The All-Time LA Dodger Team: The #4 Starter

Fernando Valenzuela.

Not sure how aware people are, but a certain, fairly sizable, population of Angelenos despised the Dodgers for moving in and tearing down their neighborhood. Fernando made everything ok. Yes this is an emotional pick, but so what.

But now that we’re down to #4, doesn’t Hideo Nomo at least belong on the balot? His top 4 years (in ERA+) ran 150, 130, 122, 112.

If Nomo’s going to be in the running for #5, Chan Ho definitely should be. Reading back on a few posts about him in the archives, I can’t understand why there’s been such a negative perception about his performance. If it was leaving to sign with the Rangers, well, the game’s a business. If it was his performance after he left, he had to battle quite a bit of injuries. Park > Nomo for the 5 or 6 games that I’ve seen each of them pitch. Just saying.

By the way, from a white man who by no means is an authority on martial arts, I do believe his kick on Belcher should be called a taekwondo kick and not a kung fu kick. He’s Korean, not Chinese.

for Brown over Sutton.

Fernando was my pick here. I get Eric’s Sutton arguments and I also know Brown is too hated to win, but I do think he has the better position for the #5 spot. The only thing Sutton has in his favor is longevity with the Dodgers. I do think that counts for something, but Brown was considerably better at his best than Sutton was at his best. Also, the selection of “best five years” is as arbitrary as “best three” or “best eight” and is really tailor made to put Sutton in the best light.

So, since this is a fantasy team, I am going to put forth a fantasy argument for considering “best” over “longest.” This is the fifth spot in the rotation. This will be the guy that sees the least action. You don’t need or even want a workhorse here. You want a guy that will give you the best performance during the limited time he will be on the mound during the season. That guy is Kevin Brown.

I think Sutton may be the best pitcher on this list, but my vote goes to Fernando. When I was 10 years old, he was nearly a god and that counts more than any stat you could give me. An LA Dodger all-star squad without Fernando isn’t an LA Dodger team at all. No matter what I see in baseball from here on out, nothing will ever feel as magical as Fernando in 81.

I find it hard to be objective but I just don’t care. For brief periods Orel and Fernando just dominated and the Dodgers rode each to a World Championship. To my mind they have to follow the first pair. (Unfortunately it is possible each worked so hard in that championship year that they were never quite the same).