TODAY: It seems as though Duffy’s setback may not have been all that serious, as he officially began his minor league rehab assignment today by tossing an inning for the Dodgers’ Arizona Complex League team. While it remains to be seen how long it will take Duffy to ramp up, it looks like there could still be some hope that he pitches in the majors before the season is out.
AUGUST 16: Dodgers left-hander Danny Duffy suffered a recent setback in his rehab from a flexor injury, manager Dave Roberts announced to reporters (Twitter link via The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya). While the Dodgers aren’t completely ruling Duffy out for as an option down the stretch, Roberts conceded that it is “pretty unlikely” that Duffy will pitch in a game this year.
The setback — Duffy experienced “discomfort” when facing live hitters — is the latest in a series of health woes that have combined to keep Duffy off a Major League mound since July 16, 2021. The Dodgers are clearly intrigued by Duffy’s solid track record and perhaps by a raw arsenal they feel they can better maximize than the Royals were able to over the course of Duffy’s 11-year tenure there; Los Angeles traded for Duffy at last year’s deadline (despite him being on the injured list at the time) and re-signed him to a one-year, $3MM deal with a team option for the 2023 season this past winter.
Prior to the season, Duffy voiced a belief that he could be back on a Major League mound sometime in June. The plan was to bring him back as a relief pitcher, at least for the current season, though a return to the rotation in ’23 might have been in the cards had things gone according to plan. That, of course, didn’t happen, and it’s difficult to imagine a world where the Dodgers pick up a $7MM club option on him. In all likelihood, that option will be turned down and Duffy will again set out into free agency. If the team remains intrigued by the idea of Duffy taking the mound at Dodger Stadium, they could always circle back and show interest in bringing him aboard on a smaller guarantee or a minor league deal.
Duffy, 34 in December, has never pitched for a team other than the Royals, despite now technically spending a season and a half as a member of the Dodgers. He’s made 204 big league starts plus another 30 relief appearances, at times flashing signs of brilliance but also struggling with inconsistency. From 2014-17, Duffy logged 612 innings and pitched to a 3.47 ERA with a 21% strikeout rate and 7.4% walk rate. On the whole, he carries a 3.95 ERA in 1172 1/3 innings at the big league level.
don’t think anyone had much in the way of realistic hopes of seeing him pitch
btw what does he even look like?
If you click on his name in the article, you can see his picture. Assuming they actually linked Danny Duffy’s BR profile, and not Matt Duffy, or Danny Darwin.
What a shame for a team that’s already won 80 games
The LAD pitching staff is so deep the distance farther than 13.8 billion light-years because of the Universe’s expansion, but it’s still finite. However, we cannot reach all of it
LAD is the only team that can lose by itself
well, i am sure AF is scouring the RP market to find BP reinforcements while his IL regains their strength. ken giles, anybody??? or brad peacock?
After his wife made him leave the house, he looked for an apartment and left a lot of his things. When he went to retrieve them, most were in the garbage and the others he had to bid on during an online auction.
I was on a work assignment in Kansas City years ago and witnessed a woman taking a man’s property into and around a condo dumpster. Other residents were carrying off all they could. In the end, he’s better off.
Andrew Friedman shouldn’t have traded Mitch White. He should have remembered from last year that they can never have enough depth pitching!
I’ll miss White in years to come but he wasn’t much a factor for the remaining of 2022
Getting Frasso for him was a fleece. Friedman did well
Bobby Miller to the rescue
Never been much a fan of these broken toy contracts-
Started with Kaz and BMC ofc
Morrow worked Ok, but the Kahlne Duffy Nelson crew have really provided more roster headaches than anything else. Would like to see us get away from these contracts a tad moving forward and just start promoting the kids (who have had an Excellent year down below as a group)
You forgot the fiasco of signing Cole Hammels to replace Bauers after his suspension. That worked out well.
Fiasco? LAD wasn’t exactly relying on Hamels for anything.
