Taiwan’s Kuo Hong-chih could be the closer for the Los Angeles Dodgers this year as the club enters the season with an unsettled bullpen while hoping to avoid back-to-back losing seasons for the first time since 1986-1987.
Kuo was assigned the job when Jonathan Broxton blew some save opportunities in the second half of last year.
On the question of whether Broxton could still close, an official Web site article said Broxton’s fastball last year lost a few ticks on the radar gun, but management believed his second-half collapse was mostly mental.
“A closer with doubts is a very dicey proposition, so even though he comes to camp with the job, the assumption is that his leash will be short,” the article said.
“With Hong-chih Kuo and Kenley Jansen, the Dodgers have some options, although Kuo’s durability will always be a question mark because of his elbow, and Jansen is so inexperienced the Dodgers aren’t ready to anoint him just yet,” the article said.
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