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Dodgers Notes: Urias, Kershaw, Taylor

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The Dodgers welcomed left-hander Julio Urias back from the 15-day injured list earlier this evening to start tonight’s game against the Royals. Urias has been on the shelf since late May with a hamstring strain and suffered a setback early last month as he neared a return. He now appears to be fully healthy, stepping back into the rotation with a 4.39 ERA and 5.30 FIP through ten starts this season. A free agent at season’s end, Urias’s performance will be of great importance not only to the Dodgers, but to Urias himself as the 27-year-old hurler looks poised to enter the open market as one of the top arms available.

Urias’s return couldn’t come at a better time, as Mike DiGiovanna of The LA Times notes that club ace Clayton Kershaw is dealing with inflammation in his shoulder following his start against the Rockies on Tuesday. Kershaw received a cortisone injection on Thursday and hopes to return to the mound Monday without missing a start, though comments from manager Dave Roberts indicate that may not come to pass. Roberts told reporters, including DiGiovanna, that Kershaw’s bullpen session went “just OK” and that Kershaw would likely require a trip to the injured list if he isn’t ready for Monday’s start. Should that situation come to pass, right-hander Michael Grove would likely fill in for Kershaw on Monday.

Any missed time for Kershaw, who sports a sterling 2.55 ERA and 3.53 FIP through 95 1/3 innings of work this season, would be a blow to the Dodgers, though the club is fortunate to have a variety of young hurlers on tap to cover innings as needed. Grove, Bobby Miller, Emmet Sheehan, and Gavin Stone have combined to start nearly a quarter of the club’s games so far in the 2020 campaign as each of Urias, Tony Gonsolin, Noah Syndergaard, and Dustin May have missed time this season.

Utility man Chris Taylor, on the other hand, has not been so easy for the club to fill in for. Taylor went on the injured list last weekend with a bone bruise that has kept him from taking the field since June 16th. With youngsters Michael Busch and Miguel Vargas both having struggled at the big league level this season, the club has been forced to get creative in covering for Taylor, using Mookie Betts in the infield more often while relying on depth options such as Johnny DeLuca and Yonny Hernandez. Unfortunately for LA, the club figures to be without Taylor for awhile yet, as Roberts tells reporters (including DiGiovanna) that the 32 year old won’t return to action until after the All Star break.

In 182 trips to the plate this season, Taylor has slashed .206/.275/.455 good for a 94 wRC+ that clocks in at just below league average. Still, that production has been valuable to the club thanks to Taylor’s ability to play all over the diamond; Taylor has logged time at center field, second base, third base, shortstop, and left field throughout the 2023 campaign, with most of his innings coming at the latter three positions.

Dodgers Activate Daniel Hudson, Designate Ricky Vanasco

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The Dodgers reinstated reliever Daniel Hudson from the 60-day injured list, optioning righty Nick Robertson to Triple-A Oklahoma City. To create space on the 40-man roster, Los Angeles designated minor league pitcher Ricky Vanasco for assignment.

Hudson is back in the big leagues almost a year to the day after tearing the ACL in his left knee. The veteran righty was off to an incredible start last season, posting a 2.22 ERA while striking out almost 31% of opponents in 25 outings. His year was cut short when he stumbled attempting to field a dribbler back to the mound.

The Dodgers retained Hudson in September, guaranteeing him $6.5MM while tacking on a $7.3MM club option for the 2024 campaign. There was some hope he’d be ready for the start of the season, but he was delayed by residual knee soreness in Spring Training. He made five rookie ball appearances before reporting to Oklahoma City for three outings on a rehab stint, striking out five in 3 1/3 scoreless innings. Whenever he next takes the ball, he’ll be appearing in the majors for a 14th season.

Vanasco has been in the organization for a month. L.A. acquired him from the Rangers on June 1. He only made one Double-A appearance with his new club before being DFA. The 24-year-old spent the bulk of last year in High-A with Texas, posting a 4.48 ERA through 84 1/3 frames. The Dodgers will trade him or put him on waivers within the next week.

MLB Announces 2023 All-Star Starters

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Major League Baseball announced the starting lineups for the 2023 All-Star Game this evening. This year’s All-Star Game will take place at Seattle’s T-Mobile Park on July 11. The starting pitchers and reserves will be announced at a later date.

American League

National League

* Currently on injured list with sprained toe

Dodgers To Place Chris Taylor On IL

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The Dodgers are placing utility man Chris Taylor on the IL with a bone bruise, according to manager Dave Roberts, as reported by Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic.  He notes that infielder Yonny Hernandez will take Taylor’s spot on the active roster.

