Los Angeles Dodgers will have the National League’s best bullpen
By Jason Reed
The Los Angeles Dodgers are known for an insanely deep roster that has led to six straight National League West titles, which includes a usually reliable bullpen.
The Los Angeles Dodgers have been so great the last six seasons in large part due to the team being a pitching juggernaut. While it might not seem like it, the Dodgers have been the best team on the mound in the MLB over the last six seasons.
Most of the attention for the pitching staff usually goes to the starting rotation, which has been led by the best pitcher of this generation, Clayton Kershaw. However, the team’s bullpen has more than held its weight and has definitely contributed to the team’s success.
The Los Angeles Dodgers bullpen has the second-highest WAR on FanGraphs over the last six seasons and has the seventh-lowest in the MLB.
Yet still, if you ask Dodger fans why the team lost the World Series last season most are going to point out the bullpen and Dave Roberts‘ mismanagement of it. Ryan Madson practically lost the World Series by allowing every inherited runner to score and the same bullpen that outpitched the Milwaukee Brewers looked weak.
And while that is a fair argument and it is easy to point out the bullpen’s cold spell when Kenley Jansen missed time, it is safe to say as we head into 2019 that the Los Angeles Dodgers are going to have an elite bullpen.
Closing the door for the Dodgers is, of course, Kenley Jansen, who is in terrific shape after offseason surgery and will likely return closer to his unhittable 2017 form instead of his inconsistent 2017 form.
It is the surplus of pitchers in front of Jansen that should lead the Dodgers down the road to success.
The Dodgers have new signing Joe Kelly, Pedro Baez, Dylan Floro (who showed last season that he will be elite in 2019), either Ross Stripling or Kenta Maeda, Scott Alexander, Caleb Ferguson, J.T. Chargois and probably a returning Tony Cingrani.
The Dodgers still have depth too as young arms Julio Urias and Dennis Santana could help in the bullpen to slowly get back to a big league workload and there are still other options such as Josh Fields or Yimi Garcia.
This bullpen is deep and it is going to have no shortage of seventh and eighth inning guys to bridge to Jansen. Kelly should thrive in Los Angeles and Stripling can legitimately be one of the most dominant setup men in baseball with his skill set.
Floro is going to break out in a huge way, Alexander, Ferguson and Cingrani are the left-handed specialists that can get right-handed batters out and Pedro Baez showed more signs of brilliance last season than anything else.
The Dodgers mop-up guy (who I guess would be Chargois?) would be a legitimate go-to arm on at least two-thirds of MLB teams.
Next. A three-team trade that will lead to the World Series. dark
If the Los Angeles Dodgers have taught us anything the last six years it is that depth is important. This bullpen not only has insane depth but is insanely talented.