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Dodgers Notes: Yamamoto, Rojas, Graterol, Grove

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In his first public comments to reporters since going on the injured list with a rotator cuff strain, right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto told reporters (including ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez) yesterday that he’s been playing catch as he works his way back toward the mound. He described pitching again this year as his “goal,” noting that he was trying to return as soon as possible. Though Yamamoto did not specify a specific timetable for his return, Gonzalez noted that the Dodgers are “hoping” their star rookie will be back on the mound for them in late August or early September.

At the time of Yamamoto’s injury, manager Dave Roberts suggested that it wasn’t expected to end his season, so it’s not necessarily a surprise that the 25-year-old hurler still hopes to pitch this year. Even so, any source of optimism regarding Yamamoto’s status is surely a welcome one for fans in L.A. given the number of rotation injuries they’ve suffered in recent weeks. Entering the All-Star break, the club was relying on a patchwork rotation of veteran southpaw James Paxton and rookies Gavin Stone, Landon Knack, and Justin Wrobleski. Although both Tyler Glasnow and Clayton Kershaw are expected to join the mix later this week, providing the club with a solid front four alongside Stone and Paxton, questions will remain about the club’s lacking rotation depth until either Yamamoto or Walker Buehler returns from the injured list, barring a trade in the days leading up to the deadline.

Even setting aside the Dodgers’ current rotation needs, getting Yamamoto back late in the season figures to provide a huge boost to the club as they look ahead towards the postseason. After all, the $325MM righty was generally regarded as the best pitcher available this winter despite his lack of MLB experience, and in 14 starts with the Dodgers prior to hitting the shelf he flashed that potential. In his 76 innings of work this year, Yamamoto sports an excellent 2.92 ERA (137 ERA+) with an even better 2.68 FIP thanks to a fantastic 27.9% strikeout rate against a measly 5.6% walk rate.

While the club received some positive news about Yamamoto this weekend, they also were dealt something of an injury scare today when veteran shortstop Miguel Rojas exited today’s game due to a bout of tightness in his right forearm. Fortunately, Rojas told reporters following the game (including The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya) that he believes the injury, which he suffered over the All-Star break while doing hitting drills, isn’t a particularly serious one. Roberts echoed that sentiment, noting to reporters (including Ardaya) that the club does not currently plan to send Rojas for an MRI, although he won’t play tomorrow and could ultimately be down for a few days due to the issue.

The loss of Rojas would’ve been a brutal blow for the Dodgers, a somewhat surprisingly reality considering his disappointing 2023 campaign. In 206 trips to the plate for the club this year, Rojas has slashed a respectable .272/.317/.408 that registers as 6% better than league average by wRC+. He’s combined that solid work at the plate with strong defense, initially at second base before sliding over to shortstop to take over for Mookie Betts after he went down with a fractured hand last month. Kiké Hernández took over for Rojas at shortstop after he exited tonight and figures to continuing getting reps at the position in Rojas’s absence, perhaps alongside Gavin Lux.

More positive injury news for Dodgers fans comes out of Triple-A Oklahoma City, where (as noted by OKC Broadcaster Alex Freedman) right-handers Brusdar Graterol and Michael Grove have both been assigned to begin rehab assignments this evening. Each right-hander struck out one while pitching a single inning of work tonight, with Grove working around a walk to produce a scoreless frame while Graterol allowed a hit and an unearned run in his inning of work. That both righties have reached the highest level of the minors in their rehab process is an exciting development for the Dodgers, as it suggests both will soon be available to contribute to a bullpen that has scuffled badly in recent days with a 5.51 ERA and 5.23 FIP since the calendar flipped to July.

Graterol hasn’t appeared in a big league game this year due to shoulder inflammation but has been one of the club’s most trusted relievers in recent years with a sterling 2.08 ERA and a strong 3.00 FIP in 117 innings of work since the start of the 2022 campaign, Grove, meanwhile, pitched to mixed results earlier this year before going down with a lat strain. The righty’s 5.06 ERA left much to be desired, but some of that lackluster run prevention seems to be due to unfortunate sequencing as demonstrated by his unusually low 62.5% strand rate and strong peripherals, including a 3.16 FIP, a strong 28.7% strikeout rate, and a fantastic 2.94 SIERA. Both hurlers should be welcome additions to the club’s bullpen when ready to return, possible sometime before the end of the month if their respective rehabs continue to go well.

