So the Dodgers are doing pretty well I might add. They had won ten consecutive games and now have the best record in the National League. If it weren’t for those dang moneyball Astros, they would have the best record in MLB. The offense is in high-octane mode scoring nearly a hundred runs per game. Meanwhile rookie slugger Cody Bellinger has become a national sensation. The birds are signing, the sun is shining. Your life is now suddenly better because the Dodgers are winning! They’re not just winning, but they are steam rolling over the competition. Oscar and most of the announcers love to use the word steamroller when talking about the Dodger’s recent winning streak. They’re steam rolling the competition they will say as I stuff my face with Dodger dogs and make ridiculously insane comments on twitter.
But you know as good as the Dodgers are right now, they still may need a little help. Even the best of clubs need some help. You see three of the Dodger’s starting pitchers are usually unable to (no matter how hard they try) to pitch past the fifth inning. Rich Hill has done this only once all year. Hyun-jin Ryu has done it a few times and Kenta Maeda does it rarely. These guys have been inconsistent and up and down throughout the season.
So the Dodgers could use some starting pitching help. They certainly have the resources to make a deal at the July 31 trade deadline considering they own fort Knox, and have 90 of the top 100 prospects in baseball. That’s right the Dodgers are successfully hoarding 90 of the top 100 prospects. They’re just waiting to make a deal while most of the millennial kids on twitter will cry to see any of the double-A prospects go for anyone short of Mike Trout or Bryce Harper.
Just hear me out on this one before you start cursing at me or unfollowing me on twitter. Keep in mind this is just an idea….(ducks and covers face). The Dodgers need a starting pitcher for the stretch drive. Not necessarily for the playoffs, but definitely for the stretch drive. Julio Urias is lost for the year and the three goofballs I mentioned above have trouble pitching past the fifth inning. Weren’t you listening??? (Jokes)
Anyways, so maybe the Dodgers can bring back old friend Edinson Volquez, who is currently pitching for the Marlins. (Hides and covers face again). The Marlins are pretty bad right now and set to start another fire sale trading away most of their veteran players. He can probably be had for really cheap. I know, look I know! We’ve already tried using Volquez before. The sideways hat wearing fashion trend starter pitched for the Dodgers back in 2013. He made 5 starts for the Dodgers at the end of that season and was pretty unimpressive save for a pretty good strikeout to walk ratio.
I know he’s got some command problems. He’s walked 49 in 82.1 innings pitched and posted a 5.3 walk per nine rate. But look he’s gotten better over his last nine starts. Over the last nine starts he’s posted a 3.86 ERA and struck out 44 against 27 walks over his last 54.2 innings pitched. Let’s not forget that he recently tossed a no-hitter against the Snakes as well. He’s only given up seven home runs, he can still miss bats at a pretty good rate, and he’s inexpensive. He’s only earning 9 million dollars this season and 13 million next year. He’s got a 3.64 ERA in June and has limited right handers to a .199 batting average against this season.
I’m not saying the Dodgers should acquire him and have him start playoff games you over reactors. I’m just suggesting that maybe the Dodgers should take a look at him as a low cost addition to help provide the Dodgers some innings down the stretch. Honestly once the Dodgers are 9 games ahead in September, you might not mind Edinson Volquez.
Please don’t hate me.
He sounds like the kind of guy FAZ would go get. He’s a Latos/Norris/Anderson/Bedard/Beachy/Baker kinda guy. Frankly for mid November I prefer a Darvishian arm, but I get the cost ramifications of such thinking, and accept the fact that true aces by acquisition are not likely in our future.
This is a good idea, but I really really don’t trust FAZ in mid season trades other than low level churn trades.
I think we give all the chances to Brock Stewart and then call Oaks up for the stretch drive. I like ground ballers for the back of the rotation.
If we can get him for a half eaten Tuna fish sandwich it might be a good deal.
LOL…another blogger cited this article and mentioned crack. I won’t mention names but it made me laugh.
There was another article in one other Dodger blog that I don’t read all that much….Dodger Insider maybe…speculating on all of these potential starting pitchers the Dodgers could pick up at or before the deadline. They were all of these back of the rotation guys with ERAs north of 3.50. I don’t understand why the Dodgers need another one of these guys….like Volquez. The team already has effectively a seven man rotation, and Volquez or any of these other mediocre guys isn’t really an improvement over Ryu or Maeda….or Stewart or Stripling.
LOL…he’s “only” earning 9 million this year and 13 next? Compared to that, McDL is a bargain at 12/year (btw….what charity am I donating to?)
Jim Johnson’ s pitching really well for the Braves right now. Just sayin’
http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=rel&lg=all&qual=y&type=8&season=2017&month=0&season1=2017&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0
So is Bud Norris!
Norris is on the Angels DL. Johnson has 16 saves….not that I want either in Dodger blue again.
None of them worked here, which is the only thing that matters.
McBrittle a bargain? Nonsense. Hes been paid around $30 million for approximately .8 WAR. He hasn’t worked either. Add his name to the list.
For what the team is getting out of him this year for that 12 mil, that’s a solid deal.
How’s Hamels doing, BTW?
wtf does that have to do with this year?
But since you asked, he was 7-1 after being traded to Texas in ’15 (bet you didnt know that) and would NO DOUBT have been a better #3 in post season than the hamburgers FAZ got for us.
My question was meant for the present tense, as in, “How is Cole Hamels doing RIGHT NOW?” But you know that and are just being sneaky with tense, as in, “It depends what your definition of ‘is’ is.”
Here…all answer for you: He’s injured, stinks, probably at the end of his career, still owed money, the Rangers stink and are probably shopping Darvish becuase they have to rebuild because they gave up boatload of prospects for three months of Hamels going 7-1, which still didn’t give them a WS (bet you didn’t know that, did you?).
It has to do with the present tense because it speaks to a difference in philosophies regarding short term and long term gain. The front office didn’t overpay or squander sustainability for a small bump in the odds of winning a WS. Oh, I know. The Dodgers could’ve had Hamels for JDL and a rosin bag…because you say so (even though you’re probably the only person on the planet who thinks that, which speaks to a certain kind of selective delusion).
“But wait! Prospects are precious and we need to keep every single one at all costs! Oh, how we could use Cotton and Montas and that kid who’s got the Don Sutton hair right about now! They were the crown jewels of the organization and FAZ just tossed them away for nothing.” (Hill pitched very well in the playoffs. Bet you didn’t know that, did ya?)
The Dodgers are getting exactly out of McDL what they signed him for. Aside from some bumps and bad starts, he’s pitching better than 12 million.
And to a larger point, the Dodgers are doing well and have been doing well and seem likely to continue to do well. So, somebody in the front office is doing something right, all your polemical gymnastics to the contrary. “But it’s still Ned’s team.” Yeah, whatever.