It’s never an easy thing for a general manager or, in the Dodgers case, a general manager and a president of baseball operations to do – designate a player for assignment. In essence, they are saying ‘Thanks, but you no longer fit our program.’

For some, it opens the door to a fresh start with another organization. But for others, it means that their lifelong dream and excruciating hard work of making it to – and remaining at – baseball’s highest level is over.

Some may try to prolong the inevitable by playing independent ball, from which an occasional diamond in the rough is plucked. Others may try their luck playing abroad … ditto. But for most it is, bluntly, the end of the line.

Granted, some of these guys leave the game financially set for life; a few even multi-millionaires. But in the case of minor leaguers who have spent nearly all of their professional careers on the fringe of making it to the Show (and even a few who did so for brief periods of time), being DFA’d is, again, usually the end of the line.

By every indication, 26-year-old Normal, Illinois native Brock Stewart may be dangerously close to the end of the line – at least with the Dodgers.

Between April 29 and June 20, Stewart has been called up and sent back down to Triple-A Oklahoma City six times. Will there be a seventh? (Photo credit – Dale Zanine)

In his outing on June 19 as the Dodgers 26th-man for the doubleheader call-up rule, Stewart entered the game in relief in the bottom of the 10th inning of a very winnable 1-1 tie game. He promptly gave up a leadoff triple to Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant on a 1-2 count.

With no outs and the winning run 90 feet away, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts wisely elected to intentionally walked Cubs second baseman Javier Baez. But for reasons that we will probably never know, Roberts did not elect to also intentionally walk Cubs center fielder Albert Almora Jr. which, quite frankly, was the only viable option the Dodgers had to (hopefully) set up a force play at the plate and perhaps even turn a double play. But Roberts did not and Almora thanked him by hitting a game-winning walk-off single to right.

But perhaps what’s most perplexing for Dodger fans with regards to Stewart, whom the Dodgers selected in the sixth round of the 2014 First-Year Player Draft out of Illinois State University, is that he has been given more opportunities to make it at baseball’s highest level than any other Dodger pitcher in recent memory. In fact, he has been the brunt of countless frequent-flyer jokes, having been promoted to the Dodgers and subsequently demoted back to OKC six times between April 29 and June 20.

Unfortunately, the extremely polite hard-throwing right-hander has had horrible command and control problems in the nine games (two starts) in which he has appeared with the big league club this season. With the June 19 loss, Stewart currently owns an 0-1 record and an unsightly 6.11 ERA over his combined 17.2 innings of work. During that time he has allowed four home runs, walked nine, hit two batters, while striking out 14.

“It’s been a grind so far this season,” Stewart told NewsOK’s Jacob Unruh, after a recent rough outing for the OKC Dodgers. “I’ve had success here and I’ve had success in the big leagues, but inconsistent success. I’m just trying to be consistent, have the same approach and the same mentality every time I go out there.”

The good news for Stewart is that, as of this writing, he is still on the Dodgers 40-man roster.

The bad news is that it’s hard to imagine that Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Farhan Zaidi are going to give Stewart many – if any – more chances. What this means is that even with options remaining, Steward would have to be designated for assignment and placed on waivers in order to open up a spot on the team’s 40-man roster for a potential replacement. That being said, it’s hard to believe that Stewart would not be immediately claimed off waivers by another team.

So, who might that replacement on the Dodgers 40-man roster be, you ask?

The most likely candidate is 27-year-old Gomez Palacio, Mexico native Manny Banuelos, who is currently 8-3 with an excellent 2.88 ERA with the OKC Dodgers. The hard-throwing left-hander has struck out 86 while walking 24 over his team-high 72.0 innings pitched.

If you are among those who prefer a guy with MLB experience, then Banuelos might be your guy. Prior to being acquired by the Dodgers on November 14, 2017 as a free agent, the (then) nine-year minor league veteran appeared in seven major league games (six starts) with the Atlanta Braves during the 2015 season, posting a 1-4 record and 5.13 ERA over his combined 26.1 innings pitched. In those nine appearances, Banuelos struck out 19 and walked 12.

However, during his (now) 10-year minor league career and keeping in mind that he is still only 27 years old, Banuelos has a minor league career mark of 40-38 and a 3.47 ERA in 196 minor league games (148 starts); not over-the-top numbers, but certainly worthy of another look at the major league level.

In addition to being the Oklahoma City Dodgers best pitcher, left-hander Manny Banuelos has logged more innings pitched than anyone else for the Dodgers Triple-A affiliate. Maybe it’s time for him to start logging some innings with the LA Dodgers. (Photo credit – Dylan Heuer)

For those who may recall, Banuelos received an invitation to Dodgers major league camp this past spring. Unfortunately, he ended up going 0-2 in the five spring training games in which he appeared (two starts) with an unattractive 10.64 ERA. This probably had something to do with Stewart making the Dodgers 40-man roster over Banuelos.

But as we all know, baseball is a ‘What have you done for me lately’ sport, and to be brutally honest, Banuelos has done considerably more – and more recently – than Stewart has, albeit at the minor league level versus the major league level.

Is Manny Banuelos a better option than Brock Steward as an occasional spot starter / long reliever for the Dodgers? Maybe. Maybe not. But it has become abundantly clear that the Brock Steward experiment hasn’t worked thus far this season.

Perhaps it’s time for Manny Banuelos to begin accruing some of those frequent flyer miles instead.