I have always had a fascination with the development of baseball players. It started when coaching youth ball, and continued on to high school baseball. But what happens after a player gets drafted and signs that contract? Are these young men receiving the best possible instruction? Are the teams creating an environment for those players to maximize their abilities? How exactly do you accomplish that? Strictly through Sabermetrics? Is it done through “old school” instruction? Player development is very crucial to the success of any organization or team. This would apply to non-sports organizations as well. A fact to which I’m sure Mark could attest, in the operation of his company. This is why teams do and should invest significant resources to enhance their players’ development. Gone are the old days, where teams could just go out and give large bonuses to sign the most talented players.
Some consider player development to be the holy grail of baseball. Yet, is there a simple definition of player development? Not particularly. Former General Manager Farhan Zaidi called it “the toughest job in baseball.” Gabe Kaplar ( a very innovative man) thought the primary responsibility in player development was “developing the player as a human being.” Among the many ideas he brought to the Dodgers, was serving organic food in minor league clubhouses, building a chicken coop at Camelback Ranch, having leadership retreats for prospects, and hiring at least one Spanish‑speaking coach to every minor league staff. That may not seem like much, but if you’re a teenager away from home for the first time, or it’s your first time in the United States, having a supportive structure in place could be paramount to that young man gaining his maximum potential. According to Kapler: “I think building a deep farm system is the result of effort across an entire organization, and it’s not just Player Development. In other words, baseball operations, analytics, research & Development, scouting, player development, even in many ways marketing, all play an integral role in building the Player Development system.”
Presently, every baseball organization has a Director of Player Development. The Dodgers have Alan Slater as the Director, Baseball Development and Scouting and Will Rhymes as its Director of Player Development. But what exactly, do they do? I will over the next few posts (not on consecutive days) attempt to answer this and several other questions about player development. As I began to research the field of player development, I was immediately struck by how incredibly complex this subject is, and how it involves the collaborative effort of hundreds of people working many different jobs, all with the goal of making players better. In this post, I’m just going to introduce you to a couple of the different departments that you might not be familiar with. For example, while a director of scouting is self-explanatory (although the details of his job might not be), how many of you know what the Director of Quantitative Analysis does.
This is the Dodgers’ current organizational chart for Baseball Operations(not including Stan Kasten or Andrew Friedman):
Senior Vice President, Baseball Operations – Josh Byrnes
Vice President & Assistant General Manager – Brandon Gomes
Vice President & Assistant General Manager – Jeffrey Kingston
Vice President, Amateur & International Scouting – David Finley
Vice President, International Scouting – Ismael Cruz
Director, Player Personnel – Galen Carr
Director, Amateur Scouting – Billy Gasparino
Director of Specialized Performance Programs – Eric Potterat
Director, Baseball Administration – Ellen Harrigan
Director, Baseball Development and Scouting – Alex Slater
Director, Baseball Resources – Duncan Webb
Director, Quantitative Analysis – Scott Powers
Director, Quantitative Research – Daniel Cervone
Director, Player Development – William Rhymes
Assistant Director, Player Development – Matt McGrath
Senior Advisor, Baseball Operations – Gerry Hunsicker
Special Assistant to the GM – Pat Corrales
Special Assistant to the General Manager – Raul Ibanez
Special Assistant, Baseball Operations – Joel Peralta
Special Assistant, Player Personnel -Jose Vizcaino
Senior Scouting Advisor, Dominican Republic – Ralph Avila
Manager, Research and Development – Megan Schroeder
Manager, Baseball Systems – Brian McBurney
Senior Developer II, Baseball Systems – Jonathan Funkhouser
Technical Lead, Baseball Systems – John Focht
Senior Analyst II, Performance Science – James Buffi
Senior Analyst, Performance Science – David Hill
Senior Analyst, Baseball Analytics – Philip Cho
Coordinator, Strong Mind Program – A.J. Lalonde
Minor League Medical Coordinator – Kevin Orloski
Minor League Performance Coordinator – Brian Stoneberg
Senior Data Engineer – Drew Troxell
Developer, Baseball Systems – Kai‑Tang Chang
