Unless “something really unforeseen” happens, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said that Tony Gonsolin probably isn’t going to be part of the team’s postseason roster. Gonsolin underwent Tommy John surgery about 13 months ago and was considered a longshot to pitch any big league innings this season, though Gonsolin did return in time to pitch 7 2/3 innings over three Triple-A rehab appearances. As Roberts implied to the Los Angeles Times’ Jack Harris and other reporters, however, Gonsolin is still viewed by the Dodgers as something of an emergency option, as it would be asking a lot of any pitcher who go from a year of inactivity right into the tension of important postseason relief innings.
While Gonsolin likely won’t factor into the L.A. playoff plans, Roberts was less concerned about Freddie Freeman’s bad ankle, as the manager was very optimistic Freeman would be ready for the start of the NLDS a week from today. Freeman suffered a sprained ankle in the Dodgers’ 7-2 win over the Padres on Thursday, and was seen on crutches and in a walking boot later that night. X-rays were negative on the ankle, however, and Freeman benefits from some extra time off before the Dodgers play their first postseason game.
More from the NL West…
- With $104MM still owed to him over the 2025-28 seasons, it isn’t surprising that Kris Bryant isn’t at all considering retirement, as he told Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. Bryant went into detail about the back and arthritis issues that have plagued his tenure with the Rockies, and how he is already pursuing a new workout plan to strengthen his core and get his back in playing shape. Since signing his seven-year, $182MM free agent deal with the Rox in March 2022, Bryant has been limited to only 159 games, leaving him both “guilty” about his lack of production and determined to turn things around as he enters his age-33 season. “I’m not going to sugarcoat it, it’s been terrible. It’s been terrible on me, physically and emotionally,” Bryant said. “I feel like I’ve let a ton of people down. There is nobody who feels worse about this than me. There are a lot of nights when I’m upset, I’m depressed. I want to be out there with the guys. It sucks. I want to be on road trips, I want to play.”
- After facing a notoriously quiet free market last winter, Blake Snell figures suitors will “be more aggressive earlier” in their pitches this offseason, as Snell told NBC Sports’ Alex Pavlovic and other media. Traditionally a slow starter even with a standard offseason, Snell didn’t sign with the Giants until more than halfway through March, thus essentially erasing his Spring Training and leading to a disastrous first three months of the 2024 season. Since the start of July, however, Snell has been spectacular, thus reigniting the expectation that he’ll opt out of the final year of his contract with the Giants in search of a longer-term deal in free agency. A return to San Francisco certainly seems possible, as Snell said he plans to speak with ownership and the front office, and again stated how he enjoyed playing with the club in 2024.
Buster Posey, make it happen again!
Need to lock that dude up quick!
They have Snell already. Add Lee back into the lineup who wasn’t spectacular and Snell returning makes the Giants better than the Dodgers, Padres and DBacks? They’re Snell plus a couple good free agents away from competing in that buzzsaw of a division.
halloffamernobodycares: They don’t have Snell if he opts out and becomes a free agent.
Blue: They had him this season. He pitched his eyeballs out in n the second half. They finished under .500, hence multiple names are needed to improve their standing within the division, let alone to contend for a championship. Snell didnt make much of a difference to the overall outcome.
I’m on the other side of the fence on Snell.
He didn’t show up in shape and he said he’d been working out. How can you trust a guy and invest $200M+ if he’s not working out in the offseason?
I’d much rather SFG put their resources toward a star bat and develop more homegrown pitching.
They’ll need a revamp in the scouting department. They have no solid Starters coming up through the farm system. Whisenhunt has a good changeup that’s about it. No control or other off speed pitches that will play in MLB. They should go after Burnes or Bieber if Snell falls through. Alonso would be a great addition also. They need power. Eldridge looks promising but Alonso is legit and he can always DH if Eldridge comes up. Adames would be great and trade Luciano before he has no value
Pickle_Britches: Power hitters like Adames and Alonso won’t sign to play in that park.
I doubt the Giants have much interest in Alonso. Adames will sign with SF if they offer the best deal. Adames isn’t like some corner OFer that just wants to rack up as many HRs as possible. As a SS he might love the idea of playing alongside Chapman, behind the Giants’ GB pitchers.
