The Dodgers announced a few roster moves before tonight’s series opener against the Rockies. As skipper Dave Roberts said last night, Evan Phillips is officially back from last year’s Tommy John surgery. Los Angeles also added reliever Carlos Durán to their 40-man roster, though he’ll remain at Triple-A Oklahoma City on an optional assignment.
L.A. optioned righty Paul Gervase to OKC to open a spot in the bullpen for Phillips. They needed to clear a pair of 40-man roster spots, so they released lefty Jake Eder and designated catcher Chuckie Robinson for assignment.
Phillips is back after firing 10 innings of two-run ball in Triple-A on his rehab assignment. He struck out 13 while walking five batters and hitting two more. It wasn’t his sharpest command, which is to be expected for a pitcher’s first game action in 14 months. That’s not a huge concern, as Phillips’ stuff looked to be back at pre-injury levels. He averaged 96 mph on his four-seam fastball and sat around 92 mph with his cutter. The Dodgers are running away with the NL West and can afford to get him some early work as a middle reliever before building back into leverage situations.
Durán signed a minor league contract last offseason, returning to the organization with which he has spent most of his career. His only MLB outing came last May as a member of the Athletics. He allowed three runs while recording just one out. Aside from a few months in the A’s system, Durán has been with the Dodgers since signing as an amateur in 2018.
The 6’7″ righty has spent the entire season with Oklahoma City. He has a 3.86 earned run average across 35 innings. Durán is striking out 30.7% of opponents behind a 97 mph fastball and a quality slider. He has also walked more than 15% of batters faced, continuing his career-long battle to find the strike zone consistently.
When a team adds a player on a minor league contract to the 40-man roster but doesn’t promote him to the big leagues, it’s safe to assume there’s a contractual move at play. Durán’s deal very likely contained an upward mobility or opt-out provision that would’ve allowed him to explore other opportunities if the Dodgers didn’t put him on the roster.
Robinson also signed an offseason minor league deal after briefly appearing for the Dodgers last season. He was called up last month to back up Dalton Rushing when Will Smith went on the injured list. Robinson played in eight games, going 2-23 without an extra-base hit. The Dodgers swapped him out for rookie Eliezer Alfonzo Jr. over the weekend and now bounce him from the roster entirely.
The Dodgers will likely place Robinson on waivers this week. He has cleared multiple times in his career and would have the right to explore other opportunities in the likely event he goes unclaimed again. The 31-year-old is an organizational depth type who has appeared in parts of four MLB seasons, batting .124 with two home runs in 60 games.
Eder came over from the Nationals in a cash trade in early April. The 27-year-old southpaw worked four innings in as many games, allowing one run. He has been in Triple-A since early May and got hurt last week, which unfortunately cost him his roster spot. Injured players can’t go on outright waivers, so the Dodgers placed him on release waivers. If he clears, he’ll be a free agent.
This is Eder’s third partial season at the big league level. The Vanderbilt product was a highly-regarded prospect a few years ago but hasn’t been as effective since undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2021. He’s now working in a relief role and had a 4.29 ERA with a league average 22.5% strikeout rate through 21 innings with OKC. The team did not provide specifics on what sent him to the injured list, but he should be able to find a minor league contract. The Dodgers could try to bring him back on a minor league deal themselves.
