The Los Angeles Dodgers caught lightning in a bottle in the 2017 postseason when they moved Kenta Maeda into the bullpen. It was a decision based of Maeda moonlighting as a reliever during the regular season, and he looked dominant as ever in the role.
Maeda has returned to his more familiar place in the starting rotation for 2018. However, he is focused on carrying forward a reliever’s approach which has led to a higher strikeout rate so far.
The Dodgers bullpen has not been able to replicate its success from last season, with their latest falters coming in Saturday night’s loss to the San Francisco Giants.
While it could make sense to return Maeda to the bullpen to aid the ailing unit, according to Andy McCullough of the L.A. Times, Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi says that is not something they are considering at the moment:
Zaidi shot down the suggestion of moving Kenta Maeda to the bullpen, where he starred last October. Maeda’s contract is heavily incentivized for him to remain a starting pitcher. “That’s not a real consideration,” Zaidi said.
Maeda has made one appearance out of the bullpen this season, although five of his six outings have been starts. The most recent was on Sunday afternoon against the Giants when he gave up five hits and four runs in six innings, suffering the loss as the Dodgers fell, 4-2. He struck out three and walked four in the outing.
Overall on the season, Maeda is now 2-2 with a 3.76 ERA and 1.48 WHIP while striking out 34 compared to 10 walks in 26.1 innings of work.
The Dodgers bullpen holds a collective 4.70 ERA, which ranks 22nd out of 30 teams. With Walker Buehler emerging as a capable Major League starter, it is possible that Maeda eventually winds up in the bullpen, but as Zaidi said, that time is not now.
