The Dodgers will promote right-hander Ben Casparius before tomorrow’s game against the Cardinals, reports Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. The team will be able to open a 40-man spot for Casparius by transferring River Ryan to the 60-day IL, but it is not yet clear how they will find room for him on the 26-man roster.
Casparius, 25, joined the Dodgers organization as a fifth-round selection in the 2021 draft. He has been promoted mid-season all four years of his career thus far, going from the Complex League to Single-A in 2021, Single-A to High-A in ’22, High-A to Double-A in ’23, and finally, Double-A to Triple-A in ’24.
In 2022 and ’23, Casparius struggled to adjust following his promotions, but this year, he hit the ground running with the Triple-A Oklahoma City Baseball Club. After putting up a 3.32 ERA and 3.15 FIP in five starts at Double-A, he has a 3.54 ERA and 4.34 FIP in 13 starts at Triple-A. His strikeout rate briefly plummeted in Oklahoma City, but after a month-long stint on the IL, he came back firing on all cylinders. Casparius has a 3.44 ERA, 2.56 FIP, and 35.5% strikeout rate over his last five starts. He was especially dominant in his latest outing against the Round Rock Express on Sunday, tossing six scoreless innings with eight strikeouts and no walks.
Baseball America ranks Casparius as the No. 20 prospect in the Dodgers system, while MLB Pipeline has him at No. 23. FanGraphs isn’t quite as high on the righty, ranking him at No. 39. While he is currently working as a starting pitcher, all three sources agree his future most likely lies in the bullpen, presumably as a multi-inning, middle reliever. To that point, Casparius will join the Dodgers bullpen – not the rotation – during his first stint with the big league club (per Ardaya).
There is no word yet on who Casparius will replace on the active roster. One might have thought the Dodgers would option Bobby Miller back to Triple-A following his rough outing tonight (4 2/3 IP, 4 ER, 8 H, 2 HR, 1 K), but Dave Roberts suggested otherwise after the game. The manager told reporters (including Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register), “I thought [Miller] finished much better than he started and look forward to the next [start] being even better.” Indeed, Plunkett notes in no uncertain words that Miller will continue to fill Tyler Glasnow’s spot in the rotation for the time being.
Aside from Miller, the Dodgers’ only pitchers with options are starter Gavin Stone and relievers Alex Vesia and Michael Kopech. Simply put, it’s extremely hard to imagine the team would send any of those arms to Triple-A. Therefore, unless the Dodgers are planning to place a pitcher on the IL, their only other choice would be to DFA someone like Brent Honeywell Jr. or Joe Kelly. Kelly has struggled since returning from a shoulder injury in July (5.59 ERA in 12 G) but he is a proven veteran on an $8MM contract. Honeywell, on the other hand, has a 1.96 ERA in 18 1/3 innings with L.A., but neither his underlying numbers nor his track record are nearly as impressive.
Difficult to believe that not 1 single player from the 2005 Dodgers is still playing for the team. Crazy.
Not one single player from 19 years ago is still playing for the team. Shocking.
Same goes for your Orioles, actually.
You spelled “every major league team” wrong.
Cubs.
I’m waiting. Dazzle me.
Your colors are the Orioles colors, that’s why I thought you were a Orioles fan. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
Verlander debuted in 2005.
Yes… for the Tigers. He no longer pitches for the Tigers. The post says no one from the 2005 dodgers still plays for them. Not one major league team has any players from their 2005 roster. The fact that a single player from that season is still playing 4 teams later is exactly my point.
Well they clearly need to draft better.
Even harder to imagine is that no player from the 1986 Mets is still with that team.
Right but that was 28 years ago so kind of unrealistic for them to still be playing.
Well, first off it was 38 years ago. And I don’t think anyone who played 19 years ago would still be with their team if they were even active. The days of Musial, Yastrzemski and Ripken are, unfortunately, over.
Active roster spot probably from optioning Bobby Miller back down. He just didn’t look good at all today
I believe you missed something in your reading of the article, the part where Dave Roberts talked about looking forward to Miller’s next start.
That said, I don’t get why they are burning an option on Casparius instead of recalling Knack. He’s done pretty well so far in his auditions with the big club. He’s also already on the 40-man.
I agree on Knack too, but he just went down so he would need someone placed on the IL to be called back. I believe the waiting period is 10 days after being optioned down outside of being an injury replacement.
The dawning of the Age of Casparius.
Hudson looks like he might need a breather based on his last outing it would serve him well
dodgers pitching is in shambles. so much that kopech is looking like a savior.
Over a billion spent this off season and no depth. Amazing.
No depth? They have used 17 different starters.
Using more starters means you don’t have good starters. 17? So guys they tried weren’t effective so they tried others huh?
I guess if you throw enough junk at the wall something is bound to stick.
Using more starters sometimes means you don’t have healthy starters.
This “junk” team is in first place and only 1.5 games back of the best record in baseball.
You start with 5. If all 5 get injured you’re at 10. If all 5 of them get injured you’re at 15. So you’re saying dodgers have lost 12 starters.
K name the 12 they lost.
Some teams start with 6, some get hurt, some are ineffective.
