So far, so good. The Dodger’s starting rotation is as good as it gets in baseball this season. They have the best winning percentage, ERA, WHIP, and Ave Against. It’s a clean sweep in most of the major indicators of success, but there are reasons for concern. They don’t K at an extremely high rate, just 13th in the league, and their K/BB ratio is just 7th. There are also injury and usage concerns. Let’s look at our rotation options as we get closer to the post-season.
The Players
Tony Gonsolin – Tony G just might have been the best pitcher in baseball in the first half. He still owns a puuurrrrrfect record and a 2.02 ERA. His whip and Average against are close to immaculate, checking in with a .84 WHIP and a .168 Ave against. He laid an egg in his last time out, going 5 innings and giving up five earned runs. Then, he got slapped in the face during the All-Star game, giving up back-to-back, no doubt about it, homers to Stanton and Buxton. He’s never pitched more than 55.2 innings in a season until now, as he currently sits at 93.2.
Clayton Kershaw – The GOAT is having a resurgent season so far this year. He went deep into two separate games with perfection and has made 12 starts to the tune of a 2.13 ERA, the lowest mark since 2016, when he first started his run of being an IL regular. His WHIP is sitting pretty at .91, and his K/BB rate is a sparkling 6.25 while leading the team. He’s had some nice postseason games, a few gems, and more than his fair share of turds.
Julio Urias – He’d be an Ace on many or most teams. He is last season’s only 20-game-winner, and his 2.72 ERA this season is just below his career mark of 3.04. His WHIP sits at a pretty 1.00 on the season. He’s had some big moments in the post-season, notching a 7-3 career record.
Tyler Anderson – His 10-1 record this season is indicative of his overall resurgence. He was never a great pitcher, but he is this year, as his record and 2.79 ERA indicate. He’s been pitching to a lot of weak contact as his K rate is just 7.58 per nine. But, his WHIP of 1.02 and Ave against at .226 compare closely to Urias’s marks.
Mitch White – White, like Kershaw, has had a couple of gems where he’s pitched no-nos through the first half of two separate games. He has a solid but by no means outstanding 3.78 ERA and 1.22 WHIP on the season but is pitching like a capable starter. Just not, someone, you want to pencil into a post-season rotation as he hasn’t completed six innings so far this season, and he’s had a couple of sub-par outings to go with an equal amount of very good ones. He’s the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of the pitching staff.
Andrew Heaney – He hasn’t been on the mound much this year, but when he has, he’s been outstanding. It’s too bad that his shoulder keeps balking because he finally realized his potential in his limited action this year of just three games. But, in those three games, he’s looked about as good as anyone has ever looked in 3 games. Try a .59 ERA to go along with 23 K’s in just 15 Innings. His .161 Ave against and .85 WHIP further support his dominance. Unfortunately, the plan going forward is to limit his pitch count to 75 pitches. So, he looks more like a long reliever unless something drastic happens.
Dustin May – Dustin will be the first of the 60-day IL gang to make a return if everything goes as planned. We all know how dirty May is. He has a fastball that exceeds 100 MPH and breaks like a backwards slider. He just beginning his career with just 19 glorious starts but sports a nifty 2.93 career ERA while pitching as a starter and out of the pen. He’ll be back within a couple of weeks, but how long will it take for him to return to form?
Walker Buehler – Walker is going to come back in September as he’s scheduled to start a throwing program on Monday. Is it a given that he’ll be able to pitch in the post-season? Would you be willing to bet on it? I don’t think the Dodgers would. When he does come back, will his fastball be the batting practice pitch we saw the league hit 368 against this season? Or will it be closer to the pitch that has yielded a 200 batting average in the past?
The Rotation if the Season Ended Today
Kershaw, Gonsolin, Urias, Anderson – This rotation looks solid on paper. Each of these starters has a sub-3.00 ERA on the season. They don’t go particularly deep into games and don’t throw particularly hard, but it’s certainly getting the job done. The lefty/righty balance isn’t ideal when facing righty dominant hitting teams like the Yankees, Astros, Mets, and Padres.
The Healthy Rotation
Buehler, Kershaw, May, Urias – This rotation looks like pure evil to opposing teams. High-octane righties with dirty lefties mixed in between. Opponents will have a hard time adjusting to the different looks on a nightly basis. But, can we expect May and Buehler to return to optimal form?
