Dodgers Re-Sign Clayton Kershaw
February 12: Ronald Blum of the Associated Press reports the specifics on Kershaw’s performance bonuses and escalators. The future Hall of Famer would earn a $1MM bonus for his sixth start next season, $1.5MM for each of his next three starts, and $2MM if he reaches 10 starts. A relief appearance in which he accrues at least nine outs also qualifies, protecting Kershaw in the event he follows an opener.
The $5MM base value of his 2025 player option would escalate based on his ’24 workload by the following amounts:
- $2MM for six starts
- $3MM apiece for seven through nine starts
- $4MM for 10 starts
If he exercises the option, the deal includes additional bonuses for 2025 depending on the number of starts he makes in each of the next two years.
February 9: Clayton Kershaw is heading back to the Dodgers. The team announced Friday that the left-hander has re-signed on a two-year guarantee — the second season of which is a player option. Kershaw, a client of Excel Sports Management, is recovering from November shoulder surgery and isn’t expected to pitch until the second half of the season, at the earliest. He’s reportedly guaranteed $10MM on the pact: $5MM in each season of the deal.
Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that Kershaw’s 2024 incentives are contingent on him making six to ten starts this season. Any increases to this year’s base salary will also be reflected in the value of his player option. Sherman further adds that between those escalators and incentives specific to the 2025 season, Kershaw could earn as much as $25MM in year two of the contract. That’d give him a total earning power of $37.5MM over the two years of the contract.
Kershaw can boost that 2024 salary to $12.5MM based on the number of games he starts this season. The number of games he starts can also boost the base value of his 2025 player option. Right-hander Tony Gonsolin was moved to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man roster spot for Kershaw. If and when the Dodgers need another 40-man spot, Kershaw himself can be transferred to the 60-day IL.
Assuming he’s able to suit up at some point in the second half, the 2024 season will be Kershaw’s 17th pitching for the Dodgers, who selected him with the No. 7 overall pick in the 2006 draft. Injuries have begun to take their toll on Kershaw, who hasn’t reached 30 starts in a season since 2015, but the quality of his results remains largely constant. From 2009-15, Kershaw averaged 32 starts per year, won four straight ERA titles and took home three Cy Young Awards. Since 2016, he’s averaged just 24 starts per 162-game season but maintained a brilliant 2.55 ERA — including sub-2.50 marks in three of the past four seasons.
Kershaw clearly wasn’t pitching at 100% for much of the 2023 season. A shoulder strain landed Kershaw on the injured list in July, and manager Dave Roberts candidly acknowledged in September that he was pitching at less than full strength. Los Angeles limited Kershaw to five innings per start for all but one start in his return from the injured list (a 5 1/3-inning outing in his final appearance of the season). Along the way, Kershaw’s average fastball dipped to career-low levels; he averaged just 89.4 mph on his fastball in his return — including just an 88.7 mph average through his final four starts.
Diminished velocity notwithstanding, Kershaw remained quite effective. In eight post-IL starts he turned in a pristine 2.23 ERA. His 22.2% strikeout rate and 11.1% walk rate were both a ways from his pre-injury levels (27.7%, 6.3%), but Kershaw looked to making the most of what he had to offer on any given day. He didn’t allow more than three runs in any of those final eight appearances and in fact held opponents to one or zero runs in six of them. The D-backs ambushed him for six runs in the first inning of his lone NLDS start, however, ending his season on a low point.
It’s not yet clear when Kershaw might be able to rejoin the Dodgers’ staff, though they’ll presumably provide an update when announcing his deal and discussing it with the media. A returning Kershaw in the second half will provide some high-end insurance for a Dodgers rotation that is teeming with uncertainty. Right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto will be adjusting to a new culture and a new league in his debut campaign this year. Right-hander Walker Buehler is in his first full season back from Tommy John surgery. Southpaw James Paxton is a perennial injury risk. Young righties Bobby Miller, Emmet Sheehan, Gavin Stone and Kyle Hurt haven’t pitched full big league seasons.
