around, you deserve to reap the rewards. Good luck
He has 2.18 FIP in a limited sample this season. Boasts a 14 K/9 ratio and is limiting walks. Put up a 1.98 FIP in 2017 with the dodgers. If he stays in that form he’s already been turned around. You can’t forget about his numbers in the aggregate but the last ~50 innings in LA look pretty good.
He was really good in that ’13 season, I thought he was going to be a mainstay for the Reds. Not sure if it was injuries that derailed him or what
His half with LAD last year was lights out. 2.79 ERA/1.86 FIP w/ 13 K/9. Lefties had a .431 OPS against him too.
If you watched baseball games, you wouldn’t need to ask amateur questions.
He is not a free agent
In the article it says both of Axford and Cingrani will be hitting the market by the end of the season. Either the article is wrong or I misread something.
According to bbref, he’s a free agent 2020, but the article does in fact state both he and Axford are slated for FA at season’s end. I can’t help but think Cingrani’s been so bad; maybe Jeff meant non-tender candidate, from his 2018 $2.3M Arb salary
There’s no way he’s NTd especially seeing as tendered contracts are not guaranteed. Now granted the caveat being shoulder health. It’s also a simple situation where you have to look beyond era and realize the Dodgers valued his skill set and felt his SL was underutilized in Cincy. Which when he arrived in LA you could clearly see it was. It’s a backend arm if he’s healthy and commanding. At this point though there’s no way you can count on that this season.
That was my mistake. He has one more arb year left. Fixed.
lol “still speedy heater”
…points. for the name.
Cingrani was not on the 40 man and they didnt say what the corresponding move was. I’ll guess it was Chargois to 60 day DL
You had a 50/50 chance; it was actually Daniel Hudson to the 60-day (just announced).
That kind of stinks. He was alright this year
Those three don’t pass the “smell” test. But being September, who can fault them for looking at them.