Blake Treinen recently moved to the Los Angeles area, just minutes from Dodger Stadium.
He’s one of the jewels the Dodgers signed in their banner free agent offseason, a left-handed reliever with a nasty sinkerball who is part of a stacked bullpen along with Kenley Jansen.
His wife and children joined him here last week, so his comfort level both in the big city and with his teammates is growing.
“I’ve been blessed to be on a couple of organizations that have had some deep 40-man rosters,” Treinen said. “This is easily the deepest 1 through 40 I’ve ever seen.”
The Dodgers are a favorite to win the World Series in the 60-game season shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic and played their first exhibition game on Sunday against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium.
Treinen said the biggest concern for him in playing during the COVID-19 pandemic was asthma but it didn’t deter him.
He’s happy to be with the Dodgers, likes the environments, the laughs and jokes. Oh, and the roster. He called the roster “the deepest one through 40 I’ve ever seen.”
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Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he’s a leverage guy who can get right-handed and left-handed batters out. Treinen pointed to the Dodgers presentation of what he did so well in 2018 (9-2, 0.78 ERA) with the Oakland Athletics versus 2019 (6-5, 4.91 ERA) with Oakland as a reason for his decision.
“I think for him it’s the confidence like with any player,” Roberts said on a conference call on Sunday. “There were some mechanical things we detected, our guys did a great job. His trust of us, identifying and being able to execute and implement what we feel could make him even better, back to what he was in ’18. He’s a monster that can get lefties and righties out.”
Treinen said his role really hadn’t been discussed yet, but he’ll be good with whenever his number is called.
NOTES: Arizona INF Jake Lamb was hit by a pitch by on the right hand in the eighth inning. He was looked at by a trainer but stayed in the game for the top of the eighth but didn’t return in the bottom of the inning. ... Dodgers C Austin Barnes was hit by a pitch on the left hand in the fourth inning. He stayed in the game for remainder of the fourth, then was replaced the next inning.
