Dodgers News: External Bullpen Options May Be Limited
Kenley Jansen will be closing games for the Dodgers for at least the next three seasons. The rest of the bullpen is a work in progress.
After spending big on Jansen, Los Angeles isn’t investing in another premium reliever, as per Ken Rosenthal.
Sources: #Dodgers, if they sign another reliever, will not go beyond one year. Could take them out of Holland market if he wants multi-year.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 12, 2016
The Dodgers already exceeded the anticipated spending limit. Committing more dollars and years to the bullpen simply isn’t a smart play. L.A. has numerous average mid-relief pitchers, so unless it was for an upper-tier setup man, it wouldn’t make sense to spend anymore on the bullpen.
Rosenthal notes the hesitation could cost the Dodgers Greg Holland. Holland would be a solid addition, but he made more sense as a Jansen replacement. There are enough teams in need of closers, such as the Washington Nationals, who could offer Holland that opportunity. A healthy Holland, while an upgrade, is essentially a luxury to the Dodgers at this time.
As Dodgers Nation explained previously, Holland could take a one-year contract heavy on incentives. In that case, the Dodgers would benefit, while Holland can rebuild his value at Chavez Ravine. Regardless of the years he wants, if Holland wants the chance to close, the Dodgers aren’t a destination anyway.
The Dodgers are determined to add a right-handed second baseman
The Dodgers have plenty of bullpen arms, behind Jansen. Baez, Garcia, Dayton, Avilan, Liberatorre, Fields, Hatcher, Frias, etc. plus the excess starters currently on the roster. If they can add via trade, fine, but I’m not sure the free agents are any better than these guys.
All the surplus, injury-prone starters, ie, Alex Wood, Brandon McCarthy, Hyun-Jin Ryu (as well as JDL in his first MLB season) should all be tried out in middle relief and as setup/high leverage situation. Alex Wood especially has the potential to be similarly effective as Andrew Miller. All those with 2+ options left, ie, Liberatore, Baez, Stewart, Stripling should all start the season at OKC as insurance against midseason injuries and fatigue.
Dodgers have enough journeymen and backups to field another 25-man roster, so no more taking on middle relief salaries. And why not give Chris Taylor a try at second base? That’s how Justin Turner blossomed after floundering in the minors. Austin Barnes could provide backup which leaves Micah Johnson as the odd man out. As LH hitter who stock has diminished in recent years, his future seems to be in the OF but again the Dodgers have a surplus of LH outfielders.
There’s a point where stock-piling serviceable talent, eg., Avilan, Nuno, Ruf, Hernandez, Fields, Hatcher, Liberatore, Johnson, becomes counter-productive. Any reliever willing to sign a 1-yr deal at this point would just add to that backlog.
I ageee with most of this, but they need to fix the poor hitting against lefties and the best solution is to fix this is by filling the hole at 2B with a strong RH hitting guy, preferably with power. Looking forward to seeing how the front office will do this. I think the bullpen will be good enough, especially with scoring more runs by the offense. Counting on Puig being better, Peterson continuing to improve, Ethier being healthy and producing. Of course if Toles is really a .300 hitter and with his speed, he should probably win LF and lead off. Similar production as this year from Seager, Gonzo, Turner and Grandall plus a productive bat at 2B should yield more runs.