Flurry of Dodgers roster moves jettison ex-All-Star starter, unsung World Series hero

Through basically his entire career, Tony Gonsolin has been one of the unluckier pitchers in baseball. Since finishing fourth in Rookie of the Year voting in 2020, he's never been able to pitch a full season. He pitched 55 2/3 innings in 2021, 130 1/3 in 2022, and 103 in 2023 before the team announced he would be undergoing Tommy John, which would sideline him for all of 2024.

He finally made it back onto the major league roster in 2025, but not before starting the season on the IL with a back injury, then going back down in June. He underwent an internal brace and flexor repair surgery this summer, which ruled him out for the rest of the season.

A lot was made of Dustin May's history of injury when he was a Dodger, but Gonsolin was right there beside him the whole time.

On Thursday, the Dodgers decided that they'd seen enough. In a flurry of roster moves, they DFA'ed Gonsolin and outrighted outfielder (and World Series Game 6 hero) Justin Dean and pitcher Michael Grove, and added minor league outfielder Ryan Ward and lefty pitcher Robinson Ortiz to the 40-man roster. Dean has already been claimed off of waivers by the Giants.

Dodgers dump former All-Star starter Tony Gonsolin, World Series Game 6 hero Justin Dean, add fan favorite minor leaguer Ryan Ward to 40-man

Gonsolin and May were in a roster fight for the last spot in the Dodgers' rotation at the beginning of the season, but May defaulted into it when Gonsolin started the year on the IL. They got to share in it for a few weeks when Gonsolin was reactivated and Tyler Glasnow went onto the IL, but it only lasted a month and a half and seven starts (for a 5.00 ERA) for Gonsolin before he went down again.

It isn't necessarily a surprising move. Unless someone suffers a freak accident over the offseason, the Dodgers' 2026 rotation will be full with Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Glasnow, Shohei Ohtani, and Roki Sasaki. Gonsolin never stood a chance in a fight with any of them for a roster spot, and his trade value is negligible after a failed bounce back year.

Ward, a lifetime minor leaguer, has gotten fans' attention with consistently excellent offensive performances in Triple-A and is Rule 5 draft eligible this offseason, so the Dodgers needed to add him to the 40-man to protect him or risk letting him go in the draft. They ostensibly chose Ward over Gonsolin, and fans can't really blame them for that.