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Dodgers Designate Taylor Trammell For Assignment

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The Dodgers announced a series of roster moves in advance of tonight’s matchup with the Nationals. Los Angeles confirmed their previously reported selection of reliever Eduardo Salazar and recalls of righty Kyle Hurt and outfielder Andy Pages. To create spots on the roster, the Dodgers optioned relievers Ricky Vanasco and Nick Ramirez and designated outfielder Taylor Trammell for assignment. The latter move clears the necessary 40-man roster spot for Salazar.

Trammell only spent two weeks on the L.A. roster. The Dodgers claimed him off waivers from the Mariners on April 2. He barely played, going hitless with three strikeouts in six plate appearances. Trammell appeared in five games but only got one start. As an out-of-options player who was clearly relegated to a depth role, his spot in the organization was tenuous. Pages, one of the organization’s top prospects, will step into the vacated outfield spot.

The 26-year-old Trammell was once a top minor league talent himself. The 35th overall pick in the 2016 draft by the Reds, he was twice involved in significant trades. He went to the Padres in a 2019 deadline deal and was flipped to the Mariners the following season. Trammell debuted with the M’s in 2021 and spent parts of three years in Seattle, but he never hit at the level the Mariners had envisioned.

In 351 plate appearances, the lefty hitter turned in a .168/.270/.368 slash. He drew a decent number of walks and hit 15 homers in 121 games, but he hasn’t made consistent contact. Trammell has gone down on strikes at an untenable 37.3% clip against big league pitching. That has now squeezed him off a pair of rosters.

The Dodgers have a week to trade Trammell or put him on waivers. Los Angeles was near the bottom of the waiver priority when they successfully claimed him a couple weeks ago, so they may be able to get him through the wire unclaimed. If another team does take a flier on Trammell, they’d have to keep him on the MLB team or designate him for assignment themselves.

Dodgers To Select Eduardo Salazar

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The Dodgers are calling up right-hander Eduardo Salazar, reports Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. The club has a full 40-man roster and the righty is not yet on it, so a corresponding move will be required to add him.

Salazar, 26, signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers in the offseason after previously having spent his entire career in the Reds’ organization. He was able to make his major league debut last year with Cincinnati, allowing 11 earned runs in 12 1/3 innings. He struck out five opponents but also allowed 11 hits, gave out five walks and hit four batters.

He was outrighted off the Reds’ roster in August and was able to elect minor league free agency at season’s end. The Dodgers clearly saw something they liked, perhaps the ability to generate ground balls. Salazar averaged over 93 miles per hour on both his four-seam fastball and his sinker, while also offering a slider and a changeup. He got grounders at a 51.1% clip in his brief time in the majors and even more than that in the minors last year.

Salazar has made three Triple-A starts already this year, having thrown 15 2/3 innings with a 2.87 ERA. His 14.3% strikeout rate is nothing special but his 7.9% walk rate is fine while opponents have pounded the ball into the dirt at a 58.3% clip.

The Dodgers’ pitching staff is getting a bit squeezed. They already opened the season with Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler, Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May, Emmet Sheehan, Brusdar Graterol and Blake Treinen on the injured list. In recent days, Bobby Miller and Connor Brogdon have joined them.

The Dodgers have a four-man rotation of Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Gavin Stone and James Paxton but nonetheless are planning on two straight bullpen games today and tomorrow. That’s due to Miller’s recent IL stint and the plan to keep Yamamoto on a weekly schedule for now as he transfers from Japan to North America. Glasnow, Paxton and Stone pitched in the last three days and won’t be available for the next two games either.

With an off-day on Thursday, the club is trying to fight through the next two contests as best they can, with guys like Landon Knack, Kyle Hurt, Ricky Vanasco and Salazar all being rotated through the roster either today or tomorrow. Pitchers who were already in the mix like Michael Grove and Ryan Yarbrough could be called upon to eat some innings as well.

Taking all that into consideration, it’s possible Salazar is slated for a short stay in the big leagues but he has a couple of options and could therefore be sent back to Triple-A without being exposed to waivers.

Carl Erskine Passes Away

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Former big league right-hander Carl Erskine passed away today after a brief illness, per multiple sources, including Dana Hunsinger Benbow of The Indianapolis Star. He was 97 years old.

