When Los Angeles Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman joined the organization a year ago, he emphasized the importance of pitching depth throughout the organization in his introductory press conference.
Last offseason and throughout the 2015 season, Friedman and his front office made one move after another in effort to bolster the pitching staff down through the Minor League ranks.
While some acquisitions paid bigger dividends than others, Friedman had the Dodgers in better position to absorb the losses of Brandon McCarthy and Hyun-Jin Ryu than the 2014 club would have been in.
With some of the depth gaining valuable experience last season, Friedman expressed more satisfaction with the current state of the organization’s pitching staff, via Jon Weisman of Dodger Insider:
“This offseason is different than last in that going into next year, we feel much better about our pitching depth that will be in Oklahoma City. … And then you have (Mike) Bolsinger, (Carlos) Frias, Jose De Leon, (Julio) Urias, (Jharel) Cotton, Zach Lee, Joe Wieland. We have a number of guys we like that will be there, and that is a big difference for us just in terms of the depth that we’ll have on hand.”
Mike Bolsinger, Carlos Frias, Zach Lee and Joe Wieland all made starts at the big league level last season, with Bolsinger having the most success.
One of the first moves Friedman made when coming to the Dodgers was acquiring Bolsinger from the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for cash considerations.
The 27-year-old right-hander went 6-6 with a 3.62 ERA and 1.36 WHIP in 21 starts. Although his starts later in the season were rocky, Bolsinger provided needed depth at a crucial time.
Frias pitched in 17 games, starting 13 and going 5-5 with a 4.06 ERA in 77.2 innings of work. He missed significant time due to a back injury.
Lee and Wieland both made spot starts for the Dodgers and were otherwise used in the OKC rotation.