As already noted, Kershaw won’t be the only potential second-half addition for the Dodgers. The aforementioned May underwent a Tommy John revision and flexor tendon repair in early July but could potentially be back for the stretch run. Gonsolin, who underwent Tommy John surgery in late August, feels like a longer shot to make it back but could potentially do so in a bullpen capacity if his rehab plays out in a best-case scenario.
The Dodgers are set to pay the luxury tax for a third straight season and are already well into the final tier of luxury tax penalization. As such, any dollars committed to Kershaw will be taxed at a 110% rate. That apparently won’t be a deterrent as they welcome the future Hall of Famer back for a 17th season.
In 2712 2/3 innings though his big league career, Kershaw owns a 210-92 record, a 2.48 ERA, a 27.6% strikeout rate and a 6.3% walk rate. He’s a ten-time All-Star with five NL ERA titles, three Cy Young Awards and a National League MVP Award under his belt.
Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman of the New York Post first reported the Dodgers and Kershaw had reached an agreement. The Athletic’s Andy McCullough reported the presence of a 2025 player option. Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reported the terms of the deal.
Tony Gonsolin To Undergo Tommy John Surgery
The Dodgers announced that Tony Gonsolin will undergo Tommy John surgery. The procedure will be performed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache on Friday.
Gonsolin was already known to be out for the remainder of the 2023 season. The club had announced his injury as forearm inflammation when first placing him on the IL last week. They transferred him to the 60-day IL yesterday to close the book on this year.
Now, it seems unlikely he’ll be a factor again until 2025. A Tommy John procedure typically comes with a recovery time pushing or exceeding 14 months. Perhaps he’d be able to make a return late next season, but the safer bet is that he’ll spend the entire ’24 campaign on the 60-day injured list.
Arm injuries have been an unfortunately recurring theme for Gonsolin during his five-year big league career. He lost a couple months early in 2021 with shoulder inflammation. He posted a 3.23 ERA in 15 starts that year and was healthy for the first part of 2022. Gonsolin turned in an All-Star first half and worked to a sparkling 2.14 ERA through 130 1/3 innings. A forearm strain sent him to the IL in late August.
Gonsolin returned at the end of September and made a start in L.A.’s playoff series loss to the Padres. His 2023 debut was delayed by an unrelated ankle sprain, though he returned in late April. The 29-year-old worked 103 innings across 20 outings, struggling to his first below-average season. He allowed just under five earned runs per nine while striking hitters out at a career-low 18.9% clip while his average fastball speed dipped from 93.1 MPH to 92.4 MPH. Things spiraled from late June onward, as Gonsolin allowed four-plus runs in eight of his 11 outings before being placed on the IL.
The Dodgers have now lost a pair of their expected top five starters to forearm surgeries. Dustin May underwent a flexor tendon procedure in early July. The Dodgers indicated May could be back midway through the ’24 season.
Los Angeles was certain to address their rotation next offseason even if May and Gonsolin had been healthy. Clayton Kershaw is an impending free agent, and while the Dodgers would surely have interest in re-signing him, the three-time Cy Young winner will first need to decide whether he wants to suit up for a 17th season. Julio Urías will be one of the top starters in next winter’s free agent class, while the Dodgers will have to make a net $17MM decision on an option for Lance Lynn.
The Dodgers could welcome Walker Buehler back in short stints next month and transition him back to the rotation for ’24. Rookie Bobby Miller has pitched well enough to stake a claim to a spot. That leaves as many as three jobs still to be sorted out between free agency, trade and some combination of Ryan Pepiot, Emmet Sheehan, Gavin Stone, Michael Grove and perhaps a prospect like Nick Frasso or Landon Knack. The pitching pipeline is strong enough they won’t be short on options, but they’ll obviously need to fortify the starting staff with additional certainty.
Gonsolin signed a two-year deal to cover his first couple arbitration seasons in January. He’s guaranteed a $3.4MM base salary for next year. That deal contained up to $3MM in start-based incentives which he won’t be able to trigger even if he makes a late-season return. Even beyond the lengthy rehab process, the absence will be fairly costly for the right-hander. He’ll remain eligible for arbitration through the 2026 campaign.
