Barring injury, the majority of the roster spots on the Dodgers‘ 25-man roster have already been solidified. However, the final slots in the bullpen could come down to the last few days of camp, as there could conceivably be a battle between five or more arms for one position.
During the offseason, there were many conversations about righty Brock Stewart and the premise that he would need to make the team out of camp because he was out of options. Despite those beliefs, information surfaced about a week ago stating that Stewart and the Dodgers were granted a fourth option year as permitted by a loophole in the collective bargaining agreement. Basically, the stipulation indicates that a player can earn a fourth option year after being optioned three times, but not yet having logged at least five full years of professional experience, including minor league ball.
So, Stewart is safe—probably for the entirety of the 2019 season. I’m still not sure if it’s a good or bad thing, especially when considering Stewart’s own personal interests.
Anyway, another player who’s in a similar position is reliever Yimi Garcia. The 28-year-old righty is definitely out of options, and if he’s not included on the Opening Day 25-man roster, the waiver wire may determine his ultimate destiny.
Nonetheless, based on his early Cactus League outings, the Dominican native is throwing like he belongs. He’s already made two appearances, and he’s been absolutely perfect in the process. He’s pitched two full innings and has struck out four opposing batters. Not a single runner has reached base against him.
Of course, it’s still early. And the caliber of opposing hitting will not increase until many of the non-roster invites are sent to the minor league sides of their respective camps. But, if Garcia continues to throw how many know he can, the debate on his inclusion on the 25-man may be moot when management selects the Opening Day roster.
Garcia has always had the reputation of having a fantastic spin-rate. Remarkably, the 6-foot-1, 220-pounder had the best fastball spin-rate in the majors heading into his 2016 campaign. Thanks to the wonders of Statcast, Garcia’s spin rate averaged 2553 RPM at that point in time, and this is worth noting because that much fastball spin is usually unheard of. The big league average that season was 2198 RPM.
During his impressive 2015 season, Garcia threw 56-2/3 innings over 59 games while posting a 3.20 FIP and a 0.953 WHIP alongside 68 strikeouts. His 10.8 K/9 that year was the highest of his career, which has been otherwise hampered drastically by a plethora of injuries.
Garcia threw just 14 major league games in 2016, and after trying to battle through elbow issues all year long, it was determined that he needed UCL surgery, which eventually kept him sidelined for the entirety of the 2017 season.
Many thought that 2018 would see Garcia re-emerge as a big league contributor, but management decided to allow him to begin his year at Triple-A Oklahoma City to fine-tune his mechanics and build up his arm strength. He was initially recalled in early May, but didn’t really flash any impressive stuff. He rotated back and forth between the bigs and minors most of the year, and he was once again curbed by a few nagging injuries that prevented him from achieving any momentum, although he did make a fairly respectable run down the stretch of the regular season.
When his 2018 season was said and done, Garcia tallied a 6.34 FIP and a 1.48 WHIP while striking out 19 and walking four in 22-1/3 innings over 25 games.
As far as his repertoire goes, he’s best known for his nasty slider, but he compliments it with a mid-nineties fastball that has been known to reach up to 97 MPH. And, as we’ve already explained, it moves. He has experimented with a changeup over the years, but still has not found much success with it, which isn’t entirely necessary for his intended role in relief. His arm angle is extremely deceptive and is a critical part of his mechanics when he’s throwing well.
Garcia was originally signed for $50K as an 18-year-old free agent out of the Dominican Republic in 2009.
Think Blue Planning Committee 
Management has always loved Yimi’s stuff. It will be interesting to see how this plays out, but every potential member of the bullpen who has options left is probably not all that happy with how Yimi is doing so far.
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Roberts reported that there is no update on Andrew Toles and that he is still dealing with a family matter. Andrew’s time with the Dodgers is winding down. Especially if they do sign Harper. Right now, Toles is the most expendable player on the roster and if Harper is signed, I would not be surprised to see Toles released
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Yimi got spin.
I said that already.
You know, this situation reminds of last year talking about Baez. I took a position on him similar to the one I’ve been taking on Yimi. Yimi got stuff better than most of those other guys with and without options. If he’s right, we could do, and have done, worse. I like him. If he shows he’s back, he’s on my roster. And I say again, these decisions are weeks away. Enjoy the show between now and the end of March.
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Reminds me of why Font made the Opening Day last year. At the time, he too had no options. Thanks to a decent cactus League, they included him on the 25-man. They waited to cut him loose until he was bludgeoned by opposing hitters.
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Except that Yimi actually has a history of having performed well at the major league level in the past, so there is hope that he could get back there again. If not, I’m sure the Rays will be happy to take him off our hands.
By the way, how did your Psych test go?
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97%
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Excellent. You may continue to act as the official TBPC psychologist.
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For the little amount I spend studying, I’m surprised I perform as well as I do, especially in the classes which do not pertain to my field of study.
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What’s your field of study?
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I’m finishing up a B.S. in Communication right now.
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Not a bad idea to take some psych classes when your area of study is communication.
Speaking of communication, someone on the internet has just communicated that the Giants are discussing a 10 year deal with Mr. Harper. I don’t think they’ll stop until they get him. They need to do something big to get the SF fans to stay interested.
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97?
What did you get wrong?
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It was a three hour exam with an essay at the end. Even though there’s a rubric for the essay portion, I think he was mostly subjective when he graded that part of the test.
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Well Dennis you sure are exposed to a lot of BS on your site!
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Reports out now Harper signing w Dodgers. Physical tomorrow. Wow!
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Rich, where did you see that report?
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Sounds like Rich has borrowed Jeff D.’s ladle. 🤨
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Same source that first reported Dodgers met with Harper in Vegas on Sunday
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Rich, Dennis is right your just stirring it up😄
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We can always use another pot stirrer around here but in order to be official you have to throw something out just to get a reaction. I think Rich actually believes the post he saw. My personal view is if I see a statement and it didn’t come from Kenny Rosenthal, John Heyman, Michael Cohen or Donald Trump, I assume it to be fake news. Oops………..
was that me stirring the pot again?
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I believe within the next 36 hours Giants ownership will override Zaidi and the front office and sign Harper for 10 years. Friedman just won’t go that far. I’m guessing 6 is where he’s drawing the line.
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If San Francisco overrides Farhan, I think there’s a good chance he fills the Dodgers’ GM vacancy.
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Absolutely agree with your scenario Alex and if it happens I agree with you Dennis that Farhan should walk, but I think the money might just be too good to pass up. He’ll have to swallow hard and live with it. That would be a really bad way to start his tenure up there though.
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No way he comes crawling back under AF’s wing.
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To be honest though if AF is willing to go 4-6 years and blow past the luxury tax then there’s really nothing stopping him from just going the rest of the way to 10 years.
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No matter what they offer or have offered, it still is on the ownership and not Friedman as to how much they are willing to go. Everyone seems to forget that Ol Andy does not control the purse strings. Roberts announced yesterday that Urias is definitely in the running to be in the rotation. It is probably time for the kid to shine.
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Giants brass went to Vegas to meet with Harper again. There is no immanent announcement of his signing. But it has been reported numerous times that he will make his decision by the end of the week. Now does he celebrate the end of the week on Saturday or Sunday? That’s anyone’s guess.
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I can’t believe you guys are wasting my time discussing Harper. We just signed Brad Miller to a minor league contract. Now that’s big news!
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Redbirds signed Matt Weiters
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