Erskine was born in Anderson, Indiana in 1926. As a boy, he was friends with Johnny Wilson (Wikipedia link), who was black and would go on to play baseball in the Negro leagues as well basketball for the Harlem Globetrotters. Erskine would later mention his friendship with Wilson when the issue of race came up as he shared a locker room with Jackie Robinson.

The young Erskine was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers and would go on to spend his entire baseball career with that organization, though he played for them in both Brooklyn and Los Angeles. The righty made his debut in 1948, the year after Robinson broke the color barrier. Erskine told Benbow that Robinson once approached him and asked “Hey Erskine, how come you don’t have a problem with this black and white thing?” It was then that Erskine mentioned his friendship with Wilson, telling Robinson: “I didn’t know he was black. He was my buddy. And so I don’t have a problem.”

For his initial season in 1948, Erskine worked a swing role, starting nine of his 17 appearances and tossing 64 innings with a 3.23 earned run average. He would gradually increase his workload in the seasons to come, getting to 79 2/3 in 1949 and then 103 the season after that before getting into the 185-265 range for each season from 1951 to 1956.

It was in that latter stretch that Erskine racked up his most notable career highlights. He made the All-Star team in 1954, a year in which he tossed 260 1/3 innings with a 4.15 ERA. He tossed two no-hitters, one against the Cubs in 1952 and another against the Giants in 1956.

In 1955, Erskine tossed 194 2/3 innings in the regular season with a 3.79 ERA. The Dodgers had made it to the World Series seven times at that point in history but lost each time, including the ’52 and ’53 teams that Erskine was a part of. Erskine’s best World Series performance was in the ’53 series when he struck out 14 batters in Game 3, though the Dodgers eventually lost the series to the Yankees. The Dodgers faced the Yankees again in ’55 and Erskine only tossed three innings in the series but the Dodgers finally emerged victorious to capture the first title in franchise history.

When the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles for the ’58 season, Erskine went with them, though his career was tailing off by then. He tossed 98 1/3 innings that first year in L.A. with a 5.13 ERA, then had a 7.71 ERA in 23 1/3 frames the next year, which was his final major league action. He finished his playing career with an even ERA of 4.00 in 1,718 2/3 innings.

He returned to Indiana after his playing days and worked various jobs. A profile last year from Tyler Kepler of The New York Times says Erskine “sold insurance, worked as a bank president and coached baseball at Anderson College.” Though perhaps the most notable of his post-playing endeavors was his work with people with developmental disabilities.

Erskine’s son Jimmy was born with Down syndrome, with Carl and his wife Betty deciding to raise him at home, an unusual path in a time when most such cases saw the child sent to an institution of some kind. The couple would later form the Carl and Betty Erskine Society to raise money for the Special Olympics. That charity work led to Carl being given the Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum last year.

By all accounts, Erskine was beloved by everyone in the Dodgers’ organization, baseball in general and his community in Indiana. MLBTR joins all of them in sending condolences to the Erskine family and everyone else mourning him today.

Dodgers To Promote Andy Pages

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The Dodgers are calling up top outfield prospect Andy Pages, as first reported by Francys Romero (X link). The 23-year-old is already on L.A.’s 40-man roster, so they’ll only need to make a corresponding 26-man move, though it’s possible his promotion still leads to a 40-man move. Speculatively speaking, fellow outfielder Taylor Trammell could be at risk with Pages’ ascension to the big leagues, and Trammell is a recent waiver claim who’s out of minor league options.

Pages currently ranks as baseball’s No. 94 overall prospect at MLB.com and No. 95 overall at Baseball America. He garnered additional top-100 fanfare heading into the 2023 season but saw his stock take a bit of a hit due to injury troubles; Pages’ 2023 campaign ended when he underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder in early June.

That injury came on the heels of Pages’ first promotion to the Triple-A level. He appeared in just one game with the Dodgers’ Oklahoma City affiliate but had turned in a stout .284/.430/.495 batting line in 142 Double-A plate appearances prior to that move up the minor league ladder. The righty-swinging Pages has obliterated Triple-A pitching in the early stages of the 2024 season, tallying 73 plate appearances and recording a .371/.452/.694 slash with five homers, three doubles, a triple, two steals, an 11% walk rate and a 17.8% strikeout rate.

