The Dodgers on Wednesday morning activated lefty starting pitcher Andrew Heaney and righty reliver Jake Reed ahead of Wednesday’s finale against the Nationals at Dodger Stadium.
To make room on the active roster, the team optioned pitchers Mitch White and Garrett Cleavinger.
Heaney will get the start for the Dodgers with hopes of salvaging at least one game from a three-game set against a team who has produced one of the worst records in baseball.
The Dodgers have been without Heaney for most of the season because of the 30-year-old lefty spending time on the injury list with shoulder problems twice. He got off to a decent start in the year, giving many fans the impression that the team might have an overloaded rotation.
Because of the sensitivity of his injuries and the amount of time he spent on the injured list, many expect Heaney to be on a tight pitch count in his start.
While it’s hard to pin a loss on just one player, Cleavinger was one of the primary reasons the Dodgers fell to the Nationals in the middle game on Tuesday. He entered the game with a 3-2 lead in a high-leverage hold situation in the eighth inning, but he ultimately surrendered six runs — four of which were earned — on three hits, a walk and a hit batsman.
After giving up two runs in the eighth, skipper Dave Roberts decided to run Cleavinger out in the ninth inning, trailing by just one run. However, once the smoke settled and Phil Bickford bailed Cleavinger out, the Nationals had mounted an 8-3 lead, which seemingly put the game out of reach for Los Angeles.
Ironically, Mitch White gets optioned after performing admirably over his last two starts. In those two appearances, he has gone a full 11 innings, surrendering just two earned runs while striking out five.
White’s best appearance as a major leaguer came last Thursday against the Giants when he threw five full innings of one-hit shutout ball, even though he registered a no-decision.
The 29-year-old Reed returns to the Dodgers for the first time since appearing in six games for Los Angeles in 2021. Reed began the season with the Mets, going 1-0 with a 11.37 ERA in five games with six strikeouts.
Since being claimed by the Dodgers on July 13 from New York, he has appeared in two games for Triple-A Oklahoma City, going 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA (0 ER/2.0 IP) and three strikeouts.
In his minor league career, spanning eight seasons, Reed is a combined 2-15 with a 3.75 ERA (153 ER/367.0 IP) and 386 strikeouts in 254 games. He was originally drafted in fifth round of the 2014 First Year Player Draft out of the University of Oregon.
First pitch for Wednesday’s finale is 12:10 Pacific.
White has stabilized with experience and getting more in a rhythm of 4-5 days. White was always derailed because of injury like Grove now in AAA fighting injuries constantly yet Dodgers are high on him. I would say White is a great trade chip along with Pepiot and a few others if the Dodgers decide to add a player. Some prospects will never make the Dodgers roster and those should be dealt like they did with Grey last season. I argue against trading basically sure thing guys like Vargas.
Heaney is an intriguing player. Will he continue as Anderson in proving his worth and defying the odds this year or? Cleavinger will probably not be back with Treinen, Graterol, etc returning soon. Read that Treinen, Graterol, and possibly Gonzalez, Kahnle, and Duffy all may return before the playoffs. Buehler in September or will he be a cell injection or Tj candidate?
How the heck are all those guys gonna be added to the roster when we have cleavinger and now Reed?? All those pitching prospects and thats who we call on.. This drives crazy. The prospects can’t all be that bad.
The interesting part about a team’s top prospects is we only have the MLB ratings , the Athletic and others that rate them. We have no way of knowing how a team which has all of the data and their internal coaches and scouts input rates their prospects. We can guess by comments etc by a team’s management. Gomes and Friedman have mentioned Vargas several times this season. They have also talked about Cartaya, Miller and Stone. I am reasonably sure the Dodgers will not trade Vargas. I think depending on the deal they might trade guys like White, Pepiot, Knack, Grove Busch etc.
The MLB ranking for Dodger prospects has a top 5 of Cartaya. Miller, Busch,Pages and Vargas. How many of those guys will make the MLB and stick somewhere? I am guessing at least 3 of them.
I saw that the Astros and Cleveland both came out yesterday, and said they’d be willing to make some of their controllable pitchers available. I love both Garcia, and Christian Javier from Houston, not quite as excited about Civale, Or Plesac. At least that leaves a few extra options besides Castillo, and Montas, if AF decides to bolster the pitching staff, or Soto is to rich for his blood. Also read that the Padres were thinking about moving a pitcher, but my guess is that’s is part of trying to make a deal for Soto, and they would never trade with the dodgers.
The rumors and moves should start cranking up now, pour Andrew probably won’t get much sleep between now, and Tuesday night. Go get them Andrew, bring us home whatever players we need to get to the World Series.