It’s timed for another mega-sized edition of the NRI breakdowns. In this one, I’ll be looking at 15 Dodger non-roster invitees.
SS Juan Castro—Castro has never hit, but he’s carved out a 16-year career out of playing solid defense. Still, he is a career .228/.268/.327 hitter who hasn’t been above replacement level since 2006 and has been a -4.4 WAR (!) player for his entire career. The guy hit .194/.237/.233 last year. At 38, he really has no business in the big leagues.
RHP Lance Cormier—Cormier walked more batters than he struck out last year with the Rays. The addition of a knockout cutter has helped save his career, but it’s the only pitch he’s got, and Cormier is no Mariano Rivera. The 30-year-old could well turn up in a big league bullpen this year, but he’s never been an impact pitcher and likely never will be.
RHP Rubby De La Rosa—De La Rosa is an interesting prospect. When the minor league season ended in August, nobody had really heard of him, but as more and more reports have trickled in over the offseason, his stock has risen. It’s easy to see De La Rosa’s appeal: he’s got a mid-90’s fastball with excellent sink. Even with that velocity and movement, De La Rosa doesn’t get a ton of strikeouts, but he has better control than most young flamethrowers. He profiles as a solid late-game reliever, although the Dodgers want him to start. De La Rosa ended 2010 in Double-A, so he could be up soon if he moves to relief; to stay a starter, he’ll need a better breaking ball, and his slight frame could use added bulk for durability’s sake.
LHP Dana Eveland—Eveland could afford to lose some of his bulk, as his excess weight has long hindered his ability to repeat his delivery. The lefty is still looking for a way to recreate 2008, when he was a solid back-of-the-rotation starter at age 24. Since then, his command has disintegrated, and even the Pirates didn’t have room for him. Eveland then posted a 9.00 ERA in 26 Triple-A innings, although he had a 26/6 K/BB there. While he’s got good offspeed pitches, he doesn’t have the fastball command or velocity to survive; he’s got to throw strikes to have a chance in the bigs.
SS Dee Gordon—Gordon spent 2010 hitting a modest .276/.331/.353 in Double-A. He’s a very divisive prospect–many point to his raw speed and athleticism and lack of baseball experience, saying he’s going to become a star once he gets used to the pro game. Others point to his mediocre numbers and aren’t convinced–time lost is time lost, after all, and Gordon is clearly behind most top prospects in terms of present skill. He’s 23 in April and will open 2011 in Triple-A. Gifted with incredible speed and athleticism, he could be Jose Reyes, or he could be Everth Cabrera. At some point, he’s going to have to show he can hit more than an empty .275. Learning to walk would be a big help.
RHP Jon Huber—This former Mariner was relegated to Double-A for most of last year, but he dominated there, with a 2.23 ERA and 2.57 FIP as the Dodgers’ AA closer. The groundballer has 25 career big league innings with a 2.57 ERA and 3.36 FIP. He’s got pretty generic middle-reliever stuff, with a low-90’s fastball and plus slider. At 29, he could still spring back up and throw some good innings. He’s unlikely to make the team out of camp, but a good showing in Triple-A could get him in LA at some point.
OF Gabe Kapler—Kapler had by far the worst season of his career in 2010, hitting .210/.288/.290 for Tampa Bay. Now 35, he remains a solid if unspectacular defensive right fielder, but his trademark slugging vs. lefties was completely gone in 2010, as he slugged just .289 off of them while posting a sub-Mendoza Line average. Bench players sometimes have years like this and spring back up, and if given a chance, he can probably get back over a .600 OPS, but it’s unclear if he’s got much more in the tank.
RHP Mike MacDougal—Even Dave Duncan couldn’t fix MacDougal, who posted a 7.23 ERA in 17 appearances for St. Louis last year. He still throws 95 mph with sink, but the 34-year-old still doesn’t get strike one anywhere near as much as he should, which dooms far too many at-bats. He’s got a nice enough arm to bounce around Triple-A with the occasional MLB appearance until he’s 40, but he really hasn’t pitched effectively since 2006.
LHP Ron Mahay—Speaking of pitching through age 40, Mahay’s just a couple of months away. He’s been above replacement level in four of the last five seasons, so even at this age, he’s worth a look, particularly in the NL. His velocity dropped a considerable amount (1.8 mph) from 2009 to 2010, but his slider was still excellent. He can be solid in situational work at this point, but really shouldn’t face many righties, as neither his fastball nor his changeup did much in 2010, leading to a FIP split of 2.79 vs. LHB and 5.72 vs. RHB.
INF Aaron Miles—After an unspeakably bad 2009, Miles rebounded with an exactly replacement-level performance in 2010, hitting .281/.311/.317 with passable defense at second. He never brings any power, and his line-drive rate cratered in 2010, which is a bad sign for a guy who needs to rely on singles to get on base…and it’s not like he’s got the speed to beat out most infield grounders. He does put the ball in play, though, and is just two years removed from a .317/.355/.398 performance, so let’s not write Miles off completely.
OF Trent Oeltjen—Oeltjen deserves a long look in the big leagues. He hit .320/.382/.525 in Triple-A last year, and is the rare Triple-A slugger who doesn’t strike out excessively. Oeltjen is also a plus defender in the outfield corners. If Jay Gibbons, who himself lit up the PCL last year, struggles out of the gate, the 28-year-old Oeltjen might step in; he’d be a defensive upgrade for sure, and could provide lefty sock as well. Gibbons has earned the right to fail, though.
RHP Tim Redding—At 33, Redding is what he is–a finesse guy who pounds the zone with four “meh” pitches, getting hit around a fair bit, but keeping his walks to reasonable levels. In short, he’s a nice #2 starter in Triple-A who can come up and make some spot starts if multiple MLB starters go down. To drive this point home, he was exactly replacement level in his last MLB stint, with the Mets in 2009. Redding spent 2010 pitching for the Yankees’ and Rockies’ AAA affiliates, with an 83/22 K/BB in 109 innings, so he’s probably still able to take the ball in the big leagues without embarrassing himself.
OF Jerry Sands—A very solid power prospect, Sands hit 35 homers between Low-A and Double-A last year, actually cutting down on his strikeouts after the promotion and hitting .301/.395/.586 in total. He’s a solid defensive corner outfielder as well, and doesn’t present defensive issues like so many Val Pascucci-esque minor league sluggers, so there’s no reason the 23-year-old Sands can’t be in LA quickly–in fact, given how well the Triple-A Pacific Coast League suits his game, don’t be surprised if he lights it up and is knocking on the door in mid-May.
UTIL Eugenio Velez—We mostly know Velez as a light-hitting utilityman for San Francisco, but he put in some good work with the bat in Triple-A last year, with a .302/.353/.439 line. He’s struggled with breaking pitches at the MLB level, and is now almost exclusively an outfielder, playing just one game at second base in 2010. The career .255/.300/.388 hitter doesn’t have too much going for him as an outfield-only player; getting more work in at second would greatly enhance his value.
RHP Oscar Villarreal—I know I’ve been negative about the majority of the pitchers in this article, so I’ll at least end on a high note for Dodgers fans. Villarreal hasn’t appeared in the majors since 2008, and he didn’t pitch especially well in Triple-A last year, but he’s got a nice four-pitch mix that I feel could be useful as a swingman. In fact, I’d really like to see him get work as a starter, a role he’s never really had a chance to fill. Let’s not forget Villarreal’s only 29 and has a career 3.86 ERA in 336 innings. This guy could still be a solid arm.