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Dodgers Select Ryan Brasier

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5:50pm: The Dodgers have now made it official, selecting Brasier with left-hander Bryan Hudson optioned and right-hander Andre Jackson designated for assignment in corresponding moves.

5:30pm: The Dodgers are going to select the contract of right-hander Ryan Brasier, reports Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. Corresponding moves will be required to get him onto the active and 40-man rosters.

Brasier, 35, was a late bloomer in major league terms. After a stint in Japan, he had his North American breakout in 2018 at the age of 30. He made 34 appearances for the Red Sox that year with a 1.60 ERA, striking out 23.4% of opponents against a 5.6% walk rate. He carried that over into the postseason with a 1.04 ERA in 8 2/3 frames, helping the Sox win the World Series.

However, his effectiveness slid in recent seasons and his career ERA now sits at 4.45. Things have looked especially bad recently, as he had a 5.78 ERA last year and an even worse mark of 7.29 this year. Those struggles led to him getting released by the Red Sox and signing a minor league deal with the Dodgers. He’s pitched three scoreless innings in Triple-A in the past week.

There are some reasons to suspect that those inflated earned run figures aren’t entirely his fault. His 56.2% strand rate and .335 batting average on balls in play last year were both on the unlucky side of league averages, leading to a 3.61 FIP and 3.12 SIERA that suggest he deserved better. It was a similar story here in 2023, with a .344 BABIP, 52.8% strand rate, 4.37 FIP and 4.58 SIERA. That being said, it’s probably oversimplifying things to simply say that he’s been unlucky. His hard hit rate, which hovered between 35 and 40% for his earlier seasons in Boston, jumped to 46.5% last year and 53% this year.

The Dodgers have faced uncharacteristic struggles on the pitching front this year as the pitching staff as a whole currently has a 4.66 ERA, a mark that places them 25th out of the 30 clubs in the league. The bullpen is an even bigger concern, with the relief corps posting a collective 5.04 ERA on the season, which puts them ahead of only the lowly Athletics in that department.

Those struggles have coincided with each of Daniel Hudson, Jimmy Nelson, Phil Bickford, Tyler Cyr, J.P. Feyereisen, Alex Reyes and Blake Treinen landing on the injured list. Some of that group could soon be available to the big league club again, as each of Hudson, Nelson and Bickford are each joining Triple-A Oklahoma City for rehab assignment, per OKC’s Broadcaster/Communications Director Alex Freeman.

But for now, the club will take a flier on a Brasier bounceback, which is essentially risk-free from a cost perspective. Since the Red Sox released him, they are still on the hook for the majority of what remains of his $2MM salary. The Dodgers will pay him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Sox pay.

Dodgers Select Dylan Covey

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1:37pm: The Dodgers formally announced the selection of Covey’s contract from Triple-A Oklahoma City. In a pair of corresponding moves, lefty Justin Bruihl was optioned to Triple-A and right-hander Jimmy Nelson was transferred from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL. Nelson hasn’t pitched in the Majors this season as he recovers from 2022 Tommy John surgery, and his rehab assignment was recently halted due to some soreness, so his move to the 60-day IL was largely a formality and not a particular surprise.

1:06pm: The Dodgers are going to select the contract of right-hander Dylan Covey, manager Dave Roberts tells reporters, including Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. The righty isn’t currently on the 40-man, so the club will need a corresponding move or moves to get him a spot there and on the active roster.

Covey, 31, pitched for the White Sox from 2017 through 2019, primarily as a starter. He logged 250 1/3 innings over those three seasons but registered an unimpressive 6.54 ERA. He got grounders at a solid 50% clip but struck out just 15.3% of batters faced while walking 10.1%. The Red Sox gave him eight relief appearances in 2020 but he put up a 7.07 ERA in those.

He then spent the next two years with the Rakuten Monkeys of the Chinese Professional Baseball League in Taiwan, faring quite well. He made 33 starts there over 2021 and 2022 with a 3.63 ERA in 198 1/3 innings. He returned to North America this winter by signing a minor league deal with the Dodgers and currently has a 4.22 ERA through 32 Triple-A innings over six starts and one relief appearance, getting grounders on 62.2% of balls in play.

