Dodgers: Addressing How the New Pitchers Fit with the Dodgers

Tony Watson, LHP

Heading into the MLB Trade Deadline at 73-31, the Dodgers didn’t have many holes on their roster. Yet still, that didn’t stop the front office from scavenging through other team’s roster to find potential upgrades for the club.

One of the biggest needs the Dodgers determined was the need for a left-handed reliever. In a National League that is massively dominant by left-handed power hitters like Bryce Harper, Daniel Murphy, Charlie Blackmon, Jacke Lamb and Anthony Rizzo; the need for a dominant lefty out of the bullpen was evident for the club.

The Dodgers’ bullpen has dominated the season despite only one major left-hander in the bullpen, Luis Avilan. Avilan has had some help with Grant Dayton appearing in 29 games this season, but Dayton has struggled with injuries this season and quite frankly hasn’t been that effective when healthy.

Fast forward to the July 31st deadline the front office was working diligently to get that left-handed reliever. The Dodgers were linked to the top left-handed relievers on the market like Zach Britton and Brad Hand. Neither player was dealt, and that shifted Friedman’s focus to the Pirates’ Tony Watson.

The Dodgers traded infielder Oneil Cruz and Angel German to the Pirates for Tony Watson. Oneil Cruz was the Dodgers 21st ranked prospect according to MLB Pipeline’s rankings and German failed to crack the Dodgers top prospect list.

Watson, on the other hand, is a 32-year-old veteran that is having a down season by his standards. Watson has a 3.66 ERA in 46 2/3 innings this season. He has a pedestrian 6.8 K/9 and 2.77 BB/9. Watson served as the Pirates closer earlier this season, so he has some experience in high pressured situations.

When you look at Watson’s splits this season they certainly leave a lot to be desired. This season Watson has allowed a .303/.352/.348 slash rate to left-handers with only 13 strikeouts in 66 at-bats. That isn’t the type of production the Dodgers are looking for.

But when you dive deeper into the statistics you notice that there have only been three extra base hits off him, and he’s only allowed four runs to score off left-handed hitters. On an even more positive note, when you look at Watson’s career splits against left-handers you see more numbers that drew Friedman to him. In Watson’s career, he’s holding lefties to a .222/.276/.292 slash rate and has 21.9 strikeout rate with a dominant .36 HR/9.

Another reason why Andrew Friedman looked to acquire Watson was how successful he’s been pitching against those dominant left-handers mentioned earlier. Watson has held Harper (0-6), Murphy (2-5), Blackmon (0-3), Lamb (1-4) and Rizzo (4-20) on check. That’s a collective 5-27, which translates to a .185 batting average.

Tony Watson might not have been the sexiest name Friedman and Zaidi could have acquired to help Jansen and Baez at the back end of the bullpen. But Friedman and Zaidi did their homework and got an arm that could assist them in the postseason for only one their top 25 prospects.

Grade: B+: Simply because they missed out on Zach Britton and Brad Hand who just was named July relief pitcher of the month. But Watson provides some experience in high-pressure situations and has faced the best lefties in the NL. 

Tony Cingrani, LHP 

Tony Cingrani is your prototypical hard throwing left-hander that has immense upside. The former starter converted to reliever has struggled to live up to expectations out in Cincinnati and looks to benefit from a change of scenery.

Cingrani is only 28-years-old and brings a live arm that accumulates a lot of strikeouts. On the season, Cingrani has no record with a 5.40 ERA in 23 1/3 innings pitched. Cingrani owns a 9.26 K/9 ratio which translates to a 24.2 strikeout percent. Cingrani is averaging 94.6 mph on his fastballs, which he throws 88% of the time and works in a changeup and slider to put batters away.

However, like Watson, Cingrani is having a rough season getting left-handed hitters out, allowing a .293/.326/.829 slash rate. Naturally, the eye-popping numbers are the .829 slugging percentage against lefties, and that is because he’s allowed six home runs to the 43 left-handers he’s faced. He’s allowing a 70% fly ball rate to lefties, which tends to inflate the home run total.

