June 4: These moves are now official, as the Dodgers have announced that Thompson has been placed on the injured list with a left oblique strain, with DeLuca recalled as the corresponding move.
June 3, 11:50PM: Outfield prospect Jonny DeLuca will be called up from Triple-A to take Thompson’s spot on the roster, The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya reports (Twitter link). Los Angeles selected DeLuca to its 40-man roster during the offseason, to prevent him from being taken in the Rule 5 Draft. DeLuca was a 25th-round pick for the Dodgers in the 2019 draft, and he has posted strong numbers at every minor league stop, including a .329/.373/.571 slash line over his first 75 plate appearances at the Triple-A level. His first appearance on the field with the Dodgers will mark his Major League debut.
Baseball America (17th) and MLB Pipeline (20th) each rank the 24-year-old DeLuca within the top 20 prospects of the Dodgers’ deep farm system, with BA seeing him as “a platoon or reserve outfielder who bashes lefties and plays all three outfield spots.” DeLuca is a solid-to-decent defender, with his plus speed helping both his glovework and his base-stealing (58 swipes in 63 tries over his minor league career). Beginning his career as a switch-hitter, DeLuca seemed to unlock something after becoming only a right-handed hitter. Pipeline’s scouting report cites his strength and “raw power” at the plate, “and he’s able to drive the ball without sacrificing contact.”
10:39PM: Dodgers outfielder Trayce Thompson suffered an injury to his oblique during a checked swing in tonight’s game, manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register). The severity of the injury isn’t yet known, but Roberts said that Thompson will be placed on the 10-day injured list.
It’s another setback in what has been a tough season for Thompson, who is batting only .155/.310/.366 over 87 plate appearances. The outfielder homered three times in his first game of the season and he had three hits against the Rays on May 28, but Thompson otherwise has only five hits over his other 79 PA, including an ugly 0-for-36 slump that was only just snapped with that big game against Tampa. Naturally, Thompson’s playing time has been reduced in the wake of his struggles, even as the Dodgers’ have been looking for extra outfield help since Mookie Betts spending more time as a middle infielder.
Perhaps a dropoff was inevitable given how Thompson’s 2022 numbers greatly outpaced his otherwise modest careers, but it is still count as a letdown that he wasn’t able to continue his seeming breakout. After Los Angeles acquired Thompson in a cash transaction with the Tigers in June 2022, Thompson became an unexpected contributor, hitting .268/.364/.537 over 239 PA for the Dodgers last season.
Luke Williams, Yonny Hernandez, and top prospect Michael Busch could all be candidates for another look in the majors to replace Thompson. The Dodgers have enough multi-position players that they don’t necessarily need to replace Thompson with another outfielder, but Williams does have some outfield experience. This trio are all on the 40-man roster, so L.A. would have to make another corresponding move if it wished to replace Thompson with someone who isn’t currently on the 40-man.
Jonny DeLuca seems like the best possible Thompson replacement, as two of the three mentioned in this article are scrubs, while Busch is a bad fit with two corner bats who are lefties, as well as three of their top four OFs who are lefties.
I can see them bringing up Busch, and having him and Vargas at second which would push mookie back to the outfield or even shortstop.
It’ll be Jonny DeLuca or Luke Williams.
rotowire.com/baseball/player/jonny-deluca-18242?ni…
The Dodgers just upgraded IMHO
Wouldn’t have taken much, the way Thompson is going this season. Baseball can be such a brutal sport.
“even as the Dodgers’ have been looking for extra outfield help since Mookie Betts spending more time as a middle infielder.”
*even as the Dodgers have been looking for extra outfield help since Mookie Betts is spending more time as a middle infielder*
“given how Thompson’s 2022 numbers greatly outpaced his otherwise modest careers but it is still count as a letdown”
*given how Thompson’s 2022 numbers greatly outpaced his otherwise modest career but it still counts as a letdown*
There. Fixed it for ya!
“Jonny DeLuca” sounds more like a Brooklyn Dodger than a Los Angeles Dodger…
Jonny DeLica and Vinnie Nottoli knocked on MLB’s door with an offer they couldn’t refuse.
