The Dodgers have announced the signing of lefty Jake McGee. McGee is signing right onto the 40-man roster and will presumably have a spot on the active roster to open the season.
Injured righty Jimmy Nelson has been placed on the 45-day injured list, thus freeing a roster spot. Nelson will miss the entire season after undergoing back surgery, as has been anticipated for several weeks.
McGee was just cut loose by the division-rival Rockies even as he prepared for the final guaranteed season of his contract. The Colorado org will remain on the hook for the pro-rated portion of his $9MM salary, less a pro-rated portion of the league minimum for any time he spends on the Dodgers active roster.
It’d certainly sting for the Rox to see McGee thrive in Los Angeles, but the southpaw will need to figure things out to make that happen. Soon to turn 34, McGee is coming off of a messy 2019 campaign in which he was likely fortunate to carry a 4.35 ERA despite permitting 2.4 home runs per nine innings.
McGee’s swinging-strike rate dropped to 8.6% as he continued to surrender fastball velocity to the hands of time. It’ll be interesting to see what the Dodgers have in mind to prolong McGee’s career, now that he’s no longer bringing the elite speed he once did. He turned increasingly to his slider last year with some success, but still went to his trusty heater in four of every five deliveries.
Good job by the Dodgers.
I tell you if one or two of our bullpen pickups gets hot (Treinen, AJ Ramos, McGee, etc.) everyone else is in some real trouble…
Treinen will bounce back to some degree but I wouldn’t hold my breath on the other 2
Going to need a lot more than that if the dodgers hope to win a world series any time soon.
Going to need Jansen prove last year was a fluke and not indications of him falling off, Kelly to live up to his contract, Floro to prove he can get past the sophomore slump, Scott Alexander to actually do something this year (Kolarek is hurt badly by the 3 batter rule since righties mash him, Ferguson is a little better vs righties but worse against lefties, so Alexander is really you’re only lefty option out of the pen).
The Dodgers are the best team in baseball. Sure they may have a small flaw or two, but those flaws are much smaller and much less than everyone else.
Best team in the NL.
Yankees can actually stay healthy I put them as best team in baseball.
Their rotation may not be as good as the Dodgers but their pen is head and shoulders above the Dodgers.
But best team means nothing. That’s why we play games.
Dodgers hope to win it comes down to the pen, like it has in recent years.
They are an amazing team but honestly I’d put the Reds right there with them, especially if they can add one more bullpen piece or a center fielder at the deadline.
Of course you would holecamels.
Wow!….ok
The last 4 World Series champions won with mediocre bullpens with very few arms they trusted and banked on starters. Dodgers don’t need every releif pitcher to be elite. Just don’t use Kershaw as a high leverage reliever and they will be fine.
Wyoming
The Dodgers are loaded. Where do you get your info from, a 1997 issue of Streets and Smith???
@Wyoming, just last year the Nationals won with almost no bullpen at all. That statement is pretty close to literal because they now famously made the decision to depend on their starters. There bullpen was by far the worst of the playoff teams.
Simple. Use Kolarek with two outs or multiple lefties and 1 out. Trust your man to get his man. The 3 batter rule is really overblown when they can finish the inning and they are clear
Great signing for the Dodgers
Good job. With future quarantines possible and perhaps likely, you can’t have enough depth. This is true even when having one of the deepest rosters in the game. Interesting how the Dodgers made this move while teams with serious depth issues passed.
Who passed? No one was going to claim his 9MM salary. At that point, he got to choose who he wanted to play for.
Jaime Schultz, Adam Liberatore, Logan Forsythe, David Price, Andrew Toles, Joel Peralta, Scott Kazmir, Justin Ruggiano, Carl Crawford, and now Jake McGee, all former Friedman era TB Rays organization players signed/traded for by Friedman&Co. to the Dodgers. I’m sure I’ve missed a few names too.
Carl Crawford was 2 years before Friedman.
Jose Lobaton can take Crawford’s spot on the list.
Pretty thorough list! Cc was traded for pre Freidman, but I love all these connections
McGhee and GM (practicality) Friedman know each other from TB. Sometimes these reunions work. Jake’s also pitching for a 2021 contract, and that figures in.
I’m still surprised that Gonsolin didn’t make the opening day roster. To me, he has a lot more to offer than McGee does at this point in his career, but it’s hard to argue with Friedman’s decisions. He has put together the best team in baseball, drafts as good if not better than any other GM and somehow has the major league team under the CBT cap even with all that veteran talent on the roster. He is by far the best GM in the game right now and has the Dodgers set up to be contenders for years to come.
– Jealous Red Sox fan
I completely agree with you, Dorothy. Friedman is a rock star.
Boston has a good one in Bloom who I believe will model himself, and the organization, after Friedman.
Keep it classy…
It’s not all that surprising. He’s should be on track to stay stretched out just in case. He reported late due to “COVID.” It put him a month behind. Even if he’s a pen guy for this team, insert depth.
As someone else mentioned, it likely has to do with Gonsolin coming late to summer camp. They can have him stretch out in AZ or with the team, however that works, and I’m sure he’ll play a significant role this year
Also hate to say it, but service time very well could have been a factor. They are using May to piggy back with Buehler. Maybe they figure, hold Gonsolin back, possibly gain another year of control, and also have him in the wings if May happens to falter or anyone has issues with fatigue with such a weird ST