He will add a fresh arm to a bullpen that has been busy this week. The club played a 12-inning game on Monday and then saw Clayton Kershaw last just four innings yesterday, leading to the relief corps getting plenty of work. Covey can slot in and potentially cover multiple innings if need be, with the club’s next off-day not until May 25, next Thursday.

Latest On Dodgers’ Jimmy Nelson, Daniel Hudson

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Dodgers manager Dave Roberts provided reporters (including The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya) with updates on some injured players today, and the news wasn’t good in regards to right-handers Jimmy Nelson and Daniel Hudson.  Nelson’s rehab assignment will have to be restarted after he was recently shut down due to some discomfort while throwing.  Hudson is throwing as part of his recovery from a torn ACL last June, but Roberts said that Hudson’s knee hasn’t responded to the point that a rehab assignment could be planned.

Nelson hasn’t pitched since 2021, as a Tommy John surgery wiped out his entire 2022 season.  The Dodgers declined their $1.1MM club option on Nelson back in November, but then re-signed him to a new deal that pays the righty $1.2MM in guaranteed money, plus quite a bit of extra bonus money based on how many starts, relief outings, or appearances of a certain length he might make in 2023.

However, there’s now fresh uncertainty over exactly whether or not Nelson might pitch at all this year, given both this setback and his lengthy injury history.  Nelson began the season on the 15-day injured list since a shaky Spring Training performance indicated that he needed more time to fully ramp up, but he made just one minor league rehab outing (on April 25 with Triple-A Oklahoma City).  A move to the 60-day IL would keep Nelson off the Dodgers’ active roster until the end of May, but since that might be an optimistic target date at this point, Los Angeles could indeed shift Nelson to the 60-day if the team needs to create space on the 40-man roster.

Hudson was moved to the 60-day IL himself in mid-April, though it was already expected that he’d need a lengthier recovery, especially since ankle tendinitis slowed his spring work.  Given the severity of an ACL year, it isn’t necessarily unusual that Hudson’s knee still isn’t quite feeling 100 percent, though the lack of a rehab timeline at this point also isn’t a great sign.

The Dodgers took a calculated risk on a quicker recovery, making an early decision in late September on exercising their $6.5MM club option on Hudson’s services for 2023, and then working out an extension in the form of another club option (worth a minimum of $6.5MM) for 2024.  While there’s still plenty of time left in the season for Hudson to return, the $6.5MM investment stands out for a team that initially seemed to be planning to duck under the luxury tax threshold last offseason, as there’s no guarantee that Hudson can regain his old form when he gets back onto the mound.  Hudson looked excellent over 24 1/3 innings prior to his ACL tear, posting a 2.22 ERA with outstanding peripheral numbers.

James Outman, Jason Heyward Will Make Dodgers’ Opening Day Roster

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Outfielders James Outman and Jason Heyward will both make the Dodgers’ Opening Day roster, manager Dave Roberts announced to the team’s beat this morning (Twitter link via Juan Toribio of MLB.com). The Dodgers will need to make a 40-man roster move to add Heyward, although that can be accomplished simply by transferring shortstop Gavin Lux — who suffered a pair of torn knee ligaments earlier in camp — to the 60-day injured list. Roberts added that right-handers Jimmy Nelson and Daniel Hudson are expected to open the season on the injured list (Twitter link via Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic).

Outman, 25, ranks among the Dodgers’ top outfield prospects and made his big league debut in 2022, going 6-for-13 with a homer and two doubles in a tiny sample of 16 plate appearances. He’s had a strong spring training, batting .268/.354/.512 with a pair of home runs, two doubles, a triple and a stolen base. The Dodgers will likely give him fairly regular looks in the outfield, perhaps pairing his powerful left-handed bat with the right-handed-hitting Trayce Thompson in center field.

Impressive as his spring has been, Outman’s 15 punchouts in 48 plate appearances are worth noting, given his strikeout tendencies in the minor leagues. The hit tool has always been the biggest question mark among scouts for Outman, who has fanned in 26.4% of his minor league plate appearances — including a 27.2% clip between Double-A and Triple-A a year ago. Varying opinions on that hit tool make him one of the more divisive prospects you’ll come across. For instance, while The Athletic’s Keith Law ranked Outman as the No. 89 prospect in all of baseball, FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen ranked him 26th in the Dodgers’ system alone.

