The Los Angeles Dodgers have optioned swingman Tony Gonsolin to their alternate training site, tweets Jorge Castillo of the LA Times.
It was clear as early as last week that Gonsolin was unlikely to make the Dodgers’ rotation. There was still a chance Gonsolin would break camp in the bullpen, but it appears the Dodgers have decided to keep him in camp. Presumably, this means they’ll continue to stretch him out for the possibility of joining the rotation at some point during the season. Ross Stripling figures to have the best shot at joining Clayton Kershaw, Alex Wood, Julio Urias, and Walker Buehler in the rotation, though Dustin May could still be in the mix for either the rotation or the pen.
Though Gonsolin pitched well in the majors last season (2.93 ERA/3.86 FIP across 40 innings), he benefited from a below-average BABIP (.209). In 13 Triple-A starts before getting the call-up, Gonsolin put together a blasé 4.35 ERA/4.38 FIP. He’ll remain a depth option for the Dodgers.
In the meantime, the Dodgers have more than enough arms in the bullpen. Presuming Kenley Jansen gets up to speed in time to make the Opening Day roster, he’ll join Joe Kelly, Blake Treinen, Pedro Baez, Caleb Ferguson, Scott Alexander, Brusdar Graterol, Dylan Floro, and lefty specialist Adam Kolarek as pen options for the Dodgers.
After Buehler and Kershaw, there may be room for Gonsolin yet this year.
As an Angels fan, I would be happy to take the Dodgers leftovers – Stripling, Gonsolin and May.
You almost did until Angels pulled the plug. How nice would it be for Halo fan to see both Joc & Stripling playing for Halos.
still dont know what the return was going to be…
DarkSide, My guess is that the Angels were going to obtain a reliever elsewhere who would have been sent to the Dodgers. But that move became unnecessary when the Dodgers were able to get Graterol for Maeda.
Graterol trade was in place before the Angels trade-
Dodgers asked for a tad more at the end and Artes ego blew a fuse –
Shame ida Loved to oversell Stripling to yall
As Darkside said though we dont know the 1 or 2 extra prospects going back to La with Rengfro to this day so its hard to digest what the trade really was
No, Graterol was supposed to go to Boston in the original three-team trade. The trade with the Angels was contingent on the Dodgers/Sox/Twins deal being consummated. It was then that Maeda-for-Graterol entered the picture, meaning the Dodgers no longer needed another reliever.
These players are by far leftovers.
Absolutely not leftovers but at the time of the trade it sure seemed the Dodgers were trading two valuable assets for possibly limited return. More a comment on the Dodgers MLB and prospect depth.
We have no clue the 2 extra prospects coming back to the Dodgers
It def would have hurt losing Jocs last year (he wont be resigned next yr) but Im all for trading Stripling for Renigfros 5 more yrs of utility service if that could ever re-surface- The fact that LAD was adding 18 yr old Andy Pages (nice upside) makes me believe those 2 unknowns were pretty good pieces coming back at the time
With 30 man rosters to open the season, I’d be curious to see how many teams will utilize a six man rotation.
30 man rosters are only there for like 2 weeks
Here’s how the rosters will work in 2020:
30-man active roster first two weeks of the regular season.
28-man active roster next two weeks of the regular season.
26-man roster the rest of the regular season and postseason.
All other players go on the available player pool taxi squad.
Taxi squad players will work out and stay game ready at a separate site away from the major-league club — most teams are stashing taxi squad players at a nearby minor-league affiliate ballpark — and await a call-up.
This is incorrect, you are mixing the 60 player pool and the taxi squad together and they are not the same thing.
The Taxi Squad is 3 players (1 has to be a catcher) that travel with the team when its on the road in case of injury.
The player pool is the rest of the up to 60 players the team has access to which would stay at the alternate training site.
I may be in the minority on this, but I’m most excited to see Urias break-out. Been in the organization forever, even though he’s only 23.
You’re in the minority because Urias is a POS.
He is certainly not in the minority. Urias is one of the most underrated young pitchers in baseball and bound for a big breakout now that he won’t be on any limits. Some incident where the witnesses accounts were shaky, his own gf said it was nothing and the charges were dropped don’t mean a thing. How about you keep that same energy for your teams owner getting suspended for throwing his spouse in public.
I also look forward to seeing Urias in the rotation. The short season is a great opportunity to stretch it out.
She fell out of her chair while he was trying to grab something out of her hand.
Hard to throw someone when both your hands are reaching for what was in her hand..
What shaky witnesses… this was on video. If your first instinct is to push your woman to the ground when you get into a disagreement with her then it says a lot about your character.
