Dodgers notes: Paul Sewald, Tommy John, Hall of Fame

As we head into the weekend thinking about Brusdar Graterol having surgery to repair the labrum in his right shoulder, let’s look at a few Dodgers-related things from this week.

Usually during the free agent process, most of the rumors come from the standpoint of the teams’ interest, or perhaps an agent floating information on behalf of their players. Free agent reliever Paul Sewald provided some information Wednesday on his own process directly from the source, in an interview with Foul Territory on Wednesday.

A clip surfaced from that interview in which Sewald specifically mentions the Dodgers as a possibility for him in free agency (embedded below), but it’s worth noting that in the full interview this was part of a role play in which A.J. Pierzynski was hypothetically negotiating as Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes.

“The most important thing that I want is to go to a situation where I’m going to be comfortable and I can pitch my best,” Sewald said. “Now, if that’s the eighth inning in LA, that’s the eighth inning in LA. If it’s the ninth inning somewhere else, that’s where I’m going to take it.”

“I wasn’t necessarily the best version of myself this year, so that is all I’m focused on. Which organization is going to bring out the best in me, whether that’s new coaches, new analytics, new ideas, and we’re going to go from there,” Sewald added. “If it’s LA, they have lots of closers, lots of people get a chance at the ninth inning. If it’s Evan Phillips, if it’s Michael Kopech, if it’s me or anybody else, that’s part of the situation there and I’ll take that into consideration.”

Sewald had a 4.31 ERA, his highest in four years, and a 3.78 xERA after three straight sub-3.00 marks with Seattle and Arizona. The right-hander struck out 43 and walked 10 in his 39⅔ innings, and has a strikeout-minus-walk rate of over 20 percent in each of the last four seasons. He turns 35 in May.

Along with his 81 saves over the last four years, Sewald has also allowed 34 home runs in 229 innings. His home run rate of 1.34 every nine innings is tied for 10th-worst among the 142 relievers with at least 150 innings since the start of 2021.

Former Dodgers pitcher Tommy John is one of eight candidates on the Classic Era ballot for the National Baseball Hall of Fame, with inductees from the 16-person committee announced on Sunday, December 8. John did not receive the necessary 75 percent for induction on any of his 15 years on the BBWAA ballot, nor on any of his four previous chances on a veterans committee-style ballot since.

Jay Jaffe at FanGraphs thoroughly examined John’s career, and concluded that a Cooperstown call isn’t warranted this time around, either:

For as impressive as his legacy is, I’m mostly left feeling that when the Hall honored John and Jobe in tandem in 2013, that was sufficient. I can’t shake the fact that John was a very-good-but-rarely-great pitcher during an era that’s already well-represented within Cooperstown.

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