The Dodgers agreed to a contract with Justin Masterson yesterday which will cause some peoples heads to explode… but others will get it. Low risk – high reward! Brandon Morrow – Low risk – high reward! MLB Trade Rumors said this:
It’s not clear at this point whether Masterson will be assigned to a minor-league roster or instead spend some time at extended spring training working with his new organization’s staff. The Dodgers have employed a fair number of pitchers in recent years who rediscovered their past form after stretches of injury-driven ineffectiveness, so perhaps there are some lessons to be conveyed to Masterson.
Currently, the Dodgers are the deepest team in baseball… and they ain’t done! What’s next? I haven’t a clue, but I hope it’s Brad Brach. Alex Wood and Austin Barnes should get that done. Lot’s of fans have wanted Brad Brach – he will be costly… but he will also be deadly!
Brach, Romo, Dayton and Baez in the pen, as set-up men would be a very deadly combination. Something’s coming – I can smell it!
So Ryu is joining a rotation of (allegedly) Kershaw, Maeda, Hill and McCarthy. He has worked hard to get back and some scouts say he looks as good as before. When Urias joins the team (whenever that is) one will drop off. Injuries or trades? The Dodgers have never had injuries… have they?
Kazmir will be working to get back to form – I have my doubts, but they have to try and his contract is very favorable. What is lost on people who dislike the signing is that the money is spread out over several years. That’s part of the appeal of signing him. Almost every team is looking for starters – they are in demand and he is one… or was one.
It should not be lost on us that Corey Seager could possibly start the season on the DL. I’m not saying he will, but his timing and swing may be off. He might need a little time to get comfortable… or not. See, we just don’t know. What we do know is that he is staying behind for the Freeway Series.
Wood goes today – it will be interesting to see how long he goes. Then Kershaw goes Wednesday – I think he will go 2 or 3 innings as he tunes up for Opening Day on April 3rd. Thursday, Friday and Saturday it’s the Freeway Series and we will see our share on minor leaguers, like Oaks, Buhler, White, Bellinger, Calhoun, Verdugo and others – at least I think most of them will play. Stay tuned.
Today’s Music
If the Dodgers are going to seek a RP like Brach, then we should deal from our strength, pitching, rather than dealing the only young major league ready catcher on the Dodgers roster IMO. Why not trade pitchers like Stripling, Sborz and toss in Hatcher. I have a good feeling about how well Barnes seems to handle pitchers and frame the zone.
Blanton resurrected his career as a reliever maybe Justin Masterson can as well. Add Morrow to that resurrected pitcher list and the Dodgers could wind up with a very good relief corp, or not.
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Barnes could be part of a trade. Mark has suggested this a number of times. Always Complete has suggested that the fact that Wilson is getting so much playing time hints that Barnes could be in a trade package.
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If Barnes were traded, Mark would like to get Brad Brach in return. The Dodgers could wind up with Masterson, Morrow, and Brach in the bullpen. That would be a major reconstruction. Jansen, Romo, Brach, Morrow, Masterson, Dayton, Liberatore.
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I doubt Masterson would open the season in the pen but he could make the team in May.
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Myself, I would rather trade Grandal than Barnes. if one of them were to be traded.
I’m curious why you would trade Grandal over Barnes. Can you expand on that?
Me too! Grandal, 28 yrs old, is in shape and going into his prime. Loved the 27 home runs last year.
I sometimes have horrible, horrible nightmares about the 2014 Dodgers catching trio. I dream I am falling into a never ending deep black hole, it is simply terrible.
Ellis, .191 BA, 3 HR
Butera, .188 BA, 3 HR
Federowicz, .113, 1 HR
Let’s keep both Grandal and Barnes!!
Now off to therapy!!
Ditto on the Grandal question
I have been a big Austin Barnes fan from the beginning, but I kind of feel the same way about him as I did Jose De Leon last year. Something leads me to be believe that he is not going to live up to his promise and I hope I am wrong. It’s just a “gut feeling” … nothing scientific, but I started feeling the same way about JDL last season.
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The other reason is that Kyle Farmer is close to being Austin Barnes, but the Dodgers also have Smith and Ruiz and maybe others who will be ready in a year or two. Yasmani Grandal is one of the TOP 5 catchers in baseball and has trained better than ever before and is in the best shape of his life. He has worked to improve as a RH hitter and the results this spring show it. I think he will hit in the middle-of-the -order this year and come close to 40 HR.
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Austin Barnes is an unknown. Barnes over Grandal? I can’t see it. Barnes has to prove he can hit MLB pitching – he has yet to do that! He’s not even close. If he showed me he could do that then there is reason to talk, but Grandal is a big-time power hitter in a plus position.