I strongly disagree. Any team running a payroll north of 150M should be willing to risk 5% of the total payroll to talented long shots
Even if you count the overage taxes against him, he’s about a 4M sunk cost. For a team over 200M in payroll, that’s 2%. For the shot he pitches like Tyler Anderson this year? Well worth it
MCcourt- I’m more concerned about the roster spot, and time spent developing that coulda gone to a Yency Almonte type than the cash
There’s also the aspect of never really knowing how deep/how healthy you are
Think the kids will take care of this organically tho on the 40 come next year
I have to agree. These long shots rarely pay off. Someone is liable to say they don’t have to pay off very often to be worth taking, but I’m not so sure of that. Every choice comes at a cost. The cost can be dollars, or other resources, or other options not pursued. That said, they had good reason to believe Kahnle would work out. Duffy and Nelson, not so much.
LAD should cut bait on this guy this winter. Has yet to take the mound for them over a season and a half. 2023 would be just another year of setbacks and new injuries
I can see why LA is intrigued with him. Whether it’s them or another team, he will be on a roster in 2023. If healthy, looks like one heck of a set up candidate to get to the closer. 50/50 Blue keeps him around.
Duffy is apparently not meant to wear a Dodger uniform
Maybe he does, around the house.
I read Danny Duffy but thought Darren Dreifort.
Nice try, but a really poor comparison. Notwithstanding neither guy performed up to what management hoped, their stories are quite dissimilar.
Obviously I’m not making a sincere comparison, but you took it literally.
Fair enough and I apologize for being what seems like an overly critical comment. It’s just that I remember Darren Dreifort, painfully. Arod was taken with the pick before we took Dreifort. Players drafted after Dreifort include Chris Carpenter, Billy Wagner, Derek Lee, Tori Hunter, Jason Varitek. Danny Duffey cost us nothing but pocket change.
Dreifort owes the Dodgers a lot of money for a lot of nothing he gave them after signing an extension. He’s 50 now but has had 17 years off so there’s no reason he can’t give them some innings
Someone list all of the Dodgers pitchers on the IL.
Its amazing that they still have a team that can win/dominate games.
Buehler
Kershaw
Duffy
Treinen
Hudson
Graterol
Gonzalez
Nelson
Kahnle
That’s what I came up with, but I could have forgotten someone, lol.
Just one, Almonte.
May
Nice catch on Almonte…I missed that injury announcement apparently.
I didn’t include May because he’ll be starting on Saturday.
And I didn’t include May because I was having a Homer moment. 🙂
Was wondering why they were still using the Royals picture on Twitter. I had no idea he still hasn’t even made an appearance anywhere else yet
Likely because he hasn’t been able to appear in a dodger uniform they don’t know what he looks like in the Dodgers uniform. This really stinks for Danny.
When Kershaw comes back, will the Dodgers move May and Pepiot to the bullpen? That bullpen would be better with Pepiot over a guy like Bickford, who I think has options.
Could happen. The way it’s been going for Bickford he sure doesn’t deserve to make a postseason roster. But Pepiot probably goes to the pen only if Treinen and Graterol aren’t back, and both of them are currently on a rehab assignment.
There is no way that Pepiot goes to the pen. Over 7 walks per 9 innings. That’s little league kind of numbers. You need pitchers that can throw strikes out of the pen. Let’s face it he’s not ready yet. He’s only here to provide starts due to SP injuries. When healthy pitchers start coming back pecking order of guys getting sent down should be Pepiot, then Bickford and then Moronta.
Assuming everyone stays healthy and comes back healthy, which is a big assumption these days, I think you move Heaney to the pen and keep May and Kershaw as starters. Heaney’s short starts don’t help much. But maybe they also consider a six man rotation to have options at SP and keep everyone stretched out. Kershaw and Heaney fragile and Gonsolin pitching way over his past highs.
Dodgers should hopefully bring back Treinen, Almonte and Graterol. If all come back Dodgers have tough decisions.
The bullpen is where you stick a wild guy like Pepiot. Have you not paid attention to baseball before? Pepiot has great numbers his 1st time around the order but blows up the longer he’s in there. Sticking him in the pen over guys like Moronta and Bickford for the playoffs would be the smarter move, he’s only 1 inning away from topping last years inning total too. So a move to the bullpen now would fit in with his development path.