Dodgers To Sign Nick Anderson To Minor League Deal

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The Dodgers are signing right-handed pitcher Nick Anderson to a minor league deal. Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported that the two sides were in agreement on a contract, while Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic confirmed that it would be a minor league pact. Bob Nightengale of USA Today later added that the deal has opt-outs on August 15 and 28. Anderson was designated for assignment by the Royals before the All-Star break and cleared release waivers on Saturday.

Anderson pitched well for the Braves over the first half of the 2023 season, posting a 3.06 ERA and 3.47 SIERA in 35 games, while collecting four wins, one save, and 15 holds. Unfortunately, a shoulder injury ended his year in mid-July. Despite his promising first half, the Braves dealt Anderson to the Royals following the season in exchange for cash considerations.

The 34-year-old right-hander was unable to replicate his first-half success in 2024, pitching to a 4.04 ERA and 4.39 SIERA in 37 outings with Kansas City. Although his fastball velocity is slightly up from last season, Anderson has struggled in almost every respect: His strikeout rate is down, his walk rate is up, and he has given up twice as many home runs as last year in close to the same number of innings. Considering his poor numbers this season and extensive injury history over the past few years, it wasn’t too surprising that Anderson was DFA’d after the Royals traded for fellow right-handed reliever Hunter Harvey. That said, Kansas City might have been hoping another team would claim Anderson off of waivers and take his 2024 salary off its books.

Instead, the Dodgers waited and signed Anderson to a minor league deal, which means they will only need to pay him a prorated portion of the league minimum salary. Although Clayton Kershaw and Tyler Glasnow are set to return from the IL this coming week, the Dodgers can still use all the pitching help they can get. The injury bug has hit their rotation much more than their bullpen, but L.A. is currently missing relievers like Brusdar Graterol, Ryan Brasier, and Michael Grove. More to the point, the Dodgers simply need to ensure they have enough healthy arms – starters or relievers – to get them through the remainder of the season.

That being said, the Dodgers are surely hoping Anderson can be more than just a warm body. This organization has a great reputation for developing arms and helping veteran pitchers reinvent themselves. Perhaps L.A. can help Anderson rediscover what has made him such an effective reliever at previous points in his career. In addition to his strong 2023 campaign with the Braves, he was dominant from 2019-20 with the Marlins and Rays, pitching to a 2.77 ERA and 2.14 SIERA in 87 games.

Dodgers To Reinstate Clayton Kershaw, Tyler Glasnow

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The Dodgers have been scrambling to fill their rotation lately but will get a couple of big reinforcements back in the coming days. Manager Dave Roberts tells reporters that right-hander Tyler Glasnow and left-hander Clayton Kershaw will each come off the injured list to start on Wednesday and Thursday respectively. Kershaw is on the 60-day IL and will need a 40-man roster spot to be opened prior to taking the ball. Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times was among those to relay the news on X.

It’s a pretty big moment for Kershaw, who is coming back from the most significant absence of his career. The southpaw went under the knife in November to repair the gleno-humeral ligaments and capsule of his left shoulder. Though surgeries for pitchers have become quite commonplace in today’s baseball landscape, this was actually the first one for the veteran.

Kershaw was a workhorse earlier in his career but has had some health issues in recent seasons. From 2010 to 2015, he logged at least 198 innings for six straight years but hasn’t hit that number since. Recent years have seen him miss time here and there, often due to back issues, but the shoulder was the big concern in 2023. He somehow managed to toss 131 2/3 innings with a 2.55 earned run average despite his fastball velocity declining throughout the season but then was torched in his lone playoff start, only recording one out against the Diamondbacks while being charged with six earned runs.

The shoulder issue eventually require the aforementioned surgery in November and then he re-signed with the Dodgers in February. The deal is a two-year pact with the second season being a player option. Kershaw has a base salary of just $5MM in both years of the deal but with the ability to earn far more if he’s healthy. He gets an extra $1MM for getting to six starts, $1.5MM each for his seventh, eighth and ninth starts and then $2MM after his tenth. The Dodgers can’t get around this by using an opener, as a relief outing wherein Kershaw records at least nine outs also counts. At this point in the calendar, it’s still possible for Kershaw to unlock all of those bonuses and there are similar escalators for his 2025 option.

He began a rehab assignment by pitching three innings at the Single-A level on June 19. He was then shut down due to some shoulder soreness but Roberts downplayed the significance and Kershaw restarted his rehab assignment again more recently. He tossed three innings for Triple-A Oklahoma City last Saturday and then four innings on Friday, getting up to 67 pitches in the most recent outing. He’s now set to resume a big league career that already includes 2,712 2/3 innings with a 2.48 ERA.

