How To Fix The Dodgers, Part Four: There's No Starting Pitching Anywhere
by Andrew on Jul 27, 2007 5:28 PM PDT
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PrintSure, we thought things were bad with Jason Schmidt, Randy Wolf, and Hong-Chih Kuo on the DL, but now that Derek Lowe has a strained groin, and Brad Penny has had an abdominal cramping, things could be going from bad to worse. Sure, Lowe and Penny will likely be fine. Lowe should make his next start and Penny thinks that he was just being babied, but it does make us realize that as bad as things are now, they could get worse. Sure, having Mark Hendrickson and Brett Tomko in the same rotation is pretty bad, but its entirely possible that Eric Stults and D.J. Houlton could join them at some point in the future.
The first thing that comes to mind is a trade. Who could the Dodgers go out and get. What team that is out of contention has a pitcher that is about to reach free agency. The answer is very, very disappointing. These are the starters that aren't currently on the DL, on teams that are out of the race, and will be free agents this off season.
Joe Kennedy
Odalis Perez
Mark Redman
Shawn Chacon
Scott Elarton
Jason Jennings
Kyle Lohse
Brian Moehler
Chan Ho Park
Steve Trachsel
Kip Wells
Jamie Wright
Do any of those names look at all appealing? When Jason Jennings, the ground ball pitcher with a ground ball rate under one is the best available player issues abound. None of these guys can even meet the "will probably be better than Mark Hendrickson" standard, and that's rather sad. Kyle Lohse has the closest thing to mediocre numbers out there, and the most ringing endorsement I could give him is that I'd take him for nothing and stash him in the long relief role in case something goes terribly wrong.
The other names that are being bandied about, such as Jon Garland and Dontrelle Willis, are equally unappealing. In this case, not only do you end up with a bad pitcher (Garland's 3.94 K/9, Willis' inability to keep the ball in the stadium while struggling to maintain a 1.5 K/BB.), but you get the joy of paying him for several seasons into the future.
The only types of pitchers out there that seem remotely appealing are highly flawed guys like Daniel Cabrera and Zach Greinke that have no guarantee at all of being good down the stretch, but they have some nice upside. Still, do the Dodgers want to be plugging a guy into their rotation down the stretch that could be a complete an utter disaster?
The starting pitcher market this deadline is complete barren, and there's no easy fixes available. Unless Ned Colletti gets mighty creative, the Dodgers would probably best be served keeping D.J. Houlton and Eric Stults in the bullpen, or maybe calling up Justin Orenduff if they are desperate. Starting pitching is the Dodgers biggest weakness right now, and there's no real way to fix it short of giving up way too many prospects. We'll just have to get better in other areas to compensate.
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Some divisional rival news:
Randy Johnson is out for the season. This pretty much puts the Diamondbacks out of contention unless all of their young players progress to the mean simultaneously. Given how bad they were in the first half, it's entirely possible this will happen.
The Padres get Scott Hairston from the Diamonbacks. This does little more than add outfield depth to the Padres, but they could probably use it.
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Dodger Trades Are Usually BAD news
Bad Trades are the second Malady haunting the Dodgers.
The first is the mysterious demise of "Top Prospects" like Joel Guzman.
We traded for Randy Hundly twice(the 2nd time he was acknowledged to be crippled). Very few teams can match that futility.
When the LoDuca trade was completed-the only thing left to do was turn out the lights-'til next year. Teams have to develop chemistry, or they are just a group of players.
If they trade Broxton and Loney for say Chan Ho Park it will be another bitter pill for the fans.
Contracts for Nomar, Gonzalez, even Furcal and Pierre, have blocked the normal progress of the team. The "OLD" guys will have their moments in the sun BUT the rookies and prospects and productivity lost-keep the Dodgers from their goal of being a top franchise.
Time spent gathering talented prospects seems to cause pressure on the management. As the pressure builds they trade the future for safe mediocrity. "Gotta have 'Name recognition' players to keep the turnstiles clicking." And so it goes. Loney and Kemp had to hit close to .400 to crack the weak line up. This proves the weakness of the "deciders."
Fans go from just not watching until after the "deadline" to checking every couple of hours. There is no good way to pass the time until the disaster.
by zapotec49 on Jul 28, 2007 11:09 AM PDT reply actions
Uhm...
Dodgers lead in the NL west before the trade: 2.5 games.
Dodgers lead in the NL west at the end of the season: 2 games.
Or maybe that chemistry only applies in the postseason?
Numbers are not the whole picture
by zapotec49 on Jul 30, 2007 6:43 PM PDT up reply actions
So...
I'm not saying that the make-up of the team isn't important... But that chemistry is supposed to, and must, be reflected in wins and losses or else it's just a lot of words - the end-purpose of the game is to win, whether or not you think chemistry matters in achieving that goal.
You could claim the team didn't have momentum going into the postseason, but they were 6-4 over their last 10 games and 15-12 in the month of September, not incredible by any means but certainly not 'staggering to the finish line.'
Unless Paul LoDuca's chemistry would have somehow prevented the dynamic duo of Odalis Perez and Jeff Weaver from giving up 14 runs in 9 2/3rds innings. While perhaps his distant heart and soul helped Jose Lima - he of the 5.27 career ERA - throw a complete game shutout of the best lineup in the National League.
Or maybe the Dodgers lost that series not because they were missing LoDuca, but because they were up against a Cardinals team that won 105 games in '04, the most won by any team in the major Leagues since the 2001 season when Seattle won 116.
But it could be LoDuca.
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