Dodgers Have No Top-10 Bullpen Arms, Per ESPN
The Dodgers have yet to set a concrete bullpen for the 2020 season, but it appears that it will be better than past years in terms of both depth and talent. Young arms like Tony Gonsolin and Josiah Gray could play big roles down the stretch and the signing of Blake Treinen only bolsters an already decent bullpen.
Ranking the Top 10 relief pitchers in MLB: Lights out in 2019, no guarantees in 2020 https://t.co/BwFLQUtr0m
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) January 3, 2020
In a recent column for ESPN, Buster Olney lists the top ten bullpen arms in the league. Amongst those named are Josh Hader, Aroldis Chapman, and Kirby Yates.
None of them are members of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Closer Kenley Jansen has been on the decline in recent years, but is a top-ten reliever when he is on — he is just off more than on. However, it would not be surprising to see Jansen have a solid season in 2020 based on a variety of peripherals. He is still limiting hard contact, but his cutter certainly is not cutting like it used to.
[adace-ad id=”117991″]Blake Treinen was inarguably one of the best two relievers in the league in 2018 and could return to form with a few tweaks in 2020. As previously mentioned, the Dodgers could also be in line to receive some major contributions from their youngest arms to potentially be top impact pieces out of the bullpen. Joe Kelly also showed signs of being elite last season.
While the Dodgers do not have a lot of bonafide top-end talent in their bullpen, they have a lot of solid pieces. In 2019, they had one of the strongest bullpens in the league in terms of run prevention and it could be more of the same with the addition of Treinen.
NEXT: A Glance at the Current Bullpen
It’s true. We’re rolling out the same team with the same weaknesses and yeah yeah yeah we know 106 wins, good maybe they’ll do that again or maybe not it doesn’t matter because the postseason result will be similar. Maybe they’ll get lucky and get to face a newbie team in the first round like in 17 and 18 but beyond that…
Don, beyond that Roberts has already said he would make those exact same pitching decisions that cost the Dodgers the 2019 NLDS…
Makes you wonder if sports are like the WWE because I find it hard to believe anyone is that insane
The dodgers dont have to do much to win the division, witch is what these aquisition’s signify. There is no competing with the yankees next year i honestly think this organization is just stepping aside to let them win next year to have a better chance in 2021. A real baseball fan can see this a mile away. Love Baseball… Dodgers?
Hey Boss, right now the Nat’s are going to win it again! The Yanks will be excellent as will the Astros! The Braves and Cards as well! This Dodgers team can’t match up with any of them as currently structured. I agree that the Dodgers are always stepping aside with Friedman. This FO has made it clear they are not trying to win the World series! They are very involved in player development and introducing their farm players to the majors though, top 5
Oh, oh. Dodgers PR Dept. won’t be happy with ESPN!
Waiting for Patient Zero and SoCalbums spin job
Wake up Dodger fans they will never win a championship as long as Roberts and Friedman are around. Also they need owners who care.
This organization is very suspicious I feel like they throw series. There’s no way Roberts is really this stupid in the playoffs i don’t believe he’s insane enough to make the same mistake twice with Hill or actually use the Kershaw/Kelly combo when he wasn’t that desperate, he had the entire bullpen to cover just 2 innings after Buehler went 7. The Nats actually had to use starters out of the pen because their bullpen was that bad it made no sense for the Dodgers to copy that in that situation
The Dodgers Bullpen lacks a top 10 closer, setup pitchers and middle relievers. The bullpen is our major weakness. With improvements we can move up to the top 10.
The Bullpen, Catcher, Lack of 300 hitters, no lead off hitter,starting pitching and especially manager. Too many holes to match up with several teams in Oct.