I think Uriah’s is expected to be a big breakout pitcher this year. It’s not a secret. If he doesn’t make the Allstar team (if they have it this year), I’d be disappointed in Uriah’s.
A video that has not been released to the public. So how exactly do you know what happened? His gf said the witnesses misunderstood what happened. I’ll take her word over you the Giants fan who claims to know what happened despite nothing of it getting out.
There isn’t going to be an all-star game this year.
Rather harsh!
Rather harsh to baseball 1600
Not in the minority of any Dodger fan…. we’ve bee waiting for years for the handcuffs to come off
Should be a full go for this mini season
I absolutely agree and am excited to see what Urias can do in the rotation. And I am a Padre fan! This guy was the best pitching prospect in baseball a few years ago for a reason and his pitching in the bullpen has in no way diminished that promise. He is far more likely to be a future co-ACE with Buehler than May is, at least in my opinion. Having a guy like him in the bullpen is just an embarrassment of riches.
Yea he’s had some terrible timing-
First was the eye, then the arm, then the incident with his lady-
Seems like everytime hes taken a step forward he immediately takes 2 steps back
Amazingly hes only 23 and has very low miles on him so far
Gonna be some amazing pitching battles between Sd/lad this next decade…. Shizz they probably hold the best 8-10 starters in the whole division between themselves..
This writer sounds down on Gonsolin – “blasé”? Name three other MLB pitchers with a better splitter?
Compared to May, it’s easy to be less enthusiastic about Gonsolin’s prospects. But the blasé comment seemed like it should have been included with the PCL and different ball qualities as reasonable qualifiers.
Or maybe Gonsolin being a noted “cat guy” hurt his chances? I kid obviously(said the dog guy).
I am a dog guy as well. Cat people are weird. My dad was a cat lover.
Three Major Leaguers with better splitters: Oliver Drake, Masahiro Tanaka, and Kirby Yates. I could keep going. José Leclerc, Jake Odorizzi, Shohei Ohtani, and Anibal Sanchez all have pretty nasty split finger pitches. Gonsolin has a plus split fingered fastball, but in no way is it better than a Yates, Tanaka, or Leclerc splitter.
Pitching depth is a wonderful thing. Also on the Dodgers’ horizon is Josiah Gray, who figured to be ready by the all-star break had this been a normal season. Caleb Ferguson also has the potential to be a quality, mid-rotation starter.
CeyHey – Nice post. Also they have Ryan Pepiot. 4 year college player they drafted last year. His change up is above average. He opened some eyes the other night.
We might expect to see him up soon. Maybe not this year, but definitely by next year.
BRUINBLUYW — For sure. And let’s not forget about Graterol as a potential future starter. Or Miller, Knack, and Beeter from this year’s draft. Considering the organization’s recent history of player development, they should be set with starting pitching for quite a few years. And it will be SPs with many years of team control, giving the Dodgers plenty of wiggle room with payroll. Friedman is doing a magnificent job.
I dont think they will push Grat back into a starters role
May and Gonzo most certainly will be though
Id like to see them shop Stripling if at all possible- Hes really not that special and people will always key in on that 2018 first half
With such wealth they are actually in a prime position t capitilize on it around the league
We’ll see re Graterol. Either way, he is a fascinating prospect. I agree about shopping Stripling. A huge opportunity for him to raise his value in the short season. Granted, he already has value for teams without the Dodgers’ pitching depth.
I agree on Grat being fascinating –
Ive been beating the drum for a decade on the need for some top notch Rps in the system so I hope they direct him in an Andrew Miller role for the future
I have the feeling Gms arent as crazy on Stripling as the common public is though-
Still id think they can squeeze some value outta him- Really like the kid Ty Buttery across town ….. I know many may frown at this but id trade Strip for him straight up if I could
I really hope the pen is a focus in our next (continued) Run….. We have been a couple late inning arms away from multiple championships the last decade
The fact of the matter is Strip has never been extended to the point to gain much value from trading him. So even with his “control” by the time he’s we’re he needs to be he’ll be close to walk year. People oversimplify his 2018 and just sort of wipe it off as a fluke year although there was major change in usage and breaking ball form. It was clear he was running on fumes at the all star break though. I’d like Strip to get trade solely for the opportunity to start. He fit a high end #4.
Gonsolin is sort of in that Strip mold for this team, which makes him superfluous, although he has the high end velocity and split to find his way towards the back end of the pen. It’s the gift and the curse of the depth and high end prospects really.
Strip and Gonsolin are sort of stuck in the same mold equivalent to the logjam on the position side(aka Rios, Beaty, etc….), good enough to be contributors, but not necessarily hold down the fort to deny the introduction for the impact prospects. On the same token, if traded you’re going to have grapple with the sincere reality that what you receive back is less than the value actually provided.