Dodgers live updates: Tony Gonsolin will start season on injured list

Follow along for the latest news and analysis from Dodgers spring training at Camelback Ranch in Phoenix ahead of the 2023 MLB season.

Dodgers get the best of Cody Bellinger in 9-7 exhibition win over Cubs

MESA, Ariz. — The Dodgers got their first look at Cody Bellinger in a Chicago Cubs uniform Friday, the former Dodgers center fielder making his first spring appearance against his old team after missing the first two Cactus League games between the clubs.

Bellinger walked in the second inning, grounded into a double play in the fourth and hit a two-run triple to right field in the sixth inning of the Dodgers’ 9-7 exhibition victory at Sloan Park.

“It was different seeing him out there in a Cubs uniform,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “It was good seeing him. I wished him well. But hopefully that’s the only triple he gets against us.”

The Dodgers scored eight runs on seven hits in a 35-minute top of the fourth inning. J.D. Martinez hit a three-run home run to left-center field and a two-run double to left-center in the inning for his first extra-base hits in 36 at-bats this spring and Jason Heyward hit a two-run double to right.

“I think it felt really good for him to square up a baseball,” Roberts said of Martinez. “He’s a traditionally slow starter, so for him to get on track and have some good at-bats today was good.”

Bellinger had a flurry of great at-bats for the Dodgers in 2019, when he won National League most valuable player honors after hitting .305 with a 1.035 on-base-percentage, 47 homers and 115 RBIs, and he played Gold Glove-caliber defense throughout his six years in Los Angeles.

But the left-handed-hitting slugger’s career faded into a haze of injuries and endless swing adjustments. Bellinger batted .203 — tied for the third worst in the major leagues — with a sixth-worst .648 OPS over the next three seasons.

Bellinger, who made $17 million in 2022, was projected to receive an $18-million salary in his final season of arbitration, according to MLB Trade Rumors. The Dodgers chose to non-tender Bellinger in November, and Bellinger signed a one-year, $17.5-million contract with the Cubs.

“I think the net of [Bellinger’s career in Los Angeles] was that it was a great run for Cody, for the Dodgers,” Roberts said. “I wish we could have done more to support him and get some more consistency for him. But our hope is that the change of scenery will kind of tap into something that’s already in there that we know. I’ll always root for Cody.”

Bellinger had some stretches of explosiveness and productivity in the playoffs, clubbing three homers with a .911 OPS in 12 games through the NL Championship Series during the Dodgers’ 2020 World Series run, and he was one of the team’s best hitters in the 2021 postseason, batting .353 with a .906 OPS in 12 games.

But a labrum tear in his right (non-throwing) surgery that required surgery after the 2020 season and a broken fibula in April 2021 slowed Bellinger, who went on the injured list three times in 2021 and struggled to find a consistent swing and approach.

Bellinger hit .165 with a .542 OPS, 10 homers and 36 RBIs in 95 regular-season games in 2021 and .210 with a .654 OPS,19 homers and 68 RBIs in 144 games in 2022.

“I don’t know,” Roberts said, when asked if there was anything more the Dodgers could have done with Bellinger. “As a coach, you want to feel like you do everything you can, and I think we did.

“Obviously, some of it has to do with the player, and Cody would be the first to tell you that. As an organization, you always want to do the most you can for a player, but sometimes you just don’t have any answers.”

Julio Urias will work with one less day of rest in WBC as manager Benji Gil blasts schedule

MIAMI — Mexico manager Benji Gil didn’t hold back when reacting to the World Baseball Classic’s decision to move up his team’s quarterfinal game against Puerto Rico to Friday, arguing the change unfairly benefits the United States.

The winner of Pool C was originally slated to play Saturday against Pool D’s runner-up. Mexico won Pool C. Puerto Rico finished second in Pool D. But there was some fine print: Team USA would play Saturday’s quarterfinal game at LoanDepot Park if it advanced from Pool C no matter what — whether the Americans finished in first or second.

