Dodgers’ Dave Roberts Unpacks ‘Disheartening’ Trend LA Has Continued
Landon Knack gave up five runs in the first two innings of the Friday night game at Truist Park. The Dodgers could never recover after the rookie’s blunder, an alarming sight given the Los Angeles lineup features Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman.
The Dodgers’ star-studded offense was lifeless at a point in the season when every game matters. The final weeks of the regular season are somewhat of a practice run for the must-win games in October.
A win or loss could be all the difference in clinching a playoff spot. Although the Dodgers still lead the National League West by 4.5 games, the club should be playing its best baseball.
As of late, a concerning trend has emerged with the Dodgers. A Los Angeles pitcher will put the team in an early deficit and the offense never recovers. This was the case against the Atlanta Braves.
The Dodgers were silent aside from a solo home run from Miguel Rojas and a Teoscar Hernandez score off an RBI single from Tommy Edman. Ohtani struck out twice. The $700 million man was hitless in his four at-bats.
Gavin Lux flew out to left field after a single from Will Smith put runners on first and third. After an active third and fourth inning, the Dodgers didn’t get another runner past first base.
“The human part on the hitters’ side – I think that that’s a fair thought,” Roberts told Bill Plunkett of The Orange Country Register. “I don’t think it’s an excuse. I don’t think they’ll make it an excuse. They still have jobs to do to catch the baseball and take good at-bats. But yeah, I think sometimes it can be a little disheartening or take the wind out of your sails. But I still don’t see that as an excuse.”
There’s no excuse for arguably the greatest lineup in baseball. The Dodgers have some soul-searching to do in these final weeks of the regular season.
It all comes down to one question: Who do the Dodgers want to be in the postseason? The club is notorious for falling short when it matters most, but this season can be different if the teams make the necessary changes.
Photo Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images
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Every team in baseball is dealing with the trend of increasing pitching injuries, and the Dodgers have had it the worst the last few years, by far. I could put some of the blame on Roberts overworking his starters, especially his rookies, but that is beside the point. There are a lot of experts out there trying to figure out the reasons – higher velocity, more use of stressful pitch types, greater intensity as hitters are better, etc. But the reality is that the game has changed, and teams had better learn to change with it. I contend that teams – I hope starting with the dodgers, will adapt some new models of managing their starting pitching roster, primarily to limit the number of innings and number of pitches.
I offer the following suggestion, which will get lots of laughs and opprobrium from arm chair experts, but I will make it anyway. Start with the standard, CW model that most teams use: 13 pitchers, comprised of 5 starters and 8 relievers; each starter starts the 1st inning and tries to go as long as possible (used to be 9 inning, rare to go beyond 7 today), with great value, and contract money, placed on the number of innings. When the starters falter, or get beyond 100 pitches, bring in the bullpen.
I propose a couple of key changes. First would be an expanded use of openers. Rarely does a game go without using relief out of the bullpen. Why not use some in the 1st inning instead of 6-9? Use a lockdown reliever to get past the first 3 batters the first time, let the starters pitch innings 2-7 or 2-8. Teams are starting to do this more, why not make it a consistent strategy?
Next is what I will call “team starters”. Instead of 5 starters and 8 relievers, why not reverse that and have 8 starters? Too late this year for the Ds, but even without Kershaw and Flaherty you can easily see 8 starters next year already under contract. Team them up to pitch 4 innings each – Ohtani and Stone, Glasnow and Yamamoto, Buhler and May, Gonsolin and Sheehan, or others waiting in the wings.
I can hear the objections now – most important being buy-in by the starters, who would have to give up some glory of being “the guy” and basing their millions on pitching late into games. They would have to embrace a concept of team first. But you could point out that what they give up in glory they would gain by a longer and more productive career, with less time spent rehabbing. I’m also guessing that this would result in improved stats for each starter, improving their value on the market. They would have to get used to not starting the 1st inning, especially if you combine this with more openers. Another objection is cost, as starters are much more expensive than relievers – but, hell, we are paying these starters anyway to NOT pitch and spend their time in the weight room. It could SAVE money in the long run.
But think of the gains. The most important is that each starter would have many fewer pitches per game, which I am guessing will be found to be more important than total pitches per year, and this scheme could actually result in more pitches per year factoring in less time on the IL. Chances are much better of having a full lineup come October. They could be more willing to go all out each inning instead of pacing themselves to go long. Their recovery time would be less so you could easily go with 4 two-man teams. There is less chance of facing an opposing team the third time through the lineup, which is where a lot of pitchers fail. You could stagger the lineup to put in a lefty and righty so the opposing team couldn’t stack their position players based on a particular pitcher. You could stagger them so a hard thrower would follow a finesse pitcher. You would have only 5 relievers, but you would need fewer since the starters would take their place (and next year the Ds could still have 6 relievers if Ohtani is classified as a DH).
And you could change it up in multiple ways. If the first starter is lights out one night with a low pitch count, let him go an extra inning or two. Some pitchers you could let pitch in the regular fashion. Some games would go 5-3 innings or even 6-2 (or the reverse). Your relievers will still be there when necessary. Flip the starters in the order so that each would get the glory of the win after 5 innings. If some start to falter, the other can take on a more traditional role, or you could call up replacements from the minors.
Yeah, this is radical, and some people will call it stupid. But something has to change, the old model is failing. Each year the Ds stagger into the postseason with a rotation that was not there at the beginning of the year, populated with other teams’ castoffs and rookies. It is getting really frustrating. Some team is going to adopt some changes like this, I’d like the Dodgers to give it a try.