Jonny DeLuca and Vinny Nittoli
Paul LoDuca is in the car, with the engine running.
You’re a funny guy. The way you tell the story.
Even once Thompson is healthy, I’d rather give an extended look to DeLuca. Gotta give a thanks to TT for what he produced last year, but that well might be dry now
That well has nothing but dirt and sand in now. I don’t know how DeLuca is going to do going forward, but it cannot possibly be any worse than what we’ve seen from Thompson outside of those 2 big games. If Thompson were with ANY other organization besides LAD, he’d be unemployed right now.
538 has LA as the World Series favorites. How do people fall for this every year? What a laugh. It’s worth remembering they also said Hillary would win easily…
This may be very hard for you to comprehend but the Dodgers are the best team in the weak NL, so their path to a WS is easier than a typical AL contender. Frankly the NL looks horrific. Dodgers, Braves and Dbacks are already gone from the pack. And the Dbacks might fall off.
This may be very hard for you to comprehend, but LA won a million games last season & still choked when it mattered. As they have in every real season since the 80s. Sports media (and many online posters like you) are truly clueless.
And you still don’t know how odds work. Who is your pick to win the NL? If it’s Braves you must not have watched their NLDS last season where they choked harder than the Dodgers. Any other team would be a laughable choice.
You don’t seem too bright. Nobody would’ve picked the Phillies to win the NL last year & they did. How did Atlanta “choke harder” than the team who won 110 games? You must be an absolute moron. Please use your brain, just a little.
Remember in 2020 when the other 29 teams refused to play any games because winning anything that year would be meaningless?
Yeah, neither do I.
You should change your name to Neon Dope. A glowing idiot.
Dodgers were in every single game of that Padres series. Just couldn’t get a clutch hit to save their season. Braves got absolutely steamrolled in Philly and both those games were over by the 4th inning. Nobody would’ve picked the Phillies to win the NL is exactly the point when questioning a teams odds. But that flew right over your head.
Players get paid, even during a pandemic. Not sure if you know that. Ask around the league: the players don’t respect 2020.
Lol a Fraudger fan in Ohio? Yikes.
Hang the banner now: “We Lost by Fewer Runs than the Braves.” Truly a pathetic fan base out there at Chavez Latrine.
You’re just a deranged Dodger hater lmao. Probably a fan of some poverty franchise.
Yep and this is the exact same team that lost to the Padres right?
@Neon, which MLB players do not respect 2020 season??? Like any would share that information with you. Just an absolute ignorant statement on your behalf…
Use google maybe? Ask some players maybe? JD Martinez, for one, said it didn’t feel like real baseball…just like “trying to play” baseball.
So you re taking one single statement and assuming the context. That statement you quoted also has zero anything in regards to having respect for the season.
How is this even a debate? It was 37% of a season LOL
Neon, u claimed players did not respect the season. Still waiting on you to back that claim….
Ask the players…even Buehler said it felt like half a season. Why are you being dense?
I’m sure it did feel like half a season to them as it essentially was. That in no way means they did have respect for the season as you implied. Also all teams played under the same conditions, so every team had an equal shot.
So again I’m still waiting for you to back your claim that the players did not respect the season…..
And I’m in now way being dense. You claimed players “did not respect the season”. I asked for proof of this claim and you are grasping at comments and trying to make them fir your narrative and thus far you have absolutely failed to do so.
Hey man, are you dumb? You’re responding to yourself now? I gave you 2 examples of players talking about how the season wasn’t real. I’ve also talked to actual MLB players who said the same. Take the L and move on, bozo!
In what way did either of those statements make it seem as tho the season was not real??? J.D.s statement was in regards to the atmosphere not the game itself. Buehler’s was in regards to the length of the season. Neither implied in any way “the season was not real” or that they “did not respect the season”. Are you that incompetent that you do not understand the difference?? Or are you just one of those stubborn people who made an overblown statement and false pride makes every hill the hill you die on???
