Dodgers: A Christmas Wish List for Dodgers Santa

3. A breakout season from Walker Buehler

Dear Dodgers Santa,

The Dodgers enter the season with three legit starting pitchers in Kershaw, Hill, and Wood but they could use a fourth strong option with the expected loss of Yu Darvish.  Kenta Maeda is better in relief, and Hyun-Jin Ryu has durability concerns so the Dodgers could use another legit starting pitcher.  That could be solved without an addition if Walker Buehler has a breakout season.

Buehler got his first taste of the big leagues this year although it didn’t go as smoothly as expected since he posted a 7.71 ERA coming out of the Dodgers bullpen.  While he will likely be on a Julio Urias type innings limit, Buehler could still have a breakout season in 2018.  He can throw in the mid to upper 90’s all game long and features a hammer curve ball.  His repertoire is very Tim Lincecum like and that is a ceiling the Dodgers are very excited about.

The Dodgers have had two straight amazing rookie seasons in a row from Corey Seager and Cody Bellinger.  Walker Buehler could make it three straight especially if he makes the starting rotation out of spring training.  The Dodgers have jumbled their rotation throughout the past few seasons, but it would be nice if they could stick with four legit starting pitchers for most of the season and post-season.  The Dodgers will have an elite rotation if Walker Buehler has a breakout season in 2018.  That would be quite a gift for Dodger fans.