Dodgers: LA Should Go With a 6-Man Starting Rotation
The Dodgers should finally be getting Clayton Kershaw back this week. After waiting for his return from a back issue, Los Angeles should be getting his help back in the starting rotation by this weekend in San Francisco. And that will be huge for a starting staff that has labored through the last month.
But that shouldn’t mean that someone gets bumped back to the bullpen immediately. The Dodgers have to decide what to do with Mitch White, 1 of the 2 guys filling in with Kershaw and Andrew Heaney out. But the best move might be keeping it at 6 guys for a while.
Part of the reason for that is simply the heavy workload. Dodgers pitchers have been taxed as of late, playing a heck of a lot of games without breaks over the last month. Getting guys some extra days of rest might be just what they need to get back on track,
Should the Dodgers go to a 6-man rotation when Kershaw and Heaney return?
— Dodgers Nation (@DodgersNation) June 4, 2022
That would mean extra days for Walker Buehler and Julio Urias, a pair of guys that have struggled over their last 5 starts. Buehler has been hit for 19 earned runs over 24.2 innings of work while Urias has tallied 11 earned runs over 28.1 innings. The Dodgers could give them some extra rest, especially since they’re coming off of heavy workloads in 2022.
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When they do get Heaney back, that should bump White back to the bullpen to give them some long relief. That would still leave them with 6 guys in the rotation if they were to keep Tyler Anderson in there. But the way things have gone, that might be their best choice. It might also help Kershaw to stay healthy, something they’re really going to need this year.
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Can we bring back the real pitchers for the past. Nursing the players says a lot about their lack of talent. 5 innings of 2 or less runs is not a good outing. They need to up their game! Btw, do the Dodgers even have 6 pitchers? Maybe they should have fought for Bauer, a pitcher they could use right now! Just my 2 cents.
That’s the best approach once Heaney’s
ready. Anderson’s great start should not
end up in the bullpen. Now if Roberts could
just figure out how to manage the bullpen better!
Dodgers don’t even have 5 starters worth a darn and you want them to go to a 6 man rotation?
Sorry, but even if you had a 10-man rotation, Roberts would find a way to screw it all up. He never shows any faith in his starters so the number of starters he has will never matter.
J.Urias should be throwing at least 1 IP more per start almost EVERY time he pitches and what happened to M.White yesterday? He takes a perfecto into the 5th, gets into a jam BUT works his way out of it. I was impressed. Then…for all this hard work he gets to sit down – even though he had to still have enough in the tank to AT LEAST start the 6th. Bickford and Price then go on to lose the game that inning. FFS someone needs to show Roberts how to let his starters get the innings they deserve.
The Mets series should have been won, not split. Why take Julio out on Sunday? Roberts had taxed his bullpen on Saturday. then had nowhere to go on Sunday when he decided he had stuck with his starter long enough. Our bullpen is only as good as Roberts is as a decision maker. Our starters are getting neglected due to the quick hooks Roberts makes,
This does not breed any confidence in me for a happy ending in October.