Glasnow hopes for equalization in San Francisco – Dodgers Digest

To compare the crimes:

Speaking of the bottom of the rankings: Biggio has an OPS of .460 and a wRC+ of 48 as a Dodger, with a strikeout rate of 36.4%. He is certainly better than Miguel Vargas but! Biggio has 13 strikeouts in 33 batting appearances, while Vargas has five strikeouts and four walks in 37 batting appearances. Maybe I’m biased or just not aware of how much of a liability he is as an infielder, but I think they really should let Vargas play every day for a few weeks. Second base, third base, left field, wherever they find the at-bats. Biggio was DFA’d for a reason. Lux has a .600 OPS in June and a .573 OPS for the year. Kiké Hernández has an OPS of .623 in June and .572 for the year.

I don’t want to keep pushing the same agenda, but it’s really a little annoying how they’re handling their best hitting talent, who is obviously the difference maker at bat. We see the lower orders stepping up, hitting weak grounders to second base and going for strikeouts every game. Surely they’ll change how they use him over time… right?

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Here’s how Glasnow and Miller compare. Glasnow is one of 71 qualified starting pitchers.

Glasnow picked up his eighth win of the year in his final game against the Angels, allowing just one run on two hits and ten strikeouts in seven innings. He did it on just 74 pitches, and while he could have continued, the Dodgers were up by five runs and instead decided to look to their ace and go to the bullpen. He has been in excellent form of late, with the exception of his five-run start in New York. It should have been four earned runs at most, but a ball from Andy Pages‘ glove and two infield deflections resulted in three additional runs.

He has just a 2.42 ERA with 40 strikeouts and four walks in June. Since his loss to the Nationals in mid-April, he has a 2.54 ERA, 2.26 FIP and 0.83 WHIP with 101 strikeouts and just 16 walks in his last 11 starts and 71.0 innings. He leads the baseball league with 135 strikeouts, with one fewer start (before this outing) than his closest competitors. He is targeting 300 strikeouts, but the Dodgers only care about him having enough left in the tank for October. In terms of his Cy Young He obviously has a good chance of fighting for it, but the competition is tough. Ranger Suarez (2.01 ERA) will likely return to earth, but his fellow Phillies Christopher Sanchez (2.41 ERA) and Zack Wheeler (2.73) were also great. Chris Sales (2.79) looks like he did when he won the Cy Young Award, while Gavin Stone (2.73) has the lowest ERA on the Dodgers.

I’m not sure who the Giants will bring in after Miller, but they have had some effective relievers. Aside from their closer Doval, Ryan Walker was excellent with an ERA of 2.18 over 41.1 innings and a strikeout rate of 34.4%. Tyler Rogers threw last night, but his twin TaylorRogers (2.23 ERA) will also be available tonight. The 6’11 Sean Hjelle was also great for them with a 2.33 ERA in 38.2 innings. Aside from those few, the rest of the bullpen was poor to terrible, resulting in a bullpen with a 4.25 ERA, 21st in baseball. They have covered the innings with high leverage, but could be vulnerable in a game like this. It’s no surprise they chose to play their bullpen game against Glasnow, as it’s an unfavorable matchup anyway, and they’ll look to have a more even matchup against James Paxton morning.

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