Letters to Sports: Rich get richer as the Dodgers sign another star pitcher

It’s a brilliant idea, the starting rotation with eight players. Think about it: Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler, Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May and now Blake Snell.

Talk about a battery of weapons, and no one has to play more than 20 games from May to September. At six innings per game, that’s no more than 120 innings in the regular season, leaving the top five fresh for October, a rested bullpen and Walker getting the ball when it matters most.

Peter Maradudin
Seattle

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When the Dodgers defeated the Yankees in the 1963 World Series, every player in the starting lineup, with the exception of Yankees import Bill Skowron, was a homegrown Dodger. Now, 61 years later, only two players, Will Smith and Gavin Lux, fit that description. It’s not that Ohtani is an advocate for change, as Dylan Hernández suggests, it’s the financial resources that have turned the sport into a tragic annual spectacle of the haves and have-nots.

Bill Waxman
Simi Valley

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I know I’m dating myself, but I remember the two greatest pitchers in 1966 were Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale. Both star pitchers were waiting for contracts worth $100,000 each. Both pitchers ultimately won that argument with the Dodgers.

Fast forward to today’s news. Blake Snell’s five-year, $182 million contract works out to about $36 million per season. Assuming Snell is able to reach his best year of 180 innings pitched, his earnings would be $200,000 per inning. In a best-case scenario, Snell will make as much in just one inning as Koufax and Drysdale did in an entire season combined. Oh, and by the way, in 1965, both Koufax and Drysdale threw more than 300 innings.

Fred Gober
Playa Vista

A victory for letter writers

Bill Plaschke, in his typical hyperbolic prose, called the Trojans’ win over the Bruins a “massive victory.” In fact, the win was far from tremendous: The Bruins’ faltering defense held the Trojans to just one touchdown, while their mediocre offense racked up more passing and rushing yards than the Trojans while averaging more yards per carry and a higher pass completion rate had. These statistics suggest that the Trojans were simply lucky to prevail.

Noel Johnson

Glendale

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When Lincoln Riley was signed, my dream of the Trojans’ return to glory didn’t include a spot in the Maybelline Mascara Bowl against the Scottsdale Artichokes. Oh, Clay Helton, we barely knew you.

Denys Arcuri

Indian

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The “other school,” which Bruins coach DeShaun Foster downgraded as less intelligent than UCLA, somehow fooled his wiseguys with a trick play to help win the city championship.

Who is smarter now?

Brian Robinette

Van Nuys

Signs of start times

I thought that UCLA and USC joining the Big Ten would improve scheduling by having more games available at an earlier date. But it looks like nothing has changed. Gone are the days when rival fans would get together in the afternoon, watch the game together, taunt each other and see who had the last laugh. Now we watch it alone and sometimes don’t even finish the game until 11:30 at night.

Luis Cruz
La Mirada

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What’s wrong with this picture? I watch the Cal and Arizona State home games on TV at 3:30pm EST, but have to wait until 10:30am to watch USC vs. UCLA.

Mitchell Cohen
East Windsor, New Jersey

Desirable trainers

In one season, under new defensive coordinator Jesse Minter and with the same personnel, the Chargers’ defense has transformed from a train wreck to a top 10 in the NFL. Given that Minter is now firmly rooted in Southern California, would it be so far-fetched for Minter to become USC’s new head coach after Lincoln Riley negotiates a buyout to join the Dallas Cowboys? Minter also has experience coaching in the Big Ten.

Eric Weinsheink
Beverly Hills

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I read Sam Farmer’s excellent article about coaches Jim and John Harbaugh, “Brothers in Arms Keep Rivalry on the Sidelines.” I concluded that the Chargers have the wrong Harbaugh.

Vaughn Hardenberg
Westwood

Brake show

Here’s what coach JJ Reddick said about the Lakers’ loss to Denver: “We stopped playing.” Are they too tired after 15 games? Are they not paid enough? Is Reddick paid enough to explain what that means?

Both home losses to Orlando and Denver came against teams that had played the night before, and Orlando’s best players were sidelined. I don’t understand it. I never just stopped working. These spoiled millionaires earn more in one game than most fans make in a year.

Can someone explain to the fans what’s going on with the Lakers?

Steven Lee Jacobs
Oxnard

Arte and the angels

Despite the optimism expressed in some articles about the Angels last week, nothing will happen that will improve their playoff chances until Arte Moreno sells the team. It doesn’t matter what Mike Trout can or can’t do, nor how the new pitcher performs. As long as Arte is at the helm, the Angels are doomed.

Susan Stann
Temecula

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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.