Andy Pages is a 21-year-old, 6′ 1″ 212-pound right-handed outfielder with a cannon for an arm and the physical ability to hit the crap out of a baseball. He has a big leg kick and in 2019, he struck out over 28% of the time. However, after missing the 2020 season, he dropped his strikeout rate to below 25% by showing a true understanding of hitting and making adjustments within his stroke.
Andy was the High-A MVP in 2021 and his 31 HR and .933 OPS should be taken seriously. He showed a lot of growth and displayed the ability to stay “within himself” in 2021. He has great power as you can see below when he hit his 30th Home Run – a 3-run shot to put the Loons ahead.
2022 is a very important season for Andy as he will likely start the season at Tulsa after playing the entire 2022 season at Great Lakes. I have had the opportunity to talk to a few people around baseball and they are very high on him. I do not see him as a high average hitter, but he will have a high OB% and high OPS. RF would probably be his best position because of his cannon arm, but he could also play LF. Depending upon how he manages his progress, he could be ready as soon as 2023, which makes this season so important to his development.
Pages was allegedly part of a deal that would have brought Luis Rengifro from the Angels, but that Idiot Savant Arte Moreno got impatient and voided the deal with the Dodgers. Thank You, Arte! I will be watching Pages this season with Tulsa… and maybe OKC. He might be paired with another power-hitting catcher, namely Diego Cartaya at Tulsa this year.
Andy Pages joins Miguel Vargas and Diego Cartaya as legitimate RH power threats who all could be part of a core Dodger team in the mid-to-late 2020’s. Stir in lefty Mike Busch and the Dodgers have four hitters who could make a HUGE impact in 2023 and beyond. There are lots of options at this point, but in 2022, it all starts with the health of Max Muncy. Will he be ready to go at the start of the season… and will he be effective after the devastating arm injury?
Only time will tell, but when healthy, Max Muncy ranks as one of the best First Basemen in baseball. There is talk of signing Freddie Freeman, but Truth Be Known, in the past four years, Max Muncy was second in WAR (15.2) in all of baseball to Freddie Freeman (16.9). The Dodgers don’t need Freeman if Muncy is healthy and especially do not need Freddie as a 37 and 38-year-old at the end of his contract. Only time will tell.
If 2, 3 or all four of these power hitters emerge in 2022 or are regarded as very ready for 2023 will the Dodgers make a strong run at re-signing Cody Bellinger? If he rebounds to 2019/2020 form he’s going to want “Corey Seager money”!
I really like the young talent in the outfield and starting pitching. It seems many a year away. For that reason, I have changed my mind about the dire need for 2 more starting pitchers. One, who is out there that helps us as a FA?
If there is a deal to be made I would not go in for an expensive contract to fill the void and I certainly would not give up any of these young prospects in a trade. That would only change if a top rotation, younger bonafide dude magically became available. I have no clue who that might be and I’m not holding my breath.
I’m not going to panic and make any Dope-fiend move with this crop waiting in the wings.
How close are Knack, Beeter and Pepiot?
Harold Reynolds ripped into the MLBPA and MLB last night on MLB.TV. He said they both need to sit down at the negotiating table and not leave until they have a deal. Spring training is supposed to start in 14 days. And it looks like both sides are significantly apart. Adam King is reporting that Kershaw has a deal in place with the Rangers, but it is not signed yet. He is supposedly waiting to give the Dodgers a chance to bring him back. This deal was supposedly in place before the lockout.
The Rangers might very likely be willing to overpay for Clayton which will put Andrew in a tough spot. If King’s story is accurate, at least AF has had this period to figure out his strategy for going forward and will be able to act on it quickly when the lockout ends.
Although I’m sure the Dodgers would love to have him back, I’m also sure that there’s a line they won’t cross with regard to $ and/or length of contract. If the Rangers are bound and determined to have CK I think they’ll get him.
I would think that would be the case also. He could sleep in his own home every night they are not on the road, lots of quality time with his children too. And Seager is there along with a couple other exe team mates. Also the manager, Woodward. Sborz, Santana, Reks all on that team too. Makes a whole lot of sense. ESPN started their list of the top 100 baseball players in history. 100-51 today. Snider, Campy, Kersh in that group, along with a couple former Dodgers, Piazza for one.
