Dodgers say six-man rotation is not the answer to any rotation worries – Orange County Register

GLENDALE, Ariz. — One starter has thrown as many as 90 innings in a season just twice in eight years in the big leagues.

Another hasn’t thrown 100 innings in a season since 2019 and has enough medical issues that his contract was restructured.

Another has never thrown a pitch in the majors and has spent his career pitching just once a week.

Another will be coming back from a second elbow-reconstruction surgery.

Another is a young pitcher who pitched more than he ever had in his life last year.

The starting pitchers likely to spend the most time in the Dodgers’ rotation this year all have issues. But the Dodgers have depth with a group of young starters one step away.

So why not just go to a six-man rotation?

“Because then you have a seven-man ‘pen,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said of the idea. “It’s gonna be a little bit of a shell game. But we feel really good with the depth and quality of arms that we have. And there will be periods where having more length in the ‘pen serves us when we’re playing a lot of games in a row, and others where we have a lot of days off and can go a lot shorter. There are gonna be a lot of conversations that we have to put ourselves in the best position to win baseball games.”

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts sees another downside to a six-man rotation.

“I think the downside is just kind of when you do that, with off days, there are other guys that don’t need all that extra time,” Roberts said. “So you’re just kind of … trying to be as sensitive to everyone and that middle – to get guys ample time in between starts but also not giving certain guys too much time. So there’s a little middle that you’re trying to deal with.”

The Dodgers have dealt with it over the past nine seasons (since Friedman took over) by giving their starting pitchers extra rest whenever possible. By using off days on the schedule, inserting spot starters to make it a six-man rotation for one or two turns or sending starters to the Injured List for relatively minor injuries, the Dodgers’ starting pitcher has had more than four days’ rest in 65 percent of their games since 2015.

The schedule will help early. The Dodgers will have a week between their season-opening series in Korea and their next regular season game (their home opener on March 28). And they have four more off days in the first three weeks (plus a day) of April.

But with an eye towards keeping this group healthy into October, the Dodgers will have to avoid the potential landmines with each starter.

“I think it gets at each individual guy,” Friedman said. “You look at (James) Paxton last year – when he was going on extra he was way more effective. So I do think it benefits him when we can. With (Yoshinobu) Yamamoto and what his body is accustomed to, we have to figure out how to get there in the most sensible way we can. We’re not going to pretend to have all the answers now. We’re going to need to be around him, see how he’s recovering after starts. He’s got a very detailed, disciplined routine that he does between starts. Making sure that with our increased travel, how that impacts him. There’s just a lot that we’re going to have to learn with him to figure out.

“For Glas (Tyler Glasnow), I think he’s good to go however the schedule shakes out. With Bobby (Miller), Emmet Sheehan – there’s just different cases with each guy. But the important thing for us was to have guys that we feel like can help us reach October and then get us through October and we feel like we have the collection of arms to be able to do that.”

After watching their starting rotation dissolve last season, the Dodgers have nothing but good feelings about this year’s collection of arms.

“It’s certainly – not to take anything away from past years – but you look at the talent, it’s certainly an upgrade across the board,” Roberts said. “You win with talent, and for us as coaches it’s our job to continue to realize that talent and potential.

“Just making sure Tyler stays healthy, takes the baseball, continues to get better. With Yoshi coming over here and making him as comfortable as possible as soon as possible and letting his talent play. That’s part of our job. The other guys that we have – the talent is high and it makes it exciting. It really is.”

LUX STATUS

Nearly a year after his devastating knee injury, Lux is “not 100 percent yet,” Roberts said. But he has no limitations on his activity as the Dodgers start full-squad workouts on Wednesday.