Dodgers promote surprising fresh bullpen arm after Bobby Miller disaster

The Dodgers demoted Bobby Miller with little fanfare the day after his awful start against the Rockies, when he gave up six runs, four on a grand slam to Michael Toglia and another on a solo homer immediately after. It might've been one the highest-stakes starts of his career on an individual level, as the Dodgers have no clear path forward for him, but he failed to rise to the challenge.

With Miller's demotion, the Dodgers have exhausted their three young starting options. Justin Wrobleski and Landon Knack didn't impress either in their turns in the majors, and were sent back down. Clayton Kershaw and Tony Gonsolin are both currently in Triple-A rehabbing, but the Dodgers are and should be unwilling to rush either of them.

Their call-up to replace Miller should foretell how the Dodgers are going to approach their next few weeks, or however long Blake Snell remains on the shelf with shoulder inflammation.

On Friday, they promoted former Rockies reliever Noah Davis, who was acquired in a cash trade with the Red Sox on their stateside Opening Day this year.

Dodgers bring up lowkey offseason trade acquisition Noah Davis after Bobby Miller's awful debut

Davis came over from the Red Sox, who he signed a minor-league deal with in November of last year after electing free agency from the Rockies. He's pitched 51 1/3 major league innings in his three-year career, all in Colorado, and even started a few games for them in 2023. His career 7.71 ERA thus far definitely makes him look like a classic Dodgers reclamation project, but he hasn't been pitching very well in Triple-A so far either, with a 7.94 ERA through 5 2/3 innings.

Whether or not Davis gets his season debut at all before he's inevitably replaced (probably by Evan Phillips, who is also rehabbing in Oklahoma City), him coming to majors seems to telegraph that the Dodgers will be leaning on bullpen games. The rotation resets on Friday with Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the mound, but after Dustin May's next start, it's anyone's guess.

Last year, the Dodgers started to depend on bullpen games more heavily in the second half of the season as the rotation couldn't stay healthy. Anthony Banda, who started two games last season, and Ben Casparius, who got a postseason start, should be easy options for the Dodgers to turn to while they continue to look for clarity on Snell's timeline.