The Dodgers signed Rusty Ryal to a minor league deal last week, along with several other minor league players. They gave Ryal among others, an invite to spring training, and now that I think about it Ryal may be just what the Dodgers need. The free agent market has been picked clean of all viable options. There just isn’t any right handed bats available right now, especially someone who can play first base. Perhaps Ryal is worth a look?

Rusty Ryal-Photo from Flickr.com

Ryal is only 29 years old, and has some decent splits. He’s hitting .273 against lefties. Upon a deeper look, I found out that Ryal has posted a line of .286/.300/.545 when he starts at first base. That comes out to an .845 OPS. Ryal mostly played second and short while in the minors, but does have 36 major league games at first base under his belt. It’s hard to judge his defensive performance from that small sample size, but as long as he’s decent then I would be fine with it. Ideally, as long as Gonzo is healthy then he wouldn’t be getting many starts anyways. (knock on wood)

In his 36 games at first base, Ryal has only made a few errors, and has a -2 total runs below average rating. He’s a career .263 hitter, bats right handed, and is definitely an improvement over the only other internal candidate we have which is Scott Van Slyke. Now I know Ryal hasn’t played in the majors since 2010. He spent all of 2011 playing in Japan, and then about 100 games playing for the Brave’s triple-A affiliate in 2012. He would have to re-adjust back to hitting major league pitching, but I think he could be a possibility.

Ryal is making the league minimum salary, and would be under team control for the next couple of seasons. Unless the Dodgers can pick up someone via trade, then I don’t see any other choices available. The Dodgers have to have someone else other than Gonzalez on the roster who can play first base. The remaining options on the market are putrid. Is Rusty Ryal a viable option for the backup first base job? For a bench player, and part time first baseman, the Dodgers could do worse. What do you think? Weigh in your opinion with a comment.

#Dodgers recent minor league signings include LHP Fabio Castro, 3B Omar Luna, 2B Rusty Ryal, OF Jeremy Moore & LHP Wilmin Rodriguez.

— Matt Eddy (@eddymk) January 3, 2013

Ryal is a right handed hitter, and can play all over the infield and a little bit of left field as well. Ryal played in 30 games for Arizona in 2009, and 104 games in 2010. During the 2009 season, Ryal posted a slash line of .271/.353/.593, with three home runs, and nine RBI in 68 plate appearances. The following season, Ryal’s slash line was .261/.308/.348 with three home runs, 11 RBI in 222 plate appearances. During this time, Ryal played 34 games at first base, 36 games in left field, and also saw time at second and third. Ryal played over in Japan during the 2011 season, before coming back to the Major Leagues in 2012. He had resigned with Arizona, but spent most of the season at their triple-A affiliate before being released.  Ryal is 29 years old, and expected to begin the season at Albuquerque.

Jeremy Moore, is another minor league lifer, signed by the Dodgers today. Moore is a 25 year old outfielder who was originally drafted by the Angels in the 2005 draft, and played in eight major league games with the Halos in 2011. Back in 2011 Moore played in 133 games for the Angels triple-A affiliate Salt Lake Bees of the Pacific Coast League. Moore batted .298 with 15 home runs, and 66 RBI in 460 plate appearances that year. Moore ended up missing the entire 2012 season because of a hip injury. Moore is also one of 13 players invited to the Dodger’s winter development camp this season at Camelback Ranch in Glendale Arizona. The left handed hitting outfielder played in eight games for the Angels in 2011, going 1 for 8 in his short stint. All total, Moore is a career .277 minor league hitter, with a .329 OBP, and 75 home runs.

Jeremy Moore-Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

The rest of the player signings include left handed pitcher Fabio Castro. The 28 year old is best known for being the player to be named late to complete the Matt Stairs trade of 2008. Castro has pitched in 30 major league games for two different teams, (Texas and Phillies). He posted a career 3.30 ERA, 6.6 whiffs per nine, and a 5.4 walks per nine rate in 43.2 innings of work. Castro split time in 2012 between the Midland Rockhounds of the Texas League, and the Sacramento River Cats of the PCL. Both teams are affiliated with the Oakland A’s. Castro hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2007, and is expected to be slotted into the Isotope’s starting rotation.

Fabio Castro-Andrew B. Fielding-USA TODAY Sports

The last two players include 28 year old lefty Wilmin Rodriguez, who pitched 62 innings for triple-A Fresno in the Giant’s system last year. And finally, 26 year old right handed hitting infielder Omar Luna, who spent the 2012 season playing for the Ray’s Double-A affiliate Montgomery Biscuits, of the Southern League. He hit .315 last year for Montgomery, with a .369 OBP, three home runs, 57 RBI, 19 stolen bases, in 122 games, and 470 plate appearances. Luna has played at three of the four infield positions, (second, third and short), and has seen time in the outfield as well.

I’m assuming these players will all receive invites to spring training. Either way, they all have a jet plane to Albuquerque written all over them. We wish them all the best of luck this year, during their time with the Topes.