The Dodgers have filled their 40-man roster, adding five players to their roster in advance of the Rule 5 deadline per MLB.com’s Juan Toribio. The players being added are infielders Jacob Amaya, Eddys Leonard, and Jorbit Vivas, outfielder James Outman, and right-handed pitcher Michael Grove. In corresponding moves, outfielders Billy McKinney and Zach Reks have been designated for assignment.
Each of Amaya, Leonard and Vivas appeared on the back half of the Dodgers’ midseason top 30 prospects ranking at Baseball America. Amaya’s a well-regarded middle infielder but struggled offensively in Double-A this past season. Leonard and Vivas haven’t yet advanced beyond High-A, but they’re both infielders with good low minors numbers and some offensive upside.
The Dodgers acquired McKinney from the Mets in July. He struggled mightily down the stretch with L.A., though, and his overall .192/.280/.358 line over 300 plate appearances with three teams was well below-average. McKinney draws a fair amount of walks, but he’s never quite tapped into enough power to offset high strikeout totals and a limited defensive profile. He’ll either be traded or waived in the coming days.
Reks made a brief big league debut in 2021, tallying ten plate appearances over six games. He spent the rest of the season at Triple-A Oklahoma City, where he raked at a .280/.382/.539 clip in 379 plate appearances. Reks is already 28 and has essentially no big league body of work, but it’s possible another club takes a shot on his strong track record of minor league performance. He still has a pair of minor league option years remaining.
Someone please claim McKinney, so we never have to see him swing a bat in a Dodgers uniform again!
Maybe the Mets? I thought McKinney was solid depth for them.
McKinney will end up being a solid utility player.
I’m sorry, my mistake. I was thinking Mckinstry. McKinney is worthless.
Haha I did the same thing. I was shocked at first
Shocking that McKinney survived the whole year
Even more shocking is that five teams have given him a chance, so far, and that he was a first round draft pick.
If you flip those topics, I think the correlation is right there. He was a 1st rounder and that’s why he’s gotten so many chances
I understood that when I made my comment but his stock has dropped steadily since that time.
I assumed so. Former 1st rounder with decent defense will continue to get chances basically
Sure, but only up to a point. I compare to the case of Zach Lee, a washout first-rounder who got multiple chances, but almost entirely in the minors. That’s probably where McKinney is headed now. I’m thinking he probably should have gone that way much sooner.
Awful bench options for the Dodgers between McKinney, Raley, Reks, Neuse, Peters, Souza, and even McKinstry. It’s shocking that the Dodgers gave that many ABs to these underachievers. Common thread is terrible ABs, easy outs. When Pujols is your best bench bat it’s a worry, and yes he outperformed expectations. Dodgers need to find another Taylor/Hernandez type of bench bat/glove. Not sure if that is McKinstry. Not enough glove or bat based on last year. I’m not sure if Rios is any good but he’ll at least provide more pop than these guys.
They released him, he’s done.
He and Souza actually is a good Outfielder though than other Dodgers Rookie like Reks, Mckinstry and Raley. Always worry when this three Rookie playing in the outfield, but yeah batting is a concern. His only homerun when playing the Pirates Will be not forgotten.
Really… I’ve already forgotten it. Lol
Meh
They don’t want McKinney because they already have Bellinger to bat below .200 for them.
Sorry 😉
Rebound inbound
I think Bellinger bounces back next season. Will he ever put up MVP type numbers? Highly unlikely but he can be a productive bat/player with a better approach at the plate.
Cody is… 25? Claiming it’s impossible for him to be better than his past peak is an awful take, surgery or not. It could take 3 seasons. But he’s mid 20s man, not mid 30s
Just said that it’s highly unlikely that he gets back to that MVP type season. Hey I’m the one defending the guy when a lot of Dodger fans were saying he should be at AAA and not on playoff roster. But at same time you have to be realistic. With his swing and plate approach it’s unbelievable that he hit over .300 and put up those numbers that season. He can maybe come close to matching that season on a power basis but not overall numbers. If you remember that season he got off to a blazing start but faded a bit in the second half. Plenty of past players with lots of success early in their careers that never came close to doing the same later. It’s a game of constant adjustments and maintaining high level success is extremely challenging.