Moronta and Bickford are good depth pieces but the dodgers have many better arms available, including Pep
I guarantee you that Pepiot will not be in the playoff roster. If he is that will probably mean that at least two or three Dodger starting pitchers are hurt, which would be catastrophic and the end of the Dodgers this year. Even then they may opt not to put Pepiot in playoff roster. No, Pepiot doesn’t belong in the MLB roster, at least not yet. He’s only here out of a necessity due to massive injury bug. He’ll get sent down fairly quickly. If you can’t command the zone you don’t belong in MLB, at least not until you get that sorted out. Roberts and company will have very little tolerance for walks. Why do you think Dodger pitchers year in and year out lead the league in WHIP and have a low walk rate?
Kid is struggling to find the strike zone. That doesn’t help your confidence. He needs reps at AAA and better command. It’s a natural progression for young pitchers. Kershaw, Buehler, etc. But if you don’t find it you won’t be able to pitch at the MLB level for long.
So in reality you can’t guarantee anything, you can only hope the pitching situation doesn’t deteriorate to where keeping him on the roster becomes a necessity. I hope the same thing, but I sure can’t guarantee it. And neither can you, really.
Pepiot has nothing to prove in AAA. He’s tearing it up down there, ERA in the 2’s. He needs to be on the major league team learning. The bullpen is the perfect place for him to tame his wildness. That’s what bullpens have been used for since the beginning of baseball. He wasn’t walking people like this in AAA, it’s MLB stage he’s having problems with. Plus his mlb stats are great the 1st time through the order. Mitch white, Tony Gonsolin, Ross Stripling all found their way to the team through the bullpen.
Dodgers need all the best pitchers in the pen.
Nothing to prove at AAA? He struggled in AAA in 2021 with an ERA over 7. Yes, this season he’s done well, but over 75 innings. He certainly has ability but still a lot to grow in regards to command and control. If you take bigger sample sizes you’ll see that he was a 4.8 BB/9 in college and 4.1 BB/9 in minors. That’s not as bad as his MLB level stats but it still shows that he needs to work on his control. It looks like Dodgers right now want to go with 6 SPs perhaps to lighten the load for guys like Heaney and Gonsolin, and perhaps to see how May’s recovery takes place. But once they decide to go back to 5 SPs and/if Kershaw comes back Pepiot will be sent back. Then again, rosters expand in Sep 1, so you may see Pepiot stick around.
@mlb….2015; thanks for the intel on Pepiot. Geez. 7 per 9. Pre draft deadline, I was kinda hoping the O’s could get him in exchange for like a Santander/Lopez/Tate trifecta with thoughts on the 2024 rotation outlook. And who knows, maybe there were talks between the 2 teams … and regarding various trade scenarios.
Grateful it didn’t happen. Middle of August and we have playoff aspirations with Santander and Tate being key machine cogs. Heck, we’re even going for a sweep tonight in Toronto. Bizarre times in Baltimore.
To be fair, Pepiot is still relatively young. But he needs to figure this out over the next couple of seasons or else. He’s better in the minors, but high 3 and low 4s walk per 9 is still way too high. He has stuff to miss bats but these days a lot of pitchers do. It comes down to command. It’s not just walks. If you don’t have command and put it over the plate you’re going to get whacked. The thing that annoys the heck out of me is when pitchers are up 0-2 and 1-2, and they miss too big on the next pitch. Knowing how to throw good balls is just as important as strikes. That’s all command. High pitch counts will kill you and force you out of the game by the fifth inning.
@mlb…2015; this command issue. Phycological, right? DL Hall is our miss bats version of a Pepiot here in Baltimore. A stud. But he’s got that ugly walks stat bug thing as well. Drives me insane.
Well, there is a way Pepiot goes to the pen, and that’s if the others don’t come back or can’t say healthy. Something we can hope won’t happen, but we sure can’t say it’s impossible. And no matter what Doc says, the leash for Kimbrel has to be getting shorter. If he’s still pitching this way in a month, the furniture will be rearranged and a lot of things that seemed unlikely could happen.