The Likely Rotation
Kershaw, May, Urias, Gonsolin
So far, Gonso has pitched a better half-season than just about everyone in the rotation other than perhaps the GOAT. But can we really expect him to be at his best after another 13 starts and 78 innings? He might get some relief if we can add a 6th starter to give the main players a breather through tough stretches in the remaining schedule through the upcoming Dog Days that will be like no other due to the condensed schedule.
The Best Rotation
Kershaw, Castillo, Urias, May
A healthy and nasty Luis Castillo with a 97-99 fastball would effectively replace Buehler’s question mark after his odd and underperforming season to date. He would be an expensive insurance policy but would also provide a whole lot of depth to next year’s staff and would give the remaining minor league pitchers another year to bake and delay the start of their free agency clocks, allowing the Dodgers to keep the next great starting pitcher(s) a year further in their prime.
Risks and Rewards
There’s enough risk to the current rotation pieces that would justify bringing in Castillo or Montas. Fastballs play up in the postseason, and we have a chance to get a couple of really good ones back from the IL. Unfortunately, there are no guarantees that May will be as sharp after coming back from TJ after sitting out for close to two years or that Buehler will have that magic fastball that he had before the start of this season. I’m really scared that Gonso will run out of gas as Urias did last year or pull an All-Star game performance under the brighter lights in the post-season. I’m also terrified the IL will come for Kershaw at some point.
Our post-All-Star break schedule includes 11 in a row to close out July and another 7 in a row to start August. That’s 18 straight starts without an off day. There’s another 13-game stretch and a 12-game stretch to finish off August and begin September, then a 10-game stretch at the end of September. It would be a huge advantage to have another starter to slip into a six-man rotation to keep everyone fresh and healthy for the postseason. The reward will be more velocity in a postseason rotation and more options in the bullpen, and a deeper staff to start next season.
Future Dodgers Down on the Farm
- OKC beat Sactown 12-3
- Jimmy Outman had a day, as he was 3-4 with a HR, Triple, and 6 RBI.
- Miguel Vargas was 1-4 with a BB.
- Mike Busch was 2-4 with a BB.
- Yadier Alvarez pitched one innings allowing a walk.
- Tulsa shutout Wichita 3-0
- Jonny DeLuca continues his success at AA with his 4th HR and went 2-4, with 2 RBI.
- Carson Taylor was 3-3 with his 3rd HR.
- Kyle Hurt went four innings, allowing four singles, 1 BB, and striking out 7.
- Great Lakes lost 10-5
- Eddys Leonard played CF and was 3-4 with a BB
- Diego Cartaya was 1-5
- Imanol Vargas (.276/.433 OPS/.921 OPS) hit his 12th HR.
- Rancho Cucamonga won 11-2
- Damon Keith was 2-4 with 3 Runs and hit his 12th HR
- Yeiner Fernandez was 4-5 with 3 RBI
- Peter Huebeck went two innings and allowed 0 R, 0H, and 0 BB while striking out 4.
- Ronin Kopp got the win (5-1) as he pitched 4 innings, striking out 7 and allowing 1 H and 1 BB
Dodger News & Notes
- It was good to see Gavin Lux have success in the #5 Spot. I think that means he has arrived.
- Even Max Muncy got his weekly hit.
- The Bullpen acquitted itself as Kimbrel got his ERA below 4.00.
- Even Bickford looked solid.
- The Dodgers now have the best record in baseball! The cream is rising!
Not much is sweeter than a sweep of the hated ones. The Giants played us tough for most of the innings of this series. Most of the games were nail-biters, but we won out in the end. A four-run eighth decided the first game after bullpen meltdown from Bickford and Vesia, even Phillips gave up a run. The second game was knotted at one until another 4-run 8th sealed the deal. Yes, that was a big Belli slam that unknotted game 2. Game 3 was a 4 nothing shut out until Moronta couldn’t find the plate in the 9th. Price had to come in and finish it off, but not before the go-ahead run came to the plate. Game 4 featured a tie game heading into the 7th before Lamb, Lux and Trayce did the damage to go up by three. The bullpen held the dam for 5.2 innings of 2 hit / no walks / 8 K’s. What a series! It was so good, we get to do it all over again at their yard starting on August 1.
