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MLB Issues Suspensions Related To Dodgers-Padres Incidents

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Major League Baseball has announced suspensions related to last night’s benches-clearing incident between the Padres and Dodgers. San Diego closer Robert Suarez was suspended three games for “intentionally hitting” Shohei Ohtani with a pitch. Suárez, who was also hit with an undisclosed fine, has elected to appeal and remains on the roster during that process.

Additionally, both managers were suspended for one game for “unsportsmanlike conduct and for contributing to inciting the benches-clearing incident.” Managers do not get an appellate right, so Dave Roberts and Mike Shildt will both be unavailable tonight. The Dodgers are hosting the Nationals, while the Padres welcome the Royals to Petco Park.

More to come.

Dodgers Acquire Zach Penrod From Red Sox, Transfer Roki Sasaki To 60-Day IL

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2:50pm: The Dodgers have made it official, announcing that they acquired Penrod in exchange for cash considerations. Right-hander Roki Sasaki has been transferred to the 60-day injured list as the corresponding active roster move. Sasaki has been on the IL since mid-May due to a shoulder impingement. He can be reinstated 60 days from that initial IL placement, which would be mid-July. He was recently shut down from throwing and has an uncertain timeline.

1:37pm: The Dodgers and Red Sox have agreed to a trade that’ll send left-hander Zach Penrod from Boston to Los Angeles, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com. The Sox designated Penrod for assignment earlier this week in the wake of the Rafael Devers blockbuster, as they were acquiring two 40-man players (Jordan Hicks, Kyle Harrison) and only trading away one.

Penrod, 28, is an interesting story. He signed as an undrafted free agent with the Rangers in 2018 and pitched briefly in their system before being cut loose during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. He then spent three years pitching in the independent Pioneer League before catching the eyes of Red Sox scouts and returning to affiliated ball.

A nice minor league showing across multiple levels in 2024 pushed Penrod up onto the 40-man roster. He tossed 62 2/3 frames across three levels and logged a 4.16 ERA with a huge 34.8% strikeout rate but a similarly hefty 12.4% walk rate. The Sox summoned him to the majors in the season’s second half, and he pitched four innings down the stretch, holding opponents to a run on three hits and four walks with three strikeouts.

Penrod was in the mix for a bullpen spot heading into the 2025 season, but an elbow injury in spring training knocked him out for nearly three months. He returned to the mound in late May and has pitched 7 1/3 minor league innings. It’s been a mixed bag. He’s allowed four runs and only seven hits while punching out nine of 36 batters (25%). However, he’s also issued seven walks, plunked a batter and tossed three wild pitches.

Command has never been a particularly strong suit, but it’s also understandable if there’s some rust after he was initially diagnosed with elbow inflammation in late February and didn’t get back onto a mound in a game setting until May 24. Penrod’s 95 mph average fastball this year is a match for his 2024 mark, and he’s posted a huge 15% swinging-strike rate after logging a even more-impressive 16.6% mark in that regard during last year’s minor league run.

Penrod will give the Dodgers a hard-throwing lefty with clear bat-missing ability and, as critically, a full slate of three minor league option years remaining. Los Angeles churns through the final few spots of its bullpen as much as — if not more than — any other team in the sport, so flexible arms with Penrod’s general skill set are always going to be somewhat appealing to the Dodgers.

Dodgers Select Jack Little

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The Dodgers announced they’ve selected reliever Jack Little onto the MLB roster. They optioned Emmet Sheehan to Triple-A Oklahoma City in a corresponding move. Tony Gonsolin was transferred from the 15-day to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man roster spot. Bill Plunkett of The Orange County Register first observed that Little was in the clubhouse, while Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic noted that Sheehan was heading out.

Little gets his first big league call after five-plus seasons in the minor leagues. The 6’4″ righty has been a pure reliever dating back to his college days at Stanford. The Dodgers drafted him in the fifth round in 2019. Little has never been a high-end prospect but has posted solid numbers in the upper minors. He combined for a 3.79 ERA over 57 innings between the top two levels a year ago.

