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Tigers Interview George Lombard For Manager’s Job

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The Tigers’ search to replace Ron Gardenhire has started with a familiar name to Detroit fans, as MLB.com’s Jason Beck reports (via Twitter) that the team interviewed Dodgers first base coach George Lombard.

The bulk of Lombard’s 144 career Major League games were played in a Detroit uniform, as Lombard appeared in 72 contests for the 2002 Tigers.  Lombard played in parts of six MLB seasons from 1998-2006, and after his career wound up in 2009, he moved on to minor league coaching and coordinator positions in the Red Sox and Braves farm systems.  The 45-year-old Lombard is currently in his fifth season as the Dodgers’ first base coach, and he was also interviewed for the Pirates’ managerial vacancy last year.

Lombard’s resume includes some managerial experience, as he ran the dugout for the Gulf Coast Red Sox (Boston’s rookie league affiliate) in 2011 and 2012.  Tigers GM Al Avila is reportedly only looking at candidates who have some managerial or coaching experience at the Major or minor league levels, so Lombard qualifies on this front, though he does lack the track record of some of the bigger names thought to be under consideration — such as recent World Series-winning skippers Alex Cora or A.J. Hinch, among other candidates.

Dodgers Announce NLCS Roster

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The Dodgers have made a couple of changes to their 28-man roster ahead of the NLCS, per the team. Let’s check it out:

Right-Handed Pitchers

Left-Handed Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

The most notable changes here include dropping Terrance Gore and Gavin Lux from the roster. Gore’s role is limited to pinch-running, but he had not been used in the first two rounds of the postseason. Lux, meanwhile, is one of the organization’s most talented young players. He played a key role in last year’s playoffs, when he started three games of the NLDS against the Nationals. He had just one at-bat this postseason, however, after slashing .175/.246/.349 across 69 plate appearances in the regular season.

Lux himself had been a replacement for Rios, who missed the ALDS due to a hamstring injury. He is apparently healthy enough to return to the roster.

The other addition is Wood, who becomes the 15th member of the pitching staff. It will be surprising to see Wood start a game, except perhaps in an opener capacity. At the very least, he should be able to provide length out of the bullpen. Wood’s best years have come with the Dodgers, but he’s struggled to get himself on track the last two seasons. He made two starts and nine total appearances for the Dodgers this year, going 0-1 with a 6.39 ERA/5.01 FIP across 12 2/3 innings.

Dodgers Notes: Buehler, Pitching Staff, Rios

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Dodgers manager Dave Roberts spoke with reporters (including Ken Gurnick of MLB.com and Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times) this evening. Roberts rounded up the team’s thinking as they approach their upcoming NL Championship Series matchup with the Braves.

Walker Buehler will get the start in Game 1, as he did in the NL Division Series opener with the Padres. Despite being nagged by a blister toward the end of the regular season, Buehler managed 95 pitches against San Diego. He should be capable of shouldering a similar workload tomorrow evening, Roberts said. Nevertheless, Los Angeles is considering adding a fifteenth pitcher to the roster. This year’s Championship Series carry the possibility of playing seven games in a seven day span, so the Dodgers are understandably looking into lengthening the pitching staff.

Whether the Dodgers add an extra pitcher could also depend upon the health status of designated hitter Edwin Ríos. The 26-year-old has mashed in limited MLB playing time over the past couple seasons but was left off the Division Series roster due to a groin issue. Ríos has progressed to running and taking live plate appearances, per Roberts, giving him a shot at making the NLCS roster. If Ríos does return, he’d likely be limited to pinch hitting, the skipper added.

Dodgers Updates: Starters, Urías, Ríos

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Dodgers manager Dave Roberts spoke to a number of reporters today, including Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register. Roberts addressed a number of issues heading into their NLCS match-up with the Braves. First and foremost, as with the two rounds before, Walker Buehler will start game one, and Clayton Kershaw will start game two. Anything beyond that is too early to call.

