Two days ago, the Dodgers acquired three players for 6′ 8″ LHP Bryan Hudson. More about those players in a minute. But first, Bryan Hudson was signed by the Cubs for $1.1 million in 2015 as the 82nd overall pick in the draft. He flamed out as a starter because he had no dominant pitch while his fastball was 93 MPH TOPS. He has difficulty controlling his other pitch –…
Well, here we go. The deadline has passed. Which teams improved their lot the most, and who fanned? The Dodgers, after their initial flurry of activity last week, were expected to be in on just about every good starting pitcher out there. What ended up happening was not what the fans wanted. The Astros get Verlander from the Mets. Although the Dodgers were thought to be in on Verlander, I…
I have always wondered about the predictability of having a closer and why teams have simply gone in the direction of having a 9th inning man, no matter what the situation was. If you really think about it, throwing that “stopper” out there for the final three outs night after night is probably not the best managerial strategy. It may be for teams with limited bullpen resources, but not with…
The Dodgers have 101 wins, and the fact that they were the quickest team to win 100 games in the past 21 years should be duly noted. There are seventeen games left, and it is a foregone conclusion that the Dodgers will set an All-Time Franchise Record for wins. They hardly care. Yes, it will be nice, but the entire focus is on winning the World Series. I hate to…
I had already started this blog post when Whistling Ranger (welcome to LADT) posted this: “I look for the Dodgers to concentrate on roster management in the offseason. There is extreme competition for the 40-man roster. Look for them to trade older players for younger, promising players that they don’t have to protect. If they don’t, they will lose some through the rule 5 draft or have to DFA them.”…
BTW: I suggest reading that book! Defensive Efficiency Ratio is a statistic used to evaluate team defense by finding out the rate of times batters reach base, on balls put in play. Basically, for every ball hit into the field of play, how likely is the defense to convert that into an out? The formula for Defensive Efficiency Ratio is: 1 – ((H + ROE – HR) / (PA –…
Squat, Zilch, Nada. For guys like Tomas Tellis, Andy Burns, Eddy Alvarez, Jason Martin, and Stefan Romero, this is like a playoff game. They know that they have no chance… but who knows – it feels like it might (this is their thinking), so they are all in. In reality, they are “organizational depth.” They will be parked at AAA, just in case of a disaster. These are “salt of…
There is no denying that Freddie Freeman is one of the best players in baseball. He is a stone-cold hitter and would really help the Dodgers, this year… but at what cost? Freddie Freeman will be 33 this season. Do you really want him blocking 22-year-old Miguel Vargas who really could be ready later this year, but who really needs to play 1B in the majors? The Dodgers have put…
Before I delve into the fact that the Dodgers have been named by Baseball America as the #8 best organization in all of baseball I have something else to say. More about that later. NOTE: IF YOU DON’T LIKE THE POLITICAL PART, JUST SCROLL DOWN TO THE GOOD STUFF! In the past, I used to ban political discussions, but it did not stop people. They would still do it with…
I continue to read about the sensational LAD prospects. Mark has the Dodgers as a top 10 MiLB organization while no major publication does. After the loss of Keibert Ruiz and Jo Jo Gray, the publications dropped them to mid-level (around 15). Certainly not bad, but also not elite. Just this week DodgerLover said the team needs to clear the deck for the next wave of prospect talent. Is there…