Mark’s 3rd paragraph pretty much matches my thinking. I don’t always like Grandal’s approach at the plate but he’s a very good player overall. It’s not like we’ve been waiting on Barnes as the heir apparent like we were with Seager.
I wouldn’t trade Grandal, he is having a good spring, and he just might hit for a better average this year.
He also tied for hitting the most HRs, on the team last year.
Mark
Is your doubt about Barnes, is that he won’t hit major league pitching?
MJ,
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That is part of it, but as I said, it’s just a gut feeling!
Thanks Mark!
My Batting Order:
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1. Forsythe 2B
2. Seager SS
3. Turner 3B
4. Grandal C (he will see better pitches here too and being a switch hitter helps a lot – he does have to hit .260)
5. Gonzalez/SVS 1B
6. Puig RF
7. Toles/Gutierrez LF
8. Pederson CF (he has to stay here until I see improvement)
I like that lineup but I wonder if we would be better off with Turner after Grandal versus after Seager?
Forsythe 2B
Toles/Gutierrez LF
Seager SS
Grandal C
Turner 3B
Gonzalez/SVS 1B
Puig RF
Pederson CF
Jimbo
That is a reasonable question, but I just think Turner hits better, in the third position.
It seemed like anytime Roberts hit him fourth, he didn’t do as well, for some reason.
And I think Turner is our most important hitter, and if you hit him fourth, he isn’t going to get as many at bats, as when he hits third.
you can’t have Grandal that high up in the lineup.
I agree Grandal’s a fine catcher, but let’s not pretend his warts are not warts. He doesn’t make enough consistent contact to get that many ABs.
Last year Grandal struck out almost 30% of the time. He is working with Turner Ward to lower that.
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This Spring is is 13%! That’s a big difference and I doubt he can keep it up… I do think he can hit 4th IF he can raise his BA above .260 and so far it looks like he can. I think hitting that high would also give him better pitches to hit.
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Joc Pederson struck out 32% of the time last year and he is currently at 30%.
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I still can’t “project” Pederson to be any better, but in this “Small Spring Sampling” I see improvement in Grandal.
What kind of thinking is this, other than oddly extremely optimistic.
You don’t think every Grandal’s been trying to strike out less for his entire career? Or do you think that’s it’s just this off-season that he thought “maybe I would do better if I hit more balls into play.”
He is who he is. He’s not a cleanup hitter.
It is optimistic but I have watched every AB of Yasmani’s this Spring. His body is different, he’s more agile behind the plate and his swing is different. When the Dodgers traded for him, I predicted he was a 25 home run hitter and told I was deranged. His injury set him back a year, but he has worked hard to remake his game. I’m not saying he will be .300 hitter, but I think he will take another step forward.
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At 28, Jose Bautista was a bust and hit 13 HR. The next year he hit 54 and changed his whole game. At 28, Justin Turner was not even tendered. At 29, he changed his career. At 28, Yasmani is better than either of those guys. Why can’t he improve?
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Yes, I am optimistic – I used to be about Barnes, but I am not anymore. Amy I the only one who sees a different player this year? I am calling “breakout season.” You may be right! We will find out because I am going out on a limb!
By the way, I did not see Turner and/or Bautista doing what they have done, but I learned from it and watch for signs.
The Masterson bashing has already started robustly. This is a MINOR LEAGUE CONTRACT. FAZ is not expecting Masterson to be Jharel Cotton/Frankie Montas/JDL/Grant Holmes/Chase De Jong. He is minor league organizational depth needed to slow down the bevy of pitching prospects at the lower levels. There are FAZ haters out there who will call them morons for what they had for breakfast. These are the same people that blasted FAZ for signing Blanton last year, and then blasted them again this year for not re-signing him. This is a good signing that will serve the intended purpose.
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While I like the idea of adding Brad Brach (more Alex Colome) I am not sure if there is any imminent move. I still believe that there are still enough questions about McCarthy and Ryu that will cause FAZ to delay any idea of moving Wood right now. Once Urias moves into the rotation, and Stewart rejoins the rotation at OKC, negotiations and trade talks should pick up. There are also a number of publications/pundits that forecast Stripling going to AAA to start the year. While I conjectured that one of Wood or Stripling would go down, my thought was that it would be Wood because of the remaining questions with the RHRP. The fun of trying to figure out what FAZ is going to do.
AC
I think you are right on about not trading Wood, right now.
Because we really don’t know how Ryu is going to hold up, and McCarthy, is always a question, whether it be an injury problem, or performance issues.
