Shawn Tolleson, who was claimed off waivers Tuesday by the Texas Rangers, faced two batters in 2013 and walked both. (Getty Images)
For now at least, the Dodgers continue to clear room. Reliever Shawn Tolleson was claimed off waivers by the Texas Rangers on Tuesday, leaving the 40-man roster at 31.
Tolleson’s 2013 season was sabotaged by injury. He appeared in one game in April, but couldn’t sleep following the game because of an intense pain his back. Later that month, he had season-ending back surgery.
The Dodgers had to replace his innings somehow, and right-handers Chris Withrow, Jose Dominguez and, later, Carlos Marmol and Brian Wilson, all held down the fort. That was apparently enough for the Dodgers to feel comfortable about cutting ties with the 25-year-old, who not long ago was chosen as the organization’s minor-league pitcher of the year.
In 40 games in 2012, Tolleson went 3-1 with a 4.30 ERA, striking out 39 batters in 37 ⅔ innings.
Some bullet points for a Transgender Day of Remembrance:
• Today is the deadline for teams to add players to their 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 draft. The Dodgers’ most important decisions: Pedro Baez, Red Patterson, Yimi Garcia and Scott Schebler. There’s plenty of room for all.
• Baez allowed three hits, walked three and struck out six batters in 4 ⅓ scoreless innings in the Arizona Fall League — the first on the mound for the converted infielder. If that was Baez’s audition to keep a spot on the roster, he might have passed.
• Yasiel Puig is GQ’s “phenom of the year.”
• In the world of baseball, still drenched in PED-related scandal, Barry Bonds is persona non grata. In the world of cycling — Bonds’ world, now — he is blending in, writes Gwen Knapp for SportsOnEarth.com. Maybe this is a glimpse of a post-PED-scandalized MLB, and maybe there’s room for Barry Bonds in that world.
• ICYMI: Check out these brilliant minimalist baseball posters.
• The Padres open their 2014 schedule with three home games against the Dodgers (a week after the Dodgers’ two games in Australia against the Arizona Diamondbacks). There’s a decent chance the Dodgers will face right-hander Josh Johnson, who signed an incentivized one-year contract with San Diego.
• According to MLB.com, the Marlins are open to signing Juan Uribe to play either third base or first, and are holding on to former Dodger Nate Eovaldi as their number-two starter for 2014.
• The delay in ratifying a new posting system for Japanese players, including Masahiro Tanaka, has “enough elements of economics, politics and international relations to fill up the syllabus of a 300-level college seminar,” writes FoxSports.com’s Jon Paul Morosi. The Cliffs Notes version: MLB, for a few reasons, has a fair amount of leverage in this fight.
• We wrote this about Brian Wilson three weeks ago: “it’s reasonable to expect the Dodgers will enter the bidding for Wilson. Just don’t be surprised if a team desperate for a closer guarantees more money and more years to a pitcher who’s saved one game the past two seasons.” ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick sized up the market for closers today and concluded that the demand includes half of all major-league teams, which outpaces the supply by quite a bit.
• Happy birthday to J.D. Drew (38), Jay Johnstone (68) and Rick Monday (68).
• This song still gives me chills, seven years after its release:
