8:03pm: Los Angeles officially announced the Ureña deal and reported DFA of Chuckie Robinson. They optioned Will Klein to Triple-A in a corresponding active roster move.
11:38am: The Dodgers are signing right-hander José Ureña, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. He’s expected to be in Los Angeles tonight to join their staff against the Mets, for whom he pitched earlier this year (albeit just one appearance). That suggests Ureña, a client of Premier Talent Sports & Entertainment, has agreed to a major league contract. Ureña is indeed getting a major league contract, per Alden González of ESPN.
Ureña, 33, just elected free agency yesterday. He’d been with the Blue Jays since early May and pitched reasonably well for Toronto but was cut loose when the Jays needed a fresh arm. He’ll at least temporarily join an injury-plagued Dodger bullpen that has seen significant turnover amid injuries to Evan Phillips, Kirby Yates, Blake Treinen and Luis García, among others.
Though Ureña’s time with the Jays resulted in a solid 3.65 ERA through 12 1/3 frames, he coupled that with an ugly 5-to-3 K/BB ratio and also served up three home runs. His 9.5% swinging-strike rate is noticeably south of the 11.3% league-average mark for a reliever, and opponents made contact on 88.8% of his pitches within the zone — a good bit higher than the 85% league average. Those red flags and the fact that he was on a minimal contract after signing under similar circumstances to the ones seen here with the Dodgers, made Toronto comfortable moving on.
Ureña throws hard but has a spotty track record in the big leagues. He was a solid starting pitcher with the Marlins early in his career, posting a 3.90 ERA in 343 2/3 innings from 2017-18. Declines in his command and his ability to keep the ball in the park plagued him for several years thereafter and caused him to begin to bounce around the league; from 2019-23, Ureña pitched a very similar number of innings to that ’17-’18 run (350 1/3) but did so with a bleak 5.50 ERA while suiting up for five different clubs.
A 2024 stint with the Rangers revitalized Ureña’s career to an extent. He was a valuable swingman in Texas last season, piling up 109 innings with a 3.80 ERA and a much-improved 8.4% walk rate — albeit in conjunction with a 15.4% strikeout rate that ranked near the bottom of the league.
The Dodgers’ bullpen is in shambles, with Phillips recently learning he’ll require season-ending Tommy John surgery. That’s the most notable but hardly the only injury. Yates has missed more than two weeks with a hamstring strain. García hit the injured list over the weekend due to a groin strain. Treinen has been out since April due to a forearm strain. Michael Kopech and Brusdar Graterol haven’t pitched at all in 2025 — the former due to an offseason forearm strain and the latter due to offseason shoulder surgery.
With the relief corps reeling, the Dodgers have recently brought in a fresh wave of arms. Lou Trivino, like Ureña, was signed after being cut loose by another club (the division-rival Giants, in Trivino’s case). He’s been excellent in 8 1/3 innings. Righty Ryan Loutos was acquired from the Cardinals in exchange for cash after being designated for assignment. Another righty, Will Klein, joined the team just yesterday after the Dodgers and Mariners swapped minor league arms; Seattle picked up lefty Joe Jacques from L.A. in that deal. Chris Stratton briefly signed in L.A. after his release in Kansas City but has since been designated for assignment. Former Reds closer Alexis Diaz was also added in a recent trade, though he’s in Triple-A Oklahoma City at the moment.
The Dodgers will need to open a 40-man spot for Ureña. They’re currently at capacity in that regard, and while they’ve had a mountain of injuries pile up they’re currently without a clear candidate to move to the 60-day IL. If the Dodgers think Diaz’s salary will allow him to pass through waivers, they could designate him for assignment and try to stash him in Triple-A that way. Loutos struggled in his lone MLB inning but has been sharp in Triple-A since his acquisition. Righty Noah Davis, a depth pickup back in March, has struggled both in OKC and in the majors, which could put him at risk as well.
The over/under on innings pitched for his Dodgers tenue is 5
I’m going for over 5 innings. He’s going to be used at least in two outings. Dodgers are looking for a warm body and he fills that need. I’ll say 6 innings in two outings.
If he gets over 5 innings what is the chance of a TJ coming his way?
On the Dodgers? Pretty good.
So I just read that Craig Kimbrel is doing all right and can be had for a phone call and on his worst day is a better option than Urena. Dodgers used all their cell phone minutes up.
Great number. Really tough one. But I’m going to go with the over. Somewhere between 5 and 10. I am figuring he gets at least 3-5 in mop up or spot start situations.