Glasnow’s absence was far more mild, as he landed on the IL prior to the break due to some low back tightness, but the dual returns are significant for the Dodgers as they have had plenty of rotation challenges. Dustin May and Emmet Sheehan are each done for the year, with Tony Gonsolin likely to be in that camp as well. Yoshinobu Yamamoto has a rotator cuff strain that landed him on the 60-day IL, meaning he can’t return before mid-August. Bobby Miller struggled enough to get optioned down to the minors while Walker Buehler was ineffective before landing on the IL with a hip issue.

Amid all of those issues, the Dodgers have been using a rotation of veteran James Paxton, rookies Gavin Stone, Justin Wrobleski and Landon Knack, as well as occasional bullpen games. Getting Glasnow and Kershaw into that mix obviously helps, and the club will be promoting prospect River Ryan soon as well.

Though that group is about to be much stronger than it was heading into the All-Star break, the Dodgers are still expected to pursue rotation upgrades prior to the July 30 deadline. They have been connected to Garrett Crochet of the White Sox for weeks now and Bob Nightengale of USA Today mentions the fit again this morning, also adding that the club has interest in Tarik Skubal of the Tigers.

Though the Dodgers’ interest in Crochet has been known for a while, Nightengale adds that the Dodgers have discussed a blockbuster deal that would see them also acquire outfielder Luis Robert Jr. and maybe even reliever Michael Kopech as well. That’s not necessarily a big surprise, as teams usually discuss all kinds of various trade scenarios, with many of them not coming close to fruition.

But that does align with recent comments from president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, who suggested the Dodgers would be more focused on impact additions as opposed to marginal upgrades. The club has some holes but is understandably shooting for the stars at this point. They have made the playoffs in 11 straight years now and spent wildly in the offseason, adding Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani and others. Making the postseason for a 12th straight year won’t really count as an accomplishment for the club or its fans, so aiming high at the deadline and trying for a World Series seems to be the play.

Crochet would obviously fit the bill since he’s been one of the best pitchers in the league this year with a 3.02 ERA and 35.2% strikeout rate through 20 starts. There are some concerns about his workload since he’s already thrown more innings this year than in his entire professional career prior to this campaign, but he should be able to provide an impact even if moved to some kind of relief role down the stretch.

Robert also has some durability concerns as he’s only tallied 100 games in a season once, but that one occurrence was quite impressive. He got into 145 contests for the Sox last year and hit 38 home runs, stole 20 bases and provided quality defense in center field. Injuries have been a problem before and have cropped up again this year, as he missed two months due to a right hip flexor strain. But he’s been great in his limited time, with 11 homers and 11 steals in just 45 games. His 32.6% strikeout rate is a career high but his 10.2% walk rate is almost twice his career pace.

He could fit into a Dodger outfield that has seen Mookie Betts move to the infield and then head to the injured list. Teoscar Hernández is having a good year but it’s flimsy apart from that. Andy Pages and Miguel Vargas are doing well overall but most of their damage has come against lefties. Ideally, they would be platooned with Jason Heyward, but Heyward is also on the IL. James Outman is hitting just .153/.250/.258 on the year and was optioned to the minors for a while, only getting recalled when Heyward went on the shelf. Utility players Chris Taylor, Enrique Hernández and Cavan Biggio have also struggled.

In addition to their talents, both players would be incredibly attractive due to their financial situations. Crochet is in his first arbitration season but his injury absences have limited him to a salary of $800K this year. He has two arb seasons left after this one and will be in line for a decent raises, but from a very modest base. Robert is making $12.5MM this year, far more than Crochet but still a bargain for a player of his talents. He’ll then make $15MM next year with a pair of $20MM club options after that.

Each player has significant trade value in a vacuum but it would take a massive blockbuster haul for the Dodgers to get both. Their farm system is considered strong but whether a deal can come together or not will depend on what kind of price the Sox are asking for and what other teams are offering. But at 27-73 and with a farm system that isn’t especially well regarded, it makes sense the Sox are considering trading almost anyone and it seems they are doing just that.

Kopech can’t match either Crochet or Robert in terms of huge appeal, but he would have some value in his own right. After some inconsistent results as a starter, the Sox have been using him as their closer this year with some interesting but mixed results. His 5.05 ERA isn’t going to wow anyone and his 12.7% walk rate is concerning, but he has punched out 30.9% of batters faced. He’s only making $3MM this year and can be retained via arbitration for another season after this.

