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Dodgers Place Tony Gonsolin On 15-Day IL; Activate Michael Kopech, Kirby Yates

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The Dodgers’ injury-plagued bullpen got some reinforcements today, as the team activated Kirby Yates from the 15-day injured list and Michael Kopech from the 60-day injured list.  Right-hander Chris Stratton was designated for assignment to open up space for Kopech on the 26-man and 40-man rosters, while Yates returns to take the place of yet another injured pitcher, as Los Angeles placed Tony Gonsolin on the 15-day IL due to right elbow discomfort.

Turning to Gonsolin first, the idea of another elbow issue is particular ominous for a pitcher who is only just returning from a Tommy John surgery.  Recovering from that August 2023 procedure kept Gonsolin sidelined for all of last season, and then a back injury suffered during Spring Training delayed his 2025 debut until April 30, and Gonsolin has since posted a 5.00 ERA over 36 innings and seven starts.

It is perfectly normal for pitchers to look rusty in the wake of such long absences from the mound, though there hasn’t been a lot to love about Gonsolin’s 2025 performance.  Pluses include an above-average 24.2% strikeout rate and the fact that his 93.5mph fastball velocity matches his pre-surgery career average, though Gonsolin was never a high-velo pitcher.  Beyond those numbers, Gonsolin has been allowing a lot of hard contact and been walking batters (11.2BB%) at an ungainly rate, plus the home run increase that emerged in 2023 has carried over to 2025.

Any lingering elbow issues could explain these struggles, though Gonsolin and the Dodgers can only hope that this discomfort is only a temporary problem.  Gonsolin is surely disappointed over being sidelined again so soon after returning to action, and Los Angeles has now lost another arm from its starting rotation.

Even with Kopech and Yates activated today, the Dodgers’ injured list stands heavy with pitchers, as 14 hurlers remain sidelined.  Gonsolin, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, and Roki Sasaki comprise most of the rotation names on the list, with other starters like Gavin Stone, River Ryan, and Kyle Hurt gone for 2025 due to longer-term injuries.  Emmet Sheehan had a Tommy John surgery in May 2024 and is only in the early stages of a rehab assignment, but he could be available after the All-Star break.  Shohei Ohtani has also been ramping up his throwing progression and is expected to return to pitching in the second half, and by this point, the Dodgers may need Ohtani’s arm as much as the lineup has relied on his MVP-level bat.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Clayton Kershaw, Dustin May, and Justin Wrobleski comprise the current makeshift L.A. rotation, and Ben Casparius is the likeliest candidate to get starts in Gonsolin’s place.  The question must again be asked if the Dodgers’ staff will ever reach a true breaking point on the pitching front, as the club has remarkably remained a top contender (and last year’s World Series champion) in spite of the seemingly never-ending stream of injured arms.

Getting Kopech and Yates back will at least deepen the relief corps, which recently lost former closer Evan Phillips to a Tommy John surgery.  Tanner Scott remains the Dodgers’ first choice for saves but manager Dave Roberts recently said Scott wasn’t a lock for the closer role, so an experienced former closer like Yates or perhaps Kopech might get some consideration for ninth-inning work.

Yates had a 4.34 ERA over 18 2/3 innings for the Dodgers, though his peripherals suggest that Yates has suffered from a lot of bad luck.  The right-hander returns after a three-week stint on the IL due to a hamstring strain, while Kopech is making his season debut.  Kopech dealt with some forearm soreness early in Spring Training, and then developed a shoulder impingement near the end of camp that led to his placement on the 15-day and eventually the 60-day IL as he needed more time to properly rebuild his arm strength.

Los Angeles signed Stratton to a Major League deal on May 25, and this is already the second time the righty has been DFA’ed during his brief time in Dodger Blue.  Stratton cleared waivers, opted for free agency over an outright assignment to Triple-A, and then quickly re-signed with the Dodgers just yesterday to a new contract.  After allowing a run during an inning of work in yesterday’s game, Stratton has a 6.75 ERA over four innings and three total appearances with L.A.  It could be that today’s move is a paper transaction that could see Stratton soon back with the Dodgers in a few days’ time, or he could again choose free agency and this time seek out a role on a new team.

Dodgers Notes: Gonsolin, Snell, Ohtani

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The Dodgers are set to get some rotation reinforcements this week, as manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including Mike DiGiovanna of the Associated Press) yesterday that right-hander Tony Gonsolin is expected to return from the injured list to start Wednesday’s game against the Marlins.

