The Dodgers have optioned right-handed pitcher Dennis Santana to Triple-A Oklahoma City and will recall fellow righty Josh Sborz to take his place on the active roster, according to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com.
The move represents a bullpen swap for the Dodgers, who have struggled to settle on a stable option to round out the bullpen. Santana, just 23 years of age, had appeared in three games for the Dodgers, compiling six strikeouts in five innings of work. However, he allowed six hits and walked four batters in that span. Santana’s promotion came after the Dodgers demoted Brock Stewart, who opened the season as the team’s long reliever; now, it appears that the Dodgers will once again look elsewhere to fill the role.
Enter Sborz, a 25-year old right-hander who has yet to debut in the Major Leagues. A second-round selection of the Dodgers in 2015, will get his first taste of the big leagues after throwing two scoreless appearances for the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate to start the season. Last season marked his first in a full-time bullpen role; he had previously functioned as a starting pitcher in his professional career. At Triple-A in 2018, Sborz struck out 47 batters in 37 innings of work and did not allow a single home run.
This team could use that Craig Kimbrel guy bad
Why in the world would they want Craig Kimbrel when they already have Josh Sborz?
Dump the older and less effective Baez, and the Dodgers have $11M in cap space. Signing Kimberly puts you only $5M over the cap, since he now is asking “only” $15M.
Kimbrel would be awesome! Too bad the front office doesn’t like spending too much on relievers, I think Kimbrel would be worth it.
Friedman dropped a load of cash on Joe Kelly. Too bad he didn’t spend that dough on somebody who is actually good. Anybody still loving the Friedman approach to constructing a bullpen?
Freidman Gave $24M to Kelly and $80M to Jansen. I think Kimbrel would be on the Dodgers soon if it wasn’t for the $8M/year to Kelly. His demands have reportedly come down to the Wade Davis/Zach Britton territory. Jansen has an opt out after this year so Kimbrel makes for a solid insurance policy in the event Jansen opts out and leaves.
After Jansen, Friedman has cracked the wallet open significantly for only one other reliever, and that was Kelly. Reliable back-end arms have been a nagging need for all the years Friedman has run this show. He finally decides to spend significantly and gets the highly unreliable Kelly. Friedman needs to finally admit that his odds and ends approach to relief pitching isn’t working. He needs to get Kimbrel, but I doubt that’s going to happen since I have never seen Friedman admit any shortcomings to his approach to anything.
BlueSkyLA, besides Kimbrel, who was asking for the world – who do you think the Dodgers should have signed?
So many quality relievers were moved this offseason, some of them for cheap. To name a few: Brach, Ottavino, J. Wilson, Soria, Holland, Familia. What Friedman saw in Kelly that made him a better choice than any of them and other options is difficult to understand. Maybe you know, and can explain it, because I sure don’t get it.
What Kimbrel was asking before hardly matters now. He clearly wasn’t getting the world. What matters now is he’s still rattling around loose and available for a team in need. The Dodgers are in need and have the money. As pointed out by others, he’d also make excellent insurance against Jansen opting out.
Would you be as surprised as I would be if Friedman pulled that trigger?
Kimbrel’s number were remarkably average last year in comparison to his career. Why would you want a team to invest 18 million a year for a player down trending and role would be to be a set up man?
There’s a pretty simple question to start with. How many games have the Dodgers lost in the 8th inning or “set up inning”? People clamoring for Kimbrel fail to mention that he’s not a great fit on this team. Sure sexy name tremendous closer, but stop it if you think his or Jansen’s ego will have them try to fill 2 IP in the 5th or 6th. That’s even before trying to assess the control issues down the stretch for Kimbrel. The Dodgers have done a tremendous job basically finding and developing late inning guys. Last year not withstanding with an absolute refusal to go over the threshold and add that last piece. Then pen is going to adjust itself with Strip and Urias heading back to the pen. Now will they probably need a piece at the deadline, well everyone always does, but I really like this pen knowing Ferguson, Strip, Urias will be there down the stretch and into the playoffs. Even the list you assembled, is remarkably underwhelming with the exception of Ottavino.
Brach has been poor – averaging a walk and a half per inning alone.
Ottavino signed for the same years + more money with the Yankees. No guarantee he even wanted to go to the Dodgers.
Soria has been poor – worse than Brach.
Holland was coming off a poor year last year – and took a $14mil commitment for a single year.
Familia re-signed with the only Team he has ever known, for more than what Kelly got.
Kimbrel was reportedly asking for $100mil plus – and there are no substantial reports about what he would take even now. If he were so easily had on the cheap, he would be had by someone already.
That leaves Justin Wilson – one guy, who himself has been a middling reliever his entire career.
Your narrative gets tiresome. It’s no longer a reflection of being a fan. It’s a reflection of you being completely unable to consider anything that doesn’t validate your toxic, negative viewpoint.
Antibelt…..exactly and thank you.
Part of the of the other problem is making an argument for a guy that was never an actual option. We already know how the Dodgers operate. Like it or not, because of Familia’s past suspension he was never going to be a consideration. As a fan, I’m ok if they draw that line there.
Ego is the biggest thing standing in the way. I agree he is too stubborn to pitch the 8th or go beyond 1 inning for whatever reason
1. As a fan, I don’t care how much they “invest” in any one player, and I don’t understand why any fan would care about anything but fielding the best possible team.
2. I care even less about Jansen’s ego or the ego of any other player, and once again, this seems to be the entirely wrong thing for a fan to worry about.
3. Everyone dances completely around the fact that very little in Kelly’s regular season work history suggested that he would be what the Dodgers needed. Outside of the postseason he’s had long stretches of mediocrity interspersed with occasional awfulness and a few good ones. I asked if anyone can explain the value of that signing. Nobody even tried.
4. It makes little sense to talk about the performance of any of these players over the first few weeks of the season. I’m not doing that for Kelly, either. I named six other possibilities without breaking a sweat. The Dodgers probably could have signed any of them. What it takes is money. Many others could have been available in trade.
5. I won’t dignify the horse hockey that comes consistently from some quarters.
It’s not the wrong thing to think of, it’s the basic reality of the situation and a serious impediment to any thought or reality. Save me the as a fan, because this isn’t fantasy baseball. The simple fact remains we have yet to see what the full bullpen will look like due to injury or being taxed. I as a Dodger fan could care less about Kimbrel. I care more so about the guy who can be what Kelly was supposed to be, if Kelly can’t figure it out. If we’re being honest the core of this pen beyond Kelly has been pretty damn good.
Especially given the current price tag and and Kenley’s Health issues.
Friedman keeps playing Musical Pitchers to solve a Serious Continual Problem!
Every MLB Bullpen is a crap shoot every season. Most good teams have 1 reliable closer and 1 reliable setup man. After that, the BP is comprised of either failed starters, journeymen relievers who have had some good years and some bad or younger kids with lower payroll hits to balance out the cap. It’s really hard to maintain a bullpen of 5,6 or 7 known commodities, as performance varies widely from year to year. So Friedman is trying to find the right balance now and will probably continue to do so for the next 2-3 months just like most other good teams will as well.
@BoSoxWin, thanks that actually makes sense regarding the bp. The starters are my main concern, even with Kershaw and Hill coming back I feel the FO didn’t make much attempt to shore it up with a long arm that can go more than 4 innings.