Very rarely does a team as dominant as the 2019 Los Angeles Dodgers have such a glaring need. The Dodgers have the National League's best record at 64-35 and they've built a comfortable 14-game lead in the NL West. And yet, their bullpen stands out as a weakness.
Here are the club's bullpen ranks coming into Friday:
- ERA: 4.17 (10th)
- Strikeout rate: 9.2 K/9 (16th)
- Win probability added: minus-3.84 (24th)
- WAR: 1.6 (16th)
Clearly, the Dodgers need some bullpen help. Joe Kelly has been better of late but hasn't performed as expected overall. Others like Dylan Floro, Pedro Baez, Yimi Garcia, and even Julio Urias have been hit or miss. Solidifying the relief crew behind closer Kenley Jansen will be the top priority for Los Angeles prior to the single July 31 trade deadline.
"Every year, going into the year, the bullpen performance is what keeps me up at night," president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman told NBC Los Angeles earlier this year. "And it's funny because the years that I've had the most confidence is probably the years where we've struggled the most, and the years where I've been the most afraid are the years where we've been the best."
With the trade deadline rapidly approaching, we here are CBS Sports are going to rank the top 10 trade targets for various contending teams these next two weeks. We covered the Yankees on Thursday. Now here are the 10 best fits for the Dodgers leading up to July 31.
| 1 | 
Felipe Vazquez
Pittsburgh Pirates RP
|
Key stat: 98.1 mph average fastball velocity (second highest among lefties) There is no better fit for the Dodgers than Pirates closer Felipe Vazquez. He is excellent, he checks all the analytical boxes (elite spin rate, etc.), and his contract is very friendly. Vazquez is owed the balance of his $4 million salary this year plus $5.25 million next year and $7.25 million the year after that, with affordable club options for 2022 and 2023. All of that means the Pirates will -- and should -- have a very high asking price for Vazquez. The Dodgers have the farm system to meet it, with one of their two top catching prospects (Will Smith and Keibert Ruiz) an obvious potential package headliner, and Vazquez will fit in nicely as a setup man/fill-in closer when Jansen is unavailable. It'll hurt to get him, for sure, but it would be oh so worth it. | |
| 2 | 
Brad Hand
Cleveland Indians RP
|
Key stat: 39.8 percent strikeout rate (fifth best among relievers) On the field, there is minimal difference between Vazquez and Brad Hand. The difference is the Indians closer isn't under contract quite as long. He's owed the rest of his $6.5 million salary this year and another $7 million next year before his 2021 team option comes into play. Hand is under team control two fewer years than Vazquez. That's significant. That said, the Dodgers have to worry about right now, not 2022 or 2023. Jansen and Clayton Kershaw are still in their primes, Hyun-Jin Ryu and Cody Bellinger might be having career years, and Justin Turner remains effective. The time to win is right now. After losing back-to-back World Series, the Dodgers should focus on maximizing this window with this core. Unlike the Pirates, who aren't really looking like a postseason contender, the Indians are very much in the race -- they currently sit in the top wild-card spot -- and they might not want to move Hand. He's more affordable and it would be easier to justify keeping him than, say, Trevor Bauer. That could make the asking price very high, perhaps high enough to scare away Los Angeles. | |
| 3 | 
Will Smith
San Francisco Giants RP
|
Key stat: .236 expected weighted on-base average allowed since 2018 (fourth best in baseball) Would the Dodgers and Giants actually get together for a trade? They have made one (1) trade since 1985 (the Mark Sweeney deal in 2007) and the rivalry could stand in the way. It's not like San Francisco will be short on suitors for lefty relief ace Will Smith, you know? That said, if the Dodgers make the best offer, the Giants should take it, rivalry be damned. Smith has been dynamite since returning from Tommy John surgery last year. Legitimately one of the best relievers in baseball. He is an impending free agent though, so he's a rental and not a long-term buy. That isn't ideal, but it also will help keep the cost down. Smith is great and an obvious fit for the bullpen needy Dodgers. The only question is whether the two rivals can swing a deal. | |
| 4 | 
Kirby Yates
San Diego Padres RP
|
Key stat: .208 expected weighted on-base average allowed (lowest in baseball by 13 points) Learning a splitter has done wonders for Kirby Yates, who has become one of the game's premier relievers with the Padres. He's a workhorse who can pitch in any situation, and he will remain under team control as an arbitration-eligible player in 2020 as well. Yates isn't under control long-term, but he's not a rental either. That's a nice little fringe benefit. The Dodgers and Padres are not as shy about trading as the Dodgers and Giants -- their last trade was the big Matt Kemp/Yasmani Grandal deal in December 2014 -- but it is an intradivision rivalry, which complicates things. San Diego has reportedly set a high asking price for Yates, which could make a deal uncomfortable for the Dodgers. Clearly though, Yates would be a dynamite addition to a Dodgers team that needs another relief stud. | |
| 5 | 
Shane Greene
Detroit Tigers RP
|