Dodgers Claim Tyson Miller, Move Tony Gonsolin To 60-Day IL
The Dodgers announced that they have claimed right-hander Tyson Miller off waivers from the Mets. To create roster space, Tony Gonsolin was moved to the 60-day injured list, officially ending Gonsolin’s season.
Gonsolin was placed on the 15-day IL on August 19 due to right forearm inflammation, and since manager Dave Roberts said at the time that Gonsolin probably wouldn’t pitch again in 2023, the shift to the 60-day IL isn’t a surprise by any means. The exact nature of Gonsolin’s injury isn’t quite known, and Roberts today told the Orange County Register’s Bill Plunkett and other reporters that the right-hander had undergone an MRI. Some type of surgical procedure is being considered, and if Gonsolin did get this surgery, it would impact when he might able to return to the mound in 2024.
The possibility of a longer-term injury is obviously an unfortunate setback for Gonsolin, who has already struggled through a difficult 2023 season that included a sprained ankle in Spring Training and some recurring elbow pain that led to his placement on the IL. Gonsolin was an All-Star in 2022 but clearly wasn’t himself this year, finishing with a 4.98 ERA over 103 innings.
The Dodgers are in first place in the NL West despite a storm of pitching injuries this season, and the possibility of Gonsolin now missing at least some time next year creates another wrinkle in their 2024 plans. Julio Urias and Clayton Kershaw will be free agents, Lance Lynn could be a free agent if L.A. doesn’t exercise an $18MM club option on his services, and Dustin May will be out until midseason after undergoing flexor tendon surgery this past July. That leaves Walker Buehler (who aims to be back from Tommy John surgery before this season is over) and a host of youngsters like Ryan Pepiot, Gavin Stone, Bobby Miller, Emmet Sheehan, and Michael Grove all in the mix for rotation jobs. Los Angeles certainly isn’t going into a season with such an unproven set of pitchers, so adding some front-of-the-rotation experience will be a key part of the Dodgers’ winter business.
Miller is back with the Dodgers less than a month after he was claimed away by New York off waivers. Los Angeles previously acquired Miller from the Brewers in July after Milwaukee designated the righty for assignment, so it has quite a whirlwind of organizational change for the 28-year-old in less than two months’ time.
Amidst all these moves, Miller has a 5.40 ERA over 13 1/3 combined innings with the Brewers, Dodgers, and Mets this season. Now in his third MLB season, Miller previously appeared with the Cubs in 2020 and the Rangers in 2022, with his 2021 campaign split between the Cubs’ and Rangers’ Triple-A affiliates. Miller has a 4.04 ERA over 594 2/3 career minor league innings, including a 4.11 ERA in 30 2/3 frames of Triple-A work this season.
Tony Gonsolin Placed On IL With Elbow Injury, Unlikely To Return This Year
The Dodgers announced that they have placed right-hander Tony Gonsolin on the 15-day injured list with right forearm inflammation, recalling left-hander Bryan Hudson in the corresponding move. Right-hander Ryan Pepiot is up as the club’s “27th man” for today’s double-header. Manager Dave Roberts says that it’s unlikely Gonsolin will return this season, per Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic.
The move to the IL doesn’t come as a total shock, as that seemed to be the plan after yesterday’s game, as Ardaya laid out. But the exact nature of Gonsolin’s injury wasn’t exactly clear. His velocity is clearly down, with his fastball averaging 92.4 mph this year, the lowest of his career. The results have also been poor, with his 4.98 earned run average more than double last year’s 2.14 mark. But the club didn’t provided any specific diagnosis, only saying that the issue is related to his elbow. Now he’s not only going on the injured list but it seems his season is likely to be done.
More information on the injury will likely be forthcoming, but it seems like 2023 is destined to go down as a disappointing follow-up to his 2022 breakout. Last year, he threw 130 1/3 innings over 24 starts. As mentioned, he allowed just 2.14 earned runs per nine innings, striking out 23.9% of opponents while walking just 7% and keeping the ball on the ground at a 43.1% clip.
