The Dodgers have shelved southpaw Alex Wood after he came down with shoulder inflammation. He’ll be replaced on the active roster by righty Josh Sborz.
This is worrisome news from all quarters. Wood had hoped for a return to form after an injury-riddled 2019 showing, while the Dodgers have already had several health issues crop up elsewhere on the starting staff. David Price opted out of the 2020 season citing concern regarding the ongoing pandemic. Clayton Kershaw was scratched from his Opening Day start just hours before he took the hill and placed on the IL with a back issue. And the game at large can ill afford the rash of pitching injuries that seems to be cropping up after a quick ramp-up to competitive action.
All that said, the Dodgers do still possess quite a bit of quality, healthy arms. Walker Buehler has emerged as one of the game’s elite starters, and Los Angeles can support him in the rotation with Ross Stripling, Julio Urias and top prospect Dustin May. Right-hander Tony Gonsolin was effective in last year’s debut campaign and looms in the team’s player pool, as do well-regarded prospects Josiah Gray and Mitchell White.
Wood has battled injury troubles throughout his career, and it’s easy to forget just how effective he can be when he’s healthy and at his best. From 2015-17, the still-29-year-old Wood logged 364 1/3 frames for the Dodgers and registered a tidy 3.29 ERA (3.39 FIP) with 8.7 K/9, 2.4 BB/9, 0.84 HR/9 and a 51.3 percent grounder rate.
glass cannon
Just two seasons ago he started 27 games. It’s just been the last season he screwed the pooch, but they never should have signed him.
Agreed. If you asked me Wood or Maeda I would have hands down said Maeda. It’s one thing if you needed to deal Maeda to get the Betts deal done but when it fell apart there was no need to deal Maeda. Seemed like the Dodgers fell in love with Graterol, but it doesn’t seem like he’s going to give you much this year and is still a project.
Seems like you’re trying to somewhat rewrite history a bit. It boils down to Wood being signed to start/potentially be a swing man. Maeda made it clear he wanted to start. With the rotation the Dodgers had and guys ready/needing innings, they really didn’t have a spot for him. So as much as you want to say you would have kept Maeda there wasn’t necessarily a straight path to have him stay a full time starter. You could have also argued he didn’t necessarily prove he should have been a full time starter in their rotation. If you look at it the rotation at the time it consisted of Kersh, Buehler, Price, Urias/whoever who have spotted up towards him hitting his innings wall, Strip or Maeda, with May nipping on their heels. At some point May has to start, and you’re not really going to hold him back for Maeda (who was ok, but in a Dodgers uniform didn’t really attack guys like he did as a RP).
You can’t really predict a pandemic. Even then they were probably still going to go out and acquiring a vet at the deadline to supplement their rotation, while moving Maeda to the pen. I’m glad Maeda was traded tbh. Allows him to start in rotation that has a need for him. Even now, the Dodgers get a good look at Strip, Urias, and May. If the season continues as plans, chances are they still go out and get 2 arms.
No history re-written here. There was depth last year, but then you lose Ryu, Hill, and Maeda, and on top of that they were about to deal Stripling. Ryu was your best pitcher last year. Hill was effective when healthy but I had no issues losing him as he was not reliable due to injuries. Part of the replenishment program was relying on Jimmy Nelson and Alex Wood and a bunch of young guys? That seemed a bit odd to me. Both coming off injuries. Wood looked terrible when healthy last year and won one game the whole year. No risk there?
Yes, losing Price hurt but he’s also coming off a mediocre season and in general has been in decline. No slam dunk there either.
Urias is also not proven yet. Same goes for May and Gonsolin. Those were small sample sizes.
Should’ve never been signed in the first place. Tony Gonsolin >>>>
i know right, why would anyone want depth and upside, those silly Dodgers
The Dodgers seem to go to the bounce back well quite often. To their success it has worked with certain guys. The injury bounce back hasn’t worked out as well for Friedman (McCarthy, Kazmir, Koehler, Nelson, and now potentially Wood Part 2).
Brandon Morrow worked out pretty nicely though. Rich hill as well……when healthy.
Morrow indeed was a beast for one year as a Dodger. Then we completely ruined him during the 2017 WS by pitching him every game, and he completely broke down after half a season with the Cubs the following year. Just seems like the front office doesn’t factor in health as much as they should. I guess they feel that with enough depth you can ignore the health factor. I loved Rich Hill but it got to the point where you knew he couldn’t give you a full season as a starter.
Starting pitchers dropping like flies. In hindsight maybe we should have just kept Maeda. Would have also been terrible if the Angels trade went through. It’s early but the Dodgers looked terrible the last 2 games against the AAA Giants. I thought I was watching a little league game with the base running on Saturday’s game. When you give up 4 outs on the base paths you don’t deserve to win. Hoping we see better baseball tonight.
Reminded me of Puig. No excuse for Turner getting doubled-off, Taylor making the first out at third and Pederson falling asleep between first and second. They don’t look focused or committed to ending a 32 season drought.
Perhaps, if MLB converts the rest of this season into a bubble scenario, the Dodgers can figure out a way to get Maeda and Ryu to pitch for them on days when they aren’t pitching for their new teams.
We can dream, right?
