Earlier this month, the Los Angeles Dodgers further bolstered their bullpen with the signing of Daniel Hudson. This came after the Tampa Bay Rays released the right-hander just prior to the start of the regular season.
Hudson appeared in five games for Triple-A Oklahoma City before being promoted to the Dodgers’ 25-man active roster on Tuesday. Walker Buehler was optioned to High-A Rancho Cucamonga in a corresponding move, but he’s still expected to make his next Major League start on Saturday against the San Francisco Giants, as part of a day-night doubleheader.
Hudson made his Dodgers debut against the Miami Marlins, when he tossed a scoreless inning while accumulating a pair of strikeouts. He needed just 11 pitches to retire all three batters faced.
The 31-year-old believes signing with the Dodgers was an easy decision and revealed that there was previous interest between the two sides during multiple free agency periods, via J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group:
“There was actually some mutual interest when I was a free agent after 2016 going into ’17 but the timing didn’t work out quite right,” he said. “When they called and kind of sat me down and explained some stuff to me and mapped out what they were thinking, it just kind of seemed like a no-brainer to me.”
Hudson had just completed a six-year stint with the Arizona Diamondbacks prior to reaching free agency at the end of the 2016 season. He opted to sign with the Pittsburgh Pirates, while the Dodgers wound up adding Brandon Morrow and Sergio Romo to fortify the bullpen.
This time around, Hudson pounced on the opportunity to join the Dodgers and is one of many intriguing right-handed options to bridge the gap to closer Kenley Jansen, along with fellow newcomer J.T. Chargois, Pedro Baez, Scott Alexander and Tony Cingrani.
