Dodgers Rumors: Three concerns the fans should recognize

Concern #1: Long Relief

While the Dodgers’ bullpen has literally been the best in the league thus far in 2017, a major concern is the fact that they have pitched the third most innings of any projected playoff team. While Dave Roberts is proving to be one of the winningest managers in the history of the sport, he is the ultimate micro-manager.

Roberts set a Major League baseball record last year by making the most pitching changes in a single-season in the history of the sport. While not quite on the same pace this season, the bullpen is still heavily taxed, with ten relievers already having ten or more appearances. With the additions – and auditions – of Tony Watson and Tony Cingrani taking place on a weekly basis, that number will soon jump to a dozen.

The problem is not with the number of relievers or even the number of innings – the problem is that Roberts tends to remove his starters at the first sign of distress. This means that in the Dodgers’ world, a five inning outing is sufficient, and Roberts tends to let Josh Fields, Ross Stripling, Morrow or Baez take it from there to build the ‘bridge’ to Kenley Jansen.

While this strategy is working now, the playoffs are different. In a five- or seven-game series, the starters need to go deeper in the game or the relievers risk being heavily used in a short period of time against the same group of batters. Batters tend to adjust, and pitchers tend to wear down with over-usage in a short period of time.

Right now, the Dodgers lean on Fields and Morrow for this role, with Luis Avilan potentially throwing a complete inning, which he has done 20 times on the season. Avilan, however, is not a lock for the postseason roster with the additions of Cingrani and Watson, neither of whom has been ‘lockdown’ so far with the Dodgers.

In addition, all three of these pitchers are left-handed, and the two Tonys were acquired to face the bevy of left-handed batters that the Dodgers will face in the postseason. That means more one-on-one matchups, and less long-relief.

While Stripling is competent, the potential answer may lie in starting pitchers Hyun-Jin Ryu and Kenta Maeda, neither of which appears likely to make the postseason rotation. Both have pitched capably out of the bullpen this season, and both are pitching extremely well now. That may bode well for shoring up this potential weakness in the postseason.