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Dodgers: Who Will be the Dodgers Biggest X-Factor in 2018?
The Dodgers may have lost Yu Darvish this offseason but for a team enriched with talent, it could be addition by subtraction. The Dodgers have several players who can emerge as x-factors this season.
The Dodgers enter the 2018 season as one of the best teams if not the best team in the National League. Although the Chicago Cubs stole Brandon Morrow and Yu Darvish away from the Dodgers, the Dodgers should have no problem replacing Morrow and Darvish. Although Morrow had a career year, it wouldn’t have been wise for the Dodgers to throw a three-year contract at an injury prone pitcher like the Cubs did. Yu Darvish is also a very good pitcher but the Dodgers have a solid five-man rotation without Darvish and they could still plug in Buehler later this season.
With Matt Kemp back in the fold, the Dodgers will not have too many new faces on the club this season besides Scott Alexander and possibly another reliever like Patt Venditte. That doesn’t mean that a familiar face won’t emerge to have a breakout season for the Dodgers. Last season it was Chris Taylor and Cody Bellinger, who will the x-factors be this year?
Walker Buehler
Although the Dodgers started Walker Buehler off slow this spring, he has come on like a bat out of hell in his first two appearances. Buehler has pitched only four innings this spring but he has seven strikeouts in only four innings and he seems to be throwing strikes and attacking hitters so far. In Buehler’s brief stint in the majors last season he seemed timid in attacking hitters but this spring he is coming out guns a blazing.
The Dodgers are going to have to come up with an innings plan for Walker Buehler this season as they plan to limit him to 140-150 innings this season. As we have seen in the past with Julio Urias, the Dodgers will most likely hold Walker Buehler in the minors and extended spring training for the first month or two of the season.
Once Walker Buehler comes up this season he could make an impact similar to a trade deadline acquisition like Yu Darvish. The Dodgers would benefit from Walker Buehler breaking out this season because it would allow them to shift Kenta Maeda to the bullpen once again in the postseason and have four legit playoff starters in Kershaw, Wood, Hill, and Buehler. It would also allow them to keep from trading away prospects at the deadline for another potential rental. Out of any Dodger player, Walker Buehler is the player with the biggest chance of being this season’s Cody Bellinger type impact player.
Matt Kemp
It seems kind of weird to call a former runner-up in MVP voting a potential x-factor but that is where we are in 2018. Matt Kemp was supposed to be traded or released when the Dodgers acquired him but he keeps hitting and could wind up as the every day left fielder to begin the season. There is still a chance he could be traded or released at some point this season but it doesn’t appear that it will happen anytime soon.
Kemp has four home runs this spring and a .333 batting average through almost three weeks of spring action. Although his defense still appears a bit shaky, the Dodgers are likely going to hope Kemp’s slimmed down physique will help him get to more balls in the outfield. There is no question that Kemp still has life in his bat, he slugged 19 home runs in 115 games last season so Kemp’s success in LA will be tied directly to how well he can play the outfield.
On top of the whirlwind offseason coming off a World Series loss, the Dodgers threw all us Dodgers fans through the feels by acquiring Matt Kemp and then releasing information that he would most likely be let go. Now Kemp appears to be winning back the hearts of Dodger fans everywhere with each home run this spring. If it carries over into the regular season, there is a chance that beast mode might be back in LA to help drive the Dodgers to another World Series run.
Hyun-Jin Ryu
The Dodgers have three very good starting pitchers at the back end of their rotation. While Maeda and Ryu are noteworthy, they could help solidify the rotation as one of the best in baseball this season. Hyun-Jin Ryu won 14 games in his first two seasons with the Dodgers but his career has been derailed since. Ryu came back strong in the second half of last season posting a 3.17 ERA and allowing a .240 average to hitters.
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With Ryu being in a contract year, he appears motivated to have one of his best seasons yet and even showed up to camp looking noticeably slimmer than he has in previous years. Although it feels like Ryu has been around for a long time, he will barely be thirty-one years old at the end of this month so he still has a lot left in the tank.
Although the Dodgers are seemingly biding their time until Walker Buehler is ready to go, Hyun-Jin is not going to be the one who leaves the rotation if he performs well. Since Kenta Maeda has shown he can pitch well out of the bullpen, there is a chance that Ryu could slide down into the fourth spot in the rotation when it’s time for the Dodgers to unleash Walker Buehler.
Next: Projecting who makes the opening day bullpen
Looking around the major leagues, there are a lot of teams who have a weak and questionable back end of the starting rotation but the Dodgers are very good from spots one to five in the rotation. If Ryu can finally stay healthy from shoulder ailments that have hindered him the past couple of season, then the Dodgers could have the best fifth starter in baseball with Ryu.