Well, judging by the performance of the Dodgers against the Nationals and the Pirates, they are asleep right now and will seemingly stay asleep until the end of the regular season. All that really needs to be sorted out with the Blue Crew is the fourth playoff starter and to end the season in a healthy manner. Will that starter be Chad Billingsley or Jon Garland? I think as of right now, you would get nearly the same effort from both pitchers at this point. As far as a career trajectories go, I think CBillz will outperform Garland in the long run but, right now, with all the troubles Chad has endured in the second half, he lines up even with Garland.

If you are Joe Torre, though, do you go with Billingsley, who will be with the team for at least a couple more seasons but is the riskier play because of his greater relative inexperience or with Garland, who does not possess as much ability but is more of a proven veteran with a World Series ring. I don’t put too much importance on the ring. It is nice but I don’t see Jeff Weaver making the playoff roster and he has a ring he won a year later than Garland’s. The main factor that weighs in Torre’s decision is that Billingsley has been here for a while and will be for the next couple of years while Jon Garland has only put on the Dodger blue for a little over a month.

In my mind with identical projected outcomes from the two pitchers, I would go with Chad Billingsley. The Dodgers will have the luxury of going to some of these back-end starters like Garland and Vicente Padilla if one of the four run into trouble. While it would be nice if the Dodgers matched up better against the pertinent playoff starters of the probable opposing teams, the current Dodger rotation depth still presents some strength.

Fangraphs.com has an article on how Joe Torre is making the Dodgers worse by sitting Orlando Hudson in favor of Rafael Belliard. I don’t have the exact link but it is worth a read. While Belliard has strengthened his case for playing time since the article was released, I still have to agree with the sentiment of the article. While Belliard does provide slightly more power, Orlando Hudson is still a solid hitter and the better defensive player. I don’t place much weight on the lineups Torre is making right now but come October, Hudson is the Dodgers’ second baseman. Fangraphs also rates the Dodger bullpen third in the majors.

It seems like it has taken a long time to get where we are now since the last time I posted but in a week the playoffs will begin and the Dodgers should be facing the Cards or the Phillies. I want the Phillies but we shall see.