While the Dodgers wait to release their official 25-man roster for the National League Division Series, one reliever has been ruled out for the first round of the playoffs: Jim Johnson.
The veteran right-hander was sent home rather than to the Dodgers’ instructional league facility in Glendale, Arizona. He had a 10.13 earned-run average (21 runs allowed in 18 ⅔ innings) in 23 appearances as a Dodger.
“We didn’t feel like Camelback Ranch was the place for him,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. “As a veteran, he just had a baby, we didn’t see him as the next guy up if somebody would get hurt. We didn’t feel it was fair to ask him to go to Camelback.”
Johnson and his wife welcomed the couple’s third child, a girl named Charlie Elizabeth, on Sept. 24.
Johnson was acquired from Atlanta along with Luis Avilan, Alex Wood and Jose Peraza in July, in the same trade that brought Mat Latos from the Marlins. In the short term, the trade can be safely called a bust. Latos was designated for assignment in September, while Peraza will miss the NLDS with a hamstring strain.
Avilan and Wood are expected to make the Dodgers’ NLDS roster as relief pitchers.