Former Dodgers Pitcher, Released by MLB's Worst Team, Goes Back To NL West Rival

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Two weeks after he was released by the worst team in baseball, Scott Alexander is headed for greener pastures.
The former Dodgers pitcher agreed to a minor league deal with the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday. It's a full-circle moment for Alexander, who pitched for the Giants from 2022-23, two years after helping the Dodgers win the World Series.
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Alexander, 35, had a 6.06 ERA in 19 appearances out of the bullpen for the Colorado Rockies when he was released May 26. At 12-54, the Rockies are on pace for a 133-loss season, easily a record for the worst season in major league history.
Now that he's been granted a ticket out of Denver, Alexander returns to his native Northern California on a minor league contract, with a hope of extending a major league career that began in 2015 with the Kansas City Royals.
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Alexander was drafted by Kansas City out of Sonoma State in the sixth round of the 2010 MLB draft. He debuted with the Royals five years later and fashioned a solid 2.78 ERA out of the bullpen from 2015-17, totaling 79 regular season appearances.
Although he was eligible to receive a ring from the eventual 2015 World Series champions, Alexander did not log any postseason innings until a January 2018 trade brought him to Los Angeles. Alexander was part of a three-team, six-player trade that also involved the Chicago White Sox.
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With the Dodgers, Alexander quickly became one of Dave Roberts' most trusted left-handed relief options. He logged 66 innings in 73 appearances in 2018, two years before MLB instituted its three-batter minimum rule.
In the 2018 playoffs, Alexander made another four appearances, allowing single runs in two of the three games he pitched in the World Series against the Boston Red Sox.
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The 2019 season saw Alexander limited to 28 games due to injuries, but he posted an almost identical 3.63 ERA compared to the year before (3.68).
No longer strictly able to face left-handed batters, Alexander made 13 appearances during the 2020 regular season. He went 2-0 with a 2.92 ERA but did not appear in the postseason during the Dodgers' World Series run.
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In 2021, Alexander was again limited by shoulder injuries, but went 0-2 with a 2.93 ERA when healthy. A free agent after the season, Alexander signed with the San Francisco Giants for the first time in May 2022.
Over the next three seasons, Alexander was healthy enough to make 117 appearances (including 12 appearances as an opener) and effective enough to post a 3.28 ERA in 104.1 innings.
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That run of success ended in 2025. Alexander was 1-1 with a 6.06 ERA in 19 games before the Rockies released him, with more walks (seven) than strikeouts (six) in 16.1 innings.
Now, he'll look to keep his career going — and possibly play in meaningful games against the Dodgers for the first time in a while.
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J.P. Hoornstra is an On SI Contributor. A veteran of 20 years of sports coverage for daily newspapers in California, J.P. covered MLB, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Los Angeles Angels (occasionally of Anaheim) from 2012-23 for the Southern California News Group. His first book, The 50 Greatest Dodgers Games of All-Time, published in 2015. In 2016, he won an Associated Press Sports Editors award for breaking news coverage. He once recorded a keyboard solo on the same album as two of the original Doors.
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