The Dodgers announced a series of roster moves today, with right-hander Heath Hembree having his contract selected. Fellow right-hander Jake Reed was recalled to join the active roster as well. Another pair of right-handers, Michael Grove and Phil Bickford, were optioned in corresponding moves. To create space for Hembree on the 40-man roster, infielder Eddy Alvarez was designated for assignment.
Hembree, 33, is in his 10th season of MLB action, having previously pitched for the Giants, Red Sox, Phillies, Mets and Reds, before signing with the Pirates this year. Through 20 games with the Bucs, he had a 7.16 ERA, 15.4% strikeout rate, 17.9% walk rate and 25% ground ball rate, with all of those marks being worse than league average. He was designated for assignment in June and cleared waivers, hardly surprising given his poor results on the year and $2.125MM salary.
After returning to free agency, Hembree joined the Dodgers on a minor league pact. He has since thrown 9 1/3 innings for their Triple-A team, registering a 4.82 ERA, through striking out 35.9% of batters faced in that small sample and walking just 5.1% of them. Based on those improved results, he’ll get another crack at the big leagues. The Dodgers will only have to pay him the prorated league minimum for any time he’s on the roster, with the Pirates on the hook for the remainder of his salary.
As for Alvarez, he is arguably most famous for having won a medal in both the Winter and Summer Olympics. He won a silver medal at the Sochi games in 2014 as a speed skater, before adding another silver as part of the US men’s baseball team at the 2020 Tokyo Games (which were delayed until 2021 by the pandemic). He signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers in the winter, getting selected to the big league club in June. He spent a month in the majors, getting 27 plate appearances in 14 games. He hit .160/.154/.160 in that time before getting optioned. He’s fared much better in Triple-A, hitting .322/.439/.554 in 47 games. He’s also played second base, third base, shortstop and the outfield corners this year. He still has a full slate of options, meaning a team intrigued by his strong Triple-A batting line and defensive versatility could stash him in the minors. The Dodgers will have no choice but to put him on outright waivers or release waivers in the coming days, since the trade deadline has passed.
Hembree about to go 12 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 16 K the rest of the way.
More like 2 IP, 6 ER
This didn’t age well……..
You and your benign username have’t aged well.
You’re coming at me because……..????
More like 2 IP, 6 ER
Hembree has only pitched 2 innings in the dodger minor league this year. My guess they feel they needed a bullpen arm after two extra inning games in Miami and being down a starter. A guy they can release easily once Treinen comes back.
11 innings but the rest is right. Hembree is getting some MLB spotlight before probably being released, Jake Reed too.
Probably Thursday when Kershaw is activated
Yeah I guess, but Hembree for Bickford hardly rates as a step up even as an innings-eater.
More like Blake tri will replace him
The Dodgers roster is a mess. They are lucky they built up a lead early in the year because they are certainly limping to the finish. A first round exit not only seems possible, but probable at this stage. Add their collapse to the regression and disappointment in this years Rams team, the Will Smith slap, and being part of California in general, LA has suddenly become Indianapolis Jr.
Keep telling yourself that, Skippy!
Without the phony Covid season you’re still looking at 34 years without a World Series title. Waste of billions of dollars. Literally.
Also in and out burger sucks and you’re only a few years away from slipping into the ocean unless drunk campers start more wildfires. The best thing about LA is the proximity to Tijuana.
Tf did LA do to you man
You can dis the Dodgers but you’re way out of line with the lies you’re spreading about in-n-out burger. I noticed you didn’t suggest something better than in-n-out when you discredited yourself by saying it sucks. Your grammar is horrible btw, learn to proof read.
If you are going to bash In-N-Out at least inform us of your preferred burger spot…
Aren’t the cartels waging guerilla warfare in TJ as we speak? Anyway,Dodgers got plenty of depth, as does our topography here on the coast. We aren’t concerned and still sleep like babies.
5 Guys isn’t bad…different type of burger and system….If you are ever in the area and see a “TAMS,” make sure you come to a screeching halt…More than a few in LA/So Cal area.
OK, let me point out that Five Guys makes the pathetic product at in-n-out look as bad as it tastes.
I love 5 guys but it’s nowhere near as good as in-n-out. The quality of ingredients and the way in-n-out treats their employees is top notch for a fast food restaurant.
Everyone’s entitled to their opinion but most people prefer in-n-out to five guys in cities that have both. Five guys makes a good burger but in-n-out makes the best burger.
In N Out treats their exmployee’s exemplary. In N Out GM Salary is 100K plus obscenely nice bonuses.
So what is your burger spot of choice?
Please don’t feed the trolls.
I know complete and utter silence is normally the best medicine but when they get personal I can’t help myself sometimes.
I know for all intents and purposes that I’m a rookie poster to the site, though it is still bewildering as to how many trolls seemingly come out of left field/the wood work. Going forward though I agree, I will not respond to impossibly asinine comments or opinions.
I’ve also just familiarized myself with this nifty little “Mute” button that appears to work wonders..