It’s possible that Heyward will also see occasional time in center field, though he seems ticketed for a more traditional reserve outfielder role. He’s posted a .220/.304/.415 batting line with a pair of homers and doubles alike this spring, but Roberts was hinting that Heyward would make the roster very early in camp. He’ll cost Los Angeles only the league minimum, as he’s still technically playing out the final season of his eight-year, $184MM deal with the Cubs, who released him following the season. Any money paid to Heyward by the Dodgers will be subtracted from what the Cubs owe him, but they’re on the hook for the vast majority of this year’s $22MM salary.

The Dodgers’ outfield, in general, could be in a state of flux throughout the season. The aforementioned injury to Lux is likely to push utilityman Chris Taylor to the infield more regularly, and right fielder Mookie Betts could log around 20 games at second base this season, Roberts said earlier in camp (Twitter link via David Vassegh). That’ll create extra room to rotate Outman, Thompson and Heyward through the outfield alongside left fielder David Peralta, who’ll likely be in a platoon arrangement himself (be it with Thompson or Taylor). Top prospect Andy Pages figures to make his big league debut at some point in 2023 as well, and he’d add another righty-swinging corner bat to the mix.

NL West Notes: Hudson, Nelson, Slater

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Dodgers reliever Daniel Hudson will begin the year on the injured list, per Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. The right-hander hasn’t pitched since June of last year, when a torn ACL ended his 2022 season early. It was reported a few weeks ago that he had also developed some ankle tendinitis over the winter. It seems he still has some work to do before getting back to health.

“There have been days where it’s just, I feel like a baby giraffe sometimes,” Hudson tells Ardaya. “Just trying to get my body — it just feels different — trying to get my body used to moving the way it did. Sometimes it just doesn’t feel like it’s moving the right way.”

Even after that torn ACL, the Dodgers had enough faith in Hudson to sign him to an extension late last year. That new deal effectively triggered their $6.5MM club option for 2023 but also added a $6.5MM club option for 2024, with incentives that could take the value up to $7.3MM. He made 25 appearances before the injury last year, posting a 2.22 ERA with a 30.9% strikeout rate, 5.2% walk rate and 53.4% ground ball rate. While the Dodgers would surely love to get that level of production back in their bullpen, it seems they will have to be patient. In the meantime, the high leverage innings will likely to go pitchers like Evan Phillips, Alex Vesia and Brusdar Graterol.

Some more notes from the National League West…

  • The Dodgers took a gamble on right-hander Jimmy Nelson by signing him to a $1.2MM major league deal recently. Over the past five years, he has generally been either injured or ineffective, but he did have one flash of brilliance in that time. In 29 innings in the 2021 season, he posted a 1.86 ERA while striking out 37.9% of batters faced. The control was definitely a concern, as he walked 11.2% of batters faced, but he was incredibly effective nonetheless. Unfortunately, Tommy John surgery in August wiped out the latter parts of that year and all of 2022. In ramping up for 2023, the control seems to be a problem once again, as he’s issued 11 walks in just five spring outings. Ardaya reports that the Dodgers are considering putting Nelson on the injured list to start the season in order to give him more time to get into a groove. Nelson has well over five years of service time and can’t be optioned without his consent, so an IL stint and rehab assignment could be a way to allow that to happen. It’s unclear whether Nelson is experiencing any kind of injury or soreness after the lost season, but he clearly needs to refine his command and the Dodgers would hardly be the first team to cite a vague injury in order to get a player on the injured list.
  • Giants outfielder Austin Slater was diagnosed with a strained hamstring on the weekend. While the club didn’t provide an estimated recovery timeline, Evan Webeck of The Mercury News reports that Slater was given a timeline of three-to-four weeks before he can return to play. With Opening Day now just over a week away, Slater will undoubtedly start the season on the injured list. This means the club will have at least two outfielders on the IL when the season begins, as Luis González will miss roughly the first half of the season due to back surgery. Mitch Haniger could make for a third outfielder on the shelf since he has an oblique strain, but it’s still unclear if he’ll be ready for Opening Day. This will test the club’s depth behind the likely front three of Mike Yastrzemski, Michael Conforto and Joc Pederson. In order to potentially address the issue, catcher Blake Sabol and infielder Brett Wisely have been getting more outfield reps of late. Webeck also mentions that Bryce Johnson is in the running. He’s a natural outfielder but isn’t currently on the roster, though he could potentially take the spot of Gonzalez, who is sure to be transferred to the 60-day IL at some point.

