Dustin May

Dodgers Notes: Gonsolin, Treinen, May, Almonte, Bickford

By Maury Ahram | September 28, 2022 at 8:54pm CDT

The Dodgers plan to welcome back All-Star Tony Gonsolin soon, as noted by Jack Harris of the LA Times. Manager Dave Roberts relayed information to reporters earlier today, stating that Gonsolin’s most recent rehab start “went really well,” and that the Dodgers aim to have Gonsolin start Monday’s game against the Rockies, pitching around 3 innings, and hope to have him stretched out to 4 innings in time for the NLDS.

Before being placed on the injured list in late August, Gonsolin was pitching a fantastic season and likely would have been a serious Cy Young contender. In his first full season starting, Gonsolin has pitched to a 2.49 ERA, 23.7 K%, 7.2 BB% in 128 1/3 innings (23 starts) en route to his first All-Star appearance.

Elsewhere on the Dodgers:

Reliever Blake Treinen, who has missed most of the 2022 season, is still progressing in his return from shoulder tightness since being placed on the injured list, retroactive to September 7th. Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reported that Treinen played catch yesterday, and, while it went fine, Treinen’s ability to come back this year will depend on how his shoulder responds in the next few days. Limited to just 5 innings this season, Treinen was dominant last season, working to a 1.99 ERA in 72 1/3 innings with a 29.7% strikeout rate. With Craig Kimbrel having lost the closing job in Los Angeles, the late-season addition of Treinen, if he’s able to make it back, may help the Dodgers plan their postseason roster
As Dustin May works to return from lower back tightness that forced his placement on the 15-day IL on September 24th, the flamethrowing righty said that he’s “completely confident” that he will be healthy for the NLDS, per Harris. May said he is progressing in his rehab, but is unsure as to the role he might have when he returns. Roberts informed reporters the Dodgers would prefer to use a four-man rotation in the NLDS (Harris link), and Clayton Kershaw, Julio Urías, and Tyler Anderson seem destined to fill out three of those spots. The last starting role appears to be up for grabs amongst Andrew Heaney, Gonsolin, and May.
The Dodgers activated Yency Almonte from the 15-day IL earlier today, with the right-handed relief pitcher returning to the active roster after dealing with elbow tightness in his pitching arm. In his first season with the Dodgers, the 28-year-old has pitched to a 1.15 ERA in 31 1/3 innings (29 appearances) with an above-average 24.6% strikeout rate. In a corresponding move, RHP Phil Bickford has been placed on the 15-day injured list with right shoulder fatigue. Bickford has seen heavy usage out of the pen, pitching 61 innings (60 appearances) with a 4.72 ERA while striking out opposing batters at a strong 27.1% clip. Bickford’s move to the IL ends his regular season.

NL West Notes: Anderson, Gonsolin, May, Almonte, Bumgarner, Gonzalez

By Mark Polishuk | September 25, 2022 at 4:21pm CDT

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts spoke with reporters today, and shed some light on the Dodgers’ pitching plans and health situations heading into the postseason. Tyler Anderson was confirmed as part of the playoff rotation, as since Tony Gonsolin is still recovering from a forearm strain, Roberts said Gonsolin will throw no more than four innings in a game, if that. Dustin May (who just went went on the injured list yesterday due to back tightness) is slated for a bullpen role if he is healthy enough to participate.

Yency Almonte might be activated from the 10-day injured list during the Dodgers’ series against the Padres that begins on Tuesday, Roberts said. Almonte hasn’t pitched since August 3 due to elbow tightness, but the right-hander had a rehab outing scheduled for today with Triple-A Oklahoma City. In his first season in Los Angeles, Almonte has become an underrated piece of the bullpen mix, posting an excellent 1.15 ERA over 31 1/3 innings.

