The Dodgers are signing right-hander Jordan Lyles to a minor league deal, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post on X. The veteran might need a bit of ramp-up time as he hasn’t pitched in official game action since April.
Lyles, 33, began the year with the Royals. He had signed a two-year, $17MM pact going into 2023 and pitched out of the Kansas City rotation in the first year of that deal. He took the ball 31 times for the Royals but finished the year with an unimpressive 6.28 earned run average.
Coming into 2024, he was nudged out of the rotation in Spring Training as Alec Marsh won the fifth starter’s job behind Cole Ragans, Brady Singer, Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha. Lyles made five scoreless relief appearances to start this year but hasn’t pitched since. On April 22, he was placed on the temporarily inactive list to attend to a personal family matter and transferred to the restricted list the next day.
Whatever the personal matter was, it has apparently been resolved enough for Lyles to return to baseball. Just a few days ago, the Royals reinstated him from the restricted list but evidently didn’t plan on having him back on their roster, as they released him. That leaves them on the hook for what remains of his contract. If Lyles ends up being selected by the Dodgers, they would only owe him the prorated portion of the league minimum for any time spent on their roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Royals pay.
The Dodgers’ rotation has been through plenty of turmoil this season and it’s sensible enough for them to add a veteran innings-eater type like Lyles. Bobby Miller posted an 8.07 ERA and got himself optioned down to the minors. Walker Buehler struggled in his return from Tommy John surgery and is on the injured list with a hip injury. Yoshinobu Yamamoto has a rotator cuff strain and is out until at least mid-August. Both Emmet Sheehan and Dustin May required season-ending surgeries.
Tyler Glasnow also had a brief stint on the IL but was reinstated yesterday. Clayton Kershaw has missed the entire campaign so far after undergoing offseason shoulder surgery, but he will be making his season debut today. While the return of those two was most welcome, it led to a roster crunch that resulted in James Paxton getting designated for assignment. Behind Glasnow and Kershaw, the Dodgers have rookies River Ryan, Gavin Stone and Justin Wrobleski filling out their rotation.
They will most likely find some kind of external addition to that group prior to next week’s trade deadline, but there’s no harm in having a veteran like Lyles getting loose in their system somewhere. He’s been pretty reliable in his career, as he hasn’t been on the 60-day IL since 2015. As recently as 2022, he was able to be a solid back-end rotation guy, as he made 32 starts for the Orioles that year with a 4.42 ERA. Once he gets back in game shape, he’ll give the Dodgers a bit of non-roster depth.
Yikes – I mean, he’s the definition of an innings eater I suppose, but he led the league in earned runs allowed 3 of the last 4 years. That’s probably not a stat you want to put on the CV when shopping your services.
I wouldn’t undersell the Dodgers ability to find something here. He had a decent if unspectacular season with the O’s and I’d say the Dodgers and O’s are on par with each other at being really good finding relief help.
Don’t be surprised if Jordy comes in later this season to go 2-3 scoreless in a come back win. I’m just saying…
So your take is that because Lyles was only 4th or 5th in most runs allowed when he played for the Orioles; therefore, he will be a good pitcher for the Dodgers. That’s like my wife trying to teach my daughter calculus when she was in 4th grade… math makes no sense and the person describing it doesn’t understand it.
Give the man his due, Big Hurt. He was 3rd in earned runs in 2022.
He’s cooked as a starter, that much is clear. As a reliever? Remains to be seen.
Fair enough Waymann (and I like your humor). He hasn’t really shown the ability to relieve and maybe the Dodgers can do something, but it does feel like Plan E and if only if nothing else pans out at the deadline.
I agree with you @Waymann. I get that Lyles doesn’t light anyone’s shorts on fire but as a Pen piece, he could give you that or an emergency 5th starter in case of an injury.
Smart move by the Dodgers. Wish the O’s had done that minors move.
The Dodgers must be preparing themselves for Kershaw to break down yet again.
There people go again.
Do you always wish ill towards players?
Cmon dodgers guy, LAD fans have been doing the same to Altuve, Bregman, Correa etc. for years. So don’t be a hypocrite now.
Everything goes back to the Astros cheating scandal on this site. It was a long time ago, folks. Move on.
@Carmine – the Black Sox scandal was 1919. Appreciate seven players* were playing to lose rather than an organised system to cheat and win, but the Astros got off lightly.
S5 million fine, nothing for the players who were granted immunity, and that was it. Oh yeah, and they sacked Jeff Luhnow… clearly picking on the Mexican….
Peter
*I believe Shoeless Joe was innocent.
