There’s determined, and there’s determined to the place you’re in search of Roki Sasaki to be the reply to your group’s late-inning issues.
The identical Roki Sasaki who hasn’t pitched in a significant league recreation in additional than 4 months due to shoulder issues.
The identical Roki Sasaki who posted a 4.72 earned-run common in eight begins.
The identical Roki Sasaki who final week within the minors pitched as a reliever for the primary time.
The Dodgers’ exploration of Sasaki as a late-inning choice is a mirrored image of the 23-year-old rookie’s upside, however this isn’t a commentary of Sasaki as a lot as it’s of the roster.
The group’s bullpen issues have persevered into the ultimate week of the common season, and the potential options sound like miracles, beginning with Sasaki’s audition for a postseason position as a reliever.
Sasaki pitched twice in aid for triple-A Oklahoma Metropolis, touching 100 mph in a scoreless inning on Thursday and retiring the facet on Sunday.
Supervisor Dave Roberts mentioned Sasaki would rejoin the Dodgers for his or her upcoming highway sequence in opposition to the Arizona Diamondbacks. The earliest Sasaki can be obtainable to pitch can be on Wednesday.
With solely six video games remaining within the common season, Sasaki figures to pitch not more than twice for the Dodgers earlier than the playoffs. That being the case, do the Dodgers plan to make use of him in high-leverage conditions to find out how he performs in late-inning conditions?
“We’re nonetheless making an attempt to win video games, and this is able to be his third outing within the ‘pen, first within the massive leagues, so unsure,” Roberts mentioned.
Then once more, what’s the choice? Proceed to expire Blake Treinen?
Probably the most reliable reliever on the Dodgers’ World Collection run final season, the 37-year-old Treinen was re-signed to a two-year, $22-million contract over the winter. He missed greater than three months of this season with a forearm pressure and hasn’t rediscovered the shape that made him a postseason hero. Treinen is 1-7 with a 5.55 earned-run common for the season and has taken a loss in 5 of his final seven video games.
Treinen price the Dodgers one other recreation on Sunday when he inherited a 1-0 lead, solely to surrender three runs within the eighth inning of an eventual 3-1 defeat.
Roberts was booed when he emerged from the dugout to take away Treinen, however whom did the followers need the supervisor to name on to pitch that inning as a substitute?
Tanner Scott?
Kirby Yates?
Alex Vesia is probably the most reliable bullpen arm, but when he pitched the eighth inning, who would have pitched the ninth?
Dodgers pitcher Blake Treinen, proper, reacts after giving up a bases-loaded stroll in a 3-1 loss to the San Francisco Giants on Sunday.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Occasions)
Roberts acknowledged he was mainly diminished to holding out hope that when the postseason begins Treinen would magically revert to being the pitcher he was final 12 months.
Wouldn’t it’s unsettling to must depend on Treinen with out seeing him pitch higher within the common season?
“Actually, I’d wish to see some extra constant efficiency,” Roberts mentioned. “However on the finish of the day, there’s going to make certain guys that I really feel that we’re going to go to in leverage [situations] and sure guys we’re not going to.”
Evidently, Treinen remains to be considered as a leverage-situation pitcher.
Roberts mentioned: “My belief in him is unwavering.”
There aren’t many different decisions.
Perhaps Will Klein, who was referred to as up from the minors for the third time final week. Klein struck out the facet on Saturday and gave up a leadoff double in a scoreless inning on Sunday.
Perhaps Brock Stewart, who has been sidelined with shoulder issues for almost all of the time since he was acquired on the commerce deadline. Stewart will rejoin the Dodgers in Arizona.
Or perhaps Emmet Sheehan or Clayton Kershaw, who’re anticipated to be pushed out of the postseason rotation by Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Shohei Ohtani and Tyler Glasnow. Sheehan began on Sunday and pitched seven scoreless innings.
The playoff image is unlikely to vary for the Dodgers between now and the top of the common season, as they’re 4 video games behind the Philadelphia Phillies for the No. 2 seed within the Nationwide League and three video games forward of the second-place San Diego Padres within the NL West. Nonetheless, Roberts mentioned he was not sure of how high-leverage innings over the following week can be allotted, which spoke to the diploma of uncertainty concerning the bullpen. Ought to these innings be used to straighten out previously-successful relievers akin to Treinen and Scott? Or to experiment with unknown commodities akin to Sasaki and Klein?
Simply a few weeks in the past, the door for Sasaki pitching within the playoffs was locked and bolted. The Dodgers have been rocked by the dreadful efficiency of their bullpen, a lot so {that a} door that was as soon as slammed shut is now vast open.
