1:19pm: Forsythe’s shoulder doesn’t have any structural damage, so the Dodgers expect him back at the end of the 10-day DL window, Roberts announced (via Hoornstra, on Twitter).
12:41pm: The Dodgers have placed infielder Logan Forsythe on the disabled list with right shoulder inflammation, J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group was among those to report. The club recalled fellow infielder Breyvic Valera from Triple-A Oklahoma City to take Forsythe’s spot.
Forsythe’s injury forced him depart the Dodgers’ loss to the Diamondbacks in the sixth inning on Saturday. Like his team, which is just 4-9 after winning the NL pennant in 2017, Forsythe has gotten off to a slow start this season. The 31-year-old slashed a meager .174/.224/.283 in 49 plate appearances before landing on the DL. A second baseman for most of his career, Forsythe began the year at third for the Dodgers because of star Justin Turner’s absence. Turner suffered a broken left wrist last month, and there’s still no timetable for his return.
Now that they’re without both Turner and Forsythe, the Dodgers will turn to Enrique Hernandez, Kyle Farmer and Valera at third, manager Dave Roberts suggested Saturday. Valera offers a bit of variety as a switch-hitter, while both Hernandez and Farmer bat from the right side.
The Dodgers just acquired Valera in a trade with the Cardinals earlier this month. The 26-year-old has since slashed .316/.417/.418 in 24 PAs with OKC, contributing to a terrific overall line at the Triple-A level (.323/.387/.438 in 751 PAs). Despite his effectiveness in the Cards’ system, Valera wasn’t a factor in St. Louis, as he picked up just 11 major league PAs (all in 2017).
Just when you imagine it can’t get any worse.
I can imagine it getting worse. The Dodgers went into the season with only Utley as any kind of adequate depth on that team after trading A-gon.
Same with starting pitching and relief.
With no injuries, they’re a good team.
I agree. The dodgers got lazy and comfortable not reinforcing their team after a very strong (overall) season. They should have seen some issues coming after that dreadful stretch.
Faulty diagnoses. Gonzales couldn’t supply the Dodgers with any depth they might actually need (another LHB who can only play FB?). Injuries aren’t the problem either, it’s the core of the lineup not hitting a lick and starting pitching melting down. On relief they could have done more, but even so, this isn’t why they are staggering out of the starting gate.
I dunno man. Replacing Forsythe’s .160 or whatever might be a good thing. Valera has been hitting over. 300 in aaa since the beginning of last season, far as i remember. Let’s get his bat in there for a bit
True, at this point spinning the wheel doesn’t come with a lot downside. In fact they might as well promote the entire OKC team. Even a bunch of minor leaguers is going to win one out of three so they probably can’t do any worse than this team is right now.
Forsythe was a very good hitter before coming to LA, unfortunately we’ve only seen very brief glimpses of it! I really think it’s for the best! The Dodgers need some heart in the line-up! We need Toles and Sorry but the Matt Kemp experience is getting old fast!
Yeah, that kemp having one of the highest batting averages on the team is just painful to watch.. (eyeroll)
Have you watched a game? Kemps prolly there best player so far. Turn on a game a check it out …
Wow! That statement alone shows you lack any baseball knowledge!
Hahahaha yeah sure sweetie!
Well it’s comes with a .458 BABIP. The issue has been so many uncompetitive ABs. That’s sort of why BA is god awful measure. He’s hit one hr and struck out 31% of his PAs. That’s also before mentioning his not so great defense, I’m being nice here. So mention of BA (eye roll).
Im not saying he’s an allstar but on this team of zero production he has actually been hitting a bit. Who’d you replace him with, Joc’s .120??
And no Grandal has by far been their best player to this point in the young season. Not sure what you’ve been watching.
So having made that point, who is next on the list, if not Kemp?
In terms of what quality ABs Or batting average? Their second best player has been Puig and Utley. Clearly in the long term sustained success from Utley is probably not going to happen. And it’s becoming evident that even Bellinger is coming to life. With that said, the original point has been that the Kemp experiment will run it course, which in all honesty I don’t doubt. With all that said there is a reason BA is not a great indicator. Yes Kemp has a .318 with a crazy babip and K rate, but the quality of ABs tend to be more telling.
Not sure if that was directed at me, but i never said kemp was the best on the team, only that he’s one of the few hitting. Last I checked there were only 3 guys hitting over .300, kemp being one of them. Certainly grandals bat is more valuable for several reasons.
Again, im just pointing out that this entire team has been sucking ass. With so much blame to go around why pick on the tiny percentage who HAVE been hitting?
And sure, the experiment is likely to end sooner than later but right NOW kemp has been doing enough to keep playing. Joc hasn’t.
