Dodgers @ Nationals May 5, 2014: And Now Pedro Baez, I Guess

nationals_parkAnd today’s transaction is… *spins wheel*… Pedro Baez! Sure, why not. The Dodgers have literally been making a move almost every day for the last week, thanks to the Minnesota doubleheader and Hyun-jin Ryu‘s disabled list stint. This time around, it’s returning Sunday starter Stephen Fife to Triple-A in order to select righty reliever Pedro Baez from Double-A, for what is all but certainly a one-day stint to put Fife’s roster spot to better use before Clayton Kershaw gets activated tomorrow.

Dodgers
Nationals
4:05 pm PT
Washington, DC
2B
Gordon
CF
Span
LF
Crawford
3B
Rendon
SS
Ramirez
RF
Werth
1B
Gonzalez
1B
LaRoche
CF
Kemp
SS
Desmond
RF
Ethier
2B
Espinosa
3B
Uribe
LF
McLouth
C
Olivo
C
Leon
P
Greinke (R)
P
Zimmermann (R)

Baez, if you don’t know him, turned 26 in March, and has been in the Dodger system since 2007, though most of that time was as a third baseman who could neither hit or stay healthy. I was begging for him to be converted into a pitcher as far back as 2010, though it didn’t happen until last year. In 59 games on the mound for Single-A Rancho and Double-A Chattanooga, Baez has a 63/29 K/BB, which is fine. Really, unless it’s a blowout one way or another, I wouldn’t expect to see Baez; it’s him rather than Paco Rodriguez mostly because it’s a one-day thing, and Chattanooga is much closer to Washington than is Albuquerque.

In the meantime, Zack Greinke looks to extend his National League-record streak of 18 consecutive starts without allowing two or more earned runs. (I’ve seen multiple sources, including the Dodgers themselves, claim that it’s modern baseball record, though that appears to be mistaken; Roger Clemens in 1990-91 did so 21 times in a row. However, he did once give up four runs — two unearned — so Greinke’s record for consecutive starts without two or more runs is valid.) The Nationals team he faces kinda, sorta looks like the Nationals, just without Ryan Zimmerman, or Bryce Harper, or Wilson Ramos.

In Dodger news: Yasiel Puig, as expected, is not in the lineup after suffering headaches while riding the bike today, though let’s be honest and admit that there was no way he was playing anyway: Don Mattingly, I imagine, is thrilled at this point to have any excuse to bench any outfielder. Ryu was examined today and won’t need an MRI, which is good news. A.J. Ellis ran for the third straight day as he recovers from knee surgery, and could begin rehab games this week.

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About Mike Petriello

Mike writes about lots of baseball in lots of places, and right now that place is MLB.com.