Right-handed Joe Kelly Despite expressing a desire to pitch this year, he did not sign anywhere during the offseason. Robert Murray of Per persed, Kelly will soon throw for the Dodgers to see if the club is willing to give him a deal.
Kelly, 37, pitched for the Dodgers from 2019 to 2021, and then went from the 2023 deadline to the end of 2024. The first one is ahead of the second one. From 2019 to 2021, Kelly scored an average running speed of 3.59 in 105 1/3 innings. He beat 26.9% of the batsmen and got the ground with 59.9% of the clips.
In 2023, he threw only 10 1/3 of the innings for the Dodgers, spending some time on the injured roster due to inflammation in the forearm. Last year, a right shoulder injury caused him to fall into IL multiple times. He shot 32 innings with a 4.78 ERA, 24.5% strikeout rate and 47.1% ground rate. That shoulder prevented him from pitching in the playoffs.
Although he wants to come back this year, he doesn’t seem to give himself a lot of bargaining leverage. He told Foul Territory last month, “If I come back healthy and I only play for one team, it’s the Dodgers.”
Since he was not signed, he didn’t seem particularly interested, although they may be more open to it now. They have recently placed Tanner Scott,,,,, Michael Copci and Evan Phillips On IL. Phillips underwent surgery by Tommy John and completed it for a year. Kopech had meniscus surgery and was going out for a while. Scott seems to have just been inflamed in the elbow, but he is in the early stages of IL. Brusdar Graterol After having shoulder surgery last year, there is still no pitch this year. Blake Treinen Because of the tightness of the forearm, just returned from the lengthy IL work.
These injuries put the Dodgers into the bullpen upgrade market by this year’s deadline. Kelly will be uncertain due to his age, recent shoulder troubles and the fact that he hasn’t pitched this year. Even if he signs, he may be sent to the escalation period for minors. He won’t fix their bullpen problem, he won’t be the only move they’ve taken in the department, but you can never pitch and he wants to play for them. He should get low-cost deals, maybe even minor league agreements.
Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images
