Dem Bums – A Dodgers Blog

This is downright bizarre.  Chad Billingsley, while he struggled last year, showed that he can pitch at the big league level.  I know his strikeout/walk ratio was pretty poor, but you also have a 23 year old throwing in the bigs and that’s no small task.  Instead of continuing to work with him, it seems the Dodgers have decided to throw him in the pen to start the season.  I could live with Hong-Chih Kuo as the fifth starter but I still think Billingsley has the most upside.  Having Mark Hendrickson or Bret Tomko in there would definitely be a waste or at least misallocation of talent.

PECOTA had him having some good but not great numbers.  The 1.51 WHIP and 4.61 ERA aren’t all that great but the 152 strikeouts in 181 innings are.  And it’s definitely not too bad considering he’d be the team’s fifth starter.