There are some rumblings floating around Wednesday evening that the Dodgers have signed lefty reliever Rob Zastryzny.
Specific details are still unknown. Many folks close to the Dodgers have shared Zastryzny’s tweet in which he thanks the Cubs for his opportunities in Chicago, as well as proclaiming excitement for the new ventures that lie ahead for him in Los Angeles.
The native of Edmonton was officially released by the Cubs on Tuesday—the same day as his 27th birthday.
Zastryzny spent most of the 2018 season with Triple-A Iowa, posting a 3.86 ERA and 50:28 K:BB in 56 innings of work. The southpaw, who owns a career 4.41 ERA and 8.0 K/9 across parts of three big-league seasons (34.2 innings), can conceivably contribute in a long-man role, a spot in the bullpen which the Dodgers are still seemingly undecided about heading into Opening Day.
Skipper Dave Roberts told the media last Saturday afternoon that the final relief spot was potentially narrowed down to a choice between a pair of righty swing men—Dennis Santana and Brock Stewart.
In the same breath, Roberts didn’t rule out that the club could look to outside sources to fill the spot—a position that Zastryzny could potentially slide into.
“I would say internally right now as I sit here Brock and Dennis are probably the guys,” Roberts explained. “You’re expecting Rich to be back shortly after the season starts so to kind of have some length potential for a shorter time those two guys make the most sense.”
According to Erik Mauro at Cubbies Crib, “Zastryzny sits about 90-92 mph with his fastball, alongside a cutter and a curve from a high 3/4 arm slot. His delivery has deception, and the cutter has some bite to it. His issue down in the minor leagues has been command, but that has been under control, so to speak, during his short stint in the majors so far. As we’ve seen, with the proper coaching, some issues can be overcome.”
Before the arrival of Zastryzny, the Los Angeles 40-man roster sits at 39 players.
Stay tuned for further details as they’re revealed.
I’ll pay for a lifetime subscription to TBPC for anyone who can pronounce his last name.
Honestly, I had a hard time spelling it correctly throughout this story, even for the eighth and ninth times.
As a close pal of mine Dennis, I’m hoping you’ll give me a break on that lifetime subscription price.
Zastryzny still reminds me of those last-minute Ned Colletti signings from years of yore. I think we should call him “Robert Van Zystrynski.” At least until he makes the 25-man.
I think I’ll just refer to him as “Z”. Funny that they haven’t announced their 25th man yet. Somehow I doubt it will be Z and you’d think they would have decided between Santana and The Lonesome Traveler by now.
Yeah, it’s weird. Friedman seldomly waits until the last minute. I don’t know how much Ztrasinky threw this spring. He only threw in one Cactus League game for the Cubs, but there’s no telling how much action he got on the secondary fields.
I can’t get into my head that it’s opening day tomorrow. Really seems like the strangest off season ever, and I’m not entirely certain why I feel that way. Anyway, it’ll be nice to see some games that mean something.
Two great matchups (if you don’t count Ryu vs Greinke): deGrom vs Scherzer and Verlander vs Snell. Play Ball!
Who?
I vote to call him z-man. I was hoping for a lefty from that area, but I was thinking more Cleveland, than Chicago.
“Zorro” would be nice.
Alanna Rizzo tweets “it appears Brock Stewart will fill the final spot”.
Too late for me to write anything. I’m completely booked until about the 4th inning tomorrow. 🙁
It’s pronounced Zazt-try-n-okc
I’ll get to see the first four games. That will tell me everything I need to know for the remainder of the week.
I saw somebody picked the Dodgers and Stros. Seen that movie. Know how it ends.
If we could manage to get rid of Darvish, we might be able to change that ending. Maybe the Cubs would be interested.
The sad thing is that the Dodgers made the wrong trade in 2017 instead of the obvious one. The obvious one was to trade for Verlander. They had the evidence. Just before they traded for Darvish and Houston traded for Verlander, the Dodgers played Detroit in Detroit. Verlander had a slow start that season, but against the Dodgers, he knocked the bats out of their hands the whole game. The bargain was right there, and they didn’t act on it. No regrets with the past, but one trade made all the difference, imo.
Good take MH, and I’m sure given the choice Verlander would have preferred L.A. to Houston.
“For the first time in an MLB season, there were more strikeouts (41,207) than hits (41,020) last summer. Is the game capable of reversing that (yaaaawn) troubling trend?“
3 true outcomes baseball can be a snooze fest. Anybody care?
Apparently not enough do. Attendance was down, but maybe that doesn’t matter because tv money is up. And for some stupid reason, no doubt having to do with money, the tv situation in LA remains outré de f’n absurd’. My words, not from The Athletic. I plan to move that way soon and I’d like to be able to see a game now and then without paying the absurd FCI. Can someone with sense step in and clear this up? What’s that? Nobody with sense has authority? It’s a planetary pandemic. Not to worry. It should be over soon. I just read the Doomsday Clock it’s 2 minutes before midnight. Don’t bother to turn the lights off, they’ll go out on their own.
Well, the dbacks and giants are officially at the top of the “we stink” list so even though we don’t look ready to play for real it shouldn’t matter for the first 7. We’ll likely give one or two away by striking out 27 times in two games and going 0 for 48 hours WRISP so I figure we start out 5-2 on this homestand.
Off we go now.
I’ll gladly settle for 5-2. I just hope this team isn’t going to play to the level of its competition.
ITS TIME FOR DODGER BASEBALL!!!!!!!!!!!!
My prediction:
Regular season: 97-65
Playoffs: 10-7