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Brett Wisely

Braves Claim George Soriano, Designate Brett Wisely For Assignment

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The Braves have claimed right-hander George Soriano off waivers from the Orioles, according to announcements from both clubs. Baltimore designated him for assignment earlier this week. To open a 40-man spot, Atlanta designated infielder Brett Wisely for assignment.

Soriano, 27 in March, spent his entire career with the Marlins until recently. The Orioles claimed him off waivers in November. Baltimore loves to claim players from the wire and then put them back out there later, hoping the player clears waivers and can stay in the Orioles’ system. They recently designated Soriano for assignment when they claimed outfielder Jhonkensy Noel. They later designated Noel for assignment when they claimed Marco Luciano.

In this case, Baltimore’s attempt to get Soriano through waivers has not worked, with Atlanta scooping him up. Atlanta has surely gotten some decent looks at the righty, as he has been playing within their division. He logged 118 innings for the Marlins over the past three years, allowing 5.95 earned runs per nine. His 22% strikeout rate and 10.3% walk rate were both a bit worse than average.

Teams like Baltimore and Atlanta are likely intrigued by his minor league numbers. He tossed 42 2/3 innings in Triple-A last year with a 2.32 ERA. He struck out 28.8% of batters faced and also kept batted balls on the ground at a 55.7% rate. He also held his walk rate to a more reasonable 8.8% rate at that level.

Soriano exhausted his final option season in 2025, which has pushed him to a fringe roster area. He’s now twice been put on waivers but twice been claimed. It wouldn’t be a surprise if he loses his roster spot yet again before the winter is out. For now, he has a spot with Atlanta. He has a bit more than a year of big league service time. That means he can be controlled for five full seasons and is still two years away from qualifying for arbitration.

Wisely, 27 in May, is in a somewhat similar position. He’s an infielder and not a pitcher but he has exhausted his options, giving him a tenuous hold on a roster spot thanks to tepid big league results. The Giants designated him for assignment in September, which led to Atlanta claiming him off waivers.

In 466 big league plate appearances, he has a line of just .214/.265/.319. But over the past three years, he has a .276/.375/.436 line and 113 wRC+ at the Triple-A level. He has also racked up a bunch of stolen bases in the minors and provides defensive versatility. He has experience at all four infield spots and all three outfield slots as well.

Like Soriano, he can be affordably controlled for five more seasons if he latches on somewhere. Given his multi-positional abilities and speed, perhaps he will find interest from a club looking to deepen its bench. If he passes through waivers unclaimed, Atlanta can keep him in a non-roster capacity. He can be in DFA limbo for a week at most. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so Atlanta could take five days to field trade interest, but they could also place him on the wire quicker than that.

Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron, Imagn Images

Braves Claim Brett Wisely

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The Braves announced Thursday that they’ve claimed infielder Brett Wisely off waivers from the Giants and optioned him to Triple-A Gwinnett. Lefty Aaron Bummer was transferred from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL in order to create space on the 40-man roster. San Francisco designated Wisely for assignment earlier in the week.

Wisely, 26, was a 15th-round pick by the Rays back in 2019. He landed with the Giants in a 2022 swap that sent outfield prospect Tristan Peters back to Tampa Bay. Neither player has made a huge impact with the team to which he was traded, but Wisely has spent far more time in the majors than the 25-year-old Peters, who made his MLB debut last month and went hitless in four games before being optioned back to Triple-A.

Wisely has logged major league time in each of the past three seasons, appearing in 164 games for the Giants. He’s tallied 457 plate appearances and posted a tepid .217/.263/.324 slash with seven homers, 22 doubles, a triple, five steals, a 25.2% strikeout rate and a 5.7% walk rate.

It’s clearly not an impressive batting line — wRC+ measures him 36% worse than a league-average offensive performer — but Wisely has provided the Giants with both versatile and skilled defensive play. He’s spent the bulk of his time at second base (682 innings) but also has ample experience at shortstop (269 innings) with cameos at third base and in center field. He’s graded out positively at every position he’s played in the eyes of both Defensive Runs Saved and Statcast’s Outs Above Average. And while Wisely isn’t a prolific thief on the basepaths, he does possess slightly above-average speed, sitting in the 55th percentile of big leaguers, per Statcast (and the 62nd percentile last year).

