While the Dodgers have made it no secret that the bullpen is an area they’d like to address this winter, they still haven’t made any significant upgrades in terms of a true difference maker.
According to several reports coming out of camp late Saturday morning, the Dodgers have designated longtime pitching prospect Yadier Alvarez for assignment.
While the Dodgers left the 2017 Winter Meetings with only a consolation prize of a mid-level infield prospect, many fans have taken to social media to express their respective concerns heading into 2018, especially in the area of the bullpen. It took several years for the team to finally find a competent setup man in Brandon Morrow, yet the veteran righty was able to walk away from Los Angeles and land a lucrative deal with the Cubs for the next several seasons. Andrew Friedman and his troops seem fairly confident in the internal relief options heading into 2018 spring training, but questions loom as to whether the impending bullpen will be talented enough to help guide the squad into next season’s playoff picture.
With the 2017 non-waiver trade deadline now only a handful of days away, pundits around the league are still just speculating about any potential moves from the Dodgers, as the club’s front office continues to appear relatively calm and quiet.
While the big league Dodgers appear to have worked out a few of the kinks from their early-season mediocrity, the boys at Oklahoma City also seem to be turning a rough corner, having stolen three out of four from Round Rock this past week, and orchestrating a huge come-from-behind victory against Fresno on Friday evening.
Now that the regular season is quickly approaching its third week, we’re finding out a bit more on a daily basis about why a handful of players in the Dodgers‘ system mysteriously disappeared from their normal roster statuses during the early phases of the 2017 campaign.
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When long man Alex Wood was recently shifted back into the starting rotation and righty Josh Fields was recalled to the big league bullpen, a popular topic of conversation among fans of the Dodgers was the discussion surrounding the organizational depth of relief pitchers.
In between now and the last time we took a brief moment to see what was happening with pitching prospect Yadier Alvarez, not only did the 20-year-old Cuban righty breeze his way through rookie ball and impress at Low-A Great Lakes, but he also elevated himself into several of the Top 5 lists of Dodgers prospects published during this offseason.
It’s been quite awhile since we last checked in with pitching prospect Yadier Alvarez, and although the Dodgers have been very prudent with the advancement of the 20-year-old Cuban righty, he’s still turning heads with his raw talent on the lower levels of the farm.