I Need To Vent

Sorry for the delay in getting this posted. I already had my article queued up and ready for publish before last night’s come from behind walk off win. Zac Gallen is going to be a superstar in this game and he just shut the Dodgers down. But the 2020 Dodgers are relentless and have no quit. I think that is a tribute to Mookie, just as 1988 was a tribute to Kirk Gibson. Hopefully this attitude will be a precursor to a WS championship just like 1988. I thought… should I scrap what I had already written, and write up a new one or go with what the original.

I have learned that with my depression I just have to let out pent up feelings or they tend to fester and sour my moods. Writing is a catharsis for me in that regard. While I expect pushback, I decided that it was best for me to get my feelings about the trade deadline out of my psyche and onto “paper” as it were. So I have to use this site to vent.  I know I need to let it go, but that is not happening. I am not trying to change minds…just vent. Here goes…

With this pandemic, I am not allowed to go to Starbucks and discuss baseball with my friends as I used to do.  I miss that. Now I need to unleash my inner thoughts onto this page. My negativity does not come out very often, but when it does I have to let it out and not bottle it up. I am not a Kool-Aid drinker and I am not convinced that the Dodgers are significantly better than the Padres (or Cubs or Braves).  Better?  Yes.  Significantly better? No. I do not think the Padres fear the Dodgers, and with the changes they made, they are confident they can beat the Dodgers on a neutral field in a best 4 out of 7.

Yesterday Badger commented …”Make no mistake, everything the Dodgers do is targeting October.”  I concur 100%.  But that is exactly what San Diego did as well.  It is my opinion that while the Dodgers are very good, they missed an opportunity to get better for 2020.  I dismiss the position that LAD got better simply by promoting Tony Gonsolin over Strip.  That decision was already made before Strip was traded.  Strip was never going to be a playoff starter anyway, so how were the October Dodgers improved? 

Tony Gonsolin came to summer camp late, and was not ready to compete as the 5th starter in the rotation.  Strip got the job by default.  To his credit, Strip came to camp in great shape.  For whatever reason he lost command of his fastball and deservedly lost his starting role.  I have always maintained that within the existing roster, May, Gonsolin, and Urias were always going to compete for #3 and #4 in October.  I believe that was always the intent, with the one not making the October rotation, and Strip, moving into the bullpen.  The original plan did not change, so there was no improvement.

San Diego did not miss the opportunity to get better in 2020. Some opined that San Diego did not do enough to catch the Dodgers.  I stated that IMO San Diego did not care whether they caught the Dodgers or not.  There is no home field advantage.  I got some push back that of course San Diego was trying to catch the Dodgers.  They needed to make the playoffs.  The Padres are in ZERO danger of not making the playoffs.  Wild card teams have previously won the WS, so why not the Padres?  You do not need to go too far back…2019 Washington Nationals.  The Pads have the third best winning percentage in the NL, and because they are 5.0 GB the Dodgers, they will go into the playoffs as the #4 seed and play the #5 seed in the first round.  As of this column, that would be Miami, Philadelphia, or St. Louis.  They always felt confident in getting to the playoffs.  They wanted to be able to beat the Dodgers 4 out of 7 games. 

Let’s assume that both the Dodgers and Padres beat their opponents in the first round.  They would then go head to head in a best 4 of 7 series.  In the first 7 games they played against each other in 2020, the Dodgers have won 4, while the Pads have won 3.  The Padres already have a better offensive team, and they improved with the addition of Austin Nola replacing Austin Hedges at catcher, and Mitch Moreland as the DH.  Two huge offensive additions. 

They needed a top of the rotation pitcher, and they went out and acquired RHSP Mike Clevinger.  They paid a stiff price.  There is no doubt.  But they did not trade highly rated pitcher prospects MacKenzie Gore, Luis Patino, Adrian Morejon, or Ryan Weathers.  They did trade a pair of middle infield prospects (Gabriel Arias and Owen Miller) but they kept their top middle infield prospect, CJ Abrams (Padres #2).  They traded a ML catcher (Hedges), but with Mejia, they have three ML catchers and retained their top catching prospect, Luis Campusano (Padres #4).  Preller paid a steep price, but he made the decision…”if not 2020, when”.

It is curious that during the Winter and trade deadline discussions, the majority on this site were in favor of AF trading for Mike Clevinger.  Now the discussion drifts to…Not that big of deal, overrated, brittle, he would not have made the Dodgers better.  Okay, then.  We see things differently.  I am talking only about his pitching ability.  I think he was wrong with his actions with respect to quarantining.

SD lost Kirby Yates, so Preller went out and traded for Trevor Rosenthal.  Rosenthal has a stellar resume in the post season (targeting October).  In 7 post season games against the Dodgers (8.0 IP) Rosenthal allowed 1 run.  He is reportedly pitching at that elite level again.  Some baseball pundits have labeled this trade as the most significant for them.  With Pomeranz and Rosenthal, the Padres now have a stellar pair of late inning high leverage relievers. 

The Dodgers are still better, but the Padres have narrowed the gap fairly significantly.  I cannot be upset that the Dodgers did not end up with Lynn.  I predicted he would stay with Texas and that is exactly what happened.  The Rangers did not have to trade him, and they wanted a clear overpay from anyone, and they did not get it.  The price for Clevinger was high.  In the long term, Cleveland will be very happy about this trade.  But SD did not hurt their future that much and improved their rotation with an Ace Like SP THIS YEAR.  It is very clear that AF would not meet that price.

But AF couldn’t find a better player than Edward Olivares to give KC for Rosenthal?!?  IMO, that was a mistake.  Earlier in the month of August I said that Trevor Rosenthal should be a target for AF.  For no other reason than because of his post season resume.

The Dodgers are in the bottom third of MLB in hitting against LHP, and yet did not address this apparent weakness.  When I heard that Starling Marte was being made available, I opined that he would be ideal to fit into the Dodger lineup.  Badger asked who he would replace, and I said Joc.  People like to point out that Strip played himself off the team, but Joc hasn’t?  I would rather have CT3 in LF facing RHP than Joc.  Marte would have been great.  But I doubt that Arizona would have traded Marte to LA nearly at the price Miami paid.  But what about Todd Frazier from the Rangers.  You know AF was on the phone with Jon Daniels about Lynn, why not Frazier?  Against LHP this year, Frazier is hitting .343/.425/.514/.939.  The only Dodger regular hitting LHP is AJ Pollock at .359/.366/.641/1.007.  In the recent past, AF went out and got David Freese, Brian Dozier, and Tyler White (amongst others) for that RH bat off the bench.  I am sure there are other RH bats that could have been available.  IMO, missed opportunity.

2017 Astros picked up Verlander.  2018 Boston picked up Steve Pearce (WS MVP).  2019 Astros picked up Zack Greinke and the Nats picked up Daniel Hudson.  This will be a big year for AF.  If the Dodgers win, his standing pat will be vindicated.  But if the Dodgers lose, especially to SD, AF will come under a great deal of scrutiny.  I love the MiLB as much as anyone, if not more.  But the Dodgers have been without a WS championship for 31 years.  If not 2020, when?  This was the year they were primed to win.  With the additional 2 players, the prior mismanagement of the bullpen should be minimized. The bullpen is now deeper in quantity as well as quality.

I am certainly pleased that Julio Urias had a dominating effort.  However, it is one game.  He needs to back that up with his next 3-4 games.  His next scheduled start projects to be against the Rockies, then Astros, then at Rockies, and finally A’s.  That is how it is projected with no changes in the rotation.

My final vent regarding the trade deadline was the dismissal of Strip.  I say dismissal because contrary to what Mark says, AF did not get value for Strip.  I said it earlier in the week that Kendall Williams’ ceiling is a Ross Stripling clone.  Per MLB Pipeline:

PitchStrip – 2015Williams – 2020
Fastball5555
Curve5555
Slider5045
Change4550
Control5550
Overall4545

Williams is currently the #26 in the Dodgers top 30 (MLB Pipeline).  He is rated between Edwin Uceta and Ryan Pepiot.  He is rated two spots above Hyun-il Choi.  Earlier in the week I said that Williams is another of Uceta and Choi, and that is where he has landed.  I have nothing to base it on, but in my opinion, AF did not believe that Strip could help the team in 2020, thus the trade.  I do not for a minute believe that he moved Strip as a favor to him.  It is the job of the GM/President of Baseball Operations to make the team the best he can going into the playoffs.  If AF thought that Strip would help the team, he would have kept him. 

