Dodgers right-hander Gavin Stone told members of the media, including Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic, that manager Dave Roberts informed him he will break camp as the club’s fifth starter.
The rotation for the Dodgers has a lot of moving parts due to health and will likely be in flux throughout the year, but they entered Spring Training with four spots accounted for. Tyler Glasnow is a lock since he has been a borderline ace on a rate basis in recent years, though without the health to provide that production in a quantitative sense. But the Dodgers clearly believe in him, as they acquired him in a notable offseason trade and then quickly signed him to an extension that runs through 2028. Yoshinobu Yamamoto has yet to make his major league debut but parlayed his dominance in Japan into a 12-year, $325MM contract.
Bobby Miller has earned a spot after a solid showing last year, wherein he tossed 124 1/3 innings with a 3.76 ERA and solid peripherals to match. James Paxton will be there as well after he signed a one-year, $7MM pact in the offseason with incentives.
Walker Buehler could have been in line for the fifth spot but it seems he and the Dodgers have decided to slow play his season a bit. He underwent Tommy John surgery in 2022 and almost returned late in 2023 but ended up not rushing and therefore sitting out the entire season. That puts him in the position of going into 2024 presumably healthy but likely with workload limitations. He threw 207 2/3 innings in 2021 but was limited to just 65 the year after before the surgery and then missed 2023. Rather than start him in the rotation and have to shut him down at some point, it seems he and the club are going to have him be a bit behind everyone else, increasing his odds of being around for a stretch run and the playoffs.
That left pitchers like Stone, Ryan Yarbrough, Michael Grove, Emmet Sheehan and others as options to take a spot behind Glasnow, Yamamoto, Miller and Paxton. Sheehan was taken out of the competition a couple of weeks ago when it was reported that he would begin the season on the injured list due to shoulder soreness.
In the end, Stone won the job thanks to some encouraging results last year and a strong performance in spring this year. He made his MLB debut in 2023 but allowed 31 earned runs in as many innings, though that’s a small sample size and also came in a fairly unstable fashion. He made four starts and four relief appearances around frequent optional assignments. He had a larger sample size of 100 2/3 innings at Triple-A, wherein he posted a 4.74 ERA. His 27.8% strikeout rate was quite strong and his 43.2% ground ball rate close to average, though his 10.7% walk rate a tad high.
Here in camp this year, he has tossed 9 2/3 innings of official action with a 0.93 ERA. He has punched out nine hitters while walking just one and allowing only one earned run. The Dodgers played an exhibition game against Team Korea today in preparation for their Seoul Series and Stone tossed 3 1/3 scoreless with eight punchouts, one walk and no hits.
He will slot into the back of the rotation for now, though the rotation will be constantly changing this year. Buehler will slot in somewhere whenever he is ramped up and ready to go. Sheehan could get back in there if he gets over his shoulder issue. Dustin May underwent flexor tendon and Tommy John revision surgery last summer and could rejoin the club at some point. Clayton Kershaw underwent shoulder surgery in the offseason and is targeting a return in the summer. Tony Gonsolin is more of a long shot since he underwent Tommy John on September 1 of last year and will probably just be nearing readiness as the 2024 season is winding down.
On top of all that, new injuries are sure to crop up throughout the season as they always do. Taking all that together, there will probably be very little consistency in the rotation this year. But there is undoubtedly heaps of talent here and the club seems likely to be in good shape, regardless of who is actually taking the ball. For now, Stone has an opportunity and will look to make the most of it. If other pitchers return to health and he gets squeezed out at some point, he could move to a long relief role in the bullpen or be sent down to the minors, since he still has a couple of option years remaining.
Wishing all the best to Stone‼️
He’s taking a Wong rip and getting a Stoned
I thought his parents named him Gavin Stone.
Walker Buehler had his surgery mid 2022. He should be in the opening day rotation for 2024.
I guess the Dodgers didn’t want to throw him out in the open so early.
@Clofreesz
He’ll probably get a chance to pitch against a weak Giants team at home. Should be an easy first start for the kid, probably go 6 innings, 3 hits, 2 walks, 10ks and 0 runs.
Maybe he is the long man in the pen or he just does extended ST or maybe he doesnt even begin to ramp up until may. If the dodgers were my team and my choice was to have Walker miss the first 7-10 starts or the last 7-10 and postseason its a pretty easy choice
Old York: I doubt the Dodgers will let him go 6 innings. Healthy starters don’t go more than5.
sure they do
They’re taking it slow with him so he’s available in October when he’s needed most. No point in the dodgers winning the west by 18 games and getting bounced in the first round.