Dodgers Place Three Pitchers On 60-Day IL, Finalize Three Free Agent Signings

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The Dodgers announced Thursday that they’ve placed right-handers Walker Buehler, Blake Treinen and J.P. Feyereisen on the 60-day injured list. The trio of transactions clears space on the 40-man roster for the previously reported free-agent signings of David Peralta, Alex Reyes and Jimmy Nelson, whose one-year deals have now become official.

None of three IL placements come as a surprise. Buehler underwent Tommy John surgery late in the 2022 season and is expected to miss most, if not all of the upcoming 2023 campaign. Treinen, meanwhile, could miss the entire 2023 season after undergoing surgery to repair the labrum and rotator cuff in his right shoulder back in November. At the time the surgery was announced, the team provided an estimated recovery period of about 10 months, which would run into early September.

As for Feyereisen, he’s never thrown a pitch for the Dodgers but was acquired in a December trade that sent minor league lefty Jeff Belge to the Rays. The 30-year-old Feyereisen rattled off 24 1/3 shutout innings for Tampa Bay in 2022 and has a 1.48 ERA in 61 innings of relief work with the Rays dating back to 2021. However, he underwent a similar procedure to Treinen (rotator cuff and labrum repair) in early December and is reportedly looking at August as a best-case scenario for his own return.

The Rays entered the offseason with three players on their 40-man roster whom they expected to miss most or all of the 2023 season — righties Shane Baz and Andrew Kittredge are recovering from Tommy John surgery — creating enough inflexibility that they opted to designate Feyereisen for assignment and find a trade partner. It’s a long-term play for the Dodgers, as Feyereisen is controllable via arbitration for another three seasons after the 2023 campaign.

The trio of 60-day IL placements are effectively formalities, but this slate of Dodgers moves is also a good reminder that teams can now create roster space for new additions — be they Major League signings, waiver claims or trade acquisitions — without necessarily having to designate a current player for assignment. MLBTR’s Darragh McDonald recently ran through all 30 teams and looked at each club’s 60-day IL candidates to begin the season.

Dodgers Re-Sign Jimmy Nelson To Major League Deal

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The Dodgers and right-hander Jimmy Nelson are in agreement on a major league deal, reports Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. Nelson’s deal contains a $1.2MM base salary and contains various incentives.

Ardaya breaks down the bonus structure (on Twitter). Nelson receives a “point” for every outing in which he either starts or records 10+ outs from the bullpen. He would lock in $250K each at 10, 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20 points, followed by $500K apiece for 22, 24, 26, 28 and 30 points. Any shorter relief appearances counts as a “non-point” appearance. Nelson would receive $300K each at 35, 40, 45 and 50 such appearances, followed by $400K for hitting the 55 and 60 game marks.

Nelson, 34 in June, has had a stop-and-start career over the past decade. He debuted with the Brewers in 2013 and made 104 starts by the end of 2017. That last season seemed to be a tremendous breakout for him, as he posted a 3.49 ERA over 29 starts. Already a ground ball pitcher, he added strikeouts to his repertoire that season, punching out 27.3% of batters faced, a big jump from the 17.3% rate he had the year prior.

Unfortunately, that season was cut short when he suffered a torn labrum and a partially torn rotator cuff while sliding into second base in an early September game. He missed the rest of that season and also the entirety of the 2018 campaign. He returned to the mound in 2019 but struggled to a 6.95 ERA in 22 innings. The Dodgers signed him for 2020 but back surgery wiped out all of that campaign.

In 2021, he seemed to get back on track in a big way, pitching essentially as a full-time reliever. He made a single start though it was an “opener” situation where he went less than two innings, while the rest of his 27 appearances were out of the bullpen. He posted a miniscule 1.86 ERA in 29 innings of work, striking out an incredible 37.9% of batters faced. His 11.2% walk rate and 37% ground ball rate were a bit worse than average, but that didn’t stop him from posting excellent results.

