Dodgers Dugout: The Dodgers have the best rotation in baseball (on the IL)

Clayton Kershaw pitches from the mound at Dodger Stadium hours before a game on July 7.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell, and if your pitching arm feels strong, please contact the Dodgers. I mean, Orel Hershiser and Fernando Valenzuela are right there in the booth for rotation help.

People worried about the Dodger rotation this season are crazy. What are they looking at? Just ponder this amazing rotation the Dodgers have:

Clayton Kershaw
Walker Buehler
Tyler Glasnow
Dustin May
Yoshinobu Yamamoto

And they have the following in the bullpen ready to step in:

Tony Gonsolin
Michael Grove
Emmet Sheehan

That rotation matches up with any in baseball so I don’t understand all the worry … wait. I’m being told now that all of those pitchers are on the injured list.

Never mind.

Yes, in a season where it appeared the Dodgers had too much starting pitching, now they don’t have nearly enough.

Glasnow went on the IL this week with back tightness. Glasnow has never pitched in more than 120 innings in a season, and had pitched 109 this season. (Glasnow apparently being Scottish for “Body made of glass.”) The expectation is he will be back right after the All-Star break, but haven’t we heard similar about other Dodger injuries the last few seasons?

Then, Bobby Miller had another horrible outing, giving up nine runs in four innings against the Phillies on Tuesday. He was sent to the minors on Wednesday to figure things out. He had an 8.07 ERA after seven starts.

“No. 1, we got to get him right, that’s the impetus,” manager Dave Roberts said. “You have a path to either continue to go as we have been, and hope that it turns; or remove him from the situation, option him, and give him a reset to get out of this hotbox of performance. So we just felt this was the best thing for Bobby and for us. He’s a big part of what we’re trying to do this year.”

So, where does that leave the Dodger rotation, if the rumors that they will call up prospect River Ryan (mentioned just two weeks ago in this newsletter) to replace him?

James Paxton (172 career starts, 973 innings)
Gavin Stone (21, 123)
Landon Knack (7, 34.2)
Justin Wrobleski (1, 7)
River Ryan (0, 0)

That’s not ideal for a team that wants to win the World Series. It is ideal if you are the Oakland A’s.

If all of the pitchers on the IL are healthy, how many of the current rotation would still be starting? Probably none of them, though you could make a case for Paxton and Stone.

One solution is just waiting for all the guys on the IL to get healthy. Glasnow, Kershaw, Buehler, Yamamoto and May could be back this season. The problem with that theory is that you don’t really know if they will come back.

Kershaw makes another rehab start on Saturday, so we’ll know more after that. Glasnow hopefully is back after the All-Star break, but can you count on a guy who has never pitched more than 120 innings in a season to carry you deep into the postseason? Buehler was shut down after his hip injury and a series of poor starts. So, status unknown. Yamamoto strained his rotator cuff. Status unknown, plus he pitched only once a week in Japan, so can you count on him to pitch Games 1, 4 and 7 in the postseason? Or even Games 2 and 6? May could be back in September, but what will he be like coming off his second major elbow surgery in three years?

So, waiting and hoping is a big gamble indeed.

The other possibility is to acquire someone in a trade. But, as of this moment, there are no front-line starters available. Here’s the list of the best that are rumored to be available at the moment (click on their name to be taken to full stats page):

Tyler Anderson, LHP, Angels
8-8, 2.81 ERA
The former Dodger pitched five scoreless inning for L.A. in the 2022 postseason. Removed after five because it’s important to the Dodgers to remove starting pitchers in the postseason when they are doing well.

Chris Bassitt, RHP, Blue Jays
7-7, 3.43 ERA

Garrett Crochet, LHP, White Sox
6-6, 3.08 ERA, 146 strikeouts in 105.1 innings
(Who better than Crochet to knit together the rotation. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)

Zach Eflin, RHP, Rays
5-5, 4.19 ERA

Nathan Eovaldi, RHP, Rangers
6-3, 3.10 ERA
Eovaldi is 9-3 in 17 postseason games with a 3.05 ERA.

Erick Fedde, RHP, White Sox
6-3, 3.13 ERA

Jack Flaherty, RHP, Tigers
5-5, 3.24 ERA
Has a 3.60 ERA in 25 postseason innings.

Frankie Montas, RHP, Reds
4-6, 4.19 ERA
Montas was once a Dodger prospect until he was part of the package that acquired Rich Hill from Oakland at the 2016 trade deadline.

Max Scherzer of the Rangers was rumored to be available, but Texas has since strung together some wins to climb back in the postseason race, so it appears unlikely. Besides, we saw what happened the first time, and I have no desire to see a reunion tour.

