The biggest need for the Los Angeles Dodgers at the trade deadline this season was to add starting pitching depth as the team lost multiple starters throughout the year due to injury.
While Los Angeles didn’t acquire a third ace such as, Cole Hamels or David Price, the front office did a nice job in completing a three-team, 13 player deal with the Miami Marlins and Atlanta Braves to net the Dodgers Mat Latos and Alex Wood, among others.
Latos was believed by some to be the missing piece to the puzzle in a possible championship run in 2015, and it certainly appeared that way when he threw six quality innings, giving up one run in his Dodgers debut against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
It was all downhill for Latos after that though, as he allowed four earned runs or more in less than five innings of work in three of his next four starts, prompting the Dodgers recently to designate the 27 year old for assignment.
“We talked to [Latos] the other day. He was great, he was fine,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. “He was frustrated from the standpoint of not pitching well, frustrated he wasn’t helping us. I think he handled it really well. It just didn’t work out. The biggest thing is we needed the spot. It’s just unfortunate.”
The decision to designate Latos for assignment was so the club could reinstate right-hander Carlos Frias from the 60-day disabled list. Mattingly said Frias coming back was an opportunity for him to show if he has truly recovered from a back injury that kept him out since the end of June.
“It was really about Carlos and wanting to get a look at him to see if he’s going to be able to help us.” Frias last pitched in a Major League game on June 30, before heading to the disabled list.
In 14 appearances (12 starts), the right-handed pitcher went 5-5, with a 4.39 ERA and 1.55 WHIP. While it may seem like the Dodgers gave up on Latos pretty quickly, they were willing to give him another opportunity as he was scheduled to start one of the games in Anaheim.
But a neck injury developed and he was scratched from that start, something that Mattingly called bad timing. “Timing was part of it, and part of it was he really didn’t pitch that well. It just didn’t work out for whatever reason.”
With Latos now out of the picture, Mike Bolsinger will likely get another chance to prove that he believes in the Dodgers rotation for the remainder of the season.
