Los Angeles Dodgers: Joe Kelly latest question mark for October
By Jamaal Artis
The Los Angeles Dodgers go into the end of the regular season trying to solidify their postseason roster.
Coming off back to back World Series losses, the Los Angeles Dodgers brain trust is seeking to bring together the best 25 players from a record-breaking season.
Like any team during the marathon that is a Major League Baseball season, the Los Angeles Dodgers are trying to get healthy as the calendar turns to October. With the bullpen faltering last year and tiring out in 2017 a healthy bullpen is seen as a huge asset for this playoff season.
Dodgers fans must be feeling some dread after manager Dave Roberts when talking to the media stated that relief pitcher Joe Kelly was being shut down for the rest of the season due to a non-specific lower-body injury.
Dave Roberts said #Dodgers are going to avoid using Joe Kelly over this final stretch of games. Focus is on getting him healthy for the postseason.
— Matthew Moreno (@Matthew__Moreno) September 21, 2019
"There's nothing really specific, the body just doesn't feel that he can continue to repeat his delivery," Roberts said.
With question marks about Kenley Jansen‘s ability to be an effective closer, a lengthy absence for Joe Kelly is even more disconcerting, considering he has been an effective bullpen arm after struggling early in the season.
Kelly signed as a free agent with the Dodgers in the off-season after helping the Boston Red Sox defeat the Dodgers in the 2018 World Series. Kelly was supposed to be a setup man, seventh and eighth inning bridge to Kenley Jansen. The Dodgers were hoping he could replicate his 2018 playoffs when he went 11 1/3 innings giving up just two runs.
His first few months with the Dodgers were rocky at the end of May he carried an ERA at 8.44 and his three-year contract looked like a sunk cost. Since June Kelly has been outstanding pitching in 35 games striking out 44 batters and carrying a 2.51 ERA.
Now that Kelly has turned things back around the Dodgers will be without him for the remaining eight games of the season. That sort of layoff may get him back to healthy but his rhythm could be affected by the layoff.
Kelly’s health status not only raises concerns about his effectiveness but that of the rest of the bullpen as well. With Kenley Jansen having the worst season of his career as the Dodgers closer, Roberts intimated that using him in the playoffs would be different than in the past few seasons.
It is likely that Jansen would not be used for greater than three out saves and likely would avoid pitching back to back games. All this means is that the other bullpen arms would need to step up big time this postseason.
Kelly is supposed to mitigate Jansen’s struggles and now the Dodgers may have to change their strategy if Kelly is less than healthy or ineffective due to a layoff.
When you have a 31 year World Series drought and a fanbase desperate for October glory having a big question mark next to your closer and setup man is a recipe for disaster. But as the great Vin Scully said about the Dodgers: “It wasn’t easy, but in the history of the Brooklyn and L.A. Dodgers, nothing ever has come easy.”