Cody Snavely
Despite the Los Angeles Dodgers offically reporting to Glendale, Arizona, this week for spring training, the front office has continued to add depth to the roster before spring games begin by signing free agents Luis García, Michael Chavis, and Eddie Rosario.
The first of the minor league signings was for veteran right-handed relief pitcher Luis García, according to Aram Leighton of Just Baseball Media. The deal includes a non-roster invite to spring training (NRI).
The 2024 regular season was a mixed bag for the veteran righty in his time with the Los Angeles Angels and Boston Red Sox. García turned in a 3.71 earned run average through 43.2 innings. He posted roughly average strikeout (22%) and walk (7.7%) rates with a substantial 51.2% ground-ball percentage and worked his way up to be the setup man behind former Angeles closer Carlos Estévez.
However, García, being on a noncontending team at the trade deadline on an expiring deal, was a hot commodity before ultimately ending up on the Boston Red Sox after the 2024 Major League Baseball trade deadline.
The deal didn’t work out well for Boston. García missed a couple of weeks late in the season with elbow inflammation. He was tagged for 15 runs across 15.1 innings with Boston, which propelled his season ERA to a lackluster 4.88 mark through 59 innings. The tough finish evidently prevented him from finding a guaranteed deal as he enters his age-38 season.
It is no surprise that the Dodgers inked a veteran reliever. This not only helps minor league depth, but with righties Evan Phillips and Michael Kopech already behind due to their injuries, the vet could be an early-season fallback option.
Los Angeles’s next signing was 29-year-old utility infielder Michael Chavis, according to Fabian Ardaya of the Athletic. Despite a strong rookie season for the Boston Red Sox during the 2019 season, Chavis has not had the best Major League Career.
The former first-round pick and top-ranked prospect belted eighteen homers as a rookie in 2019, batting .254/.322/.444 in 382 plate appearances that season. However, since that debut season, Chavis has struggled considerably since that debut campaign, combining 804 plate appearances with a .231/.265/.382 output.
Chavis spent the 2024 season in Triple-A between the White Sox and Mariners organizations, hitting much better with Seattle. Chavis hasn’t appeared in the majors since a 2023 run with the Nationals, where he struggled in a part-time role.
The final reported signing of this week involved former 2021 National League Championship Series Most Valuable Player Award winner, Eddie Rosario, according to Ari Alexander of KPRC2.
Rosario, 33, a ten-year Major League Baseball veteran, is coming off one of the worst seasons of his career, finishing with a .175/.215/.316 over 319 combined plate appearances with the Nationals and Braves.
After his 2021 postseason heroics, the Braves re-signed Rosario to a 2-year, $18 million free-agent deal, though the last three seasons have been much more of a struggle for the veteran.
While not offically reported, the deal likely includes a non-roster invite, and with the Dodgers having arguably the most loaded roster in all of baseball, it is an excellent chance for REosario to prove to other teams in the league that he can still play if he does not break camp with the Dodgers.
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