If Fitzgerald and Ramos have done ok and Chapman has been solid I think so. Especially since they’ll both play many more games in CO and against a weak division
Pickle_Britches: With Arizona, Los Angeles, and San Diego, the NL West is hardly a weak division.
Giants need a power bat and he’s the best available. They have 1 coming up Eldridge but he’s young still and could take a couple years to get it going. They have been one of the worst offensive teams in the past several years. You can count on them not having a hitter hit 30 tators or plating 100 RBIs every year. Next year Fitzgerald and Ramos won’t be as good so they’ll need some power. Lee will be back hopefully he can manage to have a league avg OPS. They need to score runs. So boring to watch them play.
Yea you’re right on that. I was thinking the Dodgers were the only NL west team to have a winning record vs .+500 teams but the Padres are also.
Add Adames, Teoscar Hernandez for a 2-3 year deal and either Snell or Burnes . Eldridge can take over for Wade when he’s ready and Tibbs can take over for Hernandez when he’s ready. Winner
Wade can’t seem to stay healthy all year. He’s a bench player on most teams. He’s good for 8-10 he and 40-50 RBI. Belt would have put up better numbers.
The Giants are big on Eldridge. And though he’s still only 19, they’re talking a possible debut sometime next season. Even if that’s pushed off until 2026, Alonso is going to want 5 – 6 years, effectively blocking him. Their best course is to stick with Wade, no slouch himself, until Eldridge is ready. I’d rather see them sign Teoscar Hernandez, since he provides better positional flexibility than Alonso.
Wade gets platooned a lot. He’s played 116 games this season and averaged over 125 games over the last 2. That’s over 77% of possible games. He ranks 196th of 737 in games played this season. Belt averaged only 90 games in his last 2 seasons.
Wade has also averaged a 122 OPS+ over those 2 seasons, while Belt averaged a 118 OPS+. Wade had 4.8 WAR, Belt had 2.4 WAR over their last 2 seasons. Wade is productive and shouldn’t be dismissed for some other overpaid shiny object.
Division Run Differentials Totals as of 9-28
ALE +103
NLW +97
NLC +89
NLE -32
ALC -79
ALW -178
If they’re going for a huge contract Burnes is a much better target, way more consistent.
Long, lonely nights spent counting his money. Yeah, I’d be really depressed too!
These are the comments I unfortunately expect to see on the internet written by people who have never competed at anything at a high level. Disgusting.
The point being, it is better to be Rich, sad, depressed and living in a mansion while doing your Physical therapy and not have to worry about your family and future when you are set for life!
“Disgusting”…And exactly what high horse are you riding on?…What’s “disgusting” is people who take out their general unhappiness in life on others.
What did Diddy do to you Carl?
What’s that have to do with anything?
Yikes, you never like to hear a player having lingering issues with their back, let alone arthritis issues too. Those are the kind of injuries that completley sap a player’s power. Witnessed it this year with Ke’Bryan Hayes with a herniated disc and his exit velocity dropping over 3 MPH. There’s not really any ‘cure’ for it either. Real shame because Bryant was such a good hitter in the first half of his career, and by the looks of it so far, could go down as a huge “what if he stayed healthy?” case.
The back issues started cropping up from his time still with the Cubs, but it only got worse. Hopefully his new workout plan works out for the Rockies next season.
Really wish the Orioles had pushed it at the deadline for Snell. Not only is he legit and also struck out 12 against them last week he’s pitched in the postseason as well.
Seeing the Orioles side of it this particular scenario had the feel of an old trade situation the giants and Mets came together on years ago with Carlos Beltran and Zack Wheeler. Giants got half a season of Beltran and the Mets got a highly rated prospect.
Burnes, Snell, and Eflin would feel much better heading into October than Kramer/Suarez.
There will likely be those that think Elias is not so great but it takes a well run organization to create and implement a strategy to hit and develop the number of prospects they have.
“Grow the Bats, Buy the Arms”
Too bad Burnes won’t be with them next year
I don’t know if Snell was available at the trade deadline but the O’s and Giants could match up on a trade, pitching for hitting.
Not sure of the players but the teams’ strengths match up for a deal.
