Dodgers starters had a 5.30 ERA over eight starts during the playoffs, and were ousted from the NLCS after a miserable performance by late-season acquisition Vicente Padilla in Game 5. Relying on pitchers like Padilla and a rusty Hiroki Kuroda only underscored their need for a legitimate ace pitcher this winter. But just because general manager Ned Colletti is aware of it, don’t expect it to happen.
“There’s not a long list of guys where you would say, this guy would make a dramatic difference,” Colletti said of the upcoming crop of free-agent starters. “It’s a thin market. There are pitchers who would make us better. But tremendously better?
“Every club needs an ace and we’re not unlike any club. We might have one or two in the making [referring to Clayton Kershaw and Chad Billingsley]. But the likelihood of an ace becoming available by trade is very slim. And this [free-agent] class doesn’t have that type of allure to it.”
Pssst, Ned, let me introduce you to this guy named Roy Halladay. I know he’s from Canada and all, but he did start the All-Star game for the American League this year. Rest assured, Colletti is using his best poker face here, as he should at this juncture, but he has all the necessary pieces to get a deal done tomorrow. Whether he has the sense of urgency remains to be seen. Consecutive losses in the NLCS should be enough.