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Dodgers: Making a Case for the Top Three Starters to Be in Blue
As we all know, the Dodgers have been consistently linked with “front of the rotation” type arms. Each one has negatives, but also strong positives.
Pitching and defense win championships, and that is why the Dodgers are still looking to add another starter. It would have been a luxury to add an ace-caliber pitcher, but now with Clayton Kershaw’s suspect health, it would be preferred.
As we all know, the biggest starters linked with Los Angeles are Yu Darvish, Sonny Gray, and Justin Verlander, who happen to be the best available. Many teams are after them, but the Dodgers are arguably in the best position to land one of them because of their plentiful resources.
With the trade deadline only a few days away, I am going to take a look at the top three pitching targets on the market and make a case for why each one would be a great pickup no matter who they get.
Yu Darvish
Out of these three pitchers, Yu Darvish is easily the most talented of the group. He is a Japanese-born pitcher with electrifying stuff who first came to the states back in 2012. He has made four All-Star teams in five seasons and missed the entire 2015 season recovering from Tommy John Surgery.
Darvish is 6-9 this year with a 4.01 ERA in 22 starts. Not great numbers, but the ERA is due in large part to his last start in which he allowed a whopping 10 ER in 3.2 innings to the Marlins which inflated his ERA from 3.44 to 4.01.
He hasn’t had a good July overall, posting a 7.20 ERA in five starts. However, this could work to the Dodgers’ advantage because it can help lower his trade value.
Darvish has shown to be a better pitcher than this, posting a career 3.42 ERA and being one of the best strikeout specialists in baseball by averaging a career 11 SO/9. He is a bit injury-prone, but at 30 years old with his stuff, he can be a terrific number two starter behind Kershaw come playoff time.
Disregard this month because it’s not who Darvish is. Through June he had a solid 3.11 ERA. When he is on, he is one the most dynamic pitchers in baseball. He also does not have a large contract and becomes a free agent this winter.
The Dodgers do have the best overall pitching in the NL but come playoff time you need power arms that have swing and miss stuff as Yu Darvish has. Outside of Kershaw, I am not sure if they have another guy like that.
Justin Verlander
Verlander would be an interesting addition. He is more of a risk because of his age and workload, but it could take less to get him than Darvish and Gray.
Verlander has struggled this year going 5-7 with a 4.50 ERA. He may be past his prime at 34 years old, but according to Fangraphs, he still has a lot of velocity with his fastball, averaging 95.2 MPH. His slider and curveball, which are his second and third most used pitches, have dropped some in movement, but both still have pretty good break.
At his peak, Verlander was pretty much the AL counterpart of Kershaw. He has had a great career, winning the Cy Young and MVP in 2011 as well as having four other seasons finishing in the top-five in Cy Young voting.
In fact, just last season he finished 2nd in the AL in the Cy Young race. Even though he is struggling this season, we are only one year removed from a season in which Verlander finished 16-9 with a 3.04 ERA while leading the AL in SO with 254 and a 1.01 WHIP.
Maybe a change of scenery would be all Verlander would need to regain some of that form from last year. Going from the AL to the NL and pitching in a pitcher’s ballpark like Dodgers Stadium could do wonders for Verlander.
What I like about Verlander are his competitiveness and postseason experience. He is a bulldog out there and is always on the attack. He is 7-5 with a 3.39 ERA in 16 career playoff starts. Verlander could be a low-risk high-reward player for the Dodgers. The only thing that might make the Dodger wary is his contract.
He is due to make $28 million in each of the next two years. But the Dodgers have never been afraid to take on large contracts; just trading top prospects. I’m sure the Tigers would just like to get rid of the contract which would mean the asking price in return won’t be as high as some of the other top pitchers on the market.
Sonny Gray
Gray as a pitcher is the complete opposite of Darvish and Verlander. While Verlander and Darvish rely more on their power, Gray relies on changing speeds and spotting the ball. With that said he may be the best pitcher right now out of the bunch.
He is the pitcher that has the most years left at 27 years old, and if the Dodgers were to trade for him, it wouldn’t be just for now but for the future as well. Because of his rookie contract and age, he might be the most expensive player to get. Gray is 6-5 with a 3.43 ERA in 16 starts. He struggled last season dealing with injury and posting a 5.69 ERA and some of those struggles carried over to the beginning of this season.
But he was great in 2014 and 2015, posting a combined 2.90 ERA and finishing third in AL Cy Young voting in 2015. He has been excellent as of late too. He has a 1.38 ERA in his last six starts and seems to be regaining his pre-2016 form.
The Dodgers desperately need a right-handed starter, not just for this year but going forward. Gray does have potential to be that right-handed ace they haven’t had since Zack Greinke left. However, the Dodgers are going to have to be comfortable with parting ways with some top prospects to get him.
Gray does have some postseason experience, posting a 2.08 ERA in two starts back in 2013. It’s not a big sample size, but it is better than any other righty the Dodgers currently have.
He also has a connection to the Dodgers’ current GM Farhad Zaidi, who drafted Gray back in 2011 with the A’s, so the front office knows him well. He might be the safest player they could get out of this trio because he not only would help out now but in the long term as well.
With that said, the Dodgers have to make a trade and do something. This is their best chance at winning a World Series, so they have to be aggressive and take control of the opportunity. They can’t go into the playoffs with Kenta Maeda being their best right-hander, especially after his struggles last year.
Next: Don't Let the Payroll Fool You
It might take some of their top prospects, but with the depth of talent they have in the farm system, it shouldn’t mortgage their future. The time is now for the Dodgers.