And Trumpty Dumpty had the election stolen..yea right, Trumpty lost to Hillary too thanks to Russian intervention, she won the popular vote by a ton but anyway, yea, it’s Dodgers/Braves, San Diego and Mets spent like a Zillion dollars and both are crap!
Actually, 538 gave the Orange Narcissist something like a 28% chance, which was more than most media outlets. Give them credit for recognizing that with the bias from the Electoral College it would only take a modest polling error for that to happen.
Neon always trolls the Dodgers it is his thing. NL has no team that stands out – no team where I’d say more than 15 percent to the WS, Atlanta, Dodgers, Snakes near top of that list though.
A fair assessment of the Dodgers they are built to win in the regular season, only to have Dave Roberts mismanage the pitching staff to get the Dodgers bounced before winning it all in full seasons… Dodgers are a great team to watch as a fan from April to September, but one of the most disappointing playoff teams in team sports history…
Do you ever wonder why Andy Friedman hired Dave Roberts, and continues to extend his contract? If not, you really should.
Anything can happen in the playoffs and teams are facing the better teams in the league. I agree the Dodgers have seemed to really disappoint in the post season. I do not think it is mismanagement or poor roster construction. They just have not performed and=or have faced hot teams.
If anything I’d b more inclined to believe that most years they ve had division clinched so early they have not played under pressure til the playoffs begin. Whereas other teams have been playing under pressure for weeks and are stuck in that mindset. I believe the Braves suffered from this some years in the 90’s as well.
Now we’re talking the difference between possible and likely. Just about anything is possible, but that doesn’t make it likely. The Dodgers have managed the unlikely feat of entering the postseason with one of the top regular season records for ten straight seasons and won it all just once. Statistically, this is pretty hard to do. Since 1995, a team with one of the three best regular season records won the World Series half of the time. So it seems it really does help to enter the postseason with a postseason-ready roster instead of just qualifying and hoping to get lucky.
Teams having the best record in MLB and not making the World Series is more common than than expected. The 2001 Seattle Mariners is the greatest example.
It’s easily provable that being good actually matters. Teams with the best regular season records are far more likely to win the World Series than teams that don’t have one of the best regular season records. This point is supported by the data over the last 28 years of baseball, not on any kind of proof by “for instance.”
This is what I mean by understanding the difference between possible and likely. It’s Probabilities 101. The least likely thing will happen some of the time, but this does not prove that the least likely thing is just as likely to happen as the most likely.
So anyone who argues that the postseason is “a total crapshoot” is provably wrong. It is not a completely random event, and if you can’t believe me, just ask any bookmaker.
Roberts would get hired again in about a week if the Dodgers fired him
I agree Fred, I think he does a great job coaching. Like I said I think Dodgers have had part bad luck and part ill timing. They ve been going into most postseasons having been playing casually under little pressure. Whereas their opponents have been fighting fame in and game out with all their players playing under more pressure and utilizing the fight or flight mode that are brains have evolved. All the talent in the world is not gonna ramp up all those endorphins and dopamine in the body like the other players scrapping to get in have.
Same thing happened to 06 Tigers m, they blew through As sat and waited as Cardinals fought to World Series. When WS started Tigers were not playing with the same intensity as Cards.
Maybe, but only in theory, since the Dodgers aren’t going to fire him. Dave Roberts is Andy Friedman with a number on his back. He plays the Friedman roster and the Friedman numbers game, and when they don’t work out, takes all the heat without complaint. So long as he does that he’ll have job security.
The Dodgers have a pretty stacked MiLB. It appears they have even more options to build from within. The Dodgers brought DeLuca up through their system rapidly. Trayce Thompson may never return if DeLuca performs well.
Even if DeLuca crashes and burns, Trayce Thompson still should not return. Dodgers can get an upgrade from just about any OF on the waiver wire.
Plain and simple…Thompson don’t belong on a big league roster! Hopefully Deluca does well and we never hear Thompsons name again unless it’s to get DFAed!
“Solid to decent”… Has decent surpassed solid on the sliding scale?
Since Thompson is playing far below replacement level ball, just about any AAA player should be an improvement.
A mannequin would be an improvement.
Trayce. Meh. Playing more like Klay