Monday, December 9, 2024
Copyrighted by Sarah Morris, 2024
The Los Angeles Dodgers re-signed Blake Treinen to a 2-year $22 million contract. When he is healthy, Treinen is a dominant right-handed reliever.
Treinen, 36, is one of the most dominant right-handed relievers in the game. His slider is almost unhittable because it moves so much.
When Treinen was healthy during his Dodger career, the Dodgers at least went to the NLCS. Both in 2020 and 2024, Treinen played a crucial role in the Dodger World Championship seasons.
Treinen missed most of the 2022 season with a right shoulder injury. In November 2022, Treinen underwent surgery to repair a torn right labrum and missed the entire 2023 season.
Since no one knew how Treinen would respond to the surgery, the Dodgers paid him $1 million for the 2024 season. At first during spring training, Treinen had a rough start when a hard-hit line drive hit Treinen and broke several ribs and bruised his lung.
On May 5th, Treinen debuted and shocked everyone with his immediate dominance. He had lost a couple of miles of velocity on his fastball, but no hitter cared. The opposition couldn’t hit him.
In 2024, Treinen pitched 50 games. He had a save, a 1.93 ERA, and 56 strikeouts. Dave Roberts rarely used Treinen for more than an inning during the regular season.
During the postseason, Treinen was the unsung hero. Every time Roberts called upon Treinen, he performed. Treinen pitched in 9 postseason games and had a 2.19 ERA. What Treinen did for the Dodgers in Game 5 of the World Series was remarkable. He threw 42 pitches over 2.1 innings allowing no runs. Some pundits thought Treinen deserved to share the MVP of the World Series with Freddie Freeman.
Re-signing Blake Treinen was a no-brainer. He wanted to continue with the Dodgers. He brings veteran leadership to the bullpen. He knows how to win with humility and wants to win.