Coordinator, Baseball Analytics – Ben Zauzmer
Senior Analyst, Performance Science – Emilee Fragapane
Coordinator, Baseball Operations – Ethan Levitt
Coordinator, Professional Scouting – Lucas Geoghegan
Senior Analyst, Performance Science -Jason Gilberg
Senior Quantitative Analyst – Nicholas Kapur
Senior Quantitative Analyst – Jacob Coleman
Quantitative Analyst – Yuji Akimoto
Quantitative Analyst – Eric Weine
Quantitative Researcher – Max Weinstein
Analyst, Baseball Operations – Michael Voltmer
Analyst, Baseball Operations – Craig Weinhaus
Developer, Baseball Systems – Ryan Casey
Assistant Director, Amateur Scouting – Zachary Fitzpatrick
Major League Video/Replay Coordinator 0- John Pratt
Manager, International Scouting – Francisco J. Camps
Video Coordinator – Chad Chop
Major League Video/Replay Coordinator – Jonathan Rhymes
Coordinator, Player Development – Andrew MacPhail
Assistant, Player Development – Eric Jordan
Assistant, Player Development – James Weilbrenner
Coordinator, Performance Science – Joe Harrington
Assistant, Baseball Operations – Zellie Short
Quite an impressive list, and it doesn’t include the hundreds of individuals who work underneath each of these individuals. Moreover, it includes many positions and tasks that most of us would not consider as necessary, but which are absolutely vital to the Dodgers’ success.
I would not, for example, have known what a Director of Specialized Performance Programs does and how that fits in with a players development. The man who holds this position for the Dodgers, is Eric Potterat, Ph.D. He is a Clinical, Performance and Sport Psychologist who is considered one of the leading experts in high-performance psychology, performance optimization, decision‑making and teamwork under pressure, mental skills training, and individual and organizational resilience. Now some of you might read that and think “just some new-age mumbo-jumbo, just have the players put their big boy pants on and play the game.” But, you might want to reconsider that outlook when you know that Potterat is credited for developing and implementing the Mental Toughness Training Program for the U.S. Navy SEALs and embedding it into their training pipeline, as well as creating the Performance Psychology program for Red Bull High-Performance athletes. He retired as a Commander from the Navy after 20 years, the last 10 of which he served as the Head Psychologist for the US Navy SEALs and was responsible for all the psychological Assessment, Selection, Development, Maintenance and Enhancement programs for all Navy SEALs worldwide. When I was in the Marines, I thought Marines, in general, were pretty tough. But I’m here to tell you, the toughest, most disciplined, and the greatest performers under stress were the Navy SEALS, bar none! If Potterat and his staff can bring that kind of mental toughness and support to the Dodger players, organization-wide, I’m all for it. As one executive put it, “it’s no different than your hitting coach, your pitching coach, your infield coach. A mental skills coach is going to help you think better, think more clearly in the moment, and control your emotions.’’ Even the great Yogi Berra understood that concept. As he put it, “Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical.’’
“We spend so much time on physical instruction,’’ says Andrew Friedman, “that it just makes sense to have resources on the mental side as well. It helps guys because things are so more visible, and dissected in so much more detail, there’s more pressure.’’
New York Yankees GM Brian Cashman was quoted as saying “Our
job is to put our players in the best position to find success, and that means
not just physically, but mentally and emotionally at the same time. We’re
trying to exercise all of the muscles, including the brain.”
Then there are the numerous analyst positions(Quantitative, Performance Science, Baseball Operations). Despite the ire that the mere mention of analytics causes with the “old school” folks, analytics can simply be defined as the gathering of information to help teams understand player performance, (i.e. each player’s batting, running, fielding and pitching) in order to help the coaches better understand a player’s past performance as well as predict future performance. Analysts design and develop analytical tools to aid baseball operations decision‑making across a wide spectrum of areas (player valuation, transactions, strategic planning). The amount of data that these individuals deal with and compress into useable information is staggering and I won’t even attempt to deal with today. An on-line job description for a baseball analyst read as follows: A candidate must be able to “Evaluate existing data sources and build predictive or explanatory models to aid in a variety of player acquisition, player development, and gameplay decisions.” I have no idea what that even means.
