Dodgers’ miscommunication about closer role could rub Evan Phillips the wrong way

Do the Dodgers want a closer, or do they already have one? The team was interested in Josh Hader during his free agency but didn't pursue him in earnest, and talk has seemed to cool on a potential trade for Kenley Jansen from the Red Sox, so the answer to the first part of the question seems to be 'no.' As to the second, LA has a ringer in Evan Phillips, who closed 36 games for 24 saves last year, so you might think that the easy answer is 'yes.'

Phillips also seemed to think the answer was 'yes;' he told media at spring training that he "hasn't heard anything different" when asked if he would be the Dodgers' closer this year. He certainly seemed like one last year, when he had a 2.05 ERA late in games, and even the year before that, when he closed 9 games out of 64 total appearances for a 1.14 ERA.

However, Dave Roberts and Dodgers management might have different ideas. Roberts wouldn't label Phillips their closer, despite the fact that he envisioned Phillips "doing the brunt of the closing of games" and that he'd "absolutely earned it." Not deeming him their closer on paper could just be a matter of semantics, but there does seem to be some wire-crossing going on here.

Dodgers’ miscommunication about closer role could rub Evan Phillips the wrong way

Roberts said that the Dodgers didn't want to limit Phillips just to ninth-inning or later scenarios when eighth innings might call for him, which is fair enough. The Dodgers do have a heavily fortified bullpen with Brusdar Graterol, Alex Vesia, Joe Kelly, and JP Feyereisen, coming off of injury, who are all well-equipped to handle seventh or eighth innings as well. Bringing a closer in a little earlier than the ninth isn't unheard of, as long as the opponent's most daunting part of the order looms.

Phillips, for his part, seemed to be game for whatever the Dodgers want to throw at him. He referenced being released by both the Orioles and Rays in less than two weeks before the Dodgers gave him a try and turned him around into one of the best relievers in the league, saying, "I have no place to not listen and not hear them out at the very least." It's a good, team-oriented answer, but it still raises some questions about why the Dodgers are hesitating on the label.

Maybe all it'll take is another year, or maybe the Dodgers are seriously considering Jansen, but at least we can all agree on the fact that Phillips will have earned the role when he actually gets it.