The Los Angeles Dodgers have declined the $12MM club option for Joe Kelly for the 2022 season, per the team. The right-hander will receive a $4MM buyout and head to the open market, though a return to LA is certainly a possibility.
Kelly was hurt in his last appearance this postseason after serving as an opener. The pain “stemmed from the musculocutaneous nerve in Kelly’s arm,” per Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times. He is expected to resume a throwing program in six weeks, so he should have no problem getting ready for opening day.
Kelly and his mustache had a solid season in relief for the Dodgers. The 33-year-old appeared in 48 games, tossed 44 innings, and put up a 2.86 ERA/3.08 FIP. The power righty picked up a pair of saves and 13 holds while striking out a robust 27.5 percent of batters and walking a league-average 8.2 percent. He’ll be an attractive option for a contender given his postseason and high leverage experience.
Goat.
Scape goat but nowhere near GOAT reliever. Solid , dependable, high end but not in the same category Mo Rivera!
Yeah because he was totally serious in saying Kelly > Rivera, Hoffman, etc.
We’ve got you to interpret so there’s that.
Def did not mean that lol
I remember when this guy threw 102 for the Red Sox. He’s still in the high 90’s (albeit too many walks) and will potentially be a good late inning guy for somebody.
Lol
Come back to the Cards bro.
He probably wants to win another championship
I wonder what Mr lol thinks…
This is kind of a strange decision at first glance especially from a team with payroll like the Dodgers have. Wouldn’t an 8 million dollar net option seem like a slam dunk for a guy who performed as well as he did last season?
Not necessarily. The Dodgers need to get their payroll back in order and have to start somewhere. I would rather see them bring Knebel back though I’m prepared to lose him as well. Bullpen-wise, the priority needs to be Jansen. After all that he’s been through physically, the dedication he showed in re-inventing himself as a pitcher is inspiring Of all the Dodgers’ free agents, Jansen tops my list of those they need to re-sign. It wouldn’t surprise me if they lost all of them. Still a playoff team but a bit of a retool.
I think you let Jansen go and use Graterol as he’s got the gas and let him and Knebel do 8th and 9th..
Correct.
Graterol in the future but at this point is unproven. If they plan on contending in 2022, it’s got to be Jansen closing. Keep the bullpen largely intact with Jansen, Treinen, Graterol, Bickford and Kahnle from the right side and Vesia, Bruihl, Gonzalez and Ferguson from the left. White, Jackson, and Phillips are also in the mix. Getting Kahnle and Ferguson will give them enormous flexibility. Treinen can close if Jansen leaves, though it wouldn’t be my preference. Not a bad option, though, and they can groom Graterol to take over eventually. Some people harp on Graterol’s lack of strikeouts, but he has begun to do a good job of inducing grounders.
Graterol is definitely not ready for the closer role. He is a work in progress, maybe.
BlueSkies, It should be an interesting winter for the Dodgers. How do you see it playing out? There are pros and cons to re-signing each of the free agents, with Seager perhaps being beyond their control.
It’s going to be a challenging winter. If they were simply trying to retain the core of the team from the last few years it would probably push payroll north of $300M. I don’t see them going there, do you? So that means finding some cheaper substitutes, such as they tried to do with McKinstry instead of Hernandez. That didn’t work out very well but I have a feeling they’re going to try again, let Taylor go and try to make Lux into the new Taylor. I believe they are going to bring Kershaw back but that still leaves big holes in the rotation and the entire time the Bauer disaster will be huge distraction. That’s gonna get a lot worse before it gets better, I think.
My Bauer concern was Kasten throwing Friedman under the bus over the vetting process and who was ultimately responsible for the signing taking place. The Alanna Rizzo situation raised a red flag for me, even though the offending parties are apparently no longer in MLB.
Otherwise, I wondered how Bauer’s presence affected the clubhouse. Buehler was app[aently the main guy who tried to make him feel comfortable. That, I think, is to Buehler’s credit. Still, guys need to fit into a clubhouse for the whole thing to work, and I don’t mean in regard to political and social issues. As fans, we’ve become fond of looking at WAR and advanced stats in assessing a player’s importance. What the absence of Hernandez and Pedersen taught us in 2021 is that it’s not just about the numbers. The human element and intangibles are important. When Yimi Garcia was let go, I worried about Pedro Baez because Garcia was his best friend on the team. There’s so much that we as fans don’t see or know about.
As good as the team was, it felt different watching them in 2021. Even though they were incredibly successful, blemishes revealed themselves. The infield defense is a major concern for me. Bellinger, who knows? A perplexing player since his defensive remained elite. At the plate, it sometimes seems like he’s not seeing the ball. He will become the father of a little girl near the end of this month. Who knows what runs through a person’s mind. His bouncing back would solve some problems, but wouldn’t hide the majority of them. We’ll see. These will be interesting months for our team.
Cey hey. What happen with Alanna? She seems to have a good relationship with the players, and I like when she interviewed them in Spanish to the latin players. Saw her working in another station. Thanks
pepenas34, google her name and harassment.
The issue going forward with Bauer is that unlike everyone else who has ever faced a suspension under the joint policy, he is unlikely to come to terms with his own errors of judgment, accept a negotiated penalty, and move on, possibly saving his career. Instead he is likely to be the first player to fight a suspension, so (unless he is charged by the DA) this promises to be a long, nasty battle. The Dodgers won’t have much directly to do with it but it will be a distraction and create uncertainty. I don’t know who green-lighted that signing but somebody deserves to hang by their thumbs for it. It isn’t as if the warning signs were not there, they just decided to blow right through them. Not going to happen. Front offices never fire themselves.
