MARCH 29: Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register tweets that McCarthy has, indeed, been tabbed for the final spot in the rotation. Roberts told the L.A. media today that McCarthy will start the fourth game of the season in Los Angeles, with Ryu getting the nod in Colorado in the following contest. Those decisions land Wood in the bullpen, though certainly, given the injury concerns that constantly surround McCarthy, Ryu and the currently-injured Scott Kazmir, Wood could find himself with a rotation opportunity at some point during the season.
McCullough further tweets that Stripling will not be going to Triple-A but will instead begin the season in long relief. The Dodgers will trot out a rotation of Clayton Kershaw, Rich Hill, Kenta Maeda, McCarthy and Ryu with Kenley Jansen, Sergio Romo, Grant Dayton, Luis Avilan, Chris Hatcher, Wood and Stripling in the relief corps.
MARCH 27: The Dodgers will utilize lefty Hyun-Jin Ryu out of the rotation when camp breaks, manager Dave Roberts told reporters including Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter links). That leaves Brandon McCarthy and Alex Wood still battling for the fifth and final rotation job, though both will end up on the MLB roster.
It’s not altogether surprising at this point to hear that Ryu will join the staff, though it’s certainly promising news that the Dodgers think he’s ready to handle the load. He seemingly locked the job up with his outing today, which extended his spring stat line to 14 innings of 2.57 ERA ball, over which he racked up a dozen strikeouts with just one walk.
Ryu, who just turned 30, has basically missed all of the past two seasons with arm issues. And it is certainly an open question whether he can stay healthy for the long haul. But the upside is obvious — he posted a 3.17 ERA with 7.7 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9 over 344 innings from 2013-14 — and there’s little reason not to hand him the ball and see what happens with two years and $14MM left on his contract.
After all, the Dodgers are clearly set up to get what they can out of health risks such as Ryu while covering when the need arises. In this case, one of McCarthy and Wood will be on hand in the bullpen. And while the news seemingly tickets Ross Stripling for Triple-A, he’ll be among the arms ready to step into the rotation. Los Angeles has already stashed a not-so-secret weapon there in outstanding youngster Julio Urias.
Ryu “locked the job up with with his outing today”??. 5 inns, 3 runs and 2 homers? smh
His HR to Melky was a spring training homerun. Ball carries in Arizona.
Thank U Fred. Brian Kenny over here reading numbers ONLY!!
Will it carry in SoCal? Pretty close and similar climate.
Doubtful. Marine layer.
@MatthewB Not really similar climates the air in AZ is dry and dense. Affects breaking pitches. Not as bad as Colorado, but leads to a definite hitters advantage. With the rain that’s hit LA it’ll probably revert back to the even stinger hitters park. Plus at night that marine layer kills fly balls. So they’re both warm but AZ a dry heat/dense air.
*lacks density in air
Isn’t it hard to hit homers in dodger stadium? I know they said the ball doesn’t carry very good at nights during the WBC
Dodgers Stadium is about average for HRs overall. It can get very busy when the Santa Ana winds blow hot and dry, a condition not usually seen between mid-March and late September but in the last few years occurring well into the spring. Night games even in summer more typically cool and damp, not not so good for the long ball. This year it could actually rain on opening week. Can’t recall that ever happening before.
Yeah he did lock it up because if you look at anything besides the box score…he’s progressed nicely. Is fully healthy, his velocity is on the rise, and he’s already proven he can pitch. So yes, with two home runs today and also 4 Ks, he locked up the job.
Great point!
Yeah he threw pretty well today and looked liked his old self through out ST. He left a curve ball up which just happens in ST. It also just means that will come with a buildup in arm strength. It’s usually the last pitch to come around. He also missed spot on a fb. Beyond that the movement on his fb was pretty filthy. There were a bunch of top spun balls and balls not hit very well.
He gave up 3 runs in one game and you’re doubting him? He had a GREAT spring!!
I think he’s trying to say it’s odd he locked up the job following his worst outing this spring.
Regardless, he’s a great pitcher when healthy so it’s no surprise he got the job
Hadouken!
I’ve been wondering what that word was for 25 years…
Right?!? Finally! Some answers!
Sonic boom
gesundheit
I think as long as he wasn’t horrendous and didn’t get hurt, he was gonna end up in the rotation. He’s been stellar so far this spring, and to be honest, while we have options none are gonna set the world on fire; might as well go with the guy that has the highest upside
Seeing ryu pitch every 5 days is going to give me nastalga. Feels like its been forever since seeing him pitch
Is “nastalga” a fungal infection?
lol i had a feeling i spelled it wrong
It’s kind of pasta. I like it with marinara sauce.
Nostalgia mate
Wish the pirates would of made a move early in the off season to try and and pry him away. Would have been an awesome fit.
Brandon Mccarthy might not have won the rotation spot, but he won the best twitter account
I am glad to hear he cracked the starting rotation.
LA hasn’t ‘stashed’ Urias in AAA. He’s pitching tmrw, and likely staying in AZ for extended ST, not headed to OKC
Andrew Friedman has roughly 23 million reasons for McCarthy to start the next two seasons. Smart decision!
Over/under is April 20 for one of those two guys winding up on the DL.
Gasp. Here we go.. McCarthy.
Why Hatcher?
Because Baez is injured and with hatch’s arm Friedman is hoping he can get back to post injury/post season 15. It’s a good arm. Just don’t buy him evolving into a pitcher instead of a thrower any time soon. In the end somebody needs to throw mop up duty since it appears McCarthy and Ryu will probably be piggy backed with Wood and Strip.
A good arm attached to a poor body? I fail to understand this FO’s attachment pure throwers such as Hatcher and Baez.
The attachment to Baez is pretty understandable. His pure stuff is second to only Kenley, in the pen. He’s pitched but no more than 4 years, and he has 4 years of control left. The simple time table puts him starting at AAA/breaking into the bigs. To the ire of many Dodger fans you figure this was a big make or break year for Baez’s Dodger future. Now Hatch on the other hand, you’d have to believe he’s out of leash and a simple placeholder until Baez proves to be up to speed.
Baez isn’t quite as awful as Hatcher but they both have the same issue in being essentially single-pitch pitchers, a problem that Baez compounds with his glacial pace. Anyone who can only throw a fastball effectively is going to get slammed in the majors.
But that’s the difference between the two Baez has a filthy slider. The issue being the ability to dot it up more consistently. I’m also wondering if that change Baez has been working on can translate. If it can that could be the key. The stuff is there and without Garcia they’re hoping and praying it’ll click. If it does the skies the limit for Baez. Who knows it might be that fb/ch combo that changes things for him.
It’s also going to be interesting to see if he now has a better understanding of the language barrier between slowing himself down a little bit and not rushing vs taking 30 sec to 1 min to lock in and throw.
I haven’t seen Baez throw a quality secondary pitch. Batters can and do wait on his hard but otherwise lifeless fastball. Location and the ability to change speeds is so much more important than pure velocity. With so many flamethrowers in the game today, the basics of pitching can get overlooked. I often wonder whether this FO isn’t overly enamored with velocity. I can’t think of another good reason to keep the likes of Hatcher on the roster.
Ryu was a good pitcher when healthy. Will be interesting to see how long he can go without those shoulder issues recurring. Good luck to him and Dodgers.
Any dodger bullpen looks better without Howell, Blanton or Baez as key parts
Blanton pitched almost every other game last season, and very effectively in a setup role.
Blanton was a very good relief arm last year. please look at the stats !!!!