But another setback came when he required Tommy John surgery in August of that year, putting an end to his stellar season. Though he was likely going to miss all of 2022 as well, the Dodgers re-signed him to a one-year deal plus a $1.1MM option for 2023 with performance bonuses. The Dodgers declined that option back in November but have worked out a new deal with a slightly higher guarantee. The details of the bonuses aren’t known.

Nelson will now be a huge wild card in Spring Training for the Dodgers. Over the past five years, he’s been mostly injured but was excellent for that brief period in 2021 when he was healthy. The club has shown that it’s not afraid to bank on injured players, with mixed results. Both Blake Treinen and Max Muncy were extended while dealing with injuries last year, with Muncy finishing the season strong while Treinen seems likely to miss all of the upcoming season.

The Dodgers will need to create room on their 40-man roster for Nelson whenever this deal is made official, and the same is true of their recent deals with David Peralta and Alex Reyes. However, that could be somewhat easy this week, as players are eligible to be moved to 60-day injured list once pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training. This year is a little murky because some players have arrived early due to the World Baseball Classic, but the Dodgers’ official report date for pitchers and catchers is tomorrow. Treinen, Reyes, Walker Buehler and J.P. Feyereisen are all candidates to move to the 60-day IL and could do so this week, helping out with that roster crunch.

If Nelson is healthy and is anywhere close to his 2021 form, he’ll give the club a potent weapon for its bullpen, alongside arms like Daniel Hudson, Evan Phillips, Brusdar Graterol and others.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Dodgers Decline Club Option On Jimmy Nelson

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The Dodgers announced that they have declined their 2023 club option on right-hander Jimmy Nelson. They could have retained him at a $1.1MM salary but will instead let him return to the open market. There was no buyout attached to the option.

Nelson spent many years as a starter with the Brewers before being derailed by injuries. He missed the 2018 and 2020 seasons entirely and only threw 22 innings in 2019, putting up a 6.95 ERA in that brief window when he was healthy.

However, he seemed to get things back on track with the Dodgers in 2021. He made 28 appearances that season, throwing 29 innings with a 1.86 ERA. He walked 11.9% of batters faced but struck out 37.9% of them, well above that year’s 24% average for relievers. Unfortunately, that strong bounceback season was cut short when Nelson required Tommy John and flexor repair surgery in August.

Despite the surgery, the Dodgers re-signed him for the 2022 campaign, knowing he was unlikely to contribute that season. He received a league-minimum $700K salary while rehabbing, with the Dodgers able to trigger the $1.1MM option for 2023. The league minimum salary is jumping to $720K next year, meaning that $1.1MM figure is only $380K above. For a team that’s typically among the biggest spenders in the league, that would be a small risk to take on a pitcher who was so dominant when last healthy. However, the club has opted not to take that chance.

There’s no financial risk here for the Dodgers, since there is no buyout on the option. Their only risk is losing Nelson to a rival team now that he has the ability to pursue offers from all 29 other clubs. Though it’s also possible that he and the club could reconnect on another deal.

Previewing Upcoming Club Option Decisions: National League

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In the past two days, MLBTR has taken a look at how players with contractual options could impact the upcoming free agent class. We looked at players with vesting provisions on Tuesday before turning our attention to American League players under control via team options yesterday. Today, we’ll check in on their National League counterparts.

Braves

It has been strange year for Morton, who starred on last year’s World Series winner. He re-signed on a $20MM deal with a matching option for next season. Through 22 starts and 122 2/3 innings, the two-time All-Star has a slightly underwhelming 4.26 ERA. That’s largely attributable to a dreadful first couple months, however. He has an ERA of 3.55 or below in each of the past three months, carrying a cumulative 3.44 mark while holding opponents to a .198/.276/.369 line since June 1. Morton is still sitting in the mid-90’s with his fastball, striking batters out at a quality 27.3% clip and has ironed out his control after some uncharacteristic wildness through his first few starts. At first glance, a $20MM salary seems pricey for a pitcher entering his age-39 season with Morton’s overall numbers, but he’s not shown any signs of physical decline and has looked great lately. If he keeps at this pace for another two months, the Braves will probably welcome him back. That, of course, assumes Morton wants to continue playing. He’s hinted at retirement in years past and set fairly strict geographic limitations on his market during his latest trips to free agency.

