Veteran southpaw opts out of minors deal with Dodgers

Left-hander Drew Pomeranz has opted out of his minor league deal with the Dodgers (per Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic) and is now a free agent again.

Pomeranz, 35, is attempting to get back to the majors after two lost years. He signed a minor league deal with the Angels in February and was in Spring Training with that club. He tossed eight innings with five earned runs allowed, striking out six while walking three.

He was able to opt-out of that deal if he didn’t break camp with the club and the Halos released him a few days before Opening Day. He got another minor league deal, this time with the Dodgers and has been pitching for Triple-A Oklahoma City. He has tossed five innings for that club, allowing six earned runs but striking out seven opponents while giving out just one walk.

As of a few years ago, Pomeranz was one of the better relievers in the league. The Brewers acquired him in 2019 and moved him from the rotation to the bullpen, with great results. The lefty tossed 26 1/3 innings for Milwaukee with a 2.39 earned run average, striking out 45% of batters faced.

The Padres made a bet that Pomeranz could continue performing in that manner, signing him to a four-year, $32M deal going into 2020. That deal was working out great for the first two years, as Pomeranz made 47 appearances with a 1.62 ERA for the Friars. He walked 11.4% of batters faced but struck out 33.7%.

Unfortunately, he required flexor tendon surgery in August of 2021 and hasn’t pitched in a big league game since. Over the past two years, repeated attempts to get healthy have seen him continually hit setbacks, including a “cleanup surgery” in May of last year.

The lefty will surely get a new opportunity elsewhere in the coming days. He hasn’t been preventing runs of late but the fact that he’s healthy and striking out opponents is a good sign. Given the excellent results he posted in the past, he should be fielding plenty of calls from clubs who will dream of benefiting from a rebound.