{"id":113661,"date":"2026-02-06T17:08:27","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T22:08:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=113661"},"modified":"2026-02-06T17:08:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T22:08:27","slug":"dodgers-designate-reliable-anthony-banda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/02\/06\/dodgers-designate-reliable-anthony-banda\/","title":{"rendered":"Dodgers DFA Reliable Left-handed Reliever"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Los Angeles Dodgers have designated left-handed reliever <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bandaan01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-02-06_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anthony Banda<\/a> to make room for catcher <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/rortvbe01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-02-06_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ben Rortvedt<\/a>, according to Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. Banda was one of the most stable arms in a leaky bullpen in 2025. It won&#8217;t be long before Banda finds a new home. He owes 1.625 million in 2026. The Dodgers have seven days to find a trade partner for the reliever.<\/p>\n<h2>Dodgers DFA Reliable Left-handed Reliever<\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Anthony Banda was designated for assignment.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FabianArdaya\/status\/2019859161325138210?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 6, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>The Roster Crunch<\/h3>\n<p>On the surface, this seems like a head-scratching move for Los Angeles. After all, Banda was one of the more serviceable left-handers in the league. He had an earned run average of 3.18 in over 70 appearances out of the bullpen last season. However, he struggled getting right-handed batters out. With relievers required to face three batters per appearance, typically, lineup construction could blunt his effectiveness. <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/v\/vesiaal01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-02-06_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alex Vesia<\/a>, <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/d\/dreyeja01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-02-06_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jack Dreyer<\/a>, and <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/scottta01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-02-06_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tanner Scott<\/a> have proven more effective with the relatively new rule.<\/p>\n<h3>Luxury is not a Need<\/h3>\n<p>With multiple left-handed options available and Banda <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/03\/13\/dodgers-relievers-banda-phillips-minor-league-options\/\" target=\"_self\">out of options<\/a>, he was predictably the odd man out. It is unusual for a team to have more than two left-handers in the relief corps. The Dodgers currently have five or six on the forty-man roster. For now, the Dodgers need more depth at catcher than in the bullpen. However, Rortvedt is also <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/11\/12\/cincinnati-reds-claim-dodgers-backup-catcher-ben-rortvedt-waivers\/\" target=\"_self\">out of options,<\/a> so it is something to keep in mind before the season starts in earnest.<\/p>\n<h3>In High Demand?<\/h3>\n<p>Los \u00c1ngeles is maneuvering from a position of depth. However, many teams could use a reliable reliever like Banda. The Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles, and Kansas City Royals are among the teams most likely to inquire about the left-hander. It is unlikely the Dodgers would make a move like this without already having a trade partner in place.<\/p>\n<p>The Dodgers may be done with <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/01\/20\/offseason-dodgers-news-rumors-roster-construction\/\" target=\"_self\">the big acquisitions,<\/a> but they are always interested in improving themselves one way or another.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credits: <span>Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Los Angeles Dodgers have designated left-handed reliever Anthony Banda to make room for catcher Ben Rortvedt, according to Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. Banda was one of the most stable arms in a leaky bullpen in 2025. It won&#8217;t be long before Banda finds a new home. He owes 1.625 million in 2026. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5226,"featured_media":113678,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33,1071],"tags":[28739],"class_list":["post-113661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dodgers","category-mlb","tag-anthony-banda"],"modified_by":"Evan Mazza, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5226"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113661"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113679,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113661\/revisions\/113679"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}