Dodgers Pitching Staff is Set at 12 Spots
Dennis Santana appears to have the best shot at 13. More will be revealed.
Clayton Kershaw’s velocity is down. Walker Buehler’s velocity is down. Neither man looks particularly sharp, as evidenced by their respective 6.00 and 7.94 earned run averages and combined nine home runs allowed in 26 exhibition game innings. But barring a late development, both men will be in Denver for the season opener against the Rockies a week from today, along with 11 other Dodgers pitchers.
Of the 13 spots available for pitchers — yes, technically it’s possible to employ 14 — 12 look to be locks. These 12: Kershaw, Buehler, Trevor Bauer, David Price, Julio Urias, Kenley Jansen, Victor Gonzalez, Blake Treinen, Jimmy Nelson, Corey Kneubel, Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin.
Details? Well, first of all, if you’ll join me in a chorus of “we’re not worthy,” let’s genuflect in praise of Andrew Friedman for re-signing two-year reclamation project Jimmy Nelson to a minor-league deal in December. I didn’t think Nelson had a prayer of working out in 2020 (he didn’t) and I was skeptical about a do-over this year, but the big guy has turned my head. He’s made four appearances, including two starts, with only four hits and a walk allowed, plus nine strikeouts in seven innings, and looked good in every outing. Sure, it’s a small sample size, but the entire spring exercise is a small sample size, especially for pitchers. Nelson can start or relieve in the early going. Props to AF either way.
Neither Joe Kelly nor Brusdar Graterol have thrown a Cactus League pitch yet, and although neither man’s condition appears to be particularly worrisome, both will begin the season on the injured list.
After the increasingly impressive Victor Gonzalez, the left-handed reliever situation continues to be a problem. I said earlier about Garrett Cleavinger, “I can’t tell from looking at the major or minor league numbers what the attraction is” and nothing I’ve seen this spring (5.40 ERA, 1.800 WHIP) has given reason to rethink the statement. It’s academic now because the former Phillie was cut on Monday (see ICYMI below). Also, I’m not convinced that the David-Price-to-the-bullpen idea is a good one, but I suppose it doesn’t matter a great deal whether the 12-year veteran piggybacks for May or Gonsolin or they piggyback for him.
I expect big things from May (3.12, 11 Ks in 8 2/3 this spring) and Gonsolin (2.61, 0.387, 12 Ks in 10 1/3), however; whatever the roll. The same goes for Urias (1.74, 0.871). Eleven Dodgers made starts in the abbreviated 2020 season. We might see that many again this year.
Kenley is Kenley, he’s had a good spring, but it’s a disaster waiting to happen, quite possibly as early as Opening Day. The Fountain of Youth isn’t a real thing. If only someone had a solution.
Dennis Santana is the leading contender for the 13th and final spot on the staff. And he’s the reason for the 12 instead of 13 in the headline. Twenty-five in a couple of weeks, Santana has pitched in seven spring games, with a 4.91 ERA, 1.222 WHIP, eight hits, including two homers allowed, one walk and 10 strikeouts in 7 1/3. That’s probably good enough to make the team, but you can’t pin the lock label on a guy with his track record.
Again, we’re talking about a relatively small sample size, but you go with what’s available to you. Santana’s big league ERA’s in 2018, 2019 and 2020 were 12.27, 7.20 and 5.29, respectively, which comes out to a 6.66 lifetime, to go along with a 1.519 WHIP, 5.72 FIP and 28 strikeouts in 25 2/3 frames. And he wasn’t great at Oklahoma City in 2019, recording a 6.94, 1.757, with 105 Ks in 93 1/3 over 17 relief appearances in 27 games. While I’m more of Mitch White man myself, it’s possible for Santana to rise to the occasion in the early going, contributing wherever he can. I’m happy to keep an open mind.
ICYMI:
Tuesday was cut-down day at Cambelback Ranch, with the following Dodgers being sent to the minor league camp: Cleavinger, Matt Davidson, Tim Federowicz, Mike Kickham, James Pazos, Rangel Ravelo and Nick Robertson.
