Dodgers Team News

Dodgers News: Zaidi Envisions Using Surplus Of Starting Pitchers

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

With the signing of Brandon Beachy on Saturday, the Los Angeles Dodgers now carry a surplus of pitchers who have starting experience.

This may beg the question of why so many starting pitchers? Well, the Dodgers of course experienced first hand in 2014 the difficulty of running out of healthy arms and appear intent on avoiding a repeat situation.



So much so that general manager Farhan Zaidi said after the Beachy signing he believes the Dodgers will hit double digits in starting pitchers used this season, according to Ron Cervenka of Think Blue LA:

The strategy should be of benefit for the Dodgers, as they were left with only three consistent starters going into the postseason last year. Josh Beckett had his share of injury and consistency issues throughout the season, Dan Haren also scuttled, and Paul Maholm was lost in August to a torn ACL.

A need, perhaps desperation, to acquire starting pitchers led to the Dodgers making waiver trades for Kevin Correia Roberto Hernandez. Neither starter made much of an impact and as expected, both are no longer with the organization.

In the case of Correia, the Dodgers wound up sending the Minnesota Twins cash to complete the trade. However, the Philadelphia Phillies received two prospects for Hernandez. Nonetheless, neither trade was slanted in the Dodgers’ favor.

Being that an MLB season is 162 games, having only five or six starting pitchers isn’t necessarily sufficient to get through the year with the club at peak condition come the postseason. Furthermore, Beachy, Mike Bolsinger and Juan Nicasio are capable of starting or coming out of the bullpen.

By having a more than an ample amount of starting pitchers on the roster, manager Don Mattingly will have options if needing to replace an injured pitcher and/or added flexibility with his rotation.

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19 Comments

  1. oh, that’s makes sense…12 starters? Is he fripping nuts? Please, they hardly get in enough work in spring as it is before the season starts…….

    1. the Dodgers used 12 starters last season, including 24 (mostly bad) starts by Hernandez, Maholm, Correia, Frias, Fife and Wright.

    2. Most teams use an average of 10 to 12 different starters over the course of a season. Preparing with less is nuts.

      1. Well whoopee……..Preparing with healthy guys maybe, the guys who are going to be in AAA as starters is a who’s who of never haves, never wills, and gee , my arm is killing me. Reed and Lee had better show something this year at Okie City or they are toast. Urias is at least 2 years away and Holmes at least that. HEALTHY starters yes,,,, this collection of misfits…sorry , not buying it

        1. Teams use 10-12 starters BECAUSE of injuries. No team has 10-12 healthy starters. That’s just unrealistic expectations.

  2. Bull – Friedman has untested and other teams throw aways plus he traded Kemp and D – fire Friedman today

  3. You’re going to use a lot of starting pitchers when you sign nothing but injury prone pitchers, why are these guys called geniuses when their teams never made it to the world series, and what happened to the rays last year?

    1. 90+ wins in 5 of the last 7 years. How many other teams can boast that? None.

      And please tell me how to construct a World Series winner. Last I checked, nobody thought the Giants or Royals would make it. Playoffs are a big crap shoot. It’s based on 12 measly wins out of a possible 183 games.

      Oh, and the Red Sox won 3 championships the last decade using geeky Moneyball analytics.

        1. And it took two years to build the team he wanted, so I suggest we be patient and cut him some slack.

          1. This is LA…it has been 27 years since the last World Series appearance. The fans are restless and I doubt they will cut him slack as you say. They want results. 2 straight defeats in the playoffs plus the couple times Phillies ousted them a few years ago. Nope, the natives are restless and they want that ring. The Giants have won 3 of 5…does not sit well with the blue.

          2. Agreed. I’m just as furious as anyone else. Hope everything works out and we got some tricks up our sleeve come July 2nd.

            As much as I like patching up defensive holes and trying to find hidden gems, we do still need to grab those big bats and arms when we can and just have a stacked roster. That would give the fans more assurance coming into the season.