The 27-year-old Little has spent all of this year in OKC, allowing only 2.20 earned runs per nine across 32 2/3 frames. He’s 10-11 in save chances and has fanned a slightly above-average 24.3% of batters faced. He averages 94 MPH on his fastball while mixing in a slider and changeup. Little is an extreme fly-ball pitcher, but he’s done well at avoiding home runs in the minors. He has the sixth-lowest ERA among the 84 pitchers with 30+ innings in the Pacific Coast League this year.

Sheehan heads to OKC one day after being activated from the 60-day IL following Tommy John rehab. He pitched pretty well in his return last night, striking out six while working four innings of one-run ball against San Diego. The Dodgers evidently preferred a fresh arm in their bullpen rather than keeping Sheehan in the rotation in the short term. He’ll need to spend at least 15 days in the minor leagues unless he’s recalled to replace a pitcher going on the injured list.

Gonsolin’s move to the 60-day IL is even more notable. He went on the shelf on June 7 with elbow discomfort. The Dodgers announced that initial imaging didn’t reveal any UCL damage. While they haven’t provided any indication that has changed, they’ve already ruled him out for at least two months. Gonsolin has made seven starts this season in his return from an August ’23 Tommy John surgery. The 60-day clock backdates to his initial IL placement, but that still rules him out into the first week of August at the earliest.

Latest On Dodgers’ Outfield Alignment

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The Dodgers started Hyeseong Kim in center field tonight against San Diego right-hander Stephen Kolek. Kim was flanked in the corners by Andy Pages and Teoscar Hernández, leaving Michael Conforto out of the lineup. Manager Dave Roberts said pregame that he’s unsure whether the lefty-hitting Conforto will get a start against rookie righty Ryan Bergert in tomorrow’s series finale (relayed by Sonja Chen of MLB.com).

Roberts didn’t frame it as a benching, saying he envisions Conforto “playing a lot still.” At the same time, the veteran skipper acknowledged that Kim has earned the opportunity for regular playing time. Kim is a natural middle infielder, but the Dodgers have Mookie Betts and Tommy Edman playing at those spots. That leaves center field as the clearest position for Kim to get consistent at-bats.

Signed to a three-year offseason deal out of Korea, the 26-year-old Kim began his Dodger tenure on optional assignment. Los Angeles called him up in early May. Kim was expected to work as a multi-positional player off the bench. He has thrived in his first look at MLB pitching, running a .382/.425/.544 batting line through his first 30 big league contests. He’s obviously not going to continue hitting that well, but he’s putting the ball in play at an above-average rate and has gone 6-6 on stolen base attempts.

Pages is playing at an All-Star level, while Hernández remains a middle-of-the-order bat. Getting Kim regular outfield work will come at the expense of Conforto, who is hitting .168/.305/.277 in his first season as a Dodger. He has hit below the Mendoza line in each month. Kim’s ability to play up the middle also allows the Dodgers to use Pages in left field. He’d otherwise need to play center when Conforto is in left.

It’s clearly not what the Dodgers envisioned when they signed Conforto to a surprising $17MM free agent deal. It was a fairly sizable bet on his strong finish to the 2024 campaign while with the Giants. He’d been up-and-down through the season’s first couple months before posting an OPS above .840 in both August and September. An injury to any of L.A.’s outfielders or a slump from Kim could reopen everyday work for Conforto, but he may lose some playing time in the short term as they ride the hot hand.

Dodgers Reinstate Emmet Sheehan

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June 18: Sheehan has now been officially reinstated. The 40-man roster had a vacancy but is now full. Sauer was optioned as the corresponding active roster move.

June 14: The Dodgers are planning to activate right-hander Emmet Sheehan from the 60-day injured list this week, according to a report from The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya. He’ll join the big league rotation upon being activated, though Ardaya notes that the Dodgers won’t decide exactly when to activate him until after Sheehan throws his next bullpen session. Sheehan will require a 40-man roster spot once activated, so a corresponding 40-man move will be required if the Dodgers’ roster is full at that point.

