Dodgers Sign Tom Koehler

The Dodgers made their first major league signing of the offseason by signing right-handed pitcher Tom Koehler.

Tom Koehler, 31, was a surprised non-tender player by the Blue Jays as he pitched reasonably well out of relief for Toronto. The details of the contract have not been fully released, but I wouldn’t expect it to eclipse past $2M. We will update this article once contract details emerge.

Koehler is coming off of a fresh new role with Toronto. He was a tale of two pitchers last year. As a starter with the Marlins, he struggled mightily, going 1-5 with a 7.92 ERA in 12 starts. Koehler bounced from Triple-A all season with the Marlins until they traded him to the Blue Jays.

In 15 appearances with the Blue Jays last season, Koehler had a 0-2 record with a 2.65 ERA while pitching to a 3:1 strikes to walk ratio in 17 innings pitched out of relief. Koehler provides good upside as a multi-inning reliever.

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The overall numbers on Koehler are admitting not pretty. He has a career 4.39 ERA and struggles with command. But those numbers may not reflect how well he could pitch for the Dodgers as those numbers are primarily taken from his work as a starter. Koehler has a very limited sample size as a reliever, but the numbers out of relief are encouraging as he demonstrated in Toronto.

With a low to mid 90s fastball and a pair of breaking pitches, he could develop into a respectable strikeout pitcher. He has a career 1.36 ground ball to fly ball ratio, which is relatively average. So the Dodgers are getting a pitcher with strikeout upside and can induce double plays.

Koehler is not the big name signing that Dodger fans were clamoring for. But he’s another option Dave Roberts has in the bullpen to fill the void left by Brandon Morrow. I’m not ready to call Koehler the savior of the Dodgers offseason. But it is worth noting that Koehler fits the same criteria that Morrow and Joe Blanton did in the prior seasons.

Koehler, like Blanton and Morrow, is a converted starter into a reliever. Not to say that Koehler is a lock to perform like these two, just goes to show there may be something to Friedman’s style.

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I’d still say Yimi Garcia and Pedro Baez are the frontrunners to pitch the 8th inning. But if Koehler can be as productive as he was with the Blue Jays, the Dodgers may have found themselves another viable bullpen arm at a very nice value.