Wednesday, December 3, 2025

Copyrighted by Sarah Morris, 2025

Many baseball pundits say that the Los Angeles Dodgers have too many starting pitchers.

I say, “Here we go again.”

Entering every spring training, people say, “The Dodgers have too many starting pitchers.”

And at some point during the regular season, the Dodgers will search for a healthy pitcher to start a game. The Dodgers don’t want to have a bullpen game during the 2026 season.

Last week, a pundit said that another baseball executive said the Dodgers could trade Tyler Glasnow this offseason. I say, “In your dreams.”

Without Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, and Shohei Ohtani, the Dodgers wouldn’t have won their second consecutive World Series.

Yes, the Dodgers have many promising young starters poised to join the rotation. Gavin Stone, River Ryan, and Kyle Hurt are returning from injuries that made them miss the entire 2025 season.

Justin Wrobleski, Emmet Sheehan, and Landon Knack need to have an opportunity to join the rotation.

I know, I have thrown out too many names. I will make sense of those names. Also, I didn’t forget Bobby Miller. He didn’t have a good 2025 season after having a subpar 2024 season. The Dodgers should trade Miller. They tried using Miller out of the bullpen at the end of the 2025 season at Triple-A, and he showed promise. They may keep Miller and turn him into a high-leverage reliever.

Since Yamamoto pitched a ton during the 2025 postseason, including three times during the World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays, I don’t expect to see him pitching until late May at earliest. After the Dodgers won Game 7, Yamamoto couldn’t lift his MVP award. While he wants to win the National League Cy Young Award, being the first Japanese-born pitcher to win the award, the 2026 season won’t be the year.

In 2025, Yamamoto pitched 211 innings, a lot for a major league starter. If he had better run support, he would have a better record than 12 wins and 8 losses. His 2.49 ERA was great. He was the only Dodger starter who made every scheduled start during the season. Yamamoto deserves a rest.

Clayton Kershaw retired after the 2025 season, and he made a lot of starts for the Dodgers. He usually went at least five innings per start. In the 2026 season, the Dodgers won’t have the luxury of having Kershaw to eat innings.

Ohtani is the second-best Dodger starting pitcher. The problem is that he is the Dodgers’ best power hitter. During his major league       career, Ohtani has had two serious elbow surgeries, including a Tommy John surgery. Ohtani has already announced that he will participate in the World Baseball Classic for Japan. He should be able to make twenty starts for the Dodgers in 2026.

Blake Snell is an extraordinary left-handed starting pitcher, but he has a history of injuries. He has won two Cy Young Awards, one in the American League and the other in the National League. Nevertheless, during his major league career with the Tampa Bay Rays, San Diego Padres, and San Francisco Giants, Snell has had questions about his durability.

In the 2025 season, Snell started 11 games and pitched 61.1 innings. He missed a large portion of the 2025 season with inflamed left shoulder. Snell is known for his strong second halves. He may miss several starts during the upcoming season. The Dodgers signed Snell for his ability to perform in the second half and postseason.

Now, Glasnow is the most talented right-handed starter on the Dodgers. His pitches move a ton, making them impossible to hit.

The problem with Glasnow is to keep him on the mound. During his Dodger tenure, Glasnow missed large amounts of the 2024 and the 2025 seasons with various physical issues. His 6-foot-8 frame makes his delivery complicated. If Glasnow’s delivery isn’t right, he is ineffective. No team will take Glasnow’s salary even if the Dodgers wanted to trade him.

Sheehan is a fantastic right-handed starter. Coming off Tommy John surgery, Sheehan was brilliant, making several good starts before he moved to the bullpen in September and the postseason. During the postseason, he got grit, meaning that he knows how to retire hitters if everything is not perfect. Since the Dodgers will have a six-man rotation, they will have room for Sheehan.

Wrobleski has earned an opportunity to join the rotation regularly. He has nasty stuff and has the heart of a winner.

When pitchers return from serious injuries and surgeries, sometimes it takes time for them to get their effectiveness back. Stone was a godsend for the Dodgers in the 2024 season before he injured his valuable right shoulder. Hopefully, he will make an impact.

Ryan and Hurt are returning from Tommy John surgeries. If they can pitch well immediately, they can become relievers if the Dodgers don’t have room for them in the starting rotation.

Too many pitchers? Never.