After witnessing his dominance firsthand in the 2018 World Series, the Los Angeles Dodgers sought to improve their bullpen over the winter by signing Joe Kelly to a three-year, $25 million contract.
The financial commitment was the richest Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman has made for a player who was not being re-signed. The Dodgers envisioned Kelly filling a myriad roles and pitching in high-leverage situations.
Unfortunately for Friedman and the Dodgers, thus far Kelly has more closely resembled the pitcher who struggled most of 2018 than the one that dominated October.
His latest trouble came in Saturday’s win against the San Diego Padres, in which Kelly entered in the sixth inning and the Dodgers holding a 6-3 lead. Kelly immediately gave up a leadoff base hit followed by an RBI double to Ty France.
He induced a groundout but then walked Austin Hedges and allowed a single to Alex Dickerson that loaded the bases. Kelly was removed after retiring just one of five batters faced. Yimi Garcia hit a batter and walked in the tying run, allowing the Padres to tie the game before getting out of the jam.
“I think that we keep talking about the same thing: it’s execution,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Kelly’s ongoing struggles after his club’s 7-6 win. “You get ahead of guys, that France at-bat where you couldn’t put him away and he ends up leaving a ball middle-middle for a double. The breaking ball to Dickerson was left up.”
Kelly’s ERA ballooned to 10.13, and he’s now allowed at least one earned run in eight of his 13 appearances this season. One of his successful games came in the eighth inning against the Chicago Cubs, when the Dodgers were hoping to avoid using Dylan Floro because of a sore shoulder.
Kelly responded with a scoreless inning, and Roberts explained his hope was the veteran right-hander would receive a boost in confidence over being used in a key spot. The Dodgers’ manager remained similarly committed to Kelly despite his rough appearance against the Padres.
“It’s just one of those things that we’re going to keep running him out there and bet on his execution,” Roberts said.
He’s long maintained faith in players during some of their down times over recent seasons, perhaps most notably with Pedro Baez. Roberts has been rewarded on multiple instances over the past two years, as Baez has statistically emerged as one of the Dodgers’ top options in leverage.