Crochet is best of this group, but you have to ask yourself if you are willing to unload some top prospects for him. He went straight from the 2020 draft to the majors and missed the 2022 season because of Tommy John surgery (which means the Dodgers will really love him). He has pitched 105.1 innings this season after never pitching more than 54 as a pro before. And he is on an innings limit this season, so he wouldn’t be able to start every fifth day. I think it would be a good pickup, but you have to consider all those variables.

What will the Dodgers do? We’ll just have to wait and see. The trade deadline is July 30 at 3 p.m. PDT. It seems likely that Andrew Friedman will make a deal. He always does. But he’s not going to overpay for anyone, so if the White Sox, or any other team, ask for too much, he’ll look elsewhere.

How many is too many?

A lot of people write to ask if the Dodgers have more pitchers on the IL than other teams. So, let’s take a look. The first number is the pitchers on the IL, the number in parentheses is total players on the IL.

Dodgers, 12 (15)
Chicago Cubs, 9 (11)
Houston Astros, 9 (11)
Milwaukee Brewers, 9 (11)
Pittsburgh Pirates, 9 (10)
N.Y. Yankees, 8 (11)
Angels, 7 (9)
Atlanta Braves, 7 (10)
Miami Marlins, 7 (8)
Texas Rangers, 7 (9)
Boston Red Sox, 6 (9)
Arizona Diamondbacks, 6 (6)
Oakland A’s, 6 (10)
N.Y. Mets, 6 (8)
San Francisco Giants, 6 (8)
Baltimore Orioles, 5 (5)
Chicago White Sox, 5 (7)
Cincinnati Reds, 5 (11)
Colorado Rockies, 5 (7)
Minnesota Twins, 5 (8)
Philadelphia Phillies, 5 (6)
Tampa Bay Rays, 5 (5)
Washington Nationals, 5 (6)
Cleveland Guardians, 4 (4)
Seattle Mariners, 4 (6)
St. Louis Cardinals, 4 (6)
Kansas City Royals, 3 (3)
San Diego Padres, 3 (5)
Toronto Blue Jays, 3 (4)
Detroit Tigers, 2 (4)

That’s a lot of pitchers on the IL all across the majors. The list is as of Thursday afternoon.

Raúl Mondesi

You remember Raúl Mondesi. Former Rookie of the Year award winner with the Dodgers. Cannon of an arm in right field. Hit 163 homers in seven seasons with L.A.

Well, as Steve Henson relates in this story, Mondesi had been on house arrest since a 2017 conviction for embezzlement of public funds associated with his role as mayor of his Dominican Republic hometown, San Cristóbal.

A Dominican court ruled Friday that Mondesi’s original sentence of six years, nine months in prison had been satisfied by the duration of the house arrest. In 2017, in addition to the prison sentence, he was ordered to pay a $1.3-million fine for defrauding more than $6 million and was barred from holding public office for 10 years. Three of Mondesi’s staff members also were sentenced.

Still, it seems unlikely we will see a Mondesi bobblehead night any time soon.

Offense

Here’s a look at the Dodgers’ numbers the last two weeks (through Wednesday):

Austin Barnes, .500/.500/.583, 12 at-bats, 1 double, 4 RBIs
Will Smith, .343/.425/.743, 35 at-bats, 2 doubles, 4 homers, 9 RBIs, 5 walks, 9 K’s
James Outman, .333/.400/.333, 9 at-bats
Teoscar Hernández, .296/.326/.409, 44 at-bats, 2 doubles, 1 homer, 5 RBIs, 2 walks, 11K’s
Miguel Rojas, .290/.343/.387, 31 at-bats, 3 doubles, 6 RBIs, 3 walks, 4 K’s
Shohei Ohtani, .286/.400/.571, 42 at-bats, 1 double, 1 triple, 3 homers, 5 RBIs, 7 walks, 19 K’s
Andy Pages, .275/.326/.375, 40 at-bats, 2 doubles, 1 triple, 1 RBI, 3 walks, 6 K’s
Freddie Freeman, .263/.391/.421, 38 at-bats, 3 doubles, 1 homer, 8 RBIs, 7 walks, 6 K’s
Chris Taylor, .214/.371/.500, 28 at-bats, 2 doubles, 2 homers, 5 RBIs, 7 walks, 9 K’s
Miguel Vargas, .174/.208/.435, 23 at-bats, 2 homers, 3 RBIs, 1 walk, 5 K’s
Cavan Biggio, .167/.231/.417, 12 at-bats, 1 homer, 1 RBI, 1 walk, 4 K’s
Kiké Hernández, .150/.227/.200, 20 at-bats, 1 double, 1 RBI, 2 walks, 6 K’s
Gavin Lux, .121/.216/.152, 33 at-bats, 1 double, 2 RBIs, 4 walks, 5 K’s
Jason Heyward, .111/.191/.222, 18 at-bats, 1 triple, 3 RBIs, 1 walk, 2 K’s
Team, .252/.332/.423, 18 doubles, 3 triples, 14 homers, 4.82 runs per game

