Dodgers activate Anthony Banda after missing 16 days with left hand fracture
Banda is back off the injured list, but Brent Honeywell has a cracked fingernail on his right middle finger and landed on the IL.\
LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers activated Anthony Banda from the injured list on Thursday, adding back to the bullpen one of the team’s most prolific relievers and a second left-hander prior to the middle game of a series against the Padres.
Banda suffered a hairline fracture in his left hand after hitting a “solid object,” as manager Dave Roberts put it, after allowing two runs against the Cubs on September 9. Banda later clarified that he hit a paper-towel dispenser in the clubhouse bathroom with the side of his fist, per both Mike DiGiovanna at the Los Angeles Times and Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register.
But rather than ending his season, Banda was able to return after missing just over the minimum 15 days on the injured list.
“I put myself in a shitty situation,” Banda said on Sunday. “But I’m just happy to be back.”
Banda, who turned 31 in August, joined the Dodgers in May on a minor league trade with the Guardians, and while active with Los Angeles pitched in 46 of 96 games. He was also one of the most effective pitchers in the bullpen, with a 3.23 ERA and 3.42 xERA, both the best of his eight major league seasons, while holding left-handers to just .230/.296/.284 this year.
“He’s chomping at the bit,” Roberts said Wednesday. “He’s raring to go.”
The Dodgers earlier Thursday called up Ben Casparius for some length in the bullpen when Brusdar Graterol was placed on the injured list. It looked like Banda’s activation might wait until the weekend, but then 10 minutes before game time the team announced that Brent Honeywell was placed on the injured list with a cracked fingernail on his right middle finger.
That ends the regular season for Honeywell, who had two stints in the majors this year and posted a 2.62 ERA and 5.04 xERA in 18 appearances, with 17 strikeouts and nine walks in 34⅓ innings.
