Dodgers Among Teams Interested in World Series Winning Free Agent Reliever

The Los Angeles Dodgers are the defending champions of the baseball world.

After such a boisterous offseason, L.A. has wasted no time retooling and padding their roster, as if they had not just won their eighth championship in franchise history.

One of the main flaws of the 2024 season, which was obviously overcome, was the question mark around pitching.

Starting pitching was solid, despite many injuries to the initial rotation — and thanks to the genius of pitching coach Mark Prior, trade deadline moves, and extra support on offense, it was not a major factor in October.

A glaring hole for the 2024 squad was what happened after the starters came off the mound.

With the third most blown saves in MLB, relief pitching had room for improvement

As Evan Phillips, Blake Treinen, and Daniel Hudson shared the load as the appointed closers on the team, not having the clear everyday closer seemed to hurt Los Angeles. L.A. now has upgraded that position this offseason.

Among many other additions, the Dodgers signed closers Tanner Scott and — two days later — Kirby Yates to bolster their relief pitching arms.

They reportedly may not yet be done on the bullpen front.

Los Angeles has recently been linked to a free agent with World Series experience in southpaw Tyler Matzek.

Scouts who watched free agent lefty reliever Tyler Matzek’s bullpen in Irvine, Cali yesterday felt he looked strong and healthy

Could be an MLB bullpen option for teams. Mets, Yankees, Dodgers, Phillies among those who attended and fit
— Pat Ragazzo (@ragazzoreport) January 24, 2025

After holding a workout in Irvine, CA — about an hour from Dodger Stadium — Matzek felt "he looked strong and healthy," per Pat Ragazzo of On SI.

Ragazzo also reported that the New York Mets and Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, and the Dodgers were among teams present.

Matzek is 34 years old and just finished up his sixth MLB season after an up-and-down baseball career.

Since beginning his career as a starting pitcher for the Colorado Rockies in 2014, Matzek has spent considerable time in the Double-A and Triple-A circuits, and even another baseball league in the American Association of Professional Baseball.

This shows that he is not just a journeyman, but someone with a clear will to win and to not give up on his career aspirations.

Dealing with more injuries in 2024, Matzek was only able to make 11 appearances and throw 10 strikeouts to three walks in 10 innings. His 9.90 ERA was by far the worst in his MLB career, but assuming he stays healthy and gets more time to improve, that number should be much lower at the end of 2024.

In 2022 with the Braves, Matzek had a 3.50 ERA across 42 appearances. In 2021, he made a career-high 69 appearances, and had a personal-best 2.57 ERA.

Across his career with the Rockies and Braves, Matzek has a 3.72 ERA across 285.1 innings pitched.