As a huge fan of Ross Stripling I hope he lights it up for Toronto.  Also as a huge fan of Ross Stripling I will be rooting for Kendall Williams simply because he is the one who replaced Strip in the organization. Harold this is your cue to give us one of your great exposes on Taylor Williams.

I will get over my disappointment that Strip is no longer a Dodger, but I will never buy into the Dodgers are a better team without him.

Okay, it is now out of my system, and I am free to put back on my rose-colored glasses and finish the season in full throttle cheer my my Boys In Blue on their way to the 2020 WS championship. Thanks for letting me vent.

This article has 114 Comments

  1. Spot on analyses! Catcher defense, and possibly team chemistry (addition of so many new personalities into the clubhouse) could hurt the Padres. Austin Hedges will be missed, in particular his pitch framing in which he was rated the best in 2019, and one of the leaders this season. Nola was ranked 27th at the time of the trade, Jason Castro 52nd. Rosenthal would have been a terrific pick up; I would much rather have him in the bullpen than either Baez or Kelly in post season. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, Friedman does with the roster before September 15, whether through the waiver wire (very unlikely) or someone from the USC site (RH hitting OF’er Anthony Garcia?).

  2. Interesting read Jeff.

    Venting is good for the soul and it’s my opinion that is what these sites are for. I know not everyone shares that opinion, but whether you do or don’t – vent away.

    I’m among those who wanted Clevinger, but I’m also among those who trust May and Gonsolin are good enough to be competitive. They look fearless to me and both have great stuff. No crowds anywhere so, I think they will be ok later. At this point in time I’m more concerned about Buehler.

    I most definitely hear you about the Padres. They’ve become a scoring machine but I think our pitching is better. A lot still depends on who on our team is, or is ain’t, available in October. I don’t think this team has peaked yet. If Muncy, Bellinger, Lux, Rios, Smith, Pollock and Turner are all hitting with Betts, we will score a lot of runs. I don’t believe we’ve hit as a team yet and look at results.

    We’re still favored to win it all but that could change in the matter of days. If Buehler, if Turner, if… if a number of things.

    I don’t know a lot about prospect potential, I just read the same reports you do. San Diego did not give that much up for Clevinger. We could have easily matched it. AF chose not to. Obviously he knows more about this stuff than I do. I thought Cleveland would keep him and try to win it with pitching. I do not think they improved this year’s roster by trading a #2 starter. But again, what do I know.

    I like Stripling. Everybody liked the guy, but his time as a starter here was done. As I mentioned somewhere else, I think he needs an off season at Driveline and until then I expect him to continue to have long ball issues in the AL East.

    As I recall last year Washington was 9-1 rolling into the post season. I’m hoping we will be peaking about that time. If not? If San Diego rips it up in Texas? Oh well, make it 8 years in a row and 32 since a title. Not much we can do now but hope for the best.

  3. I agree w most of what you said but with some comments re Stripling.
    First we don’t know who the other ptbnl is so we can’t judge the trade by that. But even taking what you said, if Williams is a Stripling clone than adding in one more ptbnl gives us the advantage.
    But most importantly I think we were boxed in w Stripling. We tried to trade him and he knew it, he only made the rotation by default, if he was moved to the bullpen he no doubt would be dissspointed taken all this into consideration. So just by moving him we dodge a bullett.

      1. Exactamundo Jeff, and Strip made the rotation on merit of what he was doing when the restart began and what he showed in camp that 3 week span. And the fact that Price opted out. If Price were still there, we would not be having this conversation. Oh yeah, Daniel, bullet has one T.

        1. Bear – oh yeah bullet has one T unless you’re talking about Steve McQueen. Then you have 2 T’s and a U.
          Just adding to the auto correct.

  4. Last nights game in the 9th inning, Roberts goes to Gonzalez. Looked like a good move to see if he can pitch in a pressure situation. As expected, Jansen came on in the 10th.

    In that 10th inning, Jansen looked uncomfortable. He had some control issues and I wondered if having the presence of a runner on second was distracting him.

    With the new extra inning rule, would it be better to use Jansen in the 9th, with no one on base? Or am I overthinking this?

    1. I was wondering the same thing, mostly because stealing bases against Jansen is pretty easy. The last out from the previous inning is the base runner so stealing depends on whether that guy can run. I think Kenley prefers to come in clean but I believe we’ve seen Roberts use him in the 8th with runners on. You’re right though, he did not look comfortable last night.

      1. If you watched KJ, he was still staring at 2B while into his delivery. There is no way he could pick up Smith’s target. KJ knows he has trouble holding runners on, but he is trading one problem (holding runners on) with another (control).

        1. Exactly. For some reason, since last season, runners on base are getting in his head. I don’t know which is it, he had a down year last year so he’s worried about the runners or the runners are causing him to lose focus. He was just named reliever of the month but I can’t help but think this is something to keep an eye on.

  5. Great post AC. To begin with you got it out of your system, but you also did what you’re supposed to do as the head of the site, and that is stimulate good baseball conversation.

    I happen to think AF chose to not make any moves (I don’t consider Stripling a real move) because he realizes that whatever he did to make the team better for this year, 2020 is a crapshoot and the best team could easily be upset in the first round. Who knows, it’s very possible that the Giants get hot at the right time and win it all. And wouldn’t that be fun for all of us here.

    We now have to count on two of the three kids (Urias, May, Gonso) to do their thing in October. Time will tell if they’re ready. If not, we have our strongest bullpen in years to back them up.

    Our offense has been basically sputtering all year. There is no real reason that we can’t start hitting lefties the way we’re supposed to by October. There is no real reason why Belli and Muncy and even Joc can’t continue to improve and be the guys we expected come October. That makes our lineup more than capable of competing with the Pads.

    I think Andrew wasn’t about to do something drastic in this very uncertain year in which he can’t really count on any plan to play itself out the way it’s supposed to. He’s waiting for next year when hopefully he has a full 162 game schedule, Price is back, the three kid pitchers have another season under their belts and he has taken the winter to fill a few holes that were created by free agency. Playing the long game, as Andrew always does. Will that make some LADT readers furious? Absolutely, but we don’t get to call the shots.

  6. Jeff jr, I’m not sure why you are making such a big deal out of all of this. Did the Dodgers not become a better team this off season? Did SD spend more money than we did on BETTS? Did SD upgrade their BP like we have? NO.

    So what exactly are you ragging about? AF? Must be, after all he is the guy that is bringing in and shipping out players. It seems obvious to me that AF has blind spots and has had them since he’s been here. But he has made the team better.

    If he has made the team better, which obviously he has(just look at their record), are we complaining about the execution of the team or the execution of Stripling? Our pitching is sufficient to close ranks and not even think about Stripling any longer. So, it must be about the position players and the lack of driving in more runs that we are guilty of. Guys like Joc, Kike, whom we have been complaining about for years. The lack of offense from our catchers and players like Muncy who only hits HRs. Why isn’t AF trying to upgrade those who aren’t producing? Maybe he is, but can’t find any buyers. Joc & Strip got sent back to us. Says a lot to me. Joc has been blocking LF for too long. Lux is a bust at the plate, so far. Is he really better than Taylor overall? He’s got a lot to prove.

    I don’t think you are venting enough, jr. But, it’s only a game and you don’t make your living from it, I don’t think. As a fan, I get disappointed too, but it lasts for about 1 minute. I have much more important things to think about or not think about. Not thinking is also very important. So what’s the real problem?

    1. It was not a rage, it was a vent. You seemed to vent about my vent, or was that a rage? Apparently your memory of how I feel about AF is about a milimeter long. From the day he was hired, I have been on the AF bandwagon, and that has not changed. But with all of the good he has done for the team, he is not infallable. IMO, and that is all I am allowed to have with the Dodgers, AF missed an opportunity to improve the team. Am I not allowed to have that opinion? AF had the conrversations with the GMs, and I just have a keyboard.

