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3 former Dodgers players off to troubling starts in spring training
The Dodgers had to face a couple of disappointing developments this past weekend — the confusion of the middle infield situation, injuries to three pitchers that will take them out for varying lengths of time — so it might be just the time to turn our attentions away from the current team to former Dodgers who are also having a rough go of things. We could use a little respite from the bad news, right?
There are a number of former Dodgers still kicking out there, some of whom are having a harder go at spring training than others.
3 former Dodgers players off to troubling starts in spring training
Ryan Pepiot
Pepiot was the biggest Dodgers piece of their trade for Tyler Glasnow back in December, sent to the Rays with Jonny DeLuca. It seemed like an easy win for the Dodgers, especially after they quickly extended Glasnow, but there were also reasons to believe that Pepiot could go to the Rays, who have been historically excellent at developing pitchers, and make the trade harder to call a clear winner on. He was the Dodgers' No. 6 prospect before the trade, and had exceeded expectations after being chosen in the third round of the 2019 draft.
It's likely that Pepiot will be a No. 4 or 5 starter for the Rays, so he'll get a lot more opportunities to be an impactful arm for Tampa than he was going to get with the Dodgers this year. However, that also means higher expectations, and Pepiot hasn't really been living up to them so far in spring training. His first two-inning outing was spotless aside from a walk, but during his second appearance when he entered in relief, he gave up eight hits and six runs over 2 2/3 innings, sending his ERA skyrocketing from 0.00 to 11.57.
Zach Eflin and Aaron Civale, presumably the Rays' Nos. 1 and 2 starters, haven't looked great either so far. Maybe there's something weird in the water over there in Port Charlotte.
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Andrew Heaney
Heaney did good work for the Dodgers during his one-year stint with them in 2022, but the team still let him go in free agency. He promptly signed with the Texas Rangers and then won a World Series with them -- alongside fellow former Dodgers Corey Seager and Max Scherzer, both of whom left LA with hurt feelings on one or both sides.
It's not that we'd wish bad things on all of the players who leave, but there is something especially hard to swallow about watching them depart, then almost immediately win a World Series, and it might be okay to take a little ounce of satisfaction wherever possible. In five innings at Rangers spring training, Heaney has pitched for a 7.20 ERA with a .316 batting average against.
This is far from ideal for the Rangers, who will depend on Heaney as a middle-rotation starter while they wait for Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer to recover. They'll need their rotation to take some heat off of their bullpen, which was often a cause for worry last year and is looking like it may be again, given José Leclerc, Josh Sborz, and Dane Dunning's collective 7.57 ERA in spring.
Justin Turner
Turner's free agency wore on for an almost unacceptable amount of time, but he finally found a home with the Blue Jays in late January and made it to spring training on time. So far, he's appeared in nine games, gotten 18 at-bats, and is only hitting .222/.417/.278, which isn't awesome for a player who will DH for an expected 25% of his appearances and will likely be tasked with helping to make up for Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s inexplicably declining power.
He's also gone home run-less in those nine games and only has one RBI and one extra base hit. He's been one of the Blue Jays' weakest hitters throughout spring, really; even NRI Daniel Vogelbach has gotten in on the home run action twice, and Guerrero, Alejandro Kirk, George Springer, and Kevin Kiermaier have six among them.
The Blue Jays probably aren't incredibly concerned yet, nor do they really need to be — spring training is just spring training — but if Turner doesn't get hotter in the back half and in the lead up to the season, they might have reason to be a little worried.
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