The entire west side of baseball has cursed pitching. Here’s a list of all of the people who have gotten injured or had their starts pushed back this season:
– Kershaw
– Verlander
– Kluber
– Wood
– Ohtani (was just flat out bad)
Relievers:
– Ryan Pressly
LAD continue to act like they are the smartest guys in the room yet seemingly every year they ignore their bullpen and dugout manager like both aren’t critical to post season success.
The Mash unit of starting pitchers kinda worked when you had a prime Kershaw but those years have been wasted (see above). 4 games into the 2020 season and it’s the same Dodgers, dominating wins and in ability to produce runs when they don’t homer.
Has anyone noticed this season’s ball not being quite as juiced?
Hard to say. Maybe. Ball doesn’t travel as well at night time at Dodger stadium though. Dodgers hit a ton of fly balls on Sunday’s game. Yeah, maybe one or two leave the yard if it was during day time. That said, completely agree that the Dodgers depend on the long ball too much. Their offensive numbers are skewed a little bit since they put up big runs in certain games and then look very anemic in other games. Would rather they be more consistent.
And the Giants are now run by ex-Dodgers guys who are going to run the team the same way. Except Coletti left the Dodgers in fairly good shape before he left, while Farhan is taking over a mess in San Francisco.
Ridiculous comment. Dodgers actually have a great bullpen this year. Kelly and Treinen looked amazing and even Jansen seemed a lot better.
“Great” let’s tone down such statements until they play decent competition. They’re 2-2 vs the lowly Giants.
They are 2-2 because the offense stunk, not the bullpen. This group of relief pitching is the best they have had in their run since 2013.
when it’s Dodgers v. Junts all bets are off. Records do not matter and which ever team is the “worst” at that time seems to always elevate their game. It’s always fun for the most part.
I never looked the numbers up about just how many times each of them have knocked the other out of the postseason.. Another one I never looked up but the always seemed to close put the season against each other. As a Dodger fan I love the competition the two teams show against each other…heck, even those Joe Pettini/Guy Sularz era teams kept it interesting.
I think this BP has the best mix of good to outstanding pitchers they have had in over a decade. Honestly I see Jansen as the biggest question mark but only because he lost his confidence. But heck how can we not root for a guy who has a heart issue and still keeps playing.
I love the wildcard guys like Treinen and Kolarek . Then toss in the monster GRaterol and they can’t help but be a fun to watch group. I don’t see and real “…oh dear gawd don’t bring him in, AGAIN…” kind of guys out there. Haven’t been able to feel that way in a while.
ROFL….. Gotta love experts like you that pronounce the Dodgers doom after 4 games! And to say that the the bullpen was ignored is just plain idiocy.
It’s one start so far but really only Stripling looked good out of the 4 starts. May was fine but gave up a lot of hits. In general, even though he has good stuff he gets hit hard. Urias was okay but he struggled with command, fastball and off-speed. Constant traffic on the bases. Against a better hitting time he needs to be much sharper. He has the stuff but without command you can’t take that next step. I’m not sure if he’s ready yet to do that. Stripling was good but the better hitting teams will hit him. Hopefully new change up will give him a different look. Buehler is the only guy that has the goods and is polished to dominate. Wood looked shaky right off the bat. He kept nibbling with off-speed stuff and struggled with command in and out of strike zone.
I was kind of bummed when the moved him to the Angels yet happy for him because he would have gotten a solid opportunity to start given their current staff. Then the deal fell through and he might be part of the best trade that didn’t happen ever for the Dodgers given adding Graterol and Betts.
I think we can agree that he had a Giant problem on the mound in his last appearance.
Dodgers all in to win this year. Call the Mets DeGrom for Lux, May, Ruiz, etc.
Brodie would have to accept a rebuild. BVW won’t be the GM accepting a rebuild.
Just for fun—Even for Degrom it shouldn’t take more than that package right there though. That’s a fatter package than most teams can offer even if they wanted to.
Id trade nimmo,nido,smith,gimenez,davis and if allowed syndergaard to California for trout and 1 of their starters
I was really hoping Wood could stay off the IL. Ever since he was traded from the Braves and his heart broken reaction to that news I’ve had a soft spot for him.
Dodgers didn’t need any more wood, in 60 games they should focus on what they do have instead of picking up has beens. They should use some of their depth to make a deal for a BP arm (maybe a C) cause they will need it.
Am not sold on Smith as the C cause he slumped badly once scouting reports came in on his weaknesses and seem to still be playing out that last half of season this season.
agreed…once they saw his frustrations with outside break balls he slumped. Still in the PS he hit a few balls that last game which several players commented would have go out earlier in the season. He is, if nothing else, a gamer. Now he has that sophomore jinx to get through. If he can hit .240 and 10-15 HR’s I would consider it a excellent season for him.
Maybe it was a case of ego inflammation after losing to the lowly Giants.
From alex wood to dead wood….which reminds me of a old one, which wood doesnt float? Natalie wood
Ya all panicking after 3-2 start. I’ll give Dodger Management a little slack and assume they know what they are doing. How soon we forget the days of McCourt.
Wood? Who cares! All I want to know is the date next season for the Joe Kelly “Pouting at the Cheaters” bobblehead. It’s all I want!