The Dodgers and veteran righty Matt Andriese are in agreement on a minor league contract, as first indicated on the transaction log at MLB.com. The Beverly Hills Sports Council client will return stateside after spending the 2022 campaign with the Yomiuri Giants of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball.
Andriese, 33, pitched quite well overseas, albeit in a relatively limited sample of 44 1/3 innings. The former Rays, D-backs, Angels, Red Sox and Mariners right-hander notched a tidy 2.03 ERA in NPB, fanning 21.3% of his opponents against a very strong 5.6% walk rate.
The 2022 season marked the first time in seven years that Andriese didn’t throw a pitch at the big league level. He appeared in every MLB season from 2015-21, working as both a starter and reliever with the aforementioned five clubs. The bulk of that work — and the bulk of his MLB success — came with the Rays, for whom he posted a 4.30 ERA in 339 innings.
On the whole, Andriese has a lifetime 4.63 ERA, 21.7% strikeout rate and 6.7% walk rate in 509 frames in the Majors. He’s started 50 games and made another 167 relief appearances; while he’s typically worked in multi-inning relief stints, he’s tallied eight rogue saves and 15 holds over the course of his time in a big league bullpen.
The Dodgers have a full rotation — Clayton Kershaw, Julio Urias, Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May, Noah Syndergaard — with several top-ranked prospects waiting in the wings whenever an opportunity arises (e.g. Bobby Miller, Gavin Stone, Ryan Pepiot). It’s a fairly similar story in a generally crowded bullpen mix. Right-hander Brusdar Graterol and lefties Alex Vesia and Caleb Ferguson are the only projected members of the L.A. relief corps that can be freely optioned to Triple-A, and they’re all coming off strong 2022 showings that likely give them an inside track on Opening Day roster spots.
That said, pitching injuries are an inevitability. Andriese gives the Dodgers a potential depth option whenever health woes pop up for either the starting staff or the bullpen. He’s a nice veteran insurance policy to have on hand in the upper minors to begin the season. He’ll join recent minor league signees like Jordan Yamamoto and Dylan Covey in that regard.
Dodgers have done well filling out the OKC and Tulsa rosters. The ML roster remains a work in progress
Some very weak minor league signings here
Los Karens coming together
@Rocker,
wiki- Karen is a slang term for a white woman perceived as entitled or demanding beyond the scope of what is normal. The term is often portrayed in memes depicting white women who use their white privilege to demand their own way.
How does this apply to the Dodgers? Or any baseball team? Or baseball in general?
Doesn’t Rocker post that on evert Dodger thread?
Correct, that’s the perfect description of Joe Kelly isn’t it??? Pretty much embodies their crybaby ways. Perfect fit, thanks for cementing that great comparison.
Joe Kelly signed with the White Sox last year. Just saying
It is sexist and misogynistic to use the term Karen in that manner. When a woman complains, you are saying it’s bad, but when a man complains it is ok. If you want to mock the Dodgers, pick a new catch phrase since you did the same one every single time. Maybe Los Kevins instead of Los Karens.
By the way, Tom Brady retired, again.
Andriese was great in Boston for about a month, and then he imploded.
Minor league depth. Not a bad thing.
Here’s hoping the season doesn’t go badly enough to see him suit up for the big team.
Hi Blue. Always like your civilised but sometimes ‘edgy’ comments. I am a big and long-time Dodger fan; happy for them to try a different approach this year.
They’ve won and been the ‘big dog’ recently but have failed to go all the way, enough as much as they should have, in recent years.
I’m curious to see what 2023 brings.
Ha, thanks. I’m usually not really going for edgy so I’ll have to watch that.
The different approach this year seems to be driven by financial considerations. I’d give the Padres the better chance of winning the NLW this year. As for Andriese, he’s the kind of marginal journeyman you hope they never need to use. Because if that happens it means many injuries in the rotation, and the prospects not panning out. He’s like depth for the depth. Probably we wouldn’t even be talking about him if the Dodgers were doing anything more interesting.
Dodgers are growing some fine talent on their farm(s). Could once again be a good reclamation project…
Andriese was pretty awful in Boston in ’21, however if there is a team that can can get him on track its the Dodgers