When the Dodgers signed free agent starting pitchers Zack Greinke, and Hyun-jin Ryu, and relievers Brandon league, and J.P. Howell, it looked like the Dodgers would have a great pitching staff, one not to be reckoned with. With Clayton Kershaw, Greinke, and Ryu the Dodgers on paper had one of the best starting rotations in all of Baseball. Too bad Baseball isn’t played on a piece of paper, but on the field.

Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Chris Capuano (35) throws against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

With the exception of Kershaw, Ryu, and Jansen, the Dodger pitching staff has been one of the worst in all of Baseball so far this season. Whether you want to blame it on the injuries, an ineffective bullpen, or under performances, that matters not. The fact remains is the Dodgers have one of the worst pitching staffs in Baseball, and it’s a huge reason why they are in last place in the National League West.

Most people like to blame the offense for the Dodger’s problems. Yes it has been atrocious. But it’s not just the offense that has let the team down. The pitching staff has also let them down in a huge way.

The Dodger pitching staff right now, currently ranks 21st out of the 30 MLB teams with a staff ERA of 4.25. The Dodger bullpen which was thought to be a team strength coming into the season has been one of the worst and most ineffective bullpens in all of Baseball. The pathetic Dodger relievers rank 27th out of the 30 teams with a 4.67 ERA. They’ve allowed the eighth most walks of any relief corps (43), and are 28th in opponent’s batting average against. Opposing hitters are batting .267 against Dodger relievers.

Want more proof the Dodger bullpen sucks? The Dodger relievers have allowed the sixth most hits in all of Baseball with 98, and have already blown six save opportunities this season.

The Dodgers bullpen with the exception of Kenley Jansen, and Paco Rodriguez has been a source of great frustration and disappointment all season long. Filled with over the hill veterans, expensive underperforming free agents, and wet behind the ear rookies. It’s a disorganized non-cohesive mess.

The big price free agents left hander J.P. Howell, and closer Brandon League have been merely mediocre. Howell has posted a  4.15 ERA, with 12 hits, and 7 walks allowed in just 13 innings. And League has a 4.35 ERA, and has allowed 12 hits in 12 innings pitched and opposing hitters a .255 batting average against.

Of course that’s not to say it’s been all of the bullpen’s fault. The starting rotation hasn’t been getting the job done as well. The Dodger starters have failed to get past the fourth inning in four of their last seven starts. By doing that Don Mattingly has been forced to use the bullpen early in games and it’s been killing the team. You can’t win games when your starters don’t last farther than four innings, and your bullpen is allowing five or six runs per game. Of course Mattingly’s bullpen usage has been equally as bad as the pitching has been, but that’s another story I won’t get into today.

Dodger closer Brandon League has been mediocre at beast this season-Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

The Dodgers have been besieged with injuries to their starting rotation. Zack Greinke, Chad Billingsley, Stephen Fife, and Ted Lilly are all out with injuries. Chris Capuano just returned from the disabled list, and Josh Beckett has been utterly ineffective. The bullpen has had injuries too. Scott Elbert hasn’t pitched at all this season, and Shawn Tolleson may not be back at all this season after having back surgery.

According to Eric Stephen, The back end of the Dodger rotation has been pretty awful. Josh Beckett, Chris Capuano, Lilly, Matt Magill, and Stephen Fife have combined to make 13 starts, have a collective ERA of 6.79, have averaged only 4.69 innings per start, and have only three quality starts between them. Just three! That is unholy bad. The entire rotation after Kershaw, and Ryu have been a complete mess. The Dodger pitching staff just plain sucks balls. And it doesn’t appear it’s going to get any better anytime soon. Yes, Zack Greinke will be back eventually, but that won’t help the putrid bullpen.

The late inning pitching problems are even worse than you may imagine. Dodger pitchers have a 13.17 ERA with runners in scoring position and have allowed a .285 batting average against to opposing hitters in those same scenarios. The Dodger pitching doesn’t just suck late in games though, they suck in the beginning of games as well. Dodger pitchers have a 6.39 ERA in the first inning, which ranks them at 27th in Baseball. Opposing hitters are batting .315 against Dodger pitching in the first innings. The Dodgers have eight pitchers with an ERA above 4.00. The Dodgers have a 6.23 ERA in the month of May.

This is pathetic and unacceptable. Where are Rick Honeycutt and Ken Howell? Are they doing anything to solve this problem? We can’t win with a pitching staff this bad. The Dodgers are paying Beckett 15.75 million dollars, Capuano 7 million, Brandon League is being paid 7.5 milllion, and Guerrier is owed 4.75 million dollars. Those are some well payed failures. The proof is in the results.

Something needs to be done and quick. The Dodger pitching staff is a sad disorganized mess. The Dodgers have always been a franchise centered around good pitching. Especially starting pitching. However that doesn’t seem to be the case this season, as it seems we are doomed to watch a 21st ranked pitching staff allowing nearly six runs per game. This is not what was promised to us before the season started.

The Dodgers better fix this now. I am serious about what I am saying here. Come on Pitching staff! Either step your game up, or go home.

