The Trolley Dodger

In response to a question over on Reddit, “Where would you rank Clayton Kershaw among today’s elite starting pitchers and who’s ahead of him, if anyone?”

Bringing some stats in,

WHIP (NL)

Hamels, C (PHI) 0.99
Kershaw, C (LAD) 1.02
Harstens, J (PIT) 1.04
Halladay, R (PHI) 1.05
Hanson, T (ATL) 1.06
Lee, C (PHI) 1.07

Freakin’ Phillies. ;)

Other Kershaw NL stats:

OBA .209 (4th)
SO 167 (1st)
ERA 2.72 (5th)
Wins 11 (tied for 2nd with four other guys)

By the way, those five guys in the top 6 in WHIP? Here’s another stat for you:

Hamels 28
Kershaw 23
Harstens 28
Halladay 34
Hanson 24
Lee 32

That’s how old they are. And Hanson will be 25 in a month.

Yes, I know. Yes, I understand this is completely not going to happen. Yes, I know the innumerable reasons why this could never take place. Yes, I realize it would require creating a rift in the space-time continuum (or at least doing some horse-trading in the MLB 2011 video game). I get all that.

But a man can dream.

2011 Dodgers (daydream edition)

Starting lineup

• SS Furcal (S)
• CF Kemp (R)
• RF Ethier (L)
• 1B Konerko (R)
• LF Werth (R)
• 3B Beltre (R)
• C Martin* (R)
• 2B Theriot (R)

* or C Santana (S) if Martin is done.

Bench

• C Barajas (R)
• IF Casey Blake (R)
• IF Jamey Carroll (R)
• OF Gibbons (L)
• OF Podsednik (L)

Starting Rotation

1. Cliff Lee (L)
2. Kershaw (L)
3. Billingsley (R)
4. Padilla (R)
5. Lilly (L)

Relief

• Closer: Broxton (R)
• Setup: Kuo (L)
• RP Jansen (R)
• RP Troncoso (R)
• Long Reliever (R)
• Reliever (L)
• Reliever (R)

Let’s say you’re the GM of the non-existent MLB franchise Poughkeepsie Pachyderms. In this alternate universe, you have a 24-year-old Roy Halladay and a 21-year-old Cliff Lee at the top of your pitching rotation, with three serviceable pitchers in the other spots. The Pachyderms have these two aces under contract for five years at cheap prices. They are already good, and they will only improve. Virtually everyone who has scouted the pair raves about where they are at for their ages, not to mention their amazing potential.

Why in the name of all that is holy would you trade either of these young guns to get a 31-year-old pitcher who will cost you over $10 million a year? Oh, and he’s only yours for one full season and part of another, with no guarantees he’ll stick around after that.

The Dodgers are in that position right now with Chad Billingsley and Clayton Kershaw. Why would we trade either one of our aces, both of whom will otherwise be in Dodger Blue (and cheap) for years?

They are both good right now, whether you go by stats or by observation. They both will likely be great by next year.

Yes, Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee are awesome pitchers. It would be killer to have either one of them in Dodger Blue. But if getting one of them costs us Bills or Clayton, the price is too high. Why trade for one or two years’ worth of increased chances for the World Series when we could have five years’ (or more!) worth of increased chances?

Doesn’t make sense to me, and I’ll bet it doesn’t make sense to Dodger management either.

Now Roy or Cliff plus Bills and Kershaw as the 1-3?

Heh heh heh. [evil laugh]