Los Angeles Dodgers: Solving the Starting Rotation Mess
By Sunit Bhakta
You hear about positional logjams a lot in sports but if you want to truly understand one, just look at the Los Angeles Dodgers and their starting rotation. It is one of the biggest logjams around the league and will require creativity to get around.
As pitchers and catchers finally report around the MLB, the Los Angeles Dodgers start with 10 pitchers for five starting rotation slots. All 10 pitchers are capable of pitching at the MLB level; it’s just a matter of who the front office and sophomore manager Dave Roberts believe will be the best choices. They have Clayton Kershaw, Kenta Maeda, Julio Urias, Rich Hill, Brock Stewart, Ross Stripling, Alex Wood, Scott Kazmir, and Brandon McCarthy.
If all the pitchers stayed healthy, they would be able to throw out two above-average rotations. Not many teams can say that. However, because it’s such a huge IF on the health side of things, it’s only dream. However, the Los Angeles Dodgers have quality options and last season showed that you can’t have too much starting pitching. I believe there is a way that the team should arrange their rotation that will best utilize their starting rotation while having an effect that might bleed into the bullpen.