As long as we don’t see any more major trades or player acquisitions over the next few days, we can start shaping the picture of how the core of the Dodgers’ roster will look for the first few weeks of the season.
Two of the biggest question marks over the past few weeks have been the depth of the bullpen and the health of the starting rotation. GM Brandon Gomes and team boss Andrew Friedman took care of the former with a surprise trade for closer Craig Kimbrel, but there are still plenty of questions surrounding the latter.
We have a firm idea of how the Los Angeles rotation will look to start the season with Walker Buehler going on Opening Day followed by Julio Urias, Clayton Kershaw, Tony Gonsolin and Andrew Heaney in no particular order.
At first glance, we have two horses in Buehler and Urias. Kershaw faces what could be a season that determines the remainder of his MLB career. Gonsolin has battled shoulder issues that have deterred his early progress and consistency.
Heaney has shown a ton of mediocrity over his career but hopes to get things together in a new uniform.
As far as depth goes, newly acquired Tyler Anderson will be the long man and spot starter until David Price gets in gear and the league decides what to do about Trevor Bauer. Fringe options include Mitch White, Andre Jackson and youngsters like Bobby Miller and Ryan Pepiot.
However, one name that has been appearing in the news lately is Dustin May. The 24-year-old righty is right on time with his rehab schedule and hopes to be pitching in a big-league uniform not long after the 2022 All-Star break.
Early in his recovery, May stated that he hoped to be throwing off a mound in camp by April, and his tweet on Saturday made that prediction accurate.
There’s no question that may has some of the best stuff in the organization, as his triple-digit heat and nasty cutter highlight an extensive repertoire, which is especially impressive for a 24-year-old youngster.
Before his surgery last spring, May flashed some of the best numbers he’s shown so far, with a 2.74 ERA, a 0.957 WHIP and a 13.7 K/9 in his first few weeks of the season. If he comes back from his surgery with the same velocity and similar spin rates, there’s no question he could slot into a rotation spot by season’s end.
In some ways, if things stay on schedule, it will be like receiving a free upgrade at the 2022 trade deadline. The important thing first, though, is making sure May stays healthy and sticks to the prescribed recovery program. Regardless of how weak the Los Angeles rotation might be on the back end right now, there’s absolutely no reason to rush May back.
Think Blue Planning Committee 
I think I read quotes from both the front office and from May himself in the last few weeks that indicated he would probably be used mostly in relief this year. Of course, that could all change, but at this point I don’t think they’re counting on him to be a part of the rotation this year.
Quite the first appearance for Kimbrel today. As embarrassing as it was, it doesn’t count until next Friday so he can do whatever he needs to in order to get ready. If he continues to pitch like this, we can always trade him for Hosmer. 🙂
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Or to the Braves for Kenley.
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Maybe Gomesy is counting on Duffy emerging as the No. 3 starter by season’s end. That’s why he’s already pencilling May in as a reliever. 😀
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I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Bauer back. I expect either no suspension or a very short one.
That would be a large upgrade to the rotation, personality and social issues aside.
I’m not his biggest fan, by any means, but I think he should be given a chance to answer the charges against him in public, and I’m assuming he’ll be able to do that once Manfred makes his decision.
He’s certainly no choir boy, but apparently his female companion is definitely no model of great behavior either. He’s basically insisting that a lot of her charges against him are false so who does one believe?
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I think he will be allowed to play. New York might be a good spot for him.
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At this point, both NY teams could probably use him, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the Dodger front office decides to take the temporary PR hit and keeps him here.
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Well Kershaw has looked good, so let’s hope he stays healthy. Anderson has been much better than Heaney.
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I haven’t been sold on Kimbrel for a while. He kind of sucked last year in Chicago, and I’m kind of expecting a dumpster fire.
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He sucked in 1/2 of Chicago.
He was fine on the north side (Cubs) and lousy on the south side (White Sox).
I’d still rather have Kenley and I felt that way before I saw Kimbrel’s debut today.
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May – 75 innings, 3.5 ERA
Kimbrel will get better. I only say that because worse is impossible.
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I heard Bauer has a hearing, at court on Monday, he is trying to subpoena his accusers text records. I’m assuming he feels what’s in the texts, from her phone, will help him with getting reinstated. I know that’s a lot of supposition on my part, but why would he be taking her to court for them, if they were going to hurt him.
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I have no legal background whatsoever, so anyone out there who does please feel free to set me straight, but I believe the woman who accused him, even though the D.A. won’t be filing charges, could sue him in civil court (same as OJ’s family did after he was acquitted). It’s been about a year now but I haven’t heard any mention that she plans to do so. That, along with the fact that she, after saying she was abused on her first visit, went back a second time and after being treated even worse the second time chose to spend the night with him.
