MVN - Most Valuable Network

The Arms

A look at the starters for the Dodgers this year.

Jason Schmidt - Schmidt might have been the steal of the off season seeing as the Dodgers managed to acquire his services for only three years versus hiring him until he sucks and you have to trade him. Granted he has health questions that could limit his usefulness to the Dodgers but he is still sold. He isn’t the flame thrower that he used to be, but he still hits 90 on the gun and he has good control. Should Schimdt give the Dodgers 550 inning over the next three years with and ERA of around 4.00, I’ll be extremely happy. By the way, I just noticed that Schmidt doesn’t suffer a jump in opponents batting average after he crosses the 90 pitch mark. In fact, his stats are the same for pitches 76-90 as they are for 106-120 (minus about half the at bats).

Three Year Averages

IP  W  HR ERA  WHIP SO  BB BA
203 13 18 3.67 1.25 198 80 .227

Derek Lowe - Basically the opposite type of pitcher that Schmidt is. Both are inning eaters who keep the ball in the park. Lowe depends on sinkers preventing hitters from getting a handle on his pitches and the defense getting to the ball once it is in play. A breakdown on either end spells bad things for Lowe.

Three Year Averages

IP   W   HR  ERA   WHIP  SO  BB  BA
207  13  19  4.17  1.37  124 60  .273 

Brad Penny - Penny rapidly wore his welcome out last year and was the top bet to be relocated during the off season. Well, that hasn’t happened and the Dodgers are wondering which version of Penny will show up in camp next month. Will it be the Penny that pitches his way to the All-Star Game or the pitcher who forgot how to pitch after the break. Penny’s back problems might have contributed to his issues but that doesn’t explain how he was able to chuck the ball at 95 mph straight down the middle. Penny threw hard but with almost no movement and he rarely uses his breaking pitches. I think he forgot he had a splitter. I’m hoping that he remembers.

Three Year Averages

IP  W  HR ERA  WHIP SO  BB  BA
169 10 16 3.85 1.23 127 46  .266

Randy Wolf - People that point to Wolf’s stats over the past few years and say that he sucks tend to forget that in 2005 he had ligaments in his elbow replaced. He didn’t make it back into action until the very end of last July. I expect him to be much better this year.

Three Year Averages

IP  W  HR ERA  WHIP SO  BB  BA
91  5  15 4.58 1.47 64  31  .277 

Chad Billingsley - Bills got off to a tremendous start although he had a tendency to walk the high wire leading high pitch counts and short outings. The number five spot should be his to lose.

2006 Stats

IP  W  HR ERA  WHIP SO  BB  BA
90  7  7  3.80 1.67 59  58  .272

Synopsis: While the Dodgers rotation has health issues, they also have plenty of parts to fill the cracks (some better than others). They have pitching to trade later on in the season and more on the way. The Dodgers would love to get good season out of these five guys but if they don’t it won’t necessarily spell their doom.

I forgot to mention it yesterday but Jon Weisman did the brake down on the Dodgers for the boys over at the Big League Baseball Report. It’s a really good segment and you should check it out. Keep in mind though, should you ever host a radio show eating Ruffles while on the air isn’t the best way to entertain ones audience.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 10th, 2007 at 4:18 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.