Dodgers Acquire Mike Bolsinger, A Name You’ve Now Heard Of

Writing about the Dodgers trading for righty Mike Bolsinger, as they did tonight, is one of those things you mainly do so that when you look back on the 11.2 innings he’ll throw for them in 2015, you can remember how you felt at the time.

Bolsinger, 27 in January, is a guy, which isn’t the same thing as being a guy. A 15th-round pick by Arizona in 2010 out of the University of Arkansas, he got into 10 games (nine starts) in his first taste of the big leagues this year, but it didn’t go all that well, putting up a 5.50 ERA that was far worse than his 4.01 FIP or 3.31 xXIP.

Before he was DFA’d on Thursday, D-Backs blog AZ Snake Pit included him in their list of potential rotation candidates, but..

Mike Bolsinger. Made nine starts in the first half of the season, then apparently vanished off the face of the mound, and wasn’t seen again after the break. Probably because those starts weren’t actually very good. I’m getting an Andrew Good vibe here. If you response is to ask “Who?”, that’s probably about right.

…oh. And speaking of asking “who?” here’s Brim back in April, as Bolsinger prepared to make his debut against the Dodgers:

The Diamondbacks’ starter is Michael Bolsinger, who I’d never heard of before this week.

Lovely! And, sigh, there’s this too:

Mike Bolsinger was also starting pitcher who threw at Erisbel Arruebarrena‘s head, later leading to 10 ejections http://t.co/Wp35yhOCOg

— Josh Suchon (@Josh_Suchon) November 23, 2014

He’s not been mentioned in any FG or BP annual profiles, either, and he tops out at 90, which is a big issue for a righty, although he’s missed bats in the minors (and the majors too) with a fascinating pitch mixture:

Cutter / curveball? No fourseamer? A two-pitch righty who doesn’t throw hard seems woefully overmatched as a starter, and maybe that’s part of his problem; Arizona’s rotation was so awful this year that they had little choice but to go to him.

While I like the Joel Peralta trade more and more as I think about it — for reasons you can read here on Monday — if I sound less than enthused here, well, I am. Then again, remember the opportunity cost, which is “cash considerations,” which is almost literally getting a baseball player for free. (Unless you’re Jarret Martin, who was DFA’d after walking nearly a man per inning in Double-A this year.) And that’s sort of the point. This is an upgrade around the edges, in that I’d probably rather have Bolsinger than Martin, and like with getting Kyle Jensen, you have to fill out the Triple-A team too.

If having Bolsinger around means that next year, you don’t need to go out and get Kevin Correia to eat up some innings, well, great, especially if his interesting pitch mix plays up as a reliever. If he’s just a guy to entertain the good folks of Oklahoma City, also great. If he doesn’t survive the winter should someone more worthy of a 40-man spot arrive also fine.