The Los Angeles Dodgers bullpen has often been their Achilles heel in recent years, but 2020 may prove to be the year president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman has found an answer.
In addition to acquiring hard-throwing 21-year-old Brusdar Graterol from the Minnesota Twins as a related part of the Mookie Betts and David Price trade, the Dodgers also signed former Oakland Athletics reliever Blake Treinen to a one-year contract.
Treinen got off to a slow start this spring, but he finally got into his first Cactus League game for the Dodgers on Saturday afternoon. He tossed a scoreless inning, issuing one walk while otherwise getting three groundball outs in the 7-1 win over the Colorado Rockies.
After his first outing with a new team, Treinen shared a similar sentiment as Price in that he felt nervous when taking the mound but managed to find some success, as seen on SportsNet LA:
“It was pretty good. I had a decent feel for some sinkers in the zone, but still getting my legs under me. It’s kind of funny listening to David talk about butterflies (after his first start). He came down to finish in the bullpen and I said, ‘You weren’t joking. I kind of had those jitters and felt like I had Bambi legs.’ But overall some good pitches, and some things I’ve got to tune up a little bit. Like being inconsistent with two strikes and executing my pitches instead of falling behind; that was a little frustrating. But for the most part I’ll take ground balls and some good defense behind me.”
Treinen was perhaps the best reliever in all of baseball with Oakland in 2018, posting a minuscule 0.78 ERA in 80.1 innings. He dealt with some injuries in 2019, so his ERA rose to 4.91 and his innings dropped to 58.2.
Thus, Treinen will be looking to bounce back with the Dodgers before again reaching free agency. If the right-hander is able to get anywhere close to what he was in 2018, the Dodgers may have one of the best bullpens in baseball with him, Graterol, Kenley Jansen, Joe Kelly, Pedro Baez and others.
As good as Treinen looked in his first outing, it appears he has even another level that he can get to as he continues getting ready for the 2020 season, which is certainly a positive sign for the Dodgers.
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