TORONTO — The Dodgers released their roster for the World Series on Friday, and a key piece in the bullpen was missing as expected.
Left-handed reliever Alex Vesia was not on the roster, as he and his wife handle what the club said on Thursday was “a deeply personal family matter.”
He is not expected to be placed on the Family Medical Emergency List either, according to a person with knowledge of the situation unauthorized to speak publicly. Being placed on that list would have required Vesia to miss at least three days, but still allowed him to rejoin the roster later in the series if he was able.
That means, barring an injury elsewhere on the pitching staff, Vesia will be out for the duration of the World Series — marking a significant blow for a bullpen that had counted him as one of its most trusted arms (especially from the left side) this October.
Without Vesia, the Dodgers made a couple of additions to the relief corps, adding hard-throwing right-handers Edgardo Henriquez and Will Klein back to the roster.
Henriquez, who had a 2.37 ERA in 22 regular-season outings, was last active for the wild-card series at the start of the playoffs, when he failed to record an out while walking two batters and giving up a hit in his only appearance.
Klein, meanwhile, is being activated for the first time this postseason, after posting a 2.35 ERA in 14 appearances this year.
The Dodgers’ only change from the NLCS was removing another right-hander, Ben Casparius, from the 12-man pitching staff.
Left-handed reliever Tanner Scott, who was removed from the roster in the NLDS because of an abscess incision on his backside, was not added back to the roster, despite expecting to be available health-wise, as he told reporters earlier in the week.
The team also kept the same 14-player position group it used last round, again going with defensive and speed specialists Justin Dean and Hyeseong Kim over veteran outfielder Michael Conforto and third catcher Dalton Rushing for its final roster spots.
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