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State Of The Dodgers: Starting Rotation Depth

Jeff Spiegel
10 Min Read
Clayton-kershaw-13
Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

PAGES: 1 | 2 | 3

For most organizations, the starting rotation is always a work-in-progress. They enter Spring Training with questions about who will earn back-of-the-rotation spots and are constantly scouring free agency for someone who can help.

Not so for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In fact, for the Dodgers, the problem is the exact opposite. Instead of wondering who their fifth starter will be, the club is trying to wade through the problem of having too many starting pitchers.

Los Angeles has veterans, young hurlers and injury-prone options in the middle. So where does that leave them?

At the moment, the Dodgers have Jose De Leon, Rich Hill, Scott Kazmir, Clayton Kershaw, Kenta Maeda, Brandon McCarthy, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Brock Stewart, Ross Stripling, Julio Urias and Alex Wood all on the 40-man rotation with Major League starts under their belt.

That’s 11 starters. And that’s not “we’re desperate for help, so this pitcher is an option” depth, either. Aside from Stripling and Stewart, the other nine would all start for most teams when healthy.

Of course, “when healthy” is a major asterisk with the Dodgers, but as it stands, each of the aforementioned pitchers are expected to be healthy come Spring Training. Yes, even Ryu.

So let’s break the crop of starting pitchers into three sections: the guaranteed starters, competition and long shots.

The Guaranteed Starters: Clayton Kershaw, Rich Hill, Kenta Maeda

Kershaw is the best pitcher in baseball and Hill just signed a three-year, $48 million contract, giving the Dodgers one of the most formidable 1-2 punches in baseball. Last season, Hill had the second-lowest ERA among pitchers with 110+ innings. Who had the best such ERA? That belonged to Kershaw.

Then there’s Maeda — the only reliable arm the Dodgers had for the entirety of 2016 and some who would have had a great shot at winning the National League Rookie of the Year if not for one Corey Seager.

In 32 starts (the most on the team), Maeda went 16-11 with a 3.48 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP.

CONTINUE READING: Pitchers in competition to crack the starting rotation, and more

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By Jeff Spiegel
Jeff Spiegel was raised in California but currently resides in Portland, Oregon. After graduating from the University of Oregon, he worked in sports before entering journalism full time — first as a Sports Reporter and then as the Associate Editor of a local newspaper. Online, he has been writing about both the Dodgers and Raiders since 2012 — having written for DodgersNation.com and SBNation.com prior to joining both DodgerBlue.com and RaidersNation.com. He left full-time journalism in 2012 to become a pastor. Jeff can be found on Twitter at @JeffSpiegel. Favorite Dodger I'm going past and present (sort of) on this one. Recently, I was a die hard Yasiel Puig guy. The energy he played with was amazing and the hope and expectation he brought every single night was captivating. Whether it was a rifle from the warning track to throw a guy out at second, an aggressive bat flip or licking his bat, I was here for ALL of the Yasiel Puig era. Past tense, I'd go with Eric Gagné. This wasn't so much about Gagné himself as it was the experience of cheering for him. Yes, he was on steroids — but the dude was unlike any pitcher I've ever seen — he was NASTY. I still stand by the claim that if I needed one out and my life depended on it, and could choose any pitcher from any era to get me that out, I'm taking roided up Gagné in a heartbeat. Favorite Dodger Moment A few jump to mind immediately. Being born in November of 1988, I missed the last World Series by weeks — which also meant I didn't get to see the Dodgers win a playoff game until I was nearly 16. They had made the playoffs in 1995 and 1996, but were swept both times. In 2004, though, I got to see them win behind a complete game shutout from Jose Lima, and that was pretty freaking special. The next in-person moment that came to mind was the Manny Ramirez bobblehead night pinch-hit grand slam from 2009. Vin Scully claimed it was the loudest he had heard Dodger Stadium in 20 years, and it's hard to disagree. As far as ones I didn't get to see live, I'll throw one more out there: the back-to-back-to-back-to-back home runs that tied a game against the Padres in 2006 (plus the walk-off from Nomar Garciaparra in extra innings) was an all-timer. Obviously, the impending Dodgers World Series will quickly jump to the top of this list...