On Friday Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Farhan Zaidi continued their bargain hunting in search of pitching depth hoping to replace reliever Brandon Morrow and (presumably) starting pitcher Yu Darvish, both of whom became free agents following the Dodgers crushing loss to the Houston Astros in game-7 of the 2017 World Series; a loss the was charged to Darvish.

As every Dodger fan knows by now, Morrow recently signed a 2-year / $21 million contract (with a vesting option for a third year) with the Chicago Cubs to fill the role of closer for the Northsiders. And even though the 33-year-old Santa Rosa, California native was a major reason why the Dodgers were even in the World Series with their MLB-best 104 wins to tie a franchise record, they simply could not justify paying Morrow a closer’s salary – which he very much earned – to be the set-up man for the best closer in the game in Kenley Jansen. The Dodgers signed Jansen to a lofty 5-year / $80 million contract on January 10, 2017 which runs through the 2021 season.

In an effort to dump a significant portion of their MLB-leading payroll to avoid yet another year of paying an MLB-leading luxury tax, the Dodgers recently traded veterans Adrian Gonzalez, Brandon McCarthy, Scott Kazmir and extremely popular utility infielder Charlie Culberson to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for former Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp. And even though Kemp is still owed $43 million over the next two seasons, the Dodgers have hinted that if they are unable to find a trade partner for him, they may choose to designate him for assignment and hope that he signs a free agent deal with some other team to at least give them some relief on the money that they still owe the now 33-year-old Midwest City, Oklahoma native.

In the meantime, F&Z signed 31-year-old free agent right-hander Tom Koehler to a team-friendly, incentive laden 2-year / $2 million contract – a mere pittance by today’s standards – with hopes of catching Brandon Morrow-type lightning in a bottle.

And then on Friday, the Dodgers picked up former top-50 prospect Henry Owens, who had been placed on waivers by the Arizona Diamondbacks earlier in the day to make room on their 40-man roster for Japanese phenom reliever Yoshihisa Hirano, whom they signed to a two-year contract rumored to be in the $6 million range.

Although the 25-year-old left-handed Owens, a native of Orange, California and a former first-round draft pick by the Boston Red Sox in 2011 out of Edison High School in Huntington Beach, California, has had his moments of greatness and was at one time ranked the 19th-best prospect in baseball,  he struggled with his control in the 16 starts he made for Boston during the 2015 and 2016 seasons, posting a 4-6 record and 5.19 ERA. But of greater concern were the 44 walks he issued in his 85.0 innings pitched while striking out 71. He also allowed 12 home runs during his brief stint in the majors, all of which led to a demotion first to the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox but eventually down to the Double-A Portland (Maine) Sea Dogs.

But it was during his time with the Sea Dogs, a time when Owens was undoubtedly feeling pretty miserable about his fall from grace, that he reinvented himself … and remarkably so.

“I could not be prouder of him. He’s come in and has done whatever he has to do to get better instead of complaining about being back in Double-A,” Sea Dogs manager Carlos Febles told Portland Press Herald staff writer Kevin Thomas this past September. “He made the commitment and has worked his butt off.”

What Owens did was completely alter his delivery from over the top to more of a sidearm delivery at the direction and under the watchful eye of of Sea Dogs pitching coach Kevin Walker.

“There is still a lot of work to do and he knows that,” said Walker.

Changing from an over-the-top delivery to a sidearm delivery at this stage of his career is a major adjustment for Owens. It will be interesting to see what Dodgers veteran pitching coach Rick Honeycutt can do with the 25-year-old Southern California native. (Photo credit – Jonathan Dyer and Matt Stone)

Obviously, confidence is a huge part of that ‘sill a lot of work to do’ thing and completely altering his delivery was a major adjustment for the young lefty. Is Owens comfortable with it?

“Every single start has felt a little better or more comfortable,” Owens told Walker. “Even just playing catch every day it feels more natural.”

But Owens’ struggles continued during the prestigious Arizona Fall League, to which he was invited this past August. In fact, he walked five batters in his first two innings pitched for the Peoria Javelinas in his AFL debut. That being said, he walked only three total batters over his final three starts in 13 innings pitched.

Unfortunately for the young Southern California native, the Red Sox needed to make room on their 40-man roster and placed Owens on waivers this past week. The good news however is that he was immediately picked up by the Dbacks. The bad news is that they, too, needed a roster spot when they signed Hirano late last week and for the second time in four days, Owens was placed on waivers … but not for long. Within a matter of minutes, Owens was claimed by the Dodgers.

Although there has been no word from the Dodgers brass as to their intended use of Owens, he gives them yet another potential long reliever / spot starter option.

Let the bargain-hunting continue.