Baseball analytics actually started in the ’50s, when some innovative baseball people started to recognize that the traditional ways of evaluating player performance were not accurate. Branch Rickey wrote an article in Life magazine about the early version of on‑base percentage. That continued to evolve and really started to accelerate in the ’90s and going into the turn of the century. Certain teams recognized that there was value in the information and in how they could use the information. Analytics is definitely more than just “Moneyball” vs “scouting.” In addition to the Dodgers, the Cubs, Astros, and Cardinals have learned that it’s important to use information and analytics as one of their competitive weapons. In doing so, they have been successful in not only reaching the playoffs but also actually achieving championship status. The Dodgers only lack raising that championship banner. Times have changed and continue to change. It’s no longer just about OBP. Houston Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow describes the changes from Moneyball to the present: “Today, it’s completely different. We now have so much technology around the ballpark and information about the trajectory of the ball, the physics of the bat swing, the physics and the biomechanics of the pitcher’s delivery—so many components now that advanced sciences have worked into our game. It’s, quite frankly, overwhelming in terms of the amount of information that we have access to and intimidating to figure out how to analyze all that information, work through it, and come up with the takeaways that will allow you to continue to do what we tried to do back in 2003, which is to make better predictions about what players are going to do in the future on the field.” Analytics has become a major part of baseball. According to Luhnow, “Most organizations now have database folks and data scientists that are on their payroll and that are helping them not only store the information and organize it properly but also evaluate what it means.” Luhnow also gave an example(painful as it may be to us) of how analytics is used: “I think the best example is the final play of the 2017 World Series. We’ve got a catcher who is good at framing—where you can turn a ball into a strike by how you present the pitch to an umpire. We’ve got a pitcher on the mound, Charlie Morton, who was a starter finishing the game; we had identified him in the free‑agent market because he had some stuff that we thought could play up in our system. We had an infielder who was standing in right field, a position where five years ago no infielder would ever stand.
Of course, [Dodgers player Corey] Seager [the last batter of the game] hits the hard ground ball right to Jose Altuve. Altuve is standing in right field, fields the ball in the shift, throws it to Yuli Gurriel, a guy we found in our international scouting out of Cuba who took a lower‑dollar offer to be with the Astros and could’ve gone to another team. There was a lot in that final play. We were in the shift. We used tandem pitching. The pitcher was a guy we had used analytics to identify, and we had two players that had accepted less money to come to the Astros. And that last play of the World Series, which led to our first championship ever, encapsulates all of that.”
That’s just a bite-size sample of how these departments collaborate together to help a player become the best he can be. Over the next few posts, I will try to break it down as to how it works in the physical realm, the mental realm, and the emotional realm. On another note, my nephew hooked me up with 2 tickets to the Dodger game on Sunday (after I wrote this). Field-level seats, near the Dodger dugout. Have I told you yet that I love my nephew? I hope that I get to experience my first ever Dodger clinching celebration and that I can share some of that experience with you on Monday, but that did not happen…
2D2’s Minor League Report
Tulsa Drillers beat the Arkansas Travelers: 5-1
The Drillers advanced to the Texas league Championship Series against the Amarillo Sod Poodles(apparently an archaic name for prairie dogs) by beating the Travelers 5-1. Edwin Uceta started and pitched 6 very strong innings allowing 1 runs, 5 hits, 1BB and 5K. Luis Vasquez followed with 3 strong innings of his own, allowing but 1 hit and striking out 3. The offense was led by Connor Wong, Cody Thomas, Omar Estevez and Errol Robinson, who each had 2 hits. Estevez had 2 RBI.
Great Lake Loons lost to the South Bend Cubs: 7-3
The Loons were eliminated from further playoff action. They were able to put together 11 hits, with James Outman, Romar Cuadrado, Leonel Valera, and Michael Busch having 2 apiece. Outman had the only extra-base hit with a triple. Valera had 2 RBI. Kevin Malisheski started and gave up 2 hits, 1 run, and 2 walks in his 0.2 innings. Several relievers followed with Justin Hagenman having a particularly rough day allowing 4 of the 7 runs in 1.2 innings.
