The Boys in Blue are playing at a blistering .778 pace and have the best record in MLB, but it’s way too small of a sampling to conclude anything except that they are way talented and way deep and can win without two of their superstars (Belli and Mookie). After last night, the Nationals are now 1-4 and the Cincinnati Reds are beating other teams’ pitchers like a rented mule. They have scored 66 runs in 8 games! Meanwhile, the Mets couldn’t jump out of a boat and hit water as they have scored 16 runs in 8 games. For those who struggle with math, that is an average of 2 runs a game… yet they are 4-4.
Jimmy Nelson looked much better in his 1.1 IP last night and Julio Urias looked effective until he didn’t when Soto took him deep with a runner on. There’s a lot to like about this team, but one wonders what’s up with the signing of RHP Ashton Goudeau. I think the Dodgers see a guy who has only two good pitches that might be effective in short bursts. He has a mid-90’s fastball and a big curve. He ditched his slider before last season. They must think they can tinker with something and re-claim him. Sometimes it happens. You have to try.
Kershaw and Scherzer this afternoon. It should be a fun game.
Jayne Cobb had a well-thought-out and articulated comment yesterday… I wish I had more confidence that politicians would try and work together. At this moment, I do not see a lot of evidence of that. Love him or hate them, that is what made JFK and Ronald Reagan great: they both worked with the other side. Right now, neither side wants to work with the other, however, I still have hope!
That’ all I got!
Would be nice to see, but I will settle for a division title, just too piss off those Padre fans, and a march to another championship.
Angels lose Fowler for the season. He will undergo season ending knee surgery. Another blow to the Halos who are trying to get back to the playoffs.
Some interesting stats:
Dodgers Offense .870 OPS 2nd in baseball.
Dodgers starting pitching E.R.A 2.88 8th in baseball.
Dodgers bullpen pitching E.R.A 5.25 20th in baseball.
So far my prediction is right, the bullpen is BY FAR the weakest part of the team. BUT Gonsolin and Graterol have not been seen at all so far this season. When they get back the bullpen will be better. BUT I will stand by my prediction that the bullpen will be the weakest part of the team. BUT don’t get me wrong, because I predict the offense and starting pitching will be good enough to carry the team, this team will in the end be a very good team.
The bullpen lost one game so far. The starting pitching lost one game so far. Hard to judge a bullpen when most of that ERA is from opening the season in Coors. Nelson was one of the guys you were bashing and he looked deadly yesterday. Give it some time and you’ll be presently surprised.
Think outside the box a little bit. Right now, we have 2 starters in the pen and another on the DL. Everyone is expecting pitcher burnout this year because of the short season last year. You only have 40 roster spots. Friedman chose to stack this roster with starting pitchers for a variety of reasons. Most importantly to get through all the innings in a full season.
They already invested in Nelson and ate a year of contract last year and brought him back this year cheaper than his contract called for. Judging by yesterday, a good move.
David Price is being paid $16M by the Dodgers and another $16M by the Red Sox. Cost of doing business to get Mookie. Do you cut him, or try to see what you got so you can trade him and get one of two things in return. Shedding the $$ or picking up a prospect. We’re in 1st place, I think the choice is a wise one right now.
The bullpen’s job is to preserve a win or to keep your team in a game that you’re losing. So far, the bullpen is doing the job it’s supposed to do. ERA doesn’t mean much when you give up 2 runs in the ninth inning with a 6 run lead like last night. Sure, Alexander’s ERA went up, but he also did his job, didn’t walk anyone, didn’t waste a better pitchers, etc.
It’s early, so best to see what Price can do. If he pitches better as the season progressives, then:
1. Keep him b/c he’s a left hander and can pitch innings and could factor in the playoffs – this year’s Alex Wood
2. trade him for a low end prospect (you’ll still have to eat most of the 16 million)
I wouldn’t make the decision to cut until after the season, and all that would really do is free up a roster spot.
Kenley and Kelly both come off the books next year. That saves 28.5 million that could go to a Seager contract.
Here’s a controversial take: Don’t sign Kershaw to another contract. He’s making 31 million through this year. Pride will keep him from taking a pay cut to sign another deal. That’s money that could be used to sign Seager or keep the team in range of resetting the CBT penalty.
Is he really worth 31 million at this point in his career?
He’s effectively blocking May and Gonsolin, who are extremely talented and are ready to take the next step.
If the Dodgers sign him to another two year deal, he’ll be blocking Josiah Gray, too.