Mets

The Mets acquired Vogelbach from the Pirates to add a left-handed platoon bat to what had been an underwhelming designated hitter mix. He’d hit .228/.338/.430 through 75 games in Pittsburgh and has raked at a .341/.473/.568 clip over his first couple weeks in Queens. For a negligible $1.5MM salary, keeping Vogelbach around feels like an easy call. He’s technically arbitration-eligible through 2024 regardless of whether the Mets exercise his option. The option price should be more affordable than whatever he’d receive through arbitration next offseason, so if the Mets surprisingly declined the option, they’d likely non-tender him entirely.

  • John Curtiss, RP ($775K option, arbitration-eligible through 2025)

There’s nothing new to report on Curtiss. He signed a big league deal just before Opening Day with the knowledge that he’d likely miss all of this season recovering from last August’s Tommy John surgery. He was immediately placed on the injured list. Next year’s option is valued at barely above the league minimum salary, so it’s just a matter of whether the Mets plan to devote him a roster spot all offseason. Curtiss is controllable through 2025 if the Mets keep him around.

Phillies

Segura has been the Phils’ primary second baseman for the past four seasons. He’s generally hit at a slightly above-average level, relying on excellent bat-to-ball skills to prop up an aggressive offensive approach. He’s paired that with above-average defensive ratings at the keystone. He’s lost most of this season after fracturing his finger on a bunt attempt, but he’s healthy now and performing at his typical level. Across 195 plate appearances, he owns a .284/.324/.421 line with seven home runs. Segura is a good player, but a $16MM call will probably be too much for a Philadelphia club that already has five players on the books for more than $20MM next season (and will add a sixth notable salary — more on that shortly). The market also hasn’t been particularly robust for second base-only players in recent years. Segura will be headed into his age-33 season.

This one’s a no-brainer for the Phillies to exercise. Nola is one of the sport’s top pitchers, a picture of durability and consistently above-average numbers (aside from a blip in his 2021 ERA that didn’t align with still excellent peripherals). One can argue whether Nola’s a true ace, but he’s at least a high-end #2 caliber arm. He’s given the Phils 144 2/3 innings of 3.17 ERA ball this season, striking out 27.9% of batters faced against a minuscule 3.6% walk rate. Even on a $16MM salary, he’s a bargain.

Reds

Wilson signed a complex free agent deal with the Yankees during the 2020-21 offseason. A one-year guarantee, the deal contained player and team options for 2022. Wilson and the Yankees agreed that if he triggered his $2.3MM player option for 2022, the team would get a 2023 option valued at $500K above that year’s league minimum salary. That provision carried over to the Reds when Wilson was dealt to Cincinnati at the 2021 trade deadline, and he indeed exercised the player option last winter. Next year’s league minimum is set at $720K, so Wilson’s option price will come in at $1.22MM.

It’s certainly affordable, but it still seems likely the Reds will let him go. The 34-year-old (35 next week) southpaw underwent Tommy John surgery in June, meaning he won’t return until late in the ’23 season at the earliest. He made just five appearances this season and posted a 5.29 ERA over 34 innings last year.

Brewers

Wong presents a tricky case for a Milwaukee club that typically runs slightly below-average player payrolls. He’s hitting .255/.336/.425, offense that checks in around 11 percentage points above league average according to wRC+. It’s among the better showings of his career. He doesn’t have huge power, but Wong’s an effective baserunner with plus bat-to-ball skills and good strike zone awareness. He’s a good but certainly not elite offensive player, one who’s performed about as well as Milwaukee could’ve reasonably hoped when signing him over the 2020-21 offseason.

What seems likely to determine whether the Brewers bring him back is how they evaluate his defense. A two-time Gold Glove award winner, Wong has rated as one of the sport’s best defensive second basemen for the majority of his career. Public metrics have unanimously panned his work this year, though, with Statcast’s Outs Above Average pegging him as the worst defensive second baseman in 2022. Wong’s speed has also taken a step back, and perhaps the Brewers think he’s just past his physical prime as he nears his 32nd birthday. If that’s the case, they probably buy him out, since Wong’s value has been so heavily concentrated in his glove. If they feel this year’s downturn is just a blip and expect he’ll return to his old ways on defense, then keeping him around makes sense. Like Segura, Wong could be affected by the market’s recent devaluation of second basemen. It’s also worth noting that Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported that Milwaukee was open to trade offers on Wong before this summer’s deadline. They didn’t move him, but it’s perhaps an indication the front office is leaning towards a buyout.