As for Skubal, it’s understandable why the Dodgers or any other club would be interested. He is a Cy Young candidate this year with a 2.41 ERA, 30.8% strikeout rate, 4.6% walk rate and 47.4% ground ball rate. He’s making a modest $2.65MM and has two seasons of club control beyond this one.

But that also makes him plenty appealing to the Tigers and it’s fair to wonder how available he is. The club once seemed buried in the standings but have been hot lately, winning 11 of their last 14 and climbing to within five games of a playoff spot. Getting Skubal away from Detroit was probably going to take a haul even when they were in seller position but it’s probably become more difficult in recent weeks.

Red Sox Notes: Casas, Story, Mata, Hernandez

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“It will be a while” before Triston Casas is ready for a minor league rehab assignment, Red Sox manager Alex Cora told the Boston Globe’s Julian McWilliams and other reporters on Friday.  Casas hasn’t played since April 20 due to a rib fracture and torn rib cartilage, and he is already well beyond even the broad 3-to-9 week timeframe Casas initially floated three months ago, though the first baseman noted that the nature of the injury led to a lot of fluidity.

In yesterday’s update, Cora said Casas was taking soft toss swings and is hitting off a tee, but is still dealing with some nagging discomfort in his side.  Until that discomfort entirely subsides, Casas and the Sox can’t really move forward with any kind of concrete plan for even a steadier ramp-up, let alone any minor league rehab work.  Cora did say that Casas would play again in 2024, but “we don’t know yet” when a return was feasible.

Casas finished third in AL Rookie of the Year voting in 2023, and was off to a hot start (.244/.344/.513 with six home runs) in his first 90 plate appearances this season.  Dominic Smith and several other players have gotten time at first base in Casas’ absence, but since nobody has been producing, it stands to reason that the Red Sox could target a first base-capable player at the deadline if Casas is still several weeks away from factoring into the club’s plans.

Some more unexpected later-season reinforcements could come from Trevor Story, who told reporters (including MassLive.com’s Sean McAdam) on Friday that he and the Red Sox were “having conversations about” Story getting back onto the field before the 2024 campaign is over.  Both Story and Cora stopped short of saying that a return was in the cards, yet it is notable that Story has made such quality progress rehabbing what was thought to be a season-ending shoulder surgery in April.

“Just getting the strength back and getting the motion back…I’ve made a lot of really good strides there,” Story said.  “It’s close, man.  It’s close.  Especially from how it was early on.  It was not in good shape.  It’s been a crazy turnaround the last month and a half and we’re riding that momentum.”

Story injured his shoulder while diving for a grounder in just his eighth game of the season, continuing what has been an injury-plagued tenure in Boston for the former All-Star.  Since inking a six-year, $140MM free agent deal in March 2022, Story has played in only 145 games — UCL surgery cost him all but 43 games of the 2023 season, and wrist and heel injuries limited him to 94 appearances in 2022.  Unsurprisingly, these health woes have led to subpar performance when Story has been able to play, as he has a modest .227/.288/.394 slash line in 598 PA in a Red Sox uniform.

Bryan Mata is also no stranger to injuries, as Tommy John surgery and a teres major strain sidelined him for most of the 2021-23 seasons.  This year, hamstring and lat problems emerged to keep Mata again spending most of the year rehabbing, and now his latest rehab assignment has been halted due to right elbow inflammation.  Mata was right at the end of the 30-day window for that assignment, though his latest injury now resets the clock and Mata will be able to start another 30-day rehab assignment when he is able to get back onto the mound.

Though he has yet to make his MLB debut, Mata is out of minor league options, leaving Boston in a bit of a quandary when it comes to his future.  The Red Sox can’t assign him to the minors without first designating the right-hander for assignment and exposing him to waivers, so when Mata is finally ready to play, the Red Sox will have to put him on the active roster or go the DFA route.

While getting healthy has obviously been more important than the on-field results during Mata’s rehab work, he has a 4.50 ERA over 22 total innings for four different Red Sox minor league affiliates this season, with a 19.15% strikeout rate.  It isn’t nearly the form that Mata showed in his past days as one of Boston’s top pitching prospects, and with another setback again stopping his progress, it is still a question about when or even if Mata might eventually surface as part of the team’s big league staff.

