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  2. I’m Back, and in less than an hour.

    2021 was a very disappointing and ultimately, strange year.
    Take the Dodgers for example (I am sure that many of you remember this, but for the sake of commenting:

    From the The Athletic – The first ball they [Dodgers] hit over the fence in 2021 was not a home run. And why was that? Because Cody Bellinger passed Justin Turner on the bases. So that was confusing enough.

    But then the first home run they did hit this season was on a ball that never cleared the fence. And why was that? Because it was an inside-the-parker by Zach McKinstry.

    Oh, and also, the only guy who got to trot around the bases after any of that was a player who hit neither ball. By which we mean Turner, the one runner who wasn’t called out after Bellinger’s non-homer.

        1. I have seen the play several times and I have a hard time placing any blame.

          Stuff happens!

          1. Dear Mark,
            Thank you for responding.
            This blog is important to me and I am sure to a lot of others.

      2. Sorry OldBear 48. That sounded a little facetious. Just trying to keep this “comment section” open.
        I am a recently retired CEO of a F.I. and this blog is currently my main source of dialogue with others.
        I guess I was not prepared for retirement and really don’t have much to do with my life right now.
        Perhaps it has to do with the fact that I grew up a Giants fan, back when they first came west to play in old Seals Stadium and then Candlestick park.
        That all changed when I met my future (and current wife or 48 years) and attended my first game at Dodger Stadium and sat in the Lodge section between 1st and home plate.
        I have been a Dodger fan since that game in 1970.

          1. Whatever I can do, let me know. I think that you have my email address.

            I am have offended someone in the past, but never intentionally.

        3. There are plenty of people suffering around you. Help them instead of distracting yourself with baseball nonsense. Your behavior will be more ethical.

          1. Not sure why you should be commenting on my ethical behavior or anything else about me.
            I certainly do not know you and you do not know me. Look inward, perhaps you can improve yourself.

        4. We see the game through different eyes. Cody had his head down a little since he saw the ball come out of Tapia’s glove, Turner did not. So Cody passed him. Turner is supposed to be a seasoned vet, so if any blame was placed, I put it on the old guy. I saw the old Angels play at Wrigley Field in LA and a Hollywood Stars game at their home field, Gilmore. Never liked the Giants, never will. I have 2 grand daughters and a daughter who because of who she married are now Giants fans. My grandson, son, my eldest daughter are all Dodger fans. I am glad you are enjoying your retirement. Writing for this blog has kept my mind active when I had a lot of free time on my hands. I have a couple I am working on that I will post soon. In some baseball news, it looks like McCullough may be lured to the Mets to be Showalters bench coach. Passan says MLB is working on a couple of proposals to make to the MLBPA in January. But so far, no meetings are scheduled. As you all probably gather, I made it home yesterday safely. It is 13 degrees here this morning. As Ernie Banks would say ” Lets Play Two! “

        5. “Not sure why you should be commenting on my ethical behavior or anything else about me.
          I certainly do not know you and you do not know me. Look inward, perhaps you can improve yourself.”

          1. You stated in a public forum that you really don’t have much to do with your life right now.

          2. You shouldn’t be surprised when people comment on things you say in a public forum.

          3. Commenting on your behavior is not commenting on you. You are not your behavior.

          4. People don’t need to know you in order to comment on your behavior.

          5. You don’t need to know someone in order for them to comment on your behavior.

          6. There’s nothing about me to improve. My behaviors on the other hand can be improved.

          7. You should follow my example and improve your behavior by recognizing that you have endless opportunities to do things with your life right now and use those opportunities to improve the quality of other people’s experiences. Doing that will also improve the quality of your experiences.

          8. I can lead a horse to water, but I can’t make it drink. I hope you drink.

  5. Rata, I have found that my favorite thing about retirement for the last 20 years is SUNDAYS!

    1. I have found that since retirement my work week has gone from 12 hours a day, five days a week to 14 hours a day, seven days a week.

      1. Share your definition of working because financial investment is more like gambling without providing any useful goods or services to society.

