The Dodgers have selected the contract of right-hander Brent Honeywell, according to a team announcement. Honeywell will take the active roster spot of right-hander Joe Kelly, who the club has placed on the 15-day Injured List due to right shoulder inflammation. A corresponding 40-man roster move was not needed to accommodate Honeywell, who will take the spot vacated by veteran outfielder Jason Heyward last week. The Dodgers have also officially announced the placement of veteran lefty Clayton Kershaw on the IL that was reported earlier this evening.
Honeywell, 29, returns to the big league Dodgers for a second stint after being designated for assignment by the club just two weeks ago. Once a consensus top-15 prospect in the sport with the Rays, Honeywell has faced a number of injury-related struggles throughout his career that caused him to miss three full seasons of action from 2018 to 2020 before being limited to just 103 1/3 innings of work across the 2021 and ’22 seasons.
Those long layoffs cost him several key years of development and robbed him of his ability to start, but he re-emerged as a big league reliever with the Padres last season. He posted decent middle relief numbers in San Diego before being squeezed off the roster and ending up with the White Sox, with whom he was shelled for seven runs in 5 2/3 innings down the stretch. That disastrous end to 2023 cost Honeywell his roster spot in Chicago, but he managed to find a minor league deal with the Pirates over the winter and made his way to the majors in July.
In 23 2/3 innings of work with the Pirates and Dodgers this season, Honeywell has posted strong results despite lackluster peripherals. His 2.28 ERA is nothing short of excellent, but the fact that he’s managing to prevent runs to that degree despite a microscopic 13.8% strikeout rate appears likely to be unsustainable, particularly if his whopping 89.6% strand rate regresses to a more typical figure. Even so, Honeywell figures to be as solid a bet as any to eat innings in a beleaguered Dodgers bullpen that was forced to use seven relievers after Kershaw departed in the second inning of last night’s game due to injury.
Honeywell will be taking the roster spot of one of those seven relievers, as Kelly is headed to the IL with a bout of shoulder inflammation. The 38-year-old hurler has been struggling mightily for the past month as he’s posted a 7.71 ERA with a paltry 18.2% strikeout rate and a hefty 13.6% walk rate. Last night’s outing was particularly difficult for the veteran as he surrendered two runs on three hits and two walks in 1 2/3 innings of work while striking out just one and hitting two batters.
Kelly’s brutal results over the past month have caused his season numbers to go from solid to well below average, as he entered August with a 3.93 ERA and a sterling 2.41 FIP. Those numbers now sit at 5.20 and 4.83, respectively. It’s unclear how long Kelly is expected to be out of action, but with just a month left in the regular season it’s possible the right-hander won’t be healthy enough to return before then. Kelly could hypothetically return at some point in the postseason even if he isn’t able to make it back before the end of the regular season, though given his deep struggles of late it’s unclear how strongly he would factor into L.A.’s postseason plans even if healthy.
Honeywell and Gavin Hollowell need to be on the same team. Would keep me from forgetting that they aren’t the same person.
According to Dave Roberts, Kershaw has had an issue with bone spurs in his foot for a “couple years.” Unless I am missing something, couldn’t he have taken care of this while he was out with the shoulder rehab? or during one of the off-seasons?
Sometimes bone spurs miraculously go away, like when you are no longer in danger of being drafted.
Or in the case of Tampon Tim flare up when facing deployment……
you must do really well with the ladies
PutPeteinthehall lolololololololololololol at your name. Also, your comment matched your name
lol. lmfao even.
no one wants a 40+ years old soldier running around combat, leastways the army.
pair that to retirement process starting before deployment announced, & that he wasn’t stoplossed, & your ideations are to wetness what ben shapiro’s wife is to dryness.
PP
Amazing that someone with that screen name would be a misogynist.
Muted
Classy
That can be a problem unless you don’t want to go
@AHH-Rox
Shouldn’t matter your health condition, everyone gets drafted, no matter what.
In Russia maybe
At this rate, the Dodgers’ bullpen is going to be held together with spit and tape by the time October rolls around. Not exactly the recipe for a deep playoff run, if you ask me.
Did someone ask you?
Sadly I have to agree. Especially with how quickly starters get pulled these days.
Our offense is going to have to carry us in the postseason and considering how we love to leave runners on base in the postseason. I’m expecting another NLDS loss.
the power of positive thinking. it is the #4 ranked bullpen in MLB. Yes they have been overused this week, but they are a strong group.
Roberts pulled Stone after 5 inn and 83 pitches, even with 6 relievers unavailable. Sold out to win yesterday and today will just have to be what it is.
Yeah I yelled loudly when that happened. Asking a lot of the likes of Honeywell. And Stone was cruising.
Holy crap it worked. Good job new guys.
It’s all math. Either you’re a fan of analytics and like the way it has changed the game, or not. But you can’t honestly say you’re a fan of the numbers but don’t like how it changed the game.
Why don’t u take that negative attitude back go Old York u creak
If Friedman signs Kelly again next season we’ll know Kelly’s blackmail material on him is ironclad.
6 game lead. Hoorah.
I woke up one morning recently and saw that somehow this Dodger team had the best record in baseball.
It’s been a weird year, can’t recall the last time no team was separating itself at the top, where no teams won 100 games. And the Dodgers having the best record with all their injuries and struggles at times…
db
“the Dodgers having the best record with all their injuries and struggles at times…”
Well, see
After 2021 people thought the Giants had the Dodgers’ number. They didn’t
After 2022, people thought the Padres had the Dodgers’ number. They didn’t
And after last year, people thought the DBacks had the Dodgers’ number. They don’t
Will those people learn?
The Phillies played a lot of games early on that were against sub 500 teams. The Dodgers lost a lot of players including Betts and an underrated Muncie. Both are back and it’s winning time
Diamondbacks really showing that last year’s playoffs victory wasn’t a fluke and that they can “win when it counts”
6 fewer wins than the Dodgers this year and two straight losses when they had a chance to narrow the gap.
Every time I see this guy I can’t help but think about and laugh at his comments towards Bryce Harper while he was still in A ball.
Taylor is playing well since Heyward left. Still not back to hitting homers but he’s getting at bats now and making the most of it.
Kelly played hurt and it cost him. He should have said he was injured long ago.