I listed 5 who have been on the IL and 5 who have started 1 game each.
If they’re so ineffective, how do they have the #9 cumulative SP ERA, better than the Padres?
Do you not know how averages work?
A guy making 2-3 starts with an era of say 9 gets watered down by a guy making 20-22 starts with an era of 3.
The 20-22 guy has more innings than the 2-3 guy. The 2-3 guy hardly makes a dent into the 20-22 guy production.
3 starts 9 era
22 starts 3 era
Works out to 25 starts 3.44 average
Thanks for the math lesson. I’ll print it out and put it with my engineering diploma.
It’s literally depth that’s saved them..
Apparently they’ve used 17 starters. Only time you use that many is if guys aren’t effective so you try other guys. But a broken clock is right twice a day so dodgers are bound to find someone eventually to stick I suppose.
The Dodgers are 7th in the majors in team ERA at 3.78, which seems pretty effective.
SP who have spent time on the IL this season:
Tyler Glasnow
Yoshinobu Yamamoto
Clayton Kershaw
Walker Buehler
River Ryan
Five pitchers have started/opened 1 game apiece, and Jack Flaherty just joined the team.
I’m guessing by your SDSU pic you’re a Padres fan. Their 8 total SP this season have them in second place, which is pretty good. Of course, their staff ERA of 3.95 is 15th overall.
ERA for SP only:
LAD: 3.94, 9th
SD: 3.98, 12th
Basically a wash, or put differently, equally “effective,” regardless of how many SP it’s taken to get there.
Looking at just guys who have been starters they’ve had 12 excluding reliever spot starts cause I’ll have to dig deeper into their 1 or 2 spot starts. 7 out of 12 this year have an FIP over 4.
Stone, Miller, Paxton, Buehler, Knack, Wrobleski, flaherty.
So today your depth has been efffect isnt really true.
And 7 out of 12 starters have an FIP over 4 for the dodgers this year. Again depth has been an issue. Especially effective depth.
Believe,
You have to know how hyperbolic your comment is. Nearly a quarter of that total is discounted because it’s deferred, and that total is spread out over 10-12 years. You make it sound like they have a billion dollar payroll this season.
Not to mention the inaccurate “lack of depth” comment others already have called you out on.
17 starters is definitely lack of depth. Means guys aren’t effective so they try others. Just cause you keep throwing guys out there hoping they’ll be effective and aren’t doesn’t mean you have depth.
People love hyperbole. You can’t believe how much they love it!
Hyperbole is the greatest word and concept ever! It makes sliced bread and space-age polymers jealous!
Knack has a 1.1 WAR and he is not in the majors. I’d say thats called depth. No other team would have a pitcher like that in the minors
These greedy pigs. How many players do they have to keep jamming onto their loaded roster? Oh, there goes Honeywell, sub-3.00 ERA and all. Or there goes fan favorite Joe Kelly. I hope the chemistry of this team becomes toxic with the team trying to inflate itself with superstars until it pops and then trying to mix in random prospects to act like it cares about the youth movement.
They are greedy for putting their own homegrown draft pick on the roster!!!!
There goes who? Neither of those players was let go, it was pure speculation by the author.
But someone is going
Yep, but there’s no guarantee it’s either of those guys.
And I’m not sure how the Dodgers can be labeled as “greedy pigs” when they have 26- and 40-man rosters just like every other team.
Yea they were.
True, baseballer, but not when Mickey posted originally.
The author posted this article then began writing the first draft of one that will post next week titled “Dodgers Casparius to Undergo Tommy John Surgery”
So true! Training staff to Dodger pitchers, “the day after pitching in a game, you need to throw a 60 pitch bullpen before noon, at maximum velocity. The next day, do the same thing but throw only curves and sliders and make it 100 pitches. Rest one day and put your arm in a vice for the entire day before your next start.”
So false! You have a wild imagination, 2020v.
The dodgers need to take a serious look at what they are doing with their pitchers. They go down like flies.
Though they also had a rotation that had some injury history’s or questions on it they would hold up before the season began.
Glassnow in his career gets hurt a lot.
Kershaw has been hurt for years now.
Yamamoto coming from Japan where they don’t pitch as often. Is always a question when it comes to adapting to the majors.
Walker has been hurt multiple times in his career.
River was hurt earlier in the season now he is done for the next year.
Relievers they have a bunch of them that are constantly hurt.
Ohtani will be back to pitching and he gets hurt as well.
I know a lot of pitchers go down for every team but 17 starters? Who knows how many pen arms have been hurt several more than once.
Everyone keeps saying wait until the dodgers are healthy. Well they got freeman back, got Betts back. Since they are 4-4, now it’s wait until we get Edman and muncy back. Edman is basically a league avg hitter who hasn’t played all year. Muncy has been out forever, he is also not a good defender. I don’t think these dudes are going to jolt the dodgers into a super team.
The Oracle of Delphi has joined the chat.
Place Bobby Miller on the LA-OKC shuttle. They need bullpen arms because most games require at least 4 innings from the ‘pen.
He really throws a ghost fork ball that’s not too friendly.