Some more from around the NL West…

Madison Bumgarner has thrown his last pitch of the 2022 season, as while he isn’t injured, Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo told MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert (Twitter links) and other reporters that the D’Backs will use younger starters in Bumgarner’s usual rotation spot. While Bumgarner avoided injury for the first time in his three Arizona seasons, there wasn’t much to love about the left-hander’s performance, either from a bottom-line (4.88 ERA in 158 2/3 innings) or Statcast perspective — Bumgarner did pitch generally well in the first half of the season before fading after the All-Star break. The Diamondbacks owe Bumgarner $37MM over the 2023-24 seasons, the two final years of the five-year, $85MM free agent deal that has thus far been a bust for the club.
The Giants placed outfielder Luis Gonzalez on the 10-day injured list yesterday, as a lower-back strain has ended Gonzalez’s season. This is the second time back problems have sent Gonzalez to the IL this season, as Giants manager Gabe Kapler told Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle and other reporters that Gonzalez had “been dealing with it ever since he even got off the IL, and I just think he was a more explosive, dynamic player going into that injury….He really has earned the right to be out there, he’s battled less than optimal physical condition to give us everything he’s had.” In both his first season in San Francisco and in his first season with real Major League playing time, Gonzalez hit a respectable .254/.323/.360 over 350 plate appearances. As Kapler noted, the back injury certainly impacted Gonzalez’s performance — he had an .808 OPS in 180 PA prior to his first IL stint, and just a .552 OPS in 170 PA after returning to action in early July.

Dodgers Place Dustin May On Injured List

By Mark Polishuk | September 24, 2022 at 7:00pm CDT

The Dodgers have placed right-hander Dustin May on the 15-day injured list due to lower back tightness. The team also announced that righty Andre Jackson was called up from Triple-A to take May’s spot on the active roster.

May is now ineligible to pitch again during the regular season, though his postseason availability could hinge on his health. Since Los Angeles already has a bye in the first round, May will get some extra time to rest and recover before the Dodgers have to make their roster decisions for the NLDS. Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times reports that May has a strained muscle in his lower back, and it isn’t yet known if the strain will impact his readiness for the playoffs, but the Dodgers are hopeful May will be ready.

May has already missed a lot of time with injury over the last two seasons, due to a Tommy John surgery back in May 2021. The right-hander made it back to action in August, and has a 4.50 ERA, 22.8% strikeout rate, and 11% walk rate over 30 innings in 2022. While these numbers are nothing to write home about, May’s velocity and spin rates are all still looking good in the wake of his TJ rehab.

The regular season has been a rousing success for the Dodgers, but they now face more pitching uncertainty as the playoffs loom. Tony Gonsolin has a minor league rehab start scheduled for Tuesday after missing a month due to a forearm strain, so the All-Star could be on his way back to action, though nothing will be certain until Gonsolin gets onto the mound. Ideally, Julio Urias, Clayton Kershaw, and Gonsolin would be the Dodgers’ top three starters in a playoff series, with Tyler Anderson likeliest for fourth starter duty. Andrew Heaney, May, or rookie Michael Grove would be lined up for long relief or emergency-starter depth, but as we’ve seen from past postseasons, the Dodgers are generally pretty flexible with pitcher roles in big games.

Dodgers Reinstate Dustin May, Designate Reyes Moronta

By Darragh McDonald | August 20, 2022 at 1:50pm CDT

The Dodgers announced that right-handed pitcher Dustin May has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. In a corresponding move, fellow right-hander Reyes Moronta was designated for assignment.

May, 24, has finished his long journey back from Tommy John surgery. It was reported earlier this week that the club was planning to reinstate May to take the hill today. He will jump back into a rotation that certainly has its strengths but also has its concerns. Julio Urias, Tony Gonsolin and Tyler Anderson are all having great seasons, but Walker Buehler is done for the season. Clayton Kershaw is also on the IL, currently working his way back. Andrew Heaney is currently with the club but has only made eight starts on the year between various IL stints.

