Just saying

Phil Gurnee ♦ June 18, 2018 ♦ Leave a comment

The Dodgers brought up Caleb Ferguson on June 6th and he’s now made three starts for the Dodgers with each start getting better and better but doing little to prove that he should actually be in the major leagues right now.  The Dodgers have won only one of those three starts and that was due to the offense scoring twelve runs.

Gcar    Date  Tm Opp  Rslt   IP H  R ER BB SO
1       Jun6 LAD PIT L9-11  1.2 2  4  4  3  3
2      Jun12 LAD TEX W12-5  4.0 5  2  2  2  3
3      Jun17 LAD SFG  L1-4  5.0 2  4  3  1  6
                       1-2 10.2 9 10  9  6 12

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 6/18/2018.

Manny Bañuelos is on the same pitching timetable as Caleb Ferguson and while Caleb has been struggling in his three major league starts, Manny continues to pitch well in AAA. The Dodgers skipped Manny’s start last week when it appeared they would use him but instead they opted with Caleb again. Manny is in a tough spot if the Dodgers bring him up for a spot start they have to let him go when the pitcher he replaced comes off the DL, and any team can claim him in which case they would lose him. On the other hand, we are nearing the 1/2 mark in the season and if they didn’t use the Manny bullet during this three-start stint by Caleb it seems unlikely they will use it at all this season.  It is very possible that Manny would have struggled just as much as Caleb in these three starts, but I’d rather have taken my chances on Manny than on a 21-year-old with two AAA starts on his resume.

Even more fun is what Wilmer Font is doing for Tampa as “bullpen starter”.  In his best professional appearance to date, Wilmer Font got 14 outs against the studded NYY lineup pitching the Rays to a victory.  I’m probably only pointing this out because back in March I said that Font would be the biggest surprise for the Dodgers this year. It was a small limb to crawl out on in that many didn’t even think he belonged in the major leagues much less on the Dodgers roster. Foolish me, I should have gone with a AAA hitter like Max Muncy, or a Ross Stripling who seemed destined for many non leveraged middle relief appearances but no I went with the guy who was released in April.

Date     Tm Opp Rslt Inngs   IP  H ER BB SO
Jun8    TBR SEA L3-4  GS-3  2.1  2  2  1  5
Jun13   TBR TOR W1-0  GS-4  3.1  2  0  3  1
Jun17   TBR NYY W3-1  GS-5  4.2  4  1  1  5
                      6-11 33.1 42 28 13 29

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 6/18/2018.