Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has yet to name David Price’s replacement in the rotation, but Tony Gonsolin isn’t likely to claim the spot, writes J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group. Gonsolin certainly put together enough of an effort in 2019 (2.93 ERA/3.86 FIP across 11 appearances, six starts), but according to Roberts, the issue is that Gonsolin is behind his competitors in terms of building up the strength a starter needs to accumulate heavy usage.
In a vacuum, Ross Stripling would figure to be the top candidate to join Clayton Kershaw, Alex Wood, Julio Urias, and Walker Buehler in the rotation. Despite being temporarily traded to the Angels, Stripling’s been largely productive as a swingman and occasional starter for the Dodgers. While contributing between 74 and 122 innings over the last four seasons, Stripling has never had an ERA or FIP higher than 3.96, coming in his rookie season. In this environment, however, roles will have as much to do with readiness as past performance. Dustin May could certainly earn some consideration for the rotation, as could Dennis Santana. Edwin Uceta could also get a look. May, 22, has the highest upside of the group.
In other news from camp, the Dodgers added six players to their 60-man player pool, writes Hoornstra (via Twitter). Michael Busch, Anthony Garcia, Landon Knack, Bobby Miller, Ryan Pepiot, Edubray Ramos and Carson Taylor all join the pool as non-roster invitees.
i thought Nelson was out for the year
He is LOL
“Dodgers Mull…..” mullets for 2020. Mallets will be used to play Whack-a-Mole with players who get the 19 in ’20.
Yes, whoever wrote this must not have done their research.
I’ve been noticing a pattern lately. MLBTR is normally spot on with this stuff, but they’ve had a lot of miscues in their articles lately. Like Vlad hitting 27 HRs last year despite only hitting 15. Maybe all the Comment stuff has had it’s toll on the writers.
Yeah they need some proof reading in the articles.
Jimmy Nelson is out for the season with back surgery.
Probably should have kept Maeda
Maeda wanted out, simple as that
We will see when Graterol is pumping the ball 103 mph out of the bullpen.
surely its Stripling? he looked good in ST and is the perennial 6th SP
And Stripling would be at least a #4 on almost any team. He’d be an ace on some teams.
He’s a solid but not spectacular 4/5 starter or middle reliever. Doesn’t have the stuff to be front or mid rotation. He will get hit but he throws strikes overall and gets outs.
I wouldn’t bet on it. In fact I’d probably bet it’d be May that will be given that 5th spot. I think they love Strip’s versatility and at some point May needs to get stretched out. Now that’s if everyone remains healthy to start.
Perhaps they’ll use Stripling as an opener and put May or Gonsolin in for an extended stretch of middle innings. That way, Stripling could work his way through the order as a “de facto” starter before giving one of their young starters an opportunity to seal the deal
If it were Gonsolin or another young guy with significant pen experience I could definitely see that potential. For a prized arm like May, they probably won’t interrupt his pre game throwing routine, if you envision his permanent role in the rotation. With the development of the ch as his third out pitch, I feel like they just let him go. Strip is a solid #4/5, that’s miscast on this team, good enough to start for a majority of the league, but hampered by the talented potential rotation pieces/Wood signing with understanding he would see starts. Strip deserves the opportunity to start, but without injury or underperformance there’s still not much room in this sprint. It’s weird to think about considering they just lost Price.
Any of those scenarios seems feasible. It’s just unbelievable to me the amount of flexibility and depth the Dodgers have on the pitching front. As a Phillies fan, I’m envious lol
Since it’s a unique season I’d love to see teams bring back old timers for just one game. Can you imagine Bulldog Hershiser taking the mound one more time or Hideo Nono? Fernando Valenzuela? Maybe even get Mike Scossia to catch?
If they weren’t trying to win the whole thing, it would be fun. But for several reasons, they don’t want to mess around this year.
Hey jessumod: Those guys in the lineup now would give the Dodgers a better chance to win a WS ring than the $300M F Troop in Summer Training now.
I wonder what it’s like to have so little
to like about your own team, you feel the need to spend time hating on your clearly superior rival
Maybe for batting practice but not a game
Ryan Pepiot is a cool name
BIG SEXY!!!!!!!!!!!
May logged a 3.63 in 34 innings in the bigs last year with an extremely low walk rate. If I’m Roberts, I’m giving him the first crack at the 5 spot and let Stripling handle long relief and spot start opportunities
I’m inclined to agree with you. It’s a short season, so it’d be maybe, what, twelve regular season starts? That’s not overly ambitious for a young pitcher, and the experience would probably be good for him. He did enough in a small sample size to warrant a look.