As for Moronta, 29, he had a tremendous showing with the Giants in 2018 and 2019 but has faced adversity in the subsequent seasons. Over that ’18-’19 stretch, he threw 121 2/3 innings with a 2.66 ERA and 29.3% strikeout rate. That also came with a high 13.8% walk rate, though it was still a very encouraging breakout, with Moronta racking up 27 holds in that stretch.

Since then, shoulder surgery kept him from appearing in the 2020 season before a flexor strain limited him to just four innings last year. He was outrighted by the Giants and elected free agency, signing with the Dodgers on a minor league with a $1.5MM guarantee if he made the active roster.

Moronta did indeed crack the roster, getting selected towards the end of April. Since then, he’s thrown 23 2/3 innings for the Dodgers, though he hasn’t quite returned to his previous form. Through 23 2/3 innings, he has a 4.18 ERA. He’s still getting strikeouts at a healthy 27.6% clip, but is also still giving out walks at a 10.2% rate. The key difference might be the long ball, however, as Moronta has allow five this season after only allowing eight over that two-year stretch with the Giants.

Despite that increase in homers, Moronta could find plenty of interest on the waiver wire, given that he still has the ability to set down batters on strikes. He’s still owed roughly $370K for the remainder of the season, not a huge sum by MLB standards. He could also be retained into the future for any team that believed in him. He came into this year with exactly four years of MLB service time but wasn’t called up until a few weeks into the season. That means he could be retained via arbitration for another two seasons by any club that wanted to give him a shot. Since the trade deadline has now passed, the Dodgers will have no choice but to put him on outright waivers or release waivers in the coming days.

Dodgers Planning To Reinstate Dustin May On Saturday

By Anthony Franco | August 15, 2022 at 8:02pm CDT

The Dodgers plan to activate righty Dustin May from the 60-day injured list to start Saturday’s game against the Marlins, manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including Fabian Ardaya of the Athletic). It’ll be his first MLB appearance in over 15 months, as the 24-year-old has been out of action since undergoing Tommy John surgery in May 2021.

One of the game’s top pitching prospects by the time he reached the majors in 2019, May has excelled in his limited big league looks to date. He broke in as a swingman in 2019, starting just four of his 14 appearances that year. May picked up 10 starts (out of 12 outings) during the shortened 2020 season, and he was a full-fledged member of the rotation for the first month last year before incurring the elbow injury.

An elite ground-ball artist, May posted a sparkling 2.62 ERA with a slightly above-average 24.9% strikeout rate over his first two big league campaigns. That was promising enough, but he looked as if he might be emerging as an ace-caliber hurler through the first month of 2021. Averaging just under 99 MPH on his fastball, May struck out an eye-popping 37.6% of batters faced while racking up grounders on 56% of the batted balls he did allow through his first five starts. He posted a 2.74 ERA over that stretch, but he was forced out of his fifth outing with the injury that eventually cost him over a year of action.

May returned to a professional mound around 14 months later, making his first rehab appearance with the Dodgers complex league team. After two innings there, he reported to Triple-A Oklahoma City for another three weeks to build back into MLB shape. May has made five starts with OKC, tossing 19 frames of four-run ball with a 33:6 strikeout-to-walk ratio. More important than the results, he’s built back to five innings in each of his last two starts, tossing 68 and 70 pitches, respectively. It’s unlikely the Dodgers will count on him to run a pitch count in the triple digits right out of the gate, but a 75-85 pitch outing against Miami could be in the cards. May figures to progressively build his pitch count from there and should have ample time to transition to a traditional starter’s workload before the postseason gets under way.

