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If I wrote this last week, I would be saying here that Alex Wood will be competing for the fifth spot in the Dodger rotation when spring training begins next February.
Instead, Wood is now on the Cincinnati Reds and he should be part of their Opening Day rotation.
Wood’s won-loss record with the Dodgers was 31-20 and he pitched 434⅔ innings in a Dodger uniform.
Two of his career highlights was being named to the 2017 NL All-Star team and his Game 4 start in the 2017 World Series
What went right
Wood pitched 151⅔ innings to finish second on the Dodgers in innings pitched in 2018.
He started 27 games before being moved to the bullpen in September.
What went wrong
Wood did not give up a home run to any of the 168 left-handed batters he faced in the 2018 regular season. Over his Dodger career, he only gave up five home runs to the 476 left-handed batters that faced him in the regular season.
But in the 2018 postseason, he faced 15 left-handed batters and gave up two home runs, one to Freddie Freeman and the other to Travis Shaw.
Wood also gave up a season-high seven runs (he did that twice) to the Reds in a 3⅔ innings at Cincinnati.
2018 particulars
Age: 27 (Wood will be 28 on January 12, 2019)
Stats: 9-7, 3.68 ERA and 135 strikeouts
Game of the year
Wood pitched eight scoreless innings against the Giants way back in the second game of the 2018 season. It would be the most innings he would pitch in a game that season.
But let’s go with his start at Texas in August. Wood pitched seven scoreless innings and gave up four hits and two walks. He also struck out five. He and the Dodgers would beat the Rangers 3-1 that night.
Roster status
Alex Wood was traded along with Matt Kemp, Yasiel Puig and Kyle Farmer to the Cincinnati Reds for Homer Bailey and minor-leaguers Jeter Downs and Josiah Gray.
Wood has 5.123 years in service time and he will be a free agent at the end of the 2019 season.