Dodgers add Tanner Scott to deep bullpen
Yesterday at 11:26 AM
Left-hander Scott had a 1.75 ERA and 2.92 xERA with 84 strikeouts in 72 innings in 2024 between Miami and San Diego, with 22 saves.
The Dodgers made another large splash this offseason, signing one of the top relief arms in the free agent market in Tanner Scott. The left-hander is joining Los Angeles on a four-year, $72 million deal, per multiple reports.
Mark Feinsand of MLB.com was first to report the pact, which was confirmed by Jeff Passan of ESPN. Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic also added that there is deferred money and a signing bonus in the contract, following the rubric of other Dodgers deals this year for Blake Snell, Tommy Edman, and Teoscar Hernández.
Scott made his first All-Star team in 2024, putting up a 1.75 ERA which ranked sixth among qualified major league relievers, 84 strikeouts and 36 walks in 72 innings with the Marlins and Padres. He saved 22 games last season — 18 with Miami, four with San Diego — and has 54 saves over the last three years.
Dating back to 2022, Scott has a 2.71 ERA in 212⅔ innings, the latter ranking third among relievers, with a 31.2-percent strikeout rate that ranks 18th in the majors.
The Dodgers got a long look at Scott during the final week of the regular season and the NLDS, facing him six times out of a total of eight games against the Padres. The left-hander took the loss with three runs allowed on September 26, but recovered to pitch three scoreless innings in four Division Series appearances.
Shohei Ohtani drove in the go-ahead single off Scott in the division clincher at Dodger Stadium, but struck out in his five other at-bats against the left-hander. In the regular season and postseason combined in 2024, left-handed batters against Scott hit just .133/.217/.187 with a 42.9-percent strikeout rate.
The 30-year-old Scott joins a Dodgers bullpen that already re-signed Blake Treinen to a two-year contract on December 10, and has holdovers Michael Kopech, Evan Phillips, Alex Vesia, Ryan Brasier, and Anthony Banda, among others.
The Dodgers used their bullpen as a weapon down the stretch and into October, the byproduct of having only three healthy and available starting pitchers. Dodgers relievers accounted for 60.8 percent of the postseason innings en route to a championship. During the regular season, the Dodgers ranked fourth in the majors in bullpen ERA (3.53), but were just 19th with a 23.3-percent strikeout rate.
Treinen (30.4 percent) re-joins Vesia (33.1 percent) and Kopech (31.5 percent on the season; 33 percent with Dodgers) in the back end of the Dodgers bullpen. Scott struck out 28.6 percent of his batters faced in 2024, after two straight seasons over 30 percent with the Marlins in 2022-23. Similarly, Phillips struck out 27.6 percent of his batters faced in 2024, after 33 percent in 2022 and 28.2 percent in 2023.
The Dodgers do not need to clear space on the 40-man roster for Scott, as the trade of Gavin Lux on January 6 left 39 players on the roster.