If he can immediately recapture his 2021 form, May would prove a huge boost for a club that again has World Series aspirations. They were dealt a tough blow with the revelation that Walker Buehler needs to undergo elbow surgery and won’t return this season. Still, the team has gotten sub-3.00 ERA performances from all three of their starters to eclipse 100 innings this year: Julio Urías, Tony Gonsolin and offseason signee Tyler Anderson. Pair that trio with May, a likely late-season return from Clayton Kershaw — who continues to dominate when healthy enough to take the mound — and some small sample excellence from Andrew Heaney, and the Dodgers still have the potential to run five or six very strong starters out in October. If everyone’s healthy, one or two members of that group figure to trickle over into the bullpen, which itself ranks fourth in the majors with a 3.16 ERA.

Dodgers Place Clayton Kershaw On Injured List, Reinstate Chris Taylor

By Anthony Franco | August 6, 2022 at 4:24pm CDT

TODAY: Kershaw’s MRI didn’t reveal any serious damage, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya (Twitter links) and other reporters. As Roberts put it, this is the “best-case scenario” for Kershaw’s injury, though the southpaw also received an epidural injection in his back. A timetable still isn’t known for Kershaw’s return.

AUGUST 5: The Dodgers announced they’ve placed Clayton Kershaw on the 15-day injured list, citing low back pain. Utilityman Chris Taylor is back from his own IL stint to take the vacated active roster spot. Los Angeles also recalled reliever Reyes Moronta from Triple-A Oklahoma City and optioned outfielder James Outman.

Kershaw lands on the IL for the second time this season. He lost around a month between early May and June with inflammation in his right hip area. The future Hall of Famer returned and went on to make ten more starts before yesterday’s outing. After throwing four innings of two-run ball in an eventual win over the Giants, Kershaw went out to the mound for his warm-up tosses to start the fifth. He pulled himself from the game after experiencing some pain in his lower back, and that issue will apparently keep him out of action for at least the next few weeks.

The team hasn’t provided a timetable on Kershaw’s return, and the announced diagnosis of “low back pain” remains nebulous. They’ll surely be cautious with the 34-year-old, particularly since he’s landed on the injured list at least once in each season since 2016. That included stints for back issues every year between 2016-18. With a 12 1/2 game lead over the Padres in the NL West, the Dodgers can feel comfortable playing things slowly with key players for the final couple months.

While Kershaw no longer takes on the kind of workloads he did during his prime, he’s still among the sport’s best pitchers on a rate basis. Through 85 1/3 innings this season, the three-time Cy Young winner carries a 2.64 ERA with an above-average 26.2% strikeout rate and 48.5% ground-ball percentage. Kershaw’s fastball is sitting in the 90 MPH range, but he owns arguably the game’s best command and hasn’t walked more than 6% of batters faced in a season for a decade.

Kershaw’s trip to the IL leaves Julio Urías, Tony Gonsolin, Tyler Anderson and Andrew Heaney as the rotation’s top four for the time being. Ryan Pepiot and Michael Grove are depth options at Triple-A, and the club seems likely to welcome hard-throwing righty Dustin May back in the not too distant future. Manager Dave Roberts told MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM this afternoon that May is likely to return by the club’s August 19-21 series against the Marlins (Twitter link). The 24-year-old has been out all season recovering from May 2021 Tommy John surgery, but he’s been on a rehab stint since mid-July. Roberts indicated he’s likely to make two more starts in Oklahoma City before returning to the big league club, although he left open the possibility May rejoins the MLB team after just one more Triple-A appearance.

Taylor makes his return to the starting lineup, exactly a month after fracturing his left foot. It’s a quick bounceback for an injury of that magnitude, and Roberts suggested he’ll get the nod at second base tonight. It’ll be Taylor’s first infield appearance of the season, as he’s worked exclusively on the grass this year. Taylor has logged 502 innings in left field, along with 57 and 56 frames in center and right, respectively.

