When the Dodgers first acquired Carlos Monasterios during the December 2009 Rule 5 draft, it seemed unlikely that he'd last on the Dodgers major league roster all season. He had just 7.1 innings of experience above class A ball, and the Dodgers appeared to have a pretty full pitching staff heading into the 2010 season. However several pieces fell into place prior to the 2010 season, including injuries to Hong-Chih Kuo and the delayed arrival of fellow countryman Ronald Belisario, and thus Monasterios was able to squeak his way onto the Dodgers 2010 opening day roster. As Kuo and Belisario returned to the Dodgers 25 man roster in April, other Dodgers were either released or hit with the injury bug, which again saved Carlos from being sent back to the Phillies. This is a trend that continued throughout the season, and finally when September hit Carlos was safe. He was the Dodgers property for good, and became the first Dodger Rule 5 draftee since D.J. Houlton to make it through the entire season with the big league club.
During the 2010 season Monasterios filled a variety of roles for the Dodgers, making 13 starts and 19 relief appearances. He held his own with a 4.38 ERA, although his FIP and x-FIP were less favorable and he didn't miss a lot of bats. You could say that he was a bit lucky, but at the end of the day he mostly did what was asked of him. Like most Rule 5 draftees that stick with a big league club, the Dodgers look at Monasterios as a long term investment. The risk was keeping him on their 25 man roster last season, but the reward is that the Dodgers now control him for up to 8 more seasons since he still has three options.
Trivia
The Dodgers didn't actually select Monasterios in the December 2009 Rule 5 draft. Instead, he was selected by the Mets from the Phillies, and was subsequently traded to the Dodgers for cash. This wasn't the first time Monasterios had been traded, however, as he was originally signed by the Yankees and was sent to Philadelphia in the Bobby Abreu trade.
Contract Status
Monasterios, who has one full season of MLB service time, is under team control. He also has three options remaining since the only time he spent in the minor leagues last year was on a rehab assignment.
Stats
Year | Age | IP | BB/9 | K/9 | ERA | FIP | x-FIP | tERA | ERA+ |
2008 (HiA) |
22 | 94.1 | 3.15 | 6.30 | 5.63 | 5.56 | |||
2009 (HiA/AA) |
23 | 89.1 | 2.90 | 7.70 | 3.73 | 3.20 | |||
2010 (MLB) |
24 | 88.1 | 2.95 | 5.30 |
4.38 | 5.37 | 4.97 | 5.49 | 88 |
2011 Projections - Age 23 Season | |||||||||
Year | IP | BB/9 | K/9 | ERA | FIP | WHIP | |||
Marcel | 83.0 | 3.04 | 6.51 | 4.34 | 4.55 | 1.36 |
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Baseball HQ | 73.0 | 2.80 | 5.80 | 4.07 | 1.41 |
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ZiPS | 89.2 | 3.61 | 5.42 | 5.52 | |||||
2011 Outlook
Now that the Dodgers are no longer bound by the regulations of the Rule 5 draft, Carlos Monasterios figures to start the 2011 season in AAA. After a rough outing last week his spring training ERA ballooned to 9.00, although he pitched two shutout innings yesterday to lower that number to 6.75 (through 8 IP). Even with the injuries to Padilla and Garland and Belisario's visa problems, I'm betting that the Dodgers will look elsewhere to fill their vacant bullpen and rotation spots so Monasterios can get more consistent work in the minors. While he'll likely be among the last spring training cuts, Carlos was re-assigned to minor league camp today and for the season will probably work out of the Isotopes rotation where he'll remain stretched out in case he needs to fill in for the Dodgers' rotation or as a swing man.
Personally, I'm predicting that Monasterios will remain in AAA until September, at which point he'll throw 10 innings with a 4.00 ERA and a 1.45 WHIP. What's your prediction? Give us your guess for how much time he'll spend with the Dodgers, along with his ERA, WHIP, and innings pitched.