Mailbag Monday: What to do with the rotation?
Answering your questions!
Happy Monday, everyone! And more importantly, happy Shohei Ohtani Day to those who celebrate.
With Ohtani joining the rotation, things will get interesting for the Dodgers. As always, thank you to those who asked questions this week! If you’d like to ask a question for the next mailbag, make sure to subscribe to my Substack today!
Curtis Boyer — I hope Roki comes back soon what’s the thoughts on how the bullpen is doing with the heavy workload?
I’ll quickly start with Roki Sasaki. This whole saga with him has been kinda weird. Sasaki has missed more than a month, and there’s no real timetable for his return. While speaking with reporters prior to Sunday’s game, Roberts said that Sasaki has stopped throwing the last few days. Roberts said Sasaki still doesn’t feel comfortable with his shoulder throwing with intensity. Not great!
However, following the game, Roberts sounded a lot more optimistic, saying Sasaki is pain-free and his build-up should be soon. So yeah, not sure what is going on with him, but I also hope he comes back soon! If I were to guess, based on where he is at now, I don’t think we’ll see him returning until August.
In regards to the bullpen, I’m not as concerned as I was a few weeks ago. They’re getting bullpen arms and starters back as well, which is making the pitching staff healthier. I think things are going to get a lot easier for them in the coming weeks.
Jim Ruland — Holy shit! Ohtani's opening tomorrow. Will he hit, too?
Yup! Ohtani will hit as well. So essentially here’s how the Ohtani rule works. He’ll begin the game as the pitcher and be in the starting lineup. Once he comes out of the game as a pitcher, his spot in the lineup magically becomes DH. It’s an awesome advantage!
Ohio Dodger — Why is Kim not getting more playing time? Makes no sense to me.
The Dodgers clearly have some master plan with Kim. They don’t think he’s ready to get every day playing time. With everyone healthy, there isn’t really a spot for him to play every day anyways, so I’m okay with that. However, I do agree he’s riding the bench far too often. They want to continue to give Conforto more of an opportunity, and in his defense, he’s been a lot better recently. I think Kim will get more playing time in the second half. For now, we have to be patient. We have to trust they know what they’re doing!
Stan B — I’m wondering what you think the plans could be if Glasnow and Snell are able to return to the pitching staff after the ASG Break, knowing that Shohei and Sheehan are likely returning this coming week. Ideally would it be a six man rotation with TG, BS, Yoshi, Kersh, Shohei and either May, Sheehan or Casparious? And what of the starters not in the rotation?
Knowing the Dodgers rotation, we can’t assume everyone is healthy. If by some miracle they all are healthy, here’s how I’m guessing the rotation looks.
Yamamoto, Snell, Glasnow, Ohtani, Kershaw, Sheehan
Those will be your six. Again, that’s assuming everyone is healthy which is practically asking for the impossible at this rate.
With May, I could see the Dodgers potentially trading him. He’s a free agent at the end of the year and I can’t see the Dodgers bringing him back next year. You might as well try and get some value for him and open up a spot on the 40-man which will need some space once guys start getting activated. I’m sure some team would pay a nice price for a starting pitcher. The reason I could see them trading May is because I can’t see them moving him to the bullpen, unless he’s on board with it. Even then, the bullpen is already pretty loaded, and you sure aren’t sending him to the minors.
Casparius I’m guessing goes back to the bullpen as the long man who can eat multiple innings. You don’t need more than one of those guys in the pen. If May accepts a bullpen role and the Dodgers don’t trade him, maybe the Dodgers just option Casparius until an injury opens a spot for him.
Edwin Becker — Seems like we could have 7-8 healthy starters at one time. If that’s the case, why would they not utilize them all and give pitchers more time off in-between starts. The current method isn’t working, why not try something new?
With Ohtani now pitching, the Dodgers will be able to finally implement a six-man rotation, which will benefit every starter by giving them more rest — and hopefully allowing them to pitch deeper into games! This is what we’ve been waiting all year for. Once Sheehan returns, the bullpen games will be over!
….. until there’s probably another injury or two in a month (knocks on wood)
I had this thought after watching the pitching; we are using a lot of arms. More than the average “bullpen games”, starters out, etc. What if you just leaned in to this and designed your pitching rotation in continuous 7 day rolling plans. In such plans you throw arms at games, lineups, situations strategically taking all things in to consideration; and extend the true starters we have to keep them fresher. Then if we make the playoffs, we can start to coalesce around the best rotation to throw in a more traditional way. Hopefully what we have are healthier and better rested arms to choose from.