        1. Ahhhhhh! So your issue with Rata is an anti-caplitalist thing.

          The bitter Marxist is triggered and feels compelled to troll and belittle …because he/she/they/them just can’t help themselves.

  7. Baseball America has Dodgers associated with Samuel Munoz (OF/3B) for this international signing period.

    He’s ranked #42.

    Previously, MLB Pipeline had the Dodgers listed as the favorites to sign Munoz (out of the DR), who they ranked 7th, and Venezuelan RHP Accimia Morales, who they ranked 37th.

    1. I hope MLB Pipeline turns out to be a better judge of international talent than BA. Quite a difference in their rankings of Munoz.

      Do we know when the international signing period is? Has that been affected by the lockout?

      1. International prospect ranking is, for the most part, akin to what William Goldman said about Hollywood:

        Nobody knows anything. Not one person in the entire field knows for a certainty what’s going to work

      2. I have not seen anything confirming or delaying the date. I think most publications are considering the January 15 start date to be still on. Why I am curious, and I have talked to some who may or may not know anything, is that the bonus cap was dictated by the CBA. Since there is no CBA, how can there be an International Signing? In addition, the MLBPA wants to formalize the International signing into an actual draft. That is one of their points of discussion, albeit not a major consideration.

  8. I know I have been MIA for quite a while, but I wanted to break my silence with some sad news for me. Please excuse my self indulgence. Long time NFL and NCAA football coach Greg Robinson passed away yesterday due to some form of Alzheimer’s. He was 70. I first met Greg while he was a UCLA coach in 1982. We all belonged to the same Parish and their oldest son, Dominic, and my son Kris quickly became good friends in the Parish elementary school. Robinson left after the 1989 season and went to New York to become the Defensive Line Coach for the New York Jets. He re-joined college friend and UOP teammate Pete Carroll. Carroll was the Defensive Coordinator for the Jets and asked for Greg. Once Carroll was promoted to Head Coach, he promoted Greg to Defensive Coordinator. He spent more than 40 years in coaching until his retirement after the 2015 season as the San Jose State Defensive Coordinator.

    We stayed in touch with them for a while with the expectations that we would continue to stay in touch. But we all know how those promises usually turn out. My son spent a lot of time at the Robinson household, and I am sure was there in Heaven to greet Greg home.

    Greg…RIP, my friend.

    3. Sorry for the loss of a friend Jeff. I have had too much of that lately myself. Losing Buddy Merrill the beginning of December, and then good friend Gene Edwards just before Christmas. Both were excellent musicians and good friends. Compounded by the losses in my building and a couple others who I knew well, it was a lousy year. RIP to your friend.

  9. It looks like the Mets are backing away from hiring McCullough. They do not feel he would leave LA. Rumored they are looking for a headline grabbing hire for their bench coach. They lured Eric Chavez away from the Yankees after it was announced he was going to the Bronx. He will be the Mets hitting coach.

  10. I have a COVID update to share…

    I got it, or at least I think that’s what I got. My wife, daughter and I all got sick a couple days after Christmas. My wife was really sick with a sore throat and really bad cough the Wednesday after Christmas. Then me and my daughter both started feeling really sick on Friday. My symptoms were fatigue, headache, congestion, body aches and sinus pain. I didn’t completely lose my taste or smell, but they were at least diminished.

    My wife and my daughter both did telehealth appointments and both were advised to get tested. So, my wife was tested on Saturday and she came back positive on Sunday. My daughter was tested on Sunday and got back negative results on Tuesday. My wife was prescribed cough medicine and my daughter wasn’t treated at all.

    I thought it was pretty weird that after 2 years, there isn’t any kind of treatment offered and since all of us were pretty sick, I thought it was really weird that one would test positive and ther other negative. I guess I’m the tiebreaker, but I don’t see a need to take a test if nothing is going to come of it.

    Anyways, I’ve been sick for a week solid now. All of the symptoms that were pretty severe have subsided except that my head is still in a fog and I’m still having some fatigue. I went on a walk for the first time this afternoon to take my dog to the park to throw the ball around a little. I was active for about 20 minutes and had some sweats by the time I got home. I usually do two walks a day without getting sweats of any kind.