Julio Urías was a key contributor for the Dodgers against the Padres, and according to Roberts, he will continue to see “meaningful innings,” per MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick (via Twitter). Urías’ role has changed year-to-year as health and performance have allowed, but come playoff time he tends to – like Kenta Maeda before him – transition into a key bullpen weapon for Roberts. His outings have lengthened this postseason, however, as he’s thrown a total of 8 innings over 2 appearances with a full week of rest between them. In this unprecedented 7-game series in 7 days, Urías could be asked to fill any number of roles.

The same can be said for Dustin May, who managed to both start a game and pitch out of the bullpen in their 3-game NLDS sweep of the Padres. Though he totaled just 3 innings – likely less volume than they could have gotten from him had his usage been limited to a single start – spreading out his outings allowed Roberts to “maximize his impact on multiple games,” per Plunkett. Of course, Roberts was able to follow up May’s 1-inning “opener” outing in game three with Urías for five innings, a luxury he may or may not have in a longer series.

In all likelihood, others on the staff are going to have to provide some length. Tony Gonsolin would have started a game four against San Diego, and he threw a simulated game today. That probably lines him up again for a potential game four or five. He could also come out of the bullpen, of course, as he has on occasion the last two seasons. Roberts and others aren’t just hiding the ball when they say pitcher usage depends on the outcomes of the first couple of games – it really depends on the outcomes of the first couple of games.

On the other side of the ball, Edwin Ríos is about 75% healthy, per Plunkett. He’s a game-time decision, per say, for the NLCS. He was left off of the NLDS because of a groin injury, and if there’s any doubt about his recovery, the Dodgers are likely to be prudent and either go with Gavin Lux again or add another arm to their 14-man staff. Ríos at his best provides a power bat off the bench (or at designated hitter), which could still be useful even if he’s not healthy enough to play the field. While they’re not likely to plan it this way, if there’s any team that has the versatility and depth to carry a single-use bat, it’s the Dodgers.

MLBTR Poll: Who Will Win The NLCS?

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The 2020 National League Champion Series is set, and for all the concern of a watered-down postseason field this year, we’ll see two of the league’s top three records square off when the 43-17 Dodgers take on the 35-25 Braves.

Atlanta and Los Angeles both feature powerhouse offenses, as the two were separated by just one run during regular season play atop the National League leaderboard; the Dodgers scored an NL-best 349 runs to the Braves’ 348. The Dodgers posted a team 122 wRC+ to the Braves’ 121.

It’s a different story on the pitching front, where an injury-plagued Atlanta club saw its rotation post an NL-worst 5.51 ERA to the Dodgers’ NL-best 3.29 mark. The Braves, however, have a pair of high-end arms fronting a top-heavy rotation: Cy Young candidate Max Fried and breakout rookie Ian Anderson. Former No. 5 overall pick Kyle Wright dominated in his postseason debut yesterday when he blanked the Marlins over six innings and piled up seven strikeouts. As for the bullpens? These are the National League’s two best in terms of both ERA and FIP.

Both teams swept a division rival in the NLDS. The Dodgers ended a breakout 2020 showing for the upstart Padres, while the Braves cut short a Cinderella season for a Marlins club that very few pegged as a playoff contender. The end result is a star-studded NLCS that will pit Mookie Betts, Clayton Kershaw, Cody Bellinger, Corey Seager and the rest of the Dodgers against Ronald Acuna Jr., Freddie Freeman, Marcell Ozuna, Fried and the Braves. We’ve yet to see these clubs square off in 2020, but this best-of-seven series should pack plenty of intrigue.

We’re three days out from Game 1, which will take place on Monday evening. MLBTR readers, who are you taking? (Link to poll for Trade Rumors mobile app users)

Dustin May To Start Game 3 Of NLDS

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Dodgers right-hander Dustin May will start Game 3 of their NLDS against the Padres on Thursday, Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times reports. May will go up against San Diego lefty Adrian Morejon.

