GLENDALE, Ariz. — There are 33 pitchers listed on the Dodgers’ major-league spring training roster. Don Mattingly and his staff have mapped out a plan whereby “you’ll see pretty much everybody those first four days, or most everybody.”
Erik Bedard will start the Dodgers’ Cactus League opener Wednesday against the Chicago White Sox. Clayton Kershaw will start Thursday, also against the White Sox at Camelback Ranch. They’re both scheduled to throw two innings in the game, plus another inning in the Dodgers’ bullpen after that.
“Even saying that,” Mattingly said, “there will be some type of pitch count that you’re protecting. I’m not going to let a guy go out there if he gets caught in an inning. We’ll stop it.”
A list of relief pitchers has been charted out for the first four Cactus League games, including split-squad games next Friday against the Mariners and Brewers.
As for the Dodgers’ position players, Mattingly said he will try to keep his starters on a “two-and-one” schedule — play two straight days, rest the next — as he has in years past.
“You can’t go two-and-one with the split game,” he said. “I’m going to stagger my starters that first game. I’ve got to stagger the lineup — obviously the rules make you take ‘x’ amount of guys. They actually will send you a memo if you’re not taking enough guys. We try to do it.”
In the equation above, x=4. Here’s the exact rule, per MLB:
A minimum of four players who are regulars on the previous year’s major league team or who were platooned on the previous year’s major league team on a regular basis, or who have a reasonable chance to be regulars on the major league club’s squad during the upcoming season. Each of those regulars, excluding pitchers, must play a minimum of three complete innings.
For what it’s worth, starting Kershaw on Thursday does not put him on track to starting Opening Day against the San Diego Padres. It actually puts him on track to start the final game of the Freeway Series against the Angels, assuming Kershaw continues to start every fifth day and the entire rotation moves back a day after March 24, the only built-in off-day in the Dodgers’ Cactus League schedule.
So, if Kershaw is going to be the Dodgers’ Opening Day starter, they’ll have to give him an extra day off at some point over the next five weeks. Shouldn’t be too hard.
Bedard, who turns 36 on Thursday, is in camp as a non-roster invitee after signing a minor league deal with the Dodgers on Jan. 18. He went 4-6 with a 4.76 earned run average in 17 games (15 starts) for the Tampa Bay Rays last season.