{"id":56013,"date":"2025-04-25T07:18:17","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T07:18:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=56013"},"modified":"2025-04-25T07:18:17","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T07:18:17","slug":"the-star-of-hope-dodgers-getting-some-unexpected-sources-of-relief-in-the-bullpen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=56013","title":{"rendered":"THE STAR OF HOPE: Dodgers Getting Some Unexpected Sources of Relief in the Bullpen"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/04\/USATSI_25833033_168400885_lowres-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Ben Casparius has stepped up out of the Dodgers bullpen amind several injuries to the pitching staff.\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The Los Angeles Dodgers won the 2024 World Series with\u00a0three viable starting pitchers.<\/p>\n<p>Unwilling to tempt fate this year, they reloaded their starting rotation this offseason, signing Japanese phenom\u00a0Roki Sasaki\u00a0and free agent\u00a0Blake Snell. Problem solved, right? Not exactly.<\/p>\n<p>Sasaki is experiencing the growing pains one would expect from most rookies in their first season in the big leagues. Snell is currently on the injured list with\u00a0shoulder inflammation.<\/p>\n<p>To make matters worse, Snell has stopped throwing and there is no timetable for his return. Fortunately for the Dodgers, relievers\u00a0Ben Casparius\u00a0and\u00a0Jack Dreyer\u00a0have stepped up and spelled relief out of the bullpen.<\/p>\n<h2>Dodgers Getting Bullpen Help from Surprise Sources<\/h2>\n<h3>D\u00e9j\u00e0 Vu All Over Again<\/h3>\n<p>The Dodgers are no stranger to having\u00a0starting pitching injuries.<\/p>\n<p>They threaded this same needle last year, and they constantly prove the point that you can never have enough starting pitching.<\/p>\n<p>Landon Knack,\u00a0Justin Wrobleski, and\u00a0Bobby Miller\u00a0have tried to fill the void, but with less-than-optimal results.\u00a0Each has\u00a0an ERA above five along with a high walk rate.<\/p>\n<p>Thus, the bullpen has been used early and often. They have had to cover a lot of innings including an entire game on the latest road trip, a game that ended in a loss.<\/p>\n<h3>The Designated Long Man<\/h3>\n<p>Right-hander Ben Casparius played a\u00a0pivotal role\u00a0out of the bullpen for the Dodgers in their postseason run in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>He was called up from Triple-A Oklahoma City and ended up being the reliable bridge between the starters and the high-leverage arms last year.<\/p>\n<p>Throughout the season, he posted a sub-3.00 ERA. Now, with\u00a0Michael Grove\u00a0missing the entire 2025 season due to shoulder surgery, Casparius has stepped in to fill the breach.<\/p>\n<p>Aside from one bad outing against the Chicago Cubs, the right-hander has been exceptionally stingy. For example, in a second crack at the Cubs, the 26-year-old pitched 2 2\/3 scoreless innings serving as the opener of a bullpen game. He retired eight out of nine hitters striking out four. You can\u2019t ask much more than that.<\/p>\n<div class=\"twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered\"><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" class=\"\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=lwosbaseball&amp;dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1915193291697447390&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Flastwordonsports.com%2Fbaseball%2F2025%2F04%2F24%2Fdodgers-casparius-dreyer-bullpen%2F&amp;sessionId=6ac0db11c5bc139d7832ce16b8ff88aafacef1b5&amp;siteScreenName=lwosbaseball&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&amp;width=550px\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-tweet-id=\"1915193291697447390\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-24\">\n<div id=\"lwos_incontent_1\" align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __300x250\" data-google-query-id=\"COae943R8owDFXJvDwIdmLIh9Q\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/15184186,22512265771\/lwos_incontent_1_0__container__\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3>The Maytag Man<\/h3>\n<p>It is safe to say that\u00a0without the injuries to relievers\u00a0Evan Phillips\u00a0and\u00a0Michael Kopech,\u00a0Jack Dreyer\u00a0would not be on the Los Angeles roster.<\/p>\n<p>However, the young rookie is making the most of his opportunity.<\/p>\n<p>Dodgers manager\u00a0Dave Roberts\u00a0has praised the young pitcher and his cool demeanor on the mound. Despite his latest outing where he walked three and gave up four earned runs in just one inning.<\/p>\n<p>It remains to be seen how he will bounce back. However, the right-hander wasn\u2019t scored on in the previous nine appearances. As a result, he has climbed up Roberts\u2019 trust tree. Dreyer has been used in increasingly high-leverage situations.<\/p>\n<p>Reinforcements will be coming next week as\u00a0Tony Gonsolin, who was set to be the\u00a0number five starter\u00a0in the rotation before tweaking a muscle in his back, is set to return.<\/p>\n<p>Hopefully, this will give some relief to a Dodgers bullpen that has been called on a lot early this season. They will need fresh arms if they want to make it to October.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Los Angeles Dodgers won the 2024 World Series with\u00a0three viable starting pitchers. Unwilling to tempt fate this year, they reloaded their starting rotation this offseason, signing&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56026,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>THE STAR OF HOPE: Dodgers Getting Some Unexpected Sources of Relief in the Bullpen - News 365<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=56013\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"THE STAR OF HOPE: Dodgers Getting Some Unexpected Sources of Relief in the Bullpen - News 365\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Los Angeles Dodgers won the 2024 World Series with\u00a0three viable starting pitchers. 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