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Giants Claim Reiver Sanmartin, Justin Dean

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The Giants have claimed reliever Reiver Sanmartin and outfielder Justin Dean off waivers from the Reds and Dodgers, respectively. They opened a 40-man roster spot by designating righty Mason Black for assignment. The moves were relayed by Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area.

Sanmartin, 29, has pitched parts of four MLB campaigns with Cincinnati. He has only made one big league appearance over the past two seasons, tossing 1 2/3 frames while allowing an unearned run against the Blue Jays on September 2. The Colombian-born southpaw otherwise pitched the entire season with Cincinnati’s top farm team in Louisville. He had a strong year, working 67 1/3 innings of 2.67 ERA ball behind a 58.7% ground-ball rate.

Dean is a speed and defense center fielder who just won a World Series with Los Angeles. He got into 18 regular season games and made 13 more appearances in the postseason. They only let him bat twice — he went 0-2 with a strikeout — but clearly valued him as a depth piece. The 28-year-old Dean (29 next month) has a full slate of minor league options and is coming off a .289/.378/.431 showing with 27 steals in Triple-A.

The moves probably spell the end of Black’s time in San Francisco. He’s a former third-round pick who was viewed as one of the organization’s more talented pitching prospects when he was called up in 2024. Black struggled to a 6.44 ERA across 36 1/3 innings during his debut season. He only pitched once in the big leagues this year, instead struggling to a 5.81 earned run average over 30 appearances (24 starts) in Triple-A.

Black will be traded or placed on waivers within the next five days. There’s a decent chance another team takes a flier. He turns 26 next month and still has a minor league option. Black sits around 93 MPH as a starter but could be a speculative relief target. He has posted middling Triple-A numbers in consecutive seasons but fanned nearly a third of opposing hitters in Double-A back in 2023.

Dodgers Notes: Rotation, Bench, Hernandez

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The Dodgers don’t yet know whether they’ll be heading to Milwaukee to face the Brewers or welcoming the Cubs into Dodger Stadium for Monday’s series opener of the NLCS, but that’s not stopping them from making plans for the series. In particular, manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including MLB.com’s Sonja Chen) this afternoon that he expects the club to carry at least one more pitcher on their roster for the upcoming series after carrying 11 (plus Shohei Ohtani) in the NLDS against the Phillies.

That will consequently mean shortening up a bench that was six players deep during this past series. Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register suggests that utility man Hyeseong Kim and outfielder Justin Dean are the most likely candidates to be left off the NLCS roster. Kim, 26, has a wRC+ of 95 in 71 regular seasons games this year in his rookie campaign after signing with the Dodgers out of South Korea during the offseason. He’s primarily played second base this year but has also made cameos at shortstop and in center field. Dean, meanwhile, has just two plate appearances in the majors this year as he’s been used almost exclusively as a pinch runner by Los Angeles. He does have a stolen base this postseason, however, while Kim has made just appearance so far across L.A.’s two series.

Alex Call, Ben Rortvedt, and Miguel Rojas have all drawn starts in the playoffs already and seem likely to once again be parts of the bench mix headed into the NLCS. Dalton Rushing has seen virtually no playing time so far, but might be needed insurance for the Dodgers at the catcher position given that Will Smith is playing through a hairline fracture in his throwing hand. Keeping Rushing on the roster would mean that the Dodgers will have two catchers available even if Smith needs a game or two off at some point to manage the injury. Without a three-catcher setup, a day or two off for Smith would likely necessitate a placement on the injured list, which would then make him unavailable for the World Series if the Dodgers were to advance.

One player that definitely won’t be removed from the roster, it seems, is utility man Enrique Hernandez. Hernandez has served as the club’s starting left fielder this postseason and, while he’s known to have been nursing a day-to-day back injury since the Wild Card series against Cincinnati, Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic relays that Hernandez is doing fine in spite of that injury and that the days off between the end of the NLDS and the start of the NLCS should help him get healthy. Hernandez has long been excellent in the postseason and that hasn’t changed this year, with a .318/.400/.409 slash line (132 wRC+) across 25 plate appearances.

Turning back to the rotation, Roberts indicated to reporters (including Chen) that despite both Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto needing extra rest built in between their starts, he does not anticipate the Dodgers needing more than four starters for their upcoming seven game set. That quartet figures to be the aforementioned duo of Ohtani and Yamamoto, plus Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow. Clayton Kershaw and Emmet Sheehan have both been available to provide length out of the bullpen so far, and headed into the NLCS it’s possible someone like Ben Casparius or Andrew Heaney is added to the playoff roster to give the team another long relief option.