Pitching

And here is how the pitchers have done the last two weeks (through Wednesday):

Kiké Hernández, 0.00 ERA, 1.1 IP
Daniel Hudson, 2-0, 1.50 ERA, 6 IP, 4 hits, 2 walks, 5 K’s
Alex Vesia, 1.80 ERA, 1 save, 5 IP, 5 hits, 2 walks, 4 K’s
Blake Treinen, 0-1, 3.60 ERA, 5 IP, 3 hits, 2 walks, 5 K’s
Yohan Ramírez, 4.50 ERA, 6 IP, 6 hits, 2 walks, 6 K’s
Landon Knack, 0-1, 5.00 ERA, 9 IP, 9 hits, 1 walks, 13 K’s
Evan Phillips, 2-0, 5.40 ERA, 1 save, 5 IP, 4 hits, 2 walks, 6 K’s
Anthony Banda, 5.40 ERA, 5 IP, 7 hits, 3 walks, 5 K’s
Ryan Yarbrough, 0-1, 5.87 ERA, 7.2 IP, 7 hits, 4 walks, 6 K’s
Justin Wrobleski, 0-1, 7.20 ERA, 5 IP, 5 hits, 2 walks, 4 K’s
Michael Petersen, 8.44 ERA, 5.1 IP, 7 hits, 2 walks, 3 K’s
Gavin Stone, 0-1, 9.39 ERA, 7.2 IP, 16 hits, 3 walks, 6 K’s
Tyler Glasnow, 10.00 ERA, 9 IP, 10 hits, 4 walks, 8 K’s
Bobby Miller, 0-1, 11.00 ERA, 9 IP, 14 hits, 6 walks, 6 K’s
James Paxton, 0-1, 11.00 ERA, 9 IP, 16 hits, 4 walks, 7 K’s
Nick Ramirez, 18.00 ERA, 2 IP, 5 hits, 2 walks, 1K
Team, 4-7, 7.05 ERA, 2 saves, 97 IP, 118 hits, 42 walks, 85 K’s

When a position player has your lowest ERA, and more than half the staff is over 4.50, that’s not good.

Bottom of the lineup

We’ll keep track of this throughout the season, because I have a feeling this is going to be crucial when the postseason comes around. Here are the best and worst team batting averages for the Nos. 7-9 spots in the batting order:

1. Milwaukee, .272/.343/.405
2. N.Y. Mets, .260/.309/.417
3. Angels, .249/.314/.406
4. San Francisco, .247/.313/.386
5. Minnesota, .246/.319/.412

MLB average: .229/.293/.361

21. Dodgers, .219/.289/.345

26. Oakland, .208/.291/.352
27. Chicago White Sox, .207/.256/.331
28. Pittsburgh, .207/.265/.306
29. Miami, .206/.254/.290
30. Oakland, .199/.259/.315

The Dodgers dropped one place since we checked last week.

Let’s look at the Dodgers in the Nos. 7-9 spots individually:

No. 7: .236/.307/.347
No. 8: .215/.288/.361
No. 9: .206/.269/.326

Up next

Friday: Dodgers (*James Paxton, 7-2, 4.24 ERA) at Detroit (*Tarik Skubal, 10-3, 2.37 ERA), 3:40 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, 1020 KTNQ

Saturday: Dodgers (*Justin Wrobleski, 0-1, 7.20 ERA) at Detroit (Keider Montero, 1-2, 4.64 ERA), 10:10 a.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, 1020 KTNQ

Sunday: Dodgers (TBD) at Detroit (TBD), 10:40 a.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, 1020 KTNQ

*-left-handed

In case you missed it

Analysis: After sweep by Phillies, Dodgers face few easy answers to mounting pitching problems

Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernández to appear in Home Run Derby during All-Star Game festivities

Dodgers’ Bobby Miller optioned to triple-A Oklahoma City after another rough outing

Tyler Glasnow goes on injured list, adding to Dodgers’ starting pitching issues

Dodgers deadline plans: How a top-heavy lineup could be bolstered this month

Hernández: Why haven’t the Dodgers rewarded Dave Roberts with a new contract?

And finally

Jay Johnstone appears in “The Naked Gun.” Watch and listen here.