The Dodgers have cut three more players on their quest to get down to a 25-man Opening Day roster, leaving the team with 38 players still in camp. Those three players no longer with the major league team all left under different circumtances, with right-hander Matt West being re-assigned, left-hander Adam Liberatore being optioned, and veteran right-hander Jamey Wright retiring.
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West made seven appearances for the Dodgers in Spring Training, allowing two earned runs over 6.2 innings. It was a rough experience overall, though, after a frightening moment involving his fastball hitting Brewers prospect Rymer Liriano in the face.
Liberatore pitched nine innings in 10 appearances, allowing only three earned runs while earning 11 strikeouts to no walks. Of course, more than Spring Training performance, it’s about a numbers game and options remaining. So while Liberatore probably belongs in a major-league bullpen, the Dodgers don’t seem to want to carry three lefty relievers.
For Wright, well, Clayton Kershaw getting him to give it one last try was a nice story, but he struggled in his eight appearances. Wright pitched 6.2 innings and allowed a whopping nine runs on 14 hits, not coming anywhere near making a roster that’s going to have a serious crunch in the bullpen.
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The three cuts mean the Dodgers are now down to 38 players in camp. But out of those 38, five are injured and simply haven’t been put on the DL yet, two more are potentially injured and not on the DL (Yasmani Grandal, Howie Kendrick), and five more are non-roster invitees who are long shots to make the roster. As such, the Dodgers are a lot closer to a final roster than the numbers currently bear out, but with so many walking wounded, the depth appears to be necessary to keep around for now just in case.