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Dodgers: What the Dodgers need to accomplish at the Winter Meetings
Shore up the Dodger bullpen
The Dodger bullpen will enter the 2020 season in worse shape than they did in 2019. Joe Kelly was not able to translate a dominant 2018 postseason into a season of sustained success. His Dodger tenure got off to a horrible start and although he did piece together several good months to end his season, he was the losing pitcher in game five of the National League Division Series. Then there is the Kenley Jansen issue.
Kenley Jansen is coming off the worst season of his career and was plagued by inconsistent location and velocity in 2019. Some games he was hovering the mid-90s and other games his cutter barely topped 90 miles per hour. He can live with a cutter in the low 90s but he will need to locate it consistently in order to avoid another down season. Like a Pollock bounceback, it wouldn’t be smart to depend on Kenley returning to dominant form in 2020.
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To make matters worse for the Dodgers, Kenta Maeda has complained about pitching in relief and Julio Urias will return to the starting rotation in 2020 which will remove a valuable member of the 2019 bullpen. The free-agent market offers Daniel Hudson and Will Harris but the market is made up of lesser names after that. The trade market might be the route Andrew Friedman goes again.
While Kenta Maeda and Julio Urias are proven as relievers, the Dodgers need to stop throwing other starters in the bullpen, especially Clayton Kershaw to face the heart of an opponent’s lineup. The best way to prevent the same outcome next season is to give Dave Roberts the weapons needed at the end of playoff games.
Next. Reliever trade targets to bolster the Dodger bullpen. dark
The Dodgers can get by during the regular season by throwing starting pitchers in the bullpen but come October, that strategy has not worked for the team. The same can be said for the rest of the Dodger team that will win over 95 games as they are currently constructed, but in order to finally end a long World Series title drought, it’s time for the Dodgers to go big or once again go home early.