It will mark Gonsolin’s first appearance on a big league mound in nearly two full years. The right-hander last pitched on August 18, 2023 (against the Marlins, coincidentally) but surrendered ten runs on five homers in 3 1/3 innings of work after having pitched through arm troubles for weeks. That final difficult start capped off a six-start stretch where Gonsolin surrendered an 8.01 ERA in 30 1/3 innings of work, so it’s not hard to see the impact Gonsolin’s woes had on his effectiveness. The right-hander was placed on the IL after that mid-August start and underwent Tommy John surgery on September 1.

He missed the entire 2024 season as a result of his rehab despite flirting with the possibility of a late-season return, and entered Spring Training fully healthy and ready to battle for a rotation job this spring. Unfortunately, the injury bug once again bit him when he was hit with a bout of back tightness late in the spring. That led to another season started on the injured list, but now he looks poised to finally get back on the major league mound as a starting pitcher. That’s the role he held for the entirety of his best season in the majors, when he made the 2022 NL All-Star team on the back of a 2.14 ERA in 130 1/3 innings of work across 24 starts.

Whether he’ll keep that role long-term or move to the bullpen at some point this year remains to be seen. It wouldn’t be a shock to see a strong performance keep Gonsolin in the mix for starts all year long, but he does have some big league experience as a reliever and the Dodgers’ on-paper rotation is extremely crowded when anything close to fully healthy. When the club’s rotation mix is firing on all cylinders, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Shohei Ohtani, Dustin May, and Roki Sasaki all seem likely to be ahead of Gonsolin on the organizational depth chart. With that being said, the Dodgers’ rotation mix is far from healthy at the moment, so Gonsolin should get a reasonably long runway as he looks to earn a more permanent spot on the starting staff.

Speaking of those rotation injuries, Roberts provided reporters (including ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez) with an update regarding Snell on Friday. Per Roberts, an MRI Snell underwent earlier in the week revealed “no new findings” beyond his previously-known shoulder inflammation. The manager added that he believes the club has “dodged a bullet” by shutting Snell down before the injury became more serious. The southpaw was set to receive an injection to help battle the inflammation but has yet to begin a throwing program. That leaves a timetable for his return to action somewhat murky, though Roberts suggested that the lack of structural damage leaves the door open for a somewhat quicker return to action.

Barring further setbacks, it seems as though Snell should at least be back on a big league mound before Ohtani. The two-way superstar threw his first bullpen session since returning from paternity leave yesterday, as relayed by MLB.com’s Sonja Chen. After not throwing last Saturday during his absence, Ohtani played catch rather than throw off the mound on Wednesday and limited his bullpen session yesterday to just 31 pitches, but he’s expected to resume his regular schedule of light mound work on Wednesdays and a full bullpen session on Saturdays this coming week.

While it’s good that Ohtani has resumed throwing, it appears that there’s been little progress in terms of his actual readiness of MLB games. He’s still limited to just fastballs and splitters for the time being, and won’t advance to facing live hitters until he’s utilizing his entire pitch mix. Club GM Brandon Gomes discussed Ohtani’s slow-going rehab with reporters (including Chen) yesterday, calling it “a week-by-week process.”

“We have a general sense, we’ve got to make sure that he’s feeling good and we’re being smart so we can’t lose the offensive side of it as well,” Gomes said, as relayed by Chen. “In a lot of these rehabs, you kind of set a date and work backward. I think on this one, you’re moving forward, because it’s a one-of-one type thing.”

While the Dodgers floated the month of May as a potential timeline for Ohtani’s return during the winter, Ohtani’s pitching build up was paused prior to L.A.’s series against the Cubs in Tokyo. That pushed back his timeline, and while no dates have been floated for his return since then it seems likely that he’ll resume pitching in the majors again at some point in the second half.

Dodgers Notes: Knack, Snell, Gonsolin, Freeman

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The Dodgers recalled Landon Knack to start Wednesday’s series finale against the Nationals. The 27-year-old righty was hit hard, surrendering five runs on four hits and four walks. L.A. nevertheless managed a 6-5 win to avoid a sweep. Manager Dave Roberts said postgame that Knack will stick in the rotation for at least one more turn, as he’ll start at some point in next week’s series against the Rockies (relayed by Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic).

Knack bounced between the big league roster and Triple-A Oklahoma City throughout last season. He managed a 3.65 ERA across 69 innings as a rookie. Knack fanned 24.1% of opponents against a tidy 6.3% walk rate, but he allowed home runs at an elevated rate of 1.83 per nine innings. He’d made a two-inning relief appearance during the opening Tokyo Series. This was his first start of 2025.

The rotation spot opened when Blake Snell landed on the injured list over the weekend with shoulder inflammation. Testing has not revealed any structural damage. Roberts said on Tuesday that the two-time Cy Young winner will resume throwing at the beginning of next week (via Jack Harris of The Los Angeles Times). The injury did not require any kind of injection. The Dodgers haven’t provided a return timetable, but it appears to be a relatively minor concern — at least as far as shoulder injuries go.