Wow the Dodgers will sign any pitcher it seems. It’s true. This guy was with the Cubs like 2 or 3 years ago and was washed then. He should have been in Korea by now.
He has never played for the cubs. I double checked his Bref page
Sorry it was the White Sox. Charlotte in 2023. My bad.
If he pitches 3 innings in a game he’s hearing dfaed that night, so I’ll take the under.
5 1/3IP
3 Homeruns
9 hits
6 Runs
7 BB
Close, Logjammer D’Baggagecling…
0.2 IP
0 Homeruns
1 Hit allowed
0 Runs
0 Walks
This is the last straw. Joe Torre needs to be fired.
Everyone is expendable to them; used and abused
“Everyone is expendable..used and abused”…Welcome to the world of results driven professional sports.
At least pro athletes are very well compensated for their inconvenience & stress.
You’ve got guys working at McDonald’s & Burger King taking the same amount of abuse & stress for a whole lot less.
.
I’d be happy to take the “abuse” the Dodgers are giving these MLB pitchers. Sign me up for league minimum all day every day!
@mlb fan
I hear Dana White recruits IHOP staff after the bars close.
IHOP? I’ll take the Waffle House.
@Acoss1331
I think you have it reversed. The Waffle House recruits former UFC fighters. Hoist Gracey once made me pancakes that looked like Mickey Mouse and 20 minutes later he choked out a guy that started a sentence with, “let me tell you something you need to know about yourself”
The players they sign know it’s 1-2 games then DFA. They signed up for this
I think Urena is hoping he gets injured in the first game, then goes on the IL and gets to make the league minimum the entire length of his IL stint
Probably. Kopech and Yates are both expected to be back this week.
Good
Luck with Kopech. Another oft injured pitcher that is usually without his best stuff when supposedly healthy. Forearm strain and already has two TJS. Graterol same. Always injured. Kopech had a career three months last season. Don’t count on getting anything more.
ok, thank you for the sage advice!
@Bopper He’s only had one TJS
Dodgers need to fire everyone on the training staff and hire Japanese trainers.
“Dodgers need to fire everyone”…I’m sure the Dodgers will take your comments under serious advisement. Your commentary will almost certainly spark an internal team investigation.
It’s been reported that the Dodgers medical staff religiously reviews the MLBTRADERUMORS.COM comments section for medical insight and “knowledge” daily. Your comments will almost certainly spark an internal investigation.
I mean, why should they pay for an expensive Ivy League doctor, when they can just take advantage of the vast medical knowledge base here in the MLBTRADERUMORS.COM comments section.
Only the best sports medicine doctors here on MLBTR.
Well I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, so they should listen!
In fairness even the average Ivy League doctor is pretty ineffective at injury prevention. As to diagnosis and rehabilitation they are competent to a degree obviously. But as long as medical schools are largely influenced by medical companies the entire area of prevention will be ineffective. It’s been proven over 1000 times (by studies performed by the medical community) that acupuncture is more effective in most treatments than western medicine. So maybe Japanese doctors would have a higher tendency to know about something besides pills (idk). As long as they deny their own studies (and studies sponsored by the CIA) that energy moves through the body in channels and the spine is an electrical rod that gets blocked at the nerve plexus’s via physical and psychological disturbance, the working of a healthy body will elude them. This is why the ancient medical symbol is a staff (spine) with serpents going up it. It has even been speculated that spine is an anagram for a certain male part that is, along with the spine, always symbolized as a serpent in human culture. Even an incompetent like Sigmund Freud (as a physiologist first) understood this is largely where the body’s energy comes from and that even most psychological problems divert this energy via blockages. A healthy mind is a healthy body. That’s the real cause of most injuries. That and misuse of energy reserves. Surprisingly little sayings tend to be rooted in truth here. It is well known that the feeling of “carrying the world on ones shoulders” is related to extreme tension in the shoulders and neck. The same can be said of, say, sciatic nerve problems and the preverbial “tight a***”.
lose your AI subscription
Or he copied it out of some medical journal word for word.
No. I didn’t actually. One can read books and medical studies. They are in the public domain. Even the CIA studies are declassified. Pretty much for nearly any ailment there has been an extensive study done my medical institutions comparing acupuncture to the mainstream medical treatment. This is why they will recommend you get it done a lot of the time despite not knowing why it works. Even though studies have shown that it works based on energy routes which is exactly what the Chinese said for 2000 years at least. Only problem is most practitioners don’t really know what they are doing. They took a little course
I mean I get why you might think it’s a pointless post but it’s actually an issue that comes up time and time again when we analyze injury prevention and recovery. Having several loved ones end up being destroyed by mainstream medical treatment will make it be a subject of interest for some people. I mean my mother is prescribed 20 different medications and they are all destroying her and none of her symptoms have ever gotten better. Quite the opposite. My aunt just went through radiation “therapy” only to have cancer in 5 different places than she did before the short period of “treatment”. Does this not bother anyone?