Regardless of the exact timing of Sheehan’s return, getting him back figures to be a huge boost for a Dodgers rotation that recently had to move right-hander Ben Casparius onto a starter’s schedule after months of excellent numbers in relief due to a lack of viable alternatives. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Dustin May, and Clayton Kershaw are the only other healthy regular starters L.A. has rostered at the moment, with depth options like Justin Wrobleski, Bobby Miller, and Landon Knack having more or less disqualified themselves with their significant struggles when called upon for spot starts. Sheehan is a more proven commodity than those options, with 11 big league starts to his name after debuting with the Dodgers last year.

While Sheehan seems a bit safer to give the ball to than the club’s other depth options, that shouldn’t be taken to mean this is a riskless move. After all, Sheehan has a career 5.23 ERA out of the rotation in the majors and has not pitched in the big leagues since 2023 after undergoing Tommy John surgery. He looked better than that in his most recent outings, however, with a 3.68 ERA and 4.35 FIP across 22 frames in September. Sheehan seemed likely to be firmly in the Dodgers’ rotation mix for last year despite his uneven performance, but he went under the knife almost exactly 13 months ago to the day and hasn’t pitched at the big league level since.

The right-hander has made four rehab starts this year, with a 3.97 ERA in 11 1/3 innings of work during that time. That overall line doesn’t do Sheehan’s performance in those four outings justice; he’s struck out 44.7% of his opponents while rehabbing and limited opposing batters to just one walk. That’s come against minor league hitters, of course, and the jump from minor league opponents to the big leagues is larger than ever these days. Even so, it’s an undeniably encouraging sign that he’s been able to punch out that many hitters even as he’s rebuilding to a starter’s workload.

Once activated, it wouldn’t be a shock to see the Dodgers ease Sheehan into the starting rotation. He’s only built up to 63 pitches so far, which could make him a prime candidate to either be used alongside an opener or perhaps piggyback with another pitcher like Wrobleski or Matt Sauer. In any case, adding another arm to a fraught Dodgers rotation that seems unlikely to get further reinforcements before Shohei Ohtani’s return to pitching sometime next month has to be a significant relief for the entire pitching staff.

Shohei Ohtani To Make Dodgers Pitching Debut On Monday

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Dodgers fans have been waiting for more than a year to see Shohei Ohtani pitch in a major league game in for the club, and that wait might finally be over. Manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including Dylan Hernandez of The Los Angeles Times) that Ohtani will “most likely” make his pitching debut during the Dodgers’ series against the Padres this week. Shortly thereafter, the Dodgers announced that their two-way superstar will start against San Diego in tomorrow night’s game.

It’s a long-awaited return that’s coming much earlier than expected. While offseason expectations placed Ohtani’s return to the mound from his September 2023 elbow surgery at some point in May, but those hopes were squashed when his pitching rehab was paused in late February. Ohtani resumed ramping up shortly after Opening Day, but the star’s timetable for return has been kept extremely vague by Dodgers officials ever since. For most of the season, Ohtani’s return to pitching had been anticipated at some point in the second half, though earlier this week Roberts hinted at the possibility that Ohtani could return at some point before the All-Star break.

Still, Ohtani’s timeline having been bumped up to tomorrow night puts him back on a big league mound a month earlier than even the most generous of expectations. The narrative surrounding Ohtani’s return to pitching shifted rapidly throughout the day today, with Roberts telling reporters (including Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic) earlier this afternoon that the plan was for Ohtani to face hitters early this week before “potentially” making his return to the big league pitching staff. Last night, Ohtani himself was vaguely alluding to the possibility that he could return earlier than anticipated, as Ardaya notes that he playfully asked, “What do you think?” when asked if he’ll return to the mound before the All-Star break before acknowledging that “something like that” was on the table.

After today’s win over the Giants, Roberts retracted his previous comments about Ohtani facing live hitters this week and noted that he would likely pitch as an opener at some point during this week’s series against San Diego, and that timeline was pushed up further by the organization’s announcement that he will be on the mound opposite Dylan Cease tomorrow evening. Despite the seemingly rapid and somewhat haphazard way the decision to start Ohtani tomorrow night came together, it seems clear the organization feels he’s ready to pitch in games. His latest session on the mound last week, which lasted three simulated innings and 44 pitches, drew rave reviews from Dodgers brass. Pitching coach Mark Prior told reporters (including Ardaya) that “he was doing whatever he wanted with the baseball, with every pitch he wanted to” during Tuesday’s session.