I am not a fan of Bauer’s personality nor his social views, but I think the guy deserves to tell his side of the story. Most things I’ve read seem to think MLB will make its decision by mid April and Bauer, the team and the fans will at least have some closure to this mess. After that it will be up to all the parties involved as to how they want to react to that decision.
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Correction to above: it wasn’t OJ’s family who sued, it was Nicole Brown’s family.
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No kidding scoop, he can’t get any worse than he has been this spring. Just looked at his numbers from the Cubs, he had an ERA of 0.49, and a whip of 0.70, with 23 saves. That is definitely the guy I hope that shows up for the Dodgers. You don’t luck into numbers like that, so I’m not going to panic about his spring.
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After you looked at his Cubs numbers, Keith, did you check out his numbers after he was traded to the Sox? They looked a lot more like what we saw yesterday.
Kimbrel has been a real Jekyll and Hyde during his career. Mostly Jekyll but sometimes Hyde. He had periods in Boston where he was really bad but his overall career numbers are admittedly very good.
The thing that concerns me is that his most recent numbers (White Sox) were not good at all. I don’t know how much of his troubles are mental vs. physical but I truly hope he turns out to be the guy who has been excellent for most of his career. If not, we can always make Bauer our closer if/when he returns. 🙂
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Career ERA is 2.18. 372 saves. He sucked with the Sox simply because I believe he thinks of himself as a closer and nothing else. Yeah, he is like Jansen, he has had some bad games. He has more career saves than Jansen does. White Sox used him in earlier situations since their closer, who they are paying massive money to, would have been upset otherwise. Give the guy a chance and some games under his belt. It is like everyone worrying about Betts when he says he is fine, they say your hitting .071 in spring, I reply, he’s played in only 5 games and has had only 14 at bats.
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I’m more than willing to give him some time and he’s definitely had a great career.
I just wonder, though, about the mindset of a guy who can be a great closer but can’t handle pitching during innings other than the 9th. To me, that’s just nuts.
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It happens I guess. I do not know why. But that seems to be his mindset. He wants to be that guy.
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Obviously the job is his and he will have a very long leash.
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I think the Dodgers are a better team with Kimbril replacing Pollock on the roster due to who is also on the roster right now. Everything else at this point in Spring is in fluctuation.
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Kimbrel’s career Spring ERA is 4.61. That could be a a bit inflated by this year’s ERA of 72. I’m with those that would rather have Jansen and it feels weird we are without him and with this guy, but he’s the man now so I’m on board. If he doesn’t work out he will be replaced because this is the Dodgers and that’s what they do.
This team is supposed to win. We bring in the stars just like Rams and Lakers do, and just like the Rams and Lakers….
Never mind.
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I think Kenley wouldn’t have performed well behind another closer either, some guys just have to be the closer to perform to the best of their abilities, and I hope that’s what’s going on with Kimbrel.
I would have liked Kenley to have been our closer, but look at the money side of this, if we had kept Pollock and Jansen, they would have made a combined $26 mil, plus AJs $5mil buy out. With Kimbrel’s $16 mil, and let’s say Pillar’s $2.5 mil, because that’s what I think is going to happen, Andrew saves around $18.5 mil. That’s a pretty good savings. I hope Kimbrel, and whoever takes AJs spot can do the job.
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Sorry I messed the math up, $12.5 mil savings. But that’s still a lot of money, not counting the luxury tax hit .
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There was a story circulating that Andrew asked Kenley to wait for the Dodgers to clear some salary and they would then sign him. The Braves told KJ he only had a short time to take their contract so he decided “a bird/contract in the hand……………”. It’s now apparent that the salary AF was trying to move was Pollock’s.
Pillar tweeted today and the gist of it was that he wasn’t going to start the year on the big club’s roster. He made it sound like he was going to OKC but would be ready whenever they needed him.
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I guess AF wasn’t persuasive enough or whatever.
I guess he found it to be true that he who hesitate will be lost. When I look at the millions he has pissed away over the last couple of years on reclamation projects it really annoys me to lose Jansen.
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Maybe Kenley got tired of getting “booed” in his own ballpark. The man could throw lights out for two straight weeks, have one bad outing, and fans would boo him of the bump. Not just a couple—more like a couple hundred.
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Could be! I never understood that treatment to a Dodger who accomplished so much.
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If Kenley saw Kimbrel’s debut yesterday, he may have sent him a text of warning. Of course, if Kimbrel got out of Boston alive, L.A. should be no problem.
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If Kimbrel ends up getting shelled more times than not, he’s gonna get a lot more abuse than Kenley or Pedro Baez did. Especially if fans gotta watch that crazy pose he makes before each pitch.
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That could be $4M if not the $8.5 they wasted on Heaney. That’s my opinion right now but I hope I’m wrong.
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