Dodgers: Rotation Arms They Should Start Looking at

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April 16, 2017; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Rich Hill (44) leaves the game before the fourth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports /

Rich Hill is on the 10-day DL again this month because of his repeating blister problems. The Dodgers shouldn’t expect it to go away anytime soon so they should have a contingency plan ready in case of a worst-case scenario.

Rich Hill has found himself back on the 10-day DL immediately after the Dodgers activated him from it for Sunday’s start against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Honestly, we shouldn’t be that surprised because he does have a terrible injury track record. However, the fact that it’s a blister that’s hindering him is astonishing because it’s just not that common.

Initially you’d wonder how a small and simple injury (if you can call it that) like a blister can torment a professional athlete so much. It’s because Hill’s reoccurring blister from last season is a nasty one so there’s no surprise that he can’t pitch through it effectively.

The fact that it keeps coming back is shocking; at this point in time you should be able to prevent it for the most part. It also doesn’t help that throwing a curveball assists in making it worse, and if we know anything about Hill, it’s he loves to throw his curveball.

This doesn’t seem like a quick fix, so with all this in mind, the Dodgers should be prepared for the worst-case scenario of Hill not being able to pitch much this season. Even though they have pitching depth, they should start looking around the league for additional starting pitching. You can’t trust Brandon McCarthy’s or Hyun-jin Ryu’s health, Kenta Maeda has started the season slow, and even the deity Clayton Kershaw is coming off a season where he missed around 10 weeks due to a back injury.

Because of this, here is a list of pitchers the Dodgers should look into acquiring and inserting into the starting rotation.

Honorable Mentions: Trevor Oaks, Alex Wood, Ross Stripling Brock Stewart, Julio Urias

The Dodgers may just decide to look in-house to solve this issue and if that worked, it would be the best-case scenario. However, most of the listed pitchers are unproven or won’t hold a permanent spot in the rotation, for one reason or another, anytime soon. So without further ado:

Chris Archer

This one might be the most obvious one because Archer’s name has been floating around trade rumors for a while now and Andrew Friedman’s connection to Tampa Bay isn’t a secret.

From 2013-2015 Archer had a 3.26 ERA in 535.1 innings and 526 strikeouts. 2015 was his best season yet and put him on the verge of become a top-tier pitcher. He threw 212 innings and compiled a 3.23 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, and an absurd 252 strikeouts (10.7 K/9).

However, last season he took a step back with a 4.02 ERA in 201.1 innings. However, he still had an elite 10.4 K/9. If you take a closer look at his 2016 season, you’d see that he returned to form in the second-half of the season. In his 13 starts (84 innings) after the All-Star Game, he posted a 3.11 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, and 97 strikeouts.

This season he has built off his strong finish from 2016. In the 20.1 innings he’s pitched he has a 2.21 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, and 18 strikeouts. He has done all this in the tough AL East which makes it even more impressive. To put it shortly: Chris Archer is straight filth.

Imagine what would happen if he comes to a pitcher’s park like Dodger Stadium with a good defense behind him and doesn’t have to carry the pressure of being the man.

Archer would probably cost the most in terms of prospect return, compared to anyone else on this list, because of his age, talent, health history, and uber-friendly contract. The Dodgers have the prospects to get him, but the Rays would expect a huge offer.

Archer may be the perfect compliment to Kershaw because he is right-handed, supremely talented, doesn’t carry a huge contract, like the Dodgers’ ace has one of the best sliders in baseball (possibly the best), and just happens to be just six months younger than Kershaw. That one-two punch would arguably become the best pitching duo in baseball.

Because of Archer’s age, small financial commitment, and Los Angeles’ sense of urgency to win now, anything can happen with this front office known for holding onto its elite prospects. It’s doubtful that a trade happenes, but never say never.

Alex Cobb

Archer’s teammate Alex Cobb is an intriguing possibility. There were earlier reports of Los Angeles showing interest but nothing came to fruition. He would be a solid get if LA can somehow get him in their own shade of blue.