Ogden Raptors beat the Grand Junction Rockies: 2-1
In a rare Pioneer league pitchers’ duel, the Raptors opened their playoffs with a 2-1 victory. Elio Serrano started and pitched a strong 5.1 innings, allowing 1 run on 5 hits. He walked 2 and had 4 Ks. The relievers were stellar as Mitchell Tryzanski, Jacob Cantleberry and Nate Robertson followed with 3.1 scoreless innings. Their series with the Rockies continues tonight in Grand Junction.
Good article 2D2 although it says “Mark Timmons” at the top. I read every word and was totally surprised at the long list of people who are employed by the Dodgers. Mr. Potterat, Ph. D, who worked with the Navy Seals sounds impressive. Looking forward to your next article on this subject. Wondering if this program starts with the minor league players but also envelopes the major league players equally.
I fixed that. I had nothing to do with that…
Too good to be me.
Everyone has their own talents in their own way. Your articles are always interesting to me. A lot of research went into 2D2’s write-up.
These are pretty impressive people! How much do they pay them and how many Dodger employees are there in total? Must be over a thousand! Wow!
2D2 Thank you!!
Excellent column. No question the Dodgers do a great job of player development and also instilling work ethic. Young players today don’t always come with work ethic as part of the package. Drafting well and international signings are obviously important, but it’s often what you do with them once they get into the system that is a difference maker. The Dodgers are one of the top teams, maybe the best, at player development.
Loved Moneyball, the book and the movie, but would anybody be talking about that if the A’s didn’t have Barry Zito, Mark Mulder and Tim Hudson as part of their starting rotation.
Paul DePodesta tried to replace Adrian Beltre using that thinking. How did that work out?
When you’re looking at high school talent, not sure data is all that valid. The fact that scouts get the opportunity to see top flight pitchers face the top hitters in summer showcase tournaments probably has a lot more value and then there is a lot of video available (which wasn’t the case years ago).
Data obviously has more value at the major league level where information is less tainted by other factors.
Makes you wonder why with all the data available teams would spend all that money for Bryce Harper (.254, 30, 101) and Manny Machado (.260, 29, 78)? Yah, I know, using the old stats. Still …
Thanks 2D2. Very informative.
Went to the game yesterday. Just a small sample size, but why isn’t Kenta Maeda in the conversation for the Cy Young award? Why does no one shout “MVP” when Beatty and Seager bat? They’re monsters! This Bellinger kid, why is he batting 4th? He should hitting no higher than 7th if you ask me.
Sarcasm folks! The Dodgers looked listless for the first three innings. Then Beatty energized the crowd with his bomb. It had the majestic sound and flight of a no-doubter. It was crushed. Seager’s blast wasn’t quite as majestic, but it was nice nevertheless. Urias did not look particularly sharp. I should say, rather that he looked really ace like for a couple of pitches per batter, then he appeared to lose focus and give up a meatball pitch. Still working his way back. Maeda looked very sharp and most importantly, he worked quickly. I thought Sadler looked really good as well. He had some deceptive movement on his pitches. He too, works quickly.
Overall, the Dodgers maximized their 5 hits. On another note, CT3 did not have a good day in the box score, but he more than any other hitter in the lineup, squared up every ball he hit, and he hit them hard. Unfortunately, they were always right at someone.
The fans who have a proclivity to only think negatively utilize every opportunity using their own circular thinking to always arrive at a negative opinion. I think that I am giving up on reasoning with them (at least for a while) because of their “circular thinking” which always brings them back to a negative conclusion.
They like it that way and the irrationality of it is their comfort-in-chief! They also ignore anything good (like what Maeda did yesterday). It’s a one-way street. The good won’t last and the negative is their reality. They must do terribly in the stock market… one down day and they sell… missing all of those profits.
… and if I tell them that the Dodgers now have the #5 best bullpen ERA in MLB, after passing SF, the Cubs and the Yankees in the past two weeks, they will say that is some kind of a negative. There is none so blind as those who cannot see… or maybe I should say “WILL NOT” see.
Did it ever occur to anyone that the teams who are “peaking” right about now are peaking too soon?
I doubt it.
It doesn’t suit your negative thrust!
Babble, Babble!
I am just going to start saying “YAWN”
Well… they probably won’t be out today. They only do their “drive-by shootings” after losses!