This is the last of three minor league option years for Wisely. He’s controllable all the way through 2030 but will have to stick on an Opening Day roster next season or else be designated for assignment and exposed to waivers prior to being sent to the minors. He’s far from a lock to last all the way into next year’s spring training on the 40-man roster with Atlanta, but if he does stick around that long, he’ll vie for a bench spot in what’s currently a wide-open competition.

The Braves claimed Ha-Seong Kim off waivers at the end of August, taking on the veteran shortstop’s $16MM player option in doing so. If Kim picks up that option, he’ll be the everyday shortstop in 2026. If not, Atlanta will enter the offseason with Nick Allen — a defensive standout but one of MLB’s lightest hitters — atop the depth chart at short. Atlanta would almost certainly be in the market for an upgrade, potentially pushing Allen into a bench role. Other candidates for reserve spots with the Braves would include Nacho Alvarez Jr. and former top prospect Vidal Brujan. Both Allen and Brujan are out of minor league options as well.

Suffice it to say, there’ll likely be a fair bit of turnover among that group, but for the time being, Wisely provides some depth at multiple positions and a versatile defender with slightly more bat than either Allen or Brujan can offer. In parts of four Triple-A seasons, Wisely is a .274/.371/.433 hitter.

Giants Designate Brett Wisely For Assignment

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The Giants officially announced the previously reported promotion of top first base prospect Bryce Eldridge. San Francisco optioned outfielder Luis Matos to clear a spot on the big league roster. They designated utility infielder Brett Wisely for assignment to open the necessary 40-man roster spot.

Eldridge, who is still a month away from his 21st birthday, steps right into the fire in a pennant race. He’s batting fifth and serving as the designated hitter against Zac Gallen (relayed by Justice delos Santos of The Mercury News). The Giants are keeping Rafael Devers at first base tonight. San Francisco is half a game ahead of the Diamondbacks and trails the Mets by a game and a half for the National League’s last Wild Card spot.

Wisely has been on San Francisco’s 40-man roster for the past three seasons. Farhan Zaidi was running baseball operations when the Giants acquired him from the Rays early in the 2022-23 offseason. Wisely would have qualified for the Rule 5 draft, but San Francisco selected his contract to ensure they retained his rights. The former 15th-round pick has been up and down between Oracle Park and Triple-A for the last three seasons.

The lefty-hitting Wisely hasn’t produced much against big league pitching. He owns a .217/.263/.324 line with seven home runs across 457 plate appearances. He hit very well in Triple-A between 2023-24, but his minor league numbers this year have also been underwhelming. Wisely carries a .253/.332/.387 line with seven longballs and 12 steals in 80 games at Triple-A Sacramento this season. He has only appeared in 22 MLB contests as a result, hitting .208 with one homer in 54 trips to the plate.

While this hasn’t been a good season, Wisely has some positive attributes that could get interest on the waiver wire. He grades as a solid defender at second base and has experience at every position aside from catcher. He’s never going to hit for much power, but he has shown solid on-base skills in the minors. He owns a .274/.371/.433 line in nearly 200 career Triple-A games across four seasons.

San Francisco will place Wisely on outright waivers within the next few days. He’s in his last minor league option year. Another team may put in a claim and stash him in Triple-A for the rest of the season. He’ll be out of options next year. If he sticks on a 40-man roster into Spring Training, he’d need to break camp and remain in the majors or again be designated for assignment.

Giants Place Tyler Fitzgerald On 10-Day Injured List

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The Giants placed infielder Tyler Fitzgerald on the 10-day injured list earlier today due to a left rib fracture. The club called up infielder Brett Wisely from Triple-A Sacramento to replace Fitzgerald on the active roster.

