Dodgers Add Five Players, Headlined By Pederson And Guerrero

The Dodgers announced their initial round of September expanded roster call-ups today, and the five names aren’t really much of a surprise. Every player listed here can be eligible for the postseason roster, should the Dodgers want to include them.

Joining the team for tonight’s game against Washington are…

• OF Joc Pederson, 22, who won both the Rookie of the Year and MVP awards in the Pacific Coast League. You know all about him, obviously, so I’ll just note that he hit .303/.435/.582 with 33 homers and 30 steals (yay!) along with a scary 26.9 whiff percentage and a .385 BABIP. Pederson needed to be added to the 40-man roster, and the Dodgers have not yet announced a corresponding move.
• IF Alex Guerrero, 27, who has had himself a wild first year in the States. Guerrero got off to a fantastic start in Triple-A, missed two months after Miguel Olivo assaulted him, struggled for most of his first month back, then went on a well-timed small sample tear, hitting .429/.442/.952 with four homers and 12 extra-base hits over his last 10 games. Of his 32 starts for Albuquerque since returning, 29 have come at second base or left field, playing shortstop, third and DH once apiece. It will be interesting to see how the team uses him, but it seems clear those are the only two spots they feel comfortable seeing him at. No, it doesn’t matter that he came up as a shortstop; Kenley Jansen came up as a catcher. Big deal, right? If Guerrero could play shortstop, then he’d have been doing so in Triple-A rather than Walter Ibarra, who you do not know and should not know. Guerrero will technically not be making his major league debut, since he pinch-hit for the Dodgers in Australia.
• C Tim Federowicz, 27, who has already been in 18 games for the Dodgers this year and has seen action in parts of the last four seasons. Like he does every year, he’s destroyed the ball in Albuquerque (.328/.383/.555), and yet he’s still shown no ability to hit big league pitching (.203/.254/.312). He’s not better than A.J. Ellis or Drew Butera, even though neither are playing very well. Every team calls up a third catcher in September.
• RP Yimi Garcia, 24, who will be making his major league debut. Garcia has put up some video game numbers over the last two years, with a 154/32 K/BB ratio; then again, so did Colt Hynes, and he isn’t any good. Still, I’ve long wanted to see how he’d translate that to the big leagues, and now we may get our chance to see.
• RP Chris Perez, 29, who has been on the disabled list with an ankle injury since he last appeared for the Dodgers on August 3. He’s made four rehab appearances for Single-A Rancho since then; in the big leagues, he has been unspeakably awful and I hope we never have to see him again in an actual game. I will be disappointed.

IF Carlos Triunfel, 24, was originally reported to have been recalled by David Vassegh, who later recanted.

Not included, but likely to come back in the next few days, are infielders Miguel Rojas and Erisbel Arruebarrena, and pitcher Carlos Frias. Each had been sent down within the last 10 days, meaning that they must wait until the end of the minor league season. For the Isotopes, that’s just today, so it won’t be that long, and Frias is expected to start for the Dodgers on Wednesday against the Nationals. The remaining members of the 40-man roster are rehabbing pitchers Paco Rodriguez, and Jose Dominguez, who may or may not make it back later this month, pitchers Jarret Martin and Red Patterson, who aren’t really on the radar right now.

With the six additions, the Dodgers now have 31 active players and continue to have a full 40 players on the 40-man roster.