David Price Is “Ready for Whatever,” and So Are the Dodgers
Even before they signed free agent Trevor Bauer, the Dodgers appeared to have a stacked rotation, particularly with David Price returning from his opt-out season. Now, with Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler, and Bauer in place, and with youngsters Julio Urías, Tony Gonsolin, and Dustin May attempting to reclaim starting spots as well after spending the postseason as swingmen, the unit is bursting at the seams. On Monday, Price made his Cactus League debut, and both he and manager Dave Roberts made clear that his role is up in the air, even if it means pitching out of the bullpen.
It may not come to that, though like every other team concerned about the jump in the schedule from 60 games to 162, the Dodgers will call upon their depth to avoid overtaxing any of their starters, particularly given their expectations for another run deep into October. That’s already been one of the signatures of the Andrew Friedman regime. Between very liberal usage of the Injured List and some fairly quick hooks, the Dodgers allowed just two pitchers to make 30 starts in a season during the 2016-19 campaigns, with only five throwing enough innings to qualify for the ERA title. Under last year’s shortened schedule, no Dodger started more than 10 times (which prorates to 27 in a full season) or qualified for the ERA title, with Kershaw topping out at 58.1 innings.
Here’s how the team’s workload management stacks up relative to the rest of the majors:
Team | 2016-20 IP Qual | 2016-20 GS Qual | IP | WAR |
---|---|---|---|---|
Cubs | 19 | 18 | 3978.1 | 59.0 |
Nationals | 15 | 15 | 4087.0 | 76.7 |
Cleveland | 14 | 10 | 4161.1 | 83.2 |
Astros | 13 | 12 | 3992.0 | 69.5 |
Cardinals | 13 | 12 | 3906.0 | 52.5 |
White Sox | 11 | 10 | 3868.1 | 33.0 |
Rockies | 11 | 8 | 3886.2 | 47.6 |
Giants | 10 | 11 | 3960.1 | 40.2 |
Diamondbacks | 10 | 10 | 3906.0 | 53.2 |
Red Sox | 10 | 10 | 3844.0 | 56.4 |
Royals | 10 | 10 | 3792.2 | 31.6 |
Phillies | 10 | 9 | 3856.1 | 53.0 |
Mets | 9 | 11 | 3921.2 | 66.4 |
Braves | 9 | 9 | 3819.0 | 38.0 |
Twins | 9 | 9 | 3750.0 | 46.0 |
Reds | 8 | 9 | 3712.1 | 37.0 |
Yankees | 8 | 9 | 3761.2 | 58.1 |
Rangers | 8 | 7 | 3781.0 | 37.9 |
Blue Jays | 8 | 7 | 3669.2 | 40.2 |
Rays | 7 | 8 | 3403.2 | 54.1 |
Brewers | 6 | 8 | 3680.2 | 42.6 |
Tigers | 6 | 6 | 3685.1 | 45.0 |
Padres | 6 | 6 | 3684.1 | 33.2 |
Marlins | 6 | 5 | 3703.0 | 31.1 |
Mariners | 6 | 5 | 3745.2 | 38.1 |
Pirates | 5 | 7 | 3744.1 | 41.1 |
Orioles | 5 | 6 | 3621.2 | 28.3 |
Angels | 5 | 6 | 3506.0 | 28.0 |
Dodgers | 5 | 2 | 3812.0 | 71.0 |
Athletics | 4 | 7 | 3767.0 | 39.9 |
I’ve combined the separate 2016-19 and ’20 totals using the actual innings qualifiers, which vary according to schedule length and don’t need to prorate, and used an 11-start threshold for last year, which prorates to about 30 over a full season. As you can see, over the past half-decade, the Dodgers are tied for the majors’ second-lowest total in terms of innings qualifiers, and have the lowest total in terms of start “qualifiers.” They’re mostly among bad teams via both of those lower rankings, save for the A’s. If you sort the various columns, you can see that Dodgers’ starters rank 14th in total innings in that span, yet third in WAR. It’s a strategy that’s worked out well, to say the least. Read the rest of this entry »