Thanks for finally raising the most important issue: Kimbrel is the elephant in this room. Where we end up with Bickford and other middle inning pieces is pretty insignificant compared to the need to move on from the Kimbrel experiment. Kimbrel has not had a sustained level of success over the course of a two week period this entire season. His WHIP (1.49 currently) is, and has been all season, atrocious. Advanced metrics such as swinging strikes and FIP are equally abysmal. The man really shouldn’t be pitching the fifth or sixth inning on this team and to be using him in high leverage situations in August and September is baffling. In my judgment when his role is reduced, Kimbrel could become a distraction in the clubhouse that is not helpful. David Price has accepted his new status/role, an adjustment that I don’t believe Kimbrel is likely to make at this point in time this season.
Phillips has been a godsend. They have clearly been grooming him for a high leverage role for months now and they have been using him consistently in the seventh and eighth innings to face the heart of the order, with great success. Caleb Ferguson is also demonstrating that he can be a real high leverage asset moving forward. We can only hope that Treinen, Brusdar and Almonte return in September and October in good health and are able to maintain that health. If so, I am confident they are all capable of putting up numbers similar to what Phillips (and Ferguson) are producing now.
Bobby Miller and Landon Knack are also Plan B options that could be looked at if health issues linger for our plan A options.
The Dodgers have options for closing by committee if they choose to go that route, but for now at least the party line on Kimbrel remains that he’s been more unlucky than bad. This being the Dodgers, Roberts may say the words, but he is the messenger for the FO. Honestly this one of flaws I’ve seen before in Friedman’s management style. He can be slow to admit a mistake, which the Kimbrel trade clearly was. If Kimbrel’s ineffectiveness continues over the next few weeks and the approach to the late innings hasn’t changed to reflect that weakness, I’m going to be officially worried.
Interesting. I guess this is just another of many examples where I see the glass half full and you see it half empty in regards to Friedman. The AJ for Kimbrel trade has not produced great results for either team. AJ has been less than stellar in Chicago. Currently, Kimbrel has earned .9 WAR and AJ .2. This was an exchange of equally bad contracts by teams that thought they might catch lightning in a bottle from the guy they took on.
Given the injuries to Treinen, Hudson, Brusdar and Kahnle you can make a strong argument that as mediocre as Kimbrel has been, he has eaten some important high leverage innings and that’s been more valuable (20saves) than the work AJ would’ve done replacing Taylor during his down time. The Dodgers are 17 games up in their division and 6 games up over the next best team in major league baseball. From my vantage point, it’s hard for me to label the trade “a mistake”. Phillips has been allowed to grow in confidence in less stressful situations because Kimbrel has been there. If Treinen or Hudson had been healthy, it’s at least fair, to argue that they would’ve been in the closer role long ago. To say this is about Friedman not being willing to admit he made a mistake, just comes across to me, admittedly a Friedman admirer, as more than a little snarky and an unwillingness to see the bigger picture about why Kimbrel has had to remain in this role all season long. Surely, we can agree that the injuries to these other guys couldn’t have been anticipated. Given those injuries however, it’s a good thing that we’ve had Kimbrel around to absorb these high leverage innings.
We both seem to agree that moving forward with Kimbrel in the closer role is not the answer in October. I probably wouldn’t even go as far as you have gone to say that if he shows something in the next month they might keep him around. I suspect the decision has already been made to move on, it’s just a matter of timing. As for Doc, like any manager, he’s on board with a plan that he is a part of with front office management. He was actually pretty good last night putting a fig leaf on Kimbrel’s performance. That’s what good managers do. It’s not about taking heat for someone else on a decision that he doesn’t agree with. He sees and understands the value of sticking with Kimbrel right now until the better options are in place.
Kimbrel’s FIP is actually quite good given his high Ks, not terrible walk rate and low HRs allowed. He’s just getting hit in the zone. I’m not too worried about the bullpen as long as we get Treinen, Almonte and Graterol back and they’re healthy. Kimbrel will slowly play out to lower leverage situations. He can still be a weapon but I agree that they need to evaluate a committee option.
I sure hope that they don’t go the Bobby Miller and Landon Knack route. They have enough good options in the pen. No need to experiment with younger guys who often have less command. That’s only an option if injured pitchers don’t come back. Getting Almonte, Graterol and Treinen is the most important right now.