      You asked…”Did SD upgrade their bullpen like the Dodgers?” Apparently you do not think that Drew Pomeranz and Trevor Rosenthal are major back end upgrades. I think that is a huge upgrade. I advocated for Pomeranz in the Winter and for Rosenthal at the deadline. Padres go them both. One in the winter and one at the deadline.

      Because a team improves in the winter, they are not allowed to improve at the trade deadline as well?

      And by the way, whether it is important to you or not, sports are a BIG part of my life. I will not apologize for allowing disappointments to linger longer than a minute. I will not apologize that my life would be more empty without sports, specifically baseball. Baseball and sports in general may not be that meaningful in your life, but they are in mine. And again, I will not apologize for that.

      And finally, yes. I am extremely disappointed that Ross Stripling is no longer a Dodger.

      You are free to vent about me or ignore me. That choice is yours. You chose to vent about my vent. Thank you for sharing.

      1. Jeff likes to stir the pot. He and I have disagreed on many things. Unlike you, I have never been on the AF bandwagon, and have said that numerous times. I liked Strip a lot. When it was announced in the winter that he was traded to the Angels, I was really disappointed, although I knew with Anaheim he would get to do what he wanted to do all along, start. I was really irritated when I saw what they were getting back. Louis Rengifo? And a couple of PTBNL’s for Strip, Joc and Pages? I was very glad when that trade went the way of the DoDo. AF has gone for it a couple of times. Darvish and Machado. I do not consider Hill and Reddick, going for it. It did not pan out. But I could not understand when you look at how the starting staff has performed that you would not pull the trigger on a deal that would make them more of a juggernaut, than a question mark. And since RH power outside of Betts has been non existent, why he did not address that one serious flaw in the team. They cannot hit lefty’s. AF of course says that they can find the fix internally. Ok , who internally? They are tied with the Padres in HR’s, but thier team BA is 18 points lower. The Pads have now scored more runs. Their slugging, OBP, and OPS are all higher than the Dodgers. The only place the Dodgers have a clear edge on SD is pitching. And that is the main area SD addressed. They helped their offense by getting some pretty good bats at the deadline also. Castro contributed immediately last night. There are a lot of IF’s driving his thinking. If the offense begins to jell, if Gonsolin, Urias and May show that they are playoff ready, if the bullpen can continue this excellent run. One other thing I disagree with. I think they need Kelly and his playoff experience, but only if he is healthy. I think they need Baez too. I do not feel like trusting the game to a lot of untested arms out of the pen. Gonzalez and Graterol have nasty stuff, but no experience, and it is my feeling, I am allowed those by the way, that experience in those kinds of pressure situations is a huge benefit. When Kelly is right, he is one of the nastiest there is out of the pen. He proved that against the Dodgers in 18.

      2. You sound kind of ridiculous, Jr. I am neither raging or venting, just talking about what I’m observing. I am not asking you for an apology. I just don’t understand why you are so blown out of shape.

  7. I love venting. Keeps me sane. That and music. And to be very truthful, being able to write for this site has helped me tremendously because it makes me use my brain instead of having so many days when I am just trying to find things to keep me busy. As many here know, I have never fully bought into AF’s way of doing baseball business. I believe analytics are over rated, and of course, that puts me in the minority. I am not a huge stats geek, so when everyone starts throwing numbers around, I shut them out. But this is what I have seen. Price opted out. Understandable with all the uncertainty. Pollock was close to doing the same thing but changed his mind. Ross Stripling pitched well in the spring, and earned the starting job based on how well he was throwing and the fact that both Buehler and Gonsolin came to the restart late. Strip came out of the restart looking very good. His pitches were crisp, and he was getting ahead. And when he pitched the Dodgers were an offensive juggernaut giving him the most run support in the league. His bugaboo, much as it has been CK’s the last few years, was the HR. But he was giving up solo shots and winning games. Which after all is the objective. But his last few starts things came apart pretty quick. He was not going as deep into games, and was putting a lot of pressure on the pen. But the entire pitching staff has done that outside of Kersh, who all of a sudden looks a lot like Kersh of a few years ago. May, Gonsolin, and Urias are young guys with a ton of talent. They will no doubt be very good major leaguers at some point in time. If they progress a lot over their next 4 starts or so, we will get some idea of what the Dodgers will have heading into the playoffs. I think the bullpen, bad apples and all, has saved this teams bacon more than once. Plus the team is pretty much a bulldog when behind. They keep coming back. But there are FLAWS in the team. AF in my opinion made a mistake in not addressing those flaws. He simply thinks these last 22 games will allow those guys to get more reps and be ready for October. I think that is wishful thinking. Joc is playing like he does not care that he is a free agent after the season. Oh, he has a game once in a while where he looks like the guy who hit 36 homers last year, but most of the time he looks like he just does not care. The biggest mistake Kike made was hitting a homer on opening day. Because game after game since opening day he has looked more like Mario Mendoza than Kike. The needed a GOOD RH bat off of the bench. Frazier would have fit the bill nicely. Veteran player, playoff experience, and some power. Another version of David Freese. Joe made a point last night. That although the Dodgers have the largest run differential in the majors by far, going into last night’s game they were only 4-4 in one run games. Now they are 5-4. But as bad as Jansen was in the 10th last night, they could easily have lost that game. 2 walks and a hit batter? Sheesh, The barely beat a team that gave up 4 key pieces. They were totally shut down by a pitcher who kept them off balance all night long. They never did score off the guy. What is going to happen when every game in the playoffs they are facing the best on the other side? In a 3 game series, anything can happen. I do not worry about the 7 game series as much as the 3 game, which to me is a trap waiting to happen. You know the # 8 team, who they will face if things stay as they are, is going to trot out it’s # 1 for game 1. Right now the 8 is the Rockies. SD would face the Phillies, who actually could give them trouble. I watched Wheeler pitch last night, and he would give LA fits. Colorado as the 8 does not instill much fear unless that offense goes off. Their pitching is not that great. But they have a couple of lefty’s they could throw at the Dodgers and the ineptness of LA against lefty’s could be huge in any series. Over all, I like the pen. They have done the best job of any pen in the Friedman era. The offense has it’s moments, but I still think they could have gotten better with a trade. The defense has been good, and the starters have been good enough to get them where they are. But there could have been improvements. And I believe that although the Dodgers are built with an eye on October, Ol Andy missed a golden opportunity to make them a much improved team. They are very good. Best in the league by a lot right now. But they were the best in the league by a bunch last year too and lost to a team with a better starting rotation than they had. Oh yeah, Gavin Lux had better find it quick or he will be at USC come playoff time.

  8. We’ll be fine in the playoffs. We crush bad and mediocre right handed pitching and they’ll be plenty of that. Right?

    1. Cassidy, you missed your calling. You should have been a stand up comedian. Oh yeah, the fishing was lousy yesterday. The fish do not read the solunar tables, so they did not know they were supposed to be biting furiously between 10:30 and 12:15.

  9. Well written piece on Lux in the Athletic this morning. He has about a three week runway to get his collective s*** together or he won’t be on the post season roster.

    What I noticed about Gallen is something Stripling just doesn’t have. Command of fastball and change up. He does not make mistakes over the plate. He was helped by 22” wide strike zone but he knew it and took advantage of it. He reminded me of Greg Maddux, spotting different speeds all over the edges and getting calls just off the plate. If Stripling could do that he could get away with a 90 mph fastball. But he can’t, so he’s gone. But I think Gonsolin can do it. Maybe not consistently yet, but he’s getting there. Perhaps May can do it too, but his fastball can reach 98 so he doesn’t need to be quite as accurate. This is the big leagues. It’s my opinion ALL of them should be able to do that. By the way, the fangraphs stat page I posted yesterday showed May’s BABIP is way down and his ground ball rate is up. He’s pitching to contact and it’s working for him. It’s my opinion we have two gems in Gonsolin and May. Three actually because I include Urias in with them. Are they ready for a World Series this year? I don’t know. That’s a huge ask. But this is such an odd year I’m thinking, yeah, sure. Why not?

