The Los Angeles Dodgers are boat-racing the National League West, enter play Tuesday with the best record in baseball and are on pace for a franchise-record 111 wins this season. The team doesn’t have many flaws, but their bullpen remains a glaring one.
It’s been a theme over the past few years and one Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and his front office have drawn plenty of criticism over. Of course, the Dodgers are hardly alone in not constructing a flawless bullpen.
Yet, the inexact science has often been the source of blame for the Dodgers’ shortcomings in the postseason. As they storm toward another year of October baseball, it’s brought about more questions centered around their bullpen.
That was again a talking point after Dylan Floro allowed four runs in Monday’s loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Dodgers manger Dave Roberts noted the stretches where the bullpen has fared well, via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“There have been moments to a man when they’ve been very good,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “It’s just unfortunate that someone has a bad night then it reflects on the whole bullpen. The way we’ve been used you have a few guys down tonight so you give other guys an opportunity to perform. Tonight, it just didn’t work out for Flo, for us. These are our guys right now and we’ve got to continue to run them out there.”
As for whether the Dodgers bullpen can find success, Roberts acknowledged it was reasonable to ask, and said the club would continue to evaluate their relief pitchers:
“That’s a fair question,” Roberts said. “I do think it gives an opportunity to see what you have. As the season goes on, you give guys opportunities to pitch well and see how they respond. Then as the season moves on you really know what you have and decide what we need to do – if anything. Right now, where we’re at, these are the guys we’re going to continue to run with until there’s a change.”
After falling to the Diamondbacks in 11 innings on June 5, the Dodgers bullpen sported a 2.59 ERA before Monday’s loss. That was good for third-best among all teams. Overall this season, their 4.33 ERA is essentially middle of the pack at 14th.
Of the club’s 26 losses this season, 15 are on the ledger of a relief pitcher.
Friedman indicated the Dodgers will pursue upgrades at the July 31 trade deadline, and one candidate appears to be San Francisco Giants closer Will Smith.