To expand a little on the discussion about peaking, about a month or so ago the Dodgers were rolling. Bellinger, although he had cooled, was still hitting, Ryu was still pitching otherworldly, Kershaw and Beuhler were getting their ERAs under 3, the hitters were grinding as well as hitting home runs. Even Joe Kelly had turned it around and was becoming a dependable shut down reliever.
The universe is in a constant struggle with entropy. The only constant is change. Although still a great team, are they really the same team they were at their peak just after the ASB?
There are long term rolling averages and short term trends. Can you argue that Kenley is a such and such elite closer because of his career stats? …based on what he did in 2016? You also have to look at what he has done lately. There’s reverting to the mean, but the mean also ages, gets injured or matures and gets better.
Maybe the team is hitting it’s lull at the right time and will start to get again in a month. Some positives and negatives:
-Joc is streaky. If he continues his streak into the playoffs, that’s a difference maker.
– Bellinger has shown he’s good at making adjustments. Maybe he’s lost some focus or fallen back into old habits and has forgotten what he was doing right earlier. There’s still time for him to reset.
– There’s nothing wrong with Ryu’s stuff, if he even relies on stuff anyway. Alex Wood and Stip just got tired during the second half of the season. Their problems were physical. Ryu just needs to get that focus back. How? I don’t know, but at least he doesn’t have a dead arm.
– JT was starting to kick it into gear there for a while. He’s been quiet for most of the season. He’s probably good for a key home run or two during the playoffs.
– Same for Seager, though I don’t think he’s at JT’s offensive level this year.
– Same for Pollock.
– Muncy comes back fresh and on fire
– Verdugo comes back fresh and on fire, and his energy breathes a little life into the team.
– Kelly continues his rise from the ashes of that disaster of a first couple of months and becomes that guy that tormented the Dodgers last year.
– the bullpen pieces, including this Sadler guy and the new LOOGY rise above expectations and are difference makers.
– Hill comes back. A fourth starter battery of Hill and Urias each going three or four innings, or Hill and Maeda wind up being a lot more effective than the fourth starter of whatever opposing team the Dodgers are facing (except the Astros. They’re loaded), which gives the team a big advantage in a short series.
That’s the good. There’s the bad. Most or all of the things above have to happen for the Dodgers to win. The Yankees offense evokes terror. The Astros starting pitching is the MLB equivalent of the Dream Team. RIGHT NOW, on paper, the Dodgers aren’t at that level.
And then there’s Kenley.
I’m a baseball guy, but I also love cycling. There is maybe not a more physically and mentally demanding sport. It is very very rare, really impossible now that doping is harder, to win the Giro d’Italia, a three week cycling stage race in late May, and considered the second most prestigious cycling stage race, and then come back and win the Tour de France in July. You have to choose which event you peak for. Hopefully the Dodgers are timing it right.
Well at least we know that this isn’t Mark’s 1st rodeo.
d2d has done a great job explaining why the Dodgers have been so successful in player development after a decade of mostly failure. When they can get contributions from so many young players , some of whom weren’t really considered “prospects” (like Beaty) you know they’re doing something right. I can’t remember so many young players contributing all at once since around 2006 (Loney, Kemp, Ethier, Martin, Billingsly, Broxton, Kuo). And the farm does still look strong so the future is bright.
Trumpian tactics, Mark. Even positive thinking is circular leading back to a positive result. It’s all in your head. You’re a salesman, always selling your product.
Yesterday we used the all and nothing approach offensively! Fact is we’ve been kinda in a team wide funk the last couple weeks and what does that mean? Who knows? It’s all about October and no one knows till we get there! But overall it’s been a great season and this team is plenty capable of winning it all! We’ll know in another month and a half! Who’s gonna step up? A lot of times it isn’t who you think it would be and we have plenty of depth to fill that surprise role! Go Big Blue!
it’s gona be an insane Oct my friend!
Personally I think you have to build a team for the season and hope or expect that as good talented athletes become mature, veteran “great” athletes they adapt and time their best play for the postseason. There is only so much coaches and front offices can do. At some point in the players careers they either become postseason clutch players or….not. That is the difference between say a Koufax and Hershiser… and CK. Not dissing Kersh, it’s all history and not really arguable. I like using pitcher’s as examples cause pitching can influence short 7 game series so drastically. Of course as always this is simply another opinion.
