January 9th, 2020 at 8:00 am 
by 0799291000348 While Dodgers fans impatiently wait on the much-anticipated acquisition of elite talent for the 2020 roster, the business of baseball continues in the teams’ operations department. Negotiations continue with the nine remaining arbitration-eligible players (Pedro Baez, Cody Bellinger, Kiké Hernandez, Max Muncy, Joc Pederson, Corey Seager, Ross Stripling, Chris Taylor, and Julio Urias) in the effort to avoid the ugliness of arbitration. And, there is the daunting task of signing journeyman players to minor league contracts to restock minor league rosters which were reduced with the departure of minor league free agents.
Recently the Dodgers re-signed journeyman catcher Rocky Gale and right-handed starting pitcher Justin De Fratus to minor league contracts and added two newcomers to the organization: right-handed reliever Edubray Ramos and left-hander Reymin Guduan.
Ramos is 6’-0”/160 pounds, 27-years old, with three years of team control remaining after being non-tendered by the Philadelphia Phillies following the 2019 season. He was largely ineffective due to injuries that reduced his pitch velocity when he was able to take the mound. In 2018 he pitched 43 innings for the Phillies with a 2.32 ERA, averaging a strikeout per inning with a reasonable walk rate (3.2 per 9 innings). The Dodgers have invited Ramos to 2020 spring training.
Guduan is 6’-4”/205 pounds and will be 28-years old in March. He comes to the Dodgers with a big left arm (his fastball can reach triple digits), with no discernible ability to consistently throw strikes. As such, he was released by the Houston Astros in September 2019 for an unreported discipline matter. An interesting decision by the Dodgers, even for a minor league contract, but this is the same team that signed Chin-hui Tsao, a pitcher with a lifetime ban from playing professional baseball in Taiwan and Australia.
The most notable signing was the agreement with former Milwaukee Brewer right-handed starting pitcher Jimmy Nelson, which also includes a team option for 2021. Dodgers fans will likely remember the 6’-6”/250-pound hard-throwing Nelson as a key member of the Brewers starting rotation until elbow and shoulder injuries wiped out his 2018 season and limited him to 22 innings pitched at the end of 2019. Nelson was non-tendered by the Brewers, thus making him a free agent.
Nelson is a typical Dodgers gamble/risk that fans have come to expect during the Andrew Friedman regime; relatively low-risk dollars with the potential for very high rewards. Unfortunately, there have been more failures than successes with this approach, but the successes have been well worth the effort (Rich Hill, Joe Blanton, and Brandon Morrow, to name a few). IF Nelson is 100 percent healthy and can return to his 2017 form (when he finished ninth in the NL Cy Young Award voting), the Dodgers may have added a potentially very effective middle-of-the-rotation arm or perhaps a late-inning reliever.
While fans continue to hope for the addition of an elite pitcher and/or hitter, the Dodgers continue to quietly tweak the roster in ways that will strengthen the team’s drive for the 2020 World Championship.
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Purely a hunch, but I’ve got a good feeling about Nelson.
By the time pitchers and catchers report to spring training the shoulder surgery will be 29 months behind him. As we know from the Urias and Ryu recovery, two plus years is needed for the shoulder to return to 100% strength. Last September he was throwing 93 mph, so signs are very positive. This may be the additional pitcher Dodgers were looking for in order to include Maeda in a trade.
Don’t forget in 1988 we took a similiar gamble on Tim Leary and he helped win the series with 17 win season. Nelson well worth the gamble, still throwing 93 mph plus so he has big upside.
I forgot about Leary. Career year in 1988 even though he was acquired after the 1986 season and had a meh 1987
Yes, the Friedman low-risk dollars with the potential for very high rewards transactions have been well worth the effort. And while there have been more failures than successes with this approach, need to keep doing them. Please add Max Muncy to your above list.
Muncy signed a minor league contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 27, 2017, and assigned him to the Oklahoma City Dodgers of the PCL. In 109 games, he hit .309 with 12 homers and 44 RBIs. Muncy was called up to the Dodgers on April 17, 2018. He hit his 20th home run for the Dodgers in his 183rd at bat, setting a franchise record and has also been golden since.
The Dodgers are in a great position. The deep roster and stocked farm system, allows the Dodgers to prospect for gold while knowing they will be among the favorites for next year’s Championship with what they already have.
While I do believe they are looking to add elite talent (i.e. Lindor, Betts) they aren’t desperate. Great position to be in.
I was going to say, “panning for gold nuggets is a Friedman specialty” but Boxout beat me to it! Unestablished, toolsy, AAAA type guys signed to minor league deals are another line of depth along with conventional farm hands. Muncy and Turner are the gold standard. They’ve caught lightning in a bottle before, no reason to stop trying to again!
Agreed. It is actually a very cost effective way of acquiring talent when one considers the value created by the “gold nuggets” acquired over the years.
Using weighted runs created (wRC+), In the last 2 seasons Max Muncy (146) trails only Christian Yelich (170), and Anthony Rendon (147) in the National League (Cody Bellinger 142) — and is 8th in MLB over that period. Very impressive for anyone, but for a castoff… Since joining the Dodgers in 2014 Justin Turner’s wRC+ is 141 — 14th in MLB over that period of time. To give credit where credit is due, Colletti signed Turner after he was non-tendered by the Mets after the 2013 season. Agree 100% that Dodgers are not desperate and Friedman will not blink when putting together trade packages. It will not surprise me if the “elite” player pursued by Dodgers is Kris Bryant and the only hold-up is the arbitrator’s decision on his service time grievance.