Taylor last appeared in a game for the Dodgers on June 21st, so the move will be retroactive to that date.  Back on June 16th, Taylor started a game against the Giants at third base, but exited in the fourth inning due to knee pain.  He subsequently received injections of cortisone and platelet-rich plasma in the knee, but didn’t go beyond a pair of pinch-hitting appearances after that.

Prior to the injury, Taylor had made four consecutive starts at third base following Max Muncy’s hamstring strain.  Taylor, 32, has also logged a notable amount of innings at shortstop and left field this year.

After a five-year stretch of excellence from 2017-21 that saw Taylor accumulate 14.7 WAR for the Dodgers with a 116 wRC+ at the plate, he reached free agency.  The Dodgers moved quickly to re-sign him to a four-year contract in November of ’21, but he’s slipped to a 93 wRC+ from 2022 to present.  Taylor joins a Dodgers IL list that includes 15 other players at the moment.

Hernandez, 25, has 56 big league games on his resume.  Originally signed by the Rangers out of Venezuela, most of his Major League experience came with that club in 2021.  The D’Backs picked him up in an April 2022 trade, but lost him to Oakland in a November waiver claim that year.  When the A’s quickly designated Hernandez for assignment, the Dodgers grabbed him for cash considerations.  He had a brief appearance with the Dodgers in April of this year when Miguel Rojas hit the IL, but quickly lost his spot to Andre Jackson (who was shipped to the Pirates this afternoon).

Hernandez owns a .260/.407/.385 line in 47 Triple-A games this year, logging innings on the left side of the infield.

Pirates Acquire Andre Jackson

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The Pirates and Dodgers have worked out a trade that will send right-hander Andre Jackson to Pittsburgh, FanSided’s Robert Murray reports (via Twitter).  The Pirates have announced the trade, adding that Jackson has been optioned to Triple-A and that the Dodgers are getting cash considerations in return.  Mark Mathias has been designated for assignment to open up space on Pittsburgh’s 40-man roster.

The Dodgers designated Jackson for assignment earlier this week to open up a 40-man roster spot for Ryan Brasier.  He’ll now change organizations for the first time in a pro career that began when the Dodgers selected Jackson in the 12th round of the 2017 draft.  The righty has appeared in each of the last three Major League seasons, with a total of 39 innings on his resume.

While Jackson had a 2.11 ERA over 21 1/3 innings in 2021-22, things haven’t gone as smoothly this year, as Jackson had a 6.62 ERA in 17 2/3 frames of work.  The long ball has been Jackson’s biggest nemesis, as after giving up just one home run in 2021-22, he has already allowed five homers this season.  It isn’t exactly a new problem for the right-hander, as he has trouble keeping the ball in the park over his three seasons at Triple-A (in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League).

Between the homers and an inflated 14.77% walk rate, Jackson has a 5.21 ERA in 129 2/3 career innings at the Triple-A level, with a 22.07% strikeout rate.  It isn’t the most promising set of numbers, yet as a pitcher capable of working as a traditional starter or long reliever, Jackson has some interesting value as at least a depth arm, particularly to a pitching-needy team like Pittsburgh.

With multiple relievers on the injured list, the Pirates will likely explore Jackson as a reliever first and foremost, or possibly as a bulk pitcher behind an opener if the Bucs get creative with their rotation.  Tomorrow’s off-day is the Pirates’ last free day until the All-Star break, and coming off a stretch of 13 games in 13 days, the Pirates might be looking for spot-start possibilities.

Pittsburgh acquired Mathias in a trade with the Rangers in March, and the utilityman has been shuttled back and forth several times between the majors and Triple-A.  Mathias has hit .231/.355/.269 over 62 plate appearances, playing mostly as a second baseman with a pair of other appearances in right field.  2023 is Mathias’ third Major League season, after he previously appeared in 16 games with the Brewers in 2020 and a combined 30 games with Milwaukee and Texas in 2022.  In between, Mathias spent the 2021 campaign recovering from shoulder surgery.

If Mathias clears waivers, he has the right to reject a possible outright assignment to Triple-A Indianapolis.  Because Mathias has been outrighted before in his career, he has the option of turning down another outright from the Bucs and instead can become a free agent.

Dodgers Notes: Muncy, Rotation, Thor

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Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters today (including Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times) that he expects infielder Max Muncy to return to the lineup at third base for Tuesday’s game against the Rockies in Denver. J.P. Hoornstra of The Orange County Register adds that the club will wait to see how Muncy feels following Tuesday’s game before determining whether or not he’s ready to play on back-to-back days.

