The Los Angeles Dodgers have built a special superteam in California. Their starting pitching rotation is absolutely loaded with talent.
After adding Blake Snell this offseason, their top starters are Snell, Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. But there are some flaws with this rotation.
Despite the talent, there are obvious durability issues here.
Snell is notorious for running up his pitch count in starts, often exiting by the fifth or sixth inning. Ohtani is coming off yet another elbow surgery. Glasnow has a history of injuries as well.
And the Dodgers have now lost pitcher Walker Buehler to free agency as Buehler signed with the Boston Red Sox.
Could this indicate the Dodgers are confident in signing another pitcher elsewhere? Perhaps Japanese sensation Roki Sasaki?
Not only are the Dodgers letting Buehler walk, but they're expected to let trade acquisition Jack Flaherty leave in free agency as well. Flaherty is expected to land a deal near $100 million with a contending team.
As talented as the Dodgers rotation is, they need another arm. They have too many injuries.
This, to me, indicates a level of confidence in the Sasaki sweepstakes.
Los Angeles has long been seen as the favorite to land the 23-year-old Japanese phenom, but nothing official has come up yet.
The Dodgers wouldn't be letting their homegrown arms leave in free agency so easily if they didn't have a backup plan in place. I'd be quite surprised to see the young Japanese flamethrower sign with any team other than the Dodgers, especially after they let Buehler walk.
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