MVN - Most Valuable Network

Dodgers purchase contract of LHP Kershaw; DFA Loaiza

The Los Angeles Dodgers boast as much young, premium talent as any organization in the game. The Dodgers added another blue-chipper to the active roster, purchasing the contract of lefthander Clayton Kershaw from AA Jacksonville.

The 7th overall pick in the 2006 amateur draft out of Dallas, Texas, Kershaw has torn through the minor leagues over the past few seasons. The 20 year-old  posted a 2.28 ERA in 43.1 IP for Jacksonville, whiffing 47 and walking 15 batters. Kershaw surrendered just 32 hits in his stint for the Suns.

To make room on the 40-man roster for Kershaw, the Dodgers designated veteran righthander Esteban Loaiza for assignment. Loaiza, 36, was claimed off waivers from the Oakland Athletics last August. Due to back and knee injuries, Loaiza tossed just 46 2/3 innings for the Dodgers between 2007 and 2008, posting an ugly 6.94 ERA.

To make room for Kershaw on the 25-man roster, the Dodgers optioned righthander Yhency Brazoban to AAA Las Vegas. Brazoban, 27, has missed considerable time over the past few seasons following Tommy John and labrum surgery.

TG Analysis

The apparent plan for Kershaw is to have the uber-prospect make 3 starts for the big league club. Kershaw has the sort of repertoire that makes scouts drool. The 6-3, 210 pounder hits the mid-90’s with his heater and, rather than making a futile attempt to explain Clayton’s curveball, I’ll let Sean Casey’s wobbly knees do the talking.

Add in a solid changeup and clean mechanics, and you have the makings of perhaps the best pitching prospect in the game. However, as bright as Kershaw’s future is, it wouldn’t be surprising the see the young lefty have some issues with the strike zone during his first go-around the majors: Kershaw has issued 3.87 BB/9 during his brief professional career.

Kershaw’s summoning does open up some interesting questions for the men in blue. Suppose Kershaw uses his power fastball and hammer curve exceedingly well over his big league trial. What then? The Dodgers are likely to be rather conservative with a talent like this and would be unlikely to slot him into the rotation, but would the team consider using Kershaw and a rehabbing Jason Schmidt together? Such a “tandem starter” option would serve the dual purpose of keeping Kerhaw’s innings low and letting Schmidt (returning from 2007 shoulder surgery, and reportedly hitting 90 MPH on the gun) pop bullets for 4 or 5 innings at a time. Teams are exceedingly hesitant to buck convention in this regard, but such an alignment makes all sorts of sense for the Dodgers by protecting Kershaw (career high IP: 112) and getting some degree of value from Schmidt (owed $12M in ‘08 and ‘09).

On a side note, expect to see a post dissecting Kershaw’s Sunday debut using pitch F/X.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 24th, 2008 at 3:26 pm and is filed under Esteban Loaiza, Clayton Kershaw, Yhency Brazoban, Jason Schmidt, Dodgers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.