When the Dodgers elected not to re-sign veteran right-hander Brandon Morrow following the 2017 season, they did so knowing full well that they were letting one of – if not the – best set-up men in the game go.

All the 33-year-old Santa Rosa, California native and 2006 first-round draft pick out of UC Berkeley did was post a 6-0 record and a minuscule 2.06 ERA for the 2017 National League champions as the set-up man for Dodgers All-Star closer Kenley Jansen.

The problem is that Morrow became a free agent following Game-7 of the 2017 World Series and deservedly wanted to be a closer himself (and earn closer money) following his outstanding season. This, of course, was something that Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Farhan Zaidi were unwilling to do, having already locked up Jansen to an enormous five-year / $80 million contract a year earlier to be the Dodgers closer through the 2021 season.

As a result, the extremely popular soft-spoken right-hander unceremoniously left the Dodgers and signed a lucrative two-year / $21 million contract (with a $12 million vesting option or three million dollar buyout for a third year) with the Chicago Cubs.

Losing Brandon Morrow was a huge blow to the Dodgers’ bullpen … and a huge gain to the Cubs’.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

As if to add insult to injury, all Morrow has done thus far in 2018 is post an 0-0 record with a ridiculous 1.50 ERA in the 13 games in which he has appeared for the north siders. He also has seven saves as the Cubs closer, while blowing only one. Jansen, on the other hand, is 0-1 with an unsightly 4.97 ERA with five saves and two blown saves in the 13 games in which he has appeared in thus far in 2018.

Simply put, the Cubs got exactly what they paid for when they signed Brandon Morrow, while the Dodgers are paying Jansen $10 million this season and will pay him $56 million over the next three seasons for what has been (to this point, at least) unacceptable performance as the Dodgers closer.

But Jansen isn’t the only struggling Dodger reliever through the first six weeks of the season. In fact, including Jansen, the Dodgers currently have three relievers with ERAs over four. One of those is Pedro Baez who, for reasons known only to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, continues to be utilized as Jansen’s set-up man; this in spite of his 0-1 record and 4.02 ERA.

While all of this has been going on with the NL West fourth-place 15-19 Dodgers, 27-year-old right-hander Yimi Garcia, who was finally called up to the Dodgers this past Thursday in advance of the three-game series with the San Diego Padres in Monterrey, Mexico, and who has finally worked his way back from Tommy John surgery in October of 2016, has been nothing short of sensational in the three games he has appeared in thus far with the Dodgers.

How sensational, you ask? Well, aside from being the third pitcher in last Friday night’s combined no-hitter, the first in Dodgers franchise history and only the 12th in MLB history, he has yet to allow an earned run and has given up only three hits, with no walks and two strikeouts in his 2.1 innings pitched thus far.

Garcia struck out two of the three batters he faced in last Friday night’s combined no-hitter, including Padres second baseman Jose Pirela to end the eighth inning. (Video capture courtesy of SportsNet LA)

Obviously, 2.1 innings pitched is a ridiculously small sample size to evaluate the Moca, Dominican Republic native, who was signed by the Dodgers as an amateur free agent on January 29, 2009. But it takes but one quick glance at the 6′-1″ / 220-pound hard-throwing right-hander to see that he has excellent command and control all of his pitches, especially his 95-97 MPH fastball and his absolutely filthy breaking ball.

Messrs. Walker Buehler, Tony Cingrani, Yimi Garcia, and Adam Liberatore tossed the first combined no-hitter in franchise history last Friday night at Estadio de Béisbol in Monterrey, Mexico.
(Photo credit – Jon SooHoo)

In other words, the Dodgers now have the perfect set-up man for closer Kenley Jansen.

…they just don’t realize it yet.