Should Dodgers Try to Extend Julio Urias?

Aside from bringing back veteran utility infielder Miguel Rojas, not much has happened on the Los Angeles Dodgers player personnel front since the team officially bounced Trevor Bauer from the roster last week.

Although the club is on the hook for the approximately $22.5 million of Bauer’s 2022 salary, all indications are that the team will attempt to stay under the luxury tax threshold for the upcoming season. A move last week that somewhat affected the budget was an agreement on a one-year, $14.25 million deal with starter Julio Urias, allowing the 26-year-old lefty to avoid the arbitration process in his final season before free agency.

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Has Julio Urias Emerged as National League Cy Young Award Frontrunner?

Although there hasn’t been an overwhelmingly long list of NL Cy Young Award candidates this year, the favorites to win the honor continue to shift as the home stretch of the regular season approaches.

Righty Sandy Alcantara of the Marlins has been a favorite since the beginning. His 1.73 ERA in the middle of July solidified him as the clear leader at the time, but those numbers have changed significantly in the second half of the year, especially after he ran into a few solid teams like the Mets and the Dodgers.

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Dodgers Roster: More Thoughts on Current Starting Rotation

While the starting rotation of the Los Angeles Dodgers was one of the team’s most consistent strengths throughout the regular season, it has quickly become a potential postseason concern as multiple injuries will have at least some kind of impact.

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Should Julio Urias Make 2022 NL All-Star Squad?

In 2021, Julio Urias was a 20-game-winner and was the National League leader in wins. While he may not win 20 games this year, his overall numbers have improved. In 16 starts this season, Urias has posted a 2.57 ERA.

In Monday’s start against the Colorado Rockies, Urias pitched six innings only allowing one run and one walk while striking out seven. The left-hander since last year’s All-Star Break has the second-best ERA in the National League at 2.32.

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Dodgers Roster: More Thoughts on 2022 Starting Rotation

Fans of the Los Angeles Dodgers just love to speculate about player depth, seemingly more than any other fan base across the majors.

Los Angeles is probably deeper than any other club in the big leagues with position players, as they virtually didn’t miss a beat when Corey Seager tested free agency and landed a job with the Texas Rangers. The team’s position player depth speaks volumes when a player like Chris Taylor isn’t guaranteed a spot on the lineup card every night, even though skipper Dave Roberts says he much prefers to use CT in a flexible utility role.

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Dodgers Season Depends on Offense Showing Up in Game 5 of the NLDS

“We do our best with our backs up against the wall”.

Chris Taylor said this after the Game 3 loss, and the Los Angeles Dodgers showed up in Game 4, beating the San Francisco Giants 7-2 to force a Game 5. Can that same team show up in San Francisco, or will the offense not show up at all like it didn’t in Games 1 & 3, where the Dodgers were blanked both games?

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Keeping an Eye on National League Cy Young Award Race

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(Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images)

For just about every player on a contending team, the goal of clinching a playoff spot is the highest priority, superseding even the most decorated individual awards. However, the individual honors are important in their own way, as they often dictate the fame a player achieves in their place among the storied greats, plus a heavy bonus on their end-of-year paycheck.

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Highlighting Julio Urias’ Success So Far in 2021

(Associated Press photo)

Julio Urias was the player who closed out the Dodgers’ 2020 World Championship, the first since 1988. The Mexican left-hander is still only 24 years old, as he’s been with the big league club six years now. He made his debut at only 19, which seems like forever ago.

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How Lack of Run Support Indirectly Affects Dodgers’ Starting Pitching

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(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

A slumping offense can affect the performance of a team in more ways than one, especially from a psychological angle. On Thursday, we saw the Dodgers push one run across the plate in the opener against the Brewers, spoiling a complete-game effort from starter Trevor Bauer. It wasn’t Bauer’s most brilliant endeavor with regards to strikeouts or runs surrendered, but he gave his club exactly what it needed in terms of bullpen conservation.

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Dodgers Look to Secure Series Split Against Mariners

(Jim Young/Associated Press)

After their first losing streak of the season, the Dodgers hope to salvage a series split on the road against the Seattle Mariners. The Dodgers dropped the first game of the brief two-game series Monday night by a score of 4-3. The loss was their second straight defeat.

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