AP PHOTO
The Dodgers placed Clayton Kershaw on the 10 day D.L yesterday with biceps tendinitis. Kershaw is the latest Dodger to be bitten by the injury bug. He joins Corey Seager, Hyun Jin Ryu and Justin Turner on the D.L. Seager needs Tommy John surgery and is out for the season. Ryu and Turner will eventually return.
If you own Kershaw, you need to find a suitable replacement. It is tough this time of year because there aren’t many quality starting pitchers available on the waiver. wire.
Have no fear Kershaw owners. There is one name you should look at. Walker Buehler is the Dodgers top pitching prospect. Buehler came out of the bullpen last season but has returned to the starting rotation this season and has made three starts thus far. Friday night was his most impressive start. He no hit the Padres for six innings.Â
In those three starts, Buehler has been pretty good. He currently sports a 1.13 ERA and has racked up 19 strikeouts in those starts. Buehler has a three pitch arsenal (fastball, curveball, slider) and he can use any of those pitches at any time in the count to get a hitter out. Command has been bit of an issue for Buehler in his career. He has surrendered seven walks in three starts thus far. He needs to keep that number down.
You can go in a myriad of directions here but with Buehler widely available in both ESPN (40% ownership) and Yahoo leagues (59% ownership), he is worth taking a chance on. I have in my two standard leagues. I think he is in the Dodgers rotation permanently. The only issue with Buehler is, he could be on an innings limit so you might not get an entire season out of him.