In other Red Sox news, the team was known to have been interested in Teoscar Hernandez last offseason, and the slugger said this week in an appearance on the Baseball Isn’t Boring podcast (hat tip to WEEI’s Rob Bradford) that the Sox and Dodgers were the two finalists for his services.  Hernandez said the Red Sox offered a two-year, $28MM contract, but he instead opted for a one-year, $23.5MM deal with Los Angeles.

“At the end, I thought [the Red Sox] were going to make it, but unfortunately they had to wait because they had to make some moves and other stuff,” Hernandez said.  “I couldn’t wait any longer, so that’s why I decide at the moment to go to the Dodgers.”

Hernandez went into the winter seeking a three-year contract, but when neither Boston or any other suitor was willing to guarantee a third year, he instead opted for the one-year contract with the Dodgers, to allow for a chance at a rebound season and a quick return to free agency next winter.  The strategy has worked out quite well, as Hernandez has hit 19 homers with a .261/.326/.476 slash in 406 PA for Los Angeles, and now has a much stronger case for a three-year pact as he enters his age-32 season.

Beyond the contractual logistics, Hernandez also admitted that the Dodgers’ win-now approach and track record of success further attracted him to the organization, though he was quick to note that “the Red Sox are really good right now and they have amazing players.”  The Sox and newly-hired chief baseball officer Craig Breslow were often criticized for their relatively low-key offseason that didn’t see a lot of high-dollar splurges, yet Boston has a 53-43 record and is in possession of an AL wild card berth.

Dodgers Reinstate Joe Kelly, Outright Jose Hernandez

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July 19: The Dodgers announced today that Joe Kelly has been reinstated from the injured list to take the 40-man spot of Hernandez. Michael Petersen was optioned to make an active roster spot for Kelly. Their 40-man is now full again so they will have to open another spot when Ryan is officially promoted.

July 18: The Dodgers passed lefty Jose Hernandez through outright waivers and assigned him to their Rookie-level affiliate in the Arizona Complex League, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. Hernandez had already been pitching in the ACL, building up after a layoff between the time L.A. acquired him from Pittsburgh and he began pitching with an affiliate. The move opens up a spot on the 40-man roster, which is presumably earmarked for top pitching prospect River Ryan, who’s slated to make his big league debut this weekend.

Hernandez, 26, was a Dodgers signee out of the Dominican Republic back in 2016. He spent seven years in the system before being selected by the Pirates in the 2022 Rule 5 Draft. Pittsburgh carried Hernandez in their bullpen all season in 2023, letting him work 50 2/3 low-leverage innings while pitching to a 4.97 ERA with a 27.8% strikeout rate and 9.9% walk rate.

By rostering him all season, the Pirates gained the right to option Hernandez in subsequent seasons. However, the lefty pitched just 5 1/3 innings over seven MLB appearances this season and was hit hard with the Pirates’ Triple-A affiliate in Indianapolis, yielding a dozen runs in 15 1/3 innings while working with diminished velocity. The Bucs designated him for assignment in June and wound up trading him back to the Dodgers in exchange for cash.

The Dodgers can now keep Hernandez in their system as a depth option without dedicating a 40-man roster spot to him. He’s had a tough 2024 season, but last year’s K-BB profile in the majors was interesting; those strikeout and walk rates were near-identical matches for his marks in his most recent full minor league season with the Dodgers back in 2022, when he posted respective 27.8% and 10% strikeout and walk rates in 59 2/3 innings between High-A and Double-A. Hernandez yielded just a 3.32 ERA that season and induced grounders at a solid 43.8% clip. This year’s velocity dip is concerning, but there’s still reason to think he could eventually emerge as a viable bullpen option somewhere down the road.

Andrew Friedman Discusses Dodgers’ Deadline

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While most of the National League is still on the border of the playoff picture, the Dodgers have no such ambiguity. They’re in their typical position of preparing to buy.

On paper, the team’s biggest question appears to be the roster depth. The Dodgers haven’t gotten much production out of the bottom third of the lineup. They have seven starting pitchers on the injured list at the moment, leading them to go into the All-Star Break with a four-man rotation that includes three rookies. They felt the effects in the weeks leading up to the Break. They’ve taken just four of 12 games this month and have a 20-18 record since the beginning of June.

Despite their recent slump, the Dodgers have one of the more comfortable divisional cushions in the majors. They’re seven games clear of the Diamondbacks and Padres in the NL West. They remain very likely to win the division. Whether they’ll finish in the National League’s top two and secure a first-round bye is more of a question. L.A. is well back of the Phillies for the #1 seed and only holds a one-game edge on the Central-leading Brewers.