* Wow 2D2. Great stuff. I had no idea the extent of the Dodger payroll in this many capacities. Staggering amount of information produced that has to be processed into decisions. The Dodgers are the best at player development. Orel said something awhile back that’s stuck with me. He says every player in the organization at every level gets coached. From the top pick to the undrafted, everybody gets time. That’s unusual and it shows.
* to sbuffalo regarding the use of video and scouting young players, the faces of today’s scouts have changed. The days of the old-time scout, flask in pocket, check list in hand, combing the back roads to find prospects is long since over. Today it’s a new generation of young, slick, tech literate scouts replacing the old timers. These guys are outfitted with tablets/laptops, smartphones/applications, video capabilities in addition to the old radar guns. They are sent to look at specific kids and gather specific information. (I’ve said that if it rains, these guys might be electrocuted) Video is submitted with every report along with (the 2 to 8) evaluations. The scouts I talk to have defined, specific instructions on who to scout and what to report. Many old scouts hate it feeling that their judgment is diminished. Their opinions don’t matter much. They feel like video and information gatherers who just send data to others to make the decisions. They don’t really scout anymore
* yesterday dodgerick talked about flipping the switch and suddenly turning things around. That is a concern I have down the stretch. The bullpen has been great but the starters, not so much. It’s getting time for the switch flipping to begin, for confidence if nothing else. Here is Ken Gurnick’s take on the subject: “The Dodgers also have been rotating six starters, but they are in a 19-day stretch that includes five days off. It’s now close enough to October that the real rotation needs to get into a normal rhythm. Lately, there has been no rhythm. The last 11 Dodgers starters went fewer than six innings and the last five fewer than five innings. In the last five games, the Dodgers have gone to the bullpen 26 times. Hyun-Jin Ryu is being skipped this turn through the rotation, and Walker Buehler is being given two extra days of rest. Clayton Kershaw has lost his last three decisions.
” What, 18 games to get on a roll.
* Let’s play better down the stretch and get home field advantage which I think is a HUGE deal.
What role does playing well down the stretch have to do with winning a WS? Love to have the last 10 WS winners analyzed! What playoff teams were playing “the best” down the stretch and who won? Is resting players more or less valuable than finishing on a roll?finishing on a roll
Both Dodger teams did not play well down the stretch in 2017 and 2018. The first year, we had one of the worst slumps in history. Somehow, we survived until game 7! 2018 was a struggle all year and we barely scratched our way into the playoffs. Obviously, if you are playing well heading into the playoffs, the attitude and feeling of the players that they are doing things well is very helpful. If you are struggling, it weighs on you just like marital problems or work problems.
Good question Cassidy. Every year there’s the question of whether it’s more beneficial to clinch early, rest guys and coast into the playoffs or be in a competitive wild card race where every day matters down to the last day of the season? I don’t know the stats. In the Dodger’s case now, I want home field. Their home record supports the fact that they are way better at home. Again, do you want to play on a nice warm sunny evening at Dodger Stadium with our fans or on a brisk night in Yankee Stadium in front of their fans? Playing well down the stretch could lead to winning a WS.
Minor League Report – Updated Above
Thank you 2D2 really wonderful article. Mark, please use your Dodger contacts and give us information we don´t have or give us your opinion on whatever and why, forget the fans that say stupid things and post to the ones that are looking for information and your thoughts. Heck, you might find yourself having more fun and enjoyment posting to real Dodger and baseball fans. I know I would enjoy reading that kind of post from you.
I really don’t have any inside contacts anymore. They have moved on (Josh Rawitch, Logan White, DeJon Watson, et al). I know a few scouts (not for the Dodgers), but I have learned to read between the lines and have compliled a lot of knowledge about what goes on behind the scenes.
You are right in your advice. I just sometimes don’t play well with others or suffer fools. I’m sure it’s a character flaw… not likely to disappear at 66. I’ll do my best!