    It felt a lot like a flu but it seems to be sticking around a bit longer. I just thought the testing stuff was interesting so I decided to share. All three of us are vaccinated with Moderna. My wife and I got our second shot in late August and were planning on getting a booster six months after the second dose. Now, I’ll probably wait a little longer. My daughter just got her first shot about a week or so before getting sick.

    1. Hope you and your family feel better soon. My daughter in law and granddaughter both came down with Covid after Christmas. Neither one were very sick. They both felt it was nothing more than a cold for them. Get better soon.

    2. Maybe you and your family were among those who have now managed to get both Covid and the flu at the same time BandP. That might account for your longer recovery period and the more severe symptoms.
      Hope you’re all doing better soon.

      And Jeff, so sorry to hear of the loss of your friend. I know we all hope the New Year will be better than the last, but these last few years it sure doesn’t seem to be going that way. It’s like one very long bad year just keeps hanging on.

    3. Sorry to hear that BP. Getting sick is such a drain. Last time I was really ill was just before all the Covid stuff came out. When they checked me out it turned out I had two different infections, a bladder infection and a sinus at the same time. Antibiotics got it fixed pretty fast. But for a week and a half, I was miserable. My sis and brother in law went on a cruise just prior to Christmas. They and their son all got sick. Not sure if it was Covid, but all three were pretty bad. Hope you feel better soon my friend. I have not been sick at all for almost two years now. Occasional runny nose is about it. I have a doctors appointment at the VA on Monday, so I will find out how well I am doing then. Sidney Poitier died at the age of 94 today. First movie I ever saw him in was a war film with Alan Ladd called All the Young Men. RIP. Director and actor Peter Bogdonavich also passed. He directed Paper Moon and The Last Picture Show.

    4. Hope you and your family feel better, soon.

      I got something last week. Feels like a combination cold/flu that lingers – sinus pain, initial dry cough that progressed to a productive cough, headache, fatigue.

      Was tested last Friday – negative. My housemate tested negative as well. She’s been sick a while, too, but it’s hard to separate her illness form just general side effects from radiation/cancer.

      Double Pfizer vaxx in May. Ambivalent about booster.

      Been doing light exercise daily.

      Everything about our pandemic response has been weird.

      Nothing really new on the baseball front, except David Vassegh gave a pretty emphatic prediction that Kershaw would be back. He might have more access to the insider chatter, but I would imagine he would be back on a two year deal.

      Scenarios:

      He goes to Texas so he can be close to his home and kids. Ok, but at this stage in his career do you really think he wants to be part of a rebuild of a 60 win team? Without Dodger Stadium and the NL, his ERA will be pushing 4.00 and he’ll be a part of what will likely be a losing team in spite of the Rangers making a splash NY Mets style to be relevant. I don’t think so.

      He retires. Possibly, but do you think he really wants the final moment of his career to be him walking off the mound with an injury to end the season? I would think he has some unfinished business, and would at least like somewhat of a farewell campaign to pay his respects to Dodger fans and vice versa. It’s a very anticlimactic way to end a HOF career.

      He re-signs with the Dodgers. I would give the edge to this scenario, and I think AF would be glad to sign him to a somewhat team friendly deal. Even if the Rangers are throwing money around to buy relevancy, I think even they would pause at giving him a deal longer than 2-3 years at an AAV North of 25 million.

      If his platelet treatment is going well, he could be an effective third starter if Bauer is not around or 4th starter if Bauer is back.

      Bauer and Kershaw do solve the depth issues. Pepiot/Miller/White are not going to be an impact other than spot starts. Two years from now Miller/Pepiot could be solid locks on the rotation, but not now.

      1. Get well soon Patch. I got the booster just before I left for LA. All I had was a slight sore arm for a while. Still had to mask up on the train and anywhere in Cali where I went indoors. Kind of a pain in the A. No mask mandate here in Colorado.