Here in 2023, he began the season on the injured list thanks to a sprained ankle, getting activated in late April. In addition to his ERA jumping to 4.98, all of his rate stats have gone in the wrong direction. He’s striking out just 18.9% of batters faced while issuing walks at a 9.2% clip and getting grounders on 36% of balls in play. The club seemingly tried to get him to pitch through this ailment but last night’s start appears to have been a proverbial coffin nail, with Gonsolin allowing 10 earned runs in 3 1/3 innings against the Marlins.
Regardless of the specifics, this is the latest in a series of injuries to the Dodger rotation this year. Dustin May was able to make nine starts this year before requiring flexor tendon surgery that will keep him out until next summer. Michael Grove is currently on the injured list due to lat tightness. Clayton Kershaw and Julio Urías each spent time on the IL earlier this year, but both are back now.
Kershaw and Urías are joined in the rotation by rookie Bobby Miller and deadline acquisition Lance Lynn. The departure of Gonsolin will require the club to find a fifth starter at some point. Pepiot, who himself missed the first few months of the season due to an oblique strain, seems to be the likeliest option. Roberts told reporters, including Ardaya, that Pepiot could stick around after joining the club today for their hurricane-induced double-header. Ryan Yarbrough and Gavin Stone are also possibilities.
The Dodgers are still in excellent shape for the year, currently sporting a record of 74-47. That’s the second-best mark in the National League and gives them a lead of 10.5 games in the West. But they were hoping to have more rotation depth than this for the playoffs. In addition to getting Lynn at the deadline, they also lined up a deal to get Eduardo Rodriguez from the Tigers, though he blocked that trade via his no-trade clause. The loss of Gonsolin will further thin out an area that the Dodgers were hoping to bolster as recently as three weeks ago.
One big reinforcement could still be coming in the form of Walker Buehler, who underwent Tommy John surgery last year but is still hoping to return as a starter this year. Time will tell whether that’s realistic or not, but the Dodgers will move forward for now with Pepiot seemingly stepping into the mix. He posted a 3.47 ERA in 36 1/3 innings last year, his debut season. However, he had a 16.9% walk rate in that time and was likely helped out by a .244 batting average on balls in play and 86.1% strand rate. After missing the start of this year with that oblique issue, he’s since made six Triple-A starts with a 3.97 ERA.
Dodgers Planning To Activate Tony Gonsolin For Wednesday Start
Tony Gonsolin‘s 2023 debut may be imminent, as Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya) that Gonsolin will “likely” be activated from the 15-day injured list to start Wednesday’s game against the Pirates. It won’t be a full start, as Gonsolin is expected to pitch around four innings before giving way to the bullpen.
Though it may yet take a few outings for Gonsolin to fully ramp up, his return is surely good news for Los Angeles. The right-hander suffered a fluke injury in early March, as he sprained his ankle while walking off the field following a Spring Training fielding drill. The sprain was relatively minor in nature, but the timing wasn’t ideal, as Gonsolin first had to get healthy and then make up for the lost prep time from spring camp.
Fortunately, the recovery process seems to have gone smoothly, as Gonsolin will head back to the majors after only one minor league rehab outing. Gonsolin had been expected to make at least one more rehab start, and he’ll beat the initial projected timeline of a May return, as suggested by Roberts two weeks ago. Naturally Gonsolin and the Dodgers must feel comfortable enough about the righty’s healthy to activate him somewhat early, but the decision may have also been influenced by Michael Grove‘s placement on the 15-day IL, as Grove (Gonsolin’s rotation replacement) has been sidelined by a groin strain.
Los Angeles has an off-day on Monday to reset its rotation, as well as upcoming off-days on May 4 and 11. While the schedule doesn’t quite allow for the Dodgers to avoid the need for a fifth starter altogether, having Gonsolin in even a limited capacity should be able to fill the gap left by Grove’s injury.
Gonsolin is looking for a follow-up to an outstanding 2022 season, as the right-hander made his first All-Star Game while posting a 2.14 ERA over 130 1/3 innings. The injury bug unfortunately put a damper on Gonsolin’s great year, as a forearm strain sidelined him for all of September, and he returned for just one more regular-season appearance and then an abbreviated (1 1/3 inning) start in Game 3 of the NLDS.