Some injury updates from around the league. In addition to those listed in the link provided, White Sox left fielder Eloy Jiménez is out for most of the season with a ruptured pectoral tendon, Rockies left-hander Kyle Freeland will miss a month with a shoulder strain, and closer to home, Fernando Tatis, Jr. was removed from the Padres' game with the Reds Tuesday after experiencing left shoulder discomfort. He’s said to be “doing well,” whatever that means.
Major League Baseball has a plan to catch pitchers using “foreign substances;” never mind that the official baseball, made in Costa Rica, is a foreign substance they all use. Read about it here.
Spotlight on a Random Dodger: Bob Bailey:
When it comes to Dodgers who were good before and after but not during their time in Los Angeles, Josh Reddick is the prototype. God, is he ever. Minus the fan dissing and grating personality, Robert Sherwood Bailey is no Reddick, but he’s in the conversation.
Acquired with Gene Michael in the still-controversial Buzzie Bavasi trade of Maury Wills to Pittsburgh, December 1, 1966, Bailey managed to hit .279/.360/.447, with 13 homers and 46 RBIs the previous season and .257/.328/.437, with 47 and 197 in five years with the Bucs. Upon his arrival in L.A., Bailey proceeded to hit exactly .227 in both 1967 and ‘68, with an ugly .227/.309/.377 two-season line, with 12 homers and 67 RBIs in 737 plate appearances.
After a a money-only deal with the Expos on October 21, 1968, and presumably a year to adjust to French-speaking Montreal (or perhaps more importantly, fries with vinegar instead of ketchup), Bailey began to flourish in 1970, hitting .287/.407/.597, with 28 HR and 84 RBIs. In five of his seven years as an Expo (from 1970 through 1974), the Long Beach native and Woodrow Wilson High School graduate hit a solid .264/.370/.447, with 104 home runs and 383 RBIs. Hanging on for another four seasons with the Expos, Reds and Red Sox, Bailey retired in 1978 with a .257/.347/.403 career mark, with 189 homers and 773 RBIs.
Because of the presence of Michael (whose sarcastic “Stick” nickname is one of my favorites), Bailey was actually the big get in the Wills trade. Michael, who somehow managed a .224/.288/.284 lifetime mark, was good for a .202/.246/.224, with four extra base hits (none of them homers) and seven ribs in 245 plate appearances his one year in the City of Dodgers. Or bad for.
Is there a moral to the story? Other than than some players are better everywhere but in L.A., no.
Spotlight on a Random Tweet:
Baseball Photos of the Day:
Claudell Washington.
Howard Cosell and Dusty Baker, 1981. That’s the Los Angeles Bicentennial patch on Dusty’s left shoulder.
A’s announcer, Harmon Killebrew, taking BP, some time between 1979 and 1982.
Media Savvy:
Julio Urias is among the 10 pitchers pegged as dark-horse candidates to win a 2021 Cy Young Award, by five writers at MLB.com.
From both the Department of Redundancy Department and the Please God Make It Stop Department, here is yet another piece about the supposed, alleged, glorious, once-in-a-millennium Dodgers-Padres rivalry that we are somehow supposedly, allegedly, gloriously, once-in-a-millenniumly in the midst of now.
Michael Bauman has a better idea, and more creative one — A Ranking of Padres and Dodgers Players Who Are Most Likely to Start a Benches-Clearing Brawl — at the Ringer.
ESPN.com’s 2021 best baseball players rankings are out. Counting backward from 100, here is the 100-to-51 list, followed by the 50-to-26 list and the 25-1. Five Dodgers made the top 25: Mookie Betts, Cody Bellinger, Corey Seager, Buehler and Bauer.
Houston Mitchell has a fun Dodgers-greatest-moments series running currently at the Los Angeles Times. The 1981 World Series comes in at number 15.
And finally, one March Madness piece to refer you to, because John Feinstein (the author of eight books about college basketball) is just so good, at the Washington Post.
And remember, glove conquers all.
Howard Cole has been writing about baseball on the Internet since Y2K. Follow him on Twitter. Follow OBHC on Twitter here. Be friends with Howard on Facebook.
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