On the last episode of the podcast, towards the end, you heard Jacob and Sebastian’s thoughts on who they think should be in the Dodgers’ rotation to start off the season.
Looking at the depth chart of the Dodgers, there’s about 7 options for the 5 starters spots. The 7 names are: Trevor Bauer, Walker Buehler, Tony Gonsolin, Clayton Kershaw, Dustin May, David Price, and Julio Urias, in alphabetical order. Just by looking at the list and seeing the names, there’s 3 definite starters. Those are Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler, and Trevor Bauer. Those 3 are for sure in the rotation for their own reasons. Kershaw is the lifelong Dodger, who has been the one constant in the Dodgers rotation ever since Clayton made his debut. Walker Buehler is the second for sure starter because he has taken the torch from Kershaw and is now the #1 guy in our rotation. Trevor Bauer is the third and final for sure starter because we are not going to give out a record-breaking contract for a starter and not have him be a starter.
On the podcast, Jacob and Sebastian both said that they don’t think Price should get the 4th starter’s spot based on his “seniority” in the big leagues. They both said that the Dodgers should give Julio Urias and Dustin May a shot as starters and that Price has to earn his spot in the rotation due to him sitting out last year. I get where they are coming from, but I disagree with them.
I believe Price has earned his spot in the rotation, albeit with work he’s done for other teams. Price has proven to be able to log innings, which gives our bullpen rest. That is important, especially with Dave Roberts’ short trigger, as he goes to the pen early and often. The guy has a career 3.31 ERA and has logged 2,029 2/3 innings. He’s never had an ERA higher than 3.60 only 3 times in his career.
I understand where they’re coming from in regards to finally giving Urias and May an actual shot at being a full time starter. But I believe that Urias should come out of the pen this year. Urias each of the last 3 years in the postseason, has proven that he has what it takes to be an elite relief pitcher. Urias closed out the World Series last year, for crying out loud. Plus, I don’t believe that we have that many lefties in the bullpen. We have Victor Gonzalez and Scott Alexander. Gonzalez, I’m confident in to be a go-to-guy to get big outs. Alexander on the other hand, I’m a bit iffy on. On paper, he should be a top of the line reliever. Yes, he doesn’t have top velo. Yes, he doesn’t get a lot of strikeouts. But, he has great pitchers that can get him out of any jam. He has an excellent sinker and a wipeout slider, a combination when used correctly, can make you a top of the line reliever. Where Alexander goes wrong is, he hangs his slider and he gets hit a lot. Him getting hit a lot though, he can get away with because he primarily throws a sinker. I would prefer to have Julio to be our second lefty out of the bullpen.
As for the 5th starter, I believe that Dustin May should be the guy as opposed to Tony Gonsolin. Yes, Tony had a great year last year as a starter, but when it comes to May and Gonsolin, May is a better starter than he is a reliever. I would much rather have Tony come out the pen than May. This was shown last year in the postseason. Whenever May came out the pen, he struggled. I would much rather have him struggle in innings 1 and 2 and find his groove the 3rd inning on, as opposed to May coming in a 6th inning jam with runners on 2nd and 3rd no outs and him not have his stuff right away. With Tony, he proved that he can come out of the pen and be just fine.
