The Los Angeles Dodgers added Eric Lauer to their active roster ahead of Tuesday’s game against the San Diego Padres, which came two days after he was acquired from the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for cash considerations.
The left-hander struggled to the tune of a 1-5 record, 6.69 ERA, 6.94 FIP and 1.49 WHIP in eight appearances (six starts) with the Blue Jays this season. However, he is only one year removed from putting up solid numbers and being an important member of their pitching staff.
Lauer went 9-2 with a 3.18 ERA and 1.10 WHIP in 28 games (15 starts) last season. He also made five appearances during the postseason, which included 5.2 scoreless innings against the Dodgers in the World Series.
The Dodgers’ trade for Lauer came amid their need for pitching depth and believing he can be a valuable contributor.
“The biggest thing is making sure we’re balancing winning as many games as possible, but not panicking and throwing our process out-of-whack here,” general manager Brandon Gomes said. “Trying to balance the short- and longterm. This is a guy that’s had a lot of success in the big leagues and somebody that we feel like we can get back to what he was last year.”
Lauer’s struggles this season can be attributed in part to his velocity and stuff being down. Gomes is confident the Dodgers will be able to correct whatever issues are present and help him return to his previous form.
“We’ve had our guys take a look, and we’ll sit down with him and talk through some stuff to see how much we can do on the fly, how much of it is conscious, subconscious,” Gomes explained. “We know the makeup is really good and we’re looking forward to working with him to get him back to being as successful as he was in the past.”
The Dodgers are planning to use Lauer as a swingman, which is a role he primarily filled with the Blue Jays. He figures to make occasional starts as a way for Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki to remain on their respective pitching schedules.
Eric Lauer hopes to bounce back with Dodgers
Lauer has already begun to work on a few mechanical changes that the Dodgers suggested and believes a change of scenery will ultimately benefit him.
“I think it’s a couple slight adjustments,” Lauer began. “A little bit of a mental break, a change of scenery, I think is good for everybody every once in a while.
“But there’s a few mechanical things that I definitely want to work on that they’ve already kind of thrown out there as possibilities. So I think there’s a few different things we can try and mess around with, tinker a little bit. Hopefully it all works.
“I’m here to help the team win in any way that I can.”
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