If there’s one thing the Los Angeles Dodgers lack on their roster, it’s speed, and they addressed that this past offseason by signing Terrance Gore to a Minor League contract with an invite to Spring Training.
Gore only has 77 plate appearances across seven seasons in the big league career, although he is a solid outfield defender in addition to being one of the fastest players in the league.
With the season being shut down due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and MLB implementing a rule change upon its return to put a runner at second base to start all extra innings, that gave Gore a little bit more value to the Dodgers.
Additionally, with rosters being expanded to 30 to begin the season, Gore actually had his contract purchased and landed a spot on the Dodgers’ Opening Day roster.
He only lasted a few days, however, before being designated for assignment to make room of the active roster for Victor Gonzalez.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts revealed on Monday that Gore cleared waivers, and has since been sent to the team’s alternate training site at USC in case they need him again this season.
“We put him through waivers and he cleared, so he’s at that secondary site right now. Anything can happen, he’s certainly an asset for us. We’ll just see how this season plays out. We might need to go to that again,” Roberts said.
The runner on second base extra-inning rule won’t be in place for the playoffs, which would limit Gore’s chances of making the Dodgers’ postseason roster.
He does bring some value as a fast runner that can be used at any time though, so it is good to at least have a player with that caliber of speed in the organization.
Roberts believes MLB got roster size changes right
While MLB was originally expected to drop active rosters to 26 players to finish out the season, they recently made a change to leave it at 28 due to the number of coronavirus outbreaks.
Roberts is in favor of the change that gives him two extra players at his disposal every night.
“I think they got it right, Major League Baseball and the Players Association,” Roberts said of the changes.
“I think that getting it down to 28 makes it more of baseball that we know, so there’s not as much matching up potential. And the extra taxi squad I think gives everyone coverage, so I think they nailed it.”
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