Knack probably won’t hold a rotation spot for the entirety of Snell’s IL stint. Tony Gonsolin was battling for the final rotation spot until he tweaked his back lifting weights late in Spring Training. He opened the season on the IL as a result, but he has gotten through two rehab appearances without issue. Gonsolin tossed 46 pitches over 3 1/3 dominant innings in a start for OKC tonight. He allowed only one hit and walk apiece while recording seven strikeouts. He’ll make at least one more Triple-A start but should be activated within the next few weeks.

Meanwhile, Freddie Freeman will evidently be able to return from his injured list stay without a rehab stint. Roberts said this afternoon that he anticipates the Dodgers will reinstate the star first baseman before Friday’s series opener against the Cubs (via Sonja Chen of MLB.com). It’ll be a minimal 10-day IL stay after Freeman suffered a right ankle sprain. Enrique Hernández has played first in his absence. The utilityman has a bizarre .103/.163/.410 batting line over 43 plate appearances. Hernández only has four hits all season and they’ve all been home runs.

Latest On Clayton Kershaw

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Clayton Kershaw underwent two surgeries last November, addressing both his left knee (a torn left meniscus) and his left big toe (a ruptured plantar plate).  It was known that Kershaw would begin the season on the 60-day injured list and thus be sidelined until late May, but the future Hall-of-Famer shared some updates on his recovery process with Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register and other reporters yesterday.

Today will mark the first time since last season that Kershaw has faced hitters, as he’ll take part in a live batting practice session prior to the Dodgers’ game with the Tigers.  This is the latest and most notable step in a slower ramp-up process that Kershaw said was like “going through spring training right now, basically.”

“I wouldn’t say it’s perfect, but definitely getting there,” Kershaw said.  “I think overall it’s good progress.  I’m not going to be happy until I’m out on the mound.  But I think everybody – doctors and training staff – would say I’m doing what I need to be doing.”

Despite this positive view, there isn’t yet a set timeline in place for Kershaw’s return to the L.A. rotation, apart from the loose target date of the first day he is eligible to be activated off the 60-day IL.  Kershaw said the plan is to build to game action, with an eye towards being in at least a minor league rehab assignment by the time late May rolls around.

The recovery from toe surgery is the larger issue than the knee surgery, as Kershaw noted that his toe problem relates specifically to his ability to push off the rubber.  “There’s been only one or two baseball players that have had this surgery” as well, adding to the fluidity in the recovery process, even if there’s no reason yet why a late May activation wouldn’t be possible.

“It’s just kind of hard to guess when it heals compared to when you feel good enough to push off a mound.  Kind of the timeline I’ve said before is kind of what we’ve all decided on,” Kershaw said.

Kershaw signed a one-year deal worth $7.5MM in guaranteed money (with more than twice that amount available in incentives) to return for what will be his 18th season both in the majors and with the Dodgers.  He spent last winter also recovering from back surgery, and between that rehab process and then the toe issues that surfaced later in the year, Kershaw played only a limited role in the Dodgers’ championship season.  The southpaw posted a 4.50 ERA over a career-low 30 innings, and didn’t see any action in the playoffs.

Los Angeles will eventually be adopting a six-man rotation once its injured starters get healthy, though the sheer number of arms on the roster could make for quite a logjam if everyone is available.  Beyond Kershaw, Shohei Ohtani is also expected to make his return to the mound this season, even if Ohtani’s pitching ramp-up is something of a mystery at this point, even as he continues to slug away as the Dodgers’ designated hitter.  Tony Gonsolin is another rotation candidate on the mend, and he threw his own live BP session on Friday.

Gonsolin had a Tommy John surgery in late August 2023, and he missed all of last season despite some faint hopes that he might’ve been able to get back to action at the very end of September.  This seemingly paved the way for Gonsolin to be fully ready to go for this season’s opener, but he was shelved again on the 15-day IL when he hurt his back while lifting weights this spring.

“I felt like my body was feeling great….And then to have something like that non-baseball-related [injury] really sucked, honestly,” Gonsolin told Plunkett.  “I don’t really have any other words for it.  But again, it’s a minor setback, and I’ll try to take this time to build back up and get into an even better position.”

Dodgers Add Roki Sasaki To 40-Man Roster

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The Dodgers have finalized their roster in advance of their Opening Day tilt with the Cubs. Los Angeles officially added Roki Sasaki to their 40-man roster. They also selected the contract of veteran reliever Luis García, who had been in camp as a non-roster invitee.

Brusdar Graterol and Michael Grove were placed on the 60-day injured list to create the necessary 40-man openings. Grove underwent season-ending shoulder surgery last week. Graterol is recovering from a labrum procedure in his own shoulder and will not be back until the second half of the season at the earliest.

