Dodgers select Shane Greene, transfer Victor Gonzalez to 60-day IL

The Dodgers announced a series of roster moves Sunday, one of them being the recall of Michael Grove, which was reported Saturday. Shane Greene will also be joining the team, but he wasn’t previously on the 40-man roster. To make room on the active roster, Reyes Moronta and Garrett Cleavinger have been optioned. For Greene’s spot on the 40-man, Victor Gonzalez was transferred to the 60-day injured list.

This will be the ninth MLB season for Greene, once he gets into a game. His career has been a bit of a rollercoaster, as he’s often oscillated between good and bad seasons. After posting ERAs north of 5.00 with the Tigers in 2015 and 2016, he turned things around in 2017. Across 67 2/3 innings that year, he had a 2.66 ERA, 25.8% strikeout rate and 12% walk rate. It was a 180-degree turn the next year, as his ERA shot up above 5.00 again in 2018. The next two years, he was good again, with ERAs of 2.30 and 2.60 in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Last year, the wheel of fortune spun him around again, as his ERA went up to 7.23.

That 7.23 ERA is a bit misleading, however, as Greene didn’t sign with the Braves until May and struggled to get into a groove after missing spring training. He had an 8.47 ERA with Atlanta before being released in August and latching on with the Dodgers. He put up a much more palatable 4.05 ERA in Los Angeles to finish the year, but in a small sample of just 6 2/3 innings. The club brought him back into the organization on a minor league deal in March. He has a 5.87 ERA in Triple-A so far this year, but the club evidently isn’t scared off by those results in a small sample of 7 2/3 innings.

The transfer of Gonzalez doesn’t come as a shock, as he underwent arthroscopic debridement surgery on his pitching elbow recently. The 60-day clock starts from his initial placement in April, meaning he won’t be eligible to return until early June. Although the club hopes he can return at some point this season, it doesn’t seem like it will be any time soon.