The Los Angeles Dodgers’ relief corps took a hit with setup man Brandon Morrow reaching a two-year agreement with the Chicago Cubs.
Morrow joined the Dodgers as a non-roster invitee in Spring Training and enjoyed a career-year serving as the bridge to Kenley Jansen. He will presumably take over closing duties for the Cubs next season, given that he’ll earn an average annual salary in the $10 million range.
For the Dodgers, the loss of Morrow certainly won’t go unnoticed, but the overall depth of the bullpen remains strong and offers optimism going forward.
In an interview on “Access: SportsNet Dodgers,” team president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman specifically mentioned Tony Cingrani and Yimi Garcia as candidates who could be key in offsetting the loss of Morrow, via via SportsNet LA:
“Having Tony Cingrani for a full season, we’re really excited about the upside. Yimi Garcia, what we saw in Instructional League, the way he kind of attacked the rehab process, and in Instructional League the way the ball was coming out of his hand, makes us really optimistic as we head into 2018. We just also have depth. We have a lot of really interesting bullpen arms that kind of complement each other really well. To the extent we can add some high-upside guys around it, I think it puts us in position to have a really good bullpen next year. That being said, it will cause a lot of sleepless nights between now and Opening Day.”
A midseason acquisition from the Cincinnati Reds, Cingrani emerged as the Dodgers’ go-to left-handed reliever in the latter months of the regular season. That carried over into October, where the southpaw was featured on all three postseason rosters and was called upon for key outs.
Cingrani pitched to a 2.79 ERA, 1.86 FIP and 1.09 WHIP 22 games for the Dodgers. He allowed just one run and limited opponents to a .188/.316/.375 batting line in five innings over seven playoff appearances. Cingrani was tendered a contract and is eligible for salary arbitration this winter.
Garcia is an interesting wild card, given that he hasn’t appeared in a Major League game since the 2015 season. He missed all of 2016 after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
The 27-year-old flashed a mid-90s fastball in his limited time on a mound for the Dodgers, and owns a career 3.12 ERA, 3.31 FIP and 0.95 WHIP over 75 innings across parts of three seasons with the team.
