By all appearances it looked as though Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman and General Manager Farhan Zaidi did pretty well at the July 31 trade deadline. Although the two analytics gurus did land two starting pitchers – Mat Latos from the Miami Marlins and Alex Wood from the Atlanta Braves – they missed out on the bigger fish – Cole Hamels, David Price and Johnny Cueto.

Friedman and Zaidi also acquired left-hander Luis Avilan and right-hander Jim Johnson from the Braves and again, by all appearances, it looked as though the pair had shored up the Dodgers greatest weakness – their bullpen. And though the jury is still out on Latos and Wood, the early returns on Avilan and Johnson have been less than favorable.

Luis Avilan

Since joining the club, Avilan is 0-0 with a 4.50 ERA in his two appearances thus far. And while it is absolutely insane to base his value to the team after only two innings of work, Avilan has allowed one run on two hits with two walks and one strikeout. But Dodger fans are a fickle bunch. They expect immediate results from players, especially pitchers, acquired at the trade deadline with a little over nine weeks remaining in the season.

To his credit, Avilan pitched himself into and out of a jam in Friday night’s heartbreaking 5-4 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates. I mean he did the Houdini act of all Houdini acts.

With no outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, Avilan was brought in with a runner on first base. He promptly gave up a single to Pirates pinch-hitter Francisco Cervelli and walked first baseman Sean Rodriguez to load the bases with no outs. He then induced two ground ball force outs at the plate by catcher Chris Stewart and pinch-hitter Neil Walker and got right fielder Gregory Polanco to ground out to first to miraculously escape the inning unscathed. It was indeed a fine piece of work by the 26-year-old Caracas, Venezuela native.

Jim Johnson

Newcomer Jim Johnson didn’t fair so well. Appearing in his third game since joining the team, the 32-year-old Johnson City, NY native pitched a scoreless ninth inning on Friday night thanks to a 6-4-3 double play after a one-out walk to Pirates slugger Andrew McCutchen. But in the bottom of the 10th inning, Johnson walked Pirates shortstop Jung Ho Kang, gave up a single to Cervelli and a bunt single to Rodriguez to load the bases with no outs. Hoping to catch lightning in a bottle, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly brought in left-hander J.P. Howell to face Pirates left-handed pinch-hitter Pedro Alvarez.

It didn’t happen.

Facing a five-man infield, Alvarez lined a single down the right field line (that would have been a double under normal circumstances) for the walk-off win. The Dodgers lost without recording an out in the inning.

The Dodgers don’t have the time for Luis Avilan and Jim Johnson to get good.
(Video capture courtesy of SportsNet LA)

In his three innings of work since join the Dodgers, Johnson is 0-1 with 12.00 ERA. He has already blown a save, lost a game and has allowed four runs on five hits while walking two and striking out five. His batting average against is .385 and his WHIP an atrocious 2.33 and is the polar opposite of what the Dodgers needed to bolster their troubled bullpen. But here again, it is absolutely insane to base Johnson’s value to the team after only three innings of work.

The problem is the Dodgers simply do not have time to wait for Avilan and Johnson to get better. It needs to happen immediately – if not sooner.