If you look at Kimbrel’s BABIP it points to him being a hard luck pitcher. BABIP of 0.393 this season compared to 0.243 last season and 0.274 career. He’s also not giving up a lot of HRs. 1.1% versus 2.0% career and 2.6% last season. The key though is that his K% is down. 29.5% this season compared to 40.4% career and 42.6% last season. So, he’s not putting away batters as well. So the batters are able to keep the at bat going and somehow put it in play and get on base. There is hope.
Thanks for the glimmer of hope. As a Dodger fan, when it comes to Kimbrel, I’ll take any that I can get. Notwithstanding the high BABIP, the dramatic decline in his strikeout rate and his swinging strike rate is what is glaring to me. The explanation is what you have offered, when he puts the ball in the zone batters are are not missing. Moreover, they are extending the at-bats until they can do damage. In my recollection, there has been no two week period during the season where he has been able to change this narrative. I hope I’m wrong, but I just don’t see him being able to close in October. I think management and Doc know that but they’re going to go with him until the replacements are ready to step in and be effective. The last thing they want to do is move to another option and have it fail. if Treinen can come back and remain healthy, he and Phillips are more than capable of holding down the ninth-inning when it matters. Brusdar, Almonte, Caleb F., Vesia can be very effective in the seventh and eighth inning. We have options.
No glasses half full or empty needed. None of this is a question of whether the current bullpen situation was anticipated, it’s entirely a question of what gets done about that situation when that situation happens. And it has happened. It also isn’t in the least about the trade, it’s about whether they guy they got can do the job. Face it, Kimbrel stinks, and if you would be able to breathe when he comes into close a playoff game then you haven’t been watching the same thing I have been all season. Doc can’t say anything different than he has because he’s playing the cards he’s been dealt, and he isn’t going to be able to bail on using Kimbrel unless and until he gets that direction from the FO team, which means Friedman. I think they should be figuring out Plan B if not right now then really soon, and not wait for a few more weeks to see what happens with Kimbrel, because he’s probably going to continue to stink.
With one possible exception, I don’t think anyone here who has posted an opinion on Kimbrell is in disagreement with your assessment that he should Not be closing meaningful games in October.
My disagreement with you relates to a second assessment you have offered regarding Friedman. In an earlier message you clearly state that it was a mistake for Friedman to trade for Kimbrel and that Friedman has been unwilling to “admit” his mistake. Without going into great detail on points already made, I have simply disagreed with these latter points. In reality, Kimbrel has been more valuable, given the injuries in the dodger bullpen, than AJ would’ve been this season to the Dodgers. There are, good reasons why Kimbrell continues to close games in August (mostly related to injuries in the bullpen) and may continue to do so into September. Again, everyone who has posted on this topic agrees with you that In September and October better options for closing game should be available to the Dodgers.
Friedman and the entire dodger management team, including Doc, understand that we cannot be successful in October with the level of performance Kimbrel has consistently provided the first 4 1/2 months of the season. Unless a completely different Kimbrel emerges in the next few weeks, he is not going be closing games for this team in October. If you need a press conference in which Friedman or Doc explain that publicly I’m sorry you’re not gonna get it.
I’m not engaging in any sort of debate about who was traded for Kimbrel for a reason, and the reason is that debate is completely meaningless. They traded for a closer who can’t close. Total point, end of story. They need to start executing the new plan that we both seem to agree they need by finding out who else can handle the closing job. The sooner the better, because this is not something to be figured out in late September if you want to win in October. No press conference required, just do it.
As for Friedman, we’ve all seen him stick with bad acquisitions for longer than was good for the team. He isn’t infallible, nobody is, and this seems to be a blind spot.
Looks like Kimbrel has two appearances with no runs allowed but zero Ks. He’s still very much a strikeout pitcher but his 11.9 K/9 is his lowest ever. Averages 14.5 K/9 and lowest was 13.1 K/9. I’m sure we’ll see that BABIP come down but sure would like to see the K rates go up. Why leave it to chance when you get hit? Velocity is down slightly but that doesn’t seem to be the issue. Perhaps some better pitch execution with two strikes, elevate the high fastball a little more, get a tighter slider movement to move away from the zone, etc.
so Duffy’s suddenly a sort of possible thing again?
like waiting on a sick friend you’ve never met
Hope to see Duffman make it back. When he was in KC, all Royals fans loved him.