The Dodgers are among the clubs to express interest in White Sox reliever Joe Kelly, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. Unsurprisingly, Murray notes that multiple teams are in the market for the hard-throwing righty.
Kelly is one of the likeliest players to change teams within the next five-plus days. The Sox are a clear seller and will move a few impending free agents by August 1. Kelly isn’t technically a rental, as the Sox hold a $9.5MM option on his services. They’re trending towards a $1MM buyout, though, so a trade to recoup some future value seems almost inevitable.
At first glance, the 35-year-old might not seem an especially appealing trade candidate. He’s sitting on a 4.66 ERA over 30 appearances and has allowed 5.45 earned runs per nine over parts of two seasons in Chicago. There’s a fair bit of intrigue in this year’s underlying marks, though.
Kelly has struck out nearly a third of opposing hitters, while he’s inducing grounders on a massive 56.2% of batted balls. An abnormally low 57.9% left on base rate has propped up his earned run totals, but few pitchers match that combination of punchouts and grounders. While his control has been erratic throughout his career, this season’s 9.4% walk percentage is manageable. An injured list stint earlier in the month for elbow inflammation temporarily threatened his trade candidacy but he was reinstated over the weekend.
As a likely impending free agent reliever, Kelly isn’t going to bring back a franchise-altering return. Yet the Sox shouldn’t have trouble finding a trade partner, offloading some of the $9MM he’s making (around $3.24MM of which is yet to be paid out, not including the option buyout) while bringing back controllable talent.
Kelly is no stranger to the Dodgers, of course. He pitched with L.A. from 2019-21, winning the World Series in the second of those years. The 12-year veteran posted a 3.59 ERA over 105 1/3 regular season innings in Dodger blue and appeared in all three of their postseason runs during that stretch.
The Dodger bullpen ranks 18th in the majors with a 4.13 ERA entering play Wednesday. They’re 11th in strikeout percentage (24.4%) and ground-ball rate (44.7%). Los Angeles is also known to be targeting starting pitching, and they’re one of the teams reportedly in talks with the Sox regarding right-handers Lance Lynn and Lucas Giolito. There’s nothing to suggest L.A. is the perceived favorite on any of Kelly, Lynn or Giolito, but it stands to reason the clubs have had at least some dialogue about a potential package deal.
Joe Kelly… ZZZzzz
Imagine if him and Carlos face AGAIN….
They already have… Same division. July 4 2022. Correa walked.
I mean again again…
Dodgers wanna rebuild 2020. Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s going to work the same way this time around.
No they’re not. Just stop.
Hernandez, Kelly…
Not sure why they wanted Hernandez back then. They gave us free pitching for an aging mediocre bat.
Not gonna happen but I hope the Cards can bring him home. One of my favorite dudes.
Kelly is the guy you need to throw a pitch into the ribs of your opponent.
Dodgers want to get the old band back together … might as well bring back Justin Turner while they’re at it to play bass.
I was not big on JT, but am a fan now. Love his energy. He also brought Christmas in July to the children’s hospital this week, and had the biggest smile of the bunch. Great guy!
Seriously, one of the best guys in pro sports
Jansen to.
Jansen, Hernandez, Kelly…If they get Verdugo back the Red Sox will, in effect, have lost Betts for absolutely nothing.
Too bad neither will be moved.
Dodger Turner Overdrive?
Might change their mind after the inning he just had against the Cubs.
Yeah. Ditto those watching Lynn tonight and when Twins teed off on him last Friday.
Because it worked out so well the first time lol. Friedman chooses the weirdest hills to die on.
“Wierdest hills to die on”..
And routinely churns out 100 win seasons. What has your team’s GM done?
It is amazing how consistent the Dodgers have been. They’re leading a very tough division without adding anyone of significance this off-season.
I’m a Dodgers fan and have never liked Friedman’s approach. He wants to win a world series while keeping the farm system intact. Which is why all we have to show for is it a meaningless COVID ring.
Your either all in or all out when it comes to winning.
Ummm no. Baseball playoffs are a complete crapshoot. Get there enough times and you’ll eventually win.
The nerds have done the research and I had it before but I can’t find the exact numbers but it’s something extreme like any team with a .600 winning % adding a 4 war player increases their chances against another.600 winning % club (which is like all playoff clubs well used to be) by like 0.05% in a short series. It wasn’t even 1% that I know i remember.
To sum it up those playoff teams are already really good, adding another allstar doesn’t really move the needle. Improvements come from around the fringes of your roster pen arm, platoon bat who hits lefties well, guy who can steal a base etc.
This is how most of the Ivy League gms think and it’s correct. It’s not debatable they’re gms and you’re not for a reason.
I did not know that Ricky Bobby is on MLBTR
I was always puzzled by Friedman giving Kelly such a big contract (or signing him at all really) given his erratic production, but I guess he isn’t the only one to see more in Kelly than meets the eye.
No, unlike the “all-in win now” approach, his gives you a chance of winning while fielding a good team every single year. “Win-now” gm’s empty the farm and after a 2-3 year window you rebuild for what feels like forever.
Since Friendman has been in LA the dodgers have never won fewer than 91 games and have made the playoffs every year. As a fan I’ll take that over one ring and half a decade of loser irrelevance. What fun is it watching that garbage for 162 games a year?
Hey guise, we’re getting the band back together for a nostalgia tour!
Ethier is on line 1
“I wish I knew how to quit you”
Good lord. If there is a psycho reliever it’s Joe Kelley. Why is Friedman so desperate? I heard that Ryan Tepera was let go by the Cards.
Getting the band back together!
The Band!
And, and, and you put the load right on me
if its just about money why not? so tired of the bick.
after his performance tonight he should get dfa’d lmao
“Why is Friedman so desperate”?..
You are not watching many Dodger games this year are you?..The Dodger pitching, bullpen & starters, has been atrocious and never met a big lead they could not flush away.
We’re getting the band back together!
It’s a band I don’t want to see ;(
The Sox should have a promo night where they give fans paper bags with eye holes cut out to wear on their heads.
We’re already wearing the bags but there aren’t any holes in them.
Trade Vaughn while he still can hit a little for a pack of prospects. Hitting is literally his only tool and his exit velo isn’t anything to look at. Too soon?
Bring the fight club back to Beantown
Bring the band back together just need 3 redsox Turner, Verdugo, and Jansen and look to swap with Giants for Wood, Alexander, and Stripling too.
And Dylan Floro.
Thanks but no thanks. So many other better options.
Joe Kelly and his attitude are perfect for the Dodgers.
Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez are off the market. Better call Scott Harris’ bulk barn discount pitching and grab a good starter (Erod or Lorenzen) and reliever in a package while supplies last. Except there are no discounts! Giolito and Lopez cost two solid prospects so get ready to ship out some of that prospect capital.
He’s a competitor.
White sox about to clean house on all their pitching
Pass. Always injured!
Robert Murray of FanSided should also point out that the Dodgers – like every single buying team – have inquired about every single rental-type player available. They didn’t express any more interest in Kelly than any of the other pitcher they checked in on. What a clickbait-y headline
Again?