Of course, Taylor made a name for himself with his defensive flexibility in previous seasons. He’s capable of playing virtually everywhere on the diamond other than catcher, and it seems the club is content to get him back onto the infield on occasion. Gavin Lux and Trea Turner make for an excellent middle infield duo, with Max Muncy playing primarily third base as Justin Turner landed on the IL on Tuesday. Taylor will presumably spend the bulk of his time in the outfield still, but the ability to log some action on the dirt will allow Roberts more flexibility in managing infield reps. The 31-year-old will try to get going offensively after his month away, as he carries a .238/.319/.409 line with a huge 35.4% strikeout rate across 285 plate appearances on the year.

Juan Soto Talks Between Padres, Nationals Reportedly Gaining Momentum

By Steve Adams | August 2, 2022 at 10:33am CDT

10:33am: There’s growing momentum in talks between the Padres and Nationals, according to Mark Feinsand of MLB.com and Jim Bowden of the Athletic. No deal has yet been finalized, but Jon Heyman of the New York Post hears similarly that there’s “optimism” the Padres can pull off a deal.

7:41am: There is a “growing sense” that the Padres are the likeliest landing spot for not only Soto but also Josh Bell, tweets Barry Svrluga of the Washington Post. There’s some momentum in those talks, he adds. Similarly, the Post’s Jesse Dougherty tweets that the Nationals are beginning to narrow the field.

San Diego, of course, already has Eric Hosmer installed at first base, but they’ve been trying for more than a year to unload the remainder of that contract. Speculatively speaking, if the Nats truly want to maximize the return on Soto (and perhaps Bell), they could be the ones to absorb the remaining three years and $39MM on Hosmer’s contract themselves. The trio of Hosmer, Patrick Corbin and Stephen Strasburg would be a lot of underwater contracts for one team, of course, but the Nats have little else on the payroll in the immediate future.

7:12am: Major League Baseball’s trade deadline is now under 12 hours away, and the Juan Soto trade possibility that has captivated the entire sport and its fanbase remains unresolved. As of yesterday, the Soto auction was generally believed to be a three-team bidding war, with the Padres, Cardinals and Dodgers all reported to be heavily involved. That doesn’t preclude another team (or teams) from jumping in to make a late push, of course; it’d frankly rate as something of a surprise if that didn’t happen, in fact. Teams will miss out on other targets, priorities will pivot, and stances on “off limits” prospects will soften.

Up until this point, a sticking point for the Cardinals has been their unwillingness to include young outfielder Dylan Carlson and their very best prospects, Jon Morosi of MLB.com tweets. The 23-year-old Carlson is known be of interest to the Nats as an immediate outfield plug-in, and as a former first-round pick and top-10 overall prospect (per Baseball America), that’s not surprising — even if he’s been more of a solid regular than a star to this point in his young career. The switch-hitting Carlson is batting .260/.334/.426 dating back to last season, and he’s cut down his strikeout rate considerably this season.

Carlson can be controlled another four years beyond the current season and is capable of handling all three outfield spots. There’s perhaps a sense that given his youth and pedigree, he has another gear that he’s not yet tapped into. Further clouding the Cardinals possibility, Jon Heyman of the New York Post suggests that Washington may not be as high on lefty Matthew Liberatore as others in the industry; The Athletic’s Jim Bowden wrote something similar a couple weeks back.

Turning to the Padres, the health of one of their own top young arms, southpaw MacKenzie Gore, is a potential complication. Gore has been shut down with with an elbow strain. He’s expected to avoid surgery, but the specter of an arm injury for a potential key pitcher in the deal has surely altered the Nats’ valuation. The Padres, meanwhile, are now over the luxury-tax threshold after their stunning addition of Josh Hader yesterday. They’ve reportedly been loath to cross that line for a second consecutive season. However, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale suggests that if it means acquiring both Hader and Soto, the Padres “won’t mind blowing completely past” the tax line.