As a result, Team USA, the Group C runner-up, will face Venezuela, the Pool D winner, Saturday.

“It’s a disadvantage, 100%, 100%,” Gil said Friday before his team’s game. “But it’s not going to matter. I mean, we’re going to do everything that we can. We’re not looking for excuses. We’re not going to make an excuse if we win and we’re not going to make an excuse if we lose. But before it’s played, it’s 100% a disadvantage.”

Both Mexico and the U.S. flew from Phoenix after finishing group play Wednesday while Puerto Rico and Venezuela were already in Miami because Pool D was played at LoanDepot Park. The U.S. held a workout Friday.

By playing Friday instead of Saturday, Mexico and Dodgers ace Julio Urías also gets one day less of rest after throwing 62 pitches across five innings last Saturday against Colombia.

“I’m not saying it’s a disadvantage because Puerto Rico didn’t travel,” Gil said. “They were here, and that’s fine, that’s the way it should be. But at the end of the day, before the tournament happened, the 1 seed was playing on Saturday, and then when stuff got complicated, it became the U.S. plays on Saturday no matter what.”

Both Mexico and the U.S. finished 3-1 in Pool C, but Mexico won the group by upsetting the Americans in their head-to-head matchup.

But there could also be a disadvantage for the U.S. if it beats Venezuela to advance to the semifinals. Saturday’s quarterfinal winner would face Cuba on Sunday and play on consecutive days. With a win Friday, Mexico would face Japan in the semifinals on Monday.

“It’s nothing against the U.S., all right?” Gil said. “If it’s because of TV, I’m telling you right now, if I’m not here, I would be watching the game. And I’m not going to say, ‘Oh, well, I’m not going to watch the U.S. game because it’s on Friday.’”

Tony Gonsolin to open season on injured list; Ryan Pepiot, Michael Grove up for final rotation spot

PHOENIX — Manager Dave Roberts confirmed what has become apparent for the past week or so: Tony Gonsolin, who suffered a left ankle sprain while jogging off the practice field March 6, will start the regular season on the injured list, opening the fifth rotation spot for prospects Ryan Pepiot or Michael Grove.

“To say that he’s going to start the season, obviously we know that that’s not gonna happen,” Roberts said of Gonsolin before Friday’s Cactus League game against the Chicago Cubs in Mesa, Ariz. “So what that means beyond that, I just don’t know right now.”

Gonsolin, who had a breakout season in 2022, going 16-1 with a 2.14 ERA in 24 starts and making the National League All-Star team for the first time, has extended his long-toss program to 150 feet and been able to bear weight on the ankle.

But when asked if Gonsolin was close to throwing off the mound, Roberts said, “He’s closer than he was yesterday … but I don’t know what that means.”

The more definitive status of Gonsolin puts even more emphasis on the final Cactus League starts for Pepiot, who gave up one run and two hits in three innings, striking out four and walking two, of Friday’s start against the Cubs, and Grove, who will take a 4.15 ERA in four spring games into Saturday’s scheduled start against the Chicago White Sox.

Pepiot has a 2.00 ERA in four spring starts, striking out 13 and walking three in nine innings. He was pulled after three innings Friday because of some minor discomfort in his side, but Roberts said the condition shouldn’t impact Pepiot’s next start.

Pepiot and Grove have big league experience, Pepiot going 3-0 with a 3.47 ERA in nine games, seven of them starts, for the Dodgers last season, and Grove going 1-0 with a 4.60 ERA in seven games, six of them starts.

Pepiot said Gonsolin’s injury — and the rotation opening it has created — won’t change his mindset in these final weeks of camp.

“I don’t want to look too much into it, or else I can go down a rabbit hole and try to press too much, which is kind of one of the things I did last year,” Pepiot said. “So just going out, executing pitches, continuing to work every single day. …

“Whether it’s me, whether it’s Michael or somebody else [who gets the fifth-rotation spot], we all have a job to do and help the team win. So whoever they feel gives the team the best opportunity to do that, then all power to them.”