Pages draws praise for his raw power — which couples nicely with a swing and approach geared for lifting the ball — and plate discipline. He can play all three outfield positions, though scouting reports at BA and MLB.com suggest he profiles best in a corner, where he has the speed and instincts to be a capable defender.

The Dodgers’ outfield currently features Teoscar Hernandez in right, with a combination of James Outman, Enrique Hernandez, Chris Taylor and the aforementioned Trammell rounding things out in the other two spots. Jason Heyward is currently on the injured list with a lower back issue, though when healthy, he and Hernandez can be expected to roam the corners most days. Pages could potentially serve as a righty-hitting complement to Heyward and/or Outman, though it shouldn’t come as a surprise if the Dodgers plan to get him more regular work than the short side of a platoon.

Given the timing of the promotion, Pages can’t accrue a full year of big league service time in 2024 — at least not solely by remaining on the roster. Because he was regarded as a top-100 prospect on multiple outlets, he’d qualify for a full year of service time if he finishes in the top two in this year’s National League Rookie of the Year voting. Barring that — and pending future optional assignments bac to the minors, which are a firm possibility — Pages will be controllable all the way through 2030. If he’s in the big leagues to stay, he’ll be a surefire Super Two player who’s eligible for arbitration four times, rather than the standard three, beginning in the 2026-27 offseason.

Dodgers To Recall Ricky Vanasco, Landon Knack For MLB Debuts

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The Dodgers are planning to recall right-handers Ricky Vanasco and Landon Knack from Triple-A Oklahoma City this week, reports Fabian Ardaya of the Athletic. Should either pitcher get into a game, they’d be making their respective major league debuts.

Knack and Vanasco are both on the 40-man roster, so the Dodgers would only need to make corresponding active roster moves to bring them up. Knack has actually accrued a few days of major league service, as he was in the L.A. bullpen for their season-opening set against the Padres in Seoul. He didn’t get into a game and was optioned before the team’s domestic opener.

An East Tennessee State product, Knack was a second-round senior sign in 2020. He has worked as a starter throughout his minor league career, turning in a solid 3.44 ERA over 243 professional innings. That includes a stellar 2.51 mark over 22 appearances between Double-A Tulsa and OKC last season. Knack has taken the ball three times in Triple-A this year, posting a 16:4 strikeout-to-walk ratio while allowing seven runs through 15 2/3 frames. Baseball America ranked him the #11 prospect in the system this winter, pointing to a future as a back-of-the-rotation starter.

Vanasco did not appear among L.A.’s top 30 prospects. However, the Dodgers liked him enough to sign him to a major league deal this offseason. That came a few months after L.A. had run him through outright waivers but within two weeks of his qualifying for minor league free agency for the first time.

The 25-year-old is a former Ranger draftee who once ranked among the better prospects in the Texas farm system. Control issues pushed him to the bullpen last season, but Vanasco has shown swing-and-miss stuff. He posted a 2.78 ERA with a near-32% strikeout percentage over 32 1/3 minor league frames last season. Vanasco has fanned eight hitters in four innings of Triple-A work this year, although he’s also walked six.

White Sox Promote Nick Nastrini

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3:40pm: The Sox have now made Nastrini’s promotion official and also activated outfielder Eloy Jimenez from the injured list. To open active roster spots for those two, they optioned right-hander Justin Anderson and infielder/outfielder Zach Remillard. To open a 40-man spot for Nastrini, they transferred catcher Max Stassi to the 60-day injured list. The backstop opened the season on the 10-day IL due to hip inflammation but was hit on the hand by a backswing while rehabbing recently, per Scott Merkin of MLB.com. His exact timeline isn’t clear but he’s now ineligible to be activated until late May.

9:27am: The White Sox will call up right-hander Nick Nastrini to start today’s game in what will be his MLB debut, manager Pedro Grifol announced (link via Kyle Williams of the Chicago Sun-Times). He’s not on the 40-man roster, so the Sox will need to open a spot for his contract to be formally selected.

Nastrini, 24, is widely regarded as one of the White Sox’ top pitching prospects. Acquired from the Dodgers in the trade sending Lance Lynn to Los Angeles last summer, the 2021 fourth-round pick has routinely posted massive strikeout numbers throughout his minor league tenure but has also battled sub-par command for much of his professional career.

