Los Angeles Dodgers: 2019 Christmas Wish List
Add starting pitching and bullpen help
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The Los Angeles Dodgers rotation is not as deep as it should be right now. They have only one true dominant pitcher, Walker Buehler, and then have Clayton Kershaw, Kenta Maeda, and Julio Urias behind him.
The Dodgers’ big worry is that they will lose Hyun-Jin Ryu, who was second in the Cy Young award race last year behind Jacob deGrom. Ryu signed with the Toronto Blue Jays for $80 million over 4 years.
Ryu has a lot of interest, as he is the best starter remaining on the market so what are Los Angeles’ other options on the market?
They could go get Aaron Sanchez or Taijuan Walker to be in the back of the rotation, but they could look more internally to guys like Dustin May—if he doesn’t get traded.
As for the bullpen, it has gotten a little bit of a boost through the Blake Treinen signing, but there could still be some work to do there. After Kenley Jansen, Joe Kelly, Treinen, and Pedro Baez there aren’t many reliable arms considering Dave Roberts wasn’t comfortable in going to Adam Kolerak to get Juan Soto out in Game 5 of the NLDS.
Some external options in the relief market include Dellin Betances, Cody Allen, and Daniel Hudson. A Betances and/or Cody Allen signing would mirror a Blake Treinen signing–a low risk and high reward one-year deal–while Daniel Hudson proved last postseason with the Washington Nationals that he can close out big games under the big lights.