Amen! Can I get an Amen?
I just surfed a few other blogs comments and after reading the comments for about 5 minutes I had to stop. YIKES!!!! I lost 3 more digits on my IQ from that experience… and we all know I cannot afford that!
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It makes me appreciate you all here. You have a take and you do not suck!
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“LA DODGER TALK – Our commenters will improve your IQ!”
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Moron that later! Here I am with one of our commenters (I am the good-looking one):
Call me a shock jock, no wait, I despise shock jocks. They arer typically crude, I try not to be that. But, I have to admit that I was stirring the pot when I said I would rather trade Grandal than Barnes. There is some truth though to my preference of trading Grandal instead of Barnes.
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I think we all agree that Grandal has more trade value than Barnes. I would rather trade Grandal for Brach straight up than trading both Wood and Barnes for Brach. If the Dodgers could get Archer for Grandal and McCarthy, I would do that before I would trade Wood, Barnes, and a young pitcher for Archer.
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Barnes has always had a great eye and high OBP. His swing will get long from time to time so if he stops doing that, I think he will be a great #8 hitter. For me, that is a good place for a catcher. I worry that Grandal will get hurt, try to play through it, and he will more often be less than a healthy Grandal.
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Catcher is first a defensive position and Barnes and Wilson are defensive catchers.
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My bottom line is to keep both Grandal and Barnes.
TB would ONLY want prospects for Archer. If they trade him, it’s full on rebuild and they would want Alvarez, Buehler and Calhoun.
If Forsythe rakes this year, and JDL struggles, TB may want even more just to be made whole on the last deal…
Okay, since Grandal is a free agent after the 2018 season it would be best to keep him through 2018 and then go with Smith/Ruiz and Barnes. But it seems to me that if Grandal and Wood can’t get Archer then maybe we are over hyping Grandal.
AC I agree with you about Masterson and Wood. A low risk high reward signing that may or may not work out but won’t cost much or block anyone. Anyone can be traded for the right return but I prefer Wood is not dealt now. If I were another team I would ask for him though. Barnes just not sure what he really is yet but would not break my heart if he was dealt. Kike, SVS, Fields, Hatcher, even Avilan would not be missed by me. McCarthy, Ethier, Kazmir…well I can dream. Puig would bring the biggest haul if he gets off to a good start IMO.
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I really like how the final cuts are lining up, the rotation and bullpen will be solid. The lineup is mostly set except LF and the bench will not hurt them. I think the only unknown variables are Seager’s health and who wins between Wood and McCarthy. I think McCarthy for now, Wood to the pen, and Stripling stays until Baez is ready. If it’s Wood then McCarthy to the pen and possibly Stripling to OKC.
I think Masterson/Morrow fit in the same category. Possible bullpen. If they are ok with spending the rest of their careers in the minors, with a chance for another shot at the big time, why not? If nothing else, the team helps to improve them, and then they get traded. Probably a cheap bullpen piece. I doubt if either one gets a shot at starting. Is Pederson still doing the Pederson Shuffle in the batter’s box?
I get a kick out of this idea that the Dodgers could trade players that they don’t want or need and get another teams’ good players. If you wouldn’t make the trade if you were the other teams’ GM, why in the world would they? If Brad Brach is all of that, why would they want Barnes/McCarthy/Wood/Kazmir or other spare parts?
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Justin Masterson is not likely going to darken the Dodgers’ door. He hasn’t been any good in 3 years. If he turns out to be good then fine, but why worry about it?
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I can’t understand all of the time given to the question of whom the Dodgers will have as backup catcher. Grandal is going to start unless he is hurt. Barnes will probably be the backup. He is by all accounts a solid defender who has good on base skills and minimal power who hasn’t done much in limited big league action. Will he be any good? I don’t know. Wilson’s record says he is just another long-term back-up catcher so I would rather see if Barnes can get the job done, but I’m not going to lose sleep over the Dodgers’ back-up catcher.
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Grandal isn’t going to bat 4th most of the time. I expect that Gonzalez will probably get the nod, or Turner will on days he doesn’t bat 3rd.
Rick, I suppose people have talked about the backup catcher position because of all the at bats Wilson got this spring or, for the same reason that you just wrote a 5 line paragraph on the backup catcher position.
why would they want Barnes/McCarthy/Wood/Kazmir or other spare parts?
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Answer: They would not want Kazmir, but if McCarthy is healthy he could be a part of a deal with Wood and Barnes.