Scouting reports at Baseball America, MLB.com, FanGraphs, The Athletic and ESPN all rank Nastrini eighth or better among ChiSox farmhands, with BA listing him third in the system. The Athletic’s Keith Law ranked Nastrini 76th on his 2024 top 100 list, touting him as a possible No. 4 starter and with the ceiling to become quite a bit more than that, given the strength of his secondary pitches.

There’s little doubting the quality of Nastrini’s stuff; he runs his fastball up as high as 98 mph and complements it with a slider, curveball and changeup that all project as potentially average to plus offerings. Nastrini features high-end spin rates on his heater and breaking pitches, and his changeup helped him limit lefties to a .226 average with a 29.7% strikeout rate between Double-A and Triple-A last season. (Righties hit .216 and punched out at a 26.1% clip.) Law touts the changeup, in particular, as a potential plus-plus pitch (70-grade on the 20-80 scale).

If Nastrini had better control of his electric arsenal, he’d undoubtedly grade as one of the game’s elite prospects. At 6’3″, 215-pound righty has the size and deep repertoire to profile as a starter, but he’s walked 11.1% of his career opponents. His penchant for missing the zone leads to plenty of deep counts as well; in 2023 he averaged about 4 2/3 innings per start. There’s still some refinement to be made, though he’s improved his command since college ball at UCLA and has also seen further gains in that field since being traded from L.A. to Chicago (9.5% walk rate in the Sox’ system).

The state of the White Sox’ roster amid their current rebuild gives Nastrini ample opportunity to show he can stick. The Sox are out to their worst start in franchise history, sitting at 2-13 on the season. The woeful state of their rotation has played a significant role in those struggles. Even with Garrett Crochet pitching like a borderline No. 1 starter through his first four turns, White Sox starters rank 26th in the big leagues with 72 1/3 innings pitched, 28th with a 5.60 ERA and dead last with a 5.20 FIP. Despite totaling MLB’s fifth-fewest innings, the rotation is tied for the MLB lead with 14 home runs allowed.

Nastrini will join Crochet, Erick Fedde, Michael Soroka and Chris Flexen in the rotation for the time being. Recently re-signed Mike Clevinger will join that group in a few weeks as well, once he’s sufficiently built up, and other prospects like Jake Eder, Jairo Iriarte and Jared Shuster (currently working as a long reliever in the big league ’pen) could eventually garner looks over the course of the season.

Even if Nastrini is in the big leagues to stay, he won’t accrue enough service time to reach a full year in 2024. Were it not for an illness that rendered Nastrini unavailable the first time Chicago needed a fifth starter, that may not have been the case, but he wasn’t healthy enough in the season’s first week to step onto the staff at the time. He’s still made just two starts in the minors this season, in part due to that illness. Further optional assignments could always alter his timeline anyhow, but for now, Nastrini will be controllable all the way through 2030.

Dodgers Shut Emmet Sheehan Down; Walker Buehler Could Return Soon

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Dodgers right-hander Emmet Sheehan hasn’t pitched this season while rehabbing from a forearm injury. He’d recently resumed throwing to live hitters, but manager Dave Roberts told reporters last night that the 24-year-old righty has been shut back down because his arm “hasn’t been responding” the way Dodgers medical personnel hoped (link via Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic). Sheehan said he had another round of testing on his arm that didn’t reveal any structural damage, but Roberts still called his injury a “longer-term situation.” The Dodgers had already transferred him to the 60-day injured list at the end of March.

Sheehan entered the 2023 season as one of the Dodgers’ top pitching prospects and pushed his way into top-100 consideration with a strong minor league showing early last year. By mid-June, he was up in the big leagues for his debut. While the right-hander’s 4.92 ERA in a subsequent sample of 60 1/3 innings didn’t exactly cement him as a long-term fixture just yet, he entered camp as perhaps the favorite to land a rotation spot behind Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Bobby Miller and James Paxton. That spot instead went to fellow righty Gavin Stone, who started his 2024 campaign with two shaky starts before an excellent third outing that saw him carry a perfect game into the sixth inning before running into trouble.

The setback for Sheehan creates further uncertainty in a Dodgers’ rotation that also has Miller, Walker Buehler, Tony Gonsolin, Clayton Kershaw and Dustin May on the injured list. Sheehan’s status on the 60-day IL already meant he was out until at least mid-May, but there’s no way to gauge how long he might be expected to miss right now.

