Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Just when you thought the Los Angeles Dodgers’ roster couldn’t get any more intimidating, they go and do this.

Less than a week before Opening Day on April 7th, L.A. has reportedly acquired closer Craig Kimbrel from the Chicago White Sox. The Dodgers sent outfielder AJ Pollock to the Southside in return according to multiple reports, including Mark Feinsand of MLB.com.

This comes shortly after longtime Dodgers closer, Kenley Jansen, officially left the organization via free agency to join the Atlanta Braves, too. This doesn’t seem like a bad way to fill that specific void, right?

After joining the Chicago Cubs in 2019 and struggling for a couple of seasons (he posted ERAs of 6.53 and 5.28 in ’19 and ’20), he was dominant for the first part of 2021. Prior to the Cubs trading him across town, the right-hander posted a 0.49 ERA with a 46.7% strikeout rate, a 9.5% walk rate, and a 2.2 fWAR through 36 2/3 innings. However, he struggled over his final 23 frames following that deadline deal. Kimbrel’s strikeout rate (36.7%), walk rate (10.2%), and ERA (5.09) all got worse, and he compiled 0.0 fWAR in the process.

One thing that changed between these two stops — the right-hander’s home runs allowed per nine innings. It went from 0.25 with the Cubs to 1.96 with the White Sox. This change also included a rise in fly-ball rate (43.3% to 53.1%) and hard-hit rate (28.3% to 42.9%) allowed.

As for Pollock, he put together a nice campaign for the Dodgers in 2021, which included a .297/.355/.536 line, 21 home runs, and 69 RBI in 117 games played (422 plate appearances). This led to a 137 wRC+ and 3.0 fWAR, his best overall performance since a 6.8-fWAR campaign he produced in 2015 for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Pollock’s biggest issue in recent years has been to stay healthy, which he’ll now attempt to do in the Windy City.

What does this mean for the Dodgers, though? It leaves their outfield depth a smidge thin at the big-league level, especially with Cody Bellinger struggling thus far in spring training. If you’ve spent any time on Twitter since news of this trade went down, a number of people are wondering if L.A. will go and sign former Met Michael Conforto now. Only time will tell if there’s any truth to those thoughts.