Bauer, Buehtane, Urias, May, Gonsolin or Jimmy Nelson or Josiah Gray
If it’s a choice between keeping Kershaw for sentimental reasons or signing one of the best players in the game who is just entering his prime, what do you do?
Sign Seager. No brainer, didn’t blink or hesitate at all.
We can have both.The first year we would still have Bauer ,so we would have to juggle the contracts.
If Keyshawn continues to pitch like he is.He will get that money somewhere. I sure don’t want him in a different uniform and I don’t see it happening at 34 and 35.
If he wants to continue playing, which he said he does. The Dodgers will probably sign him. A part of me, as much as I’d like to see him continue playing for and retire as a Dodger, wish he would retire while he’s still close to the top of his game and, hopefully, having won another WS.
I not only think our bullpen will be great but by year-end, it will be the best in baseball.
Jimmy Nelson and David Price are in a process that doesn’t happen overnight. I think Nelson can adjust to his role. Can Price? That is the question. If not, they have to allow him to start a few games to showcase him for a trade. Maybe for a time, they let Urias or May pitch out of the pen to enable that!
By season’s end, the bullpen could have Graterol, Morrow, and Kahnle.
I can’t even believe we’re entertaining the thought that Price is going to be bad all year. He’s made a career out of being the slightly worse version, regular human being, of the great Clayton Kershaw. He’ll be fine.
Vintage Kersh and vintage Kenley. From overseas I tend to follow games by waking up and watching highlights on YouTube. As this one progressed, I was bracing myself for another “Jansen blows it again” ending
Love it when both of these guys prove they are far from washed up. And love it when a late-rounder like McKinstry makes a big impact.
Fully agree about the talent of the Dodgers bullpen, though I’ll always worry about how Roberts uses it. Interesting idea about showcasing Price and Nelson as SPs. I hope we see Gonsolin start soon as well. Mitch White, too.
And ultimately it might be for the best that some of them do their pitching for another team.
Come midseason, Friedman may not feel a trade is necessary, though a couple of injuries could change that. Even if the Dodgers are in good shape, Friedman could offer quality veterans (or younger talent) for prospects and role players.
But what if premium talent goes on the block? What if the Indians dangle Jose Ramirez–and Friedman wants to keep him away from the Braves and Mets? I could see a deal that starts with Gonsolin and Rios…
Nelson’s curve looks much better at sea level! I still think he could be a huge piece for us this year! Even a below average Julio is pretty darn good! Besides the bomb to Soto he only gave up a couple of scoring clunkers. He left too many fastballs middle middle and didn’t throw his change up enough.
Mookie still out, with another off day tomorrow. Starting lineup. Lux, Seager, Turner, Muncy, Taylor, Rios, McKinstry, Barnes, Kershaw.
No Bellinger, Mookie, Will Smith and Seager”s slumping.
Gonna be hard to score off Scherzer.
Then again, JT , Muncy and CT3 are raking. Depth is nice.
Yeah, Seager is slumping and still hitting .353. Smith is at .300. Seager hit the hardest ball he has hit in a week yesterday. He hit some too hard and right at people yesterday too. He is fine. Lux and McKinstry have cooled off a little. McKinstry did get an RBI hit yesterday. They are 7-2 with the B team out there. Pollock, who is down around .200, had a huge 3 run double to get the margin back to 6. They can rest Betts until he is 100 % and still win games because the pitching has been very good lately. Scherzer can’t win if his team doesn’t score.
He’s 4 for his last 22 ABs with 8 strikeouts. He slumping.
Seager’s a bum.
Yep, 1-4 today with a double, but he was flawless in the field. McKinstry aiming to be the ROY the way he has played. How about that bullpen>? Jansen looked like the old Jansen. Knebel has given up nothing yet, and Treinen with an 8th inning high wire act. 8-2. So far, so good.
Speaking of hope, a minor miracle has occurred: my wife has become a Dodgers fan! She had barely heard of baseball, much less the Dodgers, when we met 6 years ago. Now she pesters me every day about whether we’ll be able to watch them play live in our time zone. So anything is possible!
So you’re saying there’s hope for Jansen!!!!
Anything is possible. I didn’t say it’s likely, but it is possible!
It’s more than likely Jansen will be great for a while and further on down the road. Were you guys even fans of Dodgers before Jansen arrived? That’s when the bullpen was really a mess. I remain and proud that I am still a fan of Jansen. And those who keep talking bad about Tony Crenshaw……well I won’t say how I feel about you but it’s sometimes hard to be civil.
