For the past several weeks, we have been discussing who is going to play where and how the rookies will fit in. Will Lux play SS or 2B? Will Vargas play 3B, 2B or LF? Will Outman start in CF? Will Busch play anywhere? There is a lot to be decided, and we are not going to solve all that today. That is why they have Spring Training. If I can fault one thing about Andrew Freidman, it is that he seems to be reluctant to “push” some of the younger players. He lets hem simmer a long time… or so it seems to me. However, today, we are going to look at the pitching staff… most importantly, the starters.
There are probably some better starters in baseball than Julio Urias, Clayton Kershaw, Tony Gonsolin, Noah Syndergaard, and Dustin May… but there are not Five better starters than the five I mentioned above… and that is just the beginning. After that, you have Ryan Pepiot (who fared better than Clayon Kershaw in his first partial season), Andre Jackson (whom I expect to be a very good reliever eventually), Gavin Stone (who needs to be in he rotation), Bobby Miller (his ceiling is that of an Ace), Michael Grove (who had similar struggles to Clayton in his first partial season), and not far off is Nick Frasso. Of course, Walker Buehler is re-habbing from his second Tommy John. While it’s not likely we will see him THIS season, it is possible.
Now, I am writing this under the assumption that everyone will be healthy and we all know that is not happening. Yesterday, the Dodgers signed Tony Gonsolin to a 2 year/$6.65 Million Dollar deal. For a guy who was 16-1 last season with a 2.14 ERA, that seems really friendly. However, I think that the Dodgers and Tony both know that there is a pretty good chance he will have to undergo Tommy John as his stint of the DL last year with forearm tightness is a precursor of such. Still, with Gavin Stone and Ryan Pepiot and Bobby Miller and Michael Grove at the ready, things look very bright. Even without the Catman, the Dodgers rotation is Championship Caliber, in my opinion.
I would expect Thor to have a better year with TJ in the distance in his rear-view mirror and the fact that the Dodgers have this secret “Fairy Dust” that Mark Prior sprinkles on pichers who are seeking the Holy Grail of Piching. Thor will be Thor again. Urias should be another TOP 5 or 10 Pitcher and Clayton is sill in the upper echelon, even if he only pitches 120 innings. Dustin May is going to have his opportunity to re-gain the form he displayed in 2021. He struggled las season when he came back, but that was to be expected. The Rehabilitation Process from Tommy John takes time, both mentally and physically.
The Rookies are going to play a big role in how he Dodgers starting rotation does. I expect to see Ryan Pepiot, Gavin Stone, Mike Grove, Bobby Miller, and Andre Jackson all have a hand in the Dodgers’ success this year. To me, one of the most enjoyable aspects of baseball is to watch the youngsters become bonafide major leaguers and the Dodgers are loaded with them. Be patient – there will be some struggles early in the season, but the rotation is sacked… even if Tony Gonsolin has to undergo TJ (and I hope I am wring about that).
Discussion (18)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Your right I’m a born and raised so cal kid stuck in Louisiana working where no one talks dodgers which is why I put my lame two cents in here while enjoying for the most part what my fellow dodger fans are thinking. Only thing I know for sure is I love winning
Bradley you seem to have a trade just to trade fetish that make no sense or even would improve the team much. Give who we got a chance and trust in Friedman. He’s pretty good at his job and knows hell of a lot more about what’s going on with our club and others clubs than you or I. Personally I never go to a game to see one player other than picking out a pitcher been wanting to see in a particular series. If their big leaguers, all worth going to see
I get it that ohtani is a two way player and real good at both and the value of creating another roster spot but then I think of all the close to star quality players could get for that same money over the years of the long contract he would want especially relief pitchers. In today’s game having a shut down pen is crucial. I’m not so keen on chasing ohtani like so many seem to be. Spending that kind of money on one player is insanity. How many times in the past in most sports have we seen high dollar long term contracts turn into nightmares and for a pitcher no way
Just to clarify my last post a bit…
BleacherReports grouped prospects as Tier One, Two and Three, which I simplified as A, B, C.