Fitzgerald, 27, broke out in a big way down the stretch last year in the first run of regular playing time of his career. After becoming an everyday player after the All-Star break, Fitzgerald slashed .281/.333/.519 with ten steals, 15 doubles, and 13 homers in just 255 plate appearances. That impressive combination of power and speed, along with his ability to play solid defense up the middle, was enough to earn him a regular role despite a 31.4% strikeout rate. Fitzgerald played shortstop late last year for the Giants, but has moved to second base thanks to the club’s decision to sign Willy Adames.

So far this year, Fitzgerald’s offense has been a mixed bag. He’s managed to cut his strikeout rate down to just 22.2% in 90 trips to the plate this year while actually slightly increasing his walk rate, though he’s hitting for much less power with a meager 4.8% barrel rate. Overall, he’s hitting .284/.341/.432 (118 wRC+) this year. That’s a solid figure, though it’s elevated by a .356 BABIP. Whether that’s sustainable remains to be seen, but that question will have to wait for at least the time being now that he’s headed for the shelf.

It seems as though Fitzgerald’s initial injury may have happened almost a week ago. It was reported by Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle on Saturday that Fitzgerald was scratched from the lineup after suffering a chest contusion the day prior, but after sitting for a couple of days he returned to the lineup. That changed this afternoon, as Fitzgerald told reporters (including John Shea of the San Francisco Standard) that he underwent an MRI today that revealed the rib fracture, prompting his placement on the shelf. Fitzgerald suggested that he was feeling the fracture when swinging a bat and as such will be down for a couple of days without baseball activity to rest up.

With that being said, it seems as though Fitzgerald is hoping for a relatively brief absence. The infielder told Shea that he hopes to be back with the Giants after just two weeks, which would be just barely over the minimum stay of ten days on the injured list. Whether Fitzgerald will be able to hit that target or not remains to be seen, of course, but San Francisco would surely love to have him back as quickly as possible amid their efforts to keep the brilliant 19-12 start they’ve managed to put together going in an extremely competitive duel not only for the NL West but also the three NL Wild Card spots.

In the meantime, the Giants will likely turn to a combination of Wisely and Christian Koss at the keystone. Koss, 27, made his MLB debut earlier this year and so far has hit just .217/.280/.217 with a 30.8% strikeout rate during his time in the majors. Those lackluster numbers have come in just 28 plate appearances, however, and Koss hit quite well at Triple-A last year with a 134 wRC+ in 88 games. Joining Koss in the mix for starts at second is Wisely, who hit .238/.278/.345 (75 wRC+) across 91 games in a part-time role with the Giants last year. He’s spent the 2025 season at Triple-A so far, where his .235/.325/.431 slash line in 118 trips to the plate has been exactly league average (100 wRC+).

Giants Notes: Stassi, Huff, Villar, Schmitt

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Max Stassi won’t exercise the opt-out clause in his minor league contract, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle writes, and the catcher will instead remain in the Giants organization and play with Triple-A Sacramento.  Yesterday marked the first of three opt-out dates automatically included in Stassi’s contract due to his Article XX(b) free agent status, and Stassi’s next chance to evaluate his future will come on May 1 if he hasn’t yet been added to the Giants’ roster.

There apparently wasn’t much drama in the competition between Stassi and Sam Huff to be Patrick Bailey’s backup catcher, as Slusser notes that Stassi “has known the plan for a while and is fine with it.”  If anything, playing in Sacramento has particular appeal for the catcher because he lives in the city and can spend more time with his family.  Playing in the minors also allows Stassi the more regular on-field action he needs to ramp up after undergoing hip surgery last year.

Tom Murphy will miss the start of the season due to a herniated disc, creating the opening for Huff to eventually win the backup job.  Formerly a top prospect in the Rangers’ farm system, Huff’s defense was often called as a question to stick in the catching role, and Jonah Heim ended up passing Huff on the depth chart.  After Huff’s numbers dropped off at Triple-A last year, Texas designated the backstop for assignment, and the Giants claimed him away off waivers in January.  The change of scenery seems to have helped thus far, as Huff has been tearing it up at the plate in the Cactus League.