Muncy’s return figures to provide a huge boost to a beleaguered Dodgers club that’s been outscored 44-29 since he last played on June 11. While the 32-year-old slugger has hit above the Mendoza line just once in the past four seasons, his overall slash line of .214/.342/.450 is good for a wRC+ that’s 18% better than league average during that time frame. That’s thanks to Muncy sporting a combination of power and plate discipline that stands among the game’s best. Since joining the Dodgers in 2018, Muncy ranks 4th in the NL in both walk rate (15.4%) and home runs (157). Michael Busch has held down the fort at third base while Muncy was on the shelf.

Also set to re-join the club in the coming days is lefty Julio Urias, who Hoornstra notes is expected to return to the club during next weekend’s series in Kansas City. A free agent at season’s end, Urias will look to improve upon the uncharacteristic 4.39 ERA and 5.30 FIP he posted across his first 11 starts of the season prior to hitting the injured list. Urias figures to be among the top free agents available this offseason behind Shohei Ohtani, even after his struggles to start the season, given his pedigree as a hurler with a career ERA of 2.95 who won’t turn 27 until August.

Hoornstra adds that, according to Roberts, young right-handers Emmet Sheehan and Bobby Miller both figure to remain in the rotation even after Urias is activated. Roberts heaped praise on the pair of youngsters, describing their performance at the big league level so far as “100th percentile” when it comes to handling the opportunity to pitch in the majors. Entering play today, Sheehan has posted a 1.50 ERA across two starts with the club while Miller has impressed to the tune of a 2.83 ERA in five starts.

That figures to leave right-hander Noah Syndergaard without a job in the rotation going forward. As noted by Hoornstra, the right-hander threw three simulated innings prior to today’s game against the Astros, without being hindered by the blister that sent him to the 15-day IL earlier this month. That being said, Roberts described Syndergaard’s session today as simply “checking a box” for the right-hander, adding that “we’re still a ways away” from Syndergaard returning to the active roster. After signing a one-year deal with the Dodgers this past winter, Syndergaard has struggled badly with a 7.16 ERA in 55 1/3 innings of work.

NL West Notes: Suter, Wacha, Sheehan

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The Rockies placed left-hander Brent Suter on the 15-day injured list yesterday due to a left oblique strain, and recalled righty Noah Davis from Triple-A in the corresponding move.  Suter has posted his typically low strikeout rate and his 8.1% walk rate is barely above league average, but the 33-year-old has nonetheless worked to a 2.81 ERA over 41 2/3 innings out of Colorado’s bullpen.  Suter has allowed only two home runs over those 41 2/3 frames, and he has some of the best soft-contact numbers of any pitcher in baseball, sitting in the 99th percentile of hard-hit ball rate and in the 97th percentile of barrel rate.

Losing Suter to the IL is another blow to the injury-riddled Rockies, but the particular timing of the oblique problem adds some doubt to the southpaw’s value as a trade chip.  Suter is a free agent after the season, and thus a logical player for the Rockies to shop in what looks like another non-contending season for the club.  While oblique injuries can vary greatly in severity, it appears that Suter’s issue is relatively minor, as he told MLB.com that he was still feeling good and was planning to continue playing catch.

More from around the NL West…

  • Knuckleballer Matt Waldron will start today’s game for the Padres, as Michael Wacha (the original scheduled starter) will skip a turn in the rotation due to some shoulder fatigue.  Manager Bob Melvin described the move as “proactive,” telling the San Diego Union-Tribune’s Jeff Sanders and other reporters that Wacha has “got a little bit of history there with the shoulder.  He’s been as good as any pitcher in the National League so this is something we don’t want to push.”  Wacha has missed some time with shoulder issues in three of the last four seasons but not any truly significant time, making this seemingly more of a nagging injury than a top-tier concern.  Wacha has a 2.90 ERA over 80 2/3 innings for San Diego this season, with a 1.7 fWAR that leads all Padres pitchers.  Despite a below-average strikeout rate, Wacha has relied on soft contact and good control to achieve that ERA, and both his changeup and (due to some batted-ball luck) four-seamer have been premium pitches.
  • Emmet Sheehan’s MLB career is off to a tremendous start, as the Dodgers prospect has a 1.50 ERA over his first 12 innings in the Show.  Sheehan held the Astros to two runs over six frames in yesterday’s 3-2 Los Angeles victory, earning his first big league win in the process.  Unsurprisingly, this success has earned Sheehan a continued look, as Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya) that Sheehan will get another start next week.  Julio Urias, Noah Syndergaard, and Dustin May are all on the IL, and while Urias might be back within a week or so, L.A. has had to rely on younger arms to join Clayton Kershaw and Tony Gonsolin in the rotation.  Sheehan and Bobby Miller have done well to pick up the slack, while Michael Grove has been less consistent.  Roberts said that Grove will work as a bulk pitcher behind an opener on Wednesday, when the Dodgers play the Rockies.

