The Los Angeles Dodgers are getting a lot of attention with their All-Star rotation after the free-agent signing of Trevor Bauer, but don’t let it distract you from how good the Padres will be.
Bauer could’ve been more classy when making his free agency decision public on Friday, especially when the fan base he alienated is in the biggest market in the world. But all that matters now is he is in a Dodgers uniform.
Their rotation includes Bauer, Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler, David Price, and Julio Urias/Dustin May. Three of them are Cy Young award winners and all of them either have made an All-Star Game appearance or have the ability to be an All-Star in the very near future. But, before Dodger fans imagine themselves gliding past the rest of the National League, here’s a reminder.
The San Diego Padres are still going to be a World Series contender
It is natural for the baseball world to turn all of their attention to the team that just acquired the reigning Cy Young award winner and crown them as the National League Champions. Frankly, they should be the favorites.
But, they can’t look past the Padres.
While everyone wants to look at how good the Dodgers rotation is with the addition of Bauer, San Diego’s rotation already had a four-headed monster themselves.
President of Baseball Operations, A.J. Preller, went out and acquired Blake Snell and Yu Darvish in the same week before trading for Pirates ace Joe Musgrove. Musgrove, 28, is slotted in as the fourth starter behind Snell, Darvish, and Dinelson Lamet. Chris Paddack is projected to be the fifth starter to open the year at least until MacKenzie Gore is promoted from the minor leagues.
Comparing the Padres and Dodgers 2021 rotations
Here are the ERAs of both teams’ projected starting rotations this coming season, according to FanGraphs:
Padres Dodgers
Yu Darvish 3.62 Clayton Kershaw 3.50
Blake Snell 3.56 Walker Buehler 3.50
Dinelson Lamet 3.68 Trevor Bauer 3.85
Joe Musgrove 4.12 David Price 4.17
Chris Paddack 4.06 Julio Urias 4.12
When you put each teams’ starters up against each other, the Padres would actually edge out the Dodgers in 2021 projected ERA by a total of 3-2.
The Dodgers might have bigger names, but the Padres are a younger group. Kershaw had a great postseason and is usually a great regular season pitcher but he’s entering his age-32 season with a lot of mileage on his left arm. Price hasn’t pitched in a game that counted since September 1, 2019, when he only pitched two innings against the Angels. He’s now 35 years old.
Trevor Bauer is 0-4 with a 5.06 ERA versus the Padres in his career in 21.1 innings pitched.
Meanwhile, only one Padres starting pitcher is above the age of 28 and that’s Yu Darvish–who placed second in the NL Cy Young last season.
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Main Image Credit: Embed from Getty Images
