The Dodgers have finalized their roster prematurely of their Opening Day tilt with the Cubs. Los Angeles formally added Roki Sasaki to their 40-man roster. In addition they chosen the contract of veteran reliever Luis García, who had been in camp as a non-roster invitee.
Brusdar Graterol and Michael Grove had been positioned on the 60-day injured listing to create the required 40-man openings. Grove underwent season-ending shoulder surgical procedure final week. Graterol is recovering from a labrum process in his personal shoulder and won’t be again till the second half of the season on the earliest.
Los Angeles positioned a further seven pitchers on the 15-day IL: Tony Gonsolin (again tightness), Edgardo Henriquez (left foot fracture), Kyle Damage (rehabbing Tommy John surgical procedure), Clayton Kershaw (rehabbing toe surgical procedure), Michael Kopech (shoulder impingement), Evan Phillips (rehabbing rotator cuff pressure), and Emmet Sheehan (rehabbing Tommy John surgical procedure). With Gavin Stone and River Ryan touchdown on the 60-day IL throughout Spring Coaching, the Dodgers have 11 pitchers starting the season on the injured listing. Every of Kershaw, Sheehan, Damage and probably Henriquez determine to land on the 60-day IL ultimately.
By and huge, these are procedural strikes. The one actual choice is their name to hold García within the bullpen. The hard-throwing righty inked a minor league deal that got here with a $1.5MM base wage if he made the workforce. He didn’t have an ideal camp, permitting three runs with a trio of strikeouts throughout 5 1/3 innings. The Dodgers had been however inspired sufficient by his stuff so as to add him to Dave Roberts’ center aid group.
García divided his 2024 season between the Angels and Crimson Sox. The 38-year-old pitched moderately effectively for the Halos, working to a 3.71 earned run common via 43 2/3 innings. He posted roughly common strikeout (22%) and stroll (7.7%) charges with a powerful 51.2% ground-ball share. Issues went sharply downhill in Boston. García missed a pair weeks late within the season with elbow irritation. He was tagged for 15 runs throughout 15 1/3 innings in a Sox uniform. That pushed his season ERA to an unimpressive 4.88 mark via 59 frames.
Sasaki was not beforehand on the 40-man roster as a quirk of the worldwide beginner system. The identical age restriction that capped his signing bonus to a modest $6.5MM additionally restricted him to signing a minor league contract. The Dodgers had been by no means going to ship him to Triple-A, in fact, however he was technically in Spring Coaching as a non-roster invitee. Sasaki took the ball twice in exhibition play. He fired seven scoreless innings with seven strikeouts and three walks.
The touted 23-year-old righty will make his main league debut on Wednesday evening in his house nation (3:10 a.m. Pacific within the U.S.). He’ll go reverse Justin Steele within the second recreation of the season. It’ll be a matchup of Japanese-born starters Tuesday evening on the Tokyo Dome, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto taking the ball towards Shota Imanaga.