It should be noted that expectations must be tempered for Ohtani’s start tomorrow night. He’s starting the game as an opener, and there’s no expectation that he’ll be able to pitch especially deep into the game. As Roberts told reporters (including ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez) this evening, at least Ohtani’s first few appearances seem likely to be closer to rehab appearances than full starts. It’s long been known that Ohtani wouldn’t have a traditional rehab opportunity due to his importance for the Dodgers as their regular DH, and Roberts indicated this evening that cooling off after a simulated game and then heating back up to hit in that evening’s Dodgers game was actually more taxing for him than it would’ve been to pitch and hit in the same game. That combined with the fact that Ohtani won’t count against the club’s 13-pitcher roster limit and the superstar’s own desire to start pitching in big league games was enough to convince the organization to let him start tomorrow night’s game.

Even if it should be viewed more through the lens of a rehab outing rather than a traditional start, Ohtani’s return to the mound will be a boost for a beleaguered Dodgers pitching staff. Right-hander Ben Casparius was previously scheduled to start tomorrow night’s game for Los Angeles, but threw just 54 pitches in his last outing and was sure to tax the club’s bullpen at least somewhat when used as a starter. With Ohtani likely to handle the first inning or two of the game, perhaps he and Casparius can combine to offer the Dodgers the same amount of length that a more traditional starter could be penciled in for. That should be very helpful for a relief corps that’s likely to be taxed by a bullpen game on Tuesday followed by what figures to be an abbreviated start from right-hander Emmet Sheehan in his first appearance following his expected activation from the injured list later this week.

It’s unclear exactly when Ohtani is expected to be built up enough to serve as a full-fledged starter rather than just open games for the Dodgers, but perhaps his workload in tomorrow night’s game can provide some insight into that question. In the meantime, the Dodgers will surely be happy to have any innings he can offer as they continue to piece together starts amid a rash of injuries that have already sent a majority of the club’s Opening Day rotation to the injured list.

Roki Sasaki No Longer Throwing; No Timetable For Return

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9:31pm: Roberts struck a much more optimistic tone regarding Sasaki after this evening’s game, as relayed by Ardaya. Roberts emphasized that Sasaki is “pain-free” and “already moving around” before going on to suggest that he should be able to resume building up his rehab process “soon.” While his tone regarding the young right-hander was significantly more optimistic than earlier in the day, he still provided few specifics regarding the righty’s status or when he’ll resume his throwing program.

3:41pm: Rookie right-hander Roki Sasaki is no longer throwing due to him not feeling “comfortable” with his shoulder when throwing at full intensity, manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic) this afternoon. Sasaki has been on the injured list due to a right shoulder impingement for just over a month, but it doesn’t sound as if he’s likely to return anytime soon. Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register adds that the Dodgers have no timeline for Sasaki’s return to throwing, while Ardaya suggests that Roberts’ comments indicated that Sasaki’s return to the mound in 2025 may not be guaranteed.

The news doesn’t change any short term plans for the Dodgers, as he wasn’t necessarily expected to return in the near future even before today’s news. MLB.com notes that Sasaki did not have an estimated return date and had not yet progressed beyond playing light catch as of last week. While pitching coach Mark Prior noted at that time (as relayed by Plunkett) that Sasaki was pain-free, he noted even then that the phenom hadn’t progressed enough to start ramping up the intensity of his fastball and that Sasaki must be “confident in his ability to throw the baseball” before his rehab can proceed. Roberts told reporters (including Benjamin Royer of the Los Angeles Times) that he would defer to Sasaki in describing the issue.

“As far as kind of the sensation,” Roberts said, as relayed by Royer. “It’s discomfort. I don’t think it’s pain, it’s tightness… whatever the adjective you want to use — I would rather him kind of say that.”