BR described their top tier as potential all-stars: Cartaya, Vargas, Miller, Stone, Busch, Pages, Pepiot.
The next tier is for “solid contributors” on the ML level: Outman, Rushing, Nastrini (according to BR).
And the third is for the more marginal ML talents–the guys who might make it, mostly as role players.
The Dodger system seems especially deep at catcher and pitcher, but with Amaya gone the best SS prospects seem a few years away. That’s another reason to root hard for Lux.
This blog is about opinions.
I give my opinions.
They are opinions.
I am frequently right.
But, I am not always right.
Feel free to disagree, but have a take and do not suck!
Griffin was a great fielder, but he had no stick. The A’s SS? Diaz? No thanks. Yeah Bradley, they could trade but the other team has to want to trade the player. Milwaukee stated in the offseason that Adames was not on the market. If he gets moved, it will be at the deadline. Arizona’s SS, Nick Ahmed, had surgery in the offseason, you seriously want to trade for a guy who will be rehabbing most of spring? Give Lux a chance before you say he cannot play the position. He may have fixed his problem. Sax did, why not Lux? Oh yeah, the Dodgers are not considered the best team in baseball anymore.
They probably could, if they wanted to. They don’t seem panicked.
They seem to think they have guys who are pretty good at that position already.
You would think the best team in baseball would be able to trade for any top shortstop in baseball. And we wouldn’t have to worry when Lux plays there and his throws to first base. You would think they could trade some minor league players and get the starter for the Brewers or the starter for the Diamondback’s or who is playing shortstop for the As you know a player that has played the postion. We had Russell we had Griffin we had Seager and we had Turner. Just get us a shortstop AF. Then have us wait for the trade deadline and put Lux at second base. You would think the Dodgers could do that.
For the first time publicly, Dodgers brass today addressed the team’s decision to release Trevor Bauer during a meeting with local reporters
Full story coming later on @latimessports w/ quotes from Stan Kasten and Andrew Friedman, but for now here are a few notable takeaways:
Friedman was asked if he regretted signing Bauer in the first place:
“The way it played out is obviously not what we thought. But with the way things have transpired, we feel good about our decision to move on and focus on the guys that we have.”
Friedman also said that while the Bauer situation was a major unknown this winter, it wasn’t necessarily a hindrance to the team’s offseason:
“I don’t think it impacted what we either did or attempted to do this offseason.”
Dodgers president Stan Kasten said the team feels “we did make the right decision.”
He said they took the entire two weeks after Bauer was reinstated to decide whether to release him “to be sure we were making the right decision.”
More from Kasten on the decision-making process:
“We had the time to check all our bases, get all the input you could get to make a decision, which we did. And that included hearing from Trevor, because we had not spoken to him since the beginning of this.”
Kasten didn’t provide details about the team’s meeting w/ Bauer the day before they DFA’d him –– including his claim that the team told him they wanted him back
“I’m not gonna get into contradicting or agreeing with anything about what was supposed to be a private conversation.”
Kasten said they hadn’t made a final decision prior to the meeting with Bauer, but that “we all had a strong feeling all the way through the process of the right way to handle this”
He added they reached their decision to release him “within a very short time” after that meeting
Bob Geren is no longer the bench coach. Danny Lehmann is taking over that role. Geren will now be the on field coordinator.
I agree with Mark that the starting pitching is going to be really good. I also agree with Mark that Gavin Stone (#1 in my top 10 prospects) needs to be in the rotation immediately.
Besides the obvious pitching prospects Stone, Miller, Pepiot. I too like Nick Frasso just like Mark, I have him just out of my top 10 overall Dodger prospects along with Ronan Kopp. There’s Nick Nastrini too, I have him #10 and I’m high on Emmet Sheehan, my number 9. But I don’t know, I’m not much on Grove and Jackson. Those 2 would be good as trading chips in my opinion.
