Although there has been no official confirmation from the team yet, it was reported on Friday morning that the Dodgers have signed 26-year-old right-hander Jordan Yamamoto and 31-year-old right-hander Dylan Covey to Minor League deals, presumably with invitations to Major League Spring Training camp.

This from MLB Trade Rumors: on Friday morning:

“Yamamoto announced his own deal with the Dodgers on Instagram [on Thursday], Taiwan’s United Daily News first reported that Covey, who spent 2021-22 pitching for the Rakuten Monkeys in Taiwan’s CPBL [Chinese Professional Baseball League], was signing with the Dodgers.”

As noted in the MLBTR article, Yamamoto was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 12th round in 2014 out of St. Louis High School in Honolulu, HI. He was traded to the Miami Marlins on January 25, 2018 as part of the blockbuster Christian Yelich deal. After posting a 4-6 record and 6.20 ERA in 19 games (18 starts) with the Marlins, Yamamoto was traded to the New York Mets on February 1, 2021, with whom he went 1-1 with a 4.05 ERA in his two games (one start) with the Mets in 2021.

Covey’s story is a bit different and rather unique. He was initially drafted in the first round in 2010 (14th overall) by the Milwaukee Brewers out of Maranatha High School in Pasadena, CA, but opted instead to attend UC San Diego. He was subsequently selected in the fourth round in 2013 by the Oakland Athletics, with whom he signed but never made it to The Show. He was snatched up from Oakland by the Chicago White Sox in the 2016 Rule-5 Draft on December 8, 2016 and granted free agency on January 24, 2020. He signed with the Tampa Bay Rays on February 3, 2020 and was traded to the Boston Red Sox on July 21, 2020. In his combined four seasons in The Bigs, the Glendale, CA native owns a 6-29 record with a 6.57 ERA over his 71 Major League games (45 starts).

But regardless, signing both righties to Minor League deals (again, presumably with invitations to Major League camp) was yet another (relatively) low-cost/potentially high-reward deal for which Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman is famous for and quite successful at.

Play Ball!

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