Will Smith, Justin Dean Make Dodgers’ Wild Card Roster; Michael Conforto Left Off

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Catcher Will Smith and outfielder Justin Dean are on the Dodgers’ Wild Card roster for their series against Cincinnati. Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reported Smith is expected to be used as a pinch-hitter off the bench. Notable absences from Los Angeles’ 26-man squad include outfielder Michael Conforto and lefty reliever Anthony Banda. Clayton Kershaw will also be watching the Wild Card series from the sidelines.

Smith was placed on the injured list in early September after taking a foul ball off the hand. Follow-up testing revealed a hairline fracture that ultimately kept him out of game action for the rest of the regular season. Manager Dave Roberts said Smith would take live at-bats this week to determine his availability for the postseason. Apparently, Smith showed he was capable of contributing in the Wild Card round, at least as a hitter. The Dodgers are also carrying catchers Ben Rortvedt and Dalton Rushing.

Having Smith’s bat in the mix, even as just a pinch-hitter, should be a big boost for the Dodgers. The 30-year-old backstop put together a career year at the plate, slashing .296/.404/.497 with a 153 wRC+. Smith was hitting over .300 beyond the All-Star break until a sluggish August brought down his numbers. Rortvedt is a glove-first option, and Rushing hasn’t lived up to his prospect pedigree as a rookie, so both could cede at-bats to Smith if they come up in a big spot. It’s unclear when Smith will be able to return to the lineup in a defensive capacity.

Conforto put together a solid September to make a late bid for the Wild Card roster, but came up short. He finished the regular season with a .199 batting average and just 12 home runs. Conforto put together a strong season in San Francisco last year, earning him a 1-year, $17MM deal to stay in California with the rival Dodgers. He was signed to provide a left-handed complement to LA’s righty-heavy outfield group, but fell well short of expectations.

The Dodgers opted for a more dynamic player in their final outfield spot, with Dean making the team. The 28-year-old spent seven seasons in Atlanta’s minor league system before joining Los Angeles via minor league free agency. He made 18 appearances with the big-league club, all of which came as a pinch runner or defensive sub. Dean went 1-for-1 as a base stealer and showed plenty of prowess swiping bags in the minors. He’s posted three separate minor league seasons with 35+ steals, including a career-high 61 swipes across two levels in 2024.

Kershaw is the most prominent name to be left of the Dodgers’ Wild Card roster, but another lefty might be the biggest snub. Banda was a solid contributor in LA’s bullpen for a second consecutive year. He finished the regular season with a 3.18 ERA across a career-high 71 appearances. The Dodgers have coaxed an extra tick on the fastball out of Banda, and the results have been the best of his tumultuous MLB career. Banda’s handedness seems to be the main culprit for his exclusion from the roster. The Dodgers will carry four lefty relievers in the first round, with closer Tanner Scott joined by Jack Dreyer, Alex Vesia, and Justin Wrobleski. The bullpen has been a frequent talking point this season after the unit finished with an ugly 4.27 ERA.

One new face among the LA relievers will be Roki Sasaki. The right-hander rejoined the team last week after missing four months with a shoulder injury. He transitioned to a bullpen role near the end of his rehab assignment and made a pair of effective relief appearances following his return to the MLB squad. Sasaki’s fastball velocity was up considerably in his two relief outings. After sitting at 94.8 mph in his final start back in May, he averaged over 99 mph out of the ’pen. Sasaki could be a real weapon in shorter stints this postseason.

Dodgers Activate Tommy Edman From Injured List

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6:22pm: Manager Dave Roberts tells reporters (including Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times) this afternoon that Edman, who is in center field today, may be on the grass on a regular basis going forward against left-handed pitching. He added that Edman could also see time at second base depending on how he looks running full-speed following his ankle injury.

5:39pm: Dodgers utility man Tommy Edman is being activated from the injured list today, the club announced today. Rookie center fielder Justin Dean was optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding move to make room for Edman on the roster.

Edman, 30, joined the Dodgers in a three-team trade with the White Sox and Cardinals last year. In 123 regular season games since then, Edman has slashed .231/.285/.403 with 18 homers, nine steals, and a 17.9% strikeout rate in 485 plate appearances. That’s good for only a wRC+ of 90, although it’s worth noting that Edman hit .328/.354/.508 during the Dodgers’ World Series run last year and even earned NLCS MVP honors for his work against the Mets.

The switch-hitter was signed to an extension during the offseason that guaranteed him $74MM over five seasons. That might seem like a hefty price to pay for a player who is typically below average offensively, but Edman makes up for his less than impactful bat by being a Gold Glove caliber defender capable of playing virtually any position on the diamond. He’s primarily played second base and shortstop throughout his career, but also has more than 600 innings of work both in center field and at third base over the course of his career.