Los Angeles placed an additional seven pitchers on the 15-day IL: Tony Gonsolin (back tightness), Edgardo Henriquez (left foot fracture), Kyle Hurt (rehabbing Tommy John surgery),  Clayton Kershaw (rehabbing toe surgery), Michael Kopech (shoulder impingement), Evan Phillips (rehabbing rotator cuff strain), and Emmet Sheehan (rehabbing Tommy John surgery). With Gavin Stone and River Ryan landing on the 60-day IL during Spring Training, the Dodgers have 11 pitchers beginning the season on the injured list. Each of Kershaw, Sheehan, Hurt and potentially Henriquez figure to land on the 60-day IL eventually.

By and large, these are procedural moves. The only real decision is their call to carry García in the bullpen. The hard-throwing righty inked a minor league deal that came with a $1.5MM base salary if he made the team. He didn’t have a great camp, allowing three runs with a trio of strikeouts across 5 1/3 innings. The Dodgers were nevertheless encouraged enough by his stuff to add him to Dave Roberts’ middle relief group.

García divided his 2024 season between the Angels and Red Sox. The 38-year-old pitched reasonably well for the Halos, working to a 3.71 earned run average through 43 2/3 innings. He posted roughly average strikeout (22%) and walk (7.7%) rates with a strong 51.2% ground-ball percentage. Things went sharply downhill in Boston. García missed a couple weeks late in the season with elbow inflammation. He was tagged for 15 runs across 15 1/3 innings in a Sox uniform. That pushed his season ERA to an unimpressive 4.88 mark through 59 frames.

Sasaki was not previously on the 40-man roster as a quirk of the international amateur system. The same age restriction that capped his signing bonus to a modest $6.5MM also limited him to signing a minor league contract. The Dodgers were never going to send him to Triple-A, of course, but he was technically in Spring Training as a non-roster invitee. Sasaki took the ball twice in exhibition play. He fired seven scoreless innings with seven strikeouts and three walks.

The touted 23-year-old righty will make his major league debut on Wednesday night in his home country (3:10 a.m. Pacific in the U.S.). He’ll go opposite Justin Steele in the second game of the season. It’ll be a matchup of Japanese-born starters Tuesday night at the Tokyo Dome, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto taking the ball against Shota Imanaga.

Dodgers Option Hyeseong Kim

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The Dodgers optioned infielder Hyeseong Kim and right-hander Bobby Miller this evening. They also reassigned non-roster invitees Giovanny Gallegos, Eddie Rosario, David Bote, Michael Chavis and top prospect Dalton Rushing to minor league camp.

Additionally, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports that Dustin May will open the season as the fifth starter as Tony Gonsolin is ticketed for an injured list stint. Manager Dave Roberts told Dodgers Territory yesterday that was likely to be the case, as Gonsolin recently tweaked his back while lifting weights.

Kim entered camp as the favorite for the second base job. The Dodgers signed the lefty-hitting infielder to a three-year deal that guaranteed $12.5MM. While that’s a relatively modest investment, L.A. traded Gavin Lux to Cincinnati a few days later. That seemingly opened the path for Kim to step in at the keystone, but the Dodgers evidently have some concerns about how his bat will translate to open the season.

Offensive impact has been the question dating back to Kim’s time in Korea. Evaluators credit him as a good baserunner and plus defender. He hit .304 over eight KBO seasons but was never much of a power threat. Last season’s 11 home runs represented a career high. The 26-year-old infielder struck out 10 times in 31 plate appearances during his first MLB camp. He hit .222 with one homer in 14 spring games.

Starting Kim in the minors provides Roberts some flexibility at second base. The Dodgers could turn to any of Miguel Rojas, Enrique Hernández or Chris Taylor — all of whom would otherwise play utility roles. Alternatively, they could bring Tommy Edman back in from center field to play second. That’d open center field for Andy Pages or James Outman, but neither of them have had especially impressive Spring Trainings.

The Gonsolin injury resolves L.A.’s biggest camp battle: the fifth starter competition between him and May. Both pitchers missed all of last season rehabbing surgeries. Gonsolin underwent a 2023 Tommy John procedure. May required a flexor repair in ’23 and needed to undergo emergency esophageal surgery last summer after suffering a life-threatening throat tear while eating. His season debut will be his first major league appearance in nearly two years.

May rounds out what will be a five-man rotation for the time being. Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki and Blake Snell will hold the top four rotation spots. Yamamoto and Sasaki are respectively tabbed for Games 1 and 2 during next week’s Tokyo Series matchup against the Cubs.

