by Cary Osborne
The 2024 postseason made it abundantly clear that the Dodger bullpen was a position of strength. That appears to be the case for the club again in 2025 after the Dodgers re-signed one of the key members of the unit on Tuesday.
Blake Treinen, whose vital performances in Game 5 of the World Series and throughout the postseason, will continue his run with the Dodgers after agreeing to a two-year deal.
“He’s been in the middle of a lot of great moments for us over the last five years,” said Andrew Friedman, Dodgers president of baseball operations. “At the end of the season, he said it’s a priority for me to come back.
We said it’s a priority for us as well. And so anytime you have that it’s helpful, but obviously he was popular on the market. The competitor, the stuff, what he did in October was incredible. But both sides lived up to their word on the importance of it. And usually when that happens, good things happen.”
Treinen, in his comeback from right shoulder surgery, was one of the top relief pitchers in the big leagues in 2024. His 1.93 ERA ranked 10th among Major League relievers with at least 50 appearances.
The right-hander ranks third this decade in reliever ERA (2.29) behind Emmanuel Clase (1.62) and Devin Williams (1.70).
The Dodgers have four of the top-20 reliever ERA leaders of the decade on their 40-man roster:
· Treinen (2.29) — third
· Evan Phillips (2.48) — seventh
· Brusdar Graterol (2.69) — 15th
· Alex Vesia (2.89) — 20th
Graterol is expected to miss the first half of 2025 after undergoing right labrum surgery on Nov. 14. But the Dodgers also have Michael Kopech (1.13 ERA in 24 appearances with the Dodgers), Ryan Brasier (3.54 ERA in 29 appearances in 2024) and left-hander Anthony Banda (3.08 ERA in 48 appearances).
Treinen has had a sub-2.00 ERA in three of his last four full seasons. In 50 games last season, he had a 0.94 WHIP, 2.99 FIP, averaged 10.8 strikeouts per nine innings and had a 5.1 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 46 2/3 innings.
The two-time World Series champion with the Dodgers (2020, 2024) allowed three earned runs in 12 1/3 postseason innings (nine games) in 2024. He closed out Game 5 of the 2024 National League Division Series, retiring all three Padres he faced. He also earned the final six outs of Game 6 of the National League Championship Series with two shutout innings. Later, he threw 42 pitches, going 2 1/3 scoreless innings in Game 5 of the World Series, getting the Dodgers to the ninth inning.
Dodgers bring Blake Treinen back on a two-year deal was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.