Imagining a ‘bullpen’ start for Dodgers in the stretch

“We are not desperate!”

Ah, yes, you are.

“We are not panicking.”

No, but you are making everybody else damn nervous.

Manager Don Mattingly said the Dodgers are considering a “bullpen” start, and after Carlos Frias’ disastrous fill-in for Hyun-Jin Ryu on Monday, you’d best take this very seriously.

That the Dodgers are having serious back-end rotation problems heading into the final week of the regular season while clinging to a two-game lead over the Giants, should come as a shock to absolutely no one. I cautioned against hanging too tightly to top prospects when this was a team that had the potential to win it all before the trade deadline, but for some completely unfathomable reason, upper management ignored me. When will they learn?

So now Ryu is down and the Dodgers are reduced to two reliable starters in Clayton Kershaw and Zach Greinke, one erratic one in Dan Haren, one awful one in Roberto Hernandez and that empty fifth spot.

And the solution is to cobble together a bullpen start?

Yep.

It’s one of the wonders of the expanded September rosters -- something Mattingly normally opposes -- that the Dodgers can seriously consider this option. The Dodgers currently have 18 pitchers on their active roster.

If they go the bullpen route, it’s more likely they would decide to do it Sunday in the series finale in Chicago, rather than risk it in the opener Monday in their showdown series against the Giants. That way Haren could be held back a day and start Monday. Or would you rather have Frias?

The Dodgers could actually start Frias on Sunday, since he only threw 38 pitches Wednesday. You know, that start where he allowed a record 10 hits without getting three outs.

Now you could just dismiss that as one of those high-altitude Denver catastrophes, though you should best remember Frias spent most of the season pitching at 4,700 feet in Albuquerque. Or you could just start him Sunday with a very short leash, telling him to go all out, the entire bullpen is set behind him. Only he was throwing 96 Wednesday, so it’s not like he was holding back.

Yet even if Frias doesn’t start Sunday -- and at the moment Mattingly said Haren is still scheduled -- the Dodgers have plenty of relievers to make it work without him.

Mattingly could try to get an inning out of each reliever and not burn his bullpen for the Giants. Going alphabetically, he could use Pedro Baez, Daniel Coulombe, Scott Elbert, Yimi Garcia, J.P. Howell, Chris Perez, Paco Rodriguez, Brian Wilson and Jamey Wright each an inning.

That still leaves fan-favorite Brandon League and closer Kenley Jansen, not to mention extra-inning reserves Kevin Correia and Frias.

So in theory, it could work. And some kind of mixture of the above likely will go Sunday, depending on how much Mattingly has to use his bullpen leading up to it.

I’d probably favor starting Frias and seeing how many innings you can get out of him before turning it over to the bullpen.

It’s like a zillion light-years away from ideal and certainly smacks of desperation. But you do the best with what you have. And this is what the Dodgers have.

Twitter: @stevedilbeck