Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Okay, so the Los Angeles Dodgers (43-33) beat the Detroit Tigers (24-51) 5-0 on Friday, but more importantly they signed a fascinating 4-year extension with Alex Wood and his 5.44 ERA.
I know you can never have too much pitching, but paying $26.4 million for Wood’s age 30-33 seasons after he’s produced ERAs over 5.00 the past season and a half is an interesting decision.
Wood is set to make $5.3 million in 2021, with the cost rising up to $7.9 million in 2024 as a 33-year old. Pitching in Dodger Stadium half the time, Wood’s allowed 98 hits, including 14 home runs, and 19 walks in 84 1/3 innings.
Predictably, there’s not really anything to compare that to since reality is much different than the simulation, but Wade Miley’s 2019 to 2022 is somewhat similar. After making $4.5 million from the Astros in 2019, Miley signed a 2-year, $14 million deal with the Reds that includes a $1 million buyout or a $10 million club option for 2022.
Now that I am done researching how weird a fake contract that is, I can point out that Walker Buehler dominated the Tigers on Friday. Pitching eight innings, Buehler struck out nine and walked just one. Just one of Detroit’s four hits went for extra bases, a 6th inning double by Anthony Alford, as Buehler and Caleb “Turd” Ferguson allowed the Dodgers’ offense to relax.
“Getting ahead of the hitters was the key,” Buehler said, while also being aided by a terrible lineup currently devoid of a .300 hitter.
Meanwhile, Jordan Zimmermann continued to be very terrible, as he allowed 5 runs on 6 hits and 3 walks in 5 1/3 IP. Code Bellinger started the scoring with a two-run dong in the 4th, the first of three straight innings with a home run. It was Joc Pederson in the 5th, a solo shot to lead off the inning, and Corey Seager connected on a two-run homer in the 6th to finish the scoring for the day. Seager was the only Dodger with a multi-hit game, as the team had just six hits and four walks.
With Buehler done after eight innings, Ferguson continued to work to remove my stupid nickname from these recaps. Striking out three in the inning, Ferguson did allow two runners to reach on a walk and a single.
Julio Urias takes the mound Saturday to face Casey Mize, with an opportunity to also pick on a pretty horrendous lineup.