The outing will give May a chance to put a dagger in the division-rival Padres, who dropped the first two games of the teams’ matchup and are now facing elimination. The rookie May, who threw two scoreless innings against the Padres in Game 1, enjoyed an impressive regular season in 2020.

May, 23, wound up with 56 innings (12 appearances, 10 starts) of 2.57 ERA/4.62 FIP pitching with 7.07 K/9, 2.57 BB/9 and a 54.7 percent groundball rate in his first full big league year. Only Clayton Kershaw amassed more frames for the club, while Walker Buehler, Tony Gonsolin and Julio Urias are also among the Dodgers’ best starter-capable pitchers. The depth they have in their rotation is among the many reasons the Dodgers finished with the majors’ best regular-season record (43-17) and can be considered the favorites to win this year’s World Series.

Mike Clevinger Leaves Game 1 In Second Inning

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Padres right-hander Mike Clevinger was removed from tonight’s game after throwing two pitches in the bottom of the second inning.  After tossing 22 pitches in a scoreless first inning that included two walks and a wild pitch, Clevinger threw two balls to Dodgers slugger Cody Bellinger before departing after a mound visit from manager Jayce Tingler and a team trainer.

It wasn’t clear until today whether San Diego would even include Clevinger on the NLDS roster, yet Clevinger was indeed on the hill to start Game 1.  The righty hadn’t pitched since September 23 due to an elbow strain that forced him to sit out the Padres’ wild card series victory over the Cardinals.

There hasn’t been any word on Clevinger’s status, though Tingler speculated during an in-game interview (hat tip to MLB.com’s Adam Berry) that “I think what happened was that long half-inning there and it tightened up and never warmed back up on him.”  The Padres sent six batters to the plate in the top of the second and forced Dodgers starter Walker Buehler to throw 33 pitches, which led to a lengthy wait for Clevinger.

While San Diego likely didn’t expect too long an outing for Clevinger given his return from injury, the Friars have now been forced into a makeshift bullpen game to begin their series with Los Angeles.  It will test the depth of a Padres team that is already missing a key arm in Dinelson Lamet and now faces the possibility that Clevinger could be done for at least the rest of this series.  As Berry noted, the Padres can make an injury replacement for Clevinger on the NLDS roster, but that would mean Clevinger is also not allowed to pitch should the Padres reach the NL Championship Series.

Dodgers Add Gavin Lux For NLDS

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5:15pm: Rios suffered a groin injury during workouts, manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times).

11:17am: The Dodgers have set their 28-man roster for this week’s NLDS matchup against baseball’s “it” team of 2020, the Padres. Here’s how the roster shakes out:

Right-Handed Pitchers

Left-Handed Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

The Dodgers are going with a 14-man pitching staff against the Padres in the NLDS. In terms of notable changes, Floro joins the roster as the 14th man in the pen, while Lux slots into the infield mix. Third catcher Keibert Ruiz and infielder Edwin Ríos were removed. Ruiz was little more than a safety blanket for Smith and Barnes, but Rios’ removal from the roster comes as a bit of a surprise after getting the start at designated hitter in game one of the wild card round against the Brewers. Despite being a left-handed batter, Ríos has actually hit southpaws rather well in his career, slashing .304/.370/.783 in a small sample of 27 plate appearances (versus .250/.330/.600 against RHP), hence the start against the lefty Brent Suter. His power certainly is an asset, but Lux brings more to the table as a defender and baserunner. Gore remains on the roster as a pinch-runner.

Latest On Mike Clevinger, Dinelson Lamet

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Oct. 6: There are “strong indications” that Clevinger will get the Game 1 nod, Robert Murray reports. H’s thrown a pair of flat-ground sessions and a bullpen session recently.