I’m not convinced Kershaw is heathy. I think there is much more to the story. I’ve heard rumors for a while that Kersh might want to end his career in Texas. The fact the Dodgers didn’t make a qualifying offer says a lot. The only time you don’t make a qualifying offer to a player like Kersh is if you are concerned he would sign it. Which means the Dodgers weren’t willing to commit to Kersh for 1 year, $18m. The only logical answer is that they were afraid he couldn’t play. If it was an issue of Kersh demanding extra years or that he might bolt to Texas they’d have nothing to lose and a draft pick to gain in making the qualifying offer. I believe there are serious questions regarding his elbow. And potentially missing a year (surgery) or retiring as a result. If he was healthy they would have made the offer.
Good for Harold Reynolds. I’m sick and tired of the BS MLBPA and MLB are playing. They act like two spoiled brats fighting over something they both want. So who’s the loser? The fan of course. The fan who supplies their “bread and butter”.
I totally agree with that. The fan ALWAYS loses.
I want to thank William for lending some sanity to the political discussions on this site. I have tried to ignore the gleeful anti-Biden rants, but they make me very uncomfortable. They are as ungentlemanly as they are wrong. I suggest we adhere to the previous “no politics” policy, so we can more easily respect each other. There. That is the end of my political rant.
I’m more in line with William (and now, I assume Marcia) than most on this board when it comes to politics, but there was no reason for William to bring politics in the thread to begin with. Why even go there out of the blue?
We have enough drama dealing with stupid baseball. I’m sure I speak for most people on this board who just don’t want to discuss politics, regardless of which side they’re on, on this particular board.
I’d rather talk about the Rams this close to bringing another title to LA (and ending another SF team’s season).
I do like when we have religious discussions in here, however, as those are always respectful and educational. Those talks have always been great.
William didn’t bring politics into the thread, our host did.
Go back and take a look at what he said under the header “I Can’t Hear You” (between the clips from Steve Miller Band and Maher).
Add me to the list of those who want no politics here, but William didn’t start that conversation, Mark did.
ahhhh, got it.
My apologies to William then!
For some reason, I always thought Pages was some really large dude, like Puig. 6’1 and 212 isn’t as large as I thought he was.
Either way, the best part of having spring training games this year would’ve been seeing Pages, Vargas, and the rest show how close they really are.
If these idiots can finally figure things out, I’d love to meet some board members in Glendale (AZ, not CA) and enjoy a beverage and discuss Dodgers
The latest on negotiations from Jeff Passan:
“The meeting between the Major League Baseball Players Association and MLB is over. Little progress was made. The on-time opening of spring training at this point is in grave danger and, frankly, would take a miraculous deal coming together to rescue. A delay feels inevitable.”
Actually they made great progress.
They’ve been discussing a pre-arb pool number. Prior to today, MLB was offering 10 million while the players number was at 105 million. I believe those numbers were thrown out there about a week ago. Today the players dramatically reduced their number from 105 million to 100 million.
If they ultimately meet in the middle at about 55 mil, it should only take about another 10 weeks to get there.
That’s mid April and, of course, doesn’t even consider all the other issues they have to settle.
By my calculations, done on a slide rule for the sake of accuracy, the 2022 season will start on August 26th.
Well, we have a pretty good record in Septembers, so I think we’ll have a good shot to get to October again.
Excellent point, Bobby. Start planning the parade.
I keep hoping the Lakers will tide me over. Sadly, I may have to wait for SC’s Lincoln Riley and Caleb Williams to work their magic. If there’s no baseball, it’s going to be a long winter until fall arrives. Freezing, with no spring or summer.
I agree with Marcia. Political discussion here makes me uncomfortable too. On the other hand, this is Mark’s project, and he can allow such discussion if he wants to. I know that I can just ignore such discussion, but It’s hard to ignore some political remarks because silence might look like agreement–thus the discomfort. Bobby expressed my feelings exactly.
Changing the subject–a great write-up today, and I learned that Pages is not pronounced like the plural of page
I prefer no politics. But sometimes they just cannot be ignored. As for the gentleman in the White House, I did not vote for him, but he is the President. As for his function as such, I believe he is an abysmal failure simply because the man is no leader. I would not trust him to lead a cub scout pack, let alone have his finger on the nuclear trigger. He scares no one. He has no ones respect. And neither at this point does the US. All that stuff about the economy, try telling that to people on set incomes. We got a 5.9 COLA, to the uneducated, that is cost of living increase. For me, that was about 75 bucks. My rent went up 23 dollars, gas is over a dollar more here than when he took office. The price of food, especially meat and veggies is through the roof. Bread, milk, all have increased, and some things are very hard to find. Shelves are half empty. My cola was almost entirely eaten up before I recieved a single dime. And sorry, I do not like left leaning politicians. Socialism goes against everything I was raised to believe in. And I did not serve my country so some half baked politician, who never served anything but his own interest could screw it up.