Much of what is behind the different opinions as to how we will finish the season, is based on differing assessments of how good we “really” are. Are we as good as the way we looked in May, when Bill Plaschke and others were saying that we were “a special team”? Are we as average as we have looked for the last couple of weeks? Unfortunately (at least for winning a title), I think that we are neither. We will play better than recently, but probably not well enough to beat the Astros, if we get that far, or the Yankees, if they manage to beat the Astros. I think a series with the Braves is pretty much a tossup, though keeping the home field is helpful. Not so helpful is losing it to the Astros and Yankees.
It is frustrating to me as a longtime fan, that the Dodgers ownership, and then to whatever independent extent it has, the front office, is not geared to taking the final steps to insure that we have the best team going in. We have one of the best teams, but that is not sufficient, unless you are fortunate. Do we match up well with the Astros? I don’t think so. All it takes is one team being better than you are, and you will add another year to the string of no championships. This seems obvious, but either not to the Dodgers, or they just don’t want to pay the price.
Maybe Mark and others who have touted our great minor league system are right in thinking that we are on the cusp of titles, but I would imagine that a few other franchises have comparable talent on the elite minor league level. Do we figure to be better than the Astros or Yankees next year? I don’t see why., unless we go against our recent history of doing as little as possible to change things. Why should our starting staff be better nest year, with Kershaw declining some, Ryu a question mark on n several levels, as is Hill? Yes, May and Gonsolin, but that is projection. I’d take the Astros’ staff again next season, and I’d take the Yankees lineup, and Cashman will get another high-end starter. So we must finish out this season, and hope that we put it all together for the playoffs, but like last year, it may not be enough, when we run into more talent. The only really good team we have faced all year was the Yankees. I would want to see us put together rosters which are the best in baseball, at least in some of the seasons. Why should a franchise with this large and fervent fan base, and the second largest media network in the country, not have that?
Well the A’s were much better than the Dodgers in 88 so you never know. One hot pitcher and a couple of hitters and you never know! The best team on paper doesn’t always win!
You would rather rely on luck than talent, Cassidy?
Well right now everybody would have to get lucky to heat Houston!
DODGERS INFIELDER GAVIN LUX NAMED BASEBALL AMERICA’S MINOR LEAGUE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
LOS ANGELES –Los Angeles Dodgers infielder Gavin Lux was named Baseball America’s 2019 Minor League Player of the Year.
Lux, 21, becomes the third Dodger to win the award since its inception in 1981, joining Mike Marshall in 1981 and Paul Konerko in 1997. The Dodgers first round selection (20th overall) in the 2016 First Year Player Draft out of Indian Trail High School (Wi.) joined Los Angeles on September 2 and made his Major League debut that night with a 2-for-4 game and three runs scored. He became the first Dodger in franchise history to score three runs in his Major League debut.
Prior to joining Los Angeles, he hit .347 (159-for-458) with 26 homers and 76 RBI in 113 combined games between Double-A Tulsa and Triple-A Oklahoma City. In 49 games at the Triple-A level, the infielder clubbed 13 homers and drove in 39 while slashing .392/.478/.719. He was named Pacific Coast League Player of the Month for the month of July after hitting .435 (40-for-92) with eight doubles, four triples, seven homers and 26 RBI. The Kenosha, WI native led the league in batting average (.435), on-base percentage (.519), and OPS (1.356) while also tying for the league lead in runs scored (29) and triples (4) during the month of July. He was selected to the Texas League All-Star Game and appeared in the 2019 Sirius XM MLB Futures Game.
In four minor league seasons with the Dodgers, Lux has amassed 79 doubles, 29 triples, 48 homers and driven in 193 runs while slashing .305/.383/.483 in 296 minor league games.
Good info 2D2. Looking forward to the other reports. I knew the Dodgers put a Spanish speaking coach on every minor league team. The Dodgers have 4 coaches on every minor league team. The Rockies have a minor league team in Boise and they have three coaches. The number of kids who came up this year and performed well is amazing. Something is going right. Then almost all of our minor league teams are in play offs.
I am glad you saw what I saw with Taylor. He was 0-4, but hit the ball hard all 4 times. Some of those will start to fall. He would be my starting second baseman in the play offs.