The rest of San Francisco’s bench mix has yet to be determined, though Luis Matos will likely claim the backup outfielder role.  Since it doesn’t seem like Jung Hoo Lee’s recent back issue is serious (“I don’t even want to use the word injury, it was so mild,” Lee told Slusser and other reporters), the Giants could take two infielders from the group of Casey Schmitt, Brett Wisely, David Villar, and prospect Christian Koss.

Villar seems to be the odd one out, as Slusser feels the Giants will be designating him for assignment this week since Villar is out of minor league options.  The infielder hit a respectable .231/.331/.455 over 181 plate appearances in his 2022 rookie season, but then struggled badly over 140 PA in 2023 and seemed to fall out of favor for playing time.  Villar has a very impressive .268/.377/.511 slash line and 60 homers over 1182 career Triple-A plate appearances, with the caveat that that production came in Sacramento in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.  A rival team in need of infield depth might be impressed enough by those numbers to take a flier on Villar if he does up on the waiver wire in the coming days.

There would seemingly be a lot more interest if the Giants made Schmitt available, as Slusser reports that multiple teams have expressed trade interest this offseason.  The Giants, however, don’t have much interest in moving Schmitt, who is still two seasons away from even gaining arbitration eligibility.  He also has one minor league option year remaining, giving the Giants flexibility in sending him back and forth from Triple-A.

Schmitt has a good track record of Triple-A results, and he showed improvement at the big league level in 2024, albeit in significantly fewer at-bats than he received in his 2023 rookie season.  Schmitt hit .206/.255/.324 in 277 PA in 2023, and then bumped that up to a .252/.283/.477 slash line over 113 PA last year.  In theory, Schmitt should again see limited action now that Willy Adames was signed to bring more stability to San Francisco’s infield, which in turn bumped Tyler Fitzgerald into a regular second-base role.

Giants Notes: Ahmed, Schmitt, Luciano, Bailey, Slater

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1:54PM: The Giants officially activated Bailey and placed Slater on the concussion-related IL.  In other moves, San Francisco called up second baseman/outfielder Brett Wisely, and optioned catcher Jakson Reetz to Triple-A.

8:29AM: The Giants placed shortstop Nick Ahmed on the 10-day injured list yesterday, as Ahmed is dealing with a sprain in his left wrist.  The injury has been bothering the infielder “for a while now,” as Ahmed told MLB.com and other media on Thursday, when he had to make an early exit from San Francisco’s game with Colorado.

“I got a bunch of treatment and stuff before the game and it was OK going into the game,” Ahmed said.  “And then on the first swing of the game, I just kind of aggravated it. It was hampering my ability to play defense, too. It was probably going to do our team more harm than good if I stayed out there.”

The issue seems relatively minor enough that Ahmed isn’t expected to miss too much time beyond the 10-day minimum, with the caveat that wrist-related injuries can sometimes linger (as was the case for Ahmed even prior to Thursday’s game).  Of course, even 10 days is a significant amount of time for a club to be without its starting shortstop.  After signing a minor league contract with San Francisco during the offseason, Ahmed has started 35 of the Giants’ 40 games, delivering his usual combination of strong defense and uninspiring offense.  Ahmed has hit only .236/.274/.291 over his first 119 plate appearances, translating to a 66 wRC+.

This lack of pop has led some Giants fans to wonder why top prospect Marco Luciano hasn’t yet been given a longer look at the MLB level, though Luciano didn’t help his case with a lackluster Spring Training.  Luciano made his big league debut with 14 games and 45 PA last season, and thus far has hit .273/.403/.355 over 149 Triple-A plate appearances in 2024.  The OBP and a big increase his Luciano’s walk rate are nice signs of progress, though he has only slightly reduced his high strikeout rate, and has shown very little power even in the hitter-friendly environment of the Pacific Coast League.

