Since the start of the off-season, there has been a lot of talk about the Dodgers, who are stealing the show by getting their hands on many big names. Obviously, Shohei Ohtani stole the show, but Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow also made their way to Los Angeles.
We're talking about three guys who many people believe have the potential to change the face of the Dodgers. With Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Will Smith already there as a bonus, it's starting to get crowded.
They are not alone in the world in the National, that said: the Braves are equipped to stay up late too, but that means that we will be entitled to good duels.
But today, I want to talk to you about one of the Dodgers' acquisitions this winter, Tyler Glasnow for reasons a little different from what we normally hear about him.
Because in my opinion, Glasnow is a grossly overrated player. And I would even dare to say that he is among the most overrated players in the Majors. Let me explain.
When the Dodgers got their hands on Glasnow and gave him a four-year contract extension (making him under contract for the next five seasons), pretty much everyone screamed in engineering, saying that he and Yamamoto were going to be real premier pitchers at THERE.
And even when we look at the rankings of the best pitchers for 2024, we notice that Glasnow is clearly seen as being part of the top-10 of the league.
And while Glasnow has everything it takes to excel and his ceiling is certainly high… it's Really big to say such a thing in my opinion.
After all, we're talking about a guy who is now 30 years old and has never pitched more than 120 innings in the majors. The best skill is availability, as the expression goes, and Glasnow doesn't have that.
And even worse: in the two seasons in which Glasnow pitched more than 100 innings, the gunner was… ordinary.
ERAs of 4.27 and 3.53 are great, but is he really worthy of being considered a top 10 pitcher in the sport?
Glasnow has had some great career moments, sure, but right now he's still living on his reputation for having a few great starts in 2019, a good (very short) season in 2021, and being the big guy of the Chris Archer transaction.
Oh, and also about throwing hard. But that, in 2024, is no longer really rare among pitchers… and what's more, he throws a little less hard than in the past.
THE WAR is not a perfect statistic, but in the case of Glasnow, I think it gives a good portrait: in his career (eight seasons), he has a WAR of 7.1. For comparison, Gerrit Cole maintained a WAR of 7.4 in 2023 only.
And if we continue to use Cole as a comparison, he has a WAR of 15.6 over the past three years, which is more than double Glasnow's 7.1 career.
It's not impossible that the Dodgers' black magic will ensure that Glasnow is miraculously healthy for 162 games in 2024 and has success, but when you look at the big right-hander's track record, it's hard to see that. which makes him one of the 10 best pitchers in the league.
And to those who will tell me that “he would be if he had always been healthy”, I will remind you that he was “correct” during his two “complete” seasons. Until he proves it to me, I'll be skeptical.
I hope Glasnow can make me lie in 2024 and the years to come, but in my opinion, he is, at best, a good #2 pitcher or a solid #3 pitcher in a rotation. Add to all that him being repeatedly injured and I have a hard time seeing the Dodgers' “home run.”
The Rays, who got promising Ryan Pepiot in return, shouldn't be disappointed in trading a guy who lives on his reputation rather than his stats, in any case.
