Steve Webb
“Who you gonna call?” is not just a question from the 80s and Ray Parker, Jr. It’s going to be the very real question that Dave Roberts will be asking himself as he looks to close out games in 2021. First, we have to note the many pitchers that that won’t be available to the Dodgers’ manager at crunch time this year: Pedro Baez. Gone. Alex Wood. Gone. Adam Kolarek. Gone. Jake McGee. Gone. Dylan Floro. Gone. Caleb Ferguson. Lost to an Injury for the Year. That’s a lot of outs to replace. So then, who can we expect to see?
NEW FACES: Knebel, Vesia, Cleavinger, and Kahnle
As discussed in the last post, the Dodgers did pick up former Brewers closer Corey Knebel, who should help right away. In addition, they picked up Alex Vesia from the Marlins during the winter. Vesia saw limited action with Miami in their crazy season last year, but is said to have stuff that will play on the major league level. In addition, Garrett Cleavinger, who saw a handful of games in the last three seasons with Baltimore and Philadelphia, is new in camp this spring. He might be an important lefthander going forward this year. The team also grabbed free agent Tommy Kahnle from the Yankees. Kahnle has a solid body of work in the bigs, but he is still on the mend from Tommy John, so won’t be available for much of the year, if at all.
However, none of those arms will probably get anywhere near the 9th inning, at least at first. Most likely once the games get into the late innings, the burden will fall on Brusdar Graterol, Blake Treinen, and Kenley Jansen. Let’s look at each in depth:
Brusdar Graterol (2020: 23 G, 3.09 ERA, 0 SV)
This high-spirited Venezuelan flamethrower brings the gas. The ease at which he hits 100 or better on the radar gun is something to behold. However, it must be acknowledged that the big guy is a work in progress. While he improved his ERA and WHIP from his rookie call-up year with Minnesota, he still isn’t missing a whole lot of bats. Hitters these days aren’t as intimidated by triple-digit cheese as they used to be. Graterol needs to get a better pitch mix before he can be considered an elite talent. However, he was talking a couple of days ago and said that Walker Buehler had already taught him new pitch in camp, so who knows. Our guess is that the Bazooka has a very high ceiling, but we don’t think Roberts is ready to trust him to close out games just yet. He’ll have to earn that.
Blake Treinen (2020: 27 G, 3.86 ERA, 1 SV)
Free Agent Treinen definitely had his moments during the 2020 season. Early in the year, he seemed practically unhittable. By the end of August Treinen’s ERA sat at a filthy 1.20. In addition, he improved his control considerably over his disappointing 2019 campaign, giving up only 7 walks during that stretch. September and October were more of a mixed bag for Treinen last year. He seemed a lot more like the Blake Treinen that was DFA’ed by the A’s the year before. Inconsistency followed him into the postseason as well. After solid outings in the first two rounds, Treinen was lit up by the Braves in Game 1 of the NLCS. However, he pitched two shutout innings in Game 5 and got the win. In the World Series, he wasn’t great either, but did step up in Game 5 with a critical save. Hopefully, the longer season this year will smooth out some of the ups and downs of 2020 and Treinen will be a trusted arm in the late innings.
Kenley Jansen (2020: 27 G, 3.33 ERA, 11 SV)
First things first. With all due respect to Eric Gagne and his juiced fastball, Kenley Jansen is the best closer that the Dodgers have ever had. By a lot. But there’s also no denying that the bloom has come off the rose with the big man from Curacao in the last few seasons. After an incredible 2017, where he got votes for both Cy Young AND MVP at the end of the year, Jansen has struggled to regain his form. He had health challenges in 2019 with his heart condition, but seemed to be back and strong at the beginning of the year in 2020. Like Treinen, his first several appearances were great. At the end of August, his ERA sat at a fantastic 1.23. Great, we thought. Kenley’s back. We’re set for a closer.
Then came an awful September, including a soul-crushing meltdown against the hated Astros* on national TV. By the end of the year, he had only two blown saves, but somehow it seemed like a lot more. The 9th inning, which used to be an automatic 1-2-3 for Jansen, was suddenly a theme-park ride. It was clear that Roberts had lost confidence in him as well. And even though that crazy end to Game 5 in the World Series couldn’t be pinned on Jansen alone, he was watching from the bench as Julio Urias closed things out in the next game.
But, every spring we hear the same story from the Dodgers’ brain trust: Kenley Jansen is the Dodgers’ closer until we hear otherwise. Dave Roberts says that Kenley’s looking great since he showed up in camp this spring. Maybe that’s the case. But we can’t see the Dodgers billion-dollar winning machine depending on Kenley Jansen for very long this season if he doesn’t deliver. We could see Treinen, or Graterol, or Knebel, or maybe even May or Urias step into the closer’s role if Jansen doesn’t get the job done. When that happens, if ever, is completely up to Jansen.
Given all the question marks going into Spring Training, I can’t see rating the overall bullpen any higher than this:
DODGERSBEAT RATING: B-/C+