The division lead allows the front office to be flexible in which players they target before July 30. President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman indicated this week that the Dodgers will focus most of their attention at the top of the trade market. “For us, I don’t think our mentality is different than it’s been in previous years in that we feel we have a really good team and to the extent that we can add really good players we’re going to be aggressive to do so,” Friedman said (link via Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register). “What appears to be a marginal upgrade is not something we’re going to spend a lot of time on. That doesn’t mean something is not going to happen along those lines but that’s not where our energy and focus will be.”

With very little danger of missing the playoffs, the Dodgers can primarily concern themselves with how the roster will look in October. They anticipate having a lot of impact players back by then. Los Angeles isn’t expecting a long-term absence for Tyler Glasnow. Mookie Betts, Max Muncy and Yoshinobu Yamamoto could be back in August. Clayton Kershaw is building up in the minors as he completes his rehab from last year’s shoulder surgery.

Walker Buehler and Bobby Miller once looked like obvious pieces of the October staff. That’s questionable now. Buehler was rocked over eight starts in his return from a second Tommy John procedure. He has been on the injured list for a month with a hip issue. Miller lost a couple months to a shoulder problem and didn’t look like himself upon returning. The Dodgers optioned him to Triple-A late last week. Dustin May won’t be able to contribute down the stretch after unexpectedly requiring throat surgery in a scary situation.

Glasnow, Yamamoto, Kershaw and Gavin Stone could still comprise a solid playoff rotation. There’s downside with that entire group, though. Yamamoto is rehabbing a rotator cuff strain. Glasnow should easily eclipse his previous career high in innings. Kershaw is a 36-year-old coming off shoulder surgery. This is the first time Stone is getting extended run out of the rotation.

There’s not a ton of value for the Dodgers in acquiring a back-end arm to take a handful of starts in August and September. Like every team, Los Angeles would benefit from adding another high-end starter whom the team would feel comfortable taking the ball in October.

The Dodgers reportedly already made an offer to the White Sox for Garrett Crochet that was turned down. They’ll presumably have continued interest in the AL strikeout leader, who’d certainly qualify as the kind of impact talent to which Friedman alluded. Teams will have questions about how well Crochet will hold up given his innings count, but he’s pitching like an ace at the moment. Jack Flaherty and Yusei Kikuchi look like the top rental starters who’ll be on the market.

Plunkett writes that Friedman downplayed the urgency to add at specific positions on the other side of the ball. The Dodgers haven’t gotten much out of Gavin Lux at second base. They’ve had limited production in both left and center field. Third base has been an issue since Muncy went down. Andy Pages has stabilized the corner outfield spot opposite Teoscar Hernández, but the Dodgers are relying on James Outman in center field after he struggled early in the season.

Getting Betts back in the fold would go a long way toward addressing those problems. He could slide to second base with Miguel Rojas handling shortstop, pushing Lux to the bench. Betts could obviously handle the outfield if need be. As with the rotation, it’s easy enough to argue for an upgrade, but it’s also not clear how many significant players are on the market. The middle infield group looks very thin. Luis Robert Jr. is the crown of the center field class. The White Sox would need a massive haul to deal him thanks to his three years of remaining club control.

Current And Former Top Prospects To Watch As The Trade Deadline Approaches

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Last week, MLBTR's Anthony Franco ran through a handful of under-the-radar trade candidates for teams on the hunt for bullpen help. It was a simple enough premise. While there's rightly a heavy focus placed on high-quality relievers on bad teams (e.g. Mason Miller, Tanner Scott, Carlos Estevez), MLB teams will be casting a wider net than just those obvious trade candidates.

I wanted to do something similar with hitters -- and may still do so -- but as I parsed through some potential options, I was also struck by the likelihood that there are a number of current and former (more of the latter) top prospects who increasingly look like they'll have an uphill battle to earning a role with their current club. Oftentimes, this is due to other prospects leapfrogging them on the depth chart, the team extending a current key player and/or injuries. While today's front offices tend to hoard depth as much as possible the finite number of minor league options a player possesses can put an inherent clock on that depth's shelf life.

Not all of the players highlighted in this exercise are teetering on being out of options, nor is this intended to be an exhaustive list of names in this situation. (If there's anyone you feel I missed, by all means, let me know in the comments and bring them to the discussion!) I'm also not going to focus much on former prospects who've already been passed through waivers/released or those who are performing poorly enough in the minors that they're now DFA candidates themselves.

