Several changes may be coming for the Los Angeles Dodgers pitching staff in the foreseeable future. With the peak of the hot stove season still about a month and change away, the club will utilize other avenues — most specifically, waiver claims, players returning from the disabled list, and promotions from the farm system — in hopes of creating a more effective corps of throwers.
Continue reading “Changes Ahead for Dodgers’ Pitching Staff”
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After observing an offseason managerial change, a near total makeover to the coaching staff, and a few tweaks in terms of player personnel, fans across Dodgertown began the 2016 regular season with a fresh attitude and a revived sense of enthusiasm.
Continue reading “Weighing the Options of Improving the Dodgers Bullpen”
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Although he’s still not yet close to any type of official rehab assignment, the Dodgers remain confident that hard-throwing righty Frankie Montas will recover fully from surgery, and hope that he’ll make an impact at the big league level at some point during the 2016 season.
Continue reading “Dodgers Eager to See Frankie Montas Compete”
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Just one day after the bullpen managed to collaborate and shutout San Francisco, the entire relief corps looked to be lethargic on Sunday surrendering three critical runs, as the Dodgers lost to the Giants, 9-6. Los Angeles managed just one win in the four-game series, dropping to 4-3 overall.
Starter Scott Kazmir was pulled from the game early after only four innings of work, having allowed six earned runs and seven hits, three of which included home runs. Kazmir was afforded the luxury of a five-run lead in the first inning, but couldn’t quite maintain any positive momentum or effectiveness in his second outing of the season.
Continue reading “Dodgers Bullpen: J.P. Howell’s Sinker Appears Lifeless”
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If setup man Chris Hatcher would have successfully shutdown the Giants in the eighth inning of Friday night’s game, and Kenley Jansen enter the ninth to strikeout the side in trademark fashion, the Dodgers’ decision to remove rookie Ross Stripling amidst a no-hit bid through 7-1/3 innings would be considerably less controversial.
Instead, baseball writers and pundits across the country thrived on the outcome, composing articles with hypothetical finishes until the wee hours of the morning, ultimately questioning manager Dave Roberts‘ decision to not let Stripling finish what he started.
Continue reading “Dodgers Bullpen: Two Games Do Not a Season Make”
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With only a handful of days remaining before the Dodgers officially submit their 25-man roster, the bullpen remains one of the few areas that has stayed relatively healthy throughout the spring, and outside of maybe one possible bubble player, is in its final stages of being a finished product — at least for the beginning of the season.
Continue reading “Projecting the Dodgers’ 2016 Opening Day Bullpen”
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When the Los Angeles Dodgers signed right-handed reliever Louis Coleman to a one-year, $725,000 deal last month, it didn’t create much buzz among the fan base, much less indicate any type of significant upgrade in the bullpen. However, after a careful analysis of the possible roles he could play in the 2016 Dodgers bullpen, Coleman may be considered a lock for the 25-man roster come Opening Day.
Continue reading “Dodgers Bullpen: Making a Case for Louis Coleman”
Further exploring the seemingly infinite amount of talent in the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ farm system, we once again stumble across the bullpen, where the organization appears to be growing stronger with each passing season.
Last month, we took a look at the rapid advancement of hard-throwing righty Jacob Rhame. Today, we’ll take a quick glance at another youngster frequently mentioned around Camelback Ranch this spring — right-handed reliever Caleb Dirks.
Dirks was born in Arcadia, California and attended Woodcrest Christian School in Riverside — a stone’s throw away from LoanMart Field in Rancho Cucamonga.
After high school, Dirks attended California Baptist University, culminating his senior season with a 4-1 record, a 2.85 ERA and PacWest Academic All-Conference honors.
His collegiate teammate, Trevor Oaks, was selected by the Dodgers in the seventh round of the 2014 draft; and as the later rounds passed, Dirks kept his fingers crossed hoping that he too would join Oaks with the Dodgers. His wish never came true, however; as he was ultimately chosen in the 15th round by the Atlanta Braves.
During his initial year in the Atlanta organization, Dirks began with the Danville Braves in rookie league, where he posted a 0.96 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP along with 16 strikeouts in just over nine innings of work.
Valuing his success in the bullpen, the Braves quickly promoted him to low Class-A Rome that same season. While in Rome, Dirks pitched 23 innings over 14 appearances with a 2.74 ERA and 21 strikeouts.
He returned to Rome to begin the 2015 campaign, and after only 10 appearances and an ERA of 1.80, was quickly ushered to the High-A Carolina Mudcats‘ bullpen. With the Mudcats, he pitched 16.2 innings over 11 appearances giving up only eight hits and no earned runs while striking out 18 batters.
Then came the trade.
On July 2 of last year, the Dodgers traded their 87th international bonus pool slot to the Braves for Dirks and minor league outfielder Jordan Paroubeck.
There was enough time remaining in the 2015 season for a quick stop with the Quakes and eventually a promotion to Double-A to finish the year with the Drillers.
For Rancho Cucamonga, Dirks appeared in 10 innings over nine games, recording a 0.90 ERA and a .998 WHIP while ringing up 18 strikeouts and allowing just one earned run. He closed out the season by posting a 1.35 ERA, a .975 WHIP, and fanning 17 batters in just under 14 innings of work in Tulsa.
Still only 22 years old, his quick success in the minors earned him a non-roster invite to the Dodgers’ 2016 spring training camp in Glendale.
Dirks doesn’t throw as hard as Rhame, but can still dial up his heater to about 94 MPH consistently. He compliments his fastball with a solid average slider and changeup. He patterns all his pitches off his fastball, and throws everything from the same arm slot. He uses his 6’4″, 225 lb. frame to create a very unorthodox, yet deceptive delivery, employing a hop-like motion as he pushes off the rubber. He keeps the ball hidden until the very last moment of the release point. His fastball doesn’t have a ton of movement, but his location points are strong, nonetheless.
