February 12th, 2019 at 8:00 am 
by 0799291000348 The Dodgers are faced with the task this spring of deciding which 12 or 13 pitchers will be on the Opening Day roster, who the starters will be, which starter(s) will move to the bullpen, and which pitchers will remain at Camelback Ranch for extended spring training or head to Oklahoma City ready for a call-up at a moment’s notice.
Of the 23 pitchers currently on the the Dodgers 40-man roster, 18 pitched for the defending National League champions last season when the Dodgers led the league in team ERA (3.38), WHIP (1.15), strikeouts (1,565), fewest earned runs allowed, fewest walks, and finished second to the Braves in batting average against (BAA) by a whopping .001.
If everyone is healthy and barring any last minute trades, Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler, Rich Hill, Kenta Maeda, and Hyun-Jin Ryu appear to be locks for the starting rotation.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)
The bullpen will have Kenley Jansen, Joe Kelly, Pedro Baez, Tony Cingrani, Scott Alexander, and most likely Ross Stripling. But this leaves Josh Fields, Dylan Floro, Caleb Ferguson, Julio Urias, JT Chargois, Yimi Garcia, and Brock Stewart competing for two, or perhaps only one roster spot(s). Many teams in MLB would kill to have those seven guys in their bullpen on Opening Day.
It will not be surprising for Fields and Floro to make the roster and Chargois in the Triple-A Oklahoma City Dodgers bullpen, with Urias probably staying behind in extended spring training or optioned to OKC along with Ferguson as starting pitchers. As such, OKC could very well start the 2019 season with the most dominant starting rotation in the Pacific Coast League comprised of Urias, Ferguson, Dennis Santana, Tony Gonsolin, and Mitchell White.
Stewart and Garcia are long shots to make the roster and both are out of minor league options. They could be transferred to the “Injured List” and remain in extended spring training, then at some point given up to 30 days on rehab assignments. This would buy them – and the Dodgers – additional time for a possible trade(s), or perhaps even being designated for assignment (DFA) a possibility before Opening Day.
There is a Non-Roster Invitee (NRI) pitcher that Dodger fans might want to keep an eye on this spring – 25-year-old Montreal, Canada native
Jesen Therrien. Although the former 11th-round draft pick by the Philadelphia Phillies in 2011 (out of Ahuntsic College in Cap-Rouge, Quebec City) has virtually no chance of making the Dodgers Opening Day roster, he was a well regarded Phillies bullpen prospect until September 2017 Tommy John surgery detoured his career.
The Dodgers signed Therrien to a minor league deal in 2018, helped him through his rehab, then re-signing him last November as a minor league free agent. With a fastball, sinker, curve, and change-up in his arsenal, he posted a 1.41 ERA, .191 BAA, 1.34 WHIP, 65 K’s, 9 BB, in 57 innings pitched at Double-A Reading and Triple-A Lehigh Valley for the Phillies in 2017. Dodger fans might want to remember Therrien’s name for the future.
…perhaps even this season.
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Eager to see if Kershaw can find the missing velo. If he can come back to the Cy Young form we are accustomed to, combined with an improving Buehler… wow. And let’s hope Kenley is fully healthy and recovered from surgery.
Even if Kershaw adds a couple of mph on his fastball I think we will continue to see him evolve from power pitcher into one who mixes speeds, location, and movement. I heard on on MLB radio last week that Kershaw is continuing to work on a change-up; at some point I expect him to add that pitch as a regular part of his arsenal and possibly increased use of a cutter.
I think you’re right. Even if he gets his fastball back he’s smart enough to understand he’ll be losing the speed again someday, this time for good. He may as well be prepared for it.
Perhaps, but you never know. The one thing that’s certain is that you can’t count on a sure thing. As soon as you do, something can then begin from that seed and build into something significant. But you never know, which is the point. That’s for sure.