          3. And yes 27 years is like hell on Earth, but realistically it’s gonna take time for any new regime to build a championship contender. We’ve been one of the best teams in baseball in the last several years; I feel like we are almost there.

          4. That is true, but they could have contended this year without a major shakeup like they did…..Ramirez would have been the only major loss and they could have packaged Ethier, money and a couple of prospects for a starter……Got a SS off the free agent list, and a couple of good relievers to shore up the BP without gutting the team

  4. It only makes sense to carry 11 pitchers on the seasonal roster, so they are going to stockpile AAA with guys with MLB contracts instead of giving the young guys they develop a shot. Or else they will be relievers and the likes of Paco, Baez, Y. Garcia, etc will stagnate in the minors.
    I’m not impressed with this new management, as much as I thought it was time for Coletta to go and why in the world is he still being paid to consult?

    1. They are going to carry 12. 7 relievers and 5 starters. Lee and Reed, have no shot at the 25 man roster. They will be in Okie city. Bedard will ask for his release if he does not make the team most likely. Bolsinger, Wieland, Frias, all will most likely be in AAA too. Howell, Jansen, Nicasio, Peralta , League and Hatcher are locks in the BP. League could be released if he has a lousy spring,. They have shown a penchant for eating contracts. But even so, that leaves 2 openings in the BP…..3 until Jansen is back…..You have LHP Paco, Liberattore, Columbe, and Huff, who was a starter at one time. In a perfect world, you carry 2 lefty’s. But with Aardsma, McGowan, Santo’s and about 12 other non roster guys, you have a lot of candidates for the spots. But McGowan has a MLB contract…..You also have Beachy who will be rehabbing at AAA…..Baez has the stuff to make the roster and in my book probably will. He throws harder than anyone else on the list. Y, Garcia needs at least a full year in AAA. Colletti was taken on as an advisor because he knows the NL where as Freidman and Zaidi are AL guys….

      1. You may be correct about 12 pitchers, but I think it’s too many. But then Donnie learned from Torre regarding overuse of the BP. If 12, that only leaves 5 players on the bench. So who stays? Must have Ellis plus 2 for IF and 2 for OF. Turner is a lock and then either Barney or Guerrero (who cannot be sent to minors without his permission). Unless Petersen goes back to AAA, only 2 of Van Slyke, Ethier and Heisey make the team. All indications are that Petersen makes the team, unless he really struggles during ST. Van Slyke killed leftys last year and is your back up at 1B and platoon guy with Crawford. Ethier has been a fav of mine and I think he can bounce back, but we all know he gets moved if they can find a taker. To some extent Heisey is insurance and would platoon with Ethier in center if Petersen in sent down. Will be an interesting Spring.

        1. They carried 12 almost all last year. 5 starters, Beckett, Kersh, Ryu, Greinke,Haren, and 7 relievers. Jansen, League, Wilson, Perez, Howell, Wright and Withrow. Kersh went down for about a month and Maholm took his place. Bench was SVS, Turner, Baxter, Figgins, and Butera. Until Kemp was activated about 10 days in. The bench kind of rotated guys from the AAA team most of the year, with guys like Triuinfel, Eri, Fed Ex, and assorted others all making appearances. Now usually you do not need your 5th starter until late April or May. So guys like Paco were around for short stints. This year Turner, and SVS and Ellis, are the bench locks. that leaves 2 spots or 3 if they carry 11 out of camp….. Guererro is pretty much nothing but a hitter..unless he shows different in camp, he will be sent down , or released. You have Barney, Heisey Ethier, Enrique Hernandez, Eri and Kyle Jensen all vying for those spots. If Pederson struggles again. ( He has never hit over .180 in spring) He will get a ticket to Okie City. If he hits, Ethier will get one of those spots unless he is traded and Heisey goes to AAA as ins.

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