The bottom line here is Bellinger doesn’t have to get back to an MVP type season, he just needs to get back to a VP type of season.
He’s a big guy with a big swing. He will continue to go thru ups and downs possibly for the rest of his career
Or he straightens out his mechanics and his obvious natural ability comes out. He’s a ROY and MVP before 25. Shoulder surgeries are slow comebacks and it’s not like he was healthy this year even if you forget the shoulder. It was a bad year and no one would argue. But Bellinger did not forget how to play baseball either. He’s not a future 300M guy anymore unless he has a massive next couple years, but that doesn’t mean he’s trash
Michael Grove had a rough number in minors. Put 6.10 ERA in 51.2 innings in 2019 (A+) and 7.86 ERA in 71 innings (AA) . Not sure why he added to the 40 man roster
2nd round pick with great stuff. They are clearly high on him
They sure aren’t going to give up on him after only one season in A-ball.
How and why did McKinney get so much playing time this season from a team as smart as the Dodgers? McKinney seemed like an intriguing project 2014-2018, but at no time recently.
He provide solid defense in the outfield. More solid than three other Rookie Dodgers had at the time (Mckinstry, Reks, Raley)
Sarcasm aside, this is the answer. They accepted the dead spot in the lineup and prioritized defense
Was his defense even that good? I think it was adequate but I think they were really hoping his bat/pop would come around and it never did. Helped him that he could play 1B too for versatility.
UZR in 2021 was 6.2 and UZR/150 games was 18.2. DRS had him more at the “ok” level
It’s not like he made 25M. Yeah, his glove alone was probably worth the spot+ $500K even if it was based on a few defensive stats. The organizational depth got hit by trades and injuries
And the one they let go (peters) hit like 14 homeruns for the rangers in half a season.
Yeah, and batted .198 with 4BB and 68SO from 197AB. He’s a solid defender than the other three Rookies (Mckinstry, Reks and Raley) in the outfield, but other than that, the offensive contribution remains the same (bad)
Still provided more value than reks, raley, souza,and Mckinney combined. And was younger than all of them.
DJ Peters is my guy! I’m still upset they gave those other scrubs so many ABs, but reality is, DJ was trying too hard to be that guy for his childhood team, his “hometown,” etc. So I’m kinda glad he’s getting a chance to find his footing in Texas. He’ll find his way back to the Dodgers and hoist a trophy with Gavin.
Context of my post was that these guys were terrible off the bench last season. Peters had some terrible ABs. Pitchers would basically throw three high fastballs and Peters was sitting himself right back in the dugout.
Cmon man, he hit 198/218/426
He’s not moving ANY needles
He hit 12 homers as a Ranger but yeah his overall stat line stunk. He may be a fine defender for a 6’6” guy but reality is that he won’t be able to play CF at MLB level at least not for long. He has raw power and a decent glove. Bottom line though is that he had atrocious ABs for the Dodgers. That’s the context.
I agree, he played himself out of LA. It would be awesome if his power+defense allow him to become Gallo-lite, but he’s have to learn how to take a walk… 218 OBP, 198 average. He’s just hacking
Great moves. Excited to see what the Front Office can get for some of those 7 guys. Think Grove is the only one that sticks; they probably feel there’s something they can adjust to make him a useful reliever. But I really hope Jacob Amaya makes it. We need more “Hometown Heroes” … though the change of scenery really helped DJ Peters, I want them to let JA grind it out.
Interesting who the Dodgers chose to protect this year compared to the players they protected last year. All the young kids at the lower levels who didn’t get a good look are in.. With the lost minor league season due to covid, guys like Peters, Reks, Uceta and Santana all looked like they had bright futures with the Dodgers. Reks numbers play out, I will be surprised if he doesn’t get a good look this spring by a non contender even at 28, much like Uceta will get this next season in Arizona. Legit OBP for Reks while Peters looked as though he was a swing and miss kinda guy.