Would have required large bowling ball testicles for O’s to have pulled off acquiring Snell in deadline deal. Had the prospect capital for trade, just needed to pony up w/rest of Snell’s salary. In hindsight, especially after losing Rodriguez for playoffs, needed to make it happen. Him n Burnes would of been nice 1-2 punch.
Even in a year that they don’t seem especially strong(or healthy), the Los Angeles Dodgers again manage to achieve the best regular season record in MLB.
Dodgers just gotta get over the first round, it’s been an early playoff exit for a couple seasons now.
“Get over the first round”…Agreed, but the playoffs are a complete crapshoot and the best a team can do is give itself as many chances at the brass ring as possible. I mean who had Texas/Arizona going to the World Series last year?
No disrespect to Giants fans, but another good example of a team just needing to get hot at the right time would be the 2010, 2012, and 2014 Giants. Arizona and Texas did the same, I agree with you.
Although 2010 they were pretty good! Won the division I believe that year!
Anyone who calls the playoffs a complete crapshoot doesn’t really understand shooting craps.
2012 Giants were also very good. That may be forgotten because they had to dramatically come back in the Division Series and NLCS. Division winners, 4 starters in the All-Star Game that year.
If you don’t know that the Dodgers signed as many pitchers as they can because they already know that their rotation is made of glass, then you are probably not invested in baseball. Whining about the injuries of the Dodgers’ pitchers is like whining about a car breaking down that has never been maintained.
Besides, when it comes to injuries, Padres and Diamondbacks will surely like to have a word.
This Dodgers team has just narrowly escaped disgrace, clinching the division just a handful of games before the end, and are hanging on the lifeline of Freeman, Betts and Ohtani.
The best record in baseball. Such a disgrace.
BlueSkies…you can’t deny that in the beginning of the year most would’ve thought 110 wins with that lineup and pitching staff. Something just seemed off to me this year. Maybe not playing the same division like before made it different idk?
But they didn’t actually have that pitching staff at any point in the season and most of the heart of the lineup was absent for lengthy periods. Seems to me they did pretty well, considering.
That’s not my point BlueSkies…my point is at the beginning of the season on paper with the billion dollars they spent in the offseason you have to admit they were expected to run away with it…speaks volumes on why 162 game season is hard to win out.
Well, they didn’t spend a billion dollars, so right away, I have a problem with your point. Be that as it may, injuries are unpredictable events, and games aren’t played on paper, they are played on grass and dirt. Also, if a team puts a lot of money on the field and they win, many will say they bought the wins, and if they don’t win, many will say it proves you can’t buy wins. Both assessments are wrong. When a team spends money on players they are buying an increased probability of winning — and this is exactly all any team can do.
Wrong, they spent 1.21 billion dollars in the offseason. And yes, teams do buy wins when they put teams together, that’s why they pay attention to war. The dodgers gobbled up big talent, not any team could do that. Everyone thought that with a team like that, 110 wins would not surprise. Anyway, good chat
Wrong, in multiple ways, but this has already been discussed to death so I am not going to try to explain these basic financial concepts again.
Of course not every team could afford the kind of talent they signed. Their media deal alone is worth $325M a year and they have the highest attendance of any team in baseball. They have the financial clout and used it in ways they really never had before. Yet the mathematical win predictions at the start of the year averaged around 100, so I’d be more careful about claiming to know what everyone thought.
Interestingly, no team finished with 100 wins this year, which is a historical rarity as typically 2-4 teams do. The Dodgers may have made it over that line without the huge number injuries. The fact that they made it to 98 is actually sort of astounding.
Blueskies, there’s no talking with you. Did they not spend 1.2 billion in the offseason? Google it. Did they not go out and get top tier players, that on paper was a better team than the other 100 win rosters they had? The answer is yes they did. So you’re wrong on everything you mentioned in your rant. Good chat but I’m out.
Fine with me, I don’t enjoy talking to walls.
And you are still wrong in everything you said and for bad measure misrepresented some of what I said and ignored the rest. Not that many people care about such things anymore.