Yeah, we get a lot of trash talkers. Cheap thrills for them I guess. Probably the only ones they get. Once they get muted by a lot of users they create a new ID and post more of the same old smack.
Appreciate the crash course. Starting to learn the familiar faces & usual suspects.
I want to try Five Guys but can’t bring myself to take my wallet out.
At In n’ Out, I can pay less than $8 for a double double cheese burger with fries and a drink. At Five Guys, I’m paying closer to $15.
I generally hear good things about Fat Burger and Shake Shack. I’d like to try those..
Five Guys is overpriced yes…Shake Shack I have not tried…”The Habit” is great “Santa Barbara Sourdough Burger” and onion rings…
And Fat Burger is also the real deal. They will do you up a true custom….whatever toppings you want…fried egg…bacon…extra extra pickles..You name it FatBurger will do it….And “Tommy’s” is an LA staple…
The Habit is outstanding.
@SliderWithCheese
So without the World Series title in 2020, LA is still looking at decades without one. But LA isn’t, because the LADs won one (in a year when it was harder to win it all than ever before)? OK.
And their collapse continued last night, on their way to a 90th win BEFORE SEPTEMBER, running their record since June 29 (when they were a healthy 45-28) to 45-10. Devastating implosion, to be sure.
Just tell us on the doll where LA touched you, Slider…..
Lol. It was the easiest to win. They didn’t even have to go through the grind of a full regular season and pretty much anyone who wanted to make the playoffs could if they just asked nicely. Fraud season. Fraud champion. Fraud city.
If it was so easy, how come your team couldn’t win it? They must be REALLY bad!
“Limping to the finish” to the point that their magic number should be in single digits on or before Labor Day. The bigger challenge will be to keep players fresh since you can now only go up to 28 players in September.
BTW, since we don’t live in Murica, baseball is not the NFL.
I’ve read your BTW comment like 8 times and it still doesn’t make any sense.
Limping to a 21-5 record in August so far…
Most teams think that it’s October that matters. LA thinks it’s August.
I’m not even a dodgers fan. You clearly implied they were limping to the finish of the regular season and that is not the case at all. Go inhale some more paint and keep telling yourself you’re smarter than you really are.
I’m not even a paint inhaler. Now I’m going to politely ask you to stop bothering me so I can watch a documentary on the death of Princess Diana.
Most teams just want to make the playoffs. The Dodgers, Yankees, and Cards, are the three teams that pretty much make it 9 out of 10 years. Every fan knows playoffs are a crapshoot and all you can ask your team for is a shot.
100% I believe the playoffs are always 50-50. TB proved it by taking the Dodgers to the brink of game 7. One of the lowest payrolls vs one of the highest.
You may not inhale paint, but you’ve definitely eaten paint chips as a child.
Another weirdo troll?!!?? Please be gone..Go boast about your drug using, draft dodging days on one of those weirdo message boards. This site is for level-headed baseball folk only son…
What’s your problem, Gina? Nobody is responding to your 30 comments. I’m commenting to SliderWithCheese
No, the same one with a different screen name. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
The Dodgers are 22-5 in August. What team would NOT trade rosters with the Dodgers?
Yeah, cause 7-3 in there last 10 is soooo awful. They will keep winning at a 70% plus clip the rest of the way. They are just too deep.
How is a team over 80 wins a mess?
Dodgers have peaked way too early. Starters have been pitching way over their heads. Bullpen will cough it up in the playoffs. Can’t wait.
As a Pirates fan, I don’t know what the Dodgers see in this guy. But like Tyler Anderson, I have no doubt he’ll suddenly find himself and be a huge positive in LA
This Pirates fan agrees.
The Dodgers only had four relievers available last night, so Hembree and Reed were emergency arms. That they ended up with the win and the save just made it better. But once Kershaw and Treinen return, both are likely goners…..
The Dodgers are one of the best ran teams, of any of our lifetimes. The way they create all-star pitchers year in and year out is amazing. What they’ve done with Heaney and Anderson shows how great they are at maximizing their players talent.
I didn’t realize they had a UFC fighter on their roster.
So as everyone trashes the Dodger moves. Hembree pitches a scoreless inning and Jake Reed gets the save. Can’t wait to see Gavin Stone and Bobby Miller in Sept. Man, we’re deep with pitching talent.
Michael Grove’s fastball and breaking ball looked good last night too. He should fill in nicely for Mitch White next year. Pepiot probably gets put on the Tony Gonsolin development path. Stone and Miller look like top of the rotation arms too. The pitching depth is insane in LA
That was pretty wild, especially Reed’s reaction to getting his first career save. You’d have thought he’d just won the World Series. Probably drove Mets fans crazy too. But don’t be so quick to pencil Reed or Hembree into the playoff roster. Their job is to soak up innings down the stretch. It just happened to work out tonight.
Fangraphs interviewed Emmitt Sheehan, Ben Harris, and Mitch White recently. It’s easy to tell that LA pitching coaches are nerds operating at a different level. Their pitchers are teaching each other new pitches at each step. I respect the way they run the whole organization.
Marlins, #BringEddyBack pretty please?