I read a big headline this morning that Soto is coming to LA!
It was a dirty trick. Juan Soto will be in LA tonight as a member of the Nats for the next three games before we head out to Colorado, where we apparently can’t seem to beat the Rockies in their home park any longer.
There’s essentially just 8 more games that we’ll play before the trade deadline as all trades will have been reported before the second game of the next Giants series in San Francisco. After that, the Dog Days begin before the playoff push, and stretch run of September.
It’s been a really weird pre-deadline year so far. Just about week remaining and no major deals to date. With another Wild Card added to the mix this offseason, pretenders are thinking about the chances of that playoff cash. In the NL, there are 3 division leaders and 3 teams sitting in Wild Card spots and an additional three teams within 5 games of a Wild Card Spot. So, just 6 teams are starting to circle the drain. In the AL, beyond the 6 teams sitting in playoff spots today, there are another 4 teams within 4 games of a Wild Card, leaving just 5 teams that appear to be circling the drain. With such few teams out of it, supply chain issues for contenders are starting to mount.
Regardless of any trades, the Dodgers will get reinforcements in August. The Dodgers are notoriously tight-lipped on the status of their infirmed, so there’s just speculation right now on the who and the when. But, it was reported by Bill Plunkett, a writer that still has a reputation, that Danny Duffy, Tommy Kahnle, Blake Treinen and Victor Gonzalez have all begun throwing programs. All of them will be a shot in the arm to the current bullpen mix. Andrew Heaney is close to a return and Dustin May isn’t far behind. The last to return will be Walker Buehler. That is 7 high-quality arms returning to the team. This will no doubt improve the bullpen situation. But, the starting rotation may still have question marks since May is coming off a very long absence and Buehler is fighting against the calendar for his return. And don’t forget that Brusdar should be activated within the next week or so barring a setback.
Just a few fresh arms added to the bullpen mix should solidify what we currently have. But, for all intents and purposes, there’s really just one internal option to really help out in the rotation. That’s Dustin May, who’s just 24 years old and hasn’t pitched since May 1, effectively missing close to a season and a half by the time he returns.
Overall, the Dodgers and the Yankees are the class of baseball with the Mets and Astros not far behind. The Padres are still in it considering Tatis will be back at some point. The deadline might just tip the scales for one of these teams. But, right now, the Dodgers are the hottest team in baseball.
I agree with BP. But I also think that they really have to take the next 7 games seriously. The Nats are at this point the worst team in the majors. But they still have some talented players, and Soto can lose a baseball anytime. The Rockies can score, but their bullpen is highly suspect. I just want to see them take at least 5 of the next 7 and head to SF still on a roll.
Sweep the Nats and split the Rockies?
With this batting, with this pitching, with this team, sweep the Nats and then sweep the Rockies as well, any other result is not acceptable!
B&P, very nice write up on the Dodgers possible starters for the postseason. Obviously, a lot of possibilities exist especially if we on obtain Castillo. I’m leaning more into the camp of going after him and Drury as well. I know Drury bats RH, but he hits RH pitchers at a respectful .255 average. He would be a good replacement for the still struggling Muncy. Despite of his RH bat I feel he could share the 3B/DH role with JT even though they both hit righthanded. What to do with Max is a tough call. His once a week outbursts at the plate along with grim, absolutely unproductive AB’s the rest of the time has to come to some kind of resolution. The team cannot go into the postseason with Muncy like he is playing right now. He has been given ample opportunities to turn things around and get back on track. It’s sad to watch, but it’s reality. If Drury isn’t traded for can Lamb still play 3B at the major league level? If so, that would give the team a proven LH bat to replace Muncy. I agree with philjones that Lamb has a tendency to take too many pitches, but he seems to be rounding into form the more playing time he gets. To be able to fill in at 3B would help continue and increase his playing time.
There are still many question marks with current IL pitchers on who, if, and when will return this season. If Castillo is obtained then May should finish the season in the BP. Even then I would be careful with May’s workload. With Buehler I would like to see him in the BP as well depending how well his rehab goes. It might be better to let him remain inactive until next year. He seems to be a slow healer and needs additional time to get in sync hence the slow starts to the season every year. He is too valuable to risk further injury. With the relievers getting Treinen, Kahnle, and Gonzalez back will be huge. It would add some experienced and talented arms and allow the removal of Moronta, Bickford, and possibly Vesia from the pen.
