Just one more sleep until pitchers and catchers officially report to Dodgers Spring Training. Many of them are already in camp, itching to get that third World Series ring in a row.
One guy who is back is our favorite Honeybun, one Evan Phillips. Phillips was non-tendered in November, six months after he underwent Tommy John surgery. The quiet right-handed relief pitcher was dominate before his surgery, especially against right-handed batting. He has a 0.00 ERA in the playoffs over 12 games in five different series. Fabian Ardaya has all the details here.
Should he return to his former dominance, he will join a slightly revamped bullpen that now features Edwin Diaz as closer. When Phillips last pitched for the Dodgers, the team was mainly doing closer by committee. Phillips would be on track to join the team sometime this summer.
Unfortunately, a catcher who won’t be in Spring Training with the Dodgers (for now) is Ben Rortvedt. Benny Biceps has had quite the eventful offseason, getting DFA’d by the Dodgers, claimed by the Cincinnati Reds, being DFA’d by them, and then claimed again by the Dodgers. The hope is that this time no one claims Rortvedt and he’s able to return to Oklahoma City for some catching depth.
Bill Plunkett of the OC Register had some questions about the Dodgers as Spring Training is about to begin -who will be the main second baseman, how will the Dodgers deal with their ‘high class’ problems, who will fill out the bullpen, where’s Kike’, and how will the WBC impact the roster?
Here’s my simple answer to all of them – it will work itself out, especially the bullpen and ‘high-class’ problems. Without putting too many jinxes out there, the Dodgers always have a plethora of pitching to start the season and by the middle of the season, whatever they had originally planned in March is out the window. (Personally, I don’t think saying that is any more of a jinx than Plunkett pointing out what players have been injured in the WBC in the past).
And as far as Kiké Hernández rejoining the team, well, we all know it will happen. Since he underwent elbow surgery in the offseason, he won’t be playing with the team any time soon even if he was on the roster. Things just need to work themselves out, as they always do.
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