    I’ve said this before and I’m saying it again – stop swinging out of your shoes with two strikes, Muncy. You’ve got strikes 1 and 2 to do that, Kiké. And when you get ahead, Lux, don’t look at fastballs over the plate. That’s why you work the count, to get that pitch. And all of you, stop chasing strike 3 with wild ass swings. All or nothing is fine until you get behind in the count. You have to become a hitter at that point. Watch Betts. Then do what he does.

    1. Orel said exactly the same thing on the broadcast last night. Gallen reminded him of Maddux. One thing on the passing of Tom Seaver. I saw him pitch against the Dodgers a couple of times, but mostly on TV. He was indeed Terrific. He was also a classy player. He will be missed. Hard for them to do Badger, they do not have Betts athletic ability.

      1. Seaver had a beautiful winery on Diamond Mountain in Calistoga. GTS. George Thomas Seaver. Give their Cabernet a try.

        I know other players don’t have Betts abilities. He’s particularly gifted. But they could model his approach.

  10. AC thank for the very interesting article. I think venting is good for the soul especially when you wish to get unpleasant thoughts off your chest. And I understand and agree with most of them.

    It will not come as a surprise to anyone on this blog that I am not an analytics person. It is not that I do not like them, it is because I do not understand how they get them. As a long time baseball scorekeeper, I know how to figure out BA and Era but do not understand how to figure out WAR, BABIP or WHIP to name a few or to maybe I just do not agree that those stats should determine a players spot in the lineup etc.

    I hated losing Ross Stripling and agree with AC that AF’s reasons for trading him did not sound sincere.

    I wish we could have picked up some of the players mentioned to help strengthen our team.

    Sorry this was so long.

    1. WHIP is an easy one. Walks & Hits per nine innings. Honestly, I used that one for my Strat-o-Matic drafts in college before it was even a thing. I think it’s a good one to use for pitchers. These days a pitcher can have a good WHIP and be giving up too may HR’s per nine innings. Also something I looked at in my drafts back then.
      ~
      WAR, what is it good far. Absolutely nothing some will say and how the song goes, but it is being used to try to have one stat encompass everything and show who is the best ball player. I couldn’t tell you how they get to that number and I think there is more than one formula. Also with defensive metrics being very questionable and changing each year to try to improve them some of the WAR numbers are suspect, but for the most part it does identify the best players and GM’s are assigning a value to each WAR number. At one time it was though that 1 WAR was worth $8 or $9 million. So if you were paying a guy $8 million, but he had a WAR of 3.0 then that player has a $16 million surplus in his value in a trade. Also WAR is compared to a replacement player. Basically a AAAA type of player not a backup on the bench. Much more complicated than WHIP.
      ~
      BABIP is Batting Average for Ball IN Play. Some use it to look at how sustainable players stats are. Are they lucky? I take this one with some skepticism unless you combine it with other stats like exit Velocity. Like you some of the new metrics like Deserved ERA are not for me. Yes, Wins and Losses aren’t the best way to look at a pitcher nor is batting average the tell all of hitting, but you can’t tell me those stats are meaningless either. I don’t blame you for not wanting to learn them all. The old eye test is just fine sometimes.

      1. Thank you for the info, Hawkeye. I appreciate your response. Some of the analytic stats sound too complicated for me and some seem to be judgement calls. I understand WHIP now better so thanks again.

  11. Ugh.

    The Dodgers are the best team is baseball. That’s widely agreed.

    The Dodgers probably won’t win the World Series. Expectations need to be managed.

    AT BEST. Stripling would have been what? The 3rd starter in the playoffs? Probably not, but let’s say yes. Is Clevinger that much better than Stripling? Is he much better than Urias or May? Maybe. In the margins.

    Striping wanted to go. The Dodgers pretty much said the move was partly done for him, to get him regular starts.

    In exchange the team gets a young, powerful arm who starts unquestionably in the top 30 of their system BEFORE THE TEAM’S PLAYER DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS kick in. This is a major point. Dustin May didn’t get get older. He was developed. So did Gonsolin. So will this Williams kid.

    It’s good. It’s a great time to the be a Dodger fan. Don’t sweat the World Series. Cheaters can win it. Better than average teams can win it. Average teams can win it.

    Just build the best team and system and hope it works out.

  12. With May, Gonso and Urias, Striplings starting career was over with the Dodgers. He wants to start .So AF traded him to a place where he’d have that opportunity. In spite of what you think of AF I think he has a genuine care for his players. It might not have been the greatest return for the Dodgers for Ross but it was best for him.

  13. I’m in the Badger camp about hitting with sensitivity to the count. It drives me nuts to watch these guys take a fastball right down Broadway. The next pitch is inevitably a breaking ball for a strike! I’d like to see more rips at first pitch fastballs (yay Seager).

    I liked Strip too but watching the BP he was throwing lately make me feel okay about him moving on.

    Now, let’s pay more attention to ripping early strikes and shortening up when the count is against us. Mookie was my hero last night. Lead by example!

  14. AC, most who post here agree that a RH bat and a #3 starter would have been good gets for the post-season. The Rangers wanted more for Lance Lynn then Friedman was willing to part with and the Pads wanted Clevinger more than the Dodgers did. I never heard that the Dodgers were looking for a RH bat and I guess we’ll never know. Once David Price opted out, the Dodgers were going to go with Alex Wood as #3 and that didn’t pan out. Stripling has given up more HRs than any pitcher in MLB at this point so to rely on him in the post-season didn’t make any sense. So the Dodgers have the kiddie corps of young starters. I have been pounding the drum to get an experienced starter but that didn’t happen.

    Will May, Gonsolin or Urias be up to the challenge? I have no idea but the early returns suggest no.

    In his 7 starts, Urias has pitched 5, 6, 4, 6.3, 1.6, 4 and 6 innings (33 innings in 7 starts or 4.7 innings per start).

    In his 7 starts May has pitched 4.3, 3.3, 6, 6, 4.3, 5 and 6 innings (35 innings in 7 starts or 5 innings per start).

    In his 4 starts, Gonsolin has pitched 4, 4.6, 6 and 4 innings (17.6 innings in 4 starts or 4.4 innings per start).

    In comparison, Kershaw (old and injured at the start of the season) has thrown 5.6, 4.3, 7, 7 and 6 innings in his 5 starts (30 innings in 5 starts or 6 innings per start).

    Urias didn’t throw more than 5 innnings in 4 of his 7 starts; May in 4 of his 7 starts, Gonsolin in 3 of his 4 starts. None of this is trustworthy right now. Will it be by the end of the season? No way to know.

    The problem is simply the calculus of deciding what to spend in prospect capital and what the demands were. Again, we have no way to know.

    I guess we will have to wait to see how it pans out.

  15. They didn’t pitch any more innings, but it wasn’t always because they didn’t want to or couldn’t, it was because Roberts took them out of the game to keep them rested.
    So not all the blame is on the pitchers, And I don’t blame the manager either, for me, this season, he’s doing an excellent job with the bullpen, this season I don’t see any faults with his decisions about the game.

    1. Good point Jorge.

      And with our bullpen 5 innings from a couple guys should be enough. Kershaw is paid to get 7. Heck, an argument could be made he’s paid to complete games. Buehler is our #2 so he should be able to get 6-7. Roberts is easing the young guys along so if needed they will be there in October. I’m not as concerned about the pitching as some. We lead the league in pitching. Or at least we did. I haven’t looked in a few days. I’m more concerned about this hit and miss offense. They could go flat for a couple games and in a 3 game series that’s all it would take.

  16. I enjoyed reading your analysis, AC, and I will indulge myself by writing a long post about this. I have criticized the Dodgers ownership (I think that much of the ethos comes from there) and the front office, over the last few seasons, and it is not fun to do, because for us Dodgers fans, this is what we have. Just when I was about to totally go with the premise that the Dodgers are so much about profits that they would continue to let other teams make the big deals and acquisitions, they surprised me and many others by acquiring Betts; and then, much more importantly, signing him for 12 years. That was great. However, that did not necessarily signal a major change in approach, as we are now seeing.

