Manager Don Mattingly and the Los Angeles Dodgers have had to cobble together the back end of the starting rotation made up of rookies, cast offs, and veterans acquired by trade after Hyun Jin-Ryu and Brandon McCarthy went down early in the season. The Dodgers ran the gamut of pitchers from veteran arms, young arms, and rebuilt arms from the scrap heap to the independent leagues and all walks of the professional baseball community. It seems like everyone had the opportunity to nail down those last two starting spots from Scott Baker and Brandon Beachy to Ian Thomas and Zach Lee.
After Greinke and Kershaw, the oft-injured Brett Anderson has managed to stay healthy and productive this season and hold down the third spot in the rotation. The Dodgers eventually settled on Mat Latos and Alex Wood for their final two starters. Mat Latos gets another opportunity in the rotation, facing the Chicago Cubs tonight and this might be his last opportunity as the Dodgers head into the stretch with a 2 1/2 game lead over the San Francisco Giants in the National League West.
The Dodgers can expand their roster to 40 players on September 1 and if Latos has another bad outing, I look for the Dodgers to insert Mike Bolsinger back into the rotation. He was by far the most successful of the Dodgers open pitching tryouts throughout the balance of the season.
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