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Depth Wish 2005
2005-01-27 09:53
Though his win-loss record fell from 23-8 in his Cy Young season in 1988 to 15-15 in 1989, Orel Hershiser remained a stalwart for the Dodgers. His ERA rose only from 2.26 to 2.31 and was just as strong relative to the league average. In his fourth start of 1990, however, Hershiser walked off the mound in the middle of the seventh inning with rotator cuff damage. He would not return for 13 months. Hershiser's departure opened up a fissure in the Dodger starting rotation of painful duration. While Ramon Martinez, Mike Morgan, Fernando Valenzuela and Tim Belcher combined to make 123 starts, it took eight other pitchers (including Hershiser) to fill the remaining 39 - "fill," in many cases, being a generous term. Wetteland returned to the bullpen for the rest of his career June 5. Between June 5 and the end of the 1991 season, he allowed one earned run in 26 2/3 major league innings. And then was traded. Neidlinger's success should have solved the Dodgers' pitching problems - except that Belcher did not make another appearance after August 16. Though not the only factor, Belcher's absence contributed to ... The Dodgers finished 86-76, five games behind the World Series champion Cincinnati Reds, in 1990. The interminable search in the late spring and early summer for a starter to replace Hershiser arguably cost the team a division title. Which brings us back to the present, and today's Daily News story. Appreciate well that the Dodgers are building a host of possiblities to provide themselves depth in the starting rotation, given the health and quality concerns of the favorites to win spots and the youth in the minor leagues. There isn't always safety in numbers, but it costs very little to see if there might be. Arm-shredded Scott Erickson? Maybe not? Leave-me-be-until-after-the-game-starts Wilson Alvarez? Maybe not. Duaner Sanchez, who hasn't been a starting pitcher since 2001 in AA El Paso and hasn't been an effective starter since A ball? Maybe not. Elmer decends? Maybe not. But the Dodgers aren't assuming that they have their starting five locked in. Perhaps it should be obvious for them to be wary, but teams have missed the obvious before.
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