The Dodgers have an early opportunity to put their pitching depth to good use, beginning as early with this series against the Nationals.
With Blake Snell placed on the injured list on Sunday with shoulder inflammation, he’s going to miss at least two starts, and that’s in the best-case scenario. He was scheduled to start Tuesday in Washington D.C., and the Dodgers already had an open spot Wednesday, with the club wanting at least five days rest for all Yoshinobu Yamamoto (and Roki Sasaki) starts.
The Dodgers very well might utilize a bullpen game for one of those final two games against the Nationals, but I’d argue that nearly every game has been a bullpen game for the Dodgers to date. Relief pitchers have thrown more innings (52⅓) than the starters (45⅔), and with Yamamoto providing the only start so far past five innings on Friday in Philadelphia, the Dodgers bullpen has covered at least four innings in 10 of their 11 games, averaging about 4.75 innings per game.
In the last two games in Philadelphia, the Dodgers used four pitchers to cover the last five innings on Saturday then needed five pitchers to cover six innings on Sunday, and the only reason the finale against the Phillies didn’t need a seventh bullpen inning was because the home team won and didn’t need to bat in the ninth.
With all that usage, and recent usage, I’d argue that going with traditional starters is the way to go for this particular week. The Dodgers are well set up in this regard, with Justin Wrobleski (5⅔ scoreless innings last Wednesday for Oklahoma City) and Landon Knack (4⅔ innings on Thursday) would be in line to start Tuesday and Wednesday for the Dodgers on five days rest.
Knack was with the Dodgers during Monday morning’s trip to the White House, so it’s clear he’ll get the call for one of those games.
At least of them will stick in the rotation for at least the next time through as well with Snell sidelined. Then next week the Dodgers will likely need a sixth starter again to cover that Wednesday game against the Rockies (April 16) as it is the sixth game in six days, with Yamamoto having pitched the previous Friday.
In other words, opportunity abounds for Dodgers starting pitchers, whether the Dodgers use the same two extra starters this week and next or if they option one of them for an extra reliever in the interim. Bobby Miller is reasonably healthy and productive again, though he did walk six on Sunday in Triple-A. Nick Frasso hasn’t really been stretched out, going two innings in each of his first two games with Oklahoma City.
Tony Gonsolin is rehabbing while on the injured list, and given that he pitched only 1⅔ innings last Thursday, it’s likely he’ll still need at least two, maybe three more rehab starts before getting activated.
This same cycle will come up over the final six days of April, when the Dodgers host the Pirates and Marlins and will need either a spot sixth starter or bullpen game again. Things get trickier in May with stretches of 10, nine, and six game days in a row. But for now we’re only thinking about April.
Today’s question is which starting pitchers would you like to see get an opportunity to start this month for the Dodgers?