Regardless of the specific verbiage surrounding Sasaki’s stalled rehab, it’s clear he and the Dodgers were not seeing the sort of results they were looking for. As a result, the right-hander will be shut down from throwing for an indefinite period, though it appears that no additional testing on Sasaki’s shoulder is planned at this time. That suggests the Dodgers are at least confident they know what the problem is, but it’s still somewhat worrisome that the club could not say with confidence that Sasaki would return to the big league mound this season.

If Sasaki doesn’t return to the mound this year, it will be hard to view his rookie campaign as anything other than a disappointing one. The right-hander has made eight starts for the Dodgers, pitching to a 4.72 ERA (84 ERA+) in 34 1/3 innings of work across those outings. That’s not too far off from an average back-end starter at first glance, but Sasaki walked (22) nearly as many hitters as he struck out (24) and recorded an out in the sixth inning just twice while failing to record an out in the fifth inning four times. That combination of poor results, worse peripherals, and lack of volume made for a pretty bleak debut for Sasaki, particularly given his elite pedigree as one of the most talented young arms in the entire world.

Of course, the other side of that coin is that his talented hasn’t mysteriously disappeared. Eight starts is far too small of a sample to judge a pitcher on, and Sasaki’s bonafides as a potential top-of-the-rotation talent speak for themselves. He’s got some of the nastiest stuff in the entire sport, and posted a 2.10 ERA with a 32.7% strikeout rate across four NPB seasons. That includes an otherworldly 2023 where he pitched to a 1.78 ERA in 91 innings of work while striking out 39.1% of his opponents. Those huge strikeout numbers are particularly eye-popping when one considers the propensity towards contact found in NPB play, further adding to the pile of evidence that Sasaki’s future figures to be a very bright one.

All of that is why the Dodgers committed virtually their entire international bonus pool budget to signing him this winter in a sweepstakes that ultimately came down to Los Angeles, San Diego, and Toronto. While that investment hasn’t paid off yet, the young righty is still just 23 years old and will have plenty of opportunities to show off his talent in the future so long as he can get healthy enough to return to the mound. Perhaps that can happen as soon as later this season, but for now he’ll remain on the shelf alongside a bevy of other key Dodgers arms like Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Evan Phillips, and Brusdar Graterol. The Dodgers are currently relying on Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Clayton Kershaw, Dustin May, Ben Casparius, and the soon-to-be-activated Emmet Sheehan to hold down the fort while most of the club’s Opening Day rotation is unavailable.

Angels Return Rule 5 Pick Garrett McDaniels To Dodgers

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The Angels announced that left-hander Garrett McDaniels has been returned to the Dodgers, as per his status as a Rule 5 Draft pick.  McDaniels was designated for assignment earlier this week, and since he went unclaimed on waivers, the Angels were required to offer him back to the Dodgers for $50K (teams that select players away in the R5 give a $100K fee to the club losing the player).

Rule 5 picks must spend an entire season on their new team’s active roster before the new team can fully obtain their rights, and McDaniels’ stint in Anaheim ended after 10 relief appearances and an IL stint for biceps tendinitis that lasted over a month.  McDaniels posted a 5.91 ERA over his first 10 2/3 career innings as a big leaguer, as he had never pitched above the Double-A level before making his MLB debut this season.  In fact, even McDaniels’ Double-A resume consisted of only two appearances and three innings with the Dodgers’ Tulsa affiliate in 2024.

A 30th-round pick for the Marlins in the 2018 draft, McDaniels chose to attend Coastal Carolina instead of starting his pro career out of high school, and a subsequent Tommy John surgery limited his college ball experience.  He went undrafted entirely and didn’t join the Dodgers until May 2022, but then made a relatively quick climb up their minor league ladder.  McDaniels has a 3.43 ERA in 99 2/3 career minor league innings, and he recorded a good number of strikeouts while working mostly as a reliever, though he made a handful of starts in A-ball.

This was enough to get the Angels’ attention in the Rule 5 Draft, but McDaniels didn’t quite seem ready for the majors.  He’ll now return to the Dodgers’ farm system to continue his development, and another trip back to the big leagues might not be out of the question in 2025 given how the injury-plagued Dodgers are constantly churning through arms.