Ok. No sense in reading the article. Just go ahead and comment and we will let the Dodgers know what you think is right.
I already texted Friedman the link. Expect an announcement later today.
He’s on an innings limit. They are choosing to start him later so a problem doesn’t arise come postseason time, when they need him they most, Stone is just a placeholder until he gets back.
The team has already said he won’t be. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him put on the 60-day to open up a roster spot.
The only unexpected result here is Stone getting the nod over Grove, who looked to be more advanced.
Orioles are using same strategy with John Means. And, like Buehler, most likely on a pitch count as well. With both teams expected to go deep in to post season, it does make sense to start’em later indeed.
Two different teams and two different roster makeup. And the orioles don’t have a closer.
MGMouth; agree to disagree, at least with the rotation comparisons. Both are dealing with the injury bug to start the season off. 2/5ths of Os rotation is down in Bradish and Means. And the #5 is suspect in Irvin. Absolutely agree on your closer comment. Kimbrel … oof!
You’re right. Craig Kimbrel. LOL.
That would be misusing the injured list though something the Mets got in trouble for. everybody knows that Walker buehler is healthy enough to pitch him being placed on the 60 day injured list undermines everything the MLBPA and MLB have agreed to.
He hasn’t thrown a competitive pitch this spring, so in fact nobody outside of the Dodgers knows whether he’s healthy enough to pitch.
Braves_saints_celts It’s not the same. The Mets with Eppler allegedly placed guys which weren’t hurt on the IL to give them some rest. Buehler is coming back from injury and isn’t currently on the Dodgers’ 40-man roster. He’s starting the season on the 15-day IL so they do have plans to use him soon as he builds up.
He’s currently on the 40-man roster. In fact he’s currently on the active roster (though that doesn’t mean a lot preseason).
@Braves saints – what an ignorant comment, apparently you are a medical specialist? Buehler is recovering from his second TJ and has yet to throw a pitch in a game. The Dodgers and Buehler are both in agreement and being cautious building him up. Buehler is a free agent after this season and doesn’t want to blow out his arm in a contract year. The Dodgers not only have longer seasons than most other teams, they also have the longest spring training schedule.
They start the season before anybody else because of their Korea series, but their season is not longer. They play the same amount of games, and after the Korea series they get a good sized break. And I’m entitled to my opinion. Nothing I said is ignorant, but it sure roughed some feathers and I’m over here laughing my ass off about it.
FWIW, Buehler pitched in a few rehab games late last season before the Dodgers shut him down.
Their season IS longer they were in spring training before every team except the Padres.
Your opinion and assumption are that the Braves are doing something wrong and breaking rules when others are stating the fact that they aren’t. Plenty of teams will continue to abuse such rules but this isn’t it.
Grove already had his shot in the rotation last year and blew it. Stone looks to have a significantly higher ceiling than Grove, and he has been absolutely fantastic this year.
He’s all washed up already?
No, he’s just not better than Stone is. IMO Grove is better suited for a multi innings role out of the pen than as a starting pitcher.
He looked a lot better than Grove in spring training, and this is probably why the Dodgers are going with him now, but not to forget, Stone’s intro to the majors was pretty rough. So the choice wasn’t inevitable and I can easily see he and Grove being swapped a few weeks into the season depending on results.
@blueskies
Here’s to hoping there’s no need to do that!
Stone has also put on a lot of muscle over the off-season and his fastball has been up a few notches since last year. Not to mention he was tipping his pitches last year and that has since been fixed.
But he would be on an innings limit. Didn’t you read the article? Instead of using him up and having to shut him down in, say, August, this way, he might be available for the stretch run & postseason. Makes sense.
Seems like a smart plan to phase Buehler back in slowly. It probably says more about the Dodgers confidence in their roster than any remnant issues with Buehler’s health.
Like a rock.
Without Buehler, the Padres have the better rotation.
Matsumoto is the wild card. Just how effective he will be in the MLB is unknown. Will he dominate like he did in Japan? Will be interesting to see.
Matsumoto?
Is he the Padres secret weapon to counteract Yamamoto?
What has yamamoto done in the big leagues?
Some weird typo for Yamamoto.
Oh geez it’s hell getting old! You know what they say, memory is the 2nd thing to go! Of course I meant Yamamoto.
On opening day with the Dodgers starting two rookies, maybe. But when you look into the depth, no way, with or without Buehler.
The LA depth is theoretically there. Injuries and inexperience makes for a wide range of outcomes. But the OD 5-man rotations between LA and SD look good. Only to get better with both teams as season unwinds. “no way with or without Bueh” seems a little overconfident though Blue!