My point was the Astros scandal is constantly brought up here. Those of us that aren’t trolls and legitimately follow baseball know about it. We know what happened. People think the punishment was light. I get it. It’s enough already. Who cares?
People here want every player and coach associated with that team banned for life. That’s a pretty high bar, and that’s why it didn’t happen. Life is complicated. We don’t always get what we want – usually we get an approximation of what we want, sometimes we get nothing. Part of being an adult is moving on.
Then be an adult and don’t comment, move on!
@Carmine – good points will made, but I didn’t & don’t want the Astros hung from lampposts. Or banned for life. I’d be interested to know what you’d think would have just?
We clearly both care, else neither of us would be commenting!
Take care,
Peter
Hey @l9ydodger how about when you pay to be here like I have then you can tell me not to comment? Enjoy your FREE site, deadbeat.
I don’t work for MLBTR, but I’m proud to support them.
I support their content, not freeloaders like you, @CBeisbol.
Limited adults here. Lots of drama queens
Kershaw is 56 strikeouts away from 3,000. Probably the last pitcher that will ever get there.
Cole could get there if he stays healthy for another few seasons and pitches at a high level.
Skenes is a lock for 3,000.
no pitcher is a lock for anything as arms are falling off left and right. Skenes is a big boy but that does guarantee being exempt from injuries.
How would you know that Skenes will take the ball every 5th turn for the next 12-15 years? How?
It’s more so that the trade deadline is next week and it’s a very good possibility that several of the AA and AAA guys could be traded and will still need guys to go out every 5 days to pitch.
They must want a Chad Innings Eater.
@holecamels35
I find it a bit odd that the Dodgers release James Paxton and choose Jordan Lyles… I thought Lyles was on the restricted list until I realised he’d been released. Got to assume he’s a depth piece for the bullpen rather than as a SP. Otherwise it’ll take him until November to stretch to starting…
The only thing that Lyles has over Paxton is durability. I forgot about Paxton and now that you mentioned him, this makes signing Lyles really strange.
Lyles is on a minor league deal so they can keep him in Triple A until they need him. Paxton was on a MLB deal and couldn’t be sent down. It’s apples to oranges.
They didn’t release Paxton.
True, but if they can’t trade him over the next couple of days, the DFA turns into a release.
Usually you shouldn’t care about minor league singings but wtf is this? Best case scenario Lyles should be an innings eater after a seller trades their assets.
The Dodgers are the hoarders of MLB. You go over to their house, and they have every guy who’s been released since 2021 signed to a minor league deal and stashed away in the basement, just in case. And that’s not counting all the guys in the attic, the closets, the pantry…
KC was real patient with Lyles. It’s odd that he is good enough for Dodgers to sign but not good enough for Royals to keep him. Royals gave him a two-year contract when other teams were not interested. Good luck Jordan!
Lyles is not on the 40 man roster, so if the Dodgers view Paxton and Lyles as inning eating number five starters, the value of Lyles over Paxton is the 40 man roster spot. Dodgers have Kershaw, Graterol, and Braiser who all need a 40 man spot. Assuming they bring players in via trade, they may need additional 40 man spots if they trade young players not on the 40 man…
Lyles can’t eat any innings unless he’s added to the roster. This leads to the conclusion that they are hoping he won’t be needed, and this is strictly a depth move.
$52 million dollars in an MLB career to be -2.5 career WAR. What a country!
Any Dodgers fans want Taillon, Norris, Leiter Jr or Tyson Miller? I’d throw in Nico Hoerner who cam play short and 2nd very well, but ya gotta really pony up for him.
Subtraction by addition? But if this somehow means never seeing Pedro Baez- er, Yohan Ramirez ever again then I’m on board
Incoming Charlie Morton-style late career resurgence?
I seriously hope so to be honest. O’s fan here and definitely appreciate what he brought in 2022. Results weren’t great but weren’t expected to be either. He went out there and grinded like a pro.
Saw him up close at one of the home games too and was kinda surprised…Jordan is one big ol’ country boy. He definitely has the body to hold up well pitching for awhile longer and hopefully that’s how it plays out.
The problem is his body holds up but he’s just not good. Negative career war but somehow still gets jobs when there’s much better minor leaguers
How many minor league teams do the dodgers have anyway? It seems like they are always signing everyone t minor league deals.
Give the Dodgers credit. They’re willing to take chances.
@JobberDoug…
Lyles is skilled hypnotist. Problem for him is that it works at about six feet, not sixty…
Royals signed him to 2 years at that salary. They were insane.
The Dodgers should call him up right now….
He sucks