Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
On the surface, this game should be pretty lopsided. Clayton Kershaw, reigning National League MVP and 3-time Cy Young award winner is going up against Adam Morgan, a kid making his third MLB appearance. So, this will probably be a low-scoring affair that has the Dodgers providing Kershaw with minimal run support. Fun.
|
Phillies
|
Dodgers
|
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
7:10 p.m.
|
Los Angeles
|
|||
|
2B
|
Hernandez
|
RF
|
Puig
|
|
|
CF
|
Herrera
|
2B
|
Kendrick
|
|
|
3B
|
Franco
|
3B
|
Turner
|
|
|
1B
|
Ruf
|
1B
|
Gonzalez
|
|
|
LF
|
Francoeur
|
LF
|
Van Slyke
|
|
|
C
|
Ruiz
|
CF
|
Pederson
|
|
|
SS
|
Galvis
|
SS
|
Rollins
|
|
| RF |
Brown
|
C
|
Ellis
|
|
|
P
|
Morgan (L)
|
P
|
Kershaw (L)
|
The real fun stuff happened off-the-field, as the Dodgers recalled Chin-hui Tsao and Josh Ravin from Triple-A Oklahoma City and optioned Yimi Garcia and Ian Thomas. To make room on the 40-man roster for Tsao, they designated Eric Surkamp for assignment. Mike wrote about Tsao earlier, and his story is interesting. He won’t have a truly defined role on the club, other than “pitch when we need you to.” That seems about right for the 34-year-old. Ravin is back after a short stay in the minors. Basically, the Dodgers just needed some fresh bullpen arms, as you can see by the chart below … it ain’t pretty.
From the files of “They never learn,” Joc Pederson will represent the Dodgers in the Home Run Derby. I don’t much care about the new format or the fact that the derby, allegedly, can mess up a player’s swing (in Pederson’s case, it won’t matter, even if it were true). But this is the really funny part.
The Dodgers have hit 10 home runs total in 7 HR Derby appearances. Hee Seop Choi has 5 of them
— Eric Stephen (@ericstephen) July 8, 2015
Yep. That’s really fun. Now, watch Joc go out and win the whole thing.
The Dodgers also announced the signings of two draftees — Competitive Balance Round B pick Josh Sborz and 3rd-rounder Philip Pfeifer. Terms have yet to be disclosed, but they’re extremely important. Sborz’s slot recommended amount is $827,000 and Pfeifer’s is $564,700. By my calculations, the Dodgers are $676,400 over their draft bonus pool. They can go as high as $389,084 without any draft pick penalty. Walker Buehler, Kyle Funkhouser and Edwin Rios all remain unsigned. The amount the Dodgers should save on Sborz and Pfeifer will determine how much they can give Funkhouser.
Buehler will probably sign for close to his slot amount of $2,094,400, and Rios should come in at less than the $234,800 he’s allotted (though, it’s curious as to why he hasn’t signed yet). Funkhouser’s slot amount is $1,756,100. The Dodgers need to find $287,316 in savings among these three selections. There are rumors Funkhouser is a real candidate to go back to school. If he does, the Dodgers probably (I’m not 100 percent sure) won’t get a compensatory pick for not signing him in next year’s draft. They might be better off signing Funkhouser and letting Buehler walk, if it comes down to that because they’d get the No. 23 pick in next year’s draft. I’m still not convinced it will, but the deadline is nine days away. We shall see.
[table id=5 /]