Every team is subject to injuries, and I don’t believe in the “injury prone” theory unless the player has a recurring chronic medical issue. Otherwise, injuries are random events that can’t be predicted.
I’m not one for overconfidence but having May and Kershaw on tap as midseason reinforcements, and at least three solid rookies/prospects available, is about as good as it gets to start a season, as far as covering for those inevitable injuries.
Yeah I wasn’t thinking they’re injury prone. Just existing injuries and recoveries. The Pads have them too, including Musgrove and Darvish.
Not doubt the LA rotation looks potentially very deep. The Pads might end up that way as well with Brito, Waldron, Vasquez and maybe later in season Snelling.
@BlueSkies you are more than allowed to exude some overconfidence with this Dodger squad of yours. Dodgers are sitting in the cat-bird seat.
The problem with sitting in the catbird seat is everybody knows where to find you.
Blueskies overconfident with Lad??
Blue’s been super critical of LAD forever (too much Imho) , Id neve classify his posts to be in a homer fashion
I gonna take that as a compliment though not agree to the “super critical” part. I’ve been critical of management when I thought they deserved it. This year they’ve done just about everything they could do, so this Dodger fan is as happy as a you know what.
Was a compliment
I’m fine with critical, I’m a pretty critical fan as well no matter the W/L record.
@Cap I’m aware of Blue’s excellent and highly unbiased takes, whether LAD or otherwise. I have always appreciated. This is a purely friendly conversation, and I was merely responding to the LA v SD rotation comparison made above. (made by others). Of course, time will tell.
Are Brew’88 and Brew88 related? Or is this a Joel P situation?? Just curio
Same human. For some reason my iPhone only allows me to log in using an older account. I’m trying to fix.
@Brew-4sure, didn’t think you were, just recounting my exp with Blue
** Having same problem with user name as well
For some reason my phone goes to my old (baseball) user under HoopsRumors but not MLBTR….I’ve given up trying to change it after a couple futile efforts. For some reason the football and baseball user names crossed over but not basketball/strange but the tech here has always had bugs
Not sure about that. Dodgers seem to have more injury liability and better depth and upside at the front of the rotation. I personally wouldn’t take the over on 200 IP combined from Glasnow and Paxton, but I think if any group of trainers can coax that out, it’d be the Dodgers. They still have Buehler and Kershaw returning at some point, so regular-season innings shouldn’t be an issue.
Padres are a group of 4 really good 3s, and I think Brito can be effective at the back of the rotation. Compared to years past, the Padres have some depth with starters 6-8+. Their rotation also has some injury concerns with Darvish’s age, Musgrove’s shoulder scare, and King getting stretched out, but I think together with Cease 640 IP is a possibility among that quartet.
IMO Dodgers have a better rotation overall with more per-pitcher variance balanced by greater depth. Ultimately, I think it will come down to Yamamoto’s acclimation to MLB and King’s success in a full season of starting.
Especially concerned about Musgrove & Darvish holding up all season. In the Dodgers case Paxton is definitely a question mark; and I guess you have to put Glasnow in that “frail” category just because of his history. Dodgers have the depth; that’s for sure.
I’m hopeful it’s just a one-year aberration. Darvish isn’t getting any younger, but Musgrove has been a workhorse for many years. Their combined IP dropped by 140 from 2022 to 2023, so a lot of room for improvement this year.
Seems the dodgers including yamamoto have a rotation that is more ifs,let’s hope,when they come back, and we are counting on, than anticipated. I like the Padres pitching.
In my mind, Yamamoto will be excellent, just a question of how long it takes him to adjust to a different ball, pitching every fifth day, and MLB hitters. Dodgers and Padres both have good rotations barring unforeseen injuries/performance issues.
People dont realize the ball is different and that in Japanese you start the same day every week. Japan hitters generally are more contact oriented and whip there legs into it generally aswell. He has Ohtanis brain to pick so having the best player in the work who already did what your trying to do, speaks your language and has ideas on how to get specific guys out fives him a high floor in my opinion
Disagree, I think the dodgers clearly do
I am guessing 2 of the starting 5 Dodgers SP are healthy when the playoffs start. This rotation could look really ugly fast.
The Dodgers rotation probably has the highest ceiling of any rotation in baseball but also a lower floor than probably any contender.
With alot of ??????????????????
The Yankees would beg to differ with Cole starting the season on the IL. Rodon hasn’t looked great this spring. The floor is how many starting pitchers will miss time.
