The Dodgers signed arguably the two best closers available this winter when they landed both Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates in free agency last month. The pair of moves, along with their move to re-sign Blake Treinen earlier in the winter, bolstered an already excellent late-inning mix that included Michael Kopech, Evan Phillips, and Alex Vesia. The moves raised the question, however, of who Los Angeles planned to lean on for the ninth inning. Manager Dave Roberts mostly put that question to bed when talking with Jim Bowden of MLB Network Radio this morning, however. In that conversation, Roberts said that Scott will receive the “brunt” of the club’s save opportunities to start the season.
That Scott would get the nod over Yates isn’t a complete surprise given the southpaw’s $72MM contract and his utterly dominant work over the past two seasons. The lefty has pitched to a 2.04 ERA in 150 innings of work with a 2.53 FIP over the past two seasons, picking up 34 saves in 40 chances along the way. He’s struck out 31.3% of his opponents in that time while walking 10%. Those dominant numbers should be good enough to close for just about any team, and that two-season track record can be argued to give Scott a leg up over Yates in terms of consistency, given that the right-hander pitched to a solid but unspectacular 3.28 ERA with a lackluster 4.63 FIP in 61 appearances for the Braves in 2023.
With that being said, however, it’s fair to note that Yates has more experience in the closer role that Scott does. The soon to be 38-year-old veteran racked up nearly as many saves last year (33) as Scott did over the past two seasons, and led the majors in saves with the Padres back in 2019. While both pitchers have been used outside of the closer role throughout their careers, Yates is more entrenched in the ninth inning than Scott is. After all, Scott was moved out of the closer role in deference to San Diego’s hard-throwing righty Robert Suarez down the stretch just last summer, and was only used in the ninth inning or later for about a third of his total appearances with the Marlins in 2023. Yates also arguably had an even more dominant 2024 campaign than Scott did, as he pitched to an eye-popping 1.17 ERA with a 2.50 FIP and 35.9% strikeout rate for the Rangers last year.
Of course, that’s not to say Yates couldn’t get into some save situations at some point this year. Roberts stopped short of fully anointing Scott as the club’s closer, leaving room for Yates or other experienced late-inning arms like Treinen, Phillips, and Kopech to come in for a save opportunity should a situation call for it. The Dodgers have rarely stayed closely wedded to a full-time closer in the years since Kenley Jansen departed the club during the 2021-22 offseason, with ten or more players recording at least one save for the club in each of the last three seasons. Given that willingness to play matchups late in games rather than rely on a set bullpen hierarchy, it would hardly be a surprise to see the Dodgers continue with that approach to some degree even after investing significant dollars into Scott as their top closing option.