The Los Angeles Dodgers added to their roster early, the San Francisco Giants made significant adjustments late, and now the longtime rivals can size each other up when they meet for the first time this season Monday night in Los Angeles.
Shohei Ohtani was the prize both teams wanted, with the Dodgers signing the two-way phenom to a 10-year, $700 million contract. Los Angeles also signed Teoscar Hernandez to a super-charged lineup, while right-handers Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto were added to a rebuilt rotation.
The Giants put Bob Melvin in place as manager in October, and when they couldn’t add Ohtani, they brought in center fielder Jung Hoo Lee from South Korea. Last year’s issues on both offense and defense were further addressed when third baseman Matt Chapman was signed during spring training.
But San Francisco wasn’t done, coming to terms on a deal with reigning National League Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell two weeks ago.
Snell’s San Francisco debut could come as early as Wednesday’s series finale.
“It’s just a very talented team,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of the Giants. “(President of baseball operations) Farhan (Zaidi) has done a great job of putting together a roster that has depth, that can really catch it and can pitch. The landscape of the West has really changed since we broke camp.”
The Dodgers are coming off a series win against the St. Louis Cardinals when Max Muncy’s eighth-inning home run gave Los Angeles its first lead of the game in a 5-4 victory Sunday.
The Dodgers are set to have left-hander James Paxton make his debut for the club on Monday. The 35-year-old went 7-5 with a 4.50 ERA in 19 starts (96 innings) last season for the Boston Red Sox.
Paxton has just two career starts against the Giants, going 1-0 with a 3.38 ERA.
The Giants are expected to counter with right-hander Keaton Winn, who made nine appearances (five starts) as a rookie last season and went 1-3 with a 4.68 ERA. One of those starts was against the Dodgers on Sept. 29, when Winn was rocked for six runs in 5 1/3 innings. He surrendered two of his three home runs allowed to Will Smith and Freddie Freeman.
Without Snell in the fold yet, right-hander Daulton Jefferies made his first major league start in nearly two years Sunday and was roughed up for nine runs (five earned) on nine hits in two innings of the Giants’ 13-4 road loss to the San Diego Padres.
San Francisco split its opening four-game series, with Snell playing it coy when asked by reporters Sunday when he might make his first Giants start.
“I have ideas, but nothing solid yet,” said Snell, who reached 71 pitches in a recent start against the Giants’ Double-A team. “… I feel good. Just get more reps, get better and better, stronger and stronger. When we get out there, that will be the real tell of where I’m at and what I need to work on. I’ll get better from there.”
As if Sunday’s blowout loss wasn’t enough, Giants first baseman Wilmer Flores fell into the Padres’ dugout while chasing a foul ball. Although he remained in the game, he was diagnosed with a shoulder contusion and a laceration on a finger. His status will be updated Monday.
–Field Level Media