The Los Angeles Dodgers have filled out the one remaining spot in their starting rotation, agreeing to terms with free agent left-hander Paul Maholm on a one-year contract worth $1.5 million. The deal is pending a physical.
The 31-year-old Maholm won’t set the world on fire, but he has been a dependable starter for the Atlanta Braves. In fact he had an excellent first half last season, before some wrist and elbow issues hurt his numbers in the second half. He didn’t allow a run until the 6th inning of his fourth start last year and had a 3.69 ERA at the end of June. Overall, he made 26 starts for the Braves going 10-11 with a 4.41 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 105 Strikeouts and 47 walks in 153 innings for Atlanta in 2013. In his career, Maholm is 76-95 with a 4.28 ERA over nine major league seasons.
The Dodgers had previously been interested in Masahiro Tanaka and Bronson Arroyo, but they signed with the New York Yankees and Arizona Cardinals respectively. The move for Maholm is all about filling out the depth in what should be amongst the best starting staffs in baseball.
Clayton Kershaw and Zach Greinke will continue to team to be a formidable one-two punch in the rotation. Hyun-Jin Ryu and Dan Haren hold down the third and fourth starter spots. However injury issues for Josh Beckett, and Chad Billingsley have left the fifth spot in the rotation as a question mark, and so the Dodgers attempt to address those questions with todays move.
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