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I know what you mean, my wife is from the Bay Area and you know that I wasn’t going to anything to do with that. She loves the Dodgers and always send pictures of us in our Dodgers gear to all her old buddies.
Okay, that beats me!
Does anyone know the problems and status of Gonsulin, Graterol and (who cares) Kelly?
Gonsolin is still experiencing shoulder soreness. No one has set a timeline, but the shoulder has to calm down before you can even begin to build it back up, so I could see a month or even two for Gonsolin. Just my opinion.
Graterol threw a 15 pitch simulated game yesterday and they want him to pitch two games in a three-day stretch before he comes back, so I would guess it will be by the end of the month. There is no reason to rush him.
We have no idea when Kelly will be back because we have no idea what is wrong with him.
Are we going to see Kenley in the 9th inning?
yes
I believe Kenly Jansen just made a statement!
WOW!
Over 300 rpm increase on his cutter compared to season average. Guess Kenley spoke to Bauer.
Yeah — that was so great to see! My one-word reaction (while watching) was also “WOW!”
That darn Dodger bullpen blows it again! Blows it by them! What a weak link! Kenley says “ not so fast” I’m still here”!!!!! McKinstry ROY!!!!!! Kike who?
Ok, that’s it. Jansen is on roids. That was 2016-2017 Kenley!!!
I gotta feel good for Kenley for his 9th inning work today.
Zach is here……. Bellinger, take all the time you need to get back (It doesn’t matter if it takes a couple of months) there’s no rush, your mostly ground balls to first base aren’t urgent or missed.
Kenley looked pretty good today. So did Zack. Headed to Dodger Stadium Thursday.
Jansen made me think that the fountain of youth does exist!! (At least for one day, but 95mph???)
Jansen is useful but earlier in the game to begin an inning. This outing didn’t change my mind about that, but he did do good.
Well it seems Doc does not agree with you. He began the inning. With a 3 run lead and no one on, he can just cut loose without worrying about hanging one. Treinen had to be very careful with Soto because he was the tying run. Bullpen this weekend at least has been excellent. There have been some controversial calls already. Both cost their teams games. In a Mets game with the bases loaded, Conforto appeared to stick his arm out and got hit driving in the winning run. Today in the Phillies-Braves game, there was a short fly to left and the runner sprinted towards home. Replay showed that he never touched the plate. But NY did not overturn what obviously was a blown call. It cost the Braves the game, and Snitker was livid after it was over.
At least Doc can’t use Jansen back to back tomorrow! That last cutter he threw for a strikeout at 94 broke a foot to the outside. That was vintage Kenley!
He threw a couple that hit 95. He has not done that in years. From what Davis was saying, Kenley had come in very early and was working with Prior and other coaches on the way he sets up when he is ready to throw. They changed his mechanics so he is more in a straight line when the ball leaves his hand. Only threw one pitch for a ball.
According to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, Tony Gonsolin’s return is “a ways away for me with where he’s at.” Roberts told Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register and other reporters that Gonsolin had yet to begin a throwing program since being placed on the 10-day injured list last Sunday. Gonsolin is sidelined with shoulder inflammation that began to bother the right-hander around Opening Day, which was why he didn’t get any game action prior to his IL placement.
I do not believe I have seen a better Dodger team than this one. Two shutouts in three days. If Jansen can throw like Sunday, the bull pen will be great. Jansen is going to be a interesting piece going forward. Can he repeat Sunday’s performance or will he go back to 89 mph. We shall see. Two stars not in the line up and they win three games. McKinstry drives in all three runs. I just do not see any weakness in this team. And they have depth for injuries and it will happen. Taylor and McKinstry can play almost anywhere. I just hope they can open up Dodger stadium to full capacity soon.
If Kenley’s performance – his 94 MPH cutter with sharp break – is really due to some mechanics tweaks by Prior, then, wow! A vintage Kenley is actually a huge development, and just made an already dominant team even more so. … I also have a hard time believing that to be the sole reason.
There are just certain inevitabilities in life. People get older. I’ve said before, Kenley can still be really effective. Roberts just needs to know how to use him properly.
When you’re older you don’t recover as well. With all of the analytics at the Dodgers disposal, it’s preposterous to me that they (or Roberts) haven’t figured out until now that Kenley is not effective when he pitches on back to back days.
Kenley is just not going to be as consistent with his performance, but Roberts needs to understand this and understand how to put him in the best possible position to succeed.