The aim here is to find some interesting, controllable names still on the 40-man roster who have decent minor league (and in some cases, big league) track records but lack a clear path to an everyday role on their current roster. That sort of player ought to have appeal to rebuilding teams or retooling sellers who are looking to take another shot at contending as soon as next year. Here are a few situations that seem worth monitoring as the deadline draws near:

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Poll: Who Will Win The 2024 Home Run Derby?

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The 2024 All-Star break festivities are already well underway, with the Futures Game in the books and the second of three draft days currently taking place. Tonight, the Home Run Derby will take center stage at 7pm Central time, with these participants:

The winner will get $1MM, with $500K for the runner-up and $150K for everyone else in the field. There’s also a $100K bonus for the player who hits the longest home run. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. won last year but opted not to defend his title, so there will be a new champion, though Alonso has two previous titles from 2019 and 2021 and will be looking for a third.

This year’s format will be different from previous versions, with Cole Jacobson of MLB.com providing a rundown. The primary change is that there will be no head-to-head matchups in the first round, as the four players with the most home runs will advance. If two players tie, the longest home run will be a tiebreaker. Previously, the knockout-style bracket system started right away but this year’s version won’t see that until the field has been narrowed to four. Once the knockout stage begins, ties will be settled by 60 seconds of extra time. If the players are still tied, they will engage in three-swing showdowns until they are no longer tied.

In the first two rounds, players with have three minutes, which drops to two minutes in the final round. The three-minute rounds will now have a 40-pitch maximum while the two-minute round will feature a 27-pitch maximum.

The bonus time is also different. Previous versions featured 30 seconds of automatic extra time, which jumped to 60 seconds if the player hit two or more home runs 440 feet or longer. This year, the bonus time will continue until a player record three “outs,” which is a swing that doesn’t result in a home run. If a player hits a home run 425 feet or longer in the bonus period, he will get a fourth out.

Of the eight players competing this year, Henderson has the most homers this year with 28. He is followed by Ozuna at 26, Ramírez at 23, Alonso and Hernández at 19, García at 17, Witt at 16 and Bohm at 11.

Who do you want to win and who do you think will win? Have you say in the polls below!

Dodgers Notes: Kershaw, Heyward, Betts

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Dodgers fans received great news regarding veteran left-hander Clayton Kershaw today, as manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including Jack Harris of the L.A. Times) this afternoon. The lefty pitched three innings without giving up a hit in a rehab start at the Triple-A level yesterday, striking out five while walking just one. According to Roberts, Kershaw is set to attempt to build on that strong outing on Friday with a four-to-five inning start. If that next rehab start goes well, the manager went on to suggest that the lefty could then return to the big leagues to make his 2024 debut.

A return to the Dodgers shortly after the All Star break would be a fantastic outcome for Kershaw, who had to be shut down from his rehab just three weeks ago due to lingering soreness in his shoulder. Last night’s start was his first since ramping back up after that shut down, and the fact that he’s already seemingly on the cusp of a return suggests that the soreness that had sidelined him has evaporated entirely. The future Hall of Famer’s return to action can’t come soon enough for the Dodgers, as the dire state of the club’s rotation mix has led them toward calling up right-handed prospect River Ryan just 16 1/3 innings into his season at the Triple-A level.

With both Kershaw and Ryan seemingly poised to join the club’s rotation as reinforcements in the aftermath of the break, the Dodgers are surely hoping the pair can combine with the existing quartet of veteran James Paxton and rookies Gavin Stone, Landon Knack, and Justin Wrobleski to handle starting duties until ace righty Tyler Glasnow is ready to return from the injured list. Walker Buehler and Yoshinobu Yamamoto are also both on the IL but expected to return to the majors at some point this season, while youngster Bobby Miller was sent to Triple-A recently despite the thinned-out rotation mix due to a brutal 8.07 ERA in seven starts this year.

Kershaw isn’t the only veteran help the Dodgers will be getting back from the IL shortly after the break, as Harris also relays that (per Roberts) outfielder Jason Heyward will be ready to return to action after the All Star break and will not require a rehab assignment before returning to the majors. The 34-year-old has taken a step back this year relative to his surprisingly strong 2023 campaign but has still been roughly league average at the plate with a .203/.299/.398 slash line in 42 games this season.