Chad Billingsley has been a core part of the Dodgers since 2006. Photo: Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports

There’s been many critical injuries sustained by Dodgers over the decades. Russell Martin, the now Pittsburgh catcher, who ended his Dodger career with a attempt to avoid a tag at home plate versus the Padres. Zack Greinke, the Dodgers most expensive arm, broke his collarbone recently against those same N.L. West foes. Sandy Koufax pitched through pain and eventually retired. Pain which would under today’s conditions require Tommy John Surgery. Today we also learned that former Dodger pitcher Jon Ely will be undergoing Tommy John surgery this week.

Chad Billingsley most likely will need Tommy John surgery and this will figure him out of the entire 2013 season. Billingsley will see Dr. Neil ElAttrache Tuesday in Los Angeles, and we will find out the fate of the right-hander. It’s possible that it is just some soreness, but it could be that his Dodger career would be stalled while he undergoes the operation and rehabilitates his elbow. Losing Chad Billingsley for the entirety of the season weakens the Dodger rotation, but it also makes me melancholy to think Billingsley will not be a part of this Dodger season. He has been one of the core players in recent years.

The 28-year old from Defiance, Ohio was seemingly defiant when he opted to not have surgery on a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament last season. Bills instead treated the tear with platelet-rich plasma injections. Billingsley had some minor health issues this past Spring Training including a groin strain and a bruised finger. Neither of these stemmed from his elbow injury. Chad started two games for the Dodgers this season going 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA and 6 strikeouts and 5 walks in 12 innings pitched. In his first start after returning from the disabled list this April, Billingsley looked good. He only allowed one earned run on 5 hits in 6 innings versus San Diego. I was hopefully optimistic that Billingsley’s elbow had healed, and that he would have a normal and successful season.

Many thought that postponing the inevitable would just increase the time that he would be out of the game

Chad Billingsley will be missed amongst fans if he has to have season-ending surgery. Photo: Thomas Campbell-USA TODAY Sports

after the surgery. I said in an earlier post this Spring, is that anytime you can avoid major surgery is worth attempting. I think I’d get a thousand PRPs than go under the knife for Tommy John surgery. Have you seen the  videos of the surgery? It’s not a procedure to take lightly. Even when more and more pitchers are finding success after elbow reconstructive surgery, there’s still a risk involved. Losing Zack Greinke was a big blow to the team. By also losing Chad Billingsley, the Dodgers rotation is suddenly way less potent and a lot more problematic. When I saw that the Dodgers were to have a surplus of starting pitching going into this season (they had eight starting pitchers on the 25-man roster going into Opening Day, I for some reason thought in the back of my mind that something was going to spur the usage of all available pitching. It’s almost like we jinxed ourselves. Chris Capuano, who has had two Tommy John procedures, was waiting in the wings (the bullpen) to pitch when he was asked. Once Greinke was disabled, Capuano had the opportunity to seize. Once Cappy succumbed to injury after just a few innings of a disastrous start, the Dodgers who had already traded away starter Aaron Harang, were all of a sudden short on pitching.

Ted Lilly will make his season debut in New York on Wednesday. Lilly has been injured through most of last season was deemed not ready by the Dodgers a couple of weeks ago. Lilly now has to be ready, because the Dodgers have little wiggle room now. They had to resort to starting AAA-pitcher Stephen Fife on Sunday when Billingsley reported his elbow soreness. After Fife, the Dodgers would then go to Matt Magill. Magill is on the 40-man roster while top prospect Zach Lee is not. I do not expect to see Zach Lee this year on the big club other than perhaps a brief September call-up.

Chad Billingsley Photo by: Stacie Wheeler

The old saying “you can never have enough pitching” holds very true this season. Even when the Dodgers had too many starters, unexpected injury can befall more than one player at a time. Pitchers seem like they almost only have a few peak years in them before their velocity declines or their arm gives way to tearing. Major League pitchers put a lot of stress on their arms, especially power pitchers like Chad Billingsley.

Billingsley is one of the longest-tenured Dodgers now. The Dodgers drafted him back in 2003 in the 1st round (24th pick) out of Defiance High School. He made his Dodger debut on June 15, 2006 at the age of 21. He’s in his second year of 3-year of a $33 million deal. The Dodgers owe him $11 million for 2013, $12 million for 2014, and there’s a $14 million team option for 2015 or a $3 million buyout. I hope that Billingsley can come back and find himself pitching in Dodger Blue again.

Chad Billingsley is not only an exciting pitcher to watch as he uses a full arsenal of pitches, but he is also somewhat handy with a bat. Bills has a .140 career batting average with 2 homeruns over his career as a Dodger. Some may cite his inconsistencies and his inability to live up to the expectation which a no. 2 pitcher behind Clayton Kershaw is looked to to achieve. We were frustrated when Bills didn’t pitch the way we know he can pitch. We’ve seen him use his pitches brilliantly over the years as a Dodger, but other times he relied too much on his cutter instead of having confidence in his fastball.

If Chad Billingsley is lost for the season, we have then lost a core Dodger. Not being able to watch Billingsley pitch for the Dodgers this season will be disappointing, and I am pretty sure that teammates Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, and Clayton Kershaw feel the same.

Some say not too get emotionally involved with a player. Too late. I’m forever emotionally involved with this team.