Cobb has been super unlucky, to say the least, when it comes to injuries. He’s been struck in the head from a line drive and has needed Tommy John Surgery in less than two years apart from each other. However, it hasn’t stopped the 29-year-old from becoming one of the more underrated pitchers in the league.

Before Tommy John surgery, he had a 2.82 ERA and a solid 283 strikeouts in his 309.2 innings from 2013 and 2014. Cobb would slot in well as the Dodgers’ number two or number three starter.

Cobb primarily uses a three-pitch mix that includes a fastball, curveball, and split-change. His split-change is his most effective pitch and his go-to strikeout pitch. It’s as filthy as they come when he has it working good.

However, since his return from Tommy John, his dose of the split-change has decreased, but that is expected. The split-change is supposed to be one of the pitches that comes back to you last after a serious surgery like TJ.

He is still getting into the groove of things this season, as you can tell by the 4.50 ERA in his first three starts, but he’d still be a quality addition. Cobb is a free agent after this season so that might affect LA’s decision making. However, that might even affect Tampa’s, because they are a small-market team notorious for selling off their best players (Evan Longoria is the exception) once they approach free agency. In addition, being a rental will only decrease his value.

Jose Quintana

Don’t put too much stock into his slow start, he’s earned at least that much. Quintana was the target of a large amount of trade speculation during the offseason because the Chicago White Sox went into full rebuild mode. After the departure of Chris Sale, Quintana became the best available pitcher on the market. He’s not the “ace” that many people tried to make him out to be this past winter, but he’s a good starter.

He has broken the 200-inning barrier in four straight seasons (2013-2016). Doing it once is tough for majority of pitchers nowadays, but doing it four straight times shows that he’s a legit workhorse. Throw in the fact that he compiled a 3.34 ERA in those four seasons and you have a quality innings eater.

He does not strikeout as many people out as you’d like (career 7.4 K/9) and doesn’t do an amazing job of generating a lot of soft contact for a pitcher of his style. In fact it’s worrisome that his groundball and flyball rates aren’t in line with what you’d want them to be. His groundball rate is lower than league average and his flyball rate is higher than the league average. Luckily that would translate ok to Dodger Stadium where he’d be in a pitcher’s park with a good defense behind him.

His name doesn’t carry the cache or excitement of a Chris Archer, or the next guy on this list, but he still gets the job done and is on a team-friendly contract. Personally he wouldn’t be my first choice but would be a welcome addition. However, he is not worth a king’s ransom.

Justin Verlander

The Dodgers had actually approached the Detriot Tigers about Justin Verlander during the offseason, but talks didn’t go very far. Verlander is by far the most accomplished on this list, racking up six All-Star appearances along with the 2011 AL CY Young and MVP awards. He also has two second place finishes and one third place finish in CY Young voting. In fact, he probably should have won his second CY Young last season (just ask Kate Upton), as he finished with the most first-place votes in the AL voting and had better numbers across the board than the actual winner Rick Porcello.

He finished with a 3.04 ERA, 1.001 WHIP, and 254 strikeouts in 227.2 innings. He has continued his mini-resurgence after having a down year back in 2015.

However, the 34-year old is the kind of player that the front office would avoid trading for because of his age and money. He is due $106 million through 2020, and that is a lot of dough to shell out for a pitcher approaching his mid-30s.

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Surprisingly though, he hasn’t lost too much velocity off his fastball. He’s actually throwing harder now than he did back in 2014, while his slider’s velocity has increased over the past few seasons. He looks like a guy who can give you a couple more quality seasons before his eventual decline.

Verlander also has a good amount of postseason experience with 98.1 innings thrown. In those innings he has a 3.39 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, and 112 strikeouts, and with a team whose goal is the World Series, these numbers would be welcomed.

The Dodger starters have struggled to go deep into games (regular season and postseason) since the start of 2016, but Verlander would give them a second legitimate workhorse who’d give the bullpen a much-needed rest when it’s his turn to take the mound.

Next: The Bullpen Anchor

It goes without saying, however, that this deal only happens if the Tigers are out of postseason contention and finally decide to sell away their aging core.

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