Dodgers Reliever Joe Kelly Dealing with Undisclosed Lower Half Injury for Past Week
The Dodgers have been struggling with their bullpen for a solid chunk of the year, but Joe Kelly has been their most consistent reliever over the past few months.
Before his appearance on Saturday night, Kelly had not pitched since September 1 as a six day break. It appears that we now know why:
Dave Roberts said Joe Kelly has been dealing with something physical in his lower half, which is why he hadn’t pitched since last weekend.
— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) September 8, 2019
This is not the most ideal development considering how necessary Joe Kelly’s success is to not just the Dodgers’ bullpen, but the team in general. This could be a huge factor in Kelly’s recent downturn in output, evidenced by his lackluster performance on August 29 when he allowed three earned runs in his inning of work.
Regardless of this development, Kelly is quite possibly the Dodgers’ best and most reliable reliever at the moment. With Kenley Jansen struggling mightily and relief pitchers like Yimi Garcia not holding their weight, a loss of Kelly looms even larger.
On the season, Kelly’s numbers look fairly uninspiring — 4.56 ERA with 57 strikeouts in 47 1/3 innings pitched — but we all know exactly what he has been since May 8. From May 8 through August 28, Kelly held a minuscule 1.69 ERA with 44 strikeouts in 32 innings.
The Dodgers need Joe Kelly more than ever down the stretch and they need him healthy in October. Let’s just hope this undisclosed lower half issue does not loom larger than currently appears. The biggest key is that the Dodgers felt strongly enough about his health to throw him out there on Saturday night, regardless of how his performance turned out: two walks in one inning of work.
He will be okay, folks. At least let’s hope.
Just lose in the first round and get it over with
Odds are a coin flip at this point.
Dodgers are in trouble anyway but if Kelly goes down We won’t need to worry about seeing Dodgers after 3 games with whoever wins the WC game.
Robert’s and the front office will have an early fall season ending in the playoffs, first round, all done ,Dodgers season is over, unless Martin “Dodgers catcher” can work his magic an pitch in relief. What a shame, so frustrating , try him he can’t do any worse than Robert’s or the front office ,the know nothing’s. SAD !
Maybe, just maybe, the Dodgers are forced to bring in all their prospects, and as no one is familiar with them, they bamboozle the opposition. By the time teams figure them out, the WS is over. The other option is, the opposition has figured out the Dodgers analytical formula, like Cora said last year about knowing what the Dodgers next move is, as they (the Dodgers) follow a predictable formula. As we all know by now, the Dodgers moves are as predictable as tomorrow’s weather forecast in mid August: Lots of sunshine with temps in the upper 90’s with low 100’s in the Valleys, 0% precipitation.
Pffft. “Need him down the stretch” ? Dodgers are steam rolling right to the W.S. it will be great to see a well rested Joe Kelly part of a NL title. 3 years running. Dodgers are deep. Joe can rest.