It’s Time to Break Up the Dodgers!

Posted By on March 21, 2021

We have all been talking about the Dodgers’ depth for some time now. The national media has touted that this is the deepest organization in baseball. One announcer said that if you split to team up into two teams that they would still be formidable. So, let’s play a little “Fantasy Baseball.” I thought it might be fun to “break up the Dodgers” into two teams and see how each team might fare.

Dodgers’ Team 1

  1. Betts RF
  2. Lux SS
  3. Turner 3B
  4. Bellinger CF
  5. Smith C
  6. Beaty 1B
  7. Neuse 2B
  8. Raley LF

Bench : Barnes, Raley, Peters, Mann, Amaya

Pitchers:

  1. Kershaw
  2. Buehler
  3. Urias
  4. Gonsolin
  5. Gray

Relief:

  1. Gonzalez
  2. Graterol
  3. Miller
  4. Santana
  5. Ortiz
  6. Pepiot
  7. Morrow
  8. Jansen

Dodgers’ Team 2

  1. Taylor CF
  2. Seager SS
  3. Pollock LF
  4. Muncy 1B
  5. Rios 3B
  6. McKinstry 2B
  7. Reks RF
  8. Ruiz C

Bench: FedEx, Busch, Davidson, Soto, Ravelo

Pitchers:

  1. Bauer
  2. Price
  3. May
  4. Nelson
  5. Kickham

Relief:

  1. Kelly
  2. Alexander
  3. Cleavinger
  4. Carrillo
  5. White
  6. Romero
  7. Treinen
  8. Knebel

OK, this assumes everyone is healthy (which won’t happen), but we have to start with some premise. Neither team would win a World Championship, but they both could finish .500 or above. Some young players could be pushed too hard and fast, but sometimes they step up into the role they are given. Of course, this is just fantasy, but it should illustrate how good this Dodger team really is. There were several Dodger teams in the ’90s and early 2000s that were not as talented as either team.

Do you disagree? OK, do you remember Charlie Johnson, Jose Vizacino, Matt Luke, Tripp Cromer, Geronimo Berroa, Hiram Bocachica, Adam Melhuse, Joe Thurston, Antonio Perez, Chin-Feng Chin, Jason Grabowski… and I can go on-and-on, but I will stop!

The Big Dodger in the Sky is smiling down on the Dodgers and I am sure Tommy Lasorda has his ear right about now. Tommy is pushing for a decade or more of the Big Dodger smiling on the Boys in Blue. It just might happen.

Back to Reality

The fact of the matter is that neither of the above teams featured Carrillo, Uceta, Estevez, Hoese, Grove, and some others who could take great steps forward this year. I think this season will be epic, both for the big club and the minor league affiliates. I am ready for some Dodger Baseball!

Speaking of Dodger baseball, The Past and The Future of Dodger baseball will be on display at 1:10 PM PDT at Camelback Ranch when Katmando (Tony Gonsolin) pitches against former Dodger Scott Kazmir (who allegedly pitches with a cane. When Andrew Friedman sees him he may throw up on his shoes.

I Should Have Been a Cowboy

This article has 20 Comments

  1. Very funny, Mark! When I saw Kazmir was scheduled to pitch tonight, I thought, “WTF?” But seriously, the Dodgers have a dilemma on their hands. Who will be in the starting rotation? May made the case for himself in a big way last night. We knew he was a hard thrower, but his offspeed pitches and command were just outstsnding. 7 Ks in 4 innings. The way he set up Tatis wth breaking balls and blew him away with the high fastball. And tonight with Tony Gonsolin auditioning for a starting role. What a feast!

    1. You can never have to much pitching but the Dodgers have 7 players who would start for just about any other team. It will be interesting to see how things play out. I think May will start in AAA so he can stay stretched out and Gonsolin will be in the bullpen. It would be a disservice to both players to have them go back and forth between roles.

  2. What is you let Clayton and Bauer pitcher every fifth day and then fill in with the rest?

    So, it looks like this:

    1. Kershaw
    2. Bauer
    3. Buehler
    4. Urias
    5. Price
    6. Kershaw
    7. Bauer
    8. May
    9. Gonsolin
    10. Buehler
    11. Kershaw
    12. Bauer
    13. Urias
    14. Price
    15. Nelson

    etc. etc.

