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A Full Deck Has Four Aces

Around sixty years ago, the Beatles said it best: Money didn’t buy Roki Sasaki… at least in the short term. Roki is likely looking at the big picture, knowing full well that this rotation is likely headed to the 2025 World Series. If he goes to the World Series and wins some…

By Mark Timmons2 min readJump to 54 comments

Around sixty years ago, the Beatles said it best:

Money didn’t buy Roki Sasaki… at least in the short term. Roki is likely looking at the big picture, knowing full well that this rotation is likely headed to the 2025 World Series. If he goes to the World Series and wins some games, the payoff in endorsements will be huge! The Dodgers will own the Pacific Rim!

ACES: Yamamoto, Snell, Glasnow, Sasaki – That’s all a deck of cards has – four Aces! Has a team ever really had Four Aces? Kershaw used to be an Ace, but he’s not anymore. However, he should be back at some point in the season, as should Emmet Sheehan. At the beginning of the season, Tony Gonsolin and Landon Knack might round out the rotation. Let me tell you that many baseball people like Landon Knack and Tony Gonsolin was 16-1 in the season before his Tommy John.

Then there are Casparius and Wrobleski, and don’t even count out Bobby Miller. Let’s just consider last year an anomaly and move on. Nick Frasso should be back in 2025, and River Ryan and Kyle Hurt could be bullpen pieces in the postseason. At this point, I would sit down with Dustin May and convince him to become a high-leverage reliever.

This really isn’t even fair. Baseball is going to have to do something about it, and I am afraid that we will see a lockout in 2027. MLB is going to have to implement a salary cap maximum and minimum. This has been brewing for a while now. It’s nothing new… The Regional Network Model hasn’t changed so much as it has been blown up and disintegrated! MLB is going to have to go to increased revenue sharing and centralized revenues. MLB attendance has been down since the pandemic, and some teams are just floundering (on purpose) so the owners can make money. I am not going to mention names, but Miami, Pittsburgh, Oakland,

The Dodgers might win back-to-back-to-back World Series, and then in 2027, the lockout might last all year, and we might see AAA baseball in a ballpark near you. It’s probably going to happen. Enjoy the ride. I don’t know what the hell will happen after 2026.

Discussion (54)

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  1. Dan in PasadenaJanuary 18, 2025

    Since these aces have been injured and/or have a history of not pitching a lot of innings how is that likely to be handled?

    One rotation for the first half of the season, another for the second half? Or maybe one rotation with aces “mixed in” occasionally? Obviously, they want to arrive at the beginning of the post season with their most effective pitchers identified, unhurt and rested…..enough.

  2. DanoJanuary 18, 2025

    Andrew Vincent Forte gets another one right. Uncanny. It’s not too often that a baseball team has so much talent and depth. But our Dodgers certainly do. Is 173-0 a possibility? No way. They lose one game to the Sacramento A’s. Lol. Welcome to L.A. Roki Sasaki!

    Book em

  3. JayGee24January 18, 2025

    Mark that is all the aces in a full deck. But the Dodgers aren’t playing with a full deck unless you count one of the jokers as an additional ace. You forgot to mention Ohtani and that makes it five aces Bud!!!! So great to be a Dodger fan these days and the foreseeable future.

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