Oct. 5, 8:54 pm: The Padres are deciding between Clevinger and Chris Paddack to start tomorrow’s game one against the Dodgers, per Kevin Acee of the San Diego Tribune. Both threw bullpen sessions on Sunday, and if they deem Clevinger healthy enough, he’ll get the ball.

Starting Clevinger in game one would be an interesting call, because it could also set him up to start a potential game five on short rest. The Padres might be hesitant to do so given the injury concern. Perhaps more to the point, starting Clevinger tomorrow would mean Paddack would not be able to go in a potential series-deciding game five.

9:33 am: The Padres are “optimistic” right-hander Mike Clevinger will be able to return for their National League Division Series against the Dodgers, hears Bob Nightengale of USA Today (Twitter link). However, fellow starter Dinelson Lamet “likely won’t be ready for this round,” Nightengale adds. Both pitchers missed the playoffs’ opening set, but San Diego leaned heavily on their bullpen to advance past the Cardinals in three games.

Clevinger has generally seemed the more likely of the duo to work his way back to the mound this week. Sidelined since September 23 due to an elbow strain, the 29-year-old threw a “high-intensity” bullpen session yesterday, reports Jon Morosi of MLB Network (via Twitter). The highest-profile of San Diego’s myriad deadline season acquisitions, Clevinger has a 3.02 ERA/4.15 FIP in 41.2 innings between the Indians and Padres this season.

Lamet emerged as an NL Cy Young contender this year, pitching to a 2.09 ERA/2.48 FIP across 69 innings. Unfortunately, he exited his final start of the regular season with biceps tightness. The Padres have until tomorrow to formally set their NLDS roster.

Dodgers To Start Buehler, Kershaw In First Two NLDS Games

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Dodgers manager Dave Roberts is sticking with a familiar formula for his playoff rotation, telling reporters (including Jack Harris and Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times) that Walker Buehler and Clayton Kershaw will start the first two games of the team’s NLDS matchup with the Padres.

Julio Urias, Tony Gonsolin, and Dustin May are on tap to start Games 3, 4, and 5, though the three pitchers wouldn’t necessarily be deployed in that order.  As always, the Dodgers will be flexible with their pitching arrangement during the postseason.  “There might be a situation where those guys [Urias, Gonsolin, May] are available in any of the preceding games as a side day to then make a start,” Roberts said.

It also isn’t out of the question that Buehler returns on short rest to pitch in a possible Game 5, though the first step for the Dodgers is making sure that Buehler can get through as much of Game 1 as possible.  Two separate trips to the injured list due to a blister problem limited Buehler to just 11 2/3 innings after August 21, and he tossed only four innings (73 pitches) in Game 1 of the Dodgers’ wild card series with the Brewers.

Whether Buehler could pitch longer against the Padres is still up in the air, as Roberts said he will “keep an eye on him each inning….I can’t say it’s scripted or when we’re going to deploy our guys in the pen.”  The final five innings of the Game 1 victory over Milwaukee were handled by Urias (three innings), and then an inning each from Blake Treinen and Kenley Jansen, with the reliever trio holding the Brewers scoreless.

Jansen’s outing wasn’t without some shakiness, however, which left Roberts saying that Jansen is still the team’s closer, but no longer the automatic option in save situations.  “There are still going to be times that I might need him in a different inning, and he’s on-board with whatever to help us win baseball games.  It’s a title, but I think that in practice, there are certain innings and certain parts of the lineup that I think he’s the best option.”  While Jansen has a 1.97 ERA over 50 1/3 career postseason innings, he also has a few infamous meltdowns on his resume — over his last eight World Series appearances, Jansen has a loss and is only 1-for-4 in save chances.

Though the L.A. pitching staff is well rested after their two-game sweep of the Brew Crew, the Dodgers will still add some more depth, as Roberts intimated that he will add an extra pitcher to the NLDS roster.  Los Angeles deployed 15 position players and 13 pitchers on its wild card series roster, but one of those position players will be left out of the NLDS in favor of another arm, likely right-hander Dylan Floro.

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