    Don’t know how that would work, but it would keep workloads down and let pitchers be fresh for the Playoffs.

    1. Interesting idea but, at least as shown, Urias and Price pitch after 9 days off. Not sure that works. Also upsets long relief options.

  3. I remember all of those guys and mentioned a few in my stories. And Mark, the guys name was Chin-Feng Chen. I know, they all sound alike.

  5. Fun exercise Mark. Team one looks much stronger and is Barnes catching on your third team? I brought this up before I still think the Dodgers can piggy back their young starters. Urias 5 innings and then Nelson for four. May and Price and maybe even Buehler and Gonsolin. Use the remaining bullpen to finish up Bauer and Kersh. Keeps everyone fresh and on a regular schedule for October.

  6. The game today is a day game starting at 1:05 PST. It was supposed to be a night game but they are having issues with the lights at Camelback Ranch.

  7. Mark, just to show you I read every word you write, you’ve got Raley as the Team 1 left fielder and also on the Team 1 bench.
    You’ve got Alexander on both teams but no Nelson on either team.

    If you’re going to split the four catchers, I think it would only be fair to have Barnes and Ruiz on one team and Smith and Fedex on the other. If you had to rank the four Smith would be #1 and Fedex #4 so they belong together.

    I like Cassidy’s idea about tandem starters, maybe for the guys other than Kersh, Bauer and Buehler. Starters four and five could be Urias/Nelson and May/Gonsolin or some combo of those four. That would save your short relievers and let them be used mostly for the first three spots in the rotation.

    1. Maybe regardless of score a paired rotation would have pitchers take turns starting with the starter scheduled for innings 1 through 5 and the pitcher paired with that starter pitching innings 6 through 9 and use a short reliever as needed in-between.

      One advantage of paired starters would be to allow the second starter to know they were going to pitch every fifth day and warm up as he would to start a game but the warm up would be delayed.

      Shouldn’t need a closer at least not in the ninth inning–maybe use the closer in the fifth as needed to get out of trouble so the paired pitcher could start fresh in the sixth.

      One goal of paired starters would be to eliminate the randomness of days a non-game starter would pitch and the up and down bull pen action for the paired starters.

      I didn’t read as closely as you did Singing The Blue because Mark had me at “We have all been talking”

  8. Bear, just a heads up on how wrong you can be sometimes. Tyler White is crushing it this spring. .043 BA and OPS of .124. You have to learn to give a guy a chance sometimes!

  9. I don’t like the “closer” concept. We have 2 relievers that I believe are definitely making the team and definitely going to be relievers who are excellent against both sides of the plate, and they are Gonsolin and Gonzalez. I think it’s time for Doc to use those 2 guys for 2 or 3 innings to “close” out games, depending if the starter goes 6 or 7 innings. Have each do that every third day, and in between 1 day use the 1 inning relievers. It keeps everyone fresh, and I guarantee more wins that way. And if May would be the fifth starter, you could use Urias for 2 or 3 innings in relief too. By doing this you could for the most part avoid the weak links in the bullpen and use those guys in blowout games.

    1. That is old school thinking Eric. Guys like Gossage used to do that all the time. I doubt it leads to more wins. What it leads to is more familiarity with the guys stuff.

  10. My goodness! Seager just wants to be the MVP of everything. Including spring training!

  11. Cleavenger pitching himself to AAA today. A couple of bleeders and then boom, Yaz triple to right and Solano single up the middle, 6-4 Giants…I hate losing to the Giants even in spring.

  13. I think if I’m Seager, I want a re-draft. Team 1 could compete for the wild card if Bellinger resembles his MVP form and Kershaw doesn’t hit the wall.

  14. Fun. Yes, this really illustrates the Dodgers depth.
    Another way is to compare the Dodgers lineup to other teams. Consider: Is there anyone on the Giants who right now could start for the Dodgers?
    I guess I’d give Yaz’s grandson the nod over Pollock, but then I’m sentimental. Anyone else? Posey was great but now seems to be on his last legs.
    How about the Angels? Just Trout and Rendon–and Trout has to play LF on this all-LA team. (Fletcher might outperform Lux/Taylor, but Lux has the greater potential.) OK, I’d also bring over Ohtani to the staff and have him DH and pinch hit too.

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