Dodgers: 4 takeaways from the first 4 weeks of the MLB season

The bullpen needs some reinforcements

In an article that I wrote one week into the season, I claimed that the Dodgers' bullpen "may be better than we expected." Now that we have seen the bullpen in a larger sample size, we now know that it needs some help and is probably worse than we thought. While Alex Vesia, Yency Almonte and other typically reliable relievers have struggled out of the gate, the Dodgers still need depth in the bullpen even if those guys can get back on track. There was a stretch in which bullpen had gone 10 straight innings without giving up an earned run, but then the Pirates immediately tallied eight runs against them on Wednesday night.

So what can the Dodgers do about this problem? As much as it hurts to say, the best course of action might just be to wait. Treinen, Pepiot, Reyes, Hudson, J.P. Feyereisen are all on the 60-day IL, with all of them likely or possibly returning at various points in the season. The other problem is that it's not obvious what teams will be deadline sellers or buyers at the moment. For example, before the season, David Bednar could have been viewed as a potential trade target for the Dodgers, but now with the Pirates' shocking 18-8 start to the season, it's very unlikely that the team with the best record in the NL would trade away its closer. The Dodgers don't have many obvious options for trade partners, but promoting from within is also a possible strategy to help the bullpen sooner rather than later.