Luciano might not be too far away from another call-up, however, even though fellow infielder Casey Schmitt got the call Friday to replace Ahmed on the active roster.  Manager Bob Melvin implied to reporters (including the San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser) that Schmitt may have gotten the nod because the Giants were facing left-handed starters on Friday and Saturday.  Though Luciano and Schmitt are both right-handed batters, Schmitt has better numbers against lefties at Triple-A this season.

In general, the team is open to all options with Ahmed out, as Melvin admitted “I’m not sure what [the shortstop position is] going to look like here every day.”  Utilityman Tyler Fitzgerald is the only other player besides Ahmed and Schmitt to see any time at shortstop this season, and Fitzgerald has hit a solid .273/.319/.455 in 47 PA while bouncing all over the diamond.  The Giants may prefer to to keep Fitzgerald available to chip in at multiple positions rather than make him a regular shortstop with Ahmed out, which could open the door for Schmitt to get more work, or for Luciano to perhaps enter the picture.

Elsewhere on the injury front, today marks Patrick Bailey’s seventh day on the seven-day concussion-related IL, and the Giants are hoping he can be cleared prior to today’s game with the Reds.  Bailey took a foul ball off the mask on May 3, but has resumed baseball activities, including catching Blake Snell’s bullpen session on Friday.  Slusser writes that Bailey will be taking the precaution of wearing a new style of mask, with some extra padding involved and a design similar to a hockey goalie’s mask.

Getting their regular catcher back is a nice win for the Giants, yet another position player might be taking Bailey’s spot on the concussion IL.  Austin Slater collided with the wall while trying to make a catch in the first inning of yesterday’s game, and was replaced by a pinch-hitter before his first at-bat.

Melvin told reporters postgame that Slater was quite possibly headed to the IL, which is the latest setback in what has been a rough start to the season for the outfielder.  Slater has hit only .128/.306/.128 in 49 PA while serving in his usual capacity as a platooner against left-handed pitching, a far cry from his career .278/.370/.447 slash line against southpaws.  It could be just a small sample size issue to date, though Slater’s primary concern now is just getting healthy.

Giants Place Brandon Crawford, Mike Yastrzemski On IL

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4:50pm: Crawford provided a few more details to members of the media, including Slusser (Twitter links). He said his own MRI showed his strain to be worse than he thought but he still expects to return after a minimum stint on the IL. He also says that Yastrzemski’s strain is of the Grade 1 variety, or the least severe.

4:30pm: The Giants announced a few roster moves prior to tonight’s game, with Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle among those to relay them on Twitter. Outfielder Cal Stevenson and infielder Brett Wisely were recalled from Triple-A to take the spots of shortstop Brandon Crawford and outfielder Mike Yastrzemski, who have both been placed on the 10-day injured list. Crawford’s move, which is retroactive to April 30, is due to a right calf strain whereas Yastrzemski is dealing with a left hamstring strain.

The club hasn’t provided timelines for either player, but these moves will mean the Giants will play at least the next little while without two of their lineup regulars. Crawford, 36, has been the club’s shortstop for over a decade now, having taking over the job back in 2011. He’s long been considered a strong defender and has had seasons where he’s been an above-average performer on both sides of the ball. The most recent of those was 2021, where he hit .298/.373/.522 for a wRC+ of 138. Towards the end of that season, with Crawford headed for the open market, he and the club agreed on a two-year, $32MM extension to keep him around.

Though the Giants eventually won 107 games that year, things haven’t gone as well since, both for the club or for Crawford personally. He hit .231/.308/.344 last year for a wRC+ of 87 while making multiple trips to the injured list, with the Giants eventually finishing 81-81. This year, he’s hitting just .169/.244/.352 for a wRC+ of 63 as the club is out to a rough 11-16 start in the early going. He experienced some calf tightness on Saturday and didn’t play in yesterday’s game.

As for Yastrzemski, he departed yesterday’s game with the hamstring strain and was reported to be undergoing an MRI, so it’s not surprising to see he’ll be taking a bit of a breather here. He had a bit of a down year at the plate in 2022, hitting .214/.305/.392 for a wRC+ of 99, but he he’d been off to a great start here in 2023. His current batting line is .292/.333/.521, which translated to a wRC+ of 131. That strong stretch of play will now but put on hold for an undetermined amount of time.

