Dodgers’ starting rotation has been the focal point of success
PHOENIX — It’s been all sunshine, rainbows and lollipops in Los Angeles Dodgers camp.
There’s a presumption of success here and it’s justified. The Dodgers reached the World Series last year and played in the National League Championship Series the year before that. Most of the key players are back. So is the manager. The once-skeptical fan base is now convinced the front office knows what it’s doing.
The widespread assumption is the Dodgers will cruise to a sixth consecutive National League West championship, and that very well could be the case.
So now is probably the right time for a quick reality check. The machine could unravel this season. It’s not worth wagering a mortgage payment on that possibility, but the chance of a disaster is nonetheless very real and very present.
Based on the team’s recent track record, the culprit would be the unlikeliest of suspects: the starting rotation. The group will continue to be headlined by the best pitcher in baseball in Clayton Kershaw, but the depth that made it the top collective unit in the sport has been eroded by financial considerations.
“That’s fair,” manager Dave Roberts said. “We don’t have the starting pitching depth that we’ve had in past years.”
Moving under the luxury-tax threshold and adhering to Major League Baseball’s debt service rule prevented the Dodgers from making a serious effort to re-sign Yu Darvish. They also traded Brandon McCarthy and Scott Kazmir to the Atlanta Braves.
Darvish, who was acquired at the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, posted a 3.44 ERA in nine starts over the last two months of the regular season. McCarthy started 16 games for the Dodgers last season and posted a 3.98 ERA. Kazmir won 10 games for the Dodgers in 2016.
The Dodgers bolstered their lineup in the trade by acquiring Matt Kemp, but are now at the mercy of the health of the five pitchers in their rotation: Kershaw, Rich Hill, Alex Wood, Kenta Maeda and Hyun-Jin Ryu. All five pitchers were on the disabled list last season and have disconcerting medical histories.
“Look, I think you’re right,” general manager Farhan Zaidi said. “You can’t view it as a fiveman rotation. It’s got to be a 162game rotation and where do those 162 starts come from?”
But Zaidi remains optimistic. The group was relatively durable last season, with Ryu making 24 starts; Hill, Wood and Maeda 25 each; and Kershaw 27.
“We try to manage these guys individually to allow for them to get through a major league season,” Roberts said.
If the worst-case scenario unfolds, they could have to make a trade just to contend.