Destiny's Dodgers?
Andrew Friedman said he was not going to be forced to make trades at the deadline because it results in dope-fiend moves that frequently don’t give excellent results. SD gutted their farm, and they have not really flourished. What is happening with the Dodgers’ bullpen would be…
Andrew Friedman said he was not going to be forced to make trades at the deadline because it results in dope-fiend moves that frequently don’t give excellent results. SD gutted their farm, and they have not really flourished. What is happening with the Dodgers’ bullpen would be funny if it weren’t so pathetic. I disagree with Duke that AF should have gutted the farm for more closers. How many is the right number? Three, Seven?
The Dodgers had Treinen, Scott, Kopech, Yates, and Vesia. Only Vesia has been reliable. Dreyer has been reliable, but may be getting fatigued. Banda is worthy, and they will find out about Sasaki today. If he is healthy, he could be a HUGE difference maker out of the bullpen. There is no room for him as a starter, but there could be as a closer. Sounds crazy, right? There are also Wrobleski, Casparius, and maybe Kyle Hurt. Will Klein could be incredible… if he can get near the strike zone. Edgardo Henriquez may be in over his head right now. Michael Kopech? Will he be back? Who knows? If healthy, Brock Stewart is solid.
What do you do? Leave Yates, Treinen, and Scott off the playoff roster? That’s a consideration, but then you have to consider what happened to Josh Sborz in the 2023 playoffs – he had a 5.50 ERA during the season and almost 15.00 ERA in September. Then he had a 0.75 ERA in the playoffs.
Remember this: Relievers are fickle. They can look like world beaters one day and cannon fodder the next. I don’t think it should have ever been a consideration to trade for more relievers at the deadline. Somebody has to step up – The Dodgers are in much better shape than in the 2025 playoffs. The staff is loaded – they just have to pitch like it.
For starters, you have Ohtani, Snell, and Yamamoto… maybe even Glasnow (if he doesn’t have his control, you yank him quickly. Then, you have Sheehan and Kershaw as bulk guys who can pitch 3-5 innings.
Mason Miller would have been nice, but the Dodgers did not have the package to get him and he has demanded that he be a starter next season.
There comes a time when you have to say, “We have enough players – they have to produce.” I don’t know what the Dodgers will do, but here’s what I would do:
I would tell the team that it makes no difference what your baseball card says. We are taking pitchers who can pitch to the playoffs. Treinen, Yates, and Scott would be left off the roster. We cannot trust you any longer. That tactic has a downside as well. It’s what I would do, but maybe not what the Dodgers will do.
Yamamoto, Snell, and Ohtani would be the starters, with Kershaw, Glasnow, and Sheehan being the bulk relievers. That’s a whole lot better than last year. What it boils down to is: “Are these Destiny’s Dodgers?“
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Discussion (85)
Disagree, not disagreeable
“Dodgers right-hander Roki Sasaki is set to rejoin the team on Wednesday. He’s expected to be activated from the 60-day IL after missing more than four months with a shoulder impingement. Sasaki will work out of the bullpen, manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including Sonja Chen of MLB.com). Los Angeles already has an open 40-man roster spot after waiving Chuckie Robinson over the weekend, so they’ll only need to make an active roster move”.
most of us are still enjoying the spoils of last season! the comeback against the team that isn’t afraid of the dodgers. the complete beat down of the hated yankees! Probably not every person on this site watches baseball 24-7! i’m watching paul skeenes and hunter green go at it tonight! i’m checking in on the tigers and cleveland also. would i watch the twins play say, the rockies? probably not. would rather watch gunsmoke! We all love the dodgers and want them to win! It may not happen this year, but don’t bet against them!
Performance is on the player period. Not Doc’s or AF’s problem. I have seen some call for LA to just release Scott and eat his contract. Never going to happen, at least not in the first year of his deal.
Come playoff time the idea of using Kershaw, Sheehan or maybe even Glasnow as bulk relievers is a no brainer. Still to be determined is whether the Dodgers will be in a one game wild card situation or a best 2 out of 3 as division winners. If they survive as the playoffs continue there will no doubt be challenges where matchups factor into Robert’s decision making regarding who is brought in from the bullpen beyond the bulk relievers. Who to trust? Who in fact will be in the bullpen and who will be left off the roster? Ah, the suspense of it all… Will some of us resort to self medicating with junk food and adult soda pop as the drama unfolds? Diggin’ the post season! GO DODGERS!!!
Bottom Line:
Pitchers gotta Pitch!
Hitters gotta Hit!
I don’t blame AF for Scott’s failure. nor do i blame him for yates’s failures. Trienan is a victim of injuries and age. kopech likewise with injuries. henriquez? potential but not ready for prime time. Vesia is not the same as before the il stint. Banda is good for the most part but not 8th or ninth material. Dryer is good. i believe doc should have stuck with him last night, he chose not to and got out chessed in a game of chess with Lovello. the dodgers should not have the worst bullpen in baseball period! maybe in the playoffs they won’t. now i’m afraid they might fall behind the padres and have to go to chicago for 3 games. not saying they can or can’t best the cubs in wrigley. but it would be a lot easier with 3 at home. The starters are the best in baseball right now. the bullpen is the worst. something has to give! …. what a pleasure to watch the Detroit Tigers collapse! AJ Hinch has earned this remarkable streak of bad baseball! He’s been looking for “SIGNS “. to help stop the losing, but his lucky can isn’t in detroit. he must have left it in houston!
Agreed about the Sborz situation – but, I hate the idea of hoping to catch lighting in a bottle again.
BUT, we may have no other options:)
You keep citing the Josh Sborz example. Do you have others? The mostly likely thing is that Scott, Yates, Treinen et al will keep pitching the same way they have been pitching.
Maybe Doc should quit bashing his head against the wall putting Scott in super high leverage situations. He clearly is cooked for this and is not going to recover this season. 10 BS is enough to show this. Use him in the 6th or 7th only and see if he pitches better. The runway is about to come to an end and Doc is going to have to pull up. If the plan is to use somebody else as a closer in the playoffs, I think they should get 1 or 2 looks in these situations first.
For now, everybody including Scott needs to forget about the size of his contract and do what’s best for the Ball Club to win ball games.
our starting pitchers need to go 7 innings The money they are being paid I can’t see why not This is the reason the bullpen is so tired Roberts cannot be blamed for what Tanner Scott did and has done all season for the Dodgers This is all on Friedman You’ll talk about getting rid of Roberts I don’t think Roberts is the problem we should start looking at Friedman and what he has brought to the Dodgers
My closer is Benny C.
Why is he not in LA????
No matter what, it will be exciting and looking forward to playoffs
Agreed – it is past comical on how bad the pen is.
Hollywood would have a hard time writing a script to match the Dodger’s bullpen exploits this year, or if some body did they would be laughed out of the building – being told how stupid and nonsensical the script was.
Previous posts that I could concur with noted that Robert’s keep putting TS into position to get him ready and gain confidence – WELL we are way past that time now.
He hasn’t earned it and the other teams don’t fear him! He is liability now and shouldn’t pitch in the late innings.
If anything he gives the other teams hope!
Yates definitely should not be on the roster – between Treinen and Scott I would go with Treinen as it seems he is closer to figuring it out than Scott.