Poll: The Dodgers’ Rotation

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The Dodgers have long been expected to utilize a six-man rotation this year in order to accommodate Shohei Ohtani, and have accordingly assembled a deep group of arms. Last week, however, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman revealed that, with Ohtani not expected to debut as a pitcher until sometime in May, the Dodgers intend to open the season with a five-man rotation. Four of those spots will go to Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, and Roki Sasaki. That fifth spot appears to be up for grabs, with the two leading candidates being a pair of arms that missed the 2024 season entirely due to injury: right-handers Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin.

The duo have been on very similar tracks for much of their respective careers. Drafted in the third and ninth rounds of the 2016 draft respectively, May and Gonsolin were both top-100 prospects for the Dodgers who made their big league debuts in 2019 and looked good in their brief cups of coffee. May posted a 3.63 ERA in 34 2/3 innings, while Gonsolin posted a 2.93 ERA in 40 innings. Both took on larger roles in 2020 and finished top-five in NL Rookie of the Year voting that year.

It was at the outset of the 2021 season where the pair’s careers begin to diverge. May has routinely been brilliant when healthy, but “when healthy” is a key caveat. May has started just 20 games and thrown 101 innings total over the past four seasons. That’s mostly been due to multiple elbow surgeries, and just when his arm looked to be healthy last summer, he suffered an esophageal tear that required surgery and sidelined him for 2024.

Gonsolin has been healthy long enough to build up a more sustained track record, but that playing time has come with ups and downs. In 2021, the righty posted a strong 3.23 ERA but a 4.54 FIP due in no small part to a bloated 14.2% walk rate. Gonsolin was sensational in 2022, logging a 2.14 ERA in 24 starts (130 1/3 innings) as he cut his walk rate by more than half and struck out a solid 23.9% of opponents faced. The success was short-lived. Gonsolin struggled badly across 20 starts in 2023 before undergoing his own Tommy John surgery, which wiped out his entire 2024 season.

May brings excellent rate stats to the table, with a 3.21 ERA (132 ERA+), a 3.59 FIP, and a 24.1% strikeout rate over that aforementioned stretch of 2020 starts between surgeries. He’s also just 27 years old. Between that youth and his limited on-field reps to this point in his career, it’s not outlandish to suggest that May could have a higher ceiling than even his strong career numbers suggest. Gonsolin has more experience pitching in big league games. The 31-year-old’s phenomenal 2022 season is also by far the best work either player has put forward in a given season. May has five-plus seasons of MLB service and can’t be optioned without his consent. Gonsolin will reach that same threshold 20 days into the season but for now has one minor league option left.

There are other candidates for the fifth spot, but none come close to matching the experience of May and Gonsolin. Bobby Miller is a former top prospect who delivered a strong 2023 season, but he was one of the worst pitchers in baseball last year. Landon Knack, Ben Casparius, and Justin Wrobleski are all healthy and available as depth starters after each debuted in 2024. Of the three, only Knack has substantial big league playing time under his belt. The 27-year-old’s 3.65 ERA in 69 innings last year could make him the next man up behind May and Gonsolin, but he still appears to be further down the depth chart than the two returning righties.

It’s worth reminding that franchise legend Clayton Kershaw is slated to start the season on the 60-day IL. Younger arms like Emmet Sheehan, Kyle Hurt and River Ryan are all recovering from Tommy John surgery performed during the 2024 season. Gavin Stone had shoulder surgery in October and isn’t likely to pitch this year. Fellow righty Nick Frasso is a well-regarded arm but isn’t likely to be in the Opening Day rotation mix after missing the 2024 season due to shoulder surgery performed last offseason. That length list of arms is a testament to the organization’s depth and also a good reminder that whoever opens the season as the No. 5 starter is hardly a lock to hold a rotation spot all season. The Dodgers will probably cycle through 12-plus starters this season.

Be that as it may, there’s plenty of intrigue surrounding the Opening Day staff. Assuming everyone remains healthy, how do MLBTR readers think the Dodgers’ fifth starter battle will play out? Will the club go for May’s upside and relative youth? Will they instead turn to Gonsolin’s more substantial MLB track record in hopes he can replicate his All-Star 2022 campaign? Will one of the less-experienced arms break out and claim the role? Have your say in the poll below:

Dodgers To Begin Season With Five-Man Rotation

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The Dodgers intend to begin the season with a five-man starting staff, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman told reporters (links via Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic and Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register). While they still intend to eventually move to a six-man rotation, that’ll wait until May.

L.A. had previously indicated they’d run a six-man staff all year. That’d allow Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki to stay close to the schedule they had in Japan, where starters pitch once per week. It’s also designed to avoid overworking a rotation full of pitchers who have notable injury histories. However, the early-season schedule allows skipper Dave Roberts to keep everyone’s workload in check organically.