    The Dodgers did absolutely nothing at the trade deadline last year; and had done nothing in the winter period until they finally traded for Betts,,and now did not do anything to improve the roster in this trade period. Now of course we have the best record in baseball. But first, the way these playoffs are set up makes that less meaningful than before in terms of playoff chances; and second, and even more important to me, this trade period was not so much about this year’s chances, but for next year and after that. And there the Dodgers failed the fan base, although maybe they can get away with it, if the young pitchers they are counting on all blossom into stars. That is no sure thing, of course.

    Who will go into next season with the better team, the Dodgers or the Padres? It could well be the Padres, irrespective of how this greatly shortened season plays out. In my view, the Dodgers needed and still need a top three starter. Kershaw is coming to the end of his career. Urias pitched well two days ago, but that does not suddenly mean that he is a star. May and Gonsolin certainly have talent, but a lot of pitchers on other clubs do, and not that many of them become top pitchers.

    Most top teams become so by adding a star pitcher to their roster. It is just too hard to depend solely on your minor league system. The Astros got Cole and Verlander. The Yankees got Cole and before that Paxton and earlier Sabathia. Washington paid a lot of money for Scherzer, and signed Corbin. The Cubs got Lester, the Cardinals Lackey. Boston signed Sale and Price. In most of these cases, this paid off in a championship. The Dodgers have not signed one top free agent pitcher or traded for one, unless you want to count Hill, who was never a star, or Price now,coming off a mediocre season. Everybody else does, why not the Dodgers? Yes, they tried to get Cole, but did not. So now the Padres, seeing a chance to be really good, and seizing the moment, sign Clevinger, plus Rosenthal. They may well be better than the Dodgers for the next few years; maybe not, but it will be very close.

    In all sports, you have a window of opportunity to win championships. The Dodgers, for all their regular season wins and incomparable fan base, have somehow not won a title in 31 years. Would it suffice if we win this very unusual season, but not for the next five? Not for me, though of course I am not the person who gets to decide what is sufficient or admirable The Dodgers make lots of money whether or not i am disappointed with the extent of their efforts to win titles. If they had gotten Clevinger, they probably would be big favorites to at least win the pennant next year and maybe the year after that. Now they are vulnerable to any playoff foe in a normal season which has proven top pitchers. That’s essentially how we lost to Washington last year, and Boston the year before. With pitchers, you can’t just think, “Well, we can always pick up a really good one when we want to.” There aren’t very many of them, and very few are available/ And we essentially pass on all of them, even when we let rivals and upcoming threats sign them. And we may have let the Padres pass us as the team to beat in the next few seasons. And being a wildcard makes it very difficult to win a title, most particularly when you do not have a tremendous 1-3 pitching staff, and you are trying to win series as the road team.

    Whatever happens in the playoffs this year–and I certainly think we are the favorites to win them–next season has become much more problematical. And at some point, our continued low draft position, plus our unwillingness to strike by signing a proven ace, could mean that our long normal 162 game season championship drought will continue for many more years. That is what bothers me. I realize that for others, if we win the championship this year, that will give the Dodgers the leeway to not win any for ten years, but still live off this one, as they did for so many years regarding 1988, showing special after special on the glory of that season.

    1. William, “The Dodgers did absolutely nothing at the trade deadline last year; and had done nothing in the winter period”…………………………………………” until they finally traded for Betts”. Oh, just that?

      1. Phil, I was not minimizing that at all, but it was very late, and if the Red Sox did not want to trade Betts (I think they thought they would get him back after the one season) and dump Price’s salary, it would not have happened. The Dodgers handled it very well and deserve great credit for it. But they still did not get the pitcher they were seeking, and they had another chance here,, and scarcely tried. Now they must make a virtue of necessity, and hope that May, Gonsolin and Urias become top pitchers, which is a lot to ask. Fortune favors the bold, they say.

  17. * Absolutely fun game last night. I love pitchers duels, which we got. Drama in the end and a WIN.
    For all the bunt haters – take that! In the right, meaningful, situation, it’s imperative that players be able to execute a bunt. A good bunt makes good things happen and moves a runner or leads to better things. Last night we forced the D-Backs defense to make a play which they botched. While Smith came through, I would have loved to have seen a safety squeeze bring in the winning run.
    * This game was a great example of why I like the new extra inning rule with a man on second. Instead of some 15 inning job where the bat boy is pitching at the end, we have instant excitement. We saw more strategy last night than earlier games where teams just played for the homer. When the visiting team scores 1 run, the wheels really get turning. For the home team needing a run, it brings in the bunt, a steal and situational hitting, a squeeze or safety squeeze. For the defense, if the runner gets to third we saw everybody in and could see walking the bases loaded, 5 infielders. All the prevent strategies. That is so much more exciting from the get-go. I hope the rule says beyond this season
    * Lux is in the “pull-happy mode” that Dodger lefties fall into. I assume that with his success in AAA he wasn’t a dead pull hitter. He is right now. You just can’t pull the low and away pitch moving away. I’m still not sold on this kid but he’s playing by default. I still contend that based on CT3’s reverse splits, he should be a 2nd against right handed pitching.
    * KJ while sucking for the most part, did make big pitchers when he had to. Credit there. But he looked so fidgety on the mound. I wish he would work faster. He seems his nature to move deliberately but he steps off too much, can’t get the signs, and puts everybody to sleep. I’d love to see him get the ball and throw it. Despite being the “relief Pitcher” of the month or week or whatever, he almost always makes it interesting.
    * I was out of the loop for a couple of days and had to catch up on all the comments. I went, along with some other old baseball coaches, to visit Dave Havelo. Dave pitched for the Giants, A’s and Mariners and is an absolute character. It’s always a treat to see “Tuna”.
    * One comment yesterday from Mark was “Surely, we can’t let a curmudgeon like Zac Gallen beat us tonight:”, which I don’t understand. Maybe it was a private inside joke with Bear. I doubt it was a disparaging remake about Zac Gallen. I first noticed Zac with Miami who I don’t watch much. He was great. I really thought the D-Backs made a good move trading prospect Jazz Chisholm for Gallen. Well, Gallen hasn’t been the D-Backs problem. That falls on Mad Bum and the departed Robbie Ray. I knew we were in for a treat with Gallen versus Ferris and we got it.

    1. Very good stuff, phil. Totally agree with you on the extra innings player on second rule. It made for a very exciting game and yes, sets up runs, bunt, stolen bases, squeeze plays like you said. Thank you. I always enjoy reading your comments.

      1. As long as they never finish playoff games with the gimmick extra innings rule I can live with it. They were lucky that AZ botched the handling of that bunt because it really wasn’t a very good one. I still remember RJ Reynolds dropping down a squeeze against the Braves years ago after a big rally. When’s the last time anyone mentioned RJ Reyonlds?

        1. Ever since the Surgeon General’s report on smoking, many of us have tried not to speak about RJ Reynolds as much, Hawkeye.

        2. “They were lucky that AZ botched the handling of that bunt . . .”

          I take issue with them being lucky. I would argue that things like bunting the runner over in extra innings, taking an extra base etc forces a team to make a good to great play to get the out. Without a good to great play, the other team is disrupted which can lead to runs and a big inning. Make all those plays and you are christened a great team, misplay and you loose.

          Just like a runner on 2nd base seems to disrupt KJ, doing things to disrupt the other teams rhythm often leads to W’s.

          1. I’m with you SoCalGrinch. There was no luck advantage at all with the bunt. With a well executed bunt, which it was, the worst thing that can happen (and should have) isAz gets the out at first. We get the runner to 3rd as was the original intention. But the pressure put on the defense caused the poor decision and bad throw producing the run. That’s not lucky. It’s good pressure baseball.
            If the bunt-haters think there was a legit play at 3rd, they’re wrong. The pitcher was on his ass and the 3rd baseman wasn’t at the bag and Taylor was running. So HawkeyeDodger can call that luck. I call it WINNING BASEBALL.

    2. Zac is a junkyard dog and I like him – he just makes some strange faces when he pitches and I was mocking him in a sophomoric fashion.

  18. To vent or not to vent. Gallen looked unbeatable last night, but then, so did Buehler. Maybe our young bucks won’t be good enough to get the job done in the playoffs. By the same token, maybe Clevinger chokes and the Padres young pitchers succumb to nerves. In either event, I’m prepared to ride the ponies in our barn to the playoffs.