What will Roberts be looking at over the final two weeks of March to determine which pitcher wins the final spot?

“I think it’s just seeing how they execute pitches, how they handle situations, adversity, the consistency,” Roberts said. “I think some of it is obviously spring training, but some of it is a little bit of past performance, and looking forward and looking out. Both of those guys are great.”

Struggles of veteran right-hander Jimmy Nelson muddle bullpen picture

PHOENIX — The Dodgers bet $1.2 million in a guaranteed major league contract to Jimmy Nelson in February that the oft-injured right-hander would be a key contributor to their bullpen.

That is looking like a losing proposition this spring.

Nelson, who missed the 2020 season with the Dodgers because of back surgery and had Tommy John surgery in August 2021, walked four of the five batters he faced in Thursday night’s 3-1 exhibition loss to the Texas Rangers and now has eight walks and no strikeouts in 2⅓ innings of four appearances this spring.

“It wasn’t good,” manager Dave Roberts said Thursday night. “I don’t think there’s anything else to say about it. He didn’t have command, period, with the curveball, the slider, the fastball. I know he expects more from himself, and as we get closer [to the regular season], you gotta tighten some things up.”

If Nelson can regain the form he showed in 2021, when he went 1-2 with a 1.86 ERA in 28 games for the Dodgers, striking out 44 and walking 13 in 29 innings before blowing out his elbow, he would be a valuable multi-inning reliever.

But the Dodgers also signed veteran right-hander Shelby Miller for a similar role, and if Nelson can’t pitch effectively enough for Roberts to rely on him, the Dodgers may have little choice but to designate Nelson for assignment at the end of camp.

“He has to go out there and have better command of the baseball,” Roberts said. “We’re expecting him to pitch meaningful innings for us. What we do as a pitching staff is flood the strike zone. And that’s something that he’s got to get better at.”

Roberts said Nelson is “fine physically,” though Nelson’s velocity was a tick down Thursday night, and that Nelson has “looked OK” during his bullpen sessions.

“The work has been good,” Roberts said. “Tonight just wasn’t where we needed it to be.”

Jason Heyward’s swing is a ‘work in progress.’ He’s still a safe bet to make Dodgers roster

PHOENIX — The Dodgers have latched onto the little signs of progress this spring, the promising moments when Jason Heyward’s new-look, retooled and continued “work in progress” swing, as manager Dave Roberts called it, has looked more like a finished product at the plate.

Such as when the veteran outfielder hit two home runs in the first week of spring training.

Or during live batting practice sessions at the start of camp, when he laced line drive singles the other way.

Dave Roberts remains strong proponent of WBC despite Edwin Diaz injury

PHOENIX — Manager Dave Roberts said “my heart sank” when he saw New York Mets closer Edwin Diaz get carried off the field in a wheelchair after suffering a major knee injury celebrating Puerto Rico’s victory over the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic in Miami on Wednesday night.

Diaz, perhaps baseball’s most dominant reliever and a key piece of what the Mets expect to be a championship-caliber club, suffered a right patella tendon tear and was scheduled to undergo season-ending surgery Thursday.

“You see his brother crying [on the field] …” Roberts said Thursday. “I’m a baseball fan, so when you see a player of that magnitude lose a season, certainly to something as benign as celebrating, it’s sad.”

Noah Syndergaard looks sharp in minor league game against White Sox

PHOENIX — With Wednesday night’s rainout pushing Clayton Kershaw’s exhibition start back to Thursday night against the Texas Rangers, Noah Syndergaard, who was originally scheduled to start Thursday night, pitched in a triple-A game against the Chicago White Sox on Thursday afternoon.

Syndergaard threw 60 pitches over five innings, giving up one unearned run and one hit, striking out one and walking none.

“It went well,” manager Dave Roberts said. “He was very efficient. Everything was in the zone.”