Editorials

Dodgers Had Talks For Craig Kimbrel, Could Not Find Match

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The Los Angeles Dodgers saw a division opponent acquire one of the more dominant closers in recent years on Sunday when the San Diego Padres traded for Craig Kimbrel.



While the Dodgers have a closer that can be as dominant in Kenley Jansen, he is likely to miss at least the first month of the year after surgery on his foot. Instead of panicking and making a deal, the front office decided to go with what they already had and could use a closer-by-committee until Jansen returns. However, the Dodgers did try to make a move for the All-Star right-hander.

According to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports, the Dodgers tried to make a move for Kimbrel:

The Dodgers held on to their prospects this winter and traded players that made an impact in 2014. Matt Kemp, Dee Gordon, Dan Haren and others were traded, while prospects Joc Pederson, Corey Seager and Julio Urias remain with the organization.

It’s unknown what the Braves were asking for in exchange for Kimbrel, but whatever it was, the Dodgers weren’t willing to make the move. The Padres traded two of their extra outfielders and two prospects for Kimbrel. Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi opted to stick with their young relievers on the roster in addition to bringing in relievers with low risk.

With the season starting tomorrow, the Dodgers have set their roster and will start the year with a bullpen of J.P. Howell, Joel Peralta, Paco Rodriguez, Yimi Garcia, Pedro Baez, Juan Nicasio and Chris Hatcher.

Dodgers 2015 Spring Training – Paco Rodriguez

Vincent Samperio

Vince is currently the Associate Editor and Social Media Manager for Dodgers Nation. Hailing from San Pedro, CA and a student at Cal State Long Beach, Vince has previously written for the Daily 49er and LASF Magazine.

13 Comments

  1. Wow I would rate the Padres the favorite in the NL West. Their pitching staff is as good or better than ours and they now have a great closer. They have a really good manager in Black. And the Dodgers let the Padres have Shields and now Kimbrel stupid.

      1. The Dodgers basically have the same kind of bullpen thay had last year ,only cheaper. The Stat-O-Matic masters in the front office did nothing to bolster the depth of their pitching staff in any way shape or form. I rate Howell, Peralta,Nicasio, And Hatcher as big liabilities going into the season, not assets. With all the Ex-Halos the Dodgers have aborbed in recent years.I think it’s the Dodgers who are turning into Angel’s Fans !

        1. Howell is an asset. He had some bad showings in the playoffs, but that can’t take away what he has done the past 2 seasons. That is, unless you are going to discredit another Dodgers’ pitcher who has been the best in baseball, but just hasn’t quite been able to close it out in the playoffs.

        2. Hatcher had a 3-ish ERA last year with an excellent 5 to 1 K to BB ratio. Shut out the Padres very nicely today. 🙂 Peralta and Nicasio, we’ll see. Wait, Peralta pitched well, too, and got the W. Good to see. Howell definitely a concern for me, but hopefully he’ll be decent and at least give us a low 3 ERA.

          That said, we’ll definitely give more innings to whoever is doing well, (Yimi Garcia and Paco Rodriguez maybe?) Don’t see how that is similar to Brian Wilson, Chris Perez, and Paul Maholm. Realize that under this new regime, anyone that pitches like those 3 Stooges for too long will get cut instantly. Thank goodness this isn’t last year.

      2. Please don’t tell people they can’t make comments, because you don’t agree with their comments! This is a place where people have a right to express their own views! Just because someone is critiquing the Dodger, does not mean their not Dodger fans! Even though I have some doubts, I guess all of us Dodger fans need to be a little more patient, this is only two games into the season!

      3. Wow.
        Why can’t you just accept the fact that there are other opinions to yours? Anytime a person so much as critiques the Dodgers, the Dodger violence rears its head. Apparently, the violence hasn’t left Dodger Blue. Easy vato.

    1. They had Houston Street last year and still didn’t win zip. This day and age, everyone already has a closer. You need good defense and good bullpen depth to win. Padres lack both.

      1. Alex I hope you are right. I would still rather have Shields than McCarthy. But I am hoping McCarthy proves me wrong. I am not impressed so far with the Dodger Front Office as we essentially traded Kemp for Grandal and I think Kemp has about 3-4 really good years left and is a truly gifted hitter. Grandal as far as I can tell is not a gifted anything. Grandal has warning track power when he is not hitting into DP’s or striking out and cannot stop a ball in the dirt on his left. He cannot even catch a ball diving low to his left he has very poor mechanics. He also seems rather full of himself in interviews so we shall see. From reports I have read since the trade the news out of SD is that none of the pitching staff really liked him and most of them preferred a different catcher because of his poor ability to block the ball and that is what we got for Kemp.

        1. Understandable, but remember we also got Jimmy Rollins with the Kemp trade, and it has paid off for today’s win.

          We’ve been over the Kemp/Grandal debacle, and I feel it’s just beating a dead horse now, but I will always point to these: 1) Too many outfielders, and no one wants Crawford/Ethier. 2) A catcher’s shelf life is until age 34 before they drop off significantly in production. Ellis is 34. 🙁 3) Kemp plays bad defense; did he not bobble a play today (that didn’t count as an error)? And did you not see Pederson’s spectacular catch? 4) Grandal can still hit (15 homers at home run-supressing Petco Park) and his fielding should be better now that he is NOT injured anymore.

          1. Yes you are right it is Pederson’s time to make it or not. He looks to be more than ready. I simply do not like the what we got for Kemp and you are right it is time to let it go cause it is done. I really hope Grandal gets better and that the Front Office gets better at trading really good people for value. B the way I love what we got fro Gordon with Barnes and Hernandez. And we did get the kid pitcher from San Diego is it Joe Wieland? He looks like he may amount to something. How could they have been so wrong on Grandal? Maybe he will actually be not horrible. Anyway Great professional 8 pitch at bat by Rollins even starting out 0-2 and toughing it out to get a ball to hit out. The Dodgers all last year had one come back they have now tied that in the first game this year. Love their defense.

  2. I’m fine not giving Shields the big money, but Kimbrel is as good as it gets. With our outfield depth I can’t imagine we couldn’t have gotten him, then when Kenley was healthy trade him and some other mid tier prospects for a descent starter with no injury history. Anderson’s last start proves he has a way to go to he considered a sure thing.

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