On Monday morning, at 9:00 AM Pacific Time, a deadline came and went. It went quietly. There was no countdown. No buzzer. No decisive moment followed by relief, handshakes, and hugs.
We’ve hoped over these last two days that we simply missed the news, or that the transaction happened but we hadn’t yet heard. Trade details always trickle out a few minutes after the trade deadline. Deals are made “pending physical” all the time.
To be honest, I still hold a little of this hope in my stomach. When you watch Joe Kelly pitch for 13 years, all kinds of things roost in your stomach, many of them difficult to drive out. Today, that hope’s receding, vanishing from my burps like a good pot of beans and rice. I’m afraid it is, as the kids say, Joever.
This is not a retirement report, and I’ve asked anybody close to Joe Kelly whether that’s what’s in the cards. It’s possible we could get some regular season Joe Kelly eating innings for the Dodgers as they duke it out for the NL West. I hold out hope for a comeback in 2026, a Joe Kelly renaissance in which he breaks Will White’s innings record and steals 175 bases. Even if Joe Kelly does retire on this mortal earth, we’re assured the righteous will one day see him pitch again, freed from these worldly bounds of ligaments and tendons and Larry Vanover’s strike zone.
But Monday’s deadline passed. Every team’s list of playoff-eligible players is locked. Joe Kelly will not pitch in the 2025 postseason.
“A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her [middle relief pitcher/sometimes setup man] refused to be comforted for her [middle relief pitcher/sometimes setup man], because they were not.”
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