On a per-inning basis, left-hander Alex Wood has been one of the most effective pitchers in Major League Baseball throughout his career. He debuted in 2013, just one year after the Braves chose him in the second round of the draft, and has regularly kept runs off the board at an excellent clip. Now 29 years old, the soft-tossing Wood owns a terrific 3.40 ERA/3.49 FIP with 8.24 K/9, 2.55 BB/9 and a 49 percent groundball rate over 839 innings.
All of Wood’s above-average production has come as a Brave and a Dodger. He spent last season with the Reds, who acquired him in a blockbuster deal a few months before the campaign began. Wood, the Reds hoped, would help their rotation reverse its fortunes after a horrid 2018. It turned out that the Reds made enormous strides in that area in 2019, but Wood had nothing to do with it. Rather, they can thank Luis Castillo, Sonny Gray, Anthony DeSclafani and the now-departed Tanner Roark for the progress they made.
The Reds could have retained Wood in the offseason and anticipated a bounce-back effort, but they instead saw him leave via free agency. That came after a poor year in which Wood was limited by injuries, which have been a problem for him all too often. Wood has racked up fewer than 155 innings four straight years, including 35 2/3 last season. Back troubles limited the Reds’ version of Wood, keeping him from debuting until the final week of July. Wood only lasted a month after that, totaling seven starts of 5.80 ERA/6.38 FIP ball with 7.57 K/9 and 2.27 BB/9. His groundball rate (38.2) dropped by almost 12 percent from the prior year along the way.
The 2019 season was undoubtedly a disaster for Wood, though he nonetheless entered the free-agent market as one of the most accomplished hurlers available. He does, after all, rank 28th among starters in ERA and 32nd in FIP dating back to the beginning of his career. New teammate and fellow southpaw David Price is among several prominent names grouped with Wood in those regards.
Wood and Price may well end up playing significant roles for the World Series-hopeful Dodgers’ rotation this season. Price is a lock after coming over in a headline-grabbing trade with the Red Sox, and Wood might join him after reuniting with the Dodgers on a one-year, $4MM guarantee as a free agent. Despite his impressive track record, Wood couldn’t land a job via the open market until Jan. 12. Still, it’s tough to find fault with the gamble on the deep-pocketed Dodgers’ part.
This has been a difficult year-plus for Wood, but he has been an asset for almost all of his time in the majors. With that in mind, it would be fair to give him the benefit of the doubt for now. If Wood’s healthy in 2020, he may emerge as a steal for Los Angeles, arguably the favorite to win the World Series this year. With Wood complementing Price, Walker Buehler, Clayton Kershaw and Julio Urias, and with Dustin May in reserve, maybe this will finally be the season the Dodgers return to the top of the MLB mountain.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Images.
Just keep him in relief already!
Soft tossing wood
That was a great trade for the Dodgers
Not if they cancel the season and Betts still becomes a FA
He meant the Puig trade
Yeah Alex Wood is going to be the difference maker that helps the Dodgers end their 32 year World Series drought.
Sarcasm aside, no he is not and everyone knows it, that’s where Betts comes in. Wood just needs to be healthy and eat up innings, but imo the Dodgers are too lefty dominant in the rotation, 4 of 5 guys are lefty and they traded a decent righty in Maeda.
“Decent” is being way too generous. If we’re being honest he was a dominant reliever. Gives up way too many runs and homers to be on a starting rotation, at least in LA.
Which is one more reason to use him in relief.. The Dodgers don’t need another lefty in the rotation. Wood can be a solid reliever.
Welp they named Wood #5 so hes starting, at least at the beginning of the season. With Gonsolin and May waiting in the minors the Dodgers should be covered if Wood slips or gets injured.
Oh no. They only won 106 game with 4 lefties in the rotation, how will they survive!?!?
Who cares?
Plus Gonsolin May AND Nelson are righties. It’s just a projected 5
perhaps im too big a fan of Wood, but the guy posted great numbers with the Dodgers the first time around, so i feel like he could very well do it again.
It seems like everyone forgets that before last season this guy had never had an era over 3.84 or an xfip over 3.90 in his career with 2 seasons sub 3.00. Doesn’t walk a lot of guys and produces a lot fo ground balls.
The problem with Wood is that he can’t stay healthy, which why I prefer him in the pen. Also, I think his funky delivery can throw batters off in that role more effectively than as a starter.
“Can’t stay healthy” is turning into one of the major baseball cliches. It’s supposed to explain everything but ends up explaining very little. For Woods, take away his rookie season and his last one and he’s averaged around 150 innings per season and a lot of those innings were in relief. You could run you finger down a list of starters and not find many who have pitched a whole lot more over the course of several seasons, especially if they’ve spent any time in the bullpen. Bottom line is Wood is no more of an injury risk than any other starter.
Well said Blue
If Wood can stay healthy(big if)he’s as good of a bet as any bounce back candidate. I think he’s in a good place with the Dodgers where if he can’t they have the depth to keep it from hurting too bad. If it was a team counting on him healthy without other internal options it would be far more risky
4-6 4.24
The hate on wood is hilarious. He young, Been above average almost every year of his career and most importantly they’re so deep if he throws 100 innings it’s a win. Especially 3.5 ball
ANY team would take that as Part of a 1-2 tandem for the 5th spot. LAD has Nelson, Strip, May, Gonsolin to handle the other 100 for the 5
They don’t need 200 innings from him to get a W on the 4M base investment. And if they do, something went damn right
Finally, LA won 106 games with 4 lefties in the rotation. Who cares?