I know we all like all the winning. We like home runs. And effective pitching. But, I enjoyed winning yesterday with no home runs while still scoring seven runs. Hit after hit. It’s so much fun to have the scoring go on and on with one clutch two out hit after the other. Sucking the life out of the hated Giants. Again, home runs are great, but once they’re hit there’s a finality to it and all is quiet after the crowd settles down. Even Max joining in on the fun. Only Cody fail to get a hit, but played his usual outstanding defense and did walk once. Cody had Friday night heroics with his grand slam to crush the Giants. The last six weeks or so the team has been fun to watch. Let’s hope it continues for the rest of the season and into the playoffs.
If the Dodgers and Yankees end up in the World Series it should be an epic series if both teams are healthy and at full strength. It might be a World Series that can bring in new fans and bring back some fans that have lost interest in baseball. All this could happen in spite of Boob Manfred’s continued efforts to degrade the game.
Carry on
”It might be a World Series that can bring in new fans and bring back some fans that have lost interest in baseball”
”If the Dodgers and Yankees end up in the World Series it should be an epic series if both teams are healthy and at full strength”
ABSOLUTELY AGREE TED!!
Excellnt analysis of our pitching situation.
I want your “Best rotation”.
Bring in Castillo. A package of Pepiot, White, Pages plus a lower level player should be enough. At least that is what I hope. Reds would get two major league ready starters , one of them a potential Nr. 2 guy. Plus a still very young OF with power and good corner defense.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I would add more to that package if needed, or just get Castillo and go to the Cubs for Happ would be even better. I like Happ better than Drury, but both would help the team.
After the deadline, I sure would like to see Vargas on the MLB roster. Lamb can also handle third base and CT3 can even go back to LF. There’s lot’s of options. Who knows, maybe Trayce will be our Rosario.
BP –
Thanks for your comprehensive assessment of the Dodger’s rotation pitching talent. Because of your articles and daily posts, I now know more about Dodgers than just about any other topic in my life. As a retiree, I love it!
I don’t often say this about the coaches in any of the three sports I follow closely, but I am impressed with the Dodger’s pitching coaches at both the MLB and minor leagues levels. I have always believed that talent development and management was the most important attribute for any coach in any sport. From what I see, the Dodger pitching coaches – throughout the organization – have to be the best in baseball.
Keep up the good work!
I totally agree about the Pitching coaches and player development. Now, if we can get hitting coaches that can do the same thing.
This looks like the Dodger machine clicking on all cylinders that we all expected.
* CK didn’t have his sharp stuff. It’s understandable. There had to be some letdown after an emotional week with him named starter for the All Star Game, having a successful outing and all the festivities. He’s a Pro’s Pro but sometimes your body just won’t do what your mind wants it to. Good no-decision.
* Once again, the bull pen gives uo NO runs. Just outstanding.
* What an exciting Muncy AB in the 3rd, scoring Lux. Max swung the bat spoiling some close pitches and got a knock. I like him getting his hacks and not working a walk as much on close pitches.
* I’m gonna cheat a little and say Kimbrel actually had a clean 9th inning. I’m not going to count Bart’s parachute chinker just over Lux’s head. Didn’t count.
* Speaking of Bart. I hate catchers who noodle-arm eephus balls back to the pitcher, even with runners on. I would have stolen the next base after about the second one of those.
* Didn’t I tell you this umpire crew is horrible? Malachi Moore missed 17 pitches yesterday; 14 called strikes on actual balls. He was at 75% accuracy on his called strikes. This crew NEEDS ABS
* David Cone is pretty funny. Vogelbach “blows a snot rocket. I wonder what the exit velo was on that one”.
White, Pepiot, Jackson, Amaya, Outman and Feduccia for Castillo
Is there anything better to come back from Comicon to, other than a team playing incredibly well?
If only the Sox could get their shit together.
Still waaaaaaay too light DodgerHorse.
Andre Jackson, Ramon, Leonard and Stone can get you there.
