Dodgers Rumors: Stone, Crochet, Shortstop, Outfield

A number of groups tried to pry right-hander Gavin Stone from the Dodgers in offseason commerce talks, writes Bob Nightengale of USA Today, however Los Angeles held agency on the previous high prospect and is now reaping the advantages. After yielding 31 runs in his first 31 huge league innings final season, Stone has emerged as a significant member of supervisor Dave Roberts’ rotation.

Stone, 25, ranks second on the Dodgers with 89 innings pitched and is tied for second with 15 video games began. He’s posted a terrific 2.73 earned run common by means of the season’s midway level. Whereas his 19.5% strikeout charge is beneath common and his .268 common on balls in play and 6.3% homer-to-flyball ratio counsel there’s doubtless some ERA regression in retailer, he has the look of a legit huge league starter. The 2020 fifth-round choose has been a relentless within the L.A. rotation whereas the staff has navigated accidents for Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Walker Buehler and others.

The Dodgers have a whopping six starters on the injured listing, to say nothing of oft-injured arms like James Paxton and Tyler Glasnow wholesome and within the rotation. Glasnow, particularly, is already 17 innings from his career-high on the MLB degree (120 innings). He’s by no means topped 155 innings in any skilled season earlier than.

Unsurprisingly, given the large slate of present accidents and the well being histories of their present arms, the Dodgers have been exploring the marketplace for pitching. Nightengale reported inside that very same column that the Dodgers have already made a suggestion to the White Sox for lefty Garrett Crochet, which has been rejected, and the latest report from Ken Rosenthal, Patrick Mooney and Will Sammon of The Athletic additionally touches on Los Angeles’ curiosity in Crochet.

Crochet isn’t a perfect match for a staff searching for constant, bankable innings — because the Dodgers presently are. This 12 months’s 101 1/3 innings is greater than Crochet, a 2020 draftee, had thrown in his complete skilled profession mixed previous to the ’24 marketing campaign. There are questions on how the left-hander will maintain up down the stretch, and The Athletic trio suggests he’s not a lock to spend the rest of the season pitching in a daily rotation function if he’s certainly moved — because the White Sox are reportedly planning on after extension talks with Crochet quickly stalled out. The Dodgers, nonetheless, view Crochet as a legit October weapon whatever the function wherein he’s used and will merely work out the specifics of his utilization down the road, relying on how the second half of the season performs out.

Rotation innings are simply one among a number of questions the Dodgers will face over the subsequent four-plus weeks because the deadline looms. They’re additionally staring down an absence of six to eight weeks for star leadoff man Mookie Betts, who in recent times has moved from proper discipline to each middle-infield positions, enjoying nearly anyplace the staff asks with out seeing any actual drop-off in his MVP-caliber offensive manufacturing. With Betts on the shelf, the Dodgers have plugged hot-hitting Miguel Rojas again into a daily function at shortstop, and the veteran’s play this season may make {that a} extra everlasting association when when Betts is wholesome.

“I’d, I’d,” supervisor Dave Roberts replied when asked by Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times whether or not he’d contemplate conserving Rojas his on a regular basis shortstop when Betts returns. “I don’t suppose anybody can debate the extent of shortstop play from Miguel Rojas. A few of it’s contingent on the timeline for Mookie’s return and the place Miggy is bodily and the way issues are going. However to your query, would I contemplate it? Completely.”

Rojas, 35, is hitting .297/.344/.446 (126 wRC+) — his finest profession manufacturing exterior of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. He’s enjoying his customary model of high-end protection at shortstop, drawing lavish reward from each Roberts and Dodgers third base coach Dino Ebel, who calls Rojas one of many 5 finest defensive shortstops within the sport. (Statcast lists Rojas tied for seventh amongst all shortstops with six Outs Above Common in simply 215 innings this season; each different identify among the many top-8 this season has performed greater than 700 innings).

Maintaining Rojas at shortstop and sliding Betts again over to second base instead of Gavin Lux may deepen the staff’s lineup and enhance the protection. The Athletic report notes that including an on a regular basis outfielder would permit the Dodgers to make use of Betts at second base and go along with a platoon of Andy Pages and Jason Heyward within the outfield alongside the brand new acquisition and Teoscar Hernandez.

After all, that’s simply one among many viable eventualities, and it’s not framed inside that report as a transparent goal a lot as one among varied potentialities that might be explored. Alternatively, if the Dodgers had been so as to add somebody who can deal with second base frequently — and achieve this at the next degree than in-house selections like Lux, Chris Taylor and Enrique Hernandez — that might push Betts again to the outfield.

As is steadily the case with the Dodgers, their mix of versatile defenders and a hefty lead within the division mix to create varied commerce avenues to discover whereas additionally decreasing urgency to finish a deal. Los Angeles holds a 7.5-game lead over second-place San Diego within the NL West. They’ll certainly improve in a number of areas between now and July 30, however the measurement of their lead doubtless reduces stress on president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, GM Brandon Gomes and their workers to finish one thing within the short-term and provides them the luxurious of taking a fluid strategy to augmenting an already first-place roster.