The problem again with the assessment is the fact that using BA was the assessment. So many of Kemp’s ABs have looked feeble. And yes there is absolutely a team full worth of blame to go around, but using BA as the sole assessment is faulty. I agree he’s hit somewhat better than others, but with AB quality I’m not buying it’s remotely sustainable especially when the season starts getting into full swing and he starts to see SL/CU exclusively.
So if he continues to hit, but his ABs “look feeble,” then the hits don’t count? I have to point out, the only reason we’re even debating this point is Kemp is just about the only one on the team who is contributing something, and he wasn’t even expected to make the team. This is a combination of Kemp exceeding expectations (which were pretty much rock-bottom) and the rest of the team almost to a man hugely underperforming. Maybe I am simply digging through a pile of manure looking for a pony, but what the heck else do we have?
I’m not sure that’s what I’m getting at. Clearly a ball finds a hole it remains a hit. That hasn’t changed….. My point was just that him now K’ing close to 35% of his ABs, with an elevated BABIP isn’t an encouraging sign. Now granted his WOBA is probably going to being around average. The problem with judging all on BA remains it’s not a great indicator of offensive ability, especially this early. If you want to look for a pony in the crappy start Taylor, Bellinger, and Puig who has hit rockets at people with no results appear to be coming alive. Along with the fact the Grandal and Utley have been productive. And I’m absolutely buying the fact that Kemp has some usefulness as a short sided platoon guy, but AB quality overall hasn’t been great.
I’m not suggesting that the Dodgers need to build the team around Kemp. He is still a strikeout machine, just as he always been. I am only saying that in a season full of darkness even a flicker of light gets noticed.
I just don’t think the Dodgers are the team they used to be.
And they did zilch this offseason to improve their team. Stand Pat and look what happens.
To be fair, they were one of the best teams ever last year, or at least were on pace to be. Standing pat shouldn’t have made them struggle as much as they have this year
This a time when everyone gets to trot out their theories, since nobody really knows what is going on, but probably we’d all agree, this is a team that lacks any kind of spark. That’s something bringing new players into the mix can create, whether they are strictly needed or not. Maybe Valera will be that player, as Bellinger was last year. At this point it can’t hurt to try. It also could not hurt to send Pederson down and bring up Toles.
That won’t happen in all honesty until we get closer to summer time, because well right now toles is injured. I think the most important aspect is until they’re willing to proceed with moving Kemp to a short sided platoon role it’s hard to justify Toles not playing everyday in AAA (especially since he needed seasoning even before the injury last year).
Turner seems to be the catalyst for this team.
They never were the “team they used to be” until last year. Yes, five division firsts but that was it. Good but not great. 2017 was “great.”
Honestly, at this point with the way he has been playing, the Dodgers are better off without him. He’s been terrible!
Agree
Unfortunately he’s hurt, however Forsythe not playing is not a bad thing.
Was there an incident where he injured the shoulder? I.e. is it possible the right shoulder inflammation is the cause of his poor hitting?
There could be a couple of factors – the let down from the frantic 2017 (also remember their bizarre losing streak late in the season? That was disconcerting), and, but for Darvish’s absolute fail, they’d have knocked off the Astros in five games… Turner going down was a huge ding on not just the hitting but the morale.. The doldrums seem psychological as these are mostly very talented young guys who are off to a slow start and maybe pressing – slumps build on themselves. I expect a recovery but true they stood pat in the off season to keep the salary cap in place. Roberts HAS been dithering a bit with his outfield and with the starting rotation (maybe affected by all the weird off days).
Roberts dithered with the pitching last year and, now, he is dithering with the outfield? Perhaps, someone should sit him down and explain the consequences involved with “dithering.”
Tunnel Escobar is available.
Yunel
It’ll be nice to see valera in there. He’s been shredding aaa for a couple years now
Saw this slow start coming last month while visiting Camelback Ranch. You could tell the players were still distraught after the game 7 disaster. It was also very visible to see defined cliques within the team this year as compared to having fun as a team like last year ST. Kemp stayed to himself mostly. Roberts won’t let this losing go on much longer. Go Blue!
All you experts crack me up. Lack of depth. Smh. The Dodgers are layered with talent. They’ll be fine. The great thing about MLB is that the cream eventually rises over the course of 162 games.
Couldn’t agree more.. everyone is underestimating what Turner does for the rest of the lineup. The Pitching staff is doing there job for the most part, bullpen to me is the only place that could use a major change.. Perhaps Buehler, or Uriah when he gets done rehabbing
Feel bad. Dude just can’t stay healthy as a Dodger.. Would love to see what he can do in 140 games in that line-up..