2 Dodgers offseason decisions that already look genius, 1 that looks awful

Investing heavily in the back-end of their bullpen is a great strategy for the Dodgers to stick it to their rivals

If that had stood pat this offseason, the Dodgers would've had one of the better bullpens in all of baseball. Blake Treinen has the goods to be a lockdown closer. Michael Kopech, while still recovering from injury, is a deadly setup man. Alex Vesia has proven himself to be one of the league's most lethal lefty relievers. The list goes on and on.

At the same time, relievers can be fickle beasts, and are often the authors of the most volatility in performance year-in and year-out. Injuries can also deplete depth in the blink of an eye. As a result, the Dodgers doubled down by signing the top relief arm on the market in Tanner Scott, then added veteran Kirby Yates for good measure in order to build a super bullpen.

Not only does this bullpen depth insulate them in the case of injuries and poor performances from the starting rotation, but it also sets the team up nicely for a deep October run. That alone makes these additions worthwhile.

Kirby Yates, in particular, has been filthy to start the year. The 38-year-old is averaging an eye-watering 18.41 K/9 through his first eight appearances, which has been the primary driver behind his -0.68 FIP.

Tanner Scott hasn't been quite as dominant as he was last season when he posted a 1.75 ERA over 72 innings pitched, but he's been no slouch either, and has not shown any reason to think he'll be any less dominant as the season progresses.

Moreover, the process of signing elite relievers like these two has put the Dodgers' chief rivals in a difficult spot moving forward. Reliever valuations are hard because, on the one hand, a dominant bullpen is essentially a prerequisite for October success.

However, on the other hand, with the exception of the truly elite, reliever performance tends to be very volatile. On top of that, an elite late-inning reliever can only effectively do his job if the starting rotation and lineup can consistently bring him leads to protect late in games.

Therefore, by setting the market at such a high price point, especially with Tanner Scott'sfour-year $72 million deal, other teams will now be faced with extremely heavy investments required to retain top bullpen talent.

For example, the New York Yankees will be staring down the proposition of exceeding Scott's deal if they want to retain Devin Williams' services beyond this season. As more and more teams then decide they can't pay those rates for relievers, more options will present themselves to the Dodgers, who do have the resources to spend lavishly on the bullpen without thinking twice.

This sort of 4-D chess is a perfect example of how the Dodgers can use their endless funds not only to help in the short term, but then to create other opportunities for themselves down the road. Not every move they make will be a stroke of genius, but with bottomless pockets, even their biggest blunders can be overcome.