@YankeesBleacherCreature you know what I’ll stand corrected on the floor part of my comment because you’re absolutely correct
Doesn’t matter who they send out there, this team is going to score like 10 runs a game. Betts, Ohtani, Freeman.. lol. There’s going to be a lot of 3-0 first inning leads.
That’ll probably work in the regular season but not in the postseason.
detail
How many do you think is a lot?
Assuming you’re thinking about Betts reaching, Ohtani reaching and Freeman homering, those probabilities aren’t that hard to figure out.
Per FGDC projections
Betts .377 OBP
Ohtani .368 OBP
Freeman 26 Homers in 679 PA (3.8%)
Multiply all the together, you get (.377*.368*.038) .0053 or .53%
Multiply .53% times 162 games and you get 8.6 expected games
But
The Dosgers play half their games at home. Which means the other team will have a chance to score.
I can’t be bothered to look it up right now, but teams score in something like 25% of innings. So, we’d expect the opposing team to score in sometime likw (.25 * 8.6) 2.2 games. Meaning the Dodgers would only lead 3-0 in (8.6-2.2) 6.4 games.
Also, Betts, Ohtani and Freeman won’t all play 162 games. They’ll likely pay 150+ so that’ll knock off another few wins
So, back of the envelope, Dodgers might lead around 5 times this season after Betts and Ohtani reach and Freeman homers.
What you calculated was 3-0 with no outs in the first, not 3-0 in the 1st.
Pepe
“What you calculated was 3-0 with no outs in the first, not 3-0 in the 1st.”
Yes
“Assuming you’re thinking about Betts reaching, Ohtani reaching and Freeman homering, “
That’s an impressive response. I like it. They’re going to score a lot of runs, I don’t have the formulas for it, but I know it’s going to happen.
He earned it with a superb Spring. Best wishes this season.
So why spend 500 million for pitching?
Stone is just filling in for injuries. He did not look good last year. Still a youngster but obviously with promise once he gets his command down and refines his pitches and delivery. He’s likely the #8 starter behind Kershaw, Buehler and Sheehan who are all out.
This spring he has been pitching with way more confidence
Ahh the mental part of the game. Not talked about enough. Thanks.
More importantly, like “Butter Biscuits” as a moniker. Inspiration behind it?
I see lots of questions marks in Dodgers rotation because of age, injury concerns, or lack of MLB experience.
Which team doesn’t?
The Altoona Curve. Skenes, Chandler, Solometo, Harrington, and Barco will be better than Pirates rotation by a mile.
That’s why it helps to have depth and a good hitting team to offset those question marks. Still a chance to have a top end rotation.
Dodger$ win 120 games and get blown out in their first series of the playoffs. Can’t wait!
As opposed to the Giants not even sniffing the playoffs, I’ll take the odds on the Dodgers winning it all, all day long.
I get the Dodgers are in big time “win now” mode, but they need to have patience with some rookies and not pull the plug too quickly, as that really screws with the players heads. You named him the 5th starter, now stick to that. Build his confidence and be ready for some fluctuations and don’t immediately dump him to the minors if there is a hiccup, which could affect his entire career.
Dusty Baker is/was the worst when it comes to rookies, do not do that to him (and your other Hi-Po rookies. .
Stone was named #5 starter out of necessity as Buehler, Kershaw and Sheehan are out or not ready to start. He’s really #8 just ahead of Grove. Still way too early bet he looks improved from last year’s version.
I am a little suspicious of Stone because his top prospect reputation is based on a fairly brief body of work. But there’s no question he earned the job, so, good on him. And if he flops again, there’s plenty of others, as the article noted, and Hurt should be added to that list.
hrbtrf
River Ryan too
I hope the Dodgers go to a 6 man rotation when Buehler, Kershaw, and May comes back. I can see May in the bullpen.
I was extremely skeptical and critical of using a 6 man rotation … for any team. Just to much down time in between starts? But, in light of so many arm injuries around the league, maybe Dodgers are ahead of the curve here as they tinker with this strategy.
I think they will even if its just to get accustomed for 2025 a little
They love to {over} tinker Imo, they’ll adjust upon the schedule and probably even throw in some opener/Yarbourgh games just for funzees as well
These scumbags have 10 starters and still bought three more superstars including an injured “sign up for an easy ring” Kershaw. Why even watch this inevitable joke of a season?
Cry!
Your the only one that can answer that question MS
I hope Yoshi is as good as his contract is.
Just here for the ridiculously stupid comments. Just as I thought, Mickey Solis wins! No doubt Rocker49 will follow shortly.
Definitely passing the eye test so far. From what I’ve read, it is the re-command of his fastball that has been the key to setting everything else up. Good for him. Wish him well.