    As with most years, there was much that could have happened at the trade deadline. We have no idea what efforts AF made to acquire another starting pitcher or right-handed bat. We do know, that Dave Roberts said that they were only looking for players that would really “move the needle” for the team. I’m not convinced that either Clevinger or Lynn would have moved the needle that much more than May, Gonsolin or Urias. Moreover, it’s hard to compare the players that a team acquired for someone we think might have helped, by saying that we could have given more. Perhaps AF could have, but maybe the other team didn’t want the Dodgers “more” and wanted the specific players they acquired. We’ll never know. As I write before, the only pitcher that I would have been interested in, was Trevor Bauer, and I would think that he was not available for anything less than a King’s ransom.

    I think the Dodgers will be fine.

  19. If I’m AF, I’m calling Freese asking him what kind of shape he’s in and if he’s interested in playing 20 games and the playoffs. If so, let’s take a look. How much worse than Kike can it look.

  20. AC, I just read an article on ESPN MLB about the minor league situation. This is a quote from it.
    “In the new plan, major league teams will get to pick their affiliations – four apiece, with discretion to cull the minor league clubs that play in substandard facilities or are simply inconveniently located”

    Does this mean the Dodgers could not get OKC, Tulsa, Quakes and Raptors if someone else picks them? If so, not fair at all. MLB is not doing MiLB any favors and may harm them.

    Also do you support the Save America’s Pastime act that MiLB owners lobbied for?

    1. As I understand it, the Dodgers will be keeping OKC, Tulsa, Rancho, Great Lakes, and one of the two AZL Rookie League teams. They will be losing Ogden. However, Ogden is a fantastic venue. The short season A Leagues will be deemphasized, if not eliminated. It is entirely possible that some other team will select Ogden and place them in another league. I do not know what it would take to bring the stadium up to AAA standards, but I think they could be a great addition to the Pacific Coast League. There are several substandard California League venues, but Ogden, Utah is not in California.

      I need to go back and read Save America’s Pastime Act. I have always maintained my allegiance to MiLB.

      1. AC, why would we keep our AAA team so far from LA? Isn’t it smarter to have them closer to Dodger Stadium, especially now during these musical chairs of choosing new MILB locations?

        1. As far as I know the Dodgers actually own the OKC team Bobby. Not to say they couldn’t sell it but it might make it more difficult to get a AAA team closer to L.A. I think the OKC facility is considered to be a good one so they might be faced with a tough decision.

        2. That is a good question. I have not heard definatively as to why they like OKC. Unofficially I have heard that they like OKC because it is smack in the middle of the country. Not knowing where the team will be when they need someone, it may lead to less travel time. Overall, I have heard the travel time is less at OKC than it would have been from the west coast. Oakland’s AAA team is in Nashville which makes no sense.

      2. Thanks, AC. I am relieved and happy to hear we will keep the teams you mentioned. Feel bad about the Ogden team and the AZL team we will lose though. Just hope we have a minor league functioning next year.

  21. While I like Stripling, he had lost his “stuff” for whatever reason and was giving up a lot of home runs. Maybe it was fastball location as some have suggested. The Dodgers have some very good young pitchers and they needed to move forward with them. There are better bullpen options than Stripling so time to move on.

    As to the return, Kendall Williams appears to have plenty of upside. Some pundits are high on his skill set. With young pitchers you just have to wait and see. But I thought it was a good deal for the Dodgers. I will miss Stripling, good guy, but it’s also an opportunity for him to continue as a starter, which is what he wanted.

    As to Padres. Yes they are better, no question. Are they better than the Dodgers? Not right now. But that doesn’t mean they couldn’t get into this weird playoff format and win it all. Luck could play an even greater role than normal deciding a championship.

    Yes, it would have been nice to obtain Clevinger. The only concern I would have is breaking health protocols, which is a red flag. Caused some issues in Cleveland, but on paper, he’s an impact pitcher. Moving forward to 2021, the Dodgers have Price and I think he is potentially a difference maker.

    Good write-up today, Jeff. Find a Starbuck’s with outdoor patio seating.

  22. Good to hear venting about the trade deadline. While I think Andrew Friedman is great at his job, the last two trade deadlines have been disappointing. Last year, the inability to land quality relief pitching (Aside from Kolarek), definitely had a negative impact on the Dodgers playoff run. The Nationals pickup of Daniel Hudson also helped them win a title.
    And this year, the Padres definitely closed the gap between the two teams by getting 9 players including Clevinger, while the Dodgers added zero new players. And then an hour after the trade deadline, we hear that the Dodgers actually traded Ross Stripling for prospects. Yes I understand that Stripling was not the best option for the playoff starting rotation, but in my opinion, keeping Stripling as insurance gives the Dodgers a better chance to win a World Series this year.
    The Starkville podcast with Jayson Stark had an interview with Mark Shapiro, President of Toronto Blue Jays. He gave some insight into the trade deadline and the Stripling trade including the following:
    -The Stripling trade was finalized just seconds before the trade deadline.
    -Although Shapiro likes the minor league players traded to the Dodgers, neither player was one of their top 15 prospects.
    -The Jays had been in talks with the Dodgers for several days, and at some points the Trade included more players than Stripling. Shapiro also pointed out that his lineup was almost all RH hitters. So likely that the Dodgers also had discussed LH hitters, possibly Joc or Beatty.
    -Blue Jays added 3 starting pitchers even though they have two SP coming back from injury soon. His logic was to provide insurance in case the recoveries were delayed or another starter was injured.

    The Starkville podcast is long but the Stripling discussion is around the 12 minute mark. https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9ldE5zM1BwTg/episode/ZTJiMmQyYWYtZDM5Ni00NmZkLTkxOGItNzRkMWIzYWJmODQy

    My preference would have been to keep Ross Stripling as insurance for the rest of the year and potentially trade him in the offseason. But hopefully it works out for both the Dodgers and for Ross.

      1. Ross was traded on an off day for the Dodgers, but Friedman had a discussion with him sometime before the deadline on Monday and immediately after he was traded. At least he did not hear it first on twitter like many players do.

      2. The trade came at the deadline on Monday and the Dodgers did not play on Monday. I doubt very much that Strip had any knowledge of any potential trade on Sunday.

  23. Mike Oz of Yahoo Sports on the Dodgers:
    “If anyone says the Dodgers aren’t No. 1, they’re lying, not paying attention or a Giants fan.”

  24. OK, let’s leave Justin Verlander out of this discussion for 2 reasons:

    1. At the trade deadline, Darvish was a better choice. Verlander was in decline and the Astros resurrected his career (in a mighty way); and
    2. Guggs and Company would not let AF take on another year of salary!

    End of Story!

    That was not on AF – It was on Guggs, who authorized THE DOPE FIEND TRADE. However, I digress.

    AF is not perfect, but I’ll take him until perfect comes along. He has built a monster… A monster that is sustainable! Some players have gotten off to a slow start (as players are prone to do), but it’s not how you start – It’s how you end!

    I still think it was addition by subtraction. Ross had his chance… CHANCES – actually. He did not deliver. His record is who he is! Great guy! Not what the Dodgers needed.

    The Dodgers are the term to beat… by a country mile. AF has put the team together, A team that is statistically, analytically, and fundamentally better than any other team in MLB by a large margin.

    It’s up to the players to execute!

    1. It is not a monster until the Dodgers win a WS. Sustainable – Like the 14 year run of the Braves? 1 WS championship and then a rebuild? We have different definitions of a monster organization. Yankees in the 90’s, now that was a monster. Giants 2010-2014 much more of a monster. 2004-2018 Boston – 4 WS Championships. Sustainable – St. Louis Cardinals – Since 2000 – 10 times 1st place, 5 times 2nd place, 4 3rd place, 1 4th place. 4 World Series appearances and 2 WS Championships. Win first…then you can call it a monster.

