The bullpen has been a major issue for the Los Angeles Dodgers despite their heavy investments into the unit, and it’s continued to cost them wins as they try to clinch the National League West title.
As a unit, the Dodgers’ bullpen has a 4.33 ERA across 632 innings, with 24 blown saves this season. Things were expected to improve with the returns of Blake Treinen and Michael Kopech from the injured list, but both have been part of the problem.
Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates, the Dodgers’ two key bullpen signings during the offseason, have both failed to produce. And younger arms, including Jack Dreyer, Edgardo Henriquez and Justin Wrobleski, have shown flashes but also failed in higher leverage.
The Dodgers need their bullpen to turn things around, and manager Dave Roberts believes they can do that, but thinks they have the wrong mindset right now.
“We’re going to have to find a way,” Roberts said. “Not each individual. These are our guys, I do know that. I just see careful. The getting behind, the walking guys, hit batsman, that’s a sign of you’re either scared or you’re pitching too careful. That’s just the facts.
“And you’re not having the conviction in executing pitches, for fear of failure of getting hit. At this time of season, you’ve got to put everything out there and trust it’s going to be good. Because when you pitch behind, are afraid to make a mistake, hang a breaking ball, that’s when bad things happen.
“So not each individual guy, but as a whole, that’s what I’m seeing. Hitters can smell that.”
Roberts added he’s had conversations with the relievers about not pitching scared, but he’s still looking for the guys who will step up and do that.
“When you’re out on the mound, you’re the guy with the ball and you’ve got to find a way to have that conviction within yourself each time,” Roberts said. “I can continue to support them, but I’ve got to find some guys that are going to pitch with conviction and go out there and compete. I’ll bet on those guys.
“There’s still time, certainly, but there’s not much time left. Our starters can’t go nine every night, so we’re looking for some guys to step up. We need it. We need these guys.”
Roberts declined to give specifics on which relievers he felt are pitching scared, but Scott is likely at the top of that list, along with Treinen and Yates. All three of them have an ERA above 6.60 in the second half in more than 10 innings.
“I don’t want to go by name,” Roberts said. “I just think putting these guys in a group, because they are the ‘pen, and at times this year they’ve been very good. But we need these guys to come together as a group and do their jobs like I know they can, like their teammates know they can, and like they’ve done before.
“It does start more of an internal. You’ve got to lay it all out there and you can’t pitch scared. You just can’t. You can’t hit scared for fear of failure, and I’m sure there’s times our hitters have been in that place mentally. Right now, we’ve got to get our guys out of that mindset.”
Dodgers bullpen reinforcements
The Dodgers are set to activate Roki Sasaki to join their bullpen on Wednesday, giving them a potential high-leverage option to help stabilize their bullpen. The right-hander has shown promise in his short time as a reliever for Triple-A Oklahoma City, and the Dodgers will look for him to continue that.
Brock Stewart is also an option to join the bullpen, but his status is a bit up in the air at the moment.
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