Heyward’s return should add depth to an outfield mix that has relied on struggling youngster James Outman in recent days. Outman entered the campaign likely to be a regular in the outfield for the Dodgers on the heels of an excellent 2023 season but struggled brutally in the early weeks of the season, leading the Dodgers to option him in mid-May. While he’s improved upon his previously brutal .147/.250/.266 slash line since returning earlier this month, Outman’s .273/.333/.273 slash line in six games since coming back to the majors hasn’t exactly inspired confidence in his ability to reclaim a regular role with the Dodgers, and the return of a steadier bat like Heyward’s should be a relief for the Dodgers team that has at times struggled to get production from the bottom of its lineup this year.

Heyward is joined in making progress towards a return by superstar Mookie Betts, who Roberts told reporters (including Harris) has begun to field grounders as he rehab his fractured left hand. Betts has been on the shelf since mid-June with a 6-8 week recovery time expected and isn’t expected back until sometime in August. He seems to still be more or less on track for that return, with Roberts noting (according to MLB.com’s Injury Tracker) that the 31-year-old is “excited” about the progress he’s making.

Betts was in the midst of a MVP-caliber season prior to his injury, slashing an incredible .304/.405/.488 in 72 games that’s made all the more impressive by the fact that he was simultaneously making a relatively seamless transition to becoming the everyday shortstop in L.A. this season. Miguel Rojas has looked good on both sides of the ball in an expanded role since Betts went on the shelf, however, meaning that the star might spent more time at a position more familiar to him such as second base or right field upon his return.

Dodgers To Promote River Ryan Following All-Star Break

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The Dodgers are planning to promote right-handed pitching prospect River Ryan to the majors following the All Star break, according to The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya. It’s not currently known which specific day Ryan is expected to take the ball, and Ardaya also notes that it’s unclear how long the Dodgers expect to keep the right-hander in the big league rotation. Ryan is not yet on the 40-man roster, meaning a corresponding move will be necessary before Ryan can be promoted.

Ryan, 26 next month, was an 11th-round pick by the Padres in the 2021 draft who was acquired by the Dodgers prior to his pro debut in the deal that sent Matt Beaty to San Diego. Ryan raised his prospect profile last season by impressing with a 3.33 ERA and a 23.7% strikeout rate in 97 1/3 innings of work at the Double-A level last year. The start to the righty’s 2024 season was delayed by a shoulder issue, but he returned to the mound in early June and has looked good ever since. He’s been nothing short of dominant in five starts at the Triple-A level this year as he’s posted a 2.76 ERA in 16 1/3 innings of work while punching out 28.8% of batters faced.

That’s a smaller body of work for a prospect to get at the highest level of the minors than is typically expected, but it’s not necessarily a surprise that the Dodgers feel the need to turn to Ryan given the big league club’s rotation woes. Walker Buehler, Tyler Glasnow, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto are all currently on the IL, joined Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May, Emmet Sheehan, and Clayton Kershaw. No one in that latter group has been healthy enough to pitch in the majors this year, and that list doesn’t include right-handed youngster Nick Frasso, who has missed the entire 2024 season due to surgery but is on the minor league injured list. The club’s many upper-level pitching injuries have been further exacerbated by the struggles of youngster Bobby Miller, who has an 8.07 ERA in seven big league starts and was recently optioned to the minor leagues.

That’s left the Dodgers in a somewhat desperate situation regarding the rotation. James Paxton is the only starter currently in the club’s rotation who was an established big leaguer prior to this season, and he’s currently joined by rookies Gavin Stone, Landon Knack, and Justin Wrobleski. While both Stone and Knack have excelled this year, with Stone in particularly quickly establishing himself as among the club’s best options even when the rotation is healthy, Wrobleski has struggled in his brief time in the rotation and the Dodgers lack a fifth starter even with him in the fold. That’s caused the club to start right-hander Brent Honeywell Jr. today despite claiming him off waivers from the Pirates just a day ago.

While he’s now seemingly being forced into action by the large number of injuries in the majors, Ryan is nonetheless one of the top pitching prospects in the club’s system. Baseball America currently rates him as the tenth-best prospect in the Dodgers farm, while MLB Pipeline rates him fourth behind only catcher Dalton Rushing, outfielder Josue De Paula, and Frasso. The Athletic’s Keith Law is perhaps highest on Ryan and ranked him 33rd on his preseason top 100 prospects list. Ryan features an upper-90s fastball as part of a four-pitch mix, and services generally seem to be in agreement that the righty has the ceiling of a #2 or #3 starter, though his lack of professional innings seem to give some outlets pause.

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