Should the Dodgers Trade for Josh Hader? And is He Still Elite?
The Milwaukee Brewers have made reliever Josh Hader available in trade talks and have let it be known that he could be had at the right price. We discuss whether Josh Hader is still among the game’s elite relief pitchers and whether the Dodgers should pursue a trade for the two-time all-star.
Plus, the best Dodgers fan tweets on the possibility of Josh Hader joining the Boys in Blue!
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Understandably, Josh Hader elicits some hot takes from folks on social media, so we asked on Twitter how Dodger fans would feel about the former All-Star in blue.
…Hader*
— Dodgers Nation (@DodgersNation) November 20, 2020
Now, this is a family show, so we won’t dig into the comments too much here, but feel free to peruse at your own discretion.
Final thought here, with several key bullpen free agents, and Kenley Jansen entering the final year of his contract, it may be time to start the hunt for the next lockdown reliever to join Brusdar Graterol and the future of the Dodger ‘pen.
What are your thoughts? Drop them in the comments below (but please be cordial)!
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Join your DNpostgame host Doug McKain while we break down all the latest with your LA Dodgers. We use our 800,000 fans from Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook to gain insight into what the fans are thinking and do our best to represent all perspectives in the Dodgers Community.
For every long time star like Hoffman or Rivera there are dozens of flaming meteors like Gagne who go from hero to zero almost instantaneously. We have been lucky that Janzen’s run was as long as it was. You can’t give up much for Hader because we have no idea which camp he is in.
Hader didn’t have a really good 2020 season. But neither did Bellinger, Muncy, Yelich, Arenado, Rendon, Bryant and a bunch of other guys. One area that is always shuffled during the off-season is the bullpen simply because there a lot of guys in it. The Dodgers have a strong bullpen. But there are guys like Treinen and Baez that are FA’s. There are guys in the minors that need some opportunities in a 162 game season who didn’t get them in last year’s 60 game season. I like the idea of grooming Graterol for the closer role. He’s a big, intimidating, hard throwing stud. But would you consider Hader at the right price, including what you give up to get him? Absolutely. He still has that deceptive arm angle and release. He’s young. If we keep our FA releivers, then we don’t need to reload. If we lose one or two, we need to reload. Everyone wanted Hader last off-season. Now suddenly he’s too iffy because he had an off year like so many others? Jansen is toast. Treinen may walk. Even a fully developed Graterol would need a set up guy, or be setting up for another closer. I would like to see the Dodgers work toward a more effective one two punch to close out 7 inning starts. Hader is definitely worth considering.
Hader would be a great addition to bullpen. Dodgers have Graterol, Jansen (for one year), hoepfully Treinen, and Joe Kelly as right-handers and with Kolarek and Victor Gonzales on the left side, so Hader would be nice add. If not Hader, I like the article that stated Rich Hill would be a great pickup if he knew he woudln’t be a starter.
Some bullpen spots open up in 2021 as I don’t think Dodgers re-sign McGee, Wood, or Baez.
Baez turned down a 2-year extension last year and may find there are no three-year offers. So he might be back if he doesn’t wait too long. Harder would be upgrading to LHR.
If the Dodgers do not resign Treinen, Baez, Alex Wood, & Jake McGee then yeah adding Josh Hader is a good thing.
Does anyone know when we can expect Craig Ferguson to be back?
As others have said, at the right price Hader may be a good idea. He’s been there, done that and performed in those high leverage situations. For me, almost all players get a hall pass for 2020 because of how wacky a season it was.
I’m not giving up on Jansen. He looked really good in Spring Training 1.0, but then came down with Covid-19. We all want to think “that was months ago” but we really don’t know enough about the long-term effects of the virus. Yeah, you may recover to go about your normal daily life but expecting to perform as a professional athlete at the top of their game after a few weeks may be a different story.
Let’s see how Jansen looks in February when camp opens, but at the right price adding Hader might be a good move. But he’s not the only target, right? What about Liam Hendriks as a FA and not giving up prospects?