Boxberger has spent the past couple seasons on low-cost contracts in Milwaukee and generally performed well. He carries a 2.51 ERA through 43 innings this season, albeit with slightly worse than average strikeout and walk rates. Boxberger has a career-worst 8.4% swinging strike rate, and the front office could view his strong run prevention mark as little more than a mirage. The financial cost is modest enough they could nevertheless keep him around, particularly since manager Craig Counsell has trusted Boxberger enough to give him plenty of high-leverage opportunities (largely with good results).

Rockies

Oberg is technically controllable for another season via club option, but the Rockies will obviously decline it. He earned a three-year extension after the 2019 season on the heels of two consecutive sub-3.00 ERA campaigns, no small feat for a reliever calling Coors Field home. Unfortunately, Oberg has dealt with persistent blood clotting issues that prevented him throwing from a single major league pitch throughout the course of the contract. The 32-year-old hasn’t officially announced his retirement, but he admitted in May he’s no longer actively pursuing a return to the field. He’s taken on a role in the Colorado scouting department to stay involved with the organization.

Dodgers

  • Max Muncy, INF ($13MM option, $1.5MM buyout)

One of the game’s best hitters from 2018-21, Muncy has had a disappointing season thus far. Seemingly nagged by health issues tied to a ligament tear he suffered in his elbow late last season, he’s had a huge downturn in his offensive production. Muncy still boasts elite strike zone awareness, but his results on contact are way down. Overall, he carries a meager .180/.317/.360 line across 366 trips to the plate.

Still, given what Muncy’s shown himself capable of in the past, it seems unlikely the Dodgers let him go to save $11.5MM. This is an organization that annually runs one of the league’s highest payrolls, and they’ve shown a willingness to place one-year bets on players with upside but risk (e.g. tendering a $17MM arbitration contract to Cody Bellinger on the heels of a .165/.240/.302 season disrupted by injuries). They’ll probably do the same with Muncy and hoping he rediscovers his prior form with another offseason to rehab his elbow.

The Dodgers signed Duffy to a one-year guarantee this spring knowing he wasn’t likely to factor into the plans until midseason. He’d been shooting for a June return but has still yet to make his Dodgers debut, although he’s reportedly throwing at the team’s Arizona complex. It’s unlikely the Dodgers bring him back for $7MM given his recent health woes, but he could change those plans if he makes it back to the mound late in the season and looks like a potential impact arm, as he did at times with the Royals.

Hudson signed a one-year guarantee over the offseason and quickly emerged as a key high-leverage option for manager Dave Roberts. He dominated over 24 1/3 innings, pitching to a 2.22 ERA with an excellent 30.9% strikeout rate while averaging north of 97 MPH on his fastball. The veteran righty looked like one of the sport’s best relievers for two months, but he unfortunately blew out his knee trying to field a ground-ball. He tore his left ACL and is done for the year. The Dodgers could still roll the dice given how well he’d pitched before the injury, but that’s no longer a foregone conclusion. A $5.5MM decision isn’t onerous — particularly for L.A. — but there’s plenty of risk in Hudson’s profile given the injury and the fact that he’ll be headed into his age-36 season.

The Dodgers added the veteran Alberto on a fairly surprising big league deal. He’s been a below-average offensive player for three years running, with his solid contact skills not quite compensating for a lack of power and one of the game’s most aggressive approaches. He’s played a limited utility role, serving as a right-handed bench bat capable of splitting his time between second and third base. Next year’s option price is very affordable, but the Dodgers can probably find a hitter with a bit more punch to play the role Alberto has assumed.

Nelson underwent Tommy John surgery last August, but the Dodgers brought him back for the league minimum salary to get a cheap option on his services for next year. He’s been on the injured list for all of 2022, as expected. Whether the Dodgers keep him will depend on how he looks at the start of the offseason, but $1.1MM for a 33-year-old who posted a 1.86 ERA and punched out 37.9% of his opponents in 29 innings when last healthy is beyond reasonable.

