Photo by Masterpress/Getty Images
Answering your Dodgers questions and remembering Dave Roberts ejections, all in one place
Thank you to everyone who responded to
last week’s call for questions. Now with the
Dodgers set to resume their regular season schedule on Thursday, here are some answers in today’s mailbag.
JB 8 asks, “Do you believe the Dodgers will seek to acquire an everyday, true CF during the season? Or, do you feel they project Pages will grow into at least a league average defender out there and see him as the answer for at least the next few seasons?”
My gut reaction to this is yes, that center field is the most likely position the Dodgers will target when it comes to trades this year. But such a deal is not necessarily
a must, at least not yet. For one, having Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman at the top of the lineup, plus Teoscar Hernández, Max Muncy, and Will Smith behind them gives the team a lot of leeway to let someone like Pages learn on the job. I think he’s best suited for an outfield corner, but with Hernández and Michael Conforto, the role for the taking right now is in center.
The versatility of the roster also gives the Dodgers cover, especially because Tommy Edman will likely see time in center field as well as second base. Kiké Hernández probably will be at both positions as well. And once the team feels Hyeseong Kim is ready to hit at the major league level he’ll be another player in the mix to play multiple positions.
Chevere TK asks, “Once Ohtani returns to the rotation and all other starters stay relatively healthy, could you foresee a trade or two with one of the Dodger starters? If so, who would be on the chopping block?”
The rotation always seems to solve itself, in that by the time a potential roster crunch might come, it’s likely an injury or two will create the room required. The bulk of the extra starting pitchers — Landon Knack, Bobby Miller, Justin Wrobleski, Nick Frasso, eventually Emmet Sheehan — are optionable, and can be stashed in the minors as needed.
But once Clayton Kershaw, Tony Gonsolin, and Shohei Ohtani are all ready to return — maybe mid-to-late May at the earliest for all of them to be active together? — that’s when the crunch might happen. The most obvious trade candidate to me is Gonsolin, who still has one more year after this before free agency, if it came to that. Dustin May might also be tradable, but he might be pitching too well to do so or might get hurt (given his history), but more importantly could also be useful out of the bullpen if not starting. I’m not sure Gonsolin fits in the bullpen if it comes to that.
Urbino followed up with, “And if we do trade away some pitching (or anything), what on earth will we trade for?”
Gonsolin has a pretty good major league track record but has never been able to put together a fully healthy and productive October. He’s also coming off Tommy John surgery, which makes that 2022 campaign look even further away in the rear view mirror.
Maybe the recent trade comp for Gonsolin might be Ross Stripling, who like Gonsolin made an All-Star team with Los Angeles. Stripling had more of a hybrid role in his Dodgers tenure, but was extra in 2020, when he
was dealt for minor leaguers Kendall Williams and Ryan Noda, the latter who played in the majors the last two seasons with Oakland and is now with the Angels.
Another recent excess starter trade was perpetual up-and-down man Mitch White, who
was sent to the Blue Jays at the 2022 deadline in a four-player trade that netted the Dodgers Nick Frasso, who
was one of LA’s best pitching prospects before missing last season after shoulder surgery.
We’ve seen these kind of trades a lot in recent years with the Dodgers, with roster room tight and trying to get something for them that might pay dividends down the line. Trading reliever Dylan Floro
in February 2021 for Alex Vesia and Kyle Hurt has paid major dividends for the Dodgers, and
the January 2024 trade of Michael Busch and Yency Almonte to the Cubs looks like a home run, with Zyhir Hope and Jackson Ferris
now top-100 prospects with the Dodgers.
The 2023-24 offseason was also busy in this regard. Victor González and Jorbit Vivas
were sent to the Yankees for shortstop Trey Sweeney, who was later part of
the package the Dodgers used to get Jack Flaherty at the trade deadline.
The Dodgers didn’t have roster room for Caleb Ferguson, Bryan Hudson, and Manuel Margot last year, and in those trades the Dodgers
got defensive shortstop prospect Noah Miller plus teenage pitchers
Christian Zazueta and
Justin Chambers. Some of them might pan out, and some won’t. But it’s a numbers game, and trying to spin forward what is basically excess roster abundance into something that might be potentially useful later.
Underdog asks, “[Who was] most impressive newer prospect you saw in Spring Training?”
He’s not really new, but Jackson Ferris has only been with the Dodgers for 14 months, and he’s impressed at just about every turn. The left-hander had a 3.20 ERA in 27 starts last year, the last seven of which were in Double-A Tulsa, and he was a Branch Rickey Award winner
as the Dodgers minor league pitcher of the year.
Ferris was
ranked among the top 100 prospects by Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, ESPN, and MLB Pipeline, is still only 21, and looked fantastic as a non-roster invitee in spring. And he topped off his stellar exhibition season with 3⅔ innings and four strikeouts at Dodger Stadium on Sunday.
“Jackson really carries himself like a season veteran with his mound presence,” manager Dave Roberts said Sunday. “Seeing a very formidable lineup, and he didn’t run from it. That was good to see from a young player.”
Emmet Sheehan started the 2023 season in Double-A and made the Dodgers postseason roster. Ben Casaprius and Justin Wrobleski started last year in Double-A and debuted with the Dodgers, and Casparius pitched in the postseason. It’s not out of the question that Ferris could find his way back to Dodger Stadium this season, even while considering the several Dodgers starting pitching options (listed above) the team might have at its dispoal.
Sandy is the Greatest asks, “How many times will Dave Roberts get ejected this season?”
This got me thinking, and I realized I don’t really have a handle on how often Roberts gets tossed. He rarely has Lou Piniella moments on the field, and to my knowledge has not dislodged any bases from their moorings. Sure,
Roberts did want to tussle with Andy Green in 2017, but that was a rare occurrence.
But I looked up
Roberts’ career managerial stats at Baseball Reference, and he’s been ejected 12 times in his nine years at the helm. He was tossed twice in 2016, and three times in 2021, but in each of his seven other seasons Roberts was ejected exactly once. So my guess is Roberts will be ejected one time in 2025. Let’s say June 17.
