12:25pm: Cousins is guaranteed $950K and can earn an additional $50K via incentives, Ardaya reports.
12:13pm: The Dodgers have signed reliever Jake Cousins to a major league contract, as first indicated on the MLB.com transaction log. The Frontline client will miss most or all of the 2026 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery last June but is controllable via arbitration through 2028. Right-hander Bobby Miller, who didn’t pitch this spring due to shoulder troubles, moves to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man roster spot. (Players cannot be signed directly to the 60-day IL, so Miller will head to the 60-day in Cousins’ place, but Cousins will hit the 60-day IL himself when the Dodgers next need a 40-man spot.)
Cousins, 31, has pitched in parts of four major league seasons. The cousin of NFL quarterback Kirk Cousins has suited up for the Brewers and Yankees to this point in his career, missing bats at huge rates and showing strong ground-ball tendencies but also battling repeated injuries and shaky command. Cousins has pitched 90 2/3 MLB innings, fanned more than 32% of his opponents, kept 47% of batted balls against him on the ground — and walked nearly 15% of the batters he’s faced. His career earned run average sits at a tidy 2.78.
Beyond last year’s UCL surgery, Cousins has been limited in recent years by shoulder inflammation (twice), a pec strain, a biceps strain and right elbow effusion. He’s never pitched 50 innings in a professional season but has consistently been effective when he’s been able to take the mound. He has a career 3.34 ERA in the minors with similarly impressive strikeout numbers. Cousins is a two-pitch reliever who’s averaged 95.3 mph on his sinker in his career and 82.5 mph on a wicked slider he throws at a whopping 61.2% clip.
At best, Cousins will be an option for the Dodgers late in the 2026 season and perhaps in the postseason, where his potent bat-missing ability could give Los Angeles skipper Dave Roberts an intriguing, under-the-radar option. For the time being, he’s a multi-year reclamation project whose name Dodgers fans can tuck away in the back of their minds.
The Dodgers also made a number of largely expected IL placements. Tommy Edman (recovering from ankle surgery) was placed on the 10-day IL. Pitchers Brock Stewart (recovery from shoulder surgery), Gavin Stone (shoulder inflammation), Blake Snell (shoulder fatigue) and Landon Knack all hit the 15-day IL.
Knack is the lone surprise on the list. The Dodgers haven’t previously indicated that he’s dealing with an injury, and the transaction log does not list a specific injury designation. Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reports that Knack is dealing with an intercostal strain. It’s not clear how much time he’s expected to miss, but he’ll be down for at least the first couple weeks of the year.
Who knew these Cousins were so athletically inclined
Is this another deferred contract?
Yeah, deferred performance by Cousins….
Why do you care?
But do they kiss?
Bobby Miller to the 60-day is comical… Blake Snell will be next to move to the 60-day with his phantom issues whenever they need a fresh pitcher. Then he’ll magically be healthy for the playoffs again 😂. Good for the Dodgers for convincing the league that these guys are actually injured…
there’s absolutely no advantage for the Dodgers putting Bobby Miller on the 60 day DL he basically has no feature on the team anyway so I don’t know how you think this complaint is valid when it comes to him. The Blake Snell thing is a bit more mysterious. I’ll admit the guy pitched like two months last season and was exhausted after the playoffs several months after they ended?
Mark:
“There’s absolutely no advantage for the Dodgers putting Bobby Miller on the 60day IL”
Yes, there absolutely is – putting a player on the 60-day IL immediately removes them from the 40-man roster, opening a spot for another player without needing to designate anyone for assignment.
I don’t know who liked your comment but that obviously wasn’t Mark’s point to your original comment
I’m all ears. Enlighten me, Ronny!
It has been speculated that Snell needs a longer ramp up to be ready for the season, since he consistently gets hurt at the beginning of the season.
He has injured himself at the start of the season with the Rays, Giants, & Dodgers. Due to pitching in the WS again, he has had one less month to rest than most other players and he purposely didn’t start throwing right away.
How on earth did the Mets get caught for this? That must be one of the biggest front office screw ups in history.
Billy Eppler went rogue and was dismissed for it. A disgruntled employee apparently snitched on him. Cohen was found to have nothing to do with it.
This was a HUGE spring training for BM. He’s been unable to pitch for a few weeks. If he’s on the 60 day list it is far from advantageous for either party as he is fighting for his life as a SP and the Dodgers are hoping he can be of use in some capacity in 2026. They are pretty thin in the relief pitcher depth with injuries to Brusdar, Brock Stewart and Evan Phillips and most likely being forced to used Wrobleski as a starter due a horribly timed injury setback for Gavin STone and Sasaki looking like he won’t make it out of the 1st month a starter. Their #1 bullpen option in AAA will be Gervase …which wouldn’t be ideal for any of the 30 teams in the MLB. So not exactly beneficial or timely.
Cousins’ cousin is named Cousins?
There’s also Cousins’s in the NHL. And a Cozzens, too.
And a whole lot of nieces and nephews!
Still have to find room for Kiké when he’s ready to go.
then Freeland will mysteriously get injured =/
If you mean optioned to the minors, then yes.
It’s called optioned
Echo?
lol at Blake Snell. That dude gives me the impression he doesn’t like working for his money. At the very least, not overly keen on completing a full shift. Anyhow, it’s working out fine for both parties so who am I to criticise.
I hope I’m overreacting here, but I am getting Carl Pavano vibes a little bit, which is weird considering how great Nell actually is
Not sure about Carl, but Blake was vocal about deserving full freight during a 40% covid season. Pushed back on the Giants for wanting him to start pitching 4 weeks into his 30m single season with them. Match made in heaven at the Dodgers. Perfect fit with their strategy. No wonder he signed with them so quickly.
Because they are under financial constraints – sarcasm font!
So Cousins signing for $950 K will actually cost the Dodgers 110% more, roughly $2M for a guy that won’t pitch?
Geez, the Pirates will be oaying 3 pitchers to pitch dor that kinda money, give or take $100k
And one of those might win the CY!
Ohtani is making more in endorsements than the entire Pirates payroll. And the Dodgers are benefitting similarly from his presence on the team.
They’ll be ok. He might give a solid return on investment even if he can’t pitch in the playoffs this season.
Cousins career numbers are legit. This isn’t hard to figure out. Except the part it’s taken 4 seasons to accomplish.
5-2 2.78ERA 90.2ING 56HITS 57BB 125ks
Bobby Miller being injured isn’t roster manipulation. Why should Snell risk injury to be ready for opening day? Last time I checked throwing a baseball 95+ mph is hard on the body
Not sure why the Yankees didn’t make a similar deal. Who knows, maybe they did. I can understand releasing him if they thought he would get well over a million in abritration, but I don’t know, just assuming. That’s the only reason I can think.