The Dodgers announced a series of roster moves today, highlighted by the club adding left-hander Anthony Banda to the active roster. Right-hander Landon Knack was recalled from Triple-A alongside Banda, while righties J.P. Feyereisen and Ricky Vanasco were both optioned to Triple-A. Right-hander Connor Brogdon was transferred to the 60-day injured list to make room for Banda on the 40-man roster.
L.A. acquired Banda, 30, from the Guardians on Friday, but the lefty had not been on Cleveland’s 40-man roster and therefore did not require a corresponding 40-man move until he was formally added to the roster today. The lefty signed a minor league deal with Cleveland back in January and impressed over 17 innings of work at the Triple-A level, where he struck out a whopping 37.9% of batters faced en route to a 2.12 ERA in 12 appearances prior to the trade.
A tenth-round pick by the Brewers in the 2012 draft, Banda has appeared in parts of seven big league seasons since he made his debut with the Diamondbacks in 2017. In all, the lefty has collected 90 big league appearances with seven different clubs but struggled at virtually every stop along the way. His career ERA sits at 5.69 in the big leagues despite a decent 4.35 FIP, although Banda’s big strikeout numbers in the minors could change his fortunes if they manage to translate to the big league level. After all, Banda has posted a career strikeout rate of just 19.9% to this point in his career, and his minor league strikeout rate over a full season peaked at just 26.9% at Triple-A with the Rays back in 2018. Clearly, the Dodgers are intrigued enough by the possibilities of Banda’s newfound swing-and-miss to give him a shot in their bullpen.
Joining the club’s roster alongside Banda is Knack, 26. The rookie right-hander is set to make his fourth spot start at the big league level of the season today and has generally gotten strong results despite weak peripherals to this point in his big league career. In 16 innings of work in the majors this season, Knack has posted a 2.81 ERA despite a meager 16.9% strikeout rate and three home runs allowed during that time. Those shaky underlying numbers have left Knack with a 5.52 FIP, although he’s posted a decent 4.15 ERA across five starts at the Triple-A level to this point in the season.
Making room for Banda and Knack on the roster are Feyereisen and Vanasco, both of whom are headed to Triple-A after brief stints in the Dodgers bullpen. Vanasco ultimately appeared in just one game for L.A. before being optioned, though he impressed with two perfect frames and recorded a strikeout in his big league debut. As for Feyereisen, the 31-year-old’s return from shoulder surgery has been an uneven one, as he’s allowed a 6.00 ERA and 4.81 FIP across nine appearances thanks in part to an elevated 13.2% walk rate. He’ll head to Triple-A in hopes of sorting things out and returning to the big league bullpen later this year. As for Brogdon, the righty has been out since mid-April after being placed on the injured list due to plantar fasciitis shortly after being acquired from the Phillies and has no clear timetable for return.
Sky’s kinda cool, because it’s blue.
Doh!
J.P. Feyereisen did not deserve to be optioned to the Minors…
I’m assuming it only for a day or two. Someone is going on the IL in the next 48 hours.
Banda gets around as much as Cole Tucker and Diego Castillo
Nick, with all due respect, your analysis of Feyereisen‘s situation is shallow and misses the mark. The man litetally has been entrusted to finish two wins this week when the preferred closers were unavailable. He looked great on both occasions. The Dodgers are very high on him and his recent performance is beginning to demonstrate their long-term assessment of his potential. He will be back quickly as Senior suggests. He has options and that’s incredibly valuable when you have as many injuries as the LAD.
Yes, Feyereisen had two disastrous outings to start the season (one in Korea), but has been solid since then. It’s not surprising he was rusty after missing all of 2023. This is simply an up and down move for a fresh arm.
He is OK. Still has major control issues. Understandable since it’s been so long but he needs a lot more time in the minors before he can be trusted in high leverage. Their pen is in just such bad shape right now that they need roster moves after every game
“Such bad shape”
Treinen ERA ZERO 2024
Vesia 1.33 ERA
Hudson 2.84 ERA
Grove 1 ER over last 5 games
Feyreisen ZERO ER last 5 games
Yarbrough ZERO ER last 5 games
Bad shape injury wise not performance. Phillips, Kelly and Braiser is – 3 high leverage arms.
Agreed those arms are much missed. But LAD pen is deep.
Graterol
Don’t forget brusdar
Friedman using this part of the season to audition players. Cycling through them and seeing will stick. Problem is it can cost them winnable games, but that seems secondary. Not sure why they cannot sign some reliable arms? As you say who besides Phillips and perhaps Hudson do you trust in high leverage situations?
Not sure why anyone still believes this is audition process. Year after year Friedman does this thing of picking up one player after another, mostly relievers, off waivers and in low-level trades and the vast majority of them are gone within a few days. I suppose the theory is this churning reduces workload over the course of the season, but for sure very few of these players stick or have much hope of sticking. They are cannon fodder.
Some of the more hopeful players might believe, and who can blame them?
A, B, and C – Their not going to sign anyone because they don’t have a 40 or 26 man spot to spare, its really beyond simple –
Its cost them little…..while the space has GRANTED them an opportunity to see guys like Pages Grove and Knack blossom. No thanks to ” signing ” another reliable arm
They have like 6~8 guys in the wings as well – Far as AMK above questioning the bullpen? Bart Simpson couldn’t count on 1 hand the games that pens blown this year
* If there’s ANY concern for Dodger nation right now its Glasnow, Yamams and Paxtons inn pace currently. Trying to find anything else is a fools errand
and with this philosophy their pen has been a sore point in the playoffs where there is margin of error is much less compared to regular season. They have a lot of assets and just don’t want to part with them.
Naw, ill take my chances with a pen of Phillips Graterol Hudson Trienan May Kelley Vessia going into the playoffs
* If they part with assets it would have been a guy like Andy Pages, No thanks for a pen arm
I am not questioning the bullpen. They just have a lot of injuries right now that the 40 man roster has like 3 easy DFA candidates which usually isn’t the case with the Dodgers
No doubt they expect the bullpen to solidify over the next month or so and the expectation is reasonable considering the number of injuries they have now. The point I made is all these nonentities Friedman finds are not part of the solution. They aren’t auditioning. They are just warm bodies for temporarily plugging holes.
I trust Treinen, Vesia, and surprisingly lately, Grove.
All I see is Phillips and Vesia and a bunch of others who are perpetually injured and may not be around for playoff time, Trienan and Hudson missed the better part of the last two seasons, they can’t be your top setup guys.
Phillips isn’t perpetually injured. He’s pitched over 60 innings in each of the last two seasons. Vesia, not a lot less. Hudson had a run of really bad luck. The issue with him is more his age at this point. Treinen is a question I suppose but until last year he’d been durable. Pitchers get hurt a lot, it’s just part of the game — and unless you can pinpoint a chronic condition you are really only guessing about when the next one will happen.
TBD… to be dfa
Banda stinks. I’ll be shocked if he’s still on the team in a week.
Not today draker! He did his job.
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile.
Dodgers could use another LH in the bullpen. Probably see auditions all season long until someone earns it.
At this rate 150 guys will at some point be rostered by the Dodgers this year
that’s a lotta rings
Ha ha. But it’s at the team’s discretion. Even groundskeepers and ball girls can be awarded rings
They’ll get away with it easily in the regular season because they will walk away with the NL West title. Once the playoffs start they’ll need a stable pen.
The usual winning combo of Ohtani & Banda!
In his first appearance, Banda stranded the placed runner in the 10th and earned the win! So, DFA incoming. 😀