Dodgers have significant interest in Kirby Yates

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According to Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times, the Dodgers have a significant interest in Kirby Yates. Yates is 33 and coming off elbow surgery but he had been really good the previous 2 years. Castillo mentioned that the Liam Hendriks interest has died down cause he wants 4 years and that’s a little too much for the Dodgers’ liking. He also said Brad Hand would present a cheaper shorter option and on that line of thinking insert Kirby Yates who should be even cheaper especially coming off surgery.

 

Yates only pitched 4 innings this past season before the injury. He needed to remove bone chips from his elbow and was scheduled to be out 6 weeks from that procedure. He should be good to go by Spring Training. He could be looking to get a prove-it deal and the Dodgers do like to pay a little extra in money for the shorter term deal as far as years go. 

 

In 2019 Kirby Yates was one of the better relievers in baseball. He had 41 saves in 43 attempts, struck out 101 batters in 60 innings, his strikeout rate was high, his walk rate was low and he had an ERA of 1.19 he was downright dominant. 2018 was also really good for him, Had an ERA od 2.14 saved 12 games in 13 opportunities, struck out 90 in 63 innings. Had a decent 2017 for the Padres as well. Completely turned his career around there.

 

Kirby Yates is mostly a 4 seam fastball and splitter pitcher who will rarely throw a slider. The fastball will sit between 93 and 94 MPH and gets a lot of swings and misses on it, but when it gets put in play it’s resulted in more ground balls than other pitchers. His splitter is his strikeout pitch and gets a ton of swing and misses on it. When he throws a slider is never swung at, it’s mostly a get me over pitch more than anything. 

 

In the last few years, he’s shown to be a really good pitcher. There is some risk because he is 33 and coming off elbow surgery but if healthy this should only deepen the Dodgers’ late-inning relief with Treinen, Knebel, and Jansen. This would be a low-risk high reward kind of move that Friedman loves. He just did this with Treinen last year and he was a solid contributor to the Dodgers World Series team. It’s easy to see the Dodgers doing the same kind of 1 year 10 million dollar deal. 

 

What are your guys’ thoughts on Kirby Yates? Would he be worth it taking a shot on him? Let me know.