MGM put out there odds for over and under with dodgers winning 96 and padres 93. Seems Vegas thinks more of the dodgers than most analysts do. Got em over braves, Yankees and Mets to. Hmm
Last year TT was usually at SS, Smith behind the dish, Belli in CF.
Well the Dodgers have always had great pitching. It’s the hitting in the playoffs that stops. When they can play an shit the same in the playoffs that would be great. Being Consistent would be there key and when you put different players n the lineup tahts how teams play now I get that. But eventually you should have a starting nine that you would play in playoffs and go awh that is a good lineup. You look at the Padres lineup they pretty much are set at having those nine guys play about every game. The Dodgers they will send out Taylor some days and then the next Thompson and then maybe Outman and that’s just Monday Tuesday and Wednesday games. That’s what gets old as Dodger fans watch. We never know what lineup Roberts is going to put out there. All we do know is Freeman at first base and Betts in Rightfield as Dodgers Fans. And then you never know who you will see play else where?
I am of the opinion that the Dodgers will absolutely not trade for Ohtani. If he wants to be a Dodger, I think Friedman will make it happen, but AF will not be the Top Bidder in Free Agency, and there is no way Arte is trading with the Dodgers for Ohtani UNLESS AF sends Miller, Stone, Pages, Vargas, Busch, and others. And that would be a Dope-Fiend Move.
The rotation, if enough guys stay healthy, should be one of the best.
Is it the best? One-thru-five, the answer is a definite maybe, especially is Thor gets back in the groove. But the Astros, Braves, Mets, Yankees all look pretty strong too–especially if we focus on the top 3 pitchers, which is what is needed in the playoffs.
The biggest possible upgrade would be that guy in Anaheim.
How good is Ohtani? Foolish Baseball has a report on Youtube that analyzed batters and pitchers in “high-level situations.” I’m not sure how they exactly defined a “high-level situation,” but we know when key situations come up in close games–those crucial moments in which Team A needs a hit and Team B needs a strikeout. That sort of thing.
Anyway, FB reported that Ohtani was the best pitcher in such situations.
The best hitter? Also Ohtani.
So yeah, it would take a big offer to pry him loose. But the Dodgers are in a great position to do just that.
The Dodgers, we know, have a great farm system. Bleacher Reports ranks it as the No. 1 system.
Meanwhile, the Angels are ranked as next-to-worst, just a little better than the surprisingly thin Braves.
BR helpfully divided prospects into rankings, which I’ll rename A, B and C. Among its top ten prospects, the Dodgers had seven As and 3 Bs. The Angels, meanwhile, have two !s, two Bs and six Cs. No doubt the Dodgers had several other Bs beyond the top ten, but the Angels had zero.
That’s why no team is positioned as well as the Dodgers to make a run at Ohtani.
And how many of these B prospects would end up in Chavez Ravine anyway?
The Yankees have a MUCH better rotation and it’s not really that close…..Cole, Rodon, Cortes, Severino, Montas, German is a STACKED rotation. The top 3 are pretty much aces for most teams in the league. I do like our rotation though and think it has the potential to be the best in the NL.
If that entire staff remains injury free through the entire season, I would be very surprised. What really sets the Dodgers apart is their starting pitching depth. Beyond their big three, Snell, Darvish and Musgrove, the Padres are thin. The Giants have Webb, Wood, Cobb, DeSclafani, Manaea, Stripling, Junis, as their depth. D-Backs have Bumgarner, Davies, Gallen, Kelley and not much else. Rockies have Freeland, Gomber, Lamet, Marquez, Senzatela. The Dodgers depth and the quality of depth gives them the best staff in the west. SF and SD both have very deep and very good bullpens. That is where the big difference is. LA has no set closer, the closest thing to one is Phillips. Graterol could become that guy, he has the stuff.