Over in Los Angeles, the Dodgers have become increasingly optimistic about their chances over the past couple days, per Jack Harris of the L.A. Times. The Dodgers’ perennially deep farm system is rife with top prospects — they have seven of Baseball America’s top 100 farmhands at the moment — and they also possess controllable young big leaguers of potential interest. Both Harris and Heyman suggest infielder Gavin Lux (four more years of team control) and righty Dustin May (nearing return from Tommy John surgery, with three more years of control) as potential targets for Washington.

As of yesterday morning, the Yankees were reported to be a “long shot,” the Rangers weren’t said to be particularly aggressive, and Mariners president Jerry Dipoto had gone on record to suggest his team is unlikely to land Soto. Adding to that list of teams that inquired but seems unlikely to be a serious player, Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that the Guardians looked into Soto but talks never gained traction. Washington was interested in top Cleveland pitching prospect Daniel Espino, but health was again a factor in talks, as he’s been out since April due to a knee injury.

Injury Notes: Montas, Brantley, Eflin, Springs, Beeks, May

By Mark Polishuk | July 17, 2022 at 10:31pm CDT

With the trade deadline approaching, Frankie Montas’ health status is of particular interest to both the Athletics and several other teams around baseball. The right-hander tossed just one inning on July 3 and hasn’t pitched since, due to shoulder inflammation. The A’s resisted placing Montas on the 15-day injured list, and it seems as though he could return as early as Thursday, when Oakland opens the second half with a doubleheader against the Tigers.

Montas received a cortisone shot as part of his recovery, and things went “really well” during a bullpen session yesterday, A’s manager Mark Kotsay told the San Francisco Chronicle’s Matt Kawahara and other reporters. The club will continue to observe Montas over the All-Star break, but for now, it would seem like Montas is on pace to get back onto the mound. Assuming regular rest, Montas would be on pace to make at least two starts prior to the August 2 deadline, though it’s also possible the Athletics could rest him if a trade is close.

More injury notes from around baseball…

Right shoulder discomfort sent Michael Brantley to the 10-day IL back on June 27, but the Astros outfielder still “didn’t feel right” while trying to swing last Thursday, manager Dusty Baker said. “Right now, he’s in the same spot, no worse….That was the shoulder he got operated on years ago. He’s still a little sore,” Baker told MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart and other reporters. Brantley had shoulder surgeries in both 2015 and 2016, which limited him to only 11 games in 2016 and also delayed his return in 2017. There isn’t yet any sense that this current injury is anywhere near as serious, however, though speculatively, Houston could perhaps look out for outfield help at the deadline should they have any longer-term concerns over Brantley’s health.
Zach Eflin threw a simulated game yesterday, but Phillies manager Rob Thomson told reporters (including Alex Coffey of the Philadelphia Inquirer) that Eflin came out of the session feeling a little sore, and team doctors will examine him tomorrow. Eflin was placed on the 15-day IL on June 26 due to a right knee bruise, and Eflin is another player with a lengthy surgical history, as the righty underwent knee procedures in both 2016 and 2021.
Rays manager Kevin Cash updated reporters (including Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times) about a pair of pitching injuries, noting that Jeffrey Springs is expected to be activated during the Rays’ first series after the All-Star break. Springs’ placement on the 15-day IL (for tightness in his lower right leg) was retroactive to July 7, so the southpaw looks like he’ll miss just the minimum amount of time. Cash also thinks Jalen Beeks will miss only 15 days, after Beeks went to the IL just today with a similar leg injury.
Dustin May threw two innings of Arizona Complex League action yesterday, marking the first in-game action in his recovery from Tommy John surgery in May 2021. May’s minor league rehab assignment is expected to last at least a month, the Orange County Register’s Bill Plunkett writes, but he could be an option for the Dodgers down the stretch. As president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman recently told Plunkett and other reporters, “our plan is to build [May] up, have him start for us and then evaluate as we go,” possibly adjusting usage based on the Dodgers’ needs (in the regular season or the playoffs) and May’s health.

