The Dodgers announced Thursday that left-hander Clayton Kershaw has been reinstated from the 15-day injured list and infield prospect Miguel Vargas has been recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City. That pair represents the team’s initial September call-ups, though it’s not the only pair of moves made today. Los Angeles also placed right-hander Brusdar Graterol on the 15-day injured list due to inflammation in his right elbow. Fellow righty Phil Bickford is up from Oklahoma City to take his spot on the roster.
Kershaw wound up missing just under a month of action after being placed on the injured list due to a lower back injury. He’ll step back into the rotation and look to continue what has been yet another largely successful campaign when healthy; in 85 1/3 innings this season, Kershaw carries a 2.64 ERA with a sharp 26.2% strikeout rate against a tiny 4.5% walk rate. He’ll join the recently activated Dustin May, Julio Urias, Andrew Heaney and Tyler Anderson in a Dodgers rotation that is currently missing Walker Buehler (Tommy John surgery) and Tony Gonsolin (forearm strain).
For Graterol, it’ll be a quick return to the injured list. The 24-year-old flamethrower was out from July 14 through Aug. 22 due to a shoulder injury and will now be placed back on the shelf for a yet-to-be-determined period of time. He’s been an integral part of a Dodgers relief corps that has been frequently beset by injuries in 2022, contributing 44 2/3 innings of 3.02 ERA ball with a 22.2% strikeout rate, 5.7% walk rate and massive 62.9% ground-ball rate. The Dodger bullpen has remained strong even amid myriad injury troubles, however, and they’re expected to reinstate Blake Treinen, who’s been out since late April, as soon as tomorrow, which should help to soften the blow of losing Graterol.
This is the second Major League stint of the season for the 22-year-old Vargas, who’s widely considered to be among the game’s 50 or so top prospects. He’s had a big year in the upper minors, hitting .304/.404/.511 in 520 plate appearances at the Triple-A level. Bickford, 27, has a 5.14 ERA in 49 innings of bullpen work with the Dodgers this season.
Just in time for another Kerchoke post-season!!!
Boring
It’s… trollerific!
I think trollerific is possible but originality counts in trolling and so does context.
Commenters continually referencing Clayton Kershaw’s post-season record when the man has a Word Series’ ring, multiple ERA titles and Cy Youngs, an MVP award and hundred of millions of dollars in earnings AS well as being one (possibly but arguably) the best pitchers of his generation is BORING.
So I ask the trolls this:
If you could have this career (see above) and an average but not poor post-season record…
Would you take it?
I would.
That involves too much thinking and not being willfully ignorant for trolls.
Fake ring from a fake championship as has been stated and proven numerous times.
Boring
How do you prove that?
It cannot be proven. The fact is that, that WS is a matter of record. Legal record. All the teams competed on the same terms.
The trolls never need to go hungry around here.
Proven in your mind only, my friend. No sense going over the most difficult season in modern day baseball history. You know it and we all know it.
False nl teams played in Texas stadium before and Al teams could. So no matter what nl had an advantage in 2020. Just a fact!
Not without trash can banging
Wasn’t Kershaw 2-0 in the 2020 WS, and single-handedly won the WS for the LAD for the first time in 50 years?
He has 3 World Series wins. How many active starting pitchers can claim that?
@fred-3 i think wanio has 3 ws wins, but anyhow i think a lot of people forget a lot of kershaw’s losses were against a very good cards team that had his number during them early 10 years. i’ll say this if kershaw was a card it would come down to a coin flip who starts game 1 between wanio or ker.
bumgardner can.
4 wins and a save that should have been credited as a win (and save for a sal perez home run, a zero era to boot).
Haters jump on Kershaw’s postseason career but never mention Verlander is 0-6 with a 5.68 era in the World Series
Haters jump on Kershaw’s postseason career, but never mention Verlander being 0-6 with a 5.68 era in the World Series
Would the Red Sox rather of had Brusdar over Jeter Downs? They both suck either way
A fine question. I’d still rather have Downs, but the RS need to keep him in AAA until he gets the K/W under 2/1. If they could do that, they’d still have 6 years of control. Graterol has gone thru two years of control, with nothing to show for it. If I thought he was healthy, I might still pick Graterol for four years. But his arm injuries this year are a flashing red light.
