The closer position remains a big question mark for the Los Angeles Dodgers, with manager Dave Roberts offering not much to clarify which direction the team is going in that regard.
“Dodgers Dave Roberts said he doesn't expect to pick a closer this spring and doesn't think spring training would be a good time to have a competition for that role,” reports Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register.
It also seems that the Dodgers will not be making a decision on which reliever they'd hand the closer role to even after Spring Training.
“Dave Roberts said he ‘could see' the Dodgers designating a closer at some point over the course of the season, but the club isn't entering spring with a set closer and spring training isn't enough to base a decision off of on its own,” per Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic.
Craig Kimbrel served as the main closer of the Dodgers in 2022, but he did not deliver the kind of quality performance on the mound Los Angeles expected of him when the team signed him prior to the 2022 season. While he had 22 saves for the Dodgers, he posted just a 3.75 ERA and a 3.23 FIP, and struggled toward the end of the regular season to the point that the Dodgers opted for a bullpen-by-committee approach instead.
At the moment, strong candidates to land the closer role in 2023 for the Dodgers are Evan Phillips and Brusdar Graterol.
The Dodgers are coming off a disappointing 2022 season in which they got eliminated by the San Diego Padres in the National League Divisional Series, three games to one, despite winning Game 1 and finishing the regular season with a total of 111 wins.
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