Dodgers Notes: Gonsolin, Pepiot, Smith
Tony Gonsolin is getting closer to making his season debut. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters Gonsolin got through a 30-plus pitch bullpen session today (relayed by Juan Toribio of MLB.com). Gonsolin will begin a rehab stint with Triple-A Oklahoma City on Thursday, with the expectation he’ll throw around four innings.
Gonsolin is rehabbing from an ankle sprain he suffered midway through Spring Training. Roberts indicated he’d need at least two rehab starts before he’s ready to head back to the MLB rotation. That could position him for a return towards the tail end of next week. That’d be a very welcome development, as Gonsolin worked to a 2.14 ERA through 130 1/3 innings in an All-Star season last year.
Ryan Pepiot had been expected to take Gonsolin’s rotation spot out of the gate. Unfortunately for the 25-year-old, he suffered an oblique strain at the end of Spring Training. It appears he’s a ways off, as Roberts said the righty is still limited to plyometric work and hasn’t yet started throwing (via Fabian Ardaya of the Athletic). While the return timetable isn’t clear, it’s apparent that Pepiot’s progress has been slower than initially hoped.
L.A. has turned to Michael Grove with Gonsolin and Pepiot out of action. The West Virginia product was hit hard in his first two starts of the season before a strong showing on Saturday. He allowed just one run with six strikeouts and two walks in 5 2/3 innings in a win over the Cubs. Even that solid work still brought Grove to a 9.00 ERA in 13 frames this season.
The Dodgers were dealt a hit on the position player side last week. Catcher Will Smith landed on the concussion injured list retroactive to April 13. That only contains a minimum stint of seven days, meaning Smith could return as early as Thursday. The star backstop attributed the injury to a series of recent foul tips off the mask (link via Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register). Smith said he’d proceed with understandable caution given the nature of the injury but noted that he’s already working out and plans to travel with the club on their road trip spanning April 20-27.
It seems he’s on track to return without a rehab stint if all goes well, perhaps not long after he’s first eligible. The Dodgers signed Austin Wynns to a major league deal to back up Austin Barnes while Smith is out. Wynns has exhausted his minor league option years, so his stay on the 40-man roster may prove brief if the Dodgers don’t plan to carry three catchers once Smith makes his return.
Tony Gonsolin, Ryan Pepiot Likely To Be Sidelined Into May
The Dodgers look likely to be without starters Tony Gonsolin and Ryan Pepiot into May, skipper Dave Roberts told the beat this evening (relayed by Fabian Ardaya of the Athletic and Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times).
Both hurlers opened the season on the injured list. Gonsolin sprained his ankle after a pitcher-fielding practice in Spring Training. Pepiot had earned the vacated spot in the starting five but suffered an oblique strain just prior to Opening Day. That pushed Michael Grove into the rotation while robbing Pepiot of a chance to break camp for the first time in his career.
Gonsolin seems the further ahead of the two. He’s throwing to hitters at the team’s spring complex. He’ll do so at least once more before the team considers sending him out a minor league rehab assignment, which could still be multiple weeks away. There’s no indication Gonsolin has suffered any kind of setback but his recovery has moved a little slower than anticipated. Pepiot, on the other hand, has yet to resume throwing. There’s still no public timetable as to when he might be able to pick up a ball, much less return to big league action.
Losing Gonsolin, in particular, has thinned Los Angeles’ rotation early in the season. Grove has gotten hit hard in his first two starts, surrendering 12 runs across 7 1/3 innings. That’s been a big factor in the Dodgers’ uncharacteristically middling 4.47 rotation ERA through the first couple weeks. Grove is one of the organization’s more interesting pitching prospects but hasn’t found success yet in his brief big league career. He allowed a 4.60 ERA over seven appearances (six starts) as a rookie, bringing his career mark to 6.63 in 36 2/3 frames.
Injury Notes: Dickerson, Whitlock, Gonsolin, Haniger, Slater
Corey Dickerson left today’s game due to tightness in his left calf, and Nationals manager Davey Martinez told reporters (including Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com) that the outfielder will receive an MRI tomorrow. This isn’t the first time that Dickerson has dealt with such an injury, as a strain in his left calf cost him about a month of Dickerson’s 2022 season with the Cardinals.