      So the Strip trade was addition by subtraction because he had his CHANCES. How many chances has Kike’ had. I know he is your JDM , why I don’t know. How many chances does Joc get? If your math is right with addition by subtraction by all those with CHANCES, then the Dodgers should be able to walk into the WS parade by DFA’ing both Kike’ and Joc. If David Price does not opt out, Strip is in the bullpen where he could have been fantastic. We will never know. Strip lost his chance as a starter. I have no argument for that and I have no problem with it. But I am not convinced that the bullpen is better with Santana, Baez, or Kelly (or Graterol this year) over Strip.

      Define statistically better. Because SD is a better offensive team than the Dodgers, and there really is no question. In fact it could be argued that outside of slugging, the Giants are at least equal to the Dodgers.
      Runs – SD #1 – LAD #2 – SFG #3
      BA – SD #2 – SFG #3 – LAD #13
      OBP – SD #3 – SFG #6 – LAD #8
      SLG – SD #1 – LAD #5 – SFG #6
      OPS – SD #1 – LAD #4 – SFG #8
      Hits – SFG #1 – SD #2 – LAD #9
      SB – SD #2 – LAD #8
      HR – SD & LAD #1

      Statistically, San Diego is a superior offensive team. Defensively, there really is not a lot of difference between the two teams. Dodgers 22 errors and .984 fielding percentage. SD 24 errors and .982 fielding percentage. Those are factual rather than trying to decipher UZR and DRS which are subjective.

      The Dodgers have a clear advantage with Pitching. But the gap has closed with the addition of Clevinger and Rosenthal, and the return of Pomeranz.

  25. I know about the experience argument, but statistically career wise our 3 young inexperienced starting pitchers (Gonsolin, May, Urias) are better than Lance Lynn.

    Career stats:
    Statistically Gonsolin is better than Clevinger.
    Statistically May is similar to Clevinger.
    Statistically Urias is similar to Clevinger.

    So I understand the argument that Clevinger has experience and our young 3 do not, but statistically Clevinger is not a clear upgrade over our 3 young starting pitchers.

    Now adding Clevinger would have allowed 2 of our 3 (instead of just 1) to go to the bullpen to make the bullpen even better.

    So yes Clevinger would have made our team better by moving 2 of our 3 young starters to the pen for the playoffs to make our pen even better. But what price would AF had to pay for Clevinger?

    And as far as Stripling is concerned, he just was not a good enough pitcher to deserve a spot on this team.

    1. I like this team.

      The only guy on offense that I don’t like is Hernandez and I’m waiting on judging Lux until I see more of him. But overall I like the offense.

      I like our starting pitching (Buehler, Kershaw, Gonsolin, May, Urias), experienced or not.

      I like our bullpen except Kelly and Santana and I hope they are left off the playoff roster. I’m skeptical of Floro and Kolarek because of their lopsided career stats, but I gotta say they have been just fine so far. And I don’t want Gonzalez on the playoff roster. Give Doc any weak relievers (bad apples) and it seems like he goes with them in crucial spots in the playoffs. At least he has in the past.

  26. Spirited repartee today! I love it. Couple of things. First, all of us here are just fans. None of us has any influence on decisions AF, or the ownership makes. We all have opinions on those, some negative, some positive and some neutral. But none of us are in the room when the decision is made. One reason I loved the movie Draft Day was because it showed the behind the scenes manipulation. There are players who were out there I thought would make the Dodgers better, Bauer was one of my first choices. He went no where simply because the Reds are still in the race. Had they been 5 or 6 games back, they might have felt compelled to trade him before the lose him for nothing. I believed that one of the Jays RH hitting outfielder would have been an upgrade from the Kike-Joc debacle. But neither of those guys would have brought much in return. Even the Giants did not do much because they are not out of the picture either. I disagree that the Dodgers are far and away the best team. They have the most depth. They have statistically the best pitching. But they are behind the Padres offensively. Padres are better across the board offensively. Dodgers are tied with them in homers, but Pads BA, OPS, and OBP are higher. They have 10 triples to the Dodgers 3. More hits, more RBI’s and more runs scored. The Dodgers might have the biggest run differential, but it is simply because they beat up bad pitching, and even though their BA against lefty’s is abysmal, they own a 8-1 record against LH starters. What is OBVIOUS to anyone who has decent eyes is that the Dodgers are pitiful against quality starters. And that is what they will see when they get to the playoffs. They lost to DC because DC had superior starters, and a great pen. You cannot win in the playoffs with just 2 experienced starters. I think AF and the manager are putting an awful lot of faith in a trio of kids. This bullpen, bad apples and all, will be able to handle things better than the pens of the past, but even they are not super men. And at some point, they will have bad games. In the first round, they are not going to be able to do that.

  27. I’ve been reading LADT for a few years now and I have really enjoyed it. Like Jeff, I am a transplant to Northern California. I was young (obviously!) when the Dodgers came to LA and have loved them from Day one. I brainwashed my older son who lives in Reno and he and his 3 children are also die hard Dodger fans. I too, like Jeff, lost a son recently. so we have several things in common–some to cheer about and some to grieve about.
    We try to go to at least one series at Dodger Stadium each year. This year will break our streak but, God willing, we’ll be back there next year.
    As far as the Dodgers go, both my son and I are extremely happy with their success over the last several years. They are almost always competitive and have built a wonderful baseball organization, from top to bottom. Yes, they haven’t won the big one yet but we both feel that the playoffs are a crap shoot and require both good timing and good luck. It would be nice if they won the WS not so much for the trophy but to get the monkey off their back so we can relax and enjoy the wonderful day in and day out play of the best 162 season team in baseball over the last several years. I think AF has done a great job and I’m quite content to go into the playoffs with the team we have now. They have the best record in the Majors by miles. Like I said, they just need some good timing and a little luck, or at least not another team to have better luck.
    Thanks again for the opportunity to be a part of your group.

  28. When you have a really good team with really talented players there’s not a lot of openings. Maybe a big rh dh bat or Clevinger. But to have a successful long term team like the Dodgers you have to develop young talent and trust them to perform. You just can’t sign all stars at every position. In our case we have a lot of talented young pitchers. Time to trust them! I do.

    1. You do not win world titles on trust. You need performance, and what they have now is a very good and deep team with 3 HUGE question marks in the rotation, There is no other way to spin that. Granted, some may think Clevinger is only marginally better than our 3 guys, but, Julio Urias career ERA in post season is 5.17. Not very good and his record is 2-2. Clevinger has no decisions, but his ERA is 4.50. skewed bad a bad outing in 2017.Urias in 5 years, and granted he has been brought along carefully, has a 12-7 record and a 3.19 ERA. In the same span Clevinger is 42-22 with a 3.20. His WHIP is lower at 1.196 to Urias 1.281, and his career WAR is 10 points higher than Urias, sorry, I want the guy with more experience. Urias has a lot of potential and he has not reached that yet. And Gonzo and May are just kids.

  29. I think Bear is technically right about the Padres having better numbers but my rebuttal would be “oh yeah, well you just wait!”

    Pretty strong, right?

    This Dodger offense hasn’t hit as a unit yet. There is of course no guarantees they ever will in this bizarrely flocculant year, but if they do, they can beat anybody. My money, what little I have left at this point in my life, is on the Dodgers.

    1. As big a fan of the team that I am, I still have questions and doubts. Especially when I see a team that is playing as loose and care free as SD. There is no pressure on the Pads. If they do not win, that’s cool, no one expects them to win. But if the Dodgers lose, there is going to be a lot of finger pointing and asking who do we blame for this blasphemy? The Dodgers are the team with something to prove to all concerned, They choke again in the post season and the fans are not going to be very pleased. I am a realist, I see holes. And I do not believe that Joc and Kike are going to suddenly get it. And so far, they are the two biggest holes in the lineup along with Lux, who has not been here long enough to expect much. LA went out and got the best offensive player available. And then they extended him just to make sure they would get a decent return on the trade. Price opting out has affected this team more than most expected. And the loss of his playoff experience is going to be something that this year at least they are going to wish they had.