        1. thx Bear. Glad you got the jab. You mentioned a couple of your neighbors passed away from Covid. You aren’t exactly a spring chicken, so you’re a bit in that high risk bracket. Need you around to pass on your Dodger lore.

    5. Same with me also,…..but maybe just a cold with aches all over. Any which way I’m just gonna stick myself here and if it’s tulips then I guess I’m ready. The menu forward ain’t what it used to be anyways as it would take about $20 grand that I can’t see likely. Old age doesn’t fit me all that well. I’m not tech savvy.

  11. R.I.P. Greg Robinson.

    Omicron is ravaging Indiana. Over half of our company has now had it. Most are fine in two or three days but someone is hoarding monoclonal antibodies. WTF!!!!! I have a couple of friends in Utah who have it and are very sick and have been told there are none in the state.

    Then you read that they are not effective against Omicron: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/omicron-treatments-monoclonal-antibodies-work-variant/story?id=81893922 and yet I know dozens of people who say otherwise because they took it and got well quickly. My Doctor is of the opinion that if I had taken Regeneron early on, I would have avoided hospitalization.

  12. Report out that the Padres considered Carlos Beltran for one of their coaching spots. But he would rather work in the front office. Bill Hasselman moving on from the Dodger organization. He is joining the Angels.

  13. A lot of free agent pitchers left out there, but only a couple of starters who might help. Relief market is bristling with arms. Spare outfielder needed??? Plenty of those. Infielders too. AF will have some options to check out. Lets just settle this lockout crap and get moving.

  14. As of right now, these are the players on the OKC roster. OF, Bruce Avans, Inf, Andy Burns, Omar Estevez, C, Juan Zabala, Kikai Rios, P, Beau Burrows, Edward Cuello, Jon Duplantier, Carson Fulmer, Marshall Kasowski, Ryan Mosley, Ryan Pepiot, Logan Salow, and Bobby Wahl. Slim pickens I am thinking. But more are coming.

  15. Don’t know why people complain about Manfred. He does what the owners want him to. Complain about the owners instead?

    For once, the players have a real bone to pick here. Teams who spend as little as possible and tank on purpose to rebuild do a disservice to their fans and to MLB. And as a result, there are fewer places for players to go to get paid. It’s a legitimate beef and needs to be fixed. A real salary floor would help, as would a cessation of “competitive balance payments” from the other teams. Increasing the competitive value cap (luxury tax cap) would also help.

    The other real issue is the result of the impact of analytics – owners have figured out not to pay players too late into their 30s . If you break into MLB at 24 and are under team control for 6 years, then you are already 30 when you become a free agent and aren’t going to get paid unless you are a star or close to it. Fewer years of team control looks like the only way to fix this.

    Allegedly, the owners are trying to figure out which of these things are the union’s highest priority. What ticks me off is they aren’t going to start talking about the important issues until late January. It’s starting to look more and more like games will be missed at the start of the season.

    1. Just read MLB has fired Ken Rosenthal for criticizing Rob Manfred. I take back what I just said.

      1. I think, technically, MLB did not renew Rosenthal’s contract. No doubt Manfred didn’t want him back.
        Rosenthal continues to work for both The Athletic and Fox Sports, so his reporting and takes will still find their way into Dodger blogs and such.

    2. “Teams who spend as little as possible and tank on purpose to rebuild do a disservice to their fans and to MLB”

      Ok, but if a team is in a small market and fans aren’t actually coming to games, that is literally the only strategy that team can take to ever be competitive.

      If you spend more than you bring in as revenue, you lose money. If you lose money, you cease to exist as a business. Tampa Bay and Oakland simply CAN’T AFFORD to pay full market value to keep stars and fan favorites. They simply can’t do it. It’s not possible. The fact that Oakland and Tampa Bay continue to field competitive teams is a testament to their resourcefulness in the face of scarcity. They act this way because they have to, not because they’re greedy.

      At one point in the distant past, a baseball commissioner was a sort of judge. In Landis’ case, he literally was a judge. They acted as arbiters. They didn’t necessarily take the sides of owners or players. They acted in what they thought was the best interest of the game. Not all of them, but Landis certainly. I would put Giamatti in that camp as well.