Washington signed Dickerson to a one-year, $2.25MM deal over the offseason, adding a left-handed veteran to their mix of right-handed hitting and mostly less-experienced young outfielders. Dickerson was slated to get the bulk of work in left field whenever a righty starter was on the mound, and considering how the Nats are rebuilding, Dickerson will likely be shopped at the trade deadline if he is performing well. Of course, staying healthy is the first step, and Dickerson and the Nationals can only hope that tomorrow’s MRI doesn’t reveal anything serious.
More on other injury situations from around the majors…
- Garrett Whitlock made a Triple-A rehab start yesterday, and Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters (including The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey) that Whitlock is planned for one more outing with Double-A Portland on Thursday. Assuming all goes well, the Sox would then activate Whitlock from the 15-day injured list for his next outing and his 2023 debut. The right-hander needed a little more time to prepare following hip surgery last September, thus necessitating the IL visit at the start of the season. The Red Sox are planning to use Whitlock as a full-time member of the starting rotation this year, after hip problems interrupted his first stint in the rotation in 2022.
- Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya and other reporters that Tony Gonsolin is intended to throw a bullpen session on Sunday and then a live batting practice session at the team’s extended spring camp on Wednesday. Gonsolin suffered an ankle sprain in early March and is expected to need until late April to return to the L.A. rotation, but the righty appears to be making good progress in recovery.
- The Giants provided media (including MLB.com’s Maria I. Guardado) with several updates on injured players, including the news that Mitch Haniger and Austin Slater will both be re-evaluated this week in San Francisco when the Giants begin their first homestand of the year. Both players began the season on the 10-day IL, with Haniger dealing with a Grade 1 oblique strain and Slater a hamstring strain. A more concrete timetable might be known after next week’s check-ins, though the team did have some hope that Haniger (who suffered his strain on March 10) would be ready for Opening Day, and Slater was given an initial estimate of a 3-4 week recovery period. Slater is starting to progress to baseball activities in his rehab, so it would appear he has a chance of returning within that initial window.
NL West Notes: Gonsolin, Profar, Senzatela, Cron, Cobb, D’backs
Tony Gonsolin suffered an ankle sprain earlier this month, and the injury is already set to place the right-hander on the 15-day injured list to begin the season. The Dodgers have yet to share a more specific recovery timeline for Gonsolin, but The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya writes that late April probably represents the earliest we could see Gonsolin make his 2023 debut. On Friday, Gonsolin did some mound work for the first time since his ankle injury.
Losing a pitcher of Gonsolin’s caliber for at least a month isn’t news for the Dodgers, but the team is better equipped than most to withstand such a significant loss to the rotation. Los Angeles had a pair of promising young arms competing for the right to be Gonsolin’s replacement, with Ryan Pepiot getting the nod over Michael Grove. Pepiot will get a chance to build on the 36 1/3 innings he threw in his MLB debut season, and establish himself as the team’s top depth option in the event of future injuries.
More from around the NL West…
- Jurickson Profar finally left the free agent market when he signed with the Rockies last week, but the outfielder has yet to actually join his new club due to visa issues, manager Bud Black told The Denver Gazette’s Danielle Allentuck and other reporters. Profar is still in his native Curacao and slated to visit the consulate on Monday, with the hopes of being able to join the Rox in time for Opening Day. It is possible Profar might still need some ramp-up time during extended Spring Training given that he only recently signed, but Profar is at least in game shape, after playing with the Netherlands during the World Baseball Classic.
- Sticking with the Rockies, Antonio Senzatela‘s recovery from ACL surgery hit another key checkpoint yesterday, when the righty faced hitters for the first time. Senzatela is expected to return to the Rockies sometime in May, and he told MLB.com’s Thomas Harding that after yesterday’s 20-pitch session, “I feel like I’m getting closer…My knee is feeling good, everything is feeling good.” In more immediate injury news, Black told Harding and other reporters that C.J. Cron could return to the lineup as soon as today, as the first baseman has missed the last 10 days due to back spasms.
