Dodgers: Pros and cons of every fifth starter candidate

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Days before the start of the regular season, the Los Angeles Dodgers are met with the type of decision most MLB teams would die for.

Who should occupy the fifth starter spot: the Cy Young, the 2020 Rookie of the Year candidate, or the flamethrower who touches 101 with a cutter? Decisions!

In reality, though, it would be tough to fathom a more difficult call. Whose ego bruises the least by a perceived “demotion”? Who works better as a Swiss Army knife? Can the spot rotate? Can the three men withstand constantly being pulled back and forth?

Will the Dodgers accidentally end up discarding two extremely worthy rotation options by assigning them as innings-eating bullpen chum?

Dave Roberts announced on Saturday that the first four starts of the season will be handled by Clayton Kershaw, Trevor Bauer, Walker Buehler and Julio Urias in that order, stunning many who believed Urias would ultimately be a valuable bullpen weapon to start the season.

That left David Price, the Dodgers’ big-money partner in the Mookie Betts trade, on the outside looking in, along with Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May, two rookies who factored heavily into the team’s plans in 2020.

Price pitches against the Angels on Sunday in one last showcase before the season begins in earnest and decisions have to be made. In evaluating these three starters competing for one spot, you really can’t lose…but you can try to map out the best and most efficient 162-game path coming off a weird season.

The Dodgers must choose between these 3 rotation options.

Feb 26, 2021; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher David Price during Spring Training workouts at Camelback Ranch. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports /

3. Dodgers Fifth Starter Pros and Cons: David Price

Pros for Price? The pedigree, first and foremost.

If you’re looking for steadiness to navigate through the choppy waters of a repeat bid, David Price is certainly the most experienced captain, contending everywhere he’s ever pitched, from Detroit to Boston.

The 2012 Cy Young winner and a three-time top two finisher, Price earned the massive contract the Red Sox awarded him prior to the 2016 season and then some. Frankly, it feels almost ludicrous he’s in this conversation instead of being grandfathered into a rotation spot as the most high-profile option, but that’s the kind of leeway that being the Dodgers earns you. Lots of good arms out there.

The cons? Price has both his injury history and “in absentia” 2020 season working against him.

The last time we saw Price, he was battling through a 2019 Red Sox season that didn’t go so well for anyone in Boston, a heartless attempt to defend an historic title. The lefty made just a pair of starts after Aug. 1 that season, and was officially shut down in early September after dealing with a wrist issue, wrapping up a 7-5, 4.28 campaign.

Of course, Price has yet to pitch in a Dodgers uniform despite arriving prior to the 2020 season, opting out when the summer resumed. It was a perfectly fine decision for him to have made, but it leaves him at an even stricter disadvantage in terms of innings limits. Both Gonsolin and May — as well as every other starter in the rotation — will be building back up after pitching in about 1/3 of a typical baseball season last year.

Price? He’s building up from zero, and perhaps could use a month or two in the bullpen (at least) working as a jack of all trades before filling a midseason hole (if needed).

ARLINGTON, TEXAS – OCTOBER 21: Dustin May #85 of the Los Angeles Dodgers delivers the pitch against the Tampa Bay Rays during the fifth inning in Game Two of the 2020 MLB World Series at Globe Life Field on October 21, 2020 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /

2. Dodgers Fifth Starter Pros and Cons: Dustin May

Dustin May’s biggest pros are his electricity and his projectability. After just one shortened season in the big leagues, to paraphrase Peter Griffin, May could be anything! He could even be David Price! Kidding, of course, but the potential remains tantalizing.

Though most outsiders remember May most out of the ‘pen last October, and probably envision him as a natural reliever given the sheer velocity he’s working with, 10 of his 12 appearances in the 2020 regular season were as a starter, and he delivered…though not to the extent many probably believed he would.

2.57 ERA and 1.4 WAR? Great! Just 44 strikeouts in 56 innings pitched and a garish FIP of 4.62? There was plenty of room for regression in his efforts.

May is probably the easiest Dodger to envision in the bullpen to start the 2021 season, and feels like the first fighter eliminated from this three-man weave. But if Los Angeles gives him a middle-innings or occasional back-end spot, are they dooming his development a la Joba Chamberlain? Are there long-term considerations here about bouncing May back and forth between extended outings and short spurts?

Possibly, but the team also has to consider baked-in innings restrictions from 2020. There’s probably no better time to experiment with May to see just how fast he can get that fastball in one-inning outings, considering they won’t be able to tax his arm too heavily anyway.

ARLINGTON, TEXAS – OCTOBER 27: Tony Gonsolin #46 of the Los Angeles Dodgers reacts after retiring the side against the Tampa Bay Rays during the first inning in Game Six of the 2020 MLB World Series at Globe Life Field on October 27, 2020 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /

1. Dodgers Fifth Starter Pros and Cons: Tony Gonsolin

Most of Tony Gonsolin’s pros are simply built out of disbelief: how could the Dodgers not include him in the rotation after what he provided last season? 1.4 WAR, a 2.31 ERA, 46 Ks in 46.2 innings pitched. The story writes itself.

Gonsolin has also come to play this spring with a competitive fire, knowing his rotation spot was at stake. He’s dealt through the adversity, only allowing four hits in 10.1 innings pitched, letting three earned runs score (on two homers).

There is nothing about Gonsolin’s big-league tenure and spring that have earned him a demotion, and his pitch mix screams starter. Possibly the biggest pro in his corner: what exactly about his arsenal would “play up” in the bullpen? It would just feel like a demotion for demotion’s sake, a maneuver because of overflow only.

If you’d like to point to negatives, you can point to the way Gonsolin was perceived to have wilted under pressure last postseason, failing to pitch beyond three innings total in two laborious World Series starts.

We’re setting a rotation for Opening Day and the first portion of what is a 162-game season, though, plus a month (ideally!) of October competition. For the opening salvo, it’s hard to argue that anything we saw from Gonsolin last postseason really matters.

Bottom line? Gonsolin makes the least sense in the bullpen, so why not use him in the rotation? Price’s contract? That shouldn’t dictate policy.

LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 12: David Price #13 of the Los Angeles Dodgers is interviewed by the media following a press conference at Dodger Stadium on February 12, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)

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The Dodgers must choose between these 3 rotation options.

3. Dodgers Fifth Starter Pros and Cons: David Price

2. Dodgers Fifth Starter Pros and Cons: Dustin May

1. Dodgers Fifth Starter Pros and Cons: Tony Gonsolin

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