Nothing to show for it except for the whole being a big piece of a championship thing. Red Sox were two innings from going up 3-1 in the 2021 ALCS. Had to use Eovaldi out of the pen and it was a disaster. So the idea they couldn’t use a solid relief pitcher is ridiculous.
So the idea they couldn’t use a solid relief pitcher is ridiculous.
=================================
Graterol had a 4.59 ERA in 2021. The idea that we’d have gone to Graterol (4.59) instead of Eovaldi (#4 CY) is as far-fetched as it gets.
Using SPs out of the bullpen in October is dicey. Graterol had a bumpy 2021 but he was good in the playoffs. Graterol is a rolid rp. Yes, taking them in trades as a headliner for a major piece might not be good value. But Jeter Downs has shown nothing. at the major league level and a lot to be desired in AAA. Just because he is a position player doesn’t automatically make him better. Graterol is the better piece at this point.
At this point, Graterol is better. But I have two issues with that.
The first is that Downs is still a position player, while Graterol is an RP. If Downs is better, he will likely be quite a bit better. Or he’ll be worthless. High ceiling and low floor.
But just as importantly, Graterol looks like surgery waiting to happen. He’s already had TJS, the RS didn’t like the MRIs, and he’s had so many injuries since the TJS.
Downs is not a big leaguer. Graterol is.
For now
Hate to get all existential on you, but you’re only alive, for now.
Vargas and Outman would be better options than Chris Taylor and Bellinger right now.
God tier username
Too small of a sample size. Bellinger also gives you a better glove. Taylor is a very streaky player. Need him to get hot in playoffs.
I read the headline too quickly…thought it read Kershaw tested positive for Graterol.
Graterol is a banned substance?
It’s a rare allergy to a type of alcohol. Both can’t be in the same clubhouse at the same time.
LOL I knew it sounded vaguely familiar.
So who starts today’s Dodger game? MLB.com currently has Kershaw listed…
Kershaw is starting today, it’s been known since the weekend
Evidently my eyes read the article wrong. My bad.
why has nobody commented that bickford sucks? cos he does. era over 5 ….. man i cringe everyt ime he comes into the game. why he still has a job i don’t know.
The same guy had a 2.50 era last year.
This year he’s been getting in more hitter counts (even though his BB/9 is lower), thus leading to more hard contact.
I have, many times. He’s a thrower, not a pitcher.
@blue tbh with you i think the majority of pitchers nowadays are throwers and not pitchers
Miguel Vargas?
Heliot Ramos is just as good. I don’t get why Dodger fans think their prospects are so great. The Giants only need 1 or 2 top 100 prospects to be good. We’re not greedy like LA, keeping 7 top 100 prospects while still playing garbage like Cody Bellinger and Chris Taylor.
Lmbo. Unfortunately for you, the rest of the baseball world does not agree.
Ramos’ stock has gone down every year since 2019. This year, he’s not even hitting .250 in AAA When you get into the top 100 prospect ranking, the idea is to keep rising, not slide down.
Gavin Lux single handedly bringing the Dodgers down. While his bat has been a pleasant surprise this season his glove has been suspect all season and now starting to cost the Dodgers a game or two. Have to charge that slow roller. Even little leaguers know that. And on the miscommunication play with Betts he was by far the closer player to the ball when going out to the outfield and yet he was not close to the ball. These are the plays that you have to make when pitchers allow soft contact like that. If he nails Marte at first Lindor may not have scored. Instead of Dodgers down 3-2 it could have been Dodgers still up 2-1 and a different ball game. Then the botched play in the outfield. Gee whiz.
You could almost excuse the Marte play. It’s no secret he is nursing leg injuries and not running full speed most of the time. Lux may have thought Marte would jog to first and he had more time than he thought.
The pop out an inning later that opened the door to two more runs was inexcusable. Betts wouldn’t even look at him afterwards. It was telling on an almost similar play an inning later seeing Betts running full speed to catch the ball. This time Lux didn’t give up so quickly and made the play.
No excuses for taking your time on a slow roller. As an infielder it’s second nature. Slow roller, charge it. Didn’t need a bare-handed pickup but did need to charge it. He didn’t charge it and then casually flipped it. Freeman didn’t fully stretch either but 90% of the blame goes to Lux. That “infield hit” also blew up Chris Martin’s ERA. Should have been zero earned runs on one inning pitched. Instead it’s two earned runs. Difference between a 0.00 ERA and 18.00 ERA. Lux really needs to clean up his defense.