Notes: Mookie position change, May & Gonsolin avoid arb, 40-man roster shuffle, coaching changes, awards galore, minor-league signings, more

Chad Moriyama 11/25/2024 Dodgers News Leave A Comment

There haven’t been many updates about the small stuff around here since the World Series win because … well, I honestly didn’t give that much of a shit since the Dodgers literally won the World Series. But of course, it’s part of this site’s function to at least keep readers up to date, and thus here’s a clearinghouse of everything you may have missed (as well as some of my thoughts).

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Let’s start with the roster shuffling because … well, there’s a lot going on.

For the 40-man roster shuffle, the Dodgers started by outrighting Connor Brogdon off the 40-man and assigned him to AAA. In terms of the Rule 5 Draft additions, Jack Dreyer was the only prospect protected via addition to the 40-man. The Dodgers then cleared room by non-tendering Brent Honeywell Jr. (salute!) and Zach Logue, which leaves them currently with 36 players and four openings on the 40-man. Out of those 36, they’ll likely be able to place at least Brusdar Graterol, Kyle Hurt, River Ryan, and Gavin Stone on the 60-day IL once Spring Training starts (including potentially four others with arm ailments), for whatever that’s worth.

The Dodgers had eight arbitration-eligible players (due to Brogdon’s release), but now have six after Dustin May ($2.135MM) and Tony Gonsolin ($5.4MM) have agreed to deals. Theirs were likely easier due to having missed the entire seasons, so they’ll simply get what they did last year.

Additionally, the Dodgers have signed pitchers Joe Jacques and also Giovanny Gallegos to minor-league deals with an non-roster invite to Spring Training. They also signed pitcher Justin Jarvis and infielder Aaron Bracho to minor-league contracts with no word on Spring Training. Gallegos likely catches your eye because from 2019-22, he posted a 2.84 ERA (2.83 FIP) in 228.1 innings with the Cardinals. However, he has struggled in the past two seasons to a 5.00 ERA (4.91 FIP) in 72.2 innings and is looking to see if the Dodgers can help him regain some form.

In terms of minor-leaguers leaving the Dodgers, Nick Ramirez elected free agency after posting a 6.08 ERA in 13.1 innings for the Dodgers in 2024, and so did J.P. Feyereisen, who had an 8.18 ERA in 11 innings. They likely needed every inning from both of them this year. Also, 17 minor-leaguers for the Dodgers are now free agents

The two that stood out were Morillo and Lao, both due to impressive velocity. Morillo will be entering his age-26 season coming off a 2024 in AA of 4.76 ERA in 51 innings with 50 strikeouts and 29 walks. There’s really nothing to indicate in his stats that a breakout is coming, but he does sit 99 mph and can touch 102 mph. Anything is possible with that kind of arm. Lao is interesting because he was an infielder before converting to pitching in 2023, and he seemed to be taking to it quite well. He reached AAA this year, where he struggled with a 5.22 ERA in 29.1 innings, and has a 3.76 ERA in 110 career innings with 127 strikeout against 32 walks. Very impressive for his second year on the job, and he’ll only be entering his age-25 season, so I hope the Dodgers are able to retain him somehow.

Oh right, Teoscar Hernandez declined the qualifying offer from the Dodgers, which means they would get a draft pick after the 4th Round of the 2025 MLB Draft should he sign elsewhere. This was expected and a formality as they negotiate.

It’s not only players on the move either, as the Marlins have hired first-base coach Clayton McCullough to be their manager. To replace him, the Dodgers are bringing back Chris Woodward, who was their third base coach from 2016-18 before taking a job to manage the Rangers.

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Catching up on injuries, obviously the biggest news is Shohei Ohtani‘s arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder. The Dodgers say he should be ready for Spring Training, though there are questions as to whether it’ll impact how quickly he’ll be able to pitch.

Speaking of labrums, Brusdar Graterol had surgery to repair his right shoulder’s labrum, and is assumed to miss half of 2025. Doing all that in the World Series with a torn labrum is … insane. Just thank you, man.

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I got so caught up in the World Series win I didn’t even care much about the awards stuff, but obviously the players care, so here it all is.

Starting it was Shohei Ohtani (3rd), Mookie Betts (7th), Teoscar Hernandez (3rd), and the Dodgers as a team (1st) winning Silver Slugger Awards. Then Shohei (7th selection; 5th First Team, 2nd Second Team) and Mookie (5th; 4th, 1st) were named to the All-MLB First Team and Teoscar Hernandez (2nd Second Team) was named to All-MLB Second Team. Ohtani also collected his 2nd Hank Aaron Award and his 4th Edgar Martinez Outstanding DH Award. Obviously Shohei also won NL MVP, which Dustin wrote up previously.

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Thankfully not an injury, but the team said Mookie Betts will be moving back to the infield next year, which a lot of people don’t like but makes more sense as he continues to age. His sprint speed has fallen from the 87th percentile in 2020 to the 31st in 2024. As a result, his range has suffered in right to the point where he’s arguably just above-average there now, and since he’s graded as about average at second base so far, that would carry more value (with the added bonus of saving his legs). Or at least that’s my guess as to the team’s thinking.

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Anyway, I don’t know about you, but I’m still riding the World Series high, though slowly I am getting back into rosterbating sicko mode.

Also, buy this shit. It’s pretty sick.

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