So I’m guessing that getting a second opinion was completely off the table huh?
I think the real problem is the dodgers don’t have the money to pay top flight doctors, trainers, and experts. Obviously.
/s
Let’s face it, I think that the Dodgers need a new pitching coach. I mean it’s not like Prior was a bastion of durability during his career. So he’s passing on his failed philosophy to the guys and it’s still failing.
Was Priors injury history based on mechanics/philosophy or just being injury prone though? I am not great at analyzing mechanics. I have to imagine they wouldn’t have hired him if he had terrible mechanics. Idk what philosophy he could be passing on besides mechanics.
But in fairness I will agree it makes no sense to have a pitching coach who could never stay healthy. At the very least, even if he did little that was mechanically wrong, it would stand to reason a more durable guy would perhaps have insights he lacks. Then again Marks had all the injuries. He knows what guys are going through.
Yes he’s the pitching coach. But as an organization they have a plethora of pitching knowledge up and down the system.
They stated in the off-season that they were going to be spending money and other resources to figure out the injury issues they’ve been dealing with. And they have the money to put towards it.
I do hope they figure it out so every pitcher from every organization can benefit.
Also, at the big league level they prioritize ability over durability. So that plays into it.
Dodgers going through relievers like Nick Cannon goes through wives…
you mean baby mama’s? am not sure he marries that often
FB velo is pretty good this year. Lots of chase and keeps the walks down and limits the Hard-hit balls. Good luck to him! 5.25 SIERA is not too bad…
From what I saw with the Jays he has a good arm and good movement but doesn’t have any kind of control. He is just trying to land it any place in the zone.
100%
Good luck trying to remember everyone that pitched for the Dodgers this year: once he gets into a game, Ureña will be the 29th guy to pitch for them this year (27 if you exclude the two position players in Rojas & Hernandez).
That doesn’t include Ohtani and Kopech who will add to the total later in the year.
Hernandez has been pretty effective for them in those blowouts
0.00 ERA!
If the Dodgers end up winning it all again this year, imagine how many rings they will need to order for everyone who appeared in at least one game this season. They might set an all time record for World Series player rings ordered!
Hopefully the corresponding move is to DFA Tanner Scott.
What a mess this bullpen is. What are we doing here? These guys are not going to move the needle. Seems like they’re trying to throw stuff on the wall and see what sticks. Dodgers may need to get a couple impactful pen arms at the deadline and hope they stay healthy for postseason.
They just need a little length from some other arms. It’s not an emergency situation, it’s just not great at the moment.
Dave Roberts: Oh you cheap son of a *****. Are you crazy? This guy is a loser!
Andrew Friedman: I got a good deal on this boy. The scouts said he showed a lot of promise.
Dave Roberts: Boy, every piece of garbage that comes on the market and you gotta buy it!
Roberts: we both know it doesn’t matter because it’s just the regular season.
Friedman: Yeah but I like screwing with you. It makes the regular season interesting.
It won’t be long before Friedman signs his old high school baseball coach.
Last year they did this by signing cast offs and having them pitch a few innings to save arms. Seems to have worked then, why not now.
Los Angeles Dodgers are the MLB team where successful MLB pitchers go to end the season on IL. . At least their getting paid to ruin their arms I guess.
Should also be mentioned that Scott has been piss-awful. That guy can’t close a car door.
His average exit velocity is way up to 91.7 mph compared to 84.3 last season. Is he tipping his pitches?
Good question. I’m sure the Dodgers have their own ideas. Tonight was good for him though, so possibly something has been figured out.
After all Urena’s been through this year.. My God he’s gonna get a ring too.
The Dodgers are signing every P that’s been released or dfa’d. Maybe half of those can avoid the IL.
Trillion dollar payroll, and they have to resort to this? Embarrassing
It’s come to this already Dodgers?
Might as well go pick up Carrasco while they’re added. Heck, they could go get Dylan Floro from the Athletics farm system real cheap.
When does the Michael conforto experiment end?
Trade him to the Giants and tell him he’s a first baseman now.
Dodgers are just trying to get everyone rings that they can. As long as they’re part of the major league roster for a game or two. So kind
I have to ask, what does Urena have on people? Hes terrible, yet he keeps getting a chance.