Mention the name “Pedro Baez” while in the company of Dodger fans and two things will probably happen. First, all conversation will immediate stop; and second, every eye will immediately be upon you … and not in a good way. There isn’t a reliever on the Dodgers 40-man roster whose mere mention brings out more emotion – usually anger – from Dodger fans faster than that of Pedro Baez.

Baez was signed by the Dodgers as a non-drafted free agent in 2007 as a third baseman, and a good one at that. So good, in fact, that the 6′-0″- 235-pound Bani, Dominican Republic native was selected for both the 2009 and 2010 All-Star Futures Games. During that 2010 season Baez spent most of it with the (then) Dodgers Advanced Single-A affiliate Inland Empire 66ers but finished the year with the Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts

…and then the bottom fell out.

Baez appeared in 32 games early in 2011 with the Lookouts hitting a weak .210 before suffering an injury that landed him on the disabled list for the remainder of the season. Upon returning to action in 2012 with the Lookouts, Baez appeared to be back on track and was selected to the mid-season Southern League All-Star team, but once again things turned bad and Baez was demoted back down to the (now) Advanced Single-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes. Not only did it look as though the once highly touted third base prospect would never make it to the big leagues, it appeared that he might not even make it back up to Double-A.

Through his first six minor league seasons Baez’s triple slash numbers had fallen to a dismal .247/.308/.391 and his 2012 numbers even worse at .221/.306/.374 with 11 home runs and 59 RBI between Chattanooga and eventual back down to Rancho Cucamonga. The writing was on the wall – barring an absolute miracle, Pedro Baez was on his way out the door as a professional baseball player.

That miracle happened. This from Mike Petriello’s former Mike Scioscia’s Tragic Illness blog in January of 2013:

“The biggest mystery among third basemen, Baez has underachieved throughout his career and was listed as a pitcher during instructional league this past fall. Always praised for his arm, Baez could move to the mound…”

Early returns on Pedro Baez the pitcher brought with them comparisons to Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen, himself a converted position-player-turned-pitcher, and from a very good source.

“They put (Baez) on the mound in instructional league and (his) fastball is really strong,” said Dodgers pitching coach Rick Honeycutt of Baez in the winter of 2013. “You talk about Kenley; when you see the ball come out of (Baez’s) hand … He hasn’t been overwhelmed by thinking too much about pitching. He just sees the glove and throws it and that’s kind of refreshing,”

Sure enough, Baez did make it to the major leagues, debuting with the Dodgers on May 5, 2014. During his rookie season the hard-throwing right-hander – who occasionally hit 100-MPH on the radar gun – posted a 0-0 record but a very good 2.63 ERA in his 24 innings of work over three call-up stints with the Dodgers, during which time he struck out 18. But even then the extremely quiet right-hander exhibited control issues, having also walked five batters in those 24 innings. He also gave up three home runs.

Few will argue that the average 45 seconds that Baez takes between pitches has cost him far more fans than it has garnered him. (Photo credit – Eric Risberg)

Baez broke spring training 2015 on the Dodgers Opening Day roster. And even though he was briefly sent back to Triple-A Oklahoma City, he ended up appearing in 53 games with the big club, posting a 4-2 record and 3.35 ERA through 51.0 innings pitched. But while these numbers tend to look very good, they do not reflect what was becoming a significant issue for “Petey,” as he is called by his teammates and coaches; he was allowing an uncomfortable number of inherited runners to score, including several by way of home runs. In fact, during the 2015 season, Baez allowed 15 of his 40 inherited runners to score – that’s 38 percent of them.

Through this season Baez has been the Jekyll and Hyde of the Dodgers bullpen. At first glance his 3-2 record and 3.61 ERA aren’t bad. Add to this the fact that he has struck out 68 of the 251 batters he has faced and your first thought is “not bad.” But then you look at the 19 walks he has issued and (gulp) the 11 home runs – most among all Dodger relievers – he has coughed up over his 62.1 innings pitched and you begin to realize that his wins and losses and ERA are very deceiving. But the killer … the absolute killer are the 12 inherited runners (out of 26) that Baez has allowed to score this season for a team-high 46 percent. THIS is what causes those angry looks when you mention his name in a crowd.

It is also the reason why the Dodgers optioned Baez to Double-A Tulsa on Tuesday morning. And though the two-level demotion might at first glance be thought of as punitive, the actual reason is because MLB rules allow for a player to be exempt from the mandatory 10-day must-stay rule if the minor league team to which they are sent concludes their regular season, as does the Tulsa Drillers on Monday, September 5. Had Baez been optioned to the Triple-A Oklahoma City Dodgers instead, he would not be eligible to return until September 11, although his 10-days would have been up on September 9. This isn’t to say that the Dodgers will call Baez back up to the big club, but they can a few days earlier if they so choose.

Although there are those who will argue that Pedro Baez has been better more often than he has not, and his numbers actually bear this out, the Dodgers have very little wiggle room with their scant 2.0 game lead over the Hates Ones with only 31 games remaining in the regular season. As such, the extremely overworked Dodgers bullpen simply cannot allow inherited runners to score. Granted, there will always be some that will, but allowing 46 percent of them to score is simply unacceptable, and the decision to option Baez was absolutely a matter of necessity.