Key stat: 12.7 percent year-over-year increase in ground ball rate (11th highest in baseball) Tigers closer Shane Greene is not the typical blow-you-away closer. He gets plenty of strikeouts, sure, but he succeeds more with ground balls and weak contact. There is close to no chance he will sustain his .179 batting average on balls in play all year (career .304 BABIP), so I think Greene carries risk, but even with some regression, he's still very good. Greene is durable and versatile to pitch in any role, and he'll remain under team control as an arbitration-eligible player in 2020. He'd help the Dodgers win now and next year. As long as that inevitable BABIP correction isn't too harsh, Greene would be a shrewd power-armed addition to the bullpen. It's just a question of whether the Tigers will set a high price and stick to their guns, which they've been known to do (for better or worse). | |
| 6 | 
Nick Anderson
Miami Marlins RP
|
Key stat: 41.7 percent strikeout rate against right-handed hitters Marlins right-hander Nick Anderson is fascinating. He spent three years in an independent league before catching on with the Twins a few years ago. Minnesota traded him to the Marlins, where he's emerged as a strikeout happy setup man. Anderson's swing-and-miss rates are elite, but his contact quality numbers are awful. Near the bottom of the league in hard contact allowed. It's ... unusual. Missing bats sure is a valuable skill though, especially in the late innings when you're trying to limit balls in play. Anderson is death to righties and, if you're the Dodgers, you have to think ahead for potential postseason matchup situations with, say, Javier Baez and Kris Bryant, or Ronald Acuna and Josh Donaldson. Anderson would fill that matchup role capably. | |
| 7 | 
Ken Giles
Toronto Blue Jays RP
|
Key stat: 7 innings in the last six weeks Ken Giles should -- should -- rank higher on this list. His elbow is the reason he does not. Giles missed two weeks with elbow inflammation in June and he's been limited by nerve irritation since the All-Star break. A healthy Giles would rank among the top reliever trade candidates. I'm not sure we can trust that he's healthy though. The injuries could create an opportunity for the Dodgers to buy low, however. The Blue Jays may want to cash in while they can rather than risk further injury, and gosh, Giles has dynamite around those injuries this year. He has 54 strikeouts in 32 innings and has held opponents to a .203/.266/.322 batting line. He's also under team control as an arbitration-eligible player next year. If the Dodgers are willing to roll the dice on the health of his elbow, Giles could be a sneaky great pickup at the deadline. There's also a chance it blows up spectacularly. As good as he is, I can't rank Giles any higher on this list due to those injury concerns. | |
| 8 | 
Chris Martin
Texas Rangers RP
|
Key stat: 2.2 percent walk rate (second lowest in baseball) Rangers righty Chris Martin is a stathead darling. Ton of strikeouts, ton of grounders, few walks, great velocity and spin rates. He found himself as a pitcher in Japan before returning to MLB last year, and while home runs are a serious concern (1.7 HR/9), everything else checks out nicely. Martin passes the analytics test, for sure. Contractually, Martin is rental even though he'll finish the season with less than three full years of service time. His contract with the Rangers stipulates he must be released after this season, which is a courtesy MLB teams give to players who come over from Japan. Rather than make them accrue six years of service time to reach free agency, they agree to give them their release. Texas is starting to fall out of the race and it is not a guarantee Martin will re-sign with the Rangers after the season. There is no better time to cash him in as a trade chip. Moving from Globe Life Park to Dodger Stadium could help rein in that home run issue, and all the other numbers check out. Martin could be a sneaky great bullpen add for Los Angeles. | |
| 9 | 
Jake Diekman
Kansas City Royals RP
|
Key stat: 2,809 rpm average slider spin rate (third highest among lefties) Yeah, the walks are a little high (13.1 percent), but Royals southpaw Jake Diekman gets a ton of strikeouts (32.6 percent) and ground balls (47.1 percent), and those cover for a lot of mistakes. Hard-throwing lefties will always be in demand, and Diekman's wipeout slider is an equalizer. When it's on, it is an unhittable pitch. Diekman is a rental making only $2.25 million this year -- there is essentially zero chance his $5.75 million mutual option will be picked up next year because mutual options are never exercised -- and he's more than a left-on-left matchup guy. He can get righties out in big situations. Some team -- some smart team -- is going to add Diekman on the cheap before the deadline and be happy they did. Why not the Dodgers? | |
| 10 | 
Ian Kennedy
Kansas City Royals RP
|
Key stat: 14.9 percent year-over-year increase in ground ball rate (largest in baseball) The move to the bullpen has saved Ian Kennedy's career. He's gone from middling starter to very good reliever, one who misses bats and gets a ton of ground balls. Kennedy has been closing games for the Royals and, over the last two months, he's held opposing batters to a .184/.273/.245 batting line. That is dominance. The downside: Kennedy's contract. He is owed the remainder of his $16.5 million salary this year plus another $16.5 million next year. The Royals have reportedly expressed a willingness to eat money to facilitate a trade, and with the Dodgers only $8 million or so short of the $206 million luxury tax threshold, I assume eating salary will have to part of the deal. Of course, the more money the Royals eat, the more they will demand in return. It's only fair. The money complicates things and that's why I have Kennedy ranked so low. There are a lot of high-end relievers on the market -- a lot -- and if the Dodgers are going to give up a big package of prospects, they could go after someone younger, cheaper, and under control longer than Kennedy. | |
