Cody Snavely
GLENDALE, Ariz. – Less than five Cactus League games remain for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who will depart for Tokyo, Japan, on Wednesday, March 12th. That said, the roster will undergo multiple cuts in the coming days.
Unlike the domestic Opening Day, which will have a roster set at twenty-six players, the two-game set in Japan will be against the Chicago Cubs, which will sit at thirty-one, and one name coming with the team is relief pitcher Matt Sauer.
Sauer, 26, spent the last several seasons in the Kansas City Royals organization, making his Major League debut last year, where he posted a 7.71 ERA in 16.1 innings pitched.
Sauer signed a minor league deal with Los Angeles in December, and according to Dave Roberts, he’ll be on the team’s plane as they head to Japan.
Sauer pitched two innings in yesterday’s game, giving up four runs on three hits before being removed from the game. However, during the mound visit, Roberts confessed to the minor league veteran that he would be on the team’s 31-man roster.
I’m a little upset. I’m competing. Just had a pretty bad inning. And then Doc walks out there, and he gets to the mound and smiles. So I’m a little confused at first. Then he grabbed me around the waist and broke the news … Then I had a big smile on my face. But I was also trying to be, like, pissed. I just had a terrible inning.”
Sauer also mentioned that he would try to get his mother, Tammy, out to Tokyo as she was born in Okinawa and hadn’t returned since she was young.
So far this spring, Sauer hasn’t put up electric numbers, posting an 8.22 ERA in four appearances, but with multiple relief pitchers set to begin the year on the Injured List, it makes sense.
Another player who will join Sauer and the Dodgers on their trip across the Pacific is left-handed hitting outfielder Michael Conforto, who signed a 1-year, $17 million contract during the Major League Baseball Winter Meetings.
While the former New York Met and San Fransico Ginat were signed before fan-favorite Teoscar Hernández inked his multi-year contract, he was never signed to be Teo’s replacement.
Conforto, 32, is expected to be the Dodgers’ everyday left fielder against right-handed pitchers. Still, he should get plenty of at-bats after having reverse splits against lefties and righties, along with extreme home/road splits he showcased in San Fransico last year.
Despite a slow start to the spring, where the left-handed hitter began Cactus League play 2-for-17 with three walks and seven strikeouts, Conforto has since kicked it up a notch the last several games.
After yesterday’s performance, where Conforto went 2-for-3 with three RBIs, he now is slashing .304/.407/.609 and has an elite 1.016 OPS in twenty-three at-bats.
However, even Dave Roberts stated his faith in the outfielder, comparing him possibly to how Teoscar Hernández looked last spring after signing a prove-it deal with Los Angeles.
“Where he’s at in his maturation as a ballplayer, I just think things are really lining up,” Roberts said of Conforto. “Not saying he’s Teo of ’24, but that’s kind of the light I see him in.”
While Conforto is not expected to produce as much as Teo, he will give the Dodgers a lot more depth in the bottom third of the order, which was lackluster last season.
One player who has struggled immensely this spring is James Outman, a 2023 National League Rookie of the Year Award finalist.
Despite a sophomore slump last season, Outman, along with Tommy Edman, Hyeseong Kim, and Andy Pages, came into the spring in consideration for the Dodgers’ center field job.
However, it has not been a great spring for Outman, who is a combined 4-for-23 with twelve strikeouts. The results are puzzling, according to Roberts, who stated that Outman came into camp in a good spot but admitted he has seen that diminish over this slump.
“Early on, he looked really comfortable with kind of a little revamped swing. But right now, he’s swinging and missing a lot. I don’t know if he’s pressing. He just doesn’t look as comfortable.”
Due to Outman’s struggles and his remaining minor league options, it seems all but certain that the 27-year-old outfielder will start the season in Triple-A, but he could still travel with the team to Tokyo.
Lastly, the Dodgers made their second-round roster cuts after yesterday’s 6-4 win over the Seattle Mariners, sending left-handed pitchers Jackson Ferris, Joe Jacques, and Jose E. Hernández and right-handed pitchers Sam Carlson, Jared Karros, Jack Little, and Jose Rodriguez to minor league camp.
This leaves the Dodgers with fifty-two players before the team has to slim it down yet again before the start of the 2025 Major League Baseball regular season on March 18th.
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