Dodgers reliever lands with AL West contender after being designated for assignment

The Dodgers' bullpen culling ultimately cost them an interesting arm, but it may have been a necessary sacrifice.

Los Angeles Dodgers v San Francisco Giants
Los Angeles Dodgers v San Francisco Giants | Ezra Shaw/GettyImages

This is the time of year when teams start trimming the fat off of their roster, and the Los Angeles Dodgers are no different. The Dodgers have had to weather a lot of injuries already, which has made managing their roster difficult, especially when it comes to rotating bullpen arms in and out.

The most recent example of this was the Dodgers trading with the Mets for Yohan Ramirez. Ramirez has been on a bit of a league tour this year as he has gotten passed around, but LA needs bullpen depth and decided that he was a gamble worth taking.

Unfortunately, that meant that Ramirez was going to take someone's roster spot and the sacrificial lamb turned out to be Eduardo Salazar, as he was designated for assignment earlier this week. Sadly, he did not make it through waivers and back to the Dodgers' minor league system. He was unfortunately claimed off the waiver wire by the Mariners on Thursday.

Dodgers News: LA loses Eduardo Salazar to waiver claim by Mariners

It's hard to gauge how much the Dodgers will actually miss Salazar, since he only made one appearance for the team in 2024. However, it was a scoreless multi-inning appearance (although it was a bit of an adventure), so it certainly wouldn't have hurt to have him around as an option in the minors.

At the end of the day, LA decided that Ramirez was just a better fit for what they need right now. Right now, the team is just trying to keep the good times rolling while their starting rotation gets healthy. Ultimately, that means they are going to have to lean on their bullpen leading up to the trade deadline. In this case, Salazar just wasn't quite worth hanging on to. Dodgers fans just have to hope that the front office was right with their choice.

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