Dodgers reliever definitely won't get a return to starting with LA's packed rotation

The Dodgers' offseason additions Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates, on top of Alex Vesia, Michael Kopech, and Blake Treinen, could make LA's bullpen one of the deadliest in baseball by Opening Day. Dave Roberts has already said that fans can expect Scott to get most of the save opportunities, but any combination of Kopech/Treinen/Scott, Vesia/Yates/Scott, and so on already spell trouble for opposing hitters in late, high-leverage innings.

There are still concerns that Kopech may not be ready by Opening Day, as he's been dealing with forearm soreness since the end of last season (throwing 102 MPH will do that to a guy), but he was quick to make himself an essential part of the bullpen in 2024, pitching 24 innings after the deadline for a 1.13 ERA.

That surge assuaged some fears that his immaculate inning from earlier in the season, when he was a White Sox, was just a flash in the pan. Chicago moved him out of a starting role at the beginning of 2024 after coming off of a 5.43 ERA, 129 1/3-inning year in 2023, and while he still faltered as a White Sox reliever, everyone on the White Sox was struggling last year.

He carved out a niche in the Dodgers bullpen and presumably worked his way up Dave Roberts' "trust tree" by dependably throwing over 100 MPH and only allowing three earned runs in his entire half-ish season with the Dodgers.

However, Kopech recently told Dodgers Nation's Doug McKain that he wouldn't mind a return to starting. "If an opportunity comes to start, and I feel like I have the endurance and stamina and health and everything to do that, I would love to entertain that because starting is where I feel like pitchers have the most control over their game," he noted.

Michael Kopech wants a return to starting, but definitely won't get one given how crowded Dodgers rotation is

If Kopech really wants another opportunity to start, he's going to have to wait until he hits free agency at the end of the upcoming season. The Dodgers already have a surplus of starters, and will have even more of one when Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw are off the IL.

Besides, Kopech was never a great starter. He has a career 4.33 ERA in the role, which could be fine for a veteran workhorse, but isn't exactly what the Dodgers are looking for. He's also never pitched more than 130 innings in a season. The only way this could plausibly happen for Kopech in LA is if the Dodgers get hit by injuries that totally decimate the rotation (though there is, unfortunately, a non-zero chance of that based on their track record).

This seems like a case of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Kopech has the potential to be one of the Dodgers' most dominant arms out of the bullpen this year, and they won't want to mess with that.