Taking their place will be Wisely and Stevenson. The former has been up and down for the Giants a few times already this season, but Stevenson will be making his debut with the club whenever he gets into a game. He was acquired from the Athletics a couple of weeks ago but has been kept in Triple-A since then. He made his major league debut with the A’s last year but hit just .167/.261/.217 in 23 games. He has a much nicer batting line of .288/.392/.415 in Triple-A dating back to the start of 2022.

With Crawford sitting out yesterday’s game, the club used Thairo Estrada at short and will likely keep him there for the time being. He’s off to a torrid start this year, hitting .346/.393/.529 while playing a lot of second base. His move should leave the keystone open for someone like David Villar, though he’s sitting on a line of .156/.258/.351 at the moment. A .174 batting average on balls in play suggests positive regression is forthcoming, but they could look to other options. There’s also Wilmer Flores, who has been primarily at the corners this year but has plenty of second base experience in previous seasons. Wisely is primarily an infielder and could be in the mix to help out there, but he also might be needed in center field, helping to cover for Yastrzemski alongside Austin Slater.

Giants Activate Mitch Haniger, Austin Slater

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The Giants are welcoming back a pair of outfield reinforcements. San Francisco reinstated both Mitch Haniger and Austin Slater from the 10-day injured list prior to tonight’s matchup with the Cardinals. To clear spots on the active roster, the Giants optioned infielder/outfielder Brett Wisely to Triple-A Sacramento and placed first baseman/corner outfielder Darin Ruf on the 10-day IL with inflammation in his right wrist.

Haniger’s return is the biggest development. He’s now in position to make his club debut. Signed to a three-year, $43.5MM guarantee over the offseason, the longtime Mariner went down with a Grade 1 oblique strain in Spring Training. That cost him the first three weeks of the regular season but didn’t prove a serious long-term concern. He’s in left field tonight and hitting third against St. Louis southpaw Jordan Montgomery.

The 32-year-old outfielder appeared in four rehab games for Sacramento. He picked up four hits in 13 at-bats, clearing the fences twice. Haniger is coming off a .246/.308/.429 showing over 57 games during his final season in Seattle.

Slater also opened the year on the IL, in his case due to a hamstring strain. The role-playing outfielder had a quality .264/.366/.408 line over 325 plate appearances last season. He spent the bulk of his defensive time in center field, garnering mixed reviews for his glovework. He eases into action as the designated hitter in his first MLB game of the year after picking up six hits in 18 at-bats on a rehab stint for Sacramento. Slater will lead off tonight.

The pair of right-handed hitters add some balance to a lineup that is off to a dreadful start against left-handed pitching. Only the Tigers (.264) have a lower on-base percentage against southpaws than San Francisco’s .271 mark, while their .337 slugging ranks 27th in the majors. Those struggles were part of the reason the Giants reunited with Ruf, who has a .261/.370/.348 line in nine games this season.

Giants Select Bryce Johnson, Option Brett Wisely

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The Giants announced a series of roster moves today, selecting outfielder Bryce Johnson to the active roster and optioning Brett Wisely to Triple-A. The team transferred Luke Jackson to the 60-day IL to make room for Johnson on the 40-man roster.

Johnson, a sixth round pick back in 2017, appeared in a handful of games for the Giants last year, tallying 19 plate appearances and picking up two hits. He was outrighted off the roster but remained with the organization into 2023. At Triple-A, Johnson put together a solid .290/.369/.401 slashline across 352 plate appearances, adding in five home runs and 31 stolen bases. He’ll provide some speed off the bench for the Giants.