After splitting time fairly evenly between shortstop and center field last year, Edman has mostly played second base with semi-regular reps in center and at the hot corner during the 2025 campaign. That’s when he hasn’t been on the injured list, as the Dodgers have needed to get through much of the season without him on the roster due to a pair of ankle injuries. The most recent occurred in early August and has left him shelved for just over a month. Now that he’s healthy, he joins a Dodgers lineup that also recently saw Will Smith and Max Muncy some back from injuries of their own.

With both Edman and Muncy back in the fold to handle regular duties at second and third base, that could leave rookie Hyeseong Kim without a regular position in the lineup. The Dodgers have at times in recent weeks suggested that Kim could get looks in left field over struggling veteran Michael Conforto. Perhaps that will come to pass now that Edman has returned to bump Kim off the keystone, given his 78 wRC+ on the year and similarly mediocre performance in recent weeks. Regardless of what sort of domino effects Edman’s return from the injured list might have on the Dodgers’ lineup down the stretch, it can only be a good thing for Los Angeles to have a deeper cache of options from which to work as they look to stave off the Padres in the NL West and defend their 2024 World Series championship in October.

As for Dean, the 28-year-old rookie has appeared in 18 games with the Dodgers this year. That work has almost exclusively been as a pinch runner and defensive replacement, as Dean has just two MLB plate appearances to his name that saw him go 0-for-2 with one strikeout, though he is 1-for-1 on the basepaths in the majors. A 17th rounder plucked by the Braves organization during the 2018 draft, Dean has parts of four seasons at Triple-A under his belt where he’s slashed .233/.340/.350 with 57 steals in 69 attempts. He’ll head back to the minor leagues for the time being, but could still be an option for the Dodgers off the bench later this year if the need for a speedster arises.

Dodgers Designate Luken Baker For Assignment

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The Dodgers have designated first baseman Luken Baker for assignment, per a team announcement. He’d been claimed off waivers from the Cardinals just this past Monday. Baker’s spot on the 40-man roster will go to outfielder Justin Dean, whose previously reported promotion from Triple-A Oklahoma City is now official. Outfielder Esteury Ruiz was optioned to Triple-A to open an active roster spot for Dean.

Baker, 28, is a 2018 second-rounder who’s posted some big Triple-A numbers at times but has never gotten a real look in the majors. The Cardinals gave him brief auditions each year from 2023-25, but he’s never reached 100 plate appearances in a big league season. He’s totaled 189 trips to the plate and owns a .206/.317/.338 batting line in that time.

Though this year’s minor league production is down — .197/.311/.399 in 270 plate appearances — Baker slugged 32 home runs in 108 Triple-A games in 2024. A year prior, he drilled a whopping 33 home runs in only 84 Triple-A games while batting .334/.439/.720. The Cardinals still never found much of an opportunity for him — not with Paul Goldschmidt entrenched at first base and the combination of Willson Contreras, Alec Burleson and Nolan Gorman all seeing frequent time at designated hitter (in addition to occasional time there from Goldschmidt).

Baker has immense raw power but has typically hit for low averages, even in Triple-A (excluding that Herculean 2023 performance). He’s played in parts of five seasons at the top minor league level and turned in a .249/.334/.507 slash in that time. This is Baker’s final minor league option year, so while he can be shuttled from Triple-A to the majors freely for the remainder of the year, he’d need to stick on a big league roster beginning on Opening Day next year (unless he’s passed through waivers first). The Dodgers will place Baker on waivers within the next five days.

Dodgers Likely To Select Justin Dean

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The Dodgers are likely to promote outfielder Justin Dean before tomorrow’s series opener with the Blue Jays, reports Dodger Daily. According to the MLB.com transaction tracker, L.A. optioned Esteury Ruiz to Triple-A Oklahoma City this evening. That’ll open the necessary active roster spot, but they’ll also need to make a 40-man move to select Dean’s contract.

It’d be the first major league call for the 28-year-old Dean. A product of Division II Lenoir-Rhyne University in North Carolina, Dean was a 17th-round pick by the Braves in 2018. He doesn’t have huge power in a 5’8″ frame, but he’s a plus runner who can play a good center field. Dean spent seven seasons in the Atlanta system without getting an MLB look. He qualified for minor league free agency last winter and signed a non-roster contract with the Dodgers.

Dean has spent the entire season at Triple-A Oklahoma City. He’s hitting .274/.370/.426 with six homers while stealing 25 bases in 32 attempts. The righty batter has taken walks at a strong 12% rate while striking out 23% of the time. He’s chasing fewer pitches outside the strike zone and making a lot more contact than he did last season in the Atlanta system. Dean has logged over 500 innings in center field and added 136 frames in right.

Ruiz had been the last position player on the roster as a speedster off the bench. Dean should provide a superior defensive option in a fifth outfielder role.

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