Red Sox Acquire Tayler Scott From Dodgers

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The Red Sox announced that they have acquired right-hander Tayler Scott from the Dodgers in exchange for cash considerations. Scott had been designated for assignment by the Dodgers on the weekend. To make room on the 40-man roster for Scott, the Red Sox transferred righty John Schreiber to the 60-day injured list.

Scott, 31, was signed by the Dodgers to a minor league deal in the offseason. He’s posted strong results in Triple-A this year, with a 1.37 ERA in 19 2/3 frames. His 12.5% walk rate is definitely on the high side but he’s paired that with a 31.3% strikeout rate. He was able to get added to the club’s 40-man roster but struggled in six big league innings, allowing six earned runs in that time. He was designated for assignment when the club added Bryan Hudson to the roster.

Prior to this year, Scott had seen some big league time with the Mariners, Orioles and Padres. He now has 34 1/3 innings of major league experience but with a 10.75 ERA in that small sample. That’s obviously less than ideal, but he’s generally fared much better in the minors. In 188 Triple-A innings over five separate seasons, he has a 4.02 ERA. He’s punched out 26.7% of batters faced at that level while walking 9.6%.

Scott has one option year remaining, which will likely be used here in 2023. A player has to spend 20 days on optional assignment before they burn one of their options and Scott is at 11 for the year so far. The Sox can move him from the majors to the minors fairly freely for the rest of the season, but he will likely be out of options for 2024. Though he hasn’t had much major league success yet, he’s shown flashes of promise in the minors and they will see if he can unlock that in the big leagues for them.

As for Schreiber, he’s been on the injured list since May 16 due to a right teres major strain. He’ll now be ineligible to return until 60 days from that initial IL placement, which would be mid-July. A recent report from MLB.com indicated that he had yet to advance to mound work. Since he still needs to ramp up and go on a rehab assignment, he may not have been in line to return before the middle of July anyway.

MLBTR Trade Rumors Podcast: Exciting Youth Movements in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, Bad Central Divisions and the Dodgers Want Pitching

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss:

  • the Pirates promote Henry Davis (1:20)
  • the scorching-hot Reds designate Wil Myers for assignment (7:35)
  • Guardians promote Gavin Williams (10:40)
  • White Sox want to sell rental pieces only (16:20)
  • Dodgers need pitching (19:15)

Plus, we answer your questions, including:

  • Do you think the Cubs will deal Christopher Morel at the deadline? (22:45)
  • What are the chances the Diamondbacks promote Jordan Lawlar later this season? (25:50)
  • If Rangers make a blockbuster trade who would you think it would be? Obviously bullpen is a need but what is something blockbuster worthy? (29:45)

Check out our past episodes!

Dodgers Sign David Dahl To Minor League Contract

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Veteran outfielder David Dahl has signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers, according to Triple-A communications director Alex Freedman (Twitter link). He’s joining their top affiliate in Oklahoma City.

It’s the third career NL West organization for Dahl. He’s best known for his time with the Rockies, where he flashed middle-of-the-order potential and was nominated to the 2019 All-Star Game. Injuries derailed his Colorado tenure, though, and Dahl hasn’t gotten much of a big league look since hitting .210/.247/.322 in 63 games for the 2021 Rangers.

After splitting the ’22 campaign between a handful of Triple-A clubs, Dahl returned to the majors this season. He broke camp with the Padres after an offseason non-roster contract. He got into four MLB games before a quad strain sent him to the injured list. After he returned, he was optioned to Triple-A. Dahl hit .265/.342/.382 in 17 games there before being designated for assignment two weeks ago.

Upon clearing waivers, Dahl tested minor league free agency. He finds a new landing spot with the Dodgers, where he’ll try to hit his way back to the big league level. Los Angeles has Jason Heyward and rookie Jonny DeLuca backing up their starting outfield of Mookie Betts, James Outman and David Peralta for the moment. Dahl joins Kole Calhoun as a veteran depth option in Triple-A. Steven Duggar is also on the OKC roster but he has been on the injured list since June 9.

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