There seems to be some gnashing of teeth about the relief pitchers changes. The Dodgers do not have a lot of relievers who have options, so if one is needed there needs to be a 40 man change if pitchers like Nabil Crismatt and Dinelson Lamet are to be added. Both have had their contracts purchased and then DFA’d: Crismatt after one game and Lamet after three. They have both been outrighted to OKC and are back on the OKC roster, so they have both accepted the outright assignment. BTW, both pitched well in their appearances.
Brusdar Graterol, Blake Treinen, J. P. Feyereisen, Emmet Sheehan/Gavin Stone. These were supposed to be LAD relievers. Graterol, Treinen, Sheehan are all injured as are Nick Frasso and River Ryan. So plans that seemed to be in place at ST are no longer options.
Right now those that are eligible to be brought up from the 40 man:
- P. Feyereisen
- Kyle Hurt
- Landon Knack
- Nick Ramirez
- Ricky Vanasco
- Gus Varland
Like it or not, Hurt and Knack are at OKC to start, so I do not expect either of them to get recalled unless to act as an opener.
But there is another side of the 40 man dilemma. Which pitchers on the 26 man have options remaining.
None of the other 6 relievers have options. I am not a fan of Alex Vesia, but the only other single inning LHRP is Nick Ramirez. Ramirez did not fare well his first time out with OKC. Is he truly better than Vesia?
I know many of us (including me) would prefer Kyle Hurt to Michael Grove, but the Dodgers seem to think the long term play is for Hurt to continue to start. Which of us is more qualified to make those decisions than are AF/BG?
I know the skeptics out there are scratching their heads at the acquisition of Connor Brogdon. I am fairly certain that those skeptics were also skeptics for Evan Phillips and Ryan Brasier. Will Brogdon become another in the line of Phillips and Brasier? Or will he be a bust? I think I am going to wait and let this one play out. He is not someone who will replace Phillips, Hudson, Brasier in high leverage situations. He is not a multi inning option over Ryan Yarbrough. And he is not a LHRP who could replace Alex Vesia. So he is going to join Grove and Kelly in the middle reliever role.
The bullpen will become better once Treinen and Graterol come off the IL. Treinen is eligible at any time, but Graterol is not eligible to return until May 18.
The bullpen has not been a significant positive this year, but most of the relievers have been good, including Crismatt and Lamet. The Dodgers have used 12 relievers. 6 relievers have ERA’s south of 2.00. One is at 2.08 (Lamet). Ryan Yarbrough is at 3.29, relatively acceptable for his role.
Joe Kelly has appeared in 5 games. Three games were outstanding, one was okay, and one was dismal. His last two appearances against SF and Cubs were outstanding. That is probably the best you are going to get from Kelly. Good to very good most of the time, but an occasional stinker. 2024 ERA – 9.64. The ERA will continue to drop.
Michael Grove has not had a clean outing this year, and has been horrid for 3 of his 4 appearances. His YTD ERA – 11.74.
Both Gus Varland and J.P. Feyereisen were beat up in their single appearance. Varland ERA – 13.50 (0.2 IP); Feyereisen ERA – 27.00 (1.0 IP).
I fully expect the current bullpen to change dramatically by August. There will be multiple hits and misses along the way. But come playoffs, it will be a solid bullpen. More importantly, the Dodgers need their starters to go 6.0+ innings in their respective starts, as James Paxton did on Monday. Starts like Miller and Stone had against Chicago do not help the bullpen.
Let’s all remember what the bullpen was like up to mid-June in 2023. Things got ironed out and the bullpen was the best in MLB after mid-June. Maybe it will not be Connor Brogdon. Maybe it will be someone at OKC. Maybe it will be someone in another organization. But they will find a quality eight.
Yeah, it would be great if the starters could go 6+ but I don’t see it. Not yet anyway. Maybe as the season warms up we will see it out of a couple of them. I would look for some relievers who can go 2 innings. Hurt and Knack come to mind.
Betts hitting .217 in the last 6. Ohtani has picked it up. He must have been given some good news from his lawyers. It would be helpful if the bottom of the order would contribute.
The home plate umpire yesterday, John Tumpane, must have had it in for Mookie Betts. He called three pitches strikes that were so far out of the zone, that Mookie had to swing at a pitch four inches outside because that was where Tumpane’s Strike zone was. Mookie finally managed to get a hit on another outside pitch. Umpiring this season so fat has been atrocious. Angel Hernandez caused more controversy yesterday with some very questionable calls. He is by far the worst ump in the major leagues and he should be fired.
Can’t wait for the Connor Brogdon Era to begin!
But seriously, it does seem that the Dodgers breathe new life into some pitcher’s career every season. Sometimes two. Brogdon has had a solid career, not unlike Brasier. So maybe it’ll be Brogdon this time.
Lamet pitched 3 times, not twice, with a .92 WHIP in 4.1 innings, and a 2.08 ERA. Small sample, of course. But given Lamet’s previous success, I think the Dodgers might give him extra attention.
The Dodgers have so much pitching depth, and the bullpen ain’t perfect.
How about Miguel Vargas + Grove for Tanner Scott + ???
Something like that, anyway.
Great post!
There’s a great post on X by Chad Moriyama showing all the horrible strike calls on Mookie. It’s not just one umpire; it’s several; and most of the calls aren’t even close to strikes. Whether it will do any good or not AF needs to lodge a formal complaint and include this video, because something is going on.
Trevor Story is out for the year (yes again). Gavin Lux could use a change of environment. Boston does have some intriguing prospects, a couple of which Boston is not about to part with. I would love to see what it would take to get Roman Anthony, but that ain’t happening.
Possibly???…Gavin Lux and Landon Knack for:
20 year old RH hitting CF – Miguel Bleis – Full Season A
18 year old RH hitting SS – Nazzan Zanetello – Full Season A
22 year old RHP – Wikelman Gonzalez – AA
Trade Simulator – Dodgers 26.0; Red Sox 23.2
Jeff, you mention above that you think the long term plan for Hurt is to use him as a starter. I’d really much rather they groom him to be a closer and I think his stuff lends itself more to that outcome.
Future (2025 and beyond) starters for us include: Glasnow, YY, Shohei, Miller, Stone
Add the following possibilities: Sasaki, Buehler, Kershaw, Ryan, Frasso, Knack, Sheehan, Gonsolin, May
On the other hand, the following bullpen guys will probably be gone by next year or shortly thereafter: Treinen, Kelly, Grove, Brogdon and possibly Brasier and Hudson.
Seems to me that our future needs are much greater in the bullpen than for starters.
Not to take anything away from Outman’s effort, but Buxton makes that play. As long as the Dodgers win, it really doesn’t matter that Outman cannot match the best CF in MLB.
KKKT3. Taylor is a mess.
I’m guessing this Brogdan guy won’t be on the team tomorrow
This team strikes out too much. 14 SO in 35 AB. 40%. What has this game come to?
Nice win, Glasnow was nails. Outman looks like he is finding his stroke. Oppo homer from Smith, all around good game. Brogdon got over his deer in the headlights look pretty quickly.