Dodgers Must Switch to Decaf, Todd Coffey Out for Season

Looks like Dodger fans will have to get their Coffey fix elsewhere. The Dodgers’ middle reliever Todd Coffey has been placed on the 15-day DL, and he will need to undergo season ending surgery on his right elbow. Rookie Shawn Tolleson was called up to replace him in the bullpen.

The Dodgers signed the nine year MLB veteran right-handed middle reliever to a one-year $1.3 million dollar contract with a team option year for 2013 during the offseason. Coffey originally from Shelby, North Carolina, and 31-years old, has pitched for the Reds, Brewers, and Nationals before signing with the Dodgers.

The big man, has a whole lot of Coffey to offer, after all, he is  a big cup of Coffey people. Todd is listed as 6’4″ and 240 pounds, but easily looks like he is somewhere around 275. Famous for his sprints from the bullpen, Coffey got off to a terrible start to the season. Pitching on a bad knee, he was disabled early after several lousy outings. Once he returned, he was very effective for a long stretch of the season. From May 15 to the other night (July 2), Coffey only allowed runs in two outings, not counting his last outing, which he was bad because of injury, he had only allowed a run in one outing since May 15. That is a stretch of about 15 innings, with only 8 hits, four earned runs (two were on July 2), six walks, and 14 whiffs. That’s very effective.

After a rough outing the other night, the Dodger’s medical staff had Coffey evaluated after the game, and discovered that he will need major surgery to repair his injured right elbow. Unfortunately the hands of Baseball fate reigned down upon poor Todd.

Overall his numbers may not look great, but that is only because he had some really bad outings early in the season that ballooned his ERA. Coffey was 1-0 with a 4.66 ERA in 23 games and 19 innings pitched. He whiffed 18, walked nine, and allowed only one home run. His whiff per nine rate was 8.4, which is pretty good. Overall, he only allowed 17 hits and 10 earned runs. So the fact that he allowed less hits and earned runs than innings pitched, after his terrible start, is very impressive.

We don’t know what Coffey’s Dodger future holds, or if he will ever be back wearing Dodger Blue again, but if he is not, let’s remember that he wasn’t bad and was actually quite effective over a very long stretch of games. It Looks like the Coffey pot is on permanent percolate.

If we never see Todd Coffey again, let’s tip our caps, and say thanks to the big guy for turning his season around. We’ll miss his animated sprints from the bullpen. Thank you Todd! We wish you a speedy recovery, and hope to see you sprinting out of the bullpen again soon. The Coffey did indeed go down smooth.