An early look at the 2025 Bullpen

[sportsfan8703]

The 2025 bullpen looks like a real strength.

R - Bautista, Cano, Dominguez, Webb

L - Coloumbe, Soto, Perez, Akin

I like having the 4 lefties with the WALL and that should be enough for the regular season.  It allows us to really matchup and take advantage of our ballpark.

That’s a pen with 4 former All Stars.

I believe Akin will still have an option since he made it through the season without burning his last one.  He’d be the guy to go down to AAA for a longman/fresh arm when needed.

Maybe we get our lightning in a bottle reliever throwing near 100 in McDermott or Morfe later in the year.

I don’t think we see much turnover here.  However, I could see Elias electing not to bring back Soto for flexibility reasons, more so than salary reasons.  Could we actually “sell” Soto for something of value?

[Sports Guy]

I wouldn’t call that a “real strength”.

Trade Perez and get a better arm to replace him.

[DrinkinWithFermi]

I would probably get rid of Perez before Soto.

[Ripken]

Guys get hurt.  They still need to add a good late inning reliever.

[Just Regular]

I might be more tempted to put a substantial investment on a top setup guy than a RHH platoon partner for an outfielder.

Tanner Scott and Jeff Hoffman probably far beyond that.    Scott struck Ohtani out all 5 times, and wow will his agent pump that up.

Blake Treinen, Paul Sewald, Daniel Hudson or Yimi Garcia?     Assuming it doesn't play out that guys like Treinen and Hudson are a private talent list only accessible to the Dodgers.

One of the differences between Astroball and Raysian baseball for me is Houston has done more to get 8 deep with relievers good enough you actually want to keep them around all year.     The shuttle to Norfolk might quiet down a little next year if the A list stays healthy.

The story no matter who the smaller players are will be how well Felix can return.    The legend might be gone.

[DirtyBird]

36 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Maybe we get our lightning in a bottle reliever throwing near 100 in McDermott or Morfe later in the year.

Does McDermott throw near 100?

[Sports Guy]

You need one legit upgrade to this pen. You can’t return the same pen and just replace Kimbrel with Bautista.

We need another high leverage guy. We also shouldn’t assume Bautista will come back and be perfectly healthy and as good as he was.

[btdart20]

8 minutes ago, Just Regular said:

I might be more tempted to put a substantial investment on a top setup guy than a RHH platoon partner for an outfielder.

Tanner Scott and Jeff Hoffman probably far beyond that.    Scott struck Ohtani out all 5 times, and wow will his agent pump that up.

Blake Treinen, Paul Sewald, Daniel Hudson or Yimi Garcia?     Assuming it doesn't play out that guys like Treinen and Hudson are a private talent list only accessible to the Dodgers.

One of the differences between Astroball and Raysian baseball for me is Houston has done more to get 8 deep with relievers good enough you actually want to keep them around all year.     The shuttle to Norfolk might quiet down a little next year if the A list stays healthy.

The story no matter who the smaller players are will be how well Felix can return.    The legend might be gone.

This is the way with wiggle room in the RHH platoon debate.  Good observation on the Astrball and Raysian approach to the last few BP arms.

[btdart20]

I agree with the OP in general.  BP will be a strength (top 10) as a floor and a chance for difference making (top 3) with a Bautista bounceback and a plus FA.

[MarCakes21]

1 hour ago, DrinkinWithFermi said:

I would probably get rid of Perez before Soto.

Agree.  I actually dislike Perez (and somewhat Cano) in that they seem to not fit in with the bullpen guys.  The rest of the guys walk out together, throw some balls to fans, play a game pregame.  These guys walk out as our fielders take the field.  Like they're better than the rest.  And we know Perez isn't.

[DrinkinWithFermi]

28 minutes ago, MarCakes21 said:

Agree.  I actually dislike Perez (and somewhat Cano) in that they seem to not fit in with the bullpen guys.  The rest of the guys walk out together, throw some balls to fans, play a game pregame.  These guys walk out as our fielders take the field.  Like they're better than the rest.  And we know Perez isn't.

I've never really noticed that (but I wasn't paying attention to it either), I just think Soto has better stuff and is much more likely to be a dominant bullpen arm for us next year than Perez.

[Spy Fox]

Next year's team needs a more dominant bullpen build because the rotation probably won't be as good as it was this year. 

Bautista goes a long way, and Soto/Dominguez help, but they do need one more guy I think. I can see a pen of only returning guys being very good, if Bautista is himself, but you need an insurance policy for that.