Using your bullpen to pitch an entire game occasionally isn’t a completely bad idea, especially if your rotation is somewhat taxed and needs a break. However, when you count on your bullpen to throw two games in a hitter-friendly ballpark against one of the better offensive teams in the National League, you’re just asking for trouble.
Granted, the Dodgers saw Michael Grove eat up four innings in Saturday’s defeat, but it didn’t even put a dent into some of the team’s current pitching struggles.
Right now, the Dodgers rank 27th of all 30 MLB teams with a 4.76 relief pitching ERA and are second worst in the National League only to the Nationals. When your bullpen is that bad, it’s tough to imagine how well they’ll perform across an entire game. Of course, it would be nice to have a few healthy big guns available — like Daniel Hudson and Blake Treinen — but the team instead has had to settle for a plethora of pitchers whose ERA is well above the 6.00 mark in Yency Almonte, Phil Bickford and Alex Vesia.
The Emergence of Bobby Miller
The more battered your starting rotation is, the more taxed your bullpen will become. Currently, the Dodgers have just three healthy high-quality starters in Clayton Kershaw, Tony Gonsolin and Bobby Miller. There should be some reinforcements at some point in the form of Julio Urias and Dustin May (later down the road), but until that happens, the organization will need to find a way to keep the pitching staff’s head above water.
Speaking of Miller, it’s difficult to imagine where the team might be right now without his early success. The 24-year-old Illinois native has made four starts, going 3-0 with a ridiculous 0.78 ERA and a 0.826 through 23 innings of work. And, it’s probably safe to say that the 6-foot-5 righty has cemented himself a permanent spot in the rotation, barring injury or any unexpected inconsistencies.
Waiting Out the Injuries
There’s really not much the team can do right now from an organizational standpoint except grind out the upcoming games and hope for a speedy return from Urias. Fans have hoped that Noah Syndergaard could turn it around, but it’s not likely as the halfway point of the season is almost here. There’s a miniscule chance he could come back semi-effective after a brief stay on the injured list, but that’s highly improbable.
Righty Dustin May’s flexor pronator strain will probably keep him out of action until after the All-Star break, and there’s no telling how long his recovery will be. As far as prospects go, the club has already given Gavin Stone several shots with no success. Journeyman Andre Jackson has started games at the major league level in the past, but he currently has a 6.62 ERA over seven big league appearances this year.
Right-hander Ryan Pepiot has yet to throw a pitch in any competitive level this season. Grove has shown glimpses of high-quality stuff, but it’s hard to say when he’ll put everything together, if ever. We’ve talked briefly about Landon Knack in the preceding weeks, but the big righty still has a way to go in climbing the organizational ladder.
Looking Ahead
In past years, fans have looked toward the summer trade deadline as a tool to add several much-needed puzzle pieces for the stretch run of the season. The problem right now for the Dodgers is that they really don’t have any major-league ready trading chips of significant value. If Andrew Friedman and his crew go knocking on doors, there’s no question rival general managers will start with names like Diego Cartaya as the centerpiece of a trade package.
At the moment, the Dodgers have fallen 3 ½ games behind the Diamondbacks for control of the NL West. It could get worse if the starting rotation — and the bullpen — doesn’t find a way to come together soon.
Think Blue Planning Committee 
I never like using the bullpen to pitch an entire game. When you’re counting on 7-9 pitchers for one game, it’s an extremely rare situation when at least a couple of them don’t have a bad game. Today, 4 of the 8 gave up at least one run and Robertson, whom most of us were impressed with his first time out, was the worst offender.
We’re in one of those funks that we go through during most seasons. One of these years, we won’t pull out of it and will miss the playoffs all together. I have no clue if that year is 2023. If it is, I’ll put up with it (do I have a choice?) because at least some of the prospects are getting a chance to show what they have. At some point, you have to try to start adding some young blood to the roster.
I really believe that a great part of the bullpen problem is the injuries to the starters coupled with most of the starters who are now getting the ball not going deep into games. Nelson and Hudson have started rehab assignments so that’s a possible ray of light. I was really looking forward to Alex Reyes after the All Star break……………………..until I saw today that he had shoulder surgery earlier this week. Andrew had a team option on him for next year but I very much doubt he’ll pick that up because it’s possible Reyes won’t even make it back next year.
Arizona is for real. They were down a run and down to their last strike today and scored three runs to win by two. The Giants are now within 3.5 games of us in the standings, although I really don’t understand how they’re doing it. Luckily the Padres are continuing to underperform, but I refuse to believe that will last all year.
With so many teams still contending for a wild card spot, I expect there will be fewer trades at the deadline than usual. That may mean some dramatic overpayments by the teams who decide to add pieces. That’s not AF’s way of doing business, so we may be disappointed come August 1st.
At full strength I think we have the best team in the division, but we are far from full strength and have no clue how that situation will or won’t change between now and September.
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A bullpen game with our bullpen? We got lucky with that one. Still have no idea why we keep talking about Hudson and trienen and Hudson, a trio of 35 year old injury prawn players. Are we that desperate? I can’t quite get over the fact that one of the best bullpen last year can be this bad this year. Nature of relievers I guess. We’ve now worked our way through our ” pitching prospects” so what now. I wouldbe gloating e cept for Miller. I don’t ever remember being wrong about a prospect before, but I didn’t see that coming. Lol. Great stuff they always say, but they couldn’t get him out of double A, he was so bad, and no better in triple A. I thought he was a head case.
And you are right. Trades will be difficult with nothing left on the farm. And I’m not sure Cartaya has much value unless he can get his average above the mendoza line. Friedman has a job cut out for him.
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JD is way better than JT at this point. More production and power. Our bullpen sucks period. They need new blood. Ferguson is soft, Vesia is out of whack, Miller has been okay, but still walks too many. Graterol despite having some of the best stuff on the staff, still cannot put away hitters. He has a 10 cent brain. Phillips is the only guy they can depend on.
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