10:54 am: Gonsolin’s promotion won’t merely be a one-day spot start. Manager Dave Roberts tells Ken Gurnick of MLB.com the rookie will stay on the active roster through at least next week to make one additional start.
9:04 am: The Dodgers announced today they have activated infielder Jedd Gyorko from the 60-day injured list. Additionally, the club has recalled right-hander Tony Gonsolin from Triple-A Oklahoma City and optioned right-handed reliever Josh Sborz and first baseman Edwin Ríos to clear active roster space (h/t to Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times). No corresponding 40-man roster move was required.
Gyorko’s first game back will also be his first as a Dodger. He suffered back and wrist issues while playing for the Cardinals, but LA nevertheless acquired him at the deadline while he was on the shelf. With the NL West all but a mathematical lock, the Dodgers could afford to acquire a player not healthy enough to contribute immediately who could play a role for them in October. Gyorko has experience at all four infield positions, although he’s probably best suited in the corners, and was a solid all-around player for St. Louis between 2016 and 2018. His injury-ravaged 2019 season means LA will almost certainly buy him out for $1M after the season, rather than exercise his $13MM club option for 2020, but he adds to the club’s already-enviable depth. He’s starting at first base today against Atlanta.
Gonsolin will start this afternoon’s game. The rookie is a solid prospect who has pitched well but not spectacularly with Triple-A Oklahoma City in abbreviated outings. Over 41.1 innings, he’s worked to a 4.35 ERA (better than it appears at first glance in the Pacific Coast League) with high strikeout (26.2%) and walk (11.0%) rates. He’s pitched quite well in three MLB appearances.
Sborz and Ríos, both 25, each made their MLB debuts in 2019 as well. Sborz tossed three innings out of the bullpen and has dominated in Triple-A this year, while Ríos raked in limited big league action as a lefty bench bat. The corner infielder has slashed .266/.339/.551 in Triple-A, which looks more impressive at first glance than it actually is. That output’s only six percent better than average for the level, although Ríos has a stronger track record of hitting in the high minors the past couple years.
Is this a new theme where they show only the players’ body?
LOL!
Weird timing… Urias pitches Friday….. suspension announced on a weekend (Saturday) then Sunday they have an open 40man spot for gyorko due to urias being suspended for 15 games. Which by then Taylor should be back and Gyorko probably gets DFA’d.
You say the timing is weird and then go on to show why it totally makes sense.
Hernadez will also be back soon, btw. Freese not long after that probably. Whether any of this leads to a DFA for Gyorko remains to be seen especially given that he hasn’t even put on the uniform yet. The most likely DFA candidate is White, who has put on the uniform and produced absolutely nothing and whose position is covered by both Gyorko and Freese.
No chance Gyorko gets DFA
Id rather DFA Taylor
I’d rather DFA you
Badda Bing!
At minimum the dumbest comment in weeks, dark.
Do it. Braves will take him!
The potentially more important part of the moves the Dodgers made this weekend and not mentioned here was the announcement that Dustin May would be pitching out of the bullpen, at least in the short term. If this is the plan going forward then it sure makes a pretty big change from what was expected.
My guess is May will pitch out of the bullpen for 2019 only, including playoffs…2020 he’s our the # 3 or 4 starter…
Probably but that’s a story in itself. The top candidate for moving to the bullpen for the rest of the season would have seemed to be Gonsolin, since he’s pitched in relief before. It could be they already know he’s capable of that move and want to see if May can also make the adjustment. Potentially an important experiment. More important and with more implications than sending Sborz down again.
I believe they are trying to limit May’s Innings by having him pitch exclusively in relief for the remainder of the season.
Could be. May has already pitched twice as many innings this year as Gonsolin, but we haven’t heard the Dodgers say as much.
It will bolster the bullpen. Know we need a closer but with Hill, May and Gonsolin in pen things are improved.
I see the Dodgers DFA Tyler White when he comes of the injury list! When Chris Taylor and Enrique Hernandez come back it will be 40 man rosters until playoffs!
I think Garlick and Negrón will be optioned on Tuesday to make room for Taylor and Hernández.
Too bad about Negron, if true. He has done a great job filling in.
They wont, he was willing to take the phantom IL trip so he saved his roster spot
It seems pretty simple to think the Dodgers will move guys to the 60 day in order to work their way around the roster crunch. White is a candidate, Ruiz is definitely a candidate, and so is Alvarez.
Which doesn’t matter really until guys like Freese and Urias needs to be activated. Garlick will be an easy optionable candidate, but I have this feeling Beaty will also be optioned. As good as Beaty has been there aren’t very many ABs for him, and the depth at SS isn’t great in the system. Seems to easier to keep Negrón and recall Beaty when rosters expand.
Classic head scratcher.
Gyorko won’t be DFAed if he gets an honest chance to play. He never got that honest chance in St. Louis. Even when he hit 30 homeruns. Although he clearly had better numbers, the Cardinals played Matt Carpenter over Gyorko. Just as they do with Luke Voit, Big City, Skip Shoemarker, etc. etc. etc. Gyorko is a big game player. Especially at playoff time!!!
Matt Carpenter has had a higher OBP, SLG, and OPS+ than Gyorko every year that Gyorko has been a Cardinal and it’s not even close. Nothing is clear about Gyorko having better numbers because he’s NEVER had better numbers than Carpenter in his time in a Cardinals uniform; Carpenter has been a much better hitter.
This includes 2016 when Gyorko hit 30 homers. Carpenter finished with 21 of his own, along with his batting avg. at 30 points higher, SLG at 10 points higher, OPS+ 25 points higher, and his OBP a whopping 75 points higher. I don’t think many people would choose the extra nine homeruns to sacrifice all the rest of that production, especially because a productive leadoff man is a lot more valuable than a 5 or 6 hitter