The Dodgers and Cubs open the regular season with a two-game set at the Tokyo Dome on March 18-19. Los Angeles is expected to turn to Yamamoto and Sasaki, respectively, to pitch in their home country. They then have a week before their domestic season opener, which’ll be on March 27 against Detroit. The schedule builds in an off day on Monday, March 30, followed by days off for each of the next five Thursdays. They have a few stretches of six consecutive game days but won’t play more than that until running 10 straight from May 2-11.

Sticking with a five-man rotation allows them to carry an eighth reliever. Teams are limited to 13 pitchers. As a two-way player, Shohei Ohtani doesn’t count against the limit. He’s still working back from 2023 elbow surgery and last year’s postseason shoulder injury. He’ll be limited to hitting for the first few weeks of the season. Going with a six-man rotation while Ohtani is not pitching would cap them at a seven-man bullpen.

Ohtani could be ready to make his return to the mound at some point in May. That’d align with when the Dodgers are looking to move back to a six-man rotation and would permit them to keep the eight-man bullpen all year. Friedman unsurprisingly said the Dodgers weren’t going to push Ohtani’s recovery just to meet a specific deadline. It’s better to operate with a seven-man bullpen for a while than risk pushing Ohtani’s arm too quickly. The return timetable might line up anyways with when the schedule becomes more demanding.

In the short term, the five-man staff seemingly introduces a camp battle between Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May for one rotation job. The front four will be filled by Yamamoto, Sasaki, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow. That’d leave Gonsolin, May, Landon Knack, Bobby Miller, Justin Wrobleski and Ben Casparius as healthy rotation options.

May has more than five years of service, meaning the Dodgers cannot send him to the minors without his approval. The rest of the back-end starters do have options. Gonsolin would reach the five-year service mark after collecting another 20 days on the MLB roster. At that point, he’d be able to refuse a minor league assignment as well.

If everyone stays healthy during Spring Training, that could push one of May or Gonsolin to the bullpen. An Ohtani return coinciding with the move to a six-man rotation could keep it that way, though it’s likely they’ll have encountered some kind of injury trouble by that point. Roberts said the Dodgers view May and Gonsolin as starters but left open the possibility of kicking one into long relief once the season gets started.

Both pitchers missed the 2024 season to injury. Gonsolin underwent an ill-timed Tommy John surgery in August ’23. May underwent a flexor tendon repair the month before that. He was gearing up for a midseason return last summer before a surprising July announcement that he’d undergone season-ending surgery to repair a tear in his esophagus.

May discussed that scary incident with Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times. The 27-year-old righty said it occurred in a fluke manner while he was having a salad for dinner. A piece of lettuce lodged awkwardly in his throat and ended up piercing his esophagus when he tried to wash it down with a sip of water. May credited his wife Millie with encouraging him to go to the emergency room, where doctors realized the severity of the injury and rushed him into surgery. May told Harris he’s not sure that he would have survived the night had he not had the emergency operation. The column is worth a full read, as May discussed both his offseason trajectory and the perspective he gained from such a harrowing experience.

Players Avoiding Arbitration: 11/22/24

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The deadline for teams to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players is tonight at 7pm CT. Throughout the day, we’ll surely see a handful of arb-eligible players agree to terms with their clubs to avoid a hearing.

These so-called “pre-tender deals” usually, although not always, involve players who were borderline non-tender candidates. Rather than run the risk of being cut loose, they can look to sign in the lead-up to the deadline. Those salaries often come in a little below projections, since these players tend to have less leverage because of the uncertainty about whether they’ll be offered a contract at all.

Under the 2022-26 collective bargaining agreement, players who sign to avoid an arbitration hearing are guaranteed full termination pay. That’s a change from prior CBAs, when teams could release an arb-eligible player before the season began and would only owe a prorated portion of the contract. This was done to incentivize teams and players to get deals done without going to a hearing.

All salary projections in this post come via MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz. This post will be updated throughout the day/evening as deals are announced and/or reported.