Or Bickford, Knack, Pepiot and Ramon (although I think Bickford is over-valued in this instance)
Or Jesus Galiz, Grove, Pages and Gavin Stone?
Or Busch, Knack, Ramos and White?
@Mark
JD Martinez for Hoese and Carson Taylor? Who says no?
Red Sox say no, but throw in a 3rd player like Jackson and it might get done.
Who is Ramon?
Ramos!
Grrr.
Jose Ramos.
But, what does the trade simulator think?
That’s where i got them.
I honestly have very little time to think up trades, when such a fun tool exists.
Convenience his lure, as Jane’s Addiction said.
Jane’s is awesome. I love that band. Saw them when they were first starting out. Dave Navarro gave a guitar to by buddy’s wife.
Saw them at MSG. Was hit in the head with a chair as I rushed the stage.
Great time.
Funny story, years later I was trafficking in bootlegged Jane’s shows and heard my voice.
Six players for a pitcher, absolutely dumb. I would love to see the Dodgers sweep DC and the Rockies, but Coors has been a Snake pit lately for LA.
I agree Bear. I’m not seeing the urgency to trade off prospects for pitching. We have pitchers who will be returning from the IL. Pitchers that are generally better then guys we could trade for.
You don’t need to make trades by the deadline because you can. It would need to be a remarkable upgrade or I’m not interested.
I think Castillo can be a remarkable upgrade simply because there’s no telling what Buehler and May will be after injuries, surgeries and rehabs. You have to deal some prospects, otherwise you’ll lose them to the Rule 5. There’s also a large surplus of starting pitchers to deal from. There’s only so many rotation spots and Gonsolin has 4 more years of control, May has 3, Buehler has 2 and Urias has one more.
I would do Pepiot, Feduccia, and a 3rd prospect out of the Top 10 for Castillo.
Agree , but those top 10 should Not Be Named Miller and Cartaya
My two absolute untouchables
Go Dodgers!
“Out of the top 10” as in “from the top 10”
OR
“Out of the top 10” as in “outside the top 10”
If the latter, I’m sure you would! So would I! So would the Dodgers, I believe, in about 5 milliseconds.
1. OUTSIDE THE TOP 10.
2. Not named Stone!
I am extremely high on Gavin Stone.
I 100% endorse the idea of not trading prospects you are high on and expecting a quality return.
That’s funny.
Bluto,
It’s taken a while, but you have a twisted sense of humor… I like it!
I heard a while back that the Reds wanted Pages for Castillo.
Here’s the question:
Is 2022 a ceiling or a temporary plateau for Pages?
I have no clue. He IS on the Youngish side for AA.
Here’s something that no one has talked about.
1. The Dodgers are currently the best team in baseball.
2. The Dodgers have the best record in all of baseball.
3. The Dodgers have one of the best clubhouses in baseball… if not the best!
4. The Dodgers have several players due back in the next week or month (Treinen, Rios, Taylor, May, Buehler, Gonzalez, Kahnle, Duffy, et al).
5. Depending upon who they get, some of the players could take a trade like many of you are suggesting as a BIG FU!
6. It could be “subtraction by addition.”
Paul Sorvino R.I.P.
We also lost David Warner. He was in some very good movies including Titanic and Tron. One of my favorites was Time after Time where he played Jack the Ripper.
Very interesting and fair assessment of where we sit re starting Pitching.
There are many question marks however, especially over fitness and potential injuries that cannot be foreseen.
I’m all for bringing in another Starter, because as Bobby says, it’s really all about the Post Season, and giving ourselves the best chance.
Buehler (our Ace) must be a huge question mark -,-and even if he does make it to the start line, what can we expect given his time away?
Clayton. Has rebounded brilliantly but is one plane ride away from an IL stint, plus although still a great pitche, is he Elite?
Julio. Hasn’t seemed quite himself and was certainly blowing fumes down the stretch last season. Needs managing carefully to get the most out of him in October.
Tyler and Gonsolin have been outstanding. Neither have pitched in high leverage games pitched anything like this many innings.
Heaney has done well in his 3 starts or whatever. Another with question marks.
Pepiot and White are Wild Cards.
May would be a bonus.
I’m not keen to give up the talent it would take to get Castillo – Pitchers break, and he’s been broken before.
