While a lot of the attention around baseball is on the Houston Astros, one footnote in the matter almost gets lost. Notably, Alex Wood has returned to the Los Angeles Dodgers on one-year free agent contract.
And why is Wood relevant to any decent Houston Astros discussion? First and foremost, Wood was the only pitcher to defeat the 2017 Astros in the postseason in their home park.
Now, Wood joins David Vassegh of AM570 LA Sports to talk more about the subject. Also, he talks about his return to the Dodgers’ organization in 2020.
.@Awood45: "I think the casual fan doesn't understand the severity of what has taken place.
..If you have decent signs and execute, its probably still going to work. When they know every pitch that is coming, that's a different scenario." (@THEREAL_DV) https://t.co/hzcs0fqf0B
— AM 570 LA Sports (@AM570LASports) January 18, 2020
Undeniably, I have seen a lot of speculation amongst fans that Wood could serve as a good left-handed reliever. However, Wood says that he came back to Los Angeles to be a starting pitcher.
“I love LA and love the Dodgers, but if I was coming back to pitch in the bullpen it really wouldn’t be an option for me.”
Of course, this is the first time that anyone has confirmed the lefty’s role for the 2020 season. He will be in the starting rotation, or at least fighting for a spot in spring training.
Next, Wood talks about the seriousness of the situation in regards to the Astros’ sign-stealing.
“All I will say about what I tweeted is the casual fan doesn’t understand the gravity and severity of what has taken place. I know that 99 percent of fans understand the gravity of the steroid era and the impact it had on the game, with the level of cheating that it is. In my personal opinion, what is currently going on is even more serious between the two things. Knowing what pitch is coming – that’s the whole game – that’s the chess match. The game is to mess hitters’ timing up, which is impossible to do if you know what is coming”
Finally, as player after player weighs in on this issue; it begins to sink in just how bad it was. It becomes very concrete and apparent that the 2017 Dodgers – no matter how great they were – were facing a stacked deck in the 2017 World Series. In some ways, it’s remarkable that the Dodgers came as close as they did to winning that title after all.
NEXT: A Glance at LA’s Upgraded Starting Pitching Depth
