The Dodgers already had a pretty deep rotation a week ago, but it became even deeper with the acquisition of Trevor Bauer. Bauer who is the reigning NL Cy Young joins a rotation that features two former CY Young Award winners in Clayton Kershaw and David Price. Kershaw is a 3x winner of the award (2011, 2013, 2014) while Price won the award back in 2012 when he was a member of the Tampa Bay Rays. While there is a possibility that Price could be with a different team before the start of the season, for now he’s a Dodger.
Kershaw and Price are a long way off from their glory days, yet each one is still capable of contributing to the team. It would be nice to see them tap into those Cy Young seasons, yet the Dodgers have other pitchers who are more than capable of carrying the load. After winning the award in 2020, Draft Kings has given Bauer the second best odds to win yet another NL Cy Young award at +700 (bet $100 to win $700). However, new teammate Walker Buehler may give him some competition along the way as he has the fourth best odds to bring home the honorary award at +1000 (bet $100 to win $1000).
Baseball season is close: Cy Young markets are now available 👀 pic.twitter.com/7VNbRoqFTf
— DraftKings Sportsbook (@DKSportsbook) February 10, 2021
Related: Does a Trevor Bauer Deal End Justin Turner’s Time in Los Angeles?
Despite his decline, Kershaw is also on the list with +2000 odds which is good for 11th. It’s still hard to imagine that Kershaw could be seen as a darkshorwe candidate rather than a favorite. Nonetheless, after a strong 2020 season that saw him post a 1.73 ERA and 100 strikeouts in 77.3 innings, Bauer is in a good position to repeat. It’ll be interesting to see if he can live up to the high expectations he’s set as he has yet to produce back-to-back solid seasons. Yet, with a organization like the Dodgers who share Bauer’s interest in analytics, it may be very possible this time around.
Walker Buehler had his best start of the season last night 🔥 pic.twitter.com/n2F2MEtmEY
— Baseball Bros (@BaseballBros) August 22, 2020
As for Buehler, he’s not afraid of bright lights of any stadium, especially when it comes to the postseason. Unfortunately postseason performances aren’t taken into consideration as the award is always voted upon before the start of October baseball. Despite that, Buehler was able to post a 3.44 ERA last season even though the first couple of games were used as tuneup starts. As the season dragged out, everything started to click for him. If he can start hot out of the gates, few should stand in the way of his first Cy Young award in 2021.
