December 28th, 2019 at 8:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka It was a quiet, subtle post on Twitter on Wednesday, December 11, 2019 by ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan. And unless you are a big fan of the Oakland Athletics, chances are exceptionally good that it flew completely under the radar of many (most) Dodger fans:
To be fair, 31-year-old Blake Treinen is a very good relief pitcher, especially for a team in serious need of a very good relief pitcher – say, like, the Dodgers. In fact, over his six-year MLB career, the Wichita, KS native and seventh-round draft pick in 2011 by the A’s boasts a 26-22 career record with an exceptionally good 2.97 ERA. He was also an All-Star in 2018 with Oakland, when he finished sixth in the American League Cy Young voting.
A very good relief pitcher indeed.
(Photo credit – Tony Gutierrez)
Therein lies the problem. Of Treinen’s 345 career appearances, 338 were in relief, during which he earned 71 saves with 20 blown saves (78.0%). By comparison, 32-year-old Dodgers right-hander Kenley Jansen has 605 career appearances (zero starts), with 301 saves and 38 blown saves (88.8%).
Needless to say, despite his success as a closer and (Heaven forbid) absent a prolonged injury to Jansen, Treinen will not be the Dodgers closer. But what he undoubtedly will be is Jansen’s set-up man, a role that 31-year-old Dodgers right-hander Joe Kelly was supposed to fill but failed miserably at.
All of this said and with the loss of left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu to free agency and the likelihood that right-hander Kenta Maeda will be used primarily out of the Dodgers bullpen, the Dodgers are in desperate need of at least one and probably two starting pitchers before Opening Day on March 26, 2020.
The good news is that, barring a trade(s), the Dodgers will (probably) have 22-year-old right-hander Dustin May and 25-year-old right-hander Tony Gonsolin in their Opening Day starting rotation. They also have 22-year-old right-hander Josiah Gray down on the farm, who will probably receive an invitation to major league spring training camp this February. That being said, Gray, whose highest level to date was nine games (eight starts) at Double-A Tulsa, will more than likely begin the 2020 campaign at Triple-A Oklahoma City, although this is pure speculation.
With Opening Day 2020 exactly 89 days away (as of December 28), it is difficult – if not impossible – to believe that Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman will remain idle for the remainder of the offseason. And with nearly all of the premiere free-agent starting pitchers now off the table, acquiring one (or more) will have to be done via trade(s).
…and that is a terrifying thought for many (most) Dodger fans.
Stay tuned…
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They don’t need 2 more pitchers in the rotation. They need another stud to pair with Buehler. Kershaw is a #3, and if he’s the #2, not getting anywhere in the postseason.Hopefully Urias, May, or Gonslin step into that #2 spot and solve the problem. But that’s a lot to ask from those guys.
Pedro Baez still gets no respect, while being much better than Jansen and Kelly in 2019.
Baez has had a hard time shaking his past but you are quite right about him lately. He has given up HRs at the wrong times (assuming there is a right time) but he has not cornered the market there. The pen in general has had that problem.
Pitchers, good ones, are at a premium in the majors. For the Dodgers to trade for one would most certainly require them to overpay. No team is going to ‘give’ the Dodgers anything. With that said why not give Urias a shot first – he’s been waiting long enough- then see how May and Gonsolin do? They have as good a chance at doing well as anyone the team can pick up.
Improvements got to be done via trade? Not terrifying to me. This is an area the Friedman/Dodger Organization has shined the last few years.
We’ve picked up via trade some nice/important under the radar cheap jewels like, Yasmani Grandal, Kiki Hernandez, Chris Taylor and Alex Wood. Not to mention up and coming Josiah Gray and Jeter Downs.
But trades aren’t the only route to improve, there is still a lot of unheralded free-agents left. We’ve also struck gold in this department like, Brandon Morrow and Max Muncy.
We still have LOTS OF OPTIONS to improve on our 106 win 2019 team. Don’t forget we only lost Ryu, Hill, Freese and Martin.
We have money, prospects and MLB talent available for trades. We have a great scouting/medical department to analyze the comeback candidate free-agents like Alex Wood, Taijuan Walker and Rich Hill and a stocked minor league system with several players who might help in 2020.
Combine all that with a full year of May, Gonsolin, Smith, Lux and hopefully a healthy Verdugo has got me already feeling good about 2020.
But I admit, I am also looking forward, with anticipation not terror, to any moves the Dodgers might make between now and opening day.