Let’s Get Real

Posted By on September 23, 2022

As the season nears its end, I think we have to take a large dose of reality. The reality is that the Dodgers are the best team in baseball. Houston is making a late run, but if they try and catch LA to invoke “Home Field Advantage,” then they are likely to “flame out” in the playoffs. The reality also is that any team can get hot in the playoffs and be tough to beat. Modern-day playoff baseball is a “crapshoot,” but I would prefer to go into the playoffs with the best team in baseball… anyway, you slice it! Here’s a dose of reality (Barring more injuries):

  • Walker Buehler is out;
  • Danny Duffy is out;
  • Daniel Hudson is out;
  • Victor Gonzalez is probably out – but hanging on by a thread after last night;
  • Tony Gonsolin is leaning towards unlikely, but if he makes it, it will be as a bullpen piece;
  • Blake Treinen is probably not going to be on the roster;
  • There is a 50-50 chance Yency Almonte will be on the playoff roster;
  • The Bazooka looks to be back;
  • The Craig Kimbrel Debacle is simply over – He wastes a roster spot! If I were a Dodger player, I would be demoralized if some moron put him on the playoff roster. Never mention his name again!
  • Forget what Dustin May has done – He will be fine with what he can give the team, come October. He only needs 2 or 3 innings at a time; More is OK, but not mandatory.
  • Andrew Heaney is in the same category;
  • Urias, Kershaw, Anderson, Heaney, and May are the starters – that’s enough; Stacked or Piggybacked!
  • Bickford, Ferguson, Graterol, Kahnle, Martin, Phillips, Price, and Vesia make a very good bullpen; and
  • If Almonte, V-Gon, Treinen, or Gonsolin prove to be healthy – that is just icing on the cake. Of those, I think Almonte has the best chance.

There are a lot of players on the IL, but there are plenty of arms for the post-season on the active roster. The position players are set:

  1. Barnes
  2. Smith
  3. Freeman
  4. Lux
  5. Taylor
  6. T-Turner
  7. J-Turner
  8. Muncy
  9. Thompson
  10. Bellinger
  11. Betts
  12. Alberto
  13. Gallo

The Dodgers have 12 games left. The Mets have 11. The Dodgers are nine games up on the Mets. Do the math! In the AL, the Asstreicks lost to Baltimore, and they have 99 wins with 11 games to go. If they go 11-0 they will win 110 games. Highly unlikely! If the Dodgers go 7-5, the Asstericks can’t catch them for home-field advantage. Rest those players, Doc. Don’t push the pitchers. Not getting the win may have cost Julio the Cy Young, but that was not the goal. Remember the ultimate goal. Keep those horses fresh and rested. Prevent injuries and stay sharp in the process. It’s time to make some legends this fall!

Dodgers Top Prospects

I am working on them as we speak. The list is located at the top of the page. Here’s the LINK. There will be some surprises. I moved Gavin Stone up to #3, behind Cartaya and Vargas. He is ahead of Miller and Pepiot. It’s a work in progress…

Minor League Notes

  • The Dodger lost to the Chihuahuas 3-2. With Thursday’s loss, the Dodgers are 2.0 games behind El Paso for first place in the PCL East Division standings, with three games remaining in the current head-to-head series and six games remaining in the regular season. The season series is now tied, 12-12, through 24 games, although the Chihuahuas have won five of the last six meetings in El Paso. The two-game deficit is tied for the furthest the Dodgers have been out of first place all season.
  • James Outman has been on fire! He was 2-4 with his 29th HR of the season. Here is his line: 453 ABs; 98 R, 29 HR, 102 RBI, .294 BA, .394 OB%, .975 OPS; 20 DBL, 7 TRPL. Not too shabby, but I still think he’s a 4th outfielder. I hope he proves me wrong.
  • Victor Gonzalez pitched one inning, allowed no hits or runs, or walks, and struck out 2! Could be he might make the roster?
  • The Tulsa Drillers were beaten like rented mules 11-1, and their season is over.
  • Nick Nastrini will have a bitter taste in his mouth all offseason as he went 4.1 innings and allowed 6 runs on 5 Hits. He gave up 3 HR. He has some work to do.
  • Emmet Sheehan came in and struck out two in his IP.
  • There will be a lot of player movement in the Dodger system this winter. Things will look a lot different next year.

This article has 53 Comments

  1. I can’t tell if people are joking with Kimbrel. Does anyone really think he won’t be on the playoff roster, or is it just more wishful thinking.

    As with the “DFA ________” talk, sometimes I find posters here wishcast freely and absurdly

    1. I will be shocked if he is on the playoff roster.

      He will not be DFA’ed – his contract is over after the season. DFA does not apply.

        1. There’s no need to DFA him unless they activate V-Gone. Kimbrel and Price are the best options.

          1. That’s kinda what I’m thinking.

            But also, when was the last time Roberts treated a veteran, key player the way Timmons is now expecting?

          2. #1. It’s not Roberts’ call… he has a voice, but AF has the final say;

            #2. When was the last time a veteran pitcher sucked like Kimbrel and was put on the playoff roster?

  2. I’ll go ahead and mention his name. Kimbrel has a lot of fans they are of the 29 other teams especially the teams that will make the playoffs. There’s no room for him on the best team in baseball. He did make for a great 2nd half of the 9th inning. The gamblers are likely waiting to see if Dodgers have him on the roster before placing their bets as he’s a key figure in Dodgers losing.

  3. If Kimbrel is on the postseason roster I will throw up in my mouth.
    No need to continue this futility any longer.

    Why was the run JU gave up an earned run ? 2nd and third after the error by Lux. Then a groundout and the runners held. That should have been the