Cey Hey: could not disagree more about Jansen. Great to see him have a good year but there are a couple of Dodger free agents that need to be signed before him. Taylor, Scherzer, and, yes Seager.
I wouldn’t touch Scherzer and think Seager has always been 100% gone. Taylor’s versatility will make him a hot item, which will make it difficult to re-sign him. With a shortage of quality center fielders, there will be teams who see him playing the position full-time.
Jansen will also have his share of suitors. Apart from Hader, no closer was better than Jansen in 2021. Over the last couple of months, no one was better. The team has a number of concerns and you can bet Friedman has a master plan. The one I didn’t get was bringing in Bauer. Character concerns aside, it was weird that they gave the highest annual salary to a newcomer. It seemed very un-Friedman-like at the time.
I agree Cey I think (hope) Seager is gone –
What Id like – Offense
Seager- No
Taylor- Maybe, if somebody goes huge for him (and they probably will ) I could/would pass
Albert- Sadly No, even w the possible DH. Loved him for 21 tho
Pitchers-
Jansen- Probably yes 4/64 would be my high bar tho
Kershaw- Its happening but proably lower than most people would expect. This one goes far beyond the pale and I think both parties leave happy afterwards. Nothing to see here
Max- I’m going No here, spread that 30 out to a buncha Wood/Hills etc etc etc
Knebel -I hope so 2/12? 2/14 …Id ink that
So a lotta No’s basically, I as well want to reel in the payroll this year and then the books would be pretty solid moving forward
Id like to ink 2-3 cheap outside org Sps and then probably only room for 1~2 Rp arms(wishfully they could go multiple inns) … Not too much on offense over the bargain bin, someone who can adequately play 3b here and there would be a boon and a playable 4th Of type w some speed hopefully
@ Cap & Crunch, Lots of good thoughts there. Infield defense and starting pitching depth will be areas to shore up. And yes, the books need to be in order. They need to be If we’re going to continue getting the contender-type teams we’re accustomed to. Keep the standards high.
The problems with the SPs are Dustin May probably won’t be back until about August, Bobby Miller isn’t quite ready, and Gonsolin has yet to establish himself. That leaves Buehler, Urias, the likelihood of Kershaw re-signing, and a couple of holes that could become craters if anyone gets hurt. A season cluttered with bullpen games would be troublesome, even though the pen is quite deep.
We’re in agreement on 3B, outfield depth, and speed. The future 3B I’ve been tracking is Miguel Vargas. I’ve never seen him play, but he has statistically exceeded expectations every step of the way. I don’t know about his defense. With Hoese struggling badly, Vargas figures to get a shot at some point. Rios can play there, but I’d like to see someone who truly enhances the defense. We’ve been spoiled by the defensive flexibility provided by Taylor and Hernandez in recent years. If someone got hurt or needed a rest, there was always a quality glove to step in.
Dodgers have a ton of payroll space and even more if Bauer gets a year long suspension. Wouldn’t be shocked at all if Scherzer, Kershaw and a big bat all get signed.
That payroll space is a mirage. Just to keep the same team in place as last year would push the payroll higher, much higher. With the farm pretty much exhausted they have no obvious path to becoming both cheaper and better, or even about as good. Been saying for awhile now that it looks like rough sledding ahead, and I believe that moment has arrived.
Dodgers will get some guy off the scrap heap to do what Kelly can do in 2022. Someone like Evan Phillips for example. They need that $8 million elsewhere.
“Kelly and his mustache had a solid season in relief for the Dodgers.”
So good
Made me look back at the thumbnail and Yaa that’s a nice stach
The mustache should make an MLB comeback.
The adult film industry agrees with you but the New York Yankees do not.
Sox plz
Dodgers are not going to bring him back – there are many other choices to go after, maybe the savings moves to Jansen.
They have some hurlers in minors that they can move up.
The potential for disaster that could be signing Kelly to another multi-year deal just has to have Mets written all over it
Braves could use Kelly
Kelly will easily catch on somewhere. I’m thinking LA may have made a mistake on this. I also hope Kelly comes back to STL, He’s better than anyone the Cardinals have now.
Back to throwing baseballs through his windows I suppose.
A surprise decision by dodgers to decline option on an insured player. Their roster last season was full of them.
I’m in agreement with TC Zencka. His mustache did have a solid season. A contender next year will definitely find it an appealing option.
Unless it’s the Yankees
His costume budget is inching up to 2mil though…
The Dodgers come out ahead if they sign him for anything less than $8M. I don’t think he’s coming back regardless.
Id give him 4 on top of the dead 4 he’s already making at most
That’s pending a couple team physicals ofc
Joe probably didn’t provide 24 million dollars worth of value on the field for the Dodgers but I think he about breaks even when you count the laughs he gave us over the last 3 years.
Great memories Joe, best of luck
Now if anyone didn’t see this coming then they’re blind as can be especially with the arm issues that Joe Kelly experienced this last season & his season ending arm injury during the playoffs.
Keep in mind just because the Dodgers declined Joe’s option doesn’t mean he won’t be in Dodger Blue next season
When the Dodgers were awesome is when they had joc, Kiki and Taylor as extras. Now they are not as deep and if showed in the playoffs. They had guys taking at bats after turner got hurt that I have never heard of. The key has been the depth and lux and Mcinstry and Beatty are not the same. Got to have the depth.
Yankees should hire Kelly and Correa – to create a very energetic team with Judge. Let’s Get Ready to Rumble! Baseball requires more emotional activities.
I bet you Bloom will try to sign him. Joe Kelly fits his pedigree of high strikeout guys.
Kelly probably won’t be back in LA. Dodgers were smart to sign Kanle last year he will finally be healthy for next season.