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On Thursday evening, Los Angeles Times beat writer Jorge Castillo reported “expressed interest” from the Dodgers in the 2018 Mariano Rivera Reliever of the Year Award winner, Blake Treinen. Oakland recently non-tendered Treinen after a rocky 2019 season. However, Treinen was far-and-away the best relief pitcher in the American League in 2018, so if it’s possible for him to return to a level even close to what he performed at in 2018, this could be a great signing.
The Dodgers have expressed interest in Blake Treinen, per source. Treinen was arguably the best reliever in baseball in 2018 before struggling in 2019. The A’s non-tendered him earlier this week.
— Jorge Castillo (@jorgecastillo) December 5, 2019
Three days prior to Castillo’s report of the Dodgers’ interest, the Oakland Athletics shocked the free agency market by non-tendering Blake Treinen. It was reported Treinen was seeking an $8M deal in arbitration this season after receiving $6.4M in arbitration a year ago. The Athletics couldn’t reach an agreement with Treinen before the tendered contract deadline last week, so Treinen was released to free agency. As it seems, any team interested in signing Treinen will have to be willing to meet the contract value he was looking to get in arbitration with Oakland.
According to Spotrac, the Dodgers currently have $43.7M worth of cap space below the Competitive Balance Tax threshold, accounting for other arbitration cases on the roster with estimated earning amounts such as $11.6M for Cody Bellinger, $8.5M for Joc Pederson, and so on. That being said, if the Dodgers met Treinen’s reported $8M asking price, the team would have approximately $35.7M to use for other signings, such as Anthony Rendon or Stephen Strasburg.
Blake Treinen has recorded 400.0 innings pitched over his six career MLB seasons. In his time with the Washington Nationals (April 12th, 2014 to July 16th, 2017), Treinen only led the Nationals’ relief pitchers in appearances once, and never led the team in saves. It was only until Treinen was traded in a package to the Athletics that he assumed the role of a closer. In 2018, his first full season with Oakland, Treinen recorded an ERA of 0.78 on his way to winning AL Reliever of the Year and finishing fifteenth in AL MVP voting as a relief pitcher. According to the Baseball Reference Play Index, no other pitcher in Live Ball Era history has recorded an ERA below 1.00 in a season with at least 80.0 IP.
Although Blake Treinen had arguably the greatest relief pitching season in the history of the sport in 2018, he did not fare as well in 2019. Treinen pitched in 57 games for the Athletics in 2019, recording an ERA of 4.91. To say last season was disastrous for Treinen is an understatement. Luckily for Oakland, right-handed reliever Liam Hendriks stepped up in a big way in Treinen’s place during a rough 2019 campaign for the reigning Reliever of the Year.
For the Dodgers, the closer role is almost certainly in the hands of Kenley Jansen. Treinen has pitched out of different roles in the bullpen in his MLB career, so this shouldn’t have a huge impact on his decision for or against the Dodgers. Treinen’s signing would create a quartet of Blake Treinen, Kenley Jansen, Joe Kelly, and Pedro Baez in the Los Angeles bullpen, backed up by the helping hands of second-year Dodger, Adam Kolarek, a potential resurgence from Scott Alexander, the more experienced Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin, and other pieces such as Dylan Floro, Caleb Ferguson, Casey Sadler, Ross Stripling, and Josh Sborz.
In close, it’s evident Blake Treinen is a high-risk, high-reward pitcher. However, the risk seems like one the Dodgers could weather should it not work out, and could come with a reward the Dodgers would absolutely love to add to their already intimidating pitching group.