The Dodgers still rank tenth in the majors in rotation ERA, thanks in no small part to a dominant start to the season from Glasnow. Some alarm bells sounded when Yamamoto was torched for five runs in one inning during his MLB debut, but he’s responded by rattling off 15 innings with just three runs allowed while posting a terrific 19-to-3 K/BB ratio. Paxton has quality run-prevention numbers, but his success isn’t sustainable if he keeps walking more hitters than he’s striking out. He’s issued 14 free passes in 16 innings, yielding a walk to a glaring 20.6% of his opponents on the season. He’s fanned just ten (14.7%).

In Glasnow and Paxton, the Dodgers are banking on a pair of oft-injured veterans to help lead the staff while awaiting the returns of Buehler, Kershaw and May. Buehler is expected to make another rehab start this Thursday, per Mike DiGiovanna and Jack Harris of the L.A. Times. His most recent rehab outing was cut short when a comebacker struck his pitching hand, but Buehler escaped that injury scare unscathed. Roberts indicated that Buehler is targeting 80 to 85 pitches in that scheduled Thursday outing. He’ll be reevaluated after that point. If the team feels he’s ready, that’d point to a return next week. If he needs one more rehab start following Thursday’s outing, he could still return in the final days of April.

NL West Notes: Padres, Yankees, Soto, Montgomery, Treinen, Bryant

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As one might expect, December’s blockbuster Juan Soto trade between the Padres and Yankees took on several different permutations before the two sides finally agreed on the seven players involved.  The New York Post’s Jon Heyman reports that the Padres had interest in 17 different Yankees players before finally agreeing on a package of four pitchers (Michael King, Randy Vasquez, Jhony Brito, Drew Thorpe) and catcher Kyle Higashioka in exchange for Soto and Trent Grisham.  Clarke Schmidt and Chase Hampton were two of the other pitchers known to be considered when reports began to surface about the trade negotiations, and Heyman adds that the Yankees agreeing to include Thorpe instead of Hampton was one of the turning points in getting the deal done.

Though San Diego ended up taking a pitching-heavy mix of players, Heyman writes that the Friars also asked about such noteworthy position-player prospects as Spencer Jones, Roderick Arias, and George Lombard Jr.  Jones is a top-100 prospect and the 25th overall pick of the 2022 draft, and he has already drawn lots of trade buzz early in his pro career.  The Yankees have thus far balked at moving Jones, even in past talks with the Brewers and White Sox about Corbin Burnes and Dylan Cease, respectively.

More from around the NL West…

  • Jordan Montgomery will likely make his Diamondbacks debut on April 18, manager Torey Lovullo told reporters (including Alex Weiner of KTAR 92.3 radio).  Because he didn’t sign until just prior to Opening Day and therefore missed Spring Training, Montgomery started his D’Backs tenure in the minors in order to get some ramp-up work under his belt.  Montgomery got up to 71 pitches over 3 2/3 innings in a Triple-A start yesterday, and though he was tagged for seven unearned runs, Lovullo said Montgomery was just working out his fastball rather than worrying about on-field results.  It remains to be seen if Tommy Henry or Ryne Nelson will be removed from the rotation to make way for Montgomery, though if Montgomery is eased back into action, one of Henry or Nelson could speculatively be paired with the southpaw in something of a piggyback capacity for a turn or two through the rotation.
  • Blake Treinen threw to live hitters today, in the latest step of his recovery process after suffered a bruised lung over a month ago.  Treinen was hit in the chest by a line drive during a Spring Training game, and he told reporters (including Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times) that a later MRI revealed two fractured ribs in addition to the bruised lung, though the reliever is now feeling pain-free.  Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said that the plan is to have Treinen face live hitters twice more over the next week, and then begin a minor league rehab assignment during the week of April 22.
  • Kris Bryant wasn’t in the Rockies’ lineup today after making an early exit from Saturday’s game due to back stiffness.  Bryant collided with the right field wall while catching a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. fly ball in the first inning Saturday, and remained in the game until being replaced in the bottom of the fourth.  Bryant is considered day-to-day and manager Bud Black said he was available to pinch-hit today if necessary, though given Bryant’s lengthy injury history, any sort of health issue will naturally cause some extra concern.

