About six hours before the first pitch on Tuesday, the Los Angeles Dodgers announced their 25-man player roster for the 2017 World Series.
There were a few changes, most notably with the additions of Corey Seager who missed the entirety of the NLCS with a sprained back, and veteran right-hander Brandon McCarthy, who is profiling to be used as a potential long man after righty Kenta Maeda has settled into a setup-type of role.
To make room for Seager and McCarthy, veteran outfielder Curtis Granderson and rookie utility man Kyle Farmer were not included on the World Series squad.
McCarthy went 6-4 during the regular season and registered a 3.98 ERA over 92-2/3 innings with 72 strikeouts and 27 walks. His last appearance was against the Rockies on October 1, when he surrendered three earned runs on five hits and a walk in only two innings of relief. The 34-year-old Glendale native made 16 starts on the year, but was hampered by finger blisters and tendinitis in his right knee, coupled with unexplained problems with his mechanics, which were complicated by issues diagnosed as the “yips.”
Against the Astros over his career, McCarthy has a 3-2 record with a 1.91 ERA with 22 punchouts over 33 innings of work. Four of the six appearances against Houston have been starts.
J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group reported that Seager appeared to be swinging well after he hit a shot off the left-center field wall during live batting practice against righty Brock Stewart on Monday night.
Seager went 3-for-11 with a triple and three runs scored in the NLDS against the Diamondbacks before injuring himself when sliding into second base in Game 3. The 23-year-old Charlotte native hit .295/.375/.479 with 22 long balls, 33 doubles and 77 RBI in 145 games during the regular season.
Granderson went 1-for-15 in the NLDS and NLCS combined, while Farmer went 0-for-4 in both series.
Los Angeles Dodgers 2017 World Series Roster
Outfielders (3) – Andre Ethier, Joc Pederson and Yasiel Puig
Infielders/Outfielders (3) – Chris Taylor, Cody Bellinger and Enrique Hernandez
Infielders (5) – Corey Seager, Charlie Culberson, Chase Utley, Justin Turner and Logan Forsythe
Catchers (2) – Yasmani Grandal and Austin Barnes
Starting Pitchers (4) – Clayton Kershaw, Yu Darvish, Alex Wood and Rich Hill
Bullpen (8) – Kenley Jansen, Brandon Morrow, Ross Stripling, Tony Cingrani, Kenta Maeda. Josh Fields, Brandon McCarthy and Tony Watson
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I don’t have any complaints with the roster. I just hope they don’t make the catcher who doesn’t start sit on the bench until 2 out in the 9th inning, because of the worry of the other guy getting hurt. Use your pinch hitters in the most effective way possible. If that means pinch hitting Grandal or Barnes in the 6th, do it and take that chance.
I can’t figure out the logic behind the McCarthy addition at all.
Maybe they now consider Maeda and Stripling strictly short inning guys and McCarthy becomes the long man.
I highly doubt Stripling or McCarthy hardly get used at all—if Roberts can help it. Both Strip and Baez did not appear once in the NLDS.
If you’re correct, then they definitely should have added another hitter. I think they expect to use him, although that might mean the series isn’t going as well as hoped.
Strip pitched twice in the NLCS, but not at all in the NLDS.
We need to keep in mind that we only lost one game in both series combined. If things go against us here, there will be a lot more need for relief pitching. Of course, we don’t need to worry about that because we’ll win in 4 with 4 complete games by our starters. 🙂