If I said the last four pitchers for the Dodgers tonight in a close game in a tight pennant race in late August were Alexander, Chargois, Ferguson and Floro, how many first names could you come up with there?[
[H]ow do they not have more backup behind Jansen in their bullpen?
Scott (from Royals offseason rumors, personally thought he'd be a solid LHP piece given peripherals), JT (memorable name), had to look up Caleb, Dylan (part of the Reds/Neal deal) last month. It's a stupid human trick for sure, but: If you are traded, and I was actively watching baseball, I will remember your name.
As to the meat of the question, it's more than Jansen. There's only so many bullets your gun can have, you know? Koehler and his season-ending injury hurt a bit a month ago, 3.22 FIP. Goeddel, a solid bridge guy, just got hurt with elbow inflammation, the other day. Josh Fields, their setup man with a 170 ERA+, has been out most of this month with shoulder inflammation. Cingrani with his ERA-FIP differential of 2.66 (in his favor) is currently on the 60-day DL, probably back next month.
Considering not just the quantity, but quality of these arms alone, I think any bullpen would be in shambles. A touch under the radar, Zaidi giving up on Wilmer Font for only Logan Salow (ditto Oakland) was a bad choice. Notably, he was a breakout star of my favorite prospect projection system, Mitchell's KATOH. Sullivan at Fangraphs did a
solid piece on him prior to the season, noting him as one of 2 AAA pitchers in 2017 to have a 30% K rate (Glasnow), comping his results to Tampa's Brent Honeywell (on the note of injuries, Honeywell got TJS this season).