Jose Urena Elects Free Agency

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Veteran righty José Ureña elected free agency, according to the MLB.com transaction log. He evidently went unclaimed on waivers after being designated for assignment by the Dodgers on Tuesday.

Ureña made two appearances after signing with L.A. on June 3. He tossed three innings of one-run ball, recording two strikeouts with one walk. Ureña has now suited up for three MLB teams this season. He has also logged time with the Mets and Blue Jays, managing 18 1/3 innings over a combined nine appearances. Ureña has punched out 10 against five walks while recording a 5.40 earned run average in that time.

The 33-year-old righty will again look for an opportunity to pitch in a swing capacity. While he has bounced around this year, Ureña held a spot on the Texas pitching staff throughout the ’24 season. He posted a 3.80 ERA while getting ground-balls at a 50% clip in 109 innings for the Rangers. Ureña has never had good strikeout and walk numbers, but his sinker averages 96-97 MPH and he’s capable of covering multiple innings.

Dodgers Moving Ben Casparius To Starting Rotation

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After a dominant start to the season as a reliever, right-hander Ben Casparius is set to get an opportunity to prove himself as a starter with the Dodgers. Initially tabbed as an opener for a bullpen game against the Padres today, manager Dave Roberts revealed to reporters (including Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic) before today’s game that Casparius could be stretched out further to operate as a starting pitcher while the club is short-staffed due to the recent loss of Tony Gonsolin. After today’s outing, where he threw four innings of one-run ball, Roberts announced that Casparius’s next outing would be as a starter, as relayed by MLB.com’s Sonja Chen.

It’s hard to argue Casparius hasn’t earned a look in a larger role, as he’s done nothing but produce in the majors for the Los Angeles. The club’s fifth-rounder back in 2021, Casparius made his big league debut last August and immediately delivered with a 2.16 ERA and 1.73 FIP across 8 1/3 innings of work down the stretch. After debuting just in time to be eligible for the postseason, Casparius was a part of the Dodgers’ playoff roster mix during last October’s World Series run and continued to deliver on the biggest stage with a 1.42 ERA in 6 1/3 postseason innings against the Mets and Yankees.

This year, it’s been more of the same over a much larger sample size. His 44 innings of work this season have seen him produce a 2.86 ERA with a 1.89 FIP while striking out 26.0% of his opponents and walking just 5.1%. Those numbers are nothing short of brilliant, and while Casparius hasn’t ever been challenged with facing the opposing lineup a third time in his career he maxed out at 70 pitches earlier this year and threw 54 in today’s outing, suggesting he’s not too far from being fully stretched out to start. Even if the Dodgers don’t want to use him much deeper in games than the fifth inning, it’s easy to see the logic in giving Casparius this opportunity given the other options the club has at its disposal at the moment.

With key arms like Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Roki Sasaki, and Gonsolin among the eight starting pitchers presently on the injured list and Shohei Ohtani still at least a few weeks out from pitching in big league games, the Dodgers need to turn to their depth options to fill out the rotation behind Dustin May, Clayton Kershaw, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Justin Wrobleski had previously gotten the opportunity to be the fourth starter behind that trio, but the lefty has a 7.20 ERA in 15 innings of work at the big league level this year. Bobby Miller (12.60 ERA) and Landon Knack (5.12 ERA) have also struggled in their own limited opportunities at the MLB level, and the only other starter on the 40-man roster at present is right-hander Nick Frasso. Frasso not only hasn’t yet made his MLB debut, but he’s struggling badly with a 5.31 ERA in 42 1/3 innings of work at Triple-A this year.

With so few quality starting options presently at the club’s disposal, giving Casparius a chance to build on today’s strong (albeit brief) start against San Diego is practically a no-brainer. Even so, it’s difficult to imagine Casparius pitching himself into a completely permanent role in Los Angeles’s rotation; with so many talented arms in the organization ahead of him on the depth chart, he’ll likely need additional injuries to crop up if he hopes to remain in a rotation role even after ace-level pitchers like Snell and Glasnow return from the injured list.

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