Dodgers Place Bobby Miller On 15-Day Injured List

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10:12pm: Per Ardaya, Miller has undergone an MRI which revealed no structural damage to the righty’s shoulder. Meanwhile, Harris adds that while Miller has been shut down from throwing for the time being, the Dodgers are “hopeful” that he’ll be able to build up at a normal rate once he resumes throwing.

9:51pm: The Dodgers announced this evening that they’ve placed right-hander Bobby Miller on the 15-day injured list with right shoulder inflammation. Right-hander Connor Brogdon has also been placed on the 15-day IL due to plantar fasciitis in his foot. Right-hander J.P. Feyereisen and left-hander Nick Ramirez have been called up to take the duo’s places on the active roster.

The news comes on the heels of a difficult start to the season for Miller. While the 25-year-old struck out 11 Cardinals in six scoreless innings for his first start of the year, since then he’s allowed a whopping seven runs on nine hits and five walks in 5 2/3 innings of work across a pair of starts against the Cubs and Twins. A timeline for Miller’s return to action is not yet clear, though Jack Harris of the L.A. Times reports that the inflammation in the young righty’s shoulder is not considered “severe” by the club, with Harris adding that there is no need for surgery as things stand.

While that reporting removes the most worrisome outcomes from the table for the time being, it’s nonetheless disheartening news for Dodgers fans. The club’s first-round pick in the 2020 draft, Miller quickly grew to be a consensus top-30 prospect in the sport and impressed during his rookie season with a 3.76 ERA and 3.51 FIP across 22 starts with L.A. last year. Though he just celebrated his 25th birthday earlier this month, Miller already entered the season as a potential cornerstone for the Dodgers’ rotation alongside the likes of Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow.

Those plans have now clearly been scuttled, at least for the time being, and the Dodgers will have to sort through their rotation options in order to replace Miller for what could prove to be an extended absence. With Gavin Stone already in the club’s starting five alongside Glasnow, Yamamoto, and James Paxton, right-hander Walker Buehler may spring to mind as the obvious candidate to take Miller’s spot in the rotation. After all, the 29-year-old righty was long one of the most effective pitchers in the sport and has already begun a rehab assignment as he works his way back from Tommy John surgery.

Unfortunately, it’s unclear how realistic an option Buehler is in the short term. As The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya reported last night, Buehler’s most recent rehab outing was cut short after the righty took a comebacker off his pitching hand. David Vassegh of Sportsnet LA relays that manager Dave Roberts has indicated Buehler is “fine” following the incident and should be ready to make his next rehab start, but the abbreviated outing last night could extend Buehler’s time away from the club long enough for the Dodgers to need an interim option. Right-handers Kyle Hurt and Landon Knack are among the arms who the club could rely on to make a spot start or two while Buehler completes his rehab.

As for Brogdon, the right-hander hits the shelf just one week after the Dodgers acquired him from the Phillies in exchange for minor league lefty Benony Robles. Brogdon has made just one appearance in a Dodgers uniform to this point, allowing two runs on two hits in an inning of work against the Twins during which he did not record any walks or strikeouts. With Brogdon headed to the injured list and Miller’s replacement in the club’s rotation not yet needed on the roster, the Dodgers bullpen receives a pair of reinforcements in the form of Feyereisen and Ramirez.

Feyereisen, 31, joined the Dodgers during the 2022-23 offseason in a trade with the Rays after he had already undergone shoulder surgery that would end up keeping him from pitching at all in 2023. He made his Dodgers debut during the Seoul Series against the Padres but struggled, allowing three runs on three hits and a walk while striking out one in a single inning of work. That rough performance was enough for the Dodgers to leave Feyereisen off their stateside Opening Day roster, though now he’ll get another opportunity with the big league club.

As for Ramirez, the Dodgers acquired the lefty this past winter in a cash deal with the Yankees earlier this month. The southpaw made his big league debut with the Tigers back in 2019 and posted middling during his first three seasons in the majors, pitching to a league average 4.55 ERA and 4.60 FIP in 110 2/3 innings of work split between Detroit and San Diego. Ramirez didn’t pitch in the majors during the 2022 season but resurfaced with the Yankees last year as a key contributor to the club’s bullpen with a 2.66 ERA and 2.94 FIP in 40 2/3 innings of work.

