Primed for a Regression?

Last year was an incredible year for the Dodgers organization. After replacing longtime manager Don Mattingly with rookie coach Dave Roberts, the Dodgers flourished winning their first NL pennant since 1988. Every move orchestrated by the front office seemed to work brilliantly.

When top prospect Joc Pederson couldn’t hack it in center field, in stepped long time utility infielder Chris Taylor with a career year. After being cast off by multiple teams for failing to make a mark in anyone’s rotation, Brandon Morrow made a name for himself as Kenley Jansen’s setup man with an under 2 ERA in the bullpen. Fans and pundits alike questioned why the Dodgers were hoarding starters like they were preparing to start another squad. In the end, they were correct as Rich Hill, Alex Wood, Scott Kazmir, Hyun Jin Ryu, Julio Urais, Clayton Kershaw, and Brandon McCarthy all spent time on the DL.

This year has not started off smoothly mainly because of this; their best player not named Clayton Kershaw, Justin Turner, just had his wrist broken by an errant pitch. There is no estimate for his return yet. This news shouldn’t be as bad as it sounds for a team coming off a 104 win season but when you stop to think about how often things went surprisingly right about the 2017 season, there is bound to be some kind of karma regression.

Chris Taylor will certainly have some sort of worse year after hitting a career best last year. Matt Kemp is back in town after being exiled for four years and he hasn’t gotten better. Morrow is now a Cub and the bakers dozen rotation still is riddled with injury red flags.

When you combined those factors with the simple fact that last year the NL West had three playoff teams in it, it can be easy to see why the health and speedy recovery of Justin Turner is so important.