How about a pitcher with unparalleled Post Season success, who is a workhorse and could be had for a song.
Mr M Bumgarner would be a very useful pick up for this season and the next two. Yes he’s got a lot of miles on his arm, but he’s only 31/32. and has a salary of $18m through 24, giving us 2 more years.
He would be a hedge against Buehler needing surgery, and Clayton getting injured or not resigning next year. Plus Heaney and Anderson are only here for one year I think.
I would imagine he’d revel in a step back into the limelight and would give us lots of options come the Post Season.
I’m sure the Diamondbacks would absolutely jump at the chance to get out from under his contract, and we would have to give very little away in prospect capital.
He’s still a decent pitcher playing for a terrible team, and yes he’s not the Ace he was, he still has the knowledge and grit to get it done – and would only cost money.
He could also bat Clean Up instead of Max – the Dodger’s version of Ohtani.
I’m bunkering down waiting for the flak lol
Bum as a Dodger would so Dodgers-Giants!! I hadn’t thought of that, but wow, would that make things interesting.
3.71 ERA
1.332 WHIP
Mad-Bum used to be a badass back in the day.
So did I.
Those ships have sailed.
I think for a starting pitcher Noah Syndergaard would be an excellent rental from the Angels. He is a free agent at the end of the year.
4.00 ERA?
He could be the only pitcher on the Dodgers’ active roster with an ERA over 4.00… other than Bickford!
Business as usual this off season now that the deadline was today for an approval of an International Draft (see below) means that the qualifying offers will be in place and IF the Dodgers don’t sign Trea Turner to a long term contract and he rejects their qualifying offer they will at least receive a draft pick in 2023. If there was an International approved qualifying offers would no longer allowed.
MLBPA Rejects MLB’s “Final” Proposal On International Draft
By Steve Adams | July 25, 2022 at 3:04pm CDT
The Major League Baseball Players Association announced Monday that it has rejected Major League Baseball’s latest (and purportedly “final”) proposal regarding the implementation of an international draft. The MLBPA’s statement reads as follows:
“The Players Association today rejected what MLB characterized as its “final” proposal to establish a draft and hard slotting system for international entrants.
Players made clear from the outset that any International Draft must meaningfully improve the status quo for those players and not unfairly discriminate between those players and domestic entrants. To this end, the Players Association made a series of proposals aimed at protecting and advancing the rights of international amateurs.
I think Bum will be a clubhouse killer nor to say who you will sit if all the options are available.
So it sounds like the playoffs worry is about our starting pitchers being possibly injured and the starters not being able to go deep in the playoffs. Meaning not being able to go 7 innings for example. First of all remember there are plenty of days off during the playoffs. So our bullpen will have to go 2 days in a row, then a day off, then 3 days in a row, then a day off, then 2 days in a row, if the series goes 7 games.
So lets say our starters only go 5 innings, that means the bullpen has to go 4 innings. We already have 2 very reliable relievers once Treinen gets back. That’s Phillips and Treinen. Let’s say Freidman gets the 2 relievers I mentioned yesterday, Robertson and Chafin and I gave you their stats for this year and their career stats. Lets say Almonte continues to be excellent/good. Lets say Kimbrel gets his shit together and he is showing signs of doing that.
That’s 6 guys right there that can handle 4 innings of work with plenty of off days. 3 of them (Kimbrel, Robertson, Chafin) with a lot of experience being excellent/very good. 1 of them (Treinen) doesn’t quite have the experience the other 3 have, but still has some experience. 2 of them that don’t have the experience the other 4 have, but are excellent/very good this year, Phillips and Almonte. That is a kick ass lock down bullpen. Why not rely on that bullpen? Robertson and Chafin won’t cost as much as a starter will cost such as Castillo. Robertson and Chafin are CLEARLY upgrades over everyone in our bullpen except Phillips like I showed you yesterday. Is Castillo an upgrade over Gonsolin, Kershaw, Urias? I’ll answer that NO. Maybe Urias but that’s debatable. Who’s our 4th starter? What does it matter with the bullpen that I laid out above. Tyler Anderson can give us 5 good innings as the 4th starter. There are others that we have that are options for a 4th starter.
