Dodgers: Radio Host Has Eye on October After Mookie Betts & David Price Trade
Finally, it’s official. The Boston Red Sox have traded Mookie Betts and David Price to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Both players now appear on the team’s official roster which suddenly looks all glossy and neat.
Therefore, it’s time for the talking heads to start speculating how the new look Dodgers will perform. Of course – that conversation quickly turns not to the certainty of the regular season – but October baseball. Recently Rich Eisen talked about the Dodgers and their presumptive upcoming October with their new additions.
First off, Eisen couldn’t love the addition of Betts more in terms of a shot in the arm for the Dodgers’ offense. Still, he has a question that remains.
“Altogether, Mookie Betts is exactly what the doctor ordered for this lineup. Exactly, okay. I mean, exactly what the Dodgers need in October; which they were going to make with Betts or without. They are that good. Can David Price come out with the frame though?”
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[adace-ad id=”119376″]To be fully honest, I am with Eisen. In their current state, the Dodgers should roll towards a division title and probably the top record in the NL. From there, I wonder how their pitching staff will fare. And so does Eisen, who sounds like he believes in little in the starting rotation beyond Walker Buehler.
“Man I know this is a response to not getting Gerritt Cole. But if you ask Dodgers fans which two would you rather have? You can have Cole, or this trade. Which one would you take? Cole is a guy that you know will hang two or maybe three W’s on the wall in a seven game series. All you need is enough offense with a Cole to scrape out a win. Usually pitching is what gets you through October. I’m telling you that Betts is exactly what the Doctor ordered for the offense. But the question is the pitching, can Buehler take a step forward? Can Kershaw finally get his moment?”
These are worthwhile questions. Of course my hope is that the Dodgers get a hot hand or two to emerge this season no matter who it is. For instance, you can find an example of a pitcher who rose up and over performed his expectations to be a no. 3 or no. 4 starter dating back to 2016.
With the pitching depth the Dodgers have, that’s realistic to hope for. And if that doesn’t happen by midseason, they still have the prospects to go out and fortify that unit if they want to.
NEXT: Passan Sees 100+ Wins and a World Series for Dodgers in 2020
Here’s another question …can Roberts stop making those type of ludicrous pitching decisions he made in the 2019 NLDS? But concur in that pitching will win in October and because of basically inexperience on potentially half the rotation, wss.
It felt like dodo brain saw what Davey Martinez was doing with his pitching staff and decided he wanted to copy it without realizing that the Nats had to do that because of their bullpen. He’s literally the only manager that couldn’t flubbed it up with 6 outs to go. Maeda and Jansen is all he had to do lmao
*could’ve
First of all Dodgers had best record last year without mookie.And Mookie is not the answer for October he hit below the Mendoza line 219.Dodgers will win because all their young stars will be more experience now,and they will limit Urias,May and Gonsolin so they will be lights out in October and Mookie will help a little hitting 270 18 hrs 74 rbis,first year out of friendly Fenway and adapting to national league pitchers.
What’s required here is some perspective. Does anyone think the ’18 Sox or ’15 Royals staffs – both starting and relieving – were better than what the Dodgers will field in 2020? Yep, the Nats, with a superior starting cast, snatched one in ’19 but did the Mets in ’15? I’d put the Dodgers’ staff in 2020 on par with both the Cubs in ’16 and the Astros in ’17.
What the Dodgers need is some guys to step up come playoffs. Buehler has; Kershaw hasn’t. Heck even Wood and Price have in the past. The Dodgers have lots of candidates to do so this year as long as Roberts stops fiddling around with them and gets his head out of his butt.
Do the new rules on relievers facing 3 batters before they can be yanked apply to the playoffs? If so, Roberts’ strange pitching changes in late innings will be somewhat muted. He still may leave pitchers in one batter too long, but he can’t run through his pen like a sex-crazed teenager, either.