NL Notes: Wainwright, Dodgers, Phillies

By Mark Polishuk | February 3, 2022 at 8:40pm CDT

A 2022 season shortened by the lockout would have a statistical impact on every player, particularly veteran names like Adam Wainwright. The Cardinals veteran is looking forward to one final season with retiring longtime teammate Yadier Molina, and if the duo joins forces for 20 more Wainwright starts, they’ll set a new record for most games started by a battery (breaking the Mickey Lolich/Bill Freehan mark of 324 starts). “Any time you can say you had the most all-time ‘anything’ in baseball is a real accomplishment,” Wainwright told Rick Hummel of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I just look so much forward to having an opportunity to break that record with my buddy, Yadi. I hope we get enough starts to make that happen. We just need the season to start.”

To this end, Wainwright is hopeful of a good result in labor talks between the league and players, but feels “these owners are going to have to come around, though. They’re kind of crazy with their asks. I guess when you own the company, you want to see how far you can stretch it. The game of baseball is a very lucrative thing for players and owners. The ones that get left out of that are always the fans, unfortunately. Baseball sometimes just needs to get out of its own way and realize we could be the only show going.”

Though a delay to the start of Spring Training seems inevitable, Wainwright is continuing to work out as usual as he prepares for his 17th big league campaign. This work was temporarily delayed by a recent bout of COVID-19, though Wainwright said his symptoms were relatively mild.

More from around the National League….

“The Dodgers seem to be positioning themselves to have a young wave of pitching ready in the second half of next season,” The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya writes, citing Dustin May’s return from Tommy John rehab and the impending big league debut of prospect Ryan Pepiot. Los Angeles hasn’t been shy about immediately putting its young arms into key roles in the rotation or bullpen, so Ardaya believes the Dodgers will look to acquire a veteran “stopgap” kind of starter to cover some innings before the youngsters arrive. Clayton Kershaw’s free agency also continues to loom over the L.A. offseason, yet Ardaya feels the Dodgers would “likely” still try to land that second-tier arm even if Kershaw also re-signs with the team. Such moves would give the Dodgers six starters on paper (with Kershaw and the stopgap joining Walker Buehler, Julio Urias, Andrew Heaney, and Tony Gonsolin) before even considering the likes of May or Pepiot, though having a surplus would be a welcome problem for a Dodgers team that had its depth thinned by injuries in 2021.
The Phillies hired Chris Fonnesbeck as the top analyst in their research and development department earlier this offseason, The Athletic’s Matt Gelb reports. Fonnesbeck worked in the Yankees’ analytics department from 2019-21, and also spent the 2018 season working as a consulting analyst for the Brewers. The Phils have put a new focus on their analytics team this winter, hiring Arirudh Kilambi as the team’s new assistant GM and putting him in charge of R&D.

Dodgers Notes: Friedman, Payroll, Betts, Roberts, Heaney, Injuries

By Mark Polishuk | November 11, 2021 at 10:32am CDT

Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman spoke with reporters (including The Los Angeles Times’ Mike DiGiovanna, The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya, and The Orange County Register’s Bill Plunkett) about several topics surrounding the team, including how much payroll might be available to acquire or re-sign premium players this winter. Unsurprisingly, Friedman didn’t state any kind of dollar figure, noting that he has yet to receive an official budget for 2022. That said, he noted that “our [ownership] group has demonstrated at every single turn its strong desire to win, and this year will be no different. What that means in terms of an actual payroll number, I’m not sure, but I feel confident we’ll have the requisite talent to be a real championship competitor.”

By far the biggest spenders in baseball in 2021, the Dodgers soared over the Competitive Balance Tax threshold with an approximated $275MM tax number. While it isn’t clear if L.A. will quite hit those payroll heights again, it seems very likely that the Dodgers will pay more tax penalties next year considering how much money is already on their books. Of course, we also don’t know what the luxury tax threshold will even be next year, or if the CBT will be altered as players and owners negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement.

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