Now that the smoke has cleared, we can see pretty clearly that things have changed. Let’s consider what has happened or likely will happen: Craig Kimbrel is gone (YAY); Justin Turner’s option was not picked up; Andrew Heaney is likely gone; David Price allegedly retired; Danny Duffy is likely gone; Jimmy Nelson is likely gone; Blake Treinen is not a factor in 2023; Chris Martin is on the market and…
Catchers Not Named Campanella
One of our posters said he would like to see a story on Rube Walker. Rube was Campy’s caddy for several years. But I thought it would be more interesting to profile all of the catchers who played second fiddle to the best catcher in Dodger history. Mike Piazza would have easily been that guy had he not been traded. With a bat anyway. He was Campy’s equal when it…
Drew Avans -33rd Rounder Making His Mark
With the Dodgers looking to possibly lower payroll to be under the competitive balance threshold for the coming season, there are those that believe that the system is stacked enough with solid prospects to revamp the roster with talent that would keep the ball club competitive and allow them let go of the dead weight of some heavy-laden contracts. In a few days we will probably have an idea which direction…
Conventional Wisdom is Not Always Right
Dave Roberts Conventional Wisdom: Fire Dave Roberts The more things change, the more they stay the same. Many Dodger Fans blame Dave Roberts for the loss in Game 4 of the NLCS because he took Tyler Anderson out after five excellent innings. Anderson had only allowed two hits and thrown 86 pitches, and the Dodgers were ahead 2-0! What if Roberts had let Tyler Anderson pitch the 6th inning? Maybe…
Narratives, Lies and Fake News
Sometimes when certain voices are elevated, they have the power to do a lot of damage. We see this in a lot of “news” articles these days and we certainly see this during election season with all of the attack ads from politicians on both sides of the aisle. In an effort to keep this a-political, I’m not going to go into any specifics when it comes to politics. Instead,…
The Humanitarian Efforts of Roberto Clemente
With the recent attention to Justin Turner being awarded the Roberto Clemente Award, I felt the need to discuss a bit of the background regarding the Hall of Famer who gave his life to a humanitarian cause for whom the award is named. Justin and his wife Kourtney have been instrumental in aiding homeless veterans, the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, Boys and Girls Clubs, various food banks, and more….
The Brooklyn Connection is Almost Gone
I was wondering the other day how many players who took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers are still living. According to what I have read, there are only nine. The most prominent is Sandy Koufax. Sandy is in his 80’s and when seen at the playoffs, he looked pretty good for a man his age. A couple of the names on the list would be completely foreign to most…
Tommy Lasorda and the Phillie Phanatic
After a lot of seriousness in the playoff chase maybe it’s time for a little levity, and you can easily do that by bringing up former Dodger skipper Tommy Lasorda. With the Phillies in the World Series, I was thinking back at the rivalries the Dodgers had with that ballclub. We faced them in the playoffs in ’77, ’78, ’83, ’08 and ’09. There is history between us. There were…
Five Problems Facing the Dodgers
Every Dodger fan has their own idea of how to “fix” the Dodgers or how to build them for the playoffs. First of all, the Dodgers don’t need “fixed” – they won 111 games and picked a horrible time to turn cold. After leading MLB in hitting with RISP with a .272 BA (Houston was 2nd with a .270 BA), the Dodgers proceeded to hit .147 during their short time…
5 Point Offseason Plan
Here’s the offseason plan that the Dodgers should do to return to glory… Get a new Bench Coach Change the Hitting Philosophy Player Personnel – 2 Key Moves Batting Order – Back to Old School Innings Eater – Workhorse Starter Other than the epic failure of getting embarrassed by little brother this past season, there’ a ton to like about this team. They generally field very well, especially in the…