While he pitches toward the back of the bullpen in the minors, his upside is more likely that of a middle reliever when he’s called up to the bigs.
Dirks fought through back issues early in camp, and although he didn’t officially appear in any Cactus League games, he was able to log some very valuable bullpen sessions and simulated situations, with the likes of special assistant Greg Maddux, pitching coach Rick Honeycutt and bullpen coach Josh Bard watching him throw and offering feedback.
“I focused on trying to get ahead early in counts, and then with two strikes whether to go fastball up or to use my slider,” Dirks told Eric Stephen of True Blue LA. “For me the biggest thing is just getting ahead early and staying on the attack, not trying to be too fine around the zone, and not putting the hitters in hitters’ counts, because that’s when it can be difficult to pitch.”
Dirks was among the first wave of players cut and reassigned to minor league camp on Monday, but similar to any ambitious young hurler, found the spring experience to be invaluable. The opportunity to spend time with the big league coaching staff and veteran relievers like J.P. Howell, Kenley Jansen, Jamey Wright and Joe Blanton will prove to be extremely beneficial down the road.
Dirks will likely head to the Oklahoma City bullpen to begin the regular season, and depending on the health of the Dodgers’ relievers throughout the year, could conceivably see major league action at some point in 2016.
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It seems like it happens every single year. This year, it just happened a little bit later. The Dodgers go shopping and sign a handful of scrappy, veteran, middle relievers to help fill out what projected to be an extremely young bullpen.
Ned Colletti was notorious for this. The winter of 2010-11 comes to mind in particular, when the former GM went on a spree in an attempt to re-invent the relief corps, signing a group of veterans that were either unrecognized or weary from many years of service. A few of the players in the haul included Matt Guerrier, Merkin Valdez, Roman Colon, Ron Mahay, Jon Huber, Oscar Villarreal and Mike MacDougal. Although Guerrier and MacDougal generated a bit of success, most were non-roster invitees who persevered through spring training only to be sent packing upon the arrival of Opening Day.
Assembling the 2014 bullpen was one of the chief factors in Colletti’s demise as general manager. Overall, everyone not named Kenley Jansen, Chris Withrow or J.P. Howell performed horribly. The Dodgers paid former closers Brian Wilson $10 million, Chris Perez $2.3 million and Brandon League $8.5 million. The team’s $30-plus million bullpen contained several high profile names, but significantly less talent than there should have been at that price.
While acquiring a few veteran players for minimal dollars who are willing to teach and share experiences is always beneficial, spending lavishly on a laundry list of high-profile, prominent headliners past their primes always proves to be detrimental in the end.
Last season sparked a few memories, as one commonly wondered if Colletti, now a senior advsior to team president Stan Kasten, played a role building the pen with his antiquated beliefs and philosophies. The 2014-15 NRI relievers included David Aardsma, Mike Adams, Ryan Buchter, Chad Gaudin, David Huff, Ben Rowen and Sergio Santos. Huff and Santos were able to contribute on very small scales, while the others migrated away from Los Angeles and either retired or pursued other opportunities.
The 2016 offseason had a feel for the first time in years that the youth of the Dodgers’ organization would shoulder the brunt of the relief duties. At one point, a deal for flame-thrower Aroldis Chapman seemed like it would elevate the bullpen to an elite level; however, the front office eventually used its best judgement and declined a surefire trade, leaving the impression that the existing corps would need to fend for themselves.
Ultimately, the Dodgers would make only three notable free agent signings in efforts to strengthen the bullpen — Joe Blanton, Louis Coleman and Jamey Wright. The Blanton and Coleman deals were both one-year, MLB contracts, while the Wright signing was minor league in nature with an invite to spring training.
Wright, a 19-year major league veteran, has pitched with 10 teams, including two separate stints with the Dodgers. He had no offers from other clubs after being cut at the end of spring training by the Rangers last year.
Coleman appeared in just four games for the Royals in 2015, allowing no earned runs. The bulk of his season was spent in Triple-A Omaha, where he recorded a 1.69 ERA in 38 relief appearances, striking out 63 and walking 23 in 64 innings of work. In parts of five seasons with Kansas City, Coleman has a 3.20 ERA in 152 games, all in relief.
After posting a 6.04 ERA in 132 innings with the Angels in 2013, Blanton retired and was out of baseball for the entirety of the 2014 season. He rediscovered his mechanics last year and settled in as a reliever with the Royals before being dealt to the Pirates for cash at the trade deadline.
Although Blanton projects to play an active role as long man in the bullpen, the true value of all three of these veterans goes well beyond the numbers. They have an opportunity to exhibit professionalism, share real game experiences, offer advice on workout routines and critique pitching mechanics — things that the young pitchers in the organization need to develop their own personal acumens.
This is the part of baseball where all the sabermetric analysis in the world has no value.
A good friend of TBPC, Todd Boldizsar, had an opportunity to get up close and personal with Blanton, which further illustrates the wealth and knowledge a veteran player has to offer his teammates, especially young relievers like Jacob Rhame, Caleb Dirks, Chris Anderson and Jharel Cotton — all of whom are attending big league camp for the first time in their careers.
In the end, sometimes the few million dollars spent on contracts and the mediocre statistics should take a backseat to the valuable experience that these veterans possess, and most importantly, the desire and willingness they have to share with others on the squad.
After all, the youth in the Dodgers’ organization deserve nothing less.
(Photo Credit: dodgersnation.com)
Think Blue Planning Committee 