Basically build a kick ass lock down bullpen that can handle four innings two days in a row with a day off then come back and do it for three days in a row with a day off then come back for two days in a row if it goes that long. Rely on them instead of our starting pitchers.
Ask our starting pitchers to go five innings then hand it over to our kick ass lock down bullpen. Hell even four innings from our starting pitchers would probably work with that bullpen that I laid out.
What you’re describing, as far as the starters go, reminds me of the 2015 KC Royals. They won the World Series relying on their bullpen and started a trend across baseball for teams trying to stack their pens hoping for similar results.
That postseason, the starters pitched in a total of 16 games using 4 starting pitchers, with one of them, Kris Medlen, making just two starts. The others were Volquez, 5 starts, 28.2 innings, Ventura 5 starts, 21 innings and Cueto, 4 starts, 25 innings. They used 8 pitchers in relief and two of them were starters, Medlen and Duffy. All but one of them pitched at least 6 innings. Three pitched in 10 or more innings. They had 4 lockdown guys that all had an ERA of less than 2 in the postseason (Kelvin Hererra, Wade Davis, Chris Young) and in addition, they also had Ryan Madson, Danny Duffy, Kris Medlen and Luke Hochevar.
They basically had a bullpen of 6 studs and Danny Duffy.
Robertson, Kimbrel, Phillips, Treinen, is a good start if they all pitched their career best this postseason. Almonte has been very good so far. The thing I don’t get is your fascination with Chafin. I guess that’s what happens when your laser-focused on just one thing and we all know what that is. After getting lit up the last two days, his ERA is a solid 2.73. In mid June, he was at 3.52 and probably wouldn’t have garnered your attention. He tosses it up there at 91 and comes at you from and angle from the left side. There’s really not much to get exited about with him. As a matter of fact, we already have him on the team, but you probably missed it because that’s how unexciting he is. Just Bruhil is just a younger version of Chafin, has about the same post season experience, with better results.
Anyways, you’ll still need to do better than your proposed bullpen to match the 2015 Royals if you plan to use your starters in that manner. And that isn’t going to start with 37-year-old David Robertson.
One serious question. Do you really think getting Chafin and Robertson will produce better results this postseason than getting Castillo? Or, is this a decision based on prospect costs?
First of all because of the expanded playoffs I had a smaller pool of relievers to choose from. There are better relievers than Robertson and Chafin but they are on contending teams. I gave you guys the career and 2022 slash lines of Robertson and Chafin yesterday so what are you complaining about except Robertson being 37 years old?
Are you talking about our Justin Bruihl? Please don’t tell me you’re comparing him to Chafin? If you are go look at Bruihl’s career slash line against RHB’s and compare it to Chafin.
Your question to me about Castillo is both. Robertson and Chafin like I said before are upgrades over everyone in our current bullpen today besides Phillips. Who is Castillo an upgrade over among our starting pitcher s besides probably our fourth starter in the playoffs and how much of an upgrade is it?
When I say our current bullpen today that doesn’t include Treinen on the IL who’s overall career stats are not quite as good but similar. And it doesn’t include Kimbrel’s career stats because that’s better but the way that he’s pitching so far this year Robertson and Chafin is an upgrade over Kimbrel based on the way he’s pitching this year.
10:10 PM ET
Nationals (32-65)
Dodgers (64-30)
SP Tony Gonsolin R
11-0 2.02 ERA 93.2 IP 86K
Confirmed Lineup
RF Mookie Betts R
SS Trea Turner R
1B F. Freeman L
C Will Smith R
DH Jake Lamb L
3B Max Muncy L
2B Gavin Lux L
CF C. Bellinger L
LF T. Thompson R
Tigers leading Padres 11-4 in top of the 6th. Love to have a 12.5 game lead by the end of tonight.
If the Tigers maintain their lead and we win tonight we will be 14 ahead in the loss column.
Man, I hate to see non-plays like the one Max did! Uff!!
Don’t the Nats know they are crap?
If the Dodgers lose this one then 11 of their 31 losses will have come to the Rockies, Pirates, and Nationals.
1-5 vs, Pittsburgh!
Interesting innings from Moranta.
They blew a chance to gain on both the Padres and the Giants. Gonsolin deserved a better fate but the offense let him down.