The Dodgers have yet to set a concrete bullpen for the 2020 season, but it appears that it will be better than past years in terms of both depth and talent. Young arms like Tony Gonsolin and Josiah Gray could play big roles down the stretch and the signing of Blake Treinen only bolsters an already decent bullpen.
Ranking the Top 10 relief pitchers in MLB: Lights out in 2019, no guarantees in 2020 https://t.co/BwFLQUtr0m
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) January 3, 2020
In a recent column for ESPN, Buster Olney lists the top ten bullpen arms in the league. Amongst those named are Josh Hader, Aroldis Chapman, and Kirby Yates.
None of them are members of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Closer Kenley Jansen has been on the decline in recent years, but is a top-ten reliever when he is on — he is just off more than on. However, it would not be surprising to see Jansen have a solid season in 2020 based on a variety of peripherals. He is still limiting hard contact, but his cutter certainly is not cutting like it used to.
Blake Treinen was inarguably one of the best two relievers in the league in 2018 and could return to form with a few tweaks in 2020. As previously mentioned, the Dodgers could also be in line to receive some major contributions from their youngest arms to potentially be top impact pieces out of the bullpen. Joe Kelly also showed signs of being elite last season.
While the Dodgers do not have a lot of bonafide top-end talent in their bullpen, they have a lot of solid pieces. In 2019, they had one of the strongest bullpens in the league in terms of run prevention and it could be more of the same with the addition of Treinen.
NEXT: A Glance at the Current Bullpen