Padres

The Padres have spent the past few years trying to get out from under the money they owe Myers. The extension to which they signed him in January 2017 never worked out, as he’d been a roughly average hitter aside from a monster showing in the shortened 2020 campaign up until this season. The 2022 season has been a disaster, as Myers owns a .233/.277/.295 showing through 159 plate appearances and has lost two months to a right knee injury. He’s healthy now but relegated to fourth outfield duty. Myers will probably find a big league opportunity somewhere this offseason, but it’ll come with a new team and with a substantial pay cut.

Giants

Longoria is nearing the end of an extension he first signed with the Rays a decade ago. His production dipped late in his stint with Tampa Bay, and Longoria slogged through a trio of mediocre seasons through his first four years in San Francisco. He’s had an offensive resurgence over the past two years, carrying a .254/.340/.468 line in 470 plate appearances going back to the start of 2021. Longoria’s still a good hitter and capable defender at the hot corner, but he’s dealt with plenty of injury concerns as he’s gotten into his late 30s. He’s gone on the injured list five times in the last two seasons, including long-term absences for a shoulder sprain and hand surgery. The hefty buyout means it’d only be an extra $8MM for San Francisco to keep him around, but it seems likely they’ll look to get younger at the hot corner. It’s possible the three-time All-Star takes the decision out of their hands entirely, as he told Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle in June that he’s not ruling out retiring after this season.

Dodgers Re-Sign Jimmy Nelson

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MARCH 17: Nelson receives a $700K salary in 2022, reports Jon Heyman of the MLB Network (on Twitter). The club option is valued at $1.1MM and contains possible performance bonuses.

MARCH 15: Right-hander Jimmy Nelson appears to be back with the Dodgers, as he’s in their clubhouse this morning, tweets Pedro Moura of the L.A. Times. Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic tweets that a locker for Nelson is set up. Nelson signed a one-year, Major League contract with a club option that covers the 2023 season, tweets Ardaya.

It’s not clear whether Nelson, a CAA client, is back on a minor league deal or whether he inked a big league deal. If it’s the latter, it’d presumably grant the Dodgers control over Nelson’s 2023  season as well, given that he’s unlikely to pitch for most of the current season. Nelson had Tommy John and flexor repair surgery last August, which should sideline him for the vast majority or the entirety of the upcoming 2022 season.

When healthy, Nelson was a powerhouse in the L.A. bullpen. In 29 innings of relief, Nelson posted a 1.86 ERA while punching out 37.9% of the 116 batters he faced. The former Brewers righty averaged 94 mph on his heater and logged a hefty 14.9% swinging-strike rate during that brief run. It was a notable turnaround from an ugly 2019 campaign that saw Nelson post a near-7.00 ERA in a similar sample of innings while attempting to mend from a notable injury.

Early in his career, Nelson looked well on his way to establishing himself as a key member of the rotation in Milwaukee. From 2015-17, he made 91 starts, tallied 532 innings and notched a collective 4.08 earned run average. Nelson’s 2017 season, in particular, had the makings of a potential high-end starter. In 175 1/3 frames that year, Nelson posted a 3.49 ERA with a big 27.3% strikeout rate against a tiny 6.6% walk rate.

Unfortunately, however, Nelson suffered a torn labrum and a partially torn rotator cuff while sliding into second base in an early September game during that 2017 season. He underwent surgery to repair that shoulder — a procedure that wiped out not only his final month of the ’17 season but his entire 2018 campaign. Nelson returned to the Brewers in 2019 but was limited to just 22 innings by an elbow injury. Milwaukee non-tendered him following the season.

It’s a disheartening sequence of major injuries that have clearly derailed the career of a highly talented hurler. Nelson will spend the bulk of the 2022 season rehabbing, but by the time he makes it back to the mound, he’ll be 33 years old with just 51 total MLB innings under his belt since injuring that shoulder as a 28-year-old. Hopefully, Nelson will be able to put the ongoing arm issues behind him, as it’s clear that when he’s healthy enough to take the hill, he can be an impact part of a big league bullpen.

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