- Alex Cobb has been slowed by a knee contusion suffered after Miguel Vargas lined a ball off the Giants right-hander’s knee on March 11. Cobb told Susan Slusser of The San Francisco Chronicle that the swelling has now also moved up into Cobb’s hamstring area, but the veteran righty got through a bullpen session with no issue yesterday. Barring any setback, Cobb is still penciled in to start against the Yankees on April 1, with a simulated game planned as his last ramp-up outing prior to the regular season.
- From injury updates to roster battles, as the Diamondbacks still have to identify their fifth starter and the final two spots in their bullpen. The two battles are somewhat intertwined, as Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic writes that with Ryne Nelson and Drey Jameson competing for the final rotation job, whomever isn’t used as a starter could take one of the two bullpen roles. Carlos Vargas, Peter Solomon, and Ryan Hendrix are also competing for spots in the relief corps. [UPDATE: Nelson has been named the fifth starter and Jameson will take one of the bullpen jobs, Piecoro tweets. Solomon is out of the running for a relief role, as the D’Backs reassigned him to their minor league camp.]
Tony Gonsolin Expected To Open Season On Injured List
Dodgers right-hander Tony Gonsolin won’t be ready for the beginning of the season due to his current ankle injury, manager Dave Roberts announced Friday (Twitter link via Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times). He’s expected to open the season on the 15-day injured list. Righties Ryan Pepiot and Michael Grove are the favorites to break camp as the Dodgers’ fifth starter with Gonsolin on the IL.
The Dodgers are hoping for a relatively minimal absence for the 28-year-old Gonsolin, who improbably injured his ankle walking off the field following pitchers’ fielding practice earlier in camp. He’s only just recently resumed a throwing program, and there’s simply not enough time for him to get built back up enough to break camp in the rotation 13 days from now.
[Related: The Dodgers’ Rotation Options if Tony Gonsolin Misses Time]
Gonsolin started a career-high 24 games during the 2022 regular-season, pitching to a sensational 2.14 ERA with a quality 23.9% strikeout rate against a strong 7.0% walk rate over the life of 130 1/3 innings. He undoubtedly benefited from a .207 batting average on balls in play that he won’t sustain over a larger sample, but even with some expected regression he’s still a well above-average big league pitcher. The 132 1/3 innings he pitched between Triple-A and the Majors last year was the highest total he’s reached in any pro season since being drafted in 2016, however, so there are some durability concerns with the talented righty.
Both Pepiot and Grove are well-regarded prospects, though the former has drawn more national fanfare than the latter. Pepiot, 25, ranked among Baseball America’s top-100 prospects both last offseason (No. 99) and this offseason (No. 55). He pitched to a 3.47 ERA in his first MLB cup of coffee last season and a 2.56 mark in Triple-A, combining for a total of 127 2/3 innings. Pepiot’s command has never been his strong point but was particularly troubling in his brief debut last year, when he walked 27 of 160 batters (16.9%). He’ll obviously need to improve upon that mark to have success over the long run.
As for the 26-year-old Grove, he also made his big league debut in 2022, tossing 29 1/3 innings of 4.60 ERA ball. Grove’s 18% strikeout rate was well below average, but he recorded a solid 7.5% walk rate in his first big league audition. He also logged a 3.79 ERA in 76 innings between Double-A and Triple-A, displaying strong strikeout and walk rates along the way as he rose to the Majors.
Either Pepiot or Grove seems capable of filling what’s likely to be a short-term absence for Gonsolin behind a projected top four of Julio Urias, Clayton Kershaw, Noah Syndergaard and Dustin May. There’s plenty of injury concern amid that group, and May’s workload will likely be monitored in his first full season back from Tommy John surgery, so it stands to reason that Pepiot and Grove could both be called upon multiple times over the course of the season. Further down the depth chart, top prospects Bobby Miller and Gavin Stone are joined by veterans Robbie Erlin and Dylan Covey. None are on the 40-man roster, but both Miller and Stone are top-100 prospects themselves and viewed as potential long-term options in the Los Angeles rotation.