  • The Mets announced that they have agreed to a one-year contract with right-hander Sean Reid-Foley, though salary figures have not yet been reported. He was projected for a $900K salary next year after posting a 1.66 ERA but in just 21 2/3 innings due to injury.
  • The Rangers announced they avoided arbitration with right-hander Josh Sborz, who was projected for a $1.3MM salary next year. He’ll come in just shy of that at $1.1MM, per Jeff Wilson of Rangers Today (X link). He underwent a shoulder debridement procedure recently, per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News (X link) and will likely miss the first two or three months of 2025.
  • The Tigers and infielder Andy Ibanez have agreed to a salary of $1.4MM next year, per Francys Romero (X link). That’s a shade below his $1.5MM projection. Ibanez hit .241/.295/.357 in 99 games for the Tigers in 2024.
  • The Guardians avoided arbitration with right-hander Ben Lively, per Paul Hoynes of cleveland.com (X link). He’ll make $2.25MM next year, below his $3.2MM projection. Lively had a 3.81 ERA in 151 innings for the Guards this year.
  • The Cubs and right-hander Julian Merryweather have avoided arbitration by agreeing to a salary of $1.225MM, per Jesse Rogers of ESPN (X link). That’s just shy of his $1.3MM projection. Merryweather had a 6.60 ERA in 2024 but was injured most of the time and only made 15 appearances. He had a solid 3.38 ERA the year prior in 72 innings. The Cubs also agreed to terms with catcher Matt Thaiss and righty Keegan Thompson, per Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune (X link), though salary figures have not yet been reported.
  • The Blue Jays got a deal done with right-hander Erik Swanson, per Shi Davidi of Sportsnet on X. The righty was projected for $3.2MM next year but will make a smidge less than that, with Keegan Matheson of MLB.com (X link) relaying that Swanson will make $3MM. He had a 5.03 ERA in 2024 but was at 2.97 the year prior and also finished this year strong, with a 2.55 ERA in the second half.
  • The Yankees reached agreement with center fielder Trent Grisham on a $5MM salary, reports Jorge Castillo of ESPN (on X). The deal contains another $250K in incentives. The two-time Gold Glove winner had been projected at $5.7MM. Grisham had an underwhelming .190/.290/.385 showing during his first season in the Bronx. The Yankees will nevertheless keep him around for his final year of arbitration, presumably in a fourth outfield capacity. The Yankees also announced that they have a deal with righty JT Brubaker, though figures haven’t been reported. He was projected for a salary of $2.275MM, the same figure he made in 2023 and 2024, two seasons he missed while recovering from Tommy John surgery.
  • The Rockies reached deals with outfielder Sam Hilliard and lefty reliever Lucas Gilbreath, Feinsand reports (on X). Hilliard gets $1MM, while Gilbreath signed for $785K. Both figures come in shy of the respective $1.7MM and $900K projections. Hilliard popped 10 home runs over 58 games as a depth outfielder. Gilbreath only made three appearances after missing the entire ’23 season to Tommy John surgery. He posted a 4.19 ERA across 43 innings two years ago.

Earlier Agreements

  • The Dodgers and right-hander Tony Gonsolin have agreed to a $5.4MM salary for 2025, per Robert Murray of FanSided (X link), an exact match for his projection. He had signed a two-year, $6.65MM deal to cover the 2023 and 2024 seasons. He made 20 starts for the Dodgers in the first year of that pact but he missed all of 2024 recovering from Tommy John surgery.
  • The Guardians and Sam Hentges have agreed to a $1.337MM deal, according to Robert Murray of FanSided. That’s right in line with his projected $1.4MM salary. The left-hander has been an effective reliever for Cleveland over the past three seasons (2.93 ERA, 2.82 SIERA, 138 IP), but he missed the latter half of 2024 with a shoulder injury. After undergoing surgery in September, he will miss the entire 2025 season.
  • The Orioles and infielder Emmanuel Rivera agreed to a $1MM deal, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. He’d been projected at $1.4MM. He hit .238/.312/.343 this year.
  • Right-hander Brock Stewart and the Twins agreed to a one-year deal worth $870K, MLBTR has learned. He’d been projected at $800K. Stewart, who missed much of the season due to injury, can earn another $30K via incentives. He’s been lights-out for the Twins when healthy over the past two seasons (2.28 ERA, 33.5 K%, 10.8 BB%). Minnesota and righty Michael Tonkin also agreed to a $1MM deal, tweets Jon Heyman of the New York Post. He’d been projected at $1.5MM. The Twins later announced that they had reached deals with Stewart, Tonkin and righty Justin Topa. Hewas projected for $1.3MM next year but will come in just shy of that in terms of guarantee. Per Bobby Nightengale of the Star Tribune (Bluesky link), it’s a $1.225MM guarantee in the form of a $1MM salary and then a $225K buyout on a $2MM club option for 2026.
  • The Padres and Tyler Wade agreed to a one-year deal worth $900K, Heyman tweets. There’s a club option for an additional season. Wade, who hit .217/.285/.239 in 2024, was projected for that same $900K figure.
  • Infielder Santiago Espinal and the Reds settled on a one-year deal at $2.4MM, Heyman tweets. That’s well shy of his $4MM projection and actually represents a slight pay cut after Espinal hit .246/.295/.356 for Cincinnati.
  • The Rangers and righty Dane Dunning agreed to a one-year deal worth $2.66MM, Heyman reports. It’s a 19% cut after Dunning struggled to a 5.31 ERA in 95 innings this past season. He was projected at $4.4MM.
  • The Giants and right-hander Austin Warren agreed to terms on a one-year deal, reports Justice de los Santos of the San Jose Mercury News. He missed most of the season recovering from Tommy John surgery but returned late with 10 2/3 innings of two-run ball out of the bullpen.
  • The Brewers announced that they’ve signed catcher/outfielder Eric Haase to a one-year deal for the upcoming season. ESPN’s Jesse Rogers reports that the deal guarantees Haase $1.35MM with the chance to earn more via incentives. He’d been projected for a $1.8MM salary. Haase will fill the backup catcher role in Milwaukee next season. He’s controllable through the 2027 season.
  • The Dodgers and right-hander Dustin May settled at $2.135MM, per Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic (X link). That’s the exact same salary he had in 2024. May will be looking to bounce back after spending all of this year on the injured list.
  • The Phillies and right-hander José Ruiz settled at $1.225MM, per Robert Murray of FanSided (X link). That’s slightly above his $1.2MM projection. The righty can also unlock a $20K bonus for pitching in 30 games and $25K for pitching in 40. He made 52 appearances for the Phils in 2024 with a 3.71 ERA. Philadelphia also announced agreement with backup catcher Garrett Stubbs on a one-year deal. The Phils did not reveal the salary figure. Stubbs hit .207 in 54 games this year.
  • The Tigers and infielder/outfielder Zach McKinstry agreed to a $1.65MM salary for 2025, per Robert Murray of FanSided (hat tip to Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press on X). That’s slightly ahead of his $1.3MM projection. He hit .215/.277/.337 this year while stealing 16 bases and playing each position except or first base and catcher,

