The Los Angeles Dodgers, the defending World Series champions, must do the math and projections to manage so many stars. A good time to see this will be the management of their roster for Opening Day in the United States on March 27.
There are those who believe that this kind of problem of having several aces up their sleeve could lead, among other things, to the saturation of certain positions in which some players are limited in their opportunity to play.
How will the Dodgers handle so many stars?
“What are they going to do with all these guys? How are they going to pitch?” asked Ken Rosenthal on Foul Territory. “And that could prompt them to do something at some point. You can’t keep Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin in Triple-A or in the bullpen necessarily. I guess you could put May in the bullpen. But they have a numbers problem. And that numbers problem tells me that, at some point, yes, they would have to consider doing something.
“But they also have the problem that, well, the Japanese pitchers, Sasaki, Yamamoto and Ohtani, once he gets back to pitching, will be on a six-day program, if not more. And, let’s face it, their pitchers have gotten injured over the years
“It has been a recurring problem for them. Therefore, they will be reluctant to give up their depth, but at some point, it could get to a situation where they ask themselves: ‘What are we doing here? We have to get something for some of these players and give them the opportunity to play, and maybe restructure our organization in other ways.”
Dodgers’ injury concerns
It should come as no surprise that the Dodgers’ problem is that they have too many good players. But that’s the case, and there are unique circumstances, as Rosenthal mentioned, for Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki
And the concern about injuries is valid, as the Dodgers lost much of their rotation last season and still won the World Series. Players such as Tyler Glasnow, Dustin May and others have a history of injuries.
It will be interesting to see what the Dodgers do, and it will certainly be unique in the rest of the Major Leagues.
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