Wisely was acquired from the Rays in a trade this winter for Tristan Peters. A 15th round pick by the Rays in 2019, Wisely’s bounced around the diamond a fair bit, earning reps in the infield and outfield. He slashed an impressive .274/.371/.460 with 15 home runs at Double-A last year but was traded just prior to the Rule 5 draft, as the Rays would’ve needed to add him to their 40-man roster or risk losing him in the draft had they not found a trade partner. Wisely did get in to the Giants opener for his first taste of big league action, playing two innings of center field, but the Giants evidently decided to send him back to the minors to continue his development.

Jackson underwent Tommy John surgery in April last year, so is still rehabbing from that. The Giants signed him to a two-year deal knowing he’d likely miss the first few months of the season, so this decision to shift him to the 60-day IL is not overly surprising. It does mean the earliest he’ll return is May 31. Jackson had a breakout year in 2021, working to a 1.98 ERA over 63 2/3 innings of relief for Atlanta.

NL West Notes: Hudson, Nelson, Slater

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Dodgers reliever Daniel Hudson will begin the year on the injured list, per Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. The right-hander hasn’t pitched since June of last year, when a torn ACL ended his 2022 season early. It was reported a few weeks ago that he had also developed some ankle tendinitis over the winter. It seems he still has some work to do before getting back to health.

“There have been days where it’s just, I feel like a baby giraffe sometimes,” Hudson tells Ardaya. “Just trying to get my body — it just feels different — trying to get my body used to moving the way it did. Sometimes it just doesn’t feel like it’s moving the right way.”

Even after that torn ACL, the Dodgers had enough faith in Hudson to sign him to an extension late last year. That new deal effectively triggered their $6.5MM club option for 2023 but also added a $6.5MM club option for 2024, with incentives that could take the value up to $7.3MM. He made 25 appearances before the injury last year, posting a 2.22 ERA with a 30.9% strikeout rate, 5.2% walk rate and 53.4% ground ball rate. While the Dodgers would surely love to get that level of production back in their bullpen, it seems they will have to be patient. In the meantime, the high leverage innings will likely to go pitchers like Evan Phillips, Alex Vesia and Brusdar Graterol.

Some more notes from the National League West…

  • The Dodgers took a gamble on right-hander Jimmy Nelson by signing him to a $1.2MM major league deal recently. Over the past five years, he has generally been either injured or ineffective, but he did have one flash of brilliance in that time. In 29 innings in the 2021 season, he posted a 1.86 ERA while striking out 37.9% of batters faced. The control was definitely a concern, as he walked 11.2% of batters faced, but he was incredibly effective nonetheless. Unfortunately, Tommy John surgery in August wiped out the latter parts of that year and all of 2022. In ramping up for 2023, the control seems to be a problem once again, as he’s issued 11 walks in just five spring outings. Ardaya reports that the Dodgers are considering putting Nelson on the injured list to start the season in order to give him more time to get into a groove. Nelson has well over five years of service time and can’t be optioned without his consent, so an IL stint and rehab assignment could be a way to allow that to happen. It’s unclear whether Nelson is experiencing any kind of injury or soreness after the lost season, but he clearly needs to refine his command and the Dodgers would hardly be the first team to cite a vague injury in order to get a player on the injured list.
  • Giants outfielder Austin Slater was diagnosed with a strained hamstring on the weekend. While the club didn’t provide an estimated recovery timeline, Evan Webeck of The Mercury News reports that Slater was given a timeline of three-to-four weeks before he can return to play. With Opening Day now just over a week away, Slater will undoubtedly start the season on the injured list. This means the club will have at least two outfielders on the IL when the season begins, as Luis González will miss roughly the first half of the season due to back surgery. Mitch Haniger could make for a third outfielder on the shelf since he has an oblique strain, but it’s still unclear if he’ll be ready for Opening Day. This will test the club’s depth behind the likely front three of Mike Yastrzemski, Michael Conforto and Joc Pederson. In order to potentially address the issue, catcher Blake Sabol and infielder Brett Wisely have been getting more outfield reps of late. Webeck also mentions that Bryce Johnson is in the running. He’s a natural outfielder but isn’t currently on the roster, though he could potentially take the spot of Gonzalez, who is sure to be transferred to the 60-day IL at some point.
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