The good news for Dodger fans: That long regional nightmare is over. Victories over the Giants on Saturday and Sunday in San Francisco removed the agony of that seven-game losing streak/offensive power outage, especially with four of those losses inflicted by the Houston Astros and the Giants.
The bad news: Tanner Scott, signed in the offseason to bolster the back end of the bullpen, has seven blown saves in 26 opportunities over the season’s first 97 games, including the lead he blew in the ninth inning on Sunday against the Giants. And he’s getting paid $11 million (plus $5 million of a signing bonus) this season, the first installment of a four-year, $72 million contract.
But hey, it’s only Guggenheim’s money.
Of the Dodgers’ MLB-leading $403 million payroll (for luxury tax purposes), $73.87 million remains on the injured list, with $55.37 million being paid to injured pitchers. Again, it could be worse: Tyler Glasnow ($30 million) is again active, and we are told that Blake Snell ($26 million) and Blake Treinen ($6 million) aren’t that far away.
The point: Do. Not. Overreact. It’s still just mid-July, and whether we’re talking activations from the injured list or trade deadline acquisitions it’s the long game that matters most with this club. The roster likely will look substantially different by the time they get to September and October.
Consider, for example, 2024. The Dodgers were 55-35 on July 6 and had a 7½-game lead in the division. Then they lost six of seven games right before the All-Star break – four losses in which starting pitchers gave up early leads, and two in Detroit right before the break decided in walk-off fashion when Yohan Ramirez (a) gave up a two-run homer to Gio Urshela in the 10th and (b) committed a throwing error allowing the winning run to score in the ninth.
At that point they were 56-41, the sky seemed to be falling, and yet they still had a seven-game lead in the NL West. They came out of the break with five straight victories, picked up Jack Flaherty, Tommy Edman and Michael Kopech at the trade deadline, and I think we all remember what happened the rest of the way.
So, again: Do. Not. Overreact. Hitters slump, sometimes collectively. Injuries happen. Ineffective players find their level – on the bench, say, or back in Triple-A. There are never any guarantees, true, but that goes for failure as well as success.
If you’re a fan, take your cue from the front office and play the long game. Treat each game as part of the mosaic of the season. Please don’t let a single loss – regardless of how or to whom – spoil the rest of your day.
That said, there are plenty of opinions as to how the Dodgers can attack the rest of this season while waiting for Max Muncy’s knee to heal. Is it worth moving Mookie Betts back to right field and Teoscar Hernández to left, where his defense isn’t as much of a liability? The upside would be an everyday spot for Hyeseong Kim at second base, with Miguel Rojas and Edman manning the left side of the infield until Muncy returns.
Is it, maybe, worth pursuing another starting pitcher before the trade deadline while waiting for arms to heal, as Andrew Friedman and Brandon Gomes did last year in acquiring Jack Flaherty? Sandy Alcántara and Seth Lugo are out there, as is Zac Gallen (although it’s unlikely the Diamondbacks would help a division rival). And old friends Tyler Anderson and Andrew Heaney are said to be available.
Then again, if the refrain in your household is “Oh, no, not Tanner Scott” when he comes in from the bullpen … well, I can’t blame you at this point.
I’ve written it often over the years: At one time or another, every fan base in the sport hates its team’s bullpen. Dodger fans haven’t had that feeling so much in recent seasons, but I would imagine that same apprehensive feeling in the pit of the stomach is back when Scott, or Kirby Yates (two blown saves in four opportunities), enters a game.
Feel free to root for the speedy-as-possible returns of Treinen (said to be soon after the All-Star break) and Kopech (who underwent surgery last week to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee and could be back some time in September), and maybe even Brusdar Graterol.
But it is hard to predict good health, especially in the current environment. The Dodgers have used 33 pitchers already this season – not counting Rojas and Kiké Hernández – with 11 on the injured list, and they’re not even the leaders in that department. The New York Mets have used more pitchers (35), and only two teams have used less than 20 full-time pitchers, the Giants (19) and the St. Louis Cardinals (18).
Or how about this statistic, gleaned from ESPN’s daily recap of injured list information: There are currently 165 pitchers on major league injured lists. Of those, 78 have elbow injuries and 28 either have had or are scheduled to have Tommy John surgery, including those who are getting close to returning. So it’s not just a Dodgers problem. (Down the 5 in Anaheim, the Angels have used 28 pitchers and have three on the injured list: Hunter Strickland, Robert Stephenson and Ben Joyce.)
And while it’s easy to presume that the Dodgers’ bullpen will be whole again when and if guys like Treinen, Kopech and (possibly) Graterol return, it’s only due diligence that Andrew Friedman and Brandon Gomes explore the possibilities leading up to the July 31 trade deadline.
So how about these ideas, if we’re just focusing on the bullpen: David Bednar from the Pittsburgh Pirates (13 saves, 2.53 ERA, 45 strikeouts in 32 innings), either Jhoan Durán (15 saves, 1.66, 49 strikeouts in 43.1 innings) or Griffin Jax (3.92 ERA but 66 strikeouts in 41 innings) from Minnesota, Ryan Helsley (19 saves, 3.21, 36 strikeouts in 33 innings) from the Cardinals … or if we’re wish-listing, how about Cleveland closer Emmanuel Clase (20 saves, 2.91, 42 strikeouts in 43 innings)?
And bonus points if Friedman and Gomes swipe someone either the Padres’ A.J. Preller or the Giants’ Buster Posey, or both, are pursuing. Hey, this is a tough division.
jalexander@scng.com
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