No bro, not one thing I stated is wrong, your reasoning and justification is for you only. The facts are on my side. I just don’t care to put this much energy into a meaningless conversation. I’ve watched and followed the Dodgers for 40 years. I’m sure I understand perfectly
Yea, LA ‘24 pitcher injuries are no big deal. Com’on.
Clayton Kershaw
Anthony Banda
Brusdar Graterol
Dustin May
Tony Gonsolin
Connor Brogdon
Emmet Sheehan
River Ryan
Tyler Glasnow
Gavin Stone
Snell’s lame beginning cost the Giants a playoff spot.
the rest of the team was lame and that’s what cost the Giants a playoff spot
Giants front office was lame and that’s what cost the Giants a playoff spot.
I agree with both of you on this, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. They went heavy after Ohtani, got Lee, got Snell, grabbed Ray and pushed the youngster like we all thought they were going to do in the beginning. Injuries to Wade, Lee, Snell, Yaz, Conforto, caused serious issues relying on more youngsters in the field than was expected. But we got to see Ramos, Fitz and a few other kids come up and impress. Let’s hope for a great offseason.
Thumbs up. I wish Farhan would learn from his mistakes.
His main people in the farm system are minor league players that have been raised to prominent positions for over 5 seasons.
There could/should be a big broom for all.
Let Snell go if He wants more then 10 million. Let him be someone else problem.!
I look at their farm system and it’s complete cheeks. Martin kid they got last year in the 2nd round has to have the worst strikeout % I’ve ever seen. Bishop is a dud they have nobody that looks promising at all and other than Eldridge and maybe Tibbs will make the top 100 next year.
Their bullpen and lineup is what cost them.
If Snell pitched like he did now back in the season instead of his +10 ERA, Different outcome. He even passed on his last start to maybe get the team to .500,to opt out and be a FA
Whadda dick.
“I love it here,” Snell said. “I think we can be really, really good. I see a lot of promise. I enjoyed being here. We’ll see what happens. I don’t like the whole having to decide and do all that. I just want to be somewhere that wants me, that loves me and will invest in me to be the best player that I can be to help them win. I like it here. I hope it’s here.” One thing the Giants front office needs to do is blow the lid off and sign him. If he truly wants to stay, then he will.
Pickle_Britches: Bullpens and lineups are what cost many teams. So does playing baseball games.
You know what, good for Bryant acknowledging that he’s hasn’t held up his end of the bargain (a certain braves pitcher said this after failing Boston…)
I hope he is able to figure out his injuries and not have a career end like strasburg
Sale had so many freak injuries, not all his fault either. It probably stings a bit for Red Sox fans to watch him have such a dominant season now with the Braves, I know I’d be a little miffed about it.
Farhan apologized for treating Giants rookies like homemade poop.
How much money do people need?
Supposedly 100 million changes 4 generations of lives in one family in to not worrying about $. They leave a bigger footprint than I do in one day than I do in a year.
Someone should clean up the dugouts to make them green. It looks bad but the rich use 90% of all resources. In the words of Bill Gates ” I will not change my way of life”.
Clean up the dugouts? What do you mean?
Lol I was thinking the same thing
One sip and cups are on the ground. Everyone should have their own cup for the year. Save thousands of cups. Something.
I forget which team is already trying this out.
Don’t believe what the trade rumors say. It’s rumors lol. They like to go after and act like they’re in on top free agents but signing them don’t seem to work out. CA has more taxes and a weak farm
When player like Babe Ruth (his nickname from his Cub days) breaks down ,they usually do not come back to normal. Bryant should qualify as a disability case and have his contract paid off by Insurance. Only problem: All his injuries are relatively short term. A good case for a good work Mans Comp lawyer to argue.
I’ve posit for more than year now that Bryant probably meets the requirements for medical retirement. The dude is missing a disc in his back and is pretty broken down. He’ll get paid in full to walk but that’s his personal choice. A RFA surgical procedure only kills the pain but doesn’t prevent further vertebrae deterioration. It’s a steep uphill battle for him to be a productive player again.
Back issues seem to be the worst for fielders. I remember David Wright constantly having problems and didn’t last long. Prince fielder and Grady Sizemore also. He’s probably done I’m thinking
Don Mattingly had a similar degenerative condition to Wright.