Those numbers are obviously concerning but when you look at his six-year career sample size you can expect some positive regression. Despite the horrid numbers this season, Cingrani still post a solid left-handed slash rate of .218/.305/.407. The home run numbers are still concerning, but that has to do with his hard-throwing ability and the fact that half of his home runs allowed have come this season.

To get Cingrani, the Dodgers had to part ways with veteran Scott Van Slyke and catcher Heanndrik Clementina. Van Slyke has been the odd man out of the Dodgers major league club for about four seasons now, and he really deserves a team that could offer him more consistent playing time. Clementina is a catcher with decent upside that is having a great season at rookie ball. Considering the Dodgers have Grandal, Barnes and Will Smith on the rise, parting ways with Clementina was not a deal breaker.

Trade Grade B:, Cingrani brings a lot of upside with powerful stuff and at an affordable cost. Friedman has made his living reviving players like Cingrani. When you pair that with Rick Honeycutt the Dodgers could potentially have a gem in Cingrani if he adjusts his mechanics to hide the ball better. 

Yu Darvish, RHP 

Surprise surprise the Dodgers made a block buster move for the BIG fish. The Dodgers were able to pull off a last minute buzzer beater to make a deal to bring Darvish to LA shifting the power of balance in the MLB in the Dodgers favor.

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After weeks of speculation whether Darvish would be traded from Texas, the Rangers finally caved and traded him to the Dodgers for a trio of Dodger prospects. In the trade, the Dodgers sent number 4 prospect Willie Calhoun, A.J. Alexy (19), and Brendon Davis to Texas for the Japanese right-hander.

Darvish, who is in his contract season, was perhaps the most dominant pitcher on the market during this July deadline. Although Darvish sits at 6-9 with a 4.01 ERA on the year, not one team ever questions his stuff. In what appears to be a down year for Darvish’s career, he still owns a 9.72 K/9 with an .224 opponents batting average against.

Darvish has only had one season (2013) where he finished the season with an ERA below 3.0. But his strikeout numbers have been among the league’s best since he made his debut in 2012. Darvish is the type of pitcher that you can expect to throw six to seven shutout innings every time he steps on the mound. Yes, he does tend to give up the long ball from time to time, but he also can flat out dominate a game with high strikeout totals.

What makes this trade so special is that Darvish is asked to take over the number two spot in the rotation behind Kershaw. Darvish has always had a high loss total due in large part to the Rangers not being able to score off opponent’s aces. Slotting him behind Kershaw gives Darvish room for error.

Darvish also brings balance to a lefty dominant rotation. Before this trade, the Dodgers were looking at a 1-2-3 rotation of all lefties and having to decide between Kenta Maeda and Brandon McCarthy (assuming healthy) for their fourth starter. The acquisition of Darvish brings balance and also gives Kershaw the ability to rest in a seven game series and not have to pitch game one, four and possibly seven.

Darvish also brings flexibility to the bullpen. With Darvish solidified in the rotation Dave Roberts now can move either Hyun-Jin Ryu or Kenta Maeda to the bullpen. I’d expect Ryu to make the transition to the bullpen as it helps the problem we pointed out earlier about the Dodgers needing a southpaw in the bullpen.

Next: Dodgers Have a Starting Pitching Problem (Again)

Trade Grade A: Darvish may be a rental this season, which may be the worst part of the deal. But the Dodgers have something special brewing this season and for the front office to not take a chance on Darvish this season would be doing the Dodger fans injustice. Darvish has pitched in the postseason before and up until last season he’s been a reliable arm in the rotation. Giving up Willie Calhoun will hurt the Dodgers farm system a bit, but Calhoun’s path to the majors was blocked by Forsythe this season and Taylor next year. This trade makes the Dodgers overwhelmingly favorites in the NL but now also favorites to win the World Series.