December 12th, 2018 at 12:00 pm 
by Ron Cervenka When Dodgers manager Dave Roberts met with reporters on Tuesday at the 2018 MLB Winter Meetings currently underway in Las Vegas, he laid out several of his and Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman’s intentions for the 2019 season. Among them was their plan to return 30-year-old right-hander Kenta Maeda to the starting rotation … again.
As Dodger fans know, Maeda has been bounced back and forth from the starting rotation and the bullpen over the past two seasons, especially during the postseason. And while he has been quite effect as a reliever (3-3 / 3.16 ERA), he has been equally effective in his primary role as a starter (34-24 / 3.84 ERA).
The move comes as no surprise, as the popular Senboku-gun, Japan native, who was signed by the Dodgers on January 7, 2016 to be a starter, has some very significant performance bonuses built into his skillfully-crafted 8-year / $25 million contract – which runs through the 2023 season – based on the number of innings pitched.
As noted in Jorge Castillo’s above tweet, Roberts also told reporters on Tuesday that they plan to place an innings-limit on left-hander Julio Urias, although that hard number has yet to be determined by the team. As such, it seems quite likely that the 22-year-old Culiacan, Mexico native, who underwent anterior capsule surgery on his left shoulder on June 27, 2017, will split time between the starting rotation and the Dodgers bullpen
Of course, all of this is contingent on whether or nor Maeda and/or Urias are still Dodgers in 2019.
Stay tuned…
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If Maeda’s pay is based on innings and relievers by definition pitch fewer innings than starters, Friedman hopefully will find a way to compensate him. IIRC, the contract was structured this way because the physical exam turned up some issues.
I expect Maeda to be traded. Last 2 years his stats have been at replacement value while Stripling had a 2.4 WAR and significantly less money. Kershaw, Buehler, Hill, Ryu, Stripling, Urias, Ferguson, Santana and perhaps Kluber and/or Kikuchi.
GM Boxout7 has Maeda and Wood on his trade list. Maeda should be a very valuable trade asset considering his contract. He’d look good in a Cleveland uniform.
Cleveland would be a good spot for him with Kluber coming this way. Other teams could also use him and I agree that he should bring a very good return. Love to have Haniger from Seattle.
Word is that the Dodgers have agreed on a contract with Joe Kelly subject to a physical, 3 yrs $25M. I like this signing! Now find us a lock down lefty reliever.
If that is what Andrew Friedman want’s ( for now ) then that is what Roberts want’s.Now Roberts want’s to bunt against the shift, get men on base, and cut down on strikeouts,wonder who thought of this?
No doubt Doc has thought of that all along. That’s called fundamental baseball, which was his style throughout his career. He wears #30 in honor of Maury, who did all that and more in his career.
The question is whether he’ll have to freedom to do it.
Probably Chase Utley.