      You’re right that Manfred is a tool of ownership. That’s why we can criticize him. What baseball needs is some sort of third party neutral arbitrator to analyze the the finances and long term repercussions of any baseball reform. In the adversarial model, each side acts solely according to self-interest without respect to the long term health of the game.

      1. The Big Market Cubs went 75 – 87 in 2010, 71 – 91 in 2011, 61 – 101 in 2012, 66 – 96 in 2013, and 73 – 89 in 2014 in order to build a “dynasty” that won the Series once in 2016.

        The Big Market Astros went 74 – 88 in 2009, 76 – 86 in 2010, 56 – 106 in 2011, 55 – 107 in 2012, 51 – 111 (!) in 2013, and 70 – 92 in 2014 leading up to the Cheaters’ Series in 2017.

        Several other teams have “tanked”, some for long periods of time, even though money wasn’t an issue – tanking has become a strategy. That’s why Mark has been beating the drum for the Dodgers’ rebuilding and trying to win at the same time by spending money. (the strategy when the Boston Parking Lot owner was forced to sell the team)

        For every Oakland and Tampa there is a Chicago (3rd largest market) and Houston (4th) who tank to win.

  17. International signing period will begin on the 15th of January as scheduled. Was pushed back because of the pandemic. Ausmus to be A’s bench coach.

  18. According to Baseball America the first three of its ranking for 2022:
    1 Cartaya 65
    2 Miller 60
    3 Vargas 60
    Three players with a grade of 60 or more, that is very, very good !!!

  19. While we’re on the subject of BA, here’s their projected 2025 Dodger lineup:
    Catcher: Will Smith (30)
    First Base: Michael Busch (27)
    Second Base: Gavin Lux (25)
    Third Base: Miguel Vargas (25)
    Shortstop: Trea Turner (32)
    Left Field: Andy Pages (24)
    Center Field: Cody Bellinger (29)
    Right Field: Mookie Betts (32)
    Designated Hitter: Max Muncy (34)

    No. 1 Starter: Walker Buehler (30)
    No. 2 Starter: Julio Urias (28)
    No. 3 Starter: Dustin May (27)
    No. 4 Starter: Bobby Miller (26)
    No. 5 Starter: Tony Gonsolin (31)
    Closer: Brusdar Graterol (26)

    And a “Best Tools” list:
    BEST TOOLS

    Best Hitter for Average: Miguel Vargas
    Best Power Hitter: Andy Pages
    Best Strike-Zone Discipline: Jacob Amaya
    Fastest Baserunner: Jeren Kendall
    Best Athlete: James Outman
    Best Fastball: Bobby Miller
    Best Curveball: Clayton Beeter
    Best Slider: Carlos Duran
    Best Changeup: Ryan Pepiot
    Best Control: Landon Knack
    Best Defensive Catcher: Diego Cartaya
    Best Defensive Infielder: Jacob Amaya
    Best Infield Arm: Leonel Valera
    Best Defensive Outfielder: Jeren Kendall
    Best Outfield Arm: Jose Ramos

    Frankly, I was suprised I could access this since I don’t subscribe, but there it was, so I guess it’s OK to post it here.

    1. Frankly, I am surprised they have so little imagination.

      Muncy will be gone.

      Smith will be at 3B

      Vargas will be DH

      Cartaya will be C

  20. I hope Mark is right in these predictions, because it means Cartaya would have to be better behind the plate than Smith.
    I hope Muncy is healthy and still good enough to DH. And I also hope Freeman is at 1B, not Busch.

  21. New York Times purchasing The Athletic for $550 million
    Jan 6, 2022
    Associated Press

    The New York Times Co. is buying sports news site The Athletic for $550 million, the latest move in its strategy to expand its audience of paying subscribers as the newspaper print ads business fades.

    1. Other than Molly Knight, I never felt that The Athletic had an agenda… that is sure to change. I can hardly wait [sarcasm]!!!

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