Pitching is the World's Most Precious Resource. Here's How the Dodgers Protect Theirs.
I hope their loved ones are proud, because the 2020 Los Angeles Dodgers are a rousing success. With a first-half best-record-in-baseball of 22-8 they have exceeded all expectations.
As proof I point to the baseball industry prognosticators (including the online gambling community), which projected L.A.’s season win total at anywhere from 34 to 42, depending on the date of the forecast and the outlet. I’m no math whiz, but I can multiply by two accurately enough to know that the team is on pace to win 44 games, which is better than 34, 42 and everything in between. If anyone had the the Dodgers going 44-16 -- which is the 162-game equivalent of 119-win season, I didn’t see it.
The Dodgers were expected to be good, but not this good. And how have they managed to succeed to such a degree? With hitting, pitching and fielding. Hitting and pitching and fielding. Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!
Los Angeles is a pitching organization and has been for over half a century. They know what they're doing, generally. But some in the city, and among the team's fans the world over who've been waiting for a championship since the Reagan Administration, remain skeptical. They've seen this movie before. And the reruns. They're skeptical primarily because of manager Dave Roberts' frequent weirdness with early hooks for no apparent reason. And because he overworks some guys while babying others.
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Oil and the price per barrel, schmoil and the schmice schmer schmarrel! Pitching is the world's most precious resource. The Dodgers need to protect theirs. How do they do that exactly? Pay attention now, because I'm not going to repeat it. It's a three-step process; seemingly obvious but not to some among us. The important some among us. Here ya go:
1. Only the most worthy are to be given a job in the starting rotation. No more of this three and four-inning crap from those who can't produce a better outcome. I don't care if the bullpen is aided in theory by the presence of 10 or 11 men because of the COVID-shortened season. The relief corps must be protected for October. For October.
That means Ross Stripling (20 H, 15 R, 10 ER, 7 HR in 11 2/3 in his last three starts, 5.46 ERA on the year) is out. He has to be, as of right now, today. One of two things. Either the club finds a minor malady real or imagined to place him on the injured list (the preferred method) and returns Tony Gonsolin to his rightful rotation spot immediately or Gonsolin waits the full 10 days on the IL and comes back Saturday to start.
Stripling goes to USC or the bullpen where he can work out his problems in runaway games. The Dodgers have enough of them. He'll get his chance.
2. Alex Wood, God bless him, does not get his old job handed back to him on silver platter with Dodger blue piping. He has to earn it. And more importantly, he has to be both 100 percent healthy and stretched out before he's activated. Not one or the other; both. Or trade him back to Atlanta for someone old friend Alex Anthopoulos can make available. Win, win.
3. Dave Roberts needs to let his starters pitch. This is the big one. Roberts has to let his young men leave the nest. I'm not talking about Clayton Kershaw, obviously, nor Walker Buehler.
I'm talking about Dustin May, especially. If the blossoming-before-our eyes right-hander's pitch count is in order and he can go six, he goes six. If he can go seven, he goes seven. If he can start a seventh or even an eighth (again, with his pitch count in order) and can get an out or two, he gets that opportunity. The same goes for Gonsolin. And Julio Urias, who the club has been jerking around for years. The only way these guys can cross the hurdle and pitch into the late innings is if they're allowed a chance to face the challenge.
Roberts simply has to learn this concept once and for all. Early and unnecessary hooks lead to burnt out relievers and lost World Series. Enough already.
Guard those treasured arms carefully, please. These treasured arms, because they all deserve mention: Scott Alexander, Pedro Baez, Caleb Ferguson, Dylan Floro, Victor Gonzalez, Brusdar Graterol, Kenley Jansen, Joe Kelly, Adam Kolarek, Jake McGee, Dennis Santana, Blake Treinen and the before mentioned Buehler, Gonsolin, Kershaw, May, Urias and Stripling (who pitched seven innings of one-run ball in his first start of the season).
Every one of those players has helped make what is as good a staff, top to bottom, as the club has had in years. Many years. With its league best 2.65 ERA and its National-League-best 92 runs allowed, this group is good enough to bring home the jewelry. We're talking about diamonds; precious jewels. Precious jewels brought to you by precious, fragile arms. Please handle with care, and properly.
And remember, glove conquers all.
Howard Cole has been writing about baseball on the internet since Y2K. Follow him on Twitter.