Yes. 60/5 is 12 if all 5 hypothetically stay healthy.
I think his guess about 12 starts relates to teams having new understandings of matchups and not committing to the traditional five-man rotation. I would say teams will try to plot out the best rotation where their Ace(s) get 12 starts, but the 4,5 or even 6 starters may not get that many.
Yeah, my thought is if they’re in any sort of close race over the last week or two, do they try to maximize Kershaw’s starts by going 4 man? Do they even open with a traditional 5 man, or do they do 6 the first time or two through while guys are ramping up? I could see some scenarios where the 5th SP might only get 8 or 9 starts for LA. At most it’d likely be 12 though, and I’d be comfortable just telling a young pitcher to let it rip over 12 starts.
Just remember to minimize his postseason starts if you wanna win.
Stripling is proven and is the more reliable option. If the Dodgers are competing for the World Series his year they use Stripling. If they are using this year as a learning experience they use May.
It doesn’t have to be either or. This isn’t setting up of a playoff rotation. If there’s one thing the Dodgers have absolutely shown they can do it’s develop and compete.
Jimmy Nelson To Undergo Back Surgery – Dustin May could certainly earn some consideration for the rotation, as could Jimmy Nelson. ??????
Say what TC Zencka?
.
why are comments closed on the next post? i wanted to comment on the Sox rotation.
Astros cancel
Astros cancelled the Dodgers—used trashcan lids to beat them silly. Didn’t even have to use the entire trashcan to do the job!
If they’re going to close comments for simply mentioning covid related topics they should just make a separate article for the Astros and let people comment on the red Sox topic.
They could have combined the redsox and thos dodgers article into one quick hits article about rotations instead.
bingo.
Had to do a double take. I was starting to wonder when the Dodgers acquired Jeff Samardzija.
So many people just waiting to pounce on the simplest mistake in these articles. You all feel better about yourselves? My hat is off to Zencka who, in a separate article about the Sox rotation, referred to Boston’s starting pitching as “a bit of a mess.” That made me laugh – unfortunately true and perfectly polite.
A little mistake would be writing Julio Arias instead of Julio Urias. Not knowing that Jimmy Nelson needs surgery and then writing an article and including him as a rotation option is a big mistake.
The announcement of that surgery had a speculative tone:
“Dodgers righty Jimmy Nelson is slated to undergo lower back surgery tomorrow, the team announced (h/t J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group, via Twitter). Precise details of the procedure aren’t yet known, but it’s expected to sideline Nelson for all of the 2020 season, per MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick (Twitter link).”
…from a July 6 article on this site.
Maybe TC knows something we don’t?
No. He just got it wrong, pretty plain and simple.
Like I said, you feel better about yourself?
Is that the correct Anthony garcia refrenced. Is he a dodgers prospect? Says he played for a minor league yankees team. Was just wondering
No. I found a different article here: cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/news/dodgers-anthon…
milb.com/player/index.jsp?player_id=571685#/career…
Thanks, thought it might have been the former cards prospect. His numbers in the minors were usually decent and was surprised the cards never gave him a shot
In addition to the Jimmy Nelson error, there’s a major gaffe on Viloria in the KC article that Zencka did, but comments are closed on that article.
And he oddly didn’t include Jaylin Davis in another piece today on the Giants’ outfield competition.
Simple solution – with the abbreviated schedule, go to a 4-man rotation with Stripling, May or someone else getting the necessary spot start.
So when your main starters have also not played a game in 4 months… they should start MORE often than a normal season?
That’s how you destroy someone’s arm. They aren’t magically gaining more off days. They should go to a 6 man rotation WAY before a full season of a 4 man rotation. Cmon
More likely than having one replacement is these guys alternate in some capacity. For example, Using May and Gonsolin in multi inning relief early on To stretch them out, and let performance dictate who earns the starts down the stretch and who goes into the relief roles
I assume I know the answer, but if someone opts out they aren’t able to return in the playoffs, right? Like price determines the reg season is too high risk but the more limited travel of the playoffs… maybe he stays stretched out and helps? But I suspect he’s ineligible… curious if we know an answer?
I think people are forgetting Strip was an All-Star starter in 2018. His numbers before the ASG were ridiculous! He faded after that but he’s still got it in him. Still the deepest rotation options in baseball.