    2. I do not like to play the “if” game. Either they are hitting or they are not. If I am an opposing team, I am trotting out a soft thrower with a change. Zac Gallen outright owned the Dodgers last night. Mike Minor shut them down. Marco Gonzalez, Zach Davies. Dodger hitters are so committed to the long ball they cannot time a good change. It really does not take a genius to know that you do not want to pitch fastballs to this team. Dodger hitters will eat that up, unless it is elite fastballs. Soft throwers are much more effective against the Dodger hitters. Giants and Padres hitters are much more disciplined and tend to go with the pitch. How many balls did the Giants hit to beat the shift against the Dodgers. They just do not have enough pitching. But they might for a three game series.

      I have $200 on the Dodgers winning the WS.

  30. The Dodgers are not a perfect team. No team is. Most of us see weaknesses
    1 – 3rd starter in the playoffs
    2 – RH bat (presumably to DH)
    3 – less reliable version of closer (Jansen) than in 2015 – 2017
    4 – no offense out of Joc, Kike, and marginal contributions from many other key performers (Muncy just starting to hit, Smith bad BA, Lux nothing as of yet

    So – the Pads are better than LA on offense? Here is their lineup
    C – Hedges
    1B – Hosmer
    2B – Cronenworth
    SS – Tatis Jr
    3B – Machado
    LF – Profar
    CF – Grisham
    RF – Myers
    DH – Pham

    I’d take the Dodgers over the Pads at every spot except 2B, SS and 3B. They have better numbers after 35 games but the Dodgers have better players at most spots. And clearly better pitching although the Pads did narrow the gap.

    1. Hedges is no longer the catcher for the Pads. He is with the Indians. It is Austin Nola with a hitting line of .307/.377/.525/.902. And Mitch Moreland is the DH – .316/.409/.684/1.093. Offensively, I would take the Padres infield, catcher & LF, and the Dodgers CF and RF. I do not know who the Dodgers DH is (Joc?). But whoever it is, Moreland is having a far superior year. Jurickson Profar for the last 28 days (82 PA) is batting .319/.370/.542/.912. Neither Pollock or Joc are hitting at that level. Right now, Trent Grisham is outperforming Belli. Grisham .236/.331/.466/.798. Belli .225/.305/.478/.783. I fully expect that Belli will continue to improve over the next 22 games and far surpass Grisham. However, that would have been my expectation for the year, and for nearly 2/3, it hasn’t been. And don’t tell me…wait until the playoffs, because Belli has not hit in any playoff series.

      The Dodgers are winning because of Pitching. I am not sure why that is even debateable. Do they have the best overall pitching in the MLB? Absolutely, without question. They are getting enough from the starters and then turning it over to the bullpen. It would be very interesting if the roster was 26 as it should have been. That is two less relief pitchers. But offensively, they are a team that relies on the long ball. They are not better than SD offensively.

    2. Pham is on the IL, Hedges is in Cleveland, and both of the catchers they got over the deadline are better hitters. They have Moreland, and they added Clevinger and Rosenthal to their pitching staff. And i suggest you go read the NL stats page. All of the area’s I listed, BA, OPS, OBP, the Padres are better. They are tied in Home runs, but the Padres have more RBI’s and runs. They are better in BA by 18 points. Right now, their offense is better balanced than the Dodgers.

  31. I agree we didn’t get much for stripling but maybe that says more about how the league valued stripling. Stripling has been around for awhile so the league knew him. Everybody needs pitching so you would think if he was really good teams would have competed for him. On the other hand if you like stripling and you say Williams is a clone then you just got stripling back only younger.

    I think AF has built the Dodgers into a franchise to emulate. However, he has used the Dodgers financial strength to swing deals and has blown a wad of money on mediocre players A few we are still paying for. The last deal with Boston and Minnesota: we paid all of maeda salary plus money for price plus the prospects. Maeda is a pretty fair pitcher but they basically paid to give him to Minnesota where he has flourished to date. My point is who can argue with Betts and graterol but we didn’t outmaneuver anybody we used the la financial strength to do it.

  32. To all on this board that served (Bear, Badger, and please tell me who else):

    As someone who moved to this country and became an American Citizen: I will never EVER call you veterans losers or suckers. Please know that.

      1. Not on this board Jeff but if we go any farther with this we’ll be getting into politics and we probably don’t want to go there.
        It should be all over the news by now, and for sure tomorrow.

  33. How it must suck to be Justin Smoak. He was just DFA’d by the Brewers in favor of Voglebach who has been DFA’d by 2 teams already after posting a .088 average with 2 homers. Smoak by comparison is Babe Ruth hitting .178 with 5 homers. AJ Ramos also DFA’d today. Clevinger lost his debut in Anaheim today losing to the Angels.

  34. Opposing teams are going to learn real fast that the Dodgers hitters have a real problem with changeups. Luke Weaver, owner of the worst ERA in MLB, is taking a page out of Zac Gallen’s book. Thru four innings, the Dodgers have 3 hits and should have zero runs. Weaver has retired 10 in a row, and the change has been the outpitch on most of those ABs. They are going to get a steady diet of changes until they learn to wait on that pitch.

  35. All I will say is be careful of what you read in the media. Period! They are ruthless. This applies to sports, news, and life. This is not meant to be political… only educational.

    1. 100% true.

      The Atlantic is wonderful though.

      I’d trust and recommend everyone to read that publication as item as possible.

      1. For many years, I have never been disappointed with the journalism when reading The Atlantic.

        Early this year, I have been wary of the facts and motivation.

        Don’t let the style obfuscate the substance.

  36. Clayton’s ERA sits at 1.54 right about now. However, he will not have a no-hitter. Too many pitches.

  37. The Padres have scored 222 runs (5.69 a game) while the pitiful Dodgers have only scored 215 runs (5.51 a game).

    However, the Dodgers average 2.67 Earned Run a game, while the Padres ERA is 4.26.

    Yeah, the Padres are just amazing!

    If the Dodgers don’t win, they are choke artists… just sayin’…

    1. That is the way they will be portrayed, and have been portrayed over the last 7 years. And every time they do not win the series, Giants fans are full of joy.

  38. Just about every Dodger batter does not swing on the first two pitches. This is the strategy they used last year. This makes for a very boring Dodger offense, grinding down pitchers, many BBs, and boring games.

    1. You won’t even realize he’s gone. Taylor deserves the 2B spot. Someone else deserves LF, probably Pollock.
      Does Muncy deserve any base? Is Lux an odd man out? I don’t know how they will resolve this.

  39. Kershaw:

    5-1
    1.50 ERA
    0.76 WHIP
    36 IP
    20 H
    6 BB
    41 K
    .157 BA against

    Who wants to say he is not the Ace?

  40. Mike Trout hit the 298th homer of his career the other day. He is now 1 short of the franchise record of 299 held by Tim Salmon. Former Dodger Richie Allen’s # 15 was retired by the Phillies today. Going against the unwritten policy of the Phils to only retire numbers of players in the hall. One of the reasons cited was the way Allen was treated while he was a Philly by fans who were very racist at the time. The plaque was unveiled by Hall of Famer, Mike Schmidt. Fernando Rodney was released.

  41. I was born in Philly and grew up a Phillies fan. Richie Allen was my favorite player. Johnny Collison, Tony Gonzales, Wes Covington, Jim Bunning, Chris Short, Ruben Amaro, Rick Wise, Clay Dalrimple, Cookie Rojas Bobby Wine, Jack Baldshwin. I know I’m butchering the names but many nights listening to my radio under my pillow. Allen swung like a 300 ounce bat! He was a monster! Broke my heart blowing that 6 or 7 game lead with 10 to play! Lot of great memories!

    1. Those are all names from the 60’s I remember. Outside of 1964 they really were not that competitive in the 60’s. Gene Mauch was a fine manager, who managed a lot of bad teams. But he will be remembered for that choke in 1964. Of course it turned out well for the good guys in 1964. 22 years later on the verge of a WS appearance with the Angels, he suffered another heart breaking loss to the Red Sox on a Dave Henderson HR off Donnie Moore. A pitch Moore never got over.

      Clayton Dalrymple is a great name. I remeber having about 50 of his baseball cards. I couldn’t get enough.

      I got the pleasure of meeting both Ruben Amaro Sr. and Ruben Amaro Jr. while my son played for Philadelphia. Ruben Sr. always had good things to say about Andy.

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