The Los Angeles Dodgers and free agent pitcher Joe Kelly have reportedly agreed to terms of a three-year contract worth $25 million. Kelly’s deal was announced late last night which slates him to be a starting pitcher even though some teams spoke of signing him for a closer role.
Joe Kelly has a 3-year agreement with #Dodgers for $25 million, source confirms. @MLBNetwork @MLB
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) December 13, 2018
Over the course of the 2018 seasom, Kelly was available for the Red Sox out of the bullpen where he featured a 1.35 WHIP and struck out 68 batters over 65.2 innings pitched. Kelly’s real success came in the playoffs where he had a lot of successful outings and really helped the Red Sox capture the 2018 World Series victory, over the Dodgers. Over the course of the playoffs, Kelly gave up one earned run throughout 11.1 innings pitched.
The Red Sox wanted to bring Kelly back as multiple players made strong pushes to the front office to try and get him to come back to the Red Sox but he chose to go to the Dodgers instead. The Red Sox have now been tied to reliever Adam Ottavino to replace Kelly in that late game bullpen role, also looking to strengthen their bullpen with Craig Kimbrel being a free agent.