The Orioles could use a good young Catcher and they sorely need starters. Alex Wood could possibly be a #2 for them . They have a great hitting team and they almost certainly lose Machado in a year, so if they want to try and win NOW, they need more pitching.
If the Orioles need a good young catcher and you think Farmer is close to Barnes then add Farmer to Wood. A young controllable SP that would be with Tillman their #4 and #3 without him at the worst should be worth as much as Brach when they have Givens. O’day, and Britton.
I was thoroughly unimpressed with Wilson at spring training. Especially his arm. As much as the Dodgers value versatility and being all-in this year, I can’t seem them moving Barnes for and going with an over the hill player like Wilson instead.
Correct. I’m not sure, though, that FAZ would be trading valuable pieces for relievers. I don’t think they’ve really shown a willingness to spend a lot on established relievers. Yeah, they were about to land Chapman before his shooting spree, and they surprised a lot of us by signing Kenley, I think they prefer to stockpile lots of low risk/high reward types and hope a few stick to the wall. Blanton was a pretty low risk signing that didn’t cost much and payed off. Last year Libertore was great until hurt, and they have some young arms that could provide them depth and maybe one or two actually excel. It’s not a bad strategy, and we get to keep Barnes, and Wood…and I think McCarthy will get better as the year goes on. If he gets anywhere close to where he was when the Dodgers signed him, and he’s the fifth starter? Wow!
BTW, guess who has the top ranked bullpen to start the season?
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/2017-positional-power-rankings-relief-pitchers-1-15/
Check out the starting rotation rankings, too.
Good stuff, Patch.
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I don’t it’s so much that FAZ won’t pony up a big deal for a reliever, as much as it is long-term deals block the stream of youngsters that is starting to flow.
I just heard that Morrow would not make the opening day roster and of course, Urias won’t!
It sounds like Morrow is staying with the organization though which is good in my opinion.
Morrow didn’t look like he had much when he tried going a 2nd day in a row yesterday. Gave up 1 run and some hard hit outs. I’m glad they can hang on to him at AAA for 2 months.
1. Forsythe 2B
2. Seager SS
3. Turner 3B
4. Grandal C (he will see better pitches here too and being a switch hitter helps a lot – he does have to hit .260)
5. Gonzalez/SVS 1B
6. Puig RF
7. Toles/Gutierrez LF
8. Pederson CF (he has to stay here until I see improvement)
Completely agree Mark, especially about Joc, I want the kid to move up but like you said, he has to prove it. Oh baby, it is almost here!
Mark, which days are best for you to meet for a brewski the rest of the week?
Friday or Saturday
Forsythe
Toles
Seager
Turner
Gonzo
Puig
Grandal
Joc
Although I would prefer to flip Toles and Forsythe myself but it appears that they’ve given the leadoff spot to Forsythe.
I also heard that Buehler is going to pitch today, not in the Freeway Series.
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Neither game is televised!
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Ignorant Savages!
Damn! Let’s see it’s Tuesday. Maybe he will look so good that they will give him an inning in the final game of the Freeway Series. It’s been quiet on the Alvarez news this spring.
Wood is pitching like he wants to go the AA.
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3 IP – 8 Hits – 4 Runs – 5.02 ERA
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Kike playing like he wants to go to Low A – .194 BA
Deep down Wood has to know that it’s going to be hard to get back in the rotation with Urias joining the rotation at the end of April.
Buehler gives up a bomb. Segedin’s 5 errors this spring isn’t helping his cause with his roster battle with SVS. Wilson’s 4th dinger is helping his cause though.
Grant Holmes’ line looks much worse. So far 0.1 nnings , 4h , 1BB, 1HR 4er
Will Smith just hosed a runner (Renda) trying to go to 3rd on a pitch that got away from him. I’m going to start paying more attention to this catching prospect.
He hit a home run as well. He can run. Bellinger at first and Smith at catcher puts some running speed into the lineup where least expected.
Hawkeye – I like your lineup above.
Toles gives us some speed.
Thank You. I would like to see Seager and Turner get the opportunity to drive in more runs. I think Forsythe can hit anywhere in the lineup. If Puig has a good year, I think I would change it, but we’re all in wait and see mode with #66.
It’s still Spring, but…
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McCarthy gets the 5th starter job over Wood?
Romo not ready for the season – starts on the DL with Baez?
Wilson still goes to the minors?
SVS still gets the nod over Segedin?
Thompson starts the year in AAA?
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Anyone betting on which starting pitcher goes on the DL 1st?
Anyone betting on how many starting pitchers the Dodgers go through this year? (I am betting on 12)
Anyone betting on whether Puig ends the season wearing the Blue?