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6 Dodgers players fighting for their futures ahead of 2024 season
Spring is still important to these Dodgers.
The Dodgers went through their first round of roster cuts earlier this week, slimming down competition for a few remaining bullpen and bench spots significantly. The 11 players who were optioned back to the minors or sent to minor league camp were mostly unsurprising, so it begs the question of who'll get the boot next, and whether such a move could actually catch us off guard.
Most of the competition is in the bullpen, but there's also one player who will have to work even harder to justify his presence on the bench. With only two weeks to go before the Seoul Series, competition is undoubtedly heating up dramatically for a few of these players.
6 Dodgers players fighting for their futures ahead of 2024 season
Michael Grove/Gus Varland
Grove, Varland, and Gavin Stone found themselves in similar positions going into spring training. All three were coming off less-than-ideal 2023 seasons, having effectively been edged out of the rotation conversation by free agent signings, and are fighting for the last few spots in a bullpen that's also seen a lot of improvement this offseason. Stone has fared well so far in spring, while Grove and Varland have struggled significantly.
Both had 6.00-ish ERAs last season (though Grove pitched 69 innings and Varland pitched 20 1/3), and they have an 11.57 and 9.82 ERAs in spring training over 4 2/3 and 3 2/3 innings respectively. Grove might still have the edge because he was a serviceable enough starter for 12 games last year while also having the proven flexibility of a swingman, but both should definitely be worried about NRIs like Daniel Hudson and TJ McFarland creeping up to steal Opening Day roster spots.
Both still have at least two minor-league options, so the Dodgers wouldn't have to hesitate in cutting them ahead of Opening Day. There are still two weeks to go before Seoul, but that doesn't leave an abundance of time for Grove and Varland to shape up.
Daniel Hudson
Hudson was able to cling onto the possibility for a 15th year in the majors after signing a minor-league deal to return to the Dodgers in 2024. He's been plagued by injury since 2022, when he pitched a very promising 24 1/3 innings for a 2.22 ERA before tearing his ACL. Coming back in 2023, he looked great for a total of three innings before knee issues took him down for the rest of the year. The Dodgers clearly want Hudson to be good again and have a certain amount of belief that he can be, but he has an uphill battle to fight for an Opening Day roster spot.
He avoided the first round of roster cuts, but he's still pitched for a 4.91 ERA over 3 2/3 innings in spring training. Other NRIs like Nabil Crismatt (who we'll get to in a second) have, fortunately for Hudson, not fared much better over similar numbers of innings, but he'll need to show more signs of improvement before the Dodgers re-add him to the bullpen. His first two outings in spring were mostly spotless, and he'll need to find a way back to that if he doesn't want to start the season in Triple-A.
Nabil Crismatt
Crismatt was a ringer for the Padres once upon a time, which is probably why the Dodgers have been giving him a real shot at a roster spot and kept him out of the first round of cuts despite rough showings throughout camp. Things really took a bad turn during the Dodgers' March 5 game against the Angels, when he gave up two runs and two walks without retiring a batter, forcing his ERA up to 12.27. His preceding appearance wasn't great either — two runs and two walks over 1 1/3 innings, but at least he also struck out three.
Both Crismatt and Hudson are at some level of risk to lose their spots within the Dodgers organization altogether. Neither have minor-league options, so they don't have safety nets to avoid being DFA'ed outright. The Dodgers have reasons to allow for some amount of faith in both, but their futures are in jeopardy more than anyone else on this list.
Matt Gage
Gage came over in the trade that sent Caleb Ferguson to the Yankees, but his arrival was almost immediately overshadowed by Ryan Brasier's re-signing with the Dodgers. This isn't particularly surprising; Gage has been a farmhand for a number of different organizations since 2014 and didn't get a shot at the major leagues until 2022, when he impressed over 13 innings for Toronto. It wasn't enough to save him from a DFA, though, which kicked him over to Houston, who gave him the ball a few more times in the majors before DFA'ing him to make room for Josh Hader this offseason. The Yankees grabbed him, but less than a week later, he was traded to the Dodgers.
He's pitched four innings in spring training so far, posting a 4.50 ERA. It's better than Hudson, Crismatt, Grove, or Varland over more innings, but it still might not be enough to earn him one of those last few 26-man spots. He'd certainly fit into the Dodgers reclamation mold and could surprise by breaking out of camp, but with an MiLB option remaining, he could also be another easy send-down.
Miguel Vargas
Vargas' future has seemed to be in danger since the beginning of camp, when the team announced their intention to move him into left field, but things got even more precarious when the Dodgers re-signed Kiké Hernández to occupy a bench spot. That would give the Dodgers Hernández, Miguel Rojas, Chris Taylor, and Austin Barnes on the bench; adding Vargas would mean having to subtract a bullpen arm, which would make the competition there even more fierce.
He's looked pretty good over seven spring training games, batting .278/.350/.556 and making a couple of nice grabs in left, but he's facing the challenge of justifying not only his presence on the bench but the absence of a bullpen arm. It seems most likely that Vargas will start the season in the minors and be an easy choice to call up in the event of injury, but he hasn't been cut yet, so he's still fighting to make it to Opening Day.
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