Dodgers designate Paxton for assignment, Young headed to Korea

July 23, 2024

By Kevin Glew

Cooperstowners in Canada

In a surprise move, the Los Angeles Dodgers designated left-hander James Paxton for assignment on Monday.

The move was made to clear a roster spot for the club’s No. 4 prospect, right-hander River Ryan, who made his big league debut on Monday.

In 18 starts for the Dodgers this season, Paxton (Ladner, B.C.) was 8-2 with a 4.43 ERA with 64 strikeouts in 89 innings. He also had a National League-leading 48 walks.

The 35-year-old left-hander had just recorded his eighth win of the season on Sunday when he started and allowed three runs on four hits, while striking out seven, in the Dodgers’ 9-6 win over the Boston Red Sox at Dodger Stadium.

“Obviously not an easy decision,” Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes told MLB.com of designating the Canadian southpaw. “Pax is a total pro, did everything that we asked of him. I think with where we’re at right now, fortunately enough it feels like there’s some starting pitching coming back health-wise. … Everything that went into that decision was winning games short-term, but also looking at what we would project as potential postseason, down-the-stretch roster.”

On top of needing a roster spot for Ryan, the Dodgers will be activating right-hander Tyler Glasnow on Wednesday and Clayton Kershaw on Thursday.

Paxton will now be traded or released by the Dodgers within the next seven days. The Canuck lefty has enough big league service time to reject an outright minor league assignment and retain his full salary. But there’s expected to be plenty of interest in him from teams looking for starting pitching depth down the stretch.

Paxton signed a complicated one-year deal with the Dodgers in February that, including bonuses, will pay him $13 million this season. He inked the deal after going 7-5 with a 4.50 ERA in 19 starts for the Red Sox last season. Prior to that, he had missed almost two full seasons after undergoing Tommy John surgery.

A North Delta Blue Jays and Junior National Team alum, Paxton has pitched in parts of 11 major league campaigns with the Seattle Mariners, New York Yankees, Red Sox and Dodgers and owns a 72-40 record and a 3.76 ERA in 174 starts.

Jared Young to join KBO’s Doosan Bears

The St. Louis Cardinals have sold the contract of 1B/OF Jared Young (Prince George, B.C.) to the Doosan Bears of the Korea Baseball Organization, according to a post on the Cardinals Player Development X account.

Young will join Canadian right-hander Jordan Balazovic (Mississauga, Ont.) on the Bears. Balazovic was purchased from the Minnesota Twins earlier this month.

Young has not seen big league action with the Cardinals this season, but he is batting .285 with 11 home runs and 35 RBIs in 74 games with the triple-A Memphis Chicks.

The Cardinals claimed the 29-year-old outfielder off waivers from the Chicago Cubs on November 6 after he had been outrighted off the Cubs’ roster four days earlier.

In two stints with the Cubs in 2023, Young had eight hits – including three triples and two home runs – while scoring eight runs. His final promotion came on the heels of his excellent triple-A campaign with the Iowa Cubs that saw him bat .310 with 21 home runs and 72 RBIs in 90 games.

Young also homered and had three runs in four games for Canada in the World Baseball Classic in March 2023.

Selected in the 15th round of the 2017 MLB draft by the Cubs, the Okanagan Athletics alum played parts of six seasons in the minors before he made his MLB debut with the Cubs in 2022, going 5-for-19 (.263 batting average) in six games that September.