Congrats to Gavin Lux! Good thing the Dodgers didn’t give up on you and call you a bust after 1 year, unlike some of the fans on this board.
Me included!
Oh i know. I love messing with you and AC on that one. It’s the one thing I’ve ever gotten right around here!
Last 3 weeks of the season kids!! Even though we’ve had a double digit lead in the NL since like spring training, it’s now serious times, and it’s worth scoreboard watching the Yankee, Astro, and Braves games (and I guess to an extent the Twins, who are 3 losses behind us in a potential World Series matchup).
Today we have Atl at Phil, NY at Boston, and Oak at Houston that matter to us.
Sooo, if we win the World Series and fall flat the next year, should we can Freidman like the Sahx did with Dombrowski? Man, gave the dude a pretty short leash considering he just got them a ring. Of course they have a couple of pretty good dope fiend contracts(Sale, Price) that are going to haunt their ass in the coming years. So glad Freidman didn’t put us in an all or nothing hole like some other teams. Of course I’m like everybody else, I want a damn ring, but I also like having a shot at it every year instead of blowing the payroll up for years. We all know how fickle the play-offs are, the hottest teams wins, we just gotta be there every year so we can take a shot. Like the direction that past 5 or 6 years.
Dombrowski has a lot of problems that transcend anything our front office has done. The RedSox payroll exceeded the upper level of the luxury tax ($237MM) in 2018. It looks like they are going to exceed the new upper level of $246MM this season. They are staring in the face of the maximum penalty — a 75 percent tax on the overage, as well as a drop of ten spots for their highest pick of the 2020 draft. That’s a hefty penalty. On top of that they have traded away many of their top prospects. The minor league cupboard is pretty bare. They still have a good, young and talented team, but they will not be able to afford them all, if changes aren’t forthcoming.
Dombrowski is the poster child for “dope fiend” moves. Look at the legacy he left in Detroit.
I want a World Series ring as bad as the next fan. I do not, however, want to cash it all in for a single ring. That’s not a good business model. If we don’t win it this year, I still want to be able to compete at a high level next year!
And the year after that and the year after that…
exactly Rudy.
Dombrowski did exactly what he was brought in to do which was put them over the top and win a World Series. They had a guy who was all about development. They canned him and brought in DD.
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I didn’t get extending Sale early and it’s rumored ownership didn’t want to but it’s their money and could have said no.
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Let’s not forget he brought in Cora, JD Martinez, Sale, Pearce(MVP of the WS), extended Boegarts, held onto Devers and Benetiendi when Devers could have been dealt. Got Eovaldi for nothing. Brought in Kimbrel, and didn’t bring back Kimbrel. A lot of good moves too. Nor did he have his manager bat Kike Hernandez 3rd in the World Series.
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He won a WS with the Marlins and damn near did with Detroit. 3 straight AL EAst titles and a World Championship in Boston. I’m not saying I would want him as the Dodgers GM but he deserved better than being canned at midnight with 20 games left in the season. There’s more to this story than we know. Boston has always had zero class. Of course John Henry learned from old man Steinbrenner.
I’ve heard/read that Red Sox ownership felt Dombrowski tended to do his own thing rather than work in collaboration with the other front office people. Faced with some pretty tough contract situations going forward plus a huge payroll, their concerns overcame last year’s success. So, to the gallows with him.
I definitely don’t get the idea that’s the case with Friedman and company. They seem to really have a well-oiled machine here with everyone chipping in and all opinions respected.
Magic Number 1
https://dodgerblue.com/dodgers-news-nl-scout-evaluates-will-smith-best-all-around-catcher-buster-posey-comp/2019/09/09/?utm_source=Dodgers+Subscribers&utm_campaign=dd94fa3609-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5603c26edc-dd94fa3609-204389565
Maybe I’m mixing him up with someone else, but didn’t Ty Blach (Baltimore’s starter tomorrow night) used to give the Dodgers fits when he was with the Giants?
Yes, he has had several very good games against the Dodgers. This season (before being waived by Giants) the Dodgers scored 7 runs against him in 3 1/3 IP. Freese, Gyorko, Turner, Taylor, Pollock, Bellinger all with .300+ batting averages against him lifetime.