Los Angeles Dodgers: The bullpen is not as tragic as you may think

The Los Angeles Dodgers’ biggest need at the MLB Trade Deadline is the bullpen, which really is not as bad as everyone makes it out to be.

For the most part, the Los Angeles Dodgers are a pretty complete team. Although they still have their dud nights, the team is stacked with arguably the best starting rotation in baseball and an offense that can explode on any given night.

The team is yet again in a prime position to contend for the World Series and like the past two years, the front office is definitely going to look to make some sort of improvements at the trade deadline.

This year, the biggest need is in the bullpen and that will undoubtedly be the first thing that the Dodgers target. The bullpen has stood out as the one area of the team that is not keeping up with the rest of the team. When reflecting on previous playoff series, it is easy to want an upgrade in the bullpen.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers definitely need to make an addition or two to give the team the best chance at finally getting over the hump. However, while it is still a need, the bullpen is not going to be as pressing of a need come October.

The sore spots of the bullpen are eventually going to get weeded away and will not have much of a role in October. Assuming everyone is healthy, the Dodgers are likely going to run a four-man rotation in the postseason consisting of Hyun-Jin Ryu, Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler and Rich Hill.

That opens the door for both Kenta Maeda and Ross Stripling to move to the pen. Maeda is much better out of the bullpen and Stripling can be elite if his stuff is on.

Throw in Julio Urias and the Dodgers have three bridge guys that can really come in at any point as well as get shutdown innings. The two added arms of Stripling and Maeda are extremely important when it comes to October baseball.

Pedro Baez and Joe Kelly are going to have big roles in the postseason and Kenley Jansen will remain the closer. Right there, the Dodgers have six pitchers in the bullpen without any true sore spot.

They are still prone to having bad outings but having a core six that talented is a great place to start. From there, the Dodgers can make the extra two additions, one of which has to be a left-hander, and suddenly the team has an eight-man bullpen without any true “bad arm”.

Options such as Scott Alexander, Dylan Floro and Yimi Garcia can all be the ninth guy as well. While those guys are prone to giving up leads, having one of them be the “last-case scenario” is not so bad.

So while it is still obviously a need, it may not be a big enough need to sell a big chunk of the farm for an elite closer like Felipe Vazquez. The Dodgers can still get a very talented reliever as the premier acquisition and then also throw in a southpaw specialist.

The bullpen could use some improvement but the situation is not as dire as some fans like to believe. Regardless, there is still a lot of baseball left to play until we cross that playoff bridge.