It doesn’t take a forensic analyst to figure out that Tony Gonsolin is a better pitcher than Ross Stripling this year. No disrespect towards Ross. He’s had a decent career with the Dodgers and has been a useful pitcher over the years. But for some reason the Dodgers kept Stripling in the rotation over Gonsolin. They wouldn’t budge.
I don’t know what’s wrong with Stripling this season but he hasn’t been good. He’s posted an ERA of 5.61, and allowed the most home runs (12) in the National League across his seven starts. He’s giving up over 10 hits per nine innings. He’s been that bad. Gonsolin on the other hand has made 4 starts and given up no runs over those starts. Actually he’s given up just one earned run over 17.1 innings pitched and has posted a 0.51 ERA. Gonsolin is good, and it’s not hard to see that he’s currently an upgrade over Strip.
So it wasn’t surprising to me when the Dodgers traded Stripling to the Blue Jays for a couple of minor leaguers during Monday’s trade deadline before announcing that Gonsolin would take his place in the rotation. Despite him only lasting three innings in his last start against the Rangers, he’s still been quite effective while filling in as a spot starter. It’s a change that should have happened weeks ago. I don’t know what took the Dodgers so long to do it.
