Dodgers: Ruling Out Two High Profile Summer Upgrades For LA

Too Costly of an Addition 

Craig Kimbrel has stuck to his guns, and not budged in his contract demands.  After initially seeking a five year $100 million dollar contract, Kimbrel has recently been reported to be seeking around a Wade Davis or Zack Britton type deal.  Davis got a 3/$52M deal which already looks terrible for the Rockies, and Britton received a 3/$39 contract.

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Even at those shorter-term deals that would be unwise of the Dodgers to spend that much on the back end of their bullpen.  Kenley Jansen is already slated to make $38 million over the next two seasons and Joe Kelly is locked in for an average of 8.5 million a season.  Signing Kimbrel would put the rest of the roster construction at risk especially with relievers being so volatile.

Craig Kimbrel has been one of the best regular season closers of this generation but in the playoffs, he has had his fair share of struggles.  In the 2018 postseason, Kimbrel was shaky every round of the postseason. In the divisional series against the Yankees, Kimbrel posted an ERA over eleven and narrowly escaped a meltdown of epic proportions.

In the league championship series and the World Series, Kimbrel posted an ERA over four in both rounds.  Although he did not blow a save, he worked a high wire act all postseason and was not dominant in any sense of the word.  Just as Kenley Jansen has his adventures at the end of games, so does Craig Kimbrel.  He is not a guarantee to get outs in the heat of an October World Series run.

Would Kimbrel help the Dodgers? Absolutely, but until he gives up his demands of a multi-year contract which he has shown no intention of doing, then he simply does not fit into the Dodgers’ plans. Spending nearly forty million on three relievers (Jansen, Kelly, Kimbrel) over a multi-year period seems like imminent doom.

Just look at the Rockies who tried fixing their bullpen all in one off-season spending spree.  Rather than splurging on one reliever, the Dodgers would be better off acquiring two under the radar Friedman type relievers just as they did with Dylan Floro, Scott Alexander, and Tony Cingrani.