That made the southpaw something of a surprising cut from New York’s Opening Day roster, though the club ultimately decided to give his roster spot to fellow lefty Tanner Tully instead of retain him for the 2024 campaign. Now with the Dodgers, Ramirez figures to provide the club with a multi-inning option out of the bullpen while also giving the club an addition lefty to pair with Alex Vesia and Ryan Yarbrough.

Ohtani’s Former Interpreter Charged With Bank Fraud Due To Theft Of Over $16MM

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April 12: Mizuhara surrendered to federal authorities this morning, per Alden González of ESPN. González adds that Mizuhara is scheduled to appear in court at 1:00 p.m. Pacific, or 3:00 p.m. Central, with the expected outcome of being let out on bond at some point.

April 11: U.S. attorney Martin Estrada announced today that Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara has been charged with bank fraud to finance a “voracious appetite for illegal sports betting,” per Sam Blum of The Athletic. Mizuhara is alleged to have transferred more than $16MM from Ohtani’s account to an illegal sports book, per Alden González of ESPN. The full 37-page complaint against Mizuhara was relayed by Meghann Cuniff of The Washington Post.

Per Blum, Estrada says the account was set up by Mizuhara in 2018 and he began illegal gambling in 2021. “The bets do not appear to have been made on the sport of baseball,” Estrada says. “At this point Mr. Ohtani is considered a victim in this case,” Estrada added, per Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. “Mr. Mizuhara lied to the bank to access the account … lied to them about being Mr. Ohtani,” Estrada also said, per Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times. When Mizuhara won a bet, the winnings would go into his own account and not Ohtani’s, per Blum. Estrada says investigators have viewed text messages from Mizuhara where he admitted to stealing from Ohtani, as relayed by Ardaya.

Last month, ESPN reported that more than $4.5MM had been wired from an account in Ohtani’s name to a sports gambling ring in California, where betting on sports is illegal. Mizuhara initially told ESPN that he was the one who racked up the debt but that Ohtani wired the money to help him pay it off. He later retracted that story and said Ohtani knew nothing about the gambling or the wire transfers. Ohtani later spoke on the matter, accusing Mizuhara of stealing money from him and lying about it, saying that he didn’t find out any of the details until the reporting had come out.

Both Mizuhara and Ohtani have said that Ohtani did not place any bets. Mizuhara has said that he did not bet on baseball and there’s not yet been any reporting to contradict that. As relayed by Jayson Stark of The Athletic, Mizuhara is alleged to have made about 19,000 wagers from December of 2021 to January of 2024, winning $142.27MM but losing $182.94MM for a net loss of $40.7MM.

It was reported last night that Mizuhara was in negotiations with federal authorities about pleading guilty. As part of that reporting, it was relayed that prosecutors had evidence Mizuhara disabled notifications that Ohtani would have received from his bank about transactions. The details from today go even farther, alleging that Mizuhara called the bank and impersonated Ohtani to access funds, per Britt Ghiroli of The Athletic. He answered security questions related to Ohtani’s biographical information to wire funds to a bookmaker, saying it was for a car loan. Per Shaikin, Ohtani’s agent repeatedly asked about the account but Mizuhara told him it was “private” and that Ohtani didn’t want anyone else to monitor it.

Shaikin relays a text message exchange between Mizuhara and a bookmaker where he admits to the theft: “Technically I did steal from him. it’s all over for me.” The maximum penalty for these charges is 30 years, per Shaikin. Mizuhara will appear in federal court in the coming days, per Blum. Ohtani has cooperated fully in the investigation, per Shaikin, including providing access to digital devices.

MLB issued a statement on the matter, per Jesse Rogers of ESPN and others: “We are aware of the charges filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office against Mr. Mizuhara for bank fraud after a thorough federal investigation. According to that investigation, Shohei Ohtani is considered a victim of fraud and there is no evidence that he authorized betting with an illegal bookmaker. Further, the investigation did not find any betting on baseball by Mr. Mizuhara. Given the information disclosed today, and other information we have already collected, we will wait until resolution of the criminal proceeding to determine whether further investigation is warranted.” MLB’s Department of Investigations (DOI) opened an investigation into the matter last month after the initial reports came out.

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