After four months on the injured list, Roki Sasaki is back with the Dodgers in a perfect combination of necessity and opportunity. Starting pitching was all he’s ever known as a professional before last
week, but the Dodgers bullpen is capsizing at the moment, and could use all the help it can get.
When we last saw Sasaki in the majors, his fastball wasn’t missing bats and his control was bad. His final rehab start in Triple-A showed promise, and he added a pair of scoreless innings in relief last week as a tune up for his potential contribution the rest of the way this season. Whatever was said in the meeting between Sasaki and Dodgers brass two weeks ago, it seems obvious that the main message was that if he still wants to pitch in the majors in 2025, the only path to do so is in the bullpen.
Will it work? Who knows? But given the recent results, the Dodgers are right to change things up.
The Dodgers’ last three losses came in games during which the starting pitchers combined for 18 scoreless innings. Tuesday night in Phoenix was a 4-0 game after Shohei Ohtani delivered his finest and longest start yet for the Dodgers, but it wasn’t enough. A group effort from the bullpen blew another game, getting walked off for the fourth time in their last seven road games.
So far in September, the Dodgers are 10-10 despite a starting staff that would otherwise suggest a far better record. The splits for this month:
Starters: 114 2/3 IP, 2.28 ERA, 33-percent strikeout rate, 10.3-percent unintentional walk rate, four HR
Relievers: 62 2/3 IP, 6.18 ERA, 26.6-percent strikeout rate, 12.6-percent unintentional walk rate, 11 HR
That’s unsustainable, and there is hope that some of the bullpen woes could be solved by Emmet Sheehan getting utilized in relief during the postseason, along with Clayton Kershaw. But no matter how you slice it, they are going to need some actual relievers to perform to accomplish anything close to what they want to accomplish.
Maybe Sasaki will help there, maybe he won’t, but it’s worth a try.
To make roster room for Sasaki, the Dodgers placed Kirby Yates back on the injured list for the third time this season, this time with a right hamstring strain.
It’s been a rough season for Yates, who signed a one-year, $13 million contract in January, and earned another $500,000 for appearing in 50 games. The 38-year-old right-hander has a 5.23 ERA and 4.32 xERA with 52 strikeouts and 17 walks in 41 1/3 innings. Prior to Yates’ first trip to the injured list in May, he had a 4.34 ERA but solid underlying numbers with a 38.8-percent strikeout rate, 2.34 FIP, and one home run allowed per 26.7 plate appearances. But since returning from that first IL trip in June, including missing another four weeks in July and August, Yates had a 5.96 ERA, 5.79 FIP, 21.4-percent strikeout rate, and allowed a home run every 16.3 PA.
This IL stint ends the regular season for Yates, and even backdated to Sunday, his 15 days won’t be up in time before the National League Division Series starts on Saturday, October 4. But given Yates’ performance, and how he was used since returning from his second IL trip, he likely wasn’t going to be a part of the postseason anyway.
Since August 24, Yates entered games the Dodgers were trailing by at least two runs four times, and also came in with the team up six, six, four, five, and eight runs. He did enter games with the Dodgers up three runs on both Friday and Saturday against the Giants, but that was after four different relievers were unavailable after pitching three times in a four day span.