Roberts: Tony Gonsolin “In The Mix” For Dodgers’ NLCS Roster

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As the Dodgers plan out their NLCS roster ahead of the first game of the series tomorrow, manager Dave Roberts spoke to reporters about the club’s plans for the upcoming best-of-seven set. Among the options the club is considering for the roster, according to Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic, is right-hander Tony Gonsolin.

Gonsolin, who has spent the entire 2024 season to this point rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, began a rehab assignment in September and built up to 50 pitches in those games but was more or less ruled out for the postseason by Roberts two weeks ago, when he indicated that “something really unforeseen” would need to happen in order for Gonsolin to pitch in the playoffs. Evidently, the swath of injuries to the club’s pitching staff that have occurred since then constitute a sufficiently unforeseen circumstance that the Dodgers are once again considering the right-hander for a role in the postseason rotation.

Roberts (as relayed by Ardaya) ruled out both Joe Kelly and Brusdar Graterol for the NLCS this evening when discussing the club’s options, and right-hander Michael Grove is ineligible to return before the World Series after being removed from the club’s NLDS roster due to injury. ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez was among those to relay that Roberts added lefty Alex Vesia to the growing list of hurlers expected to be unavailable for the NLCS, as he’s dealing with an intercostal injury that Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times notes left Roberts to express optimism Vesia may be able to return for the World Series if the club advances.

Michael Kopech, Blake Treinen, Evan Phillips, Ryan Brasier, Anthony Banda, Daniel Hudson, Ben Casparius, Edgardo Henriquez, and Landon Knack all were on the club’s NLDS roster and figure to once again be available for the club’s upcoming series against the Mets, and with each of Jack Flaherty, Walker Buehler, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto expected to reprise their roles in the club’s rotation that leaves just one open spot to be filled by either Gonsolin or Brent Honeywell Jr. though it’s certainly feasible that Henriquez or Casparius could also be left off the roster to accommodate the addition of both arms.

That may be a wise decision for the club at this point, as Roberts noted (as relayed by Jack Harris of the L.A. Times) that Yamamoto will not be pulled off his current schedule of five days off between starts. Those required days off between starts would leave Yamamoto able to start just one game in this series, meaning that the club will have to turn to its relievers to handle as many as two games this series assuming that Flaherty and Buehler make two starts each. The addition of multi-inning arms like Gonsolin and Honeywell, then, could provide the club with some much-needed length out of the bullpen that they currently only stand to get out of Knack.

In 37 2/3 innings of work spread between 20 appearances with the Dodgers and Pirates this year, Honeywell has pitched to an excellent 2.63 ERA but has done so with lackluster peripherals, including a 12.1% strikeout rate and a 4.28 FIP. Gonsolin, meanwhile, hasn’t pitched in the majors since the middle of the 2023 campaign but sports a career 3.19 ERA and 3.99 FIP 79 appearances (including 71 starts) in the majors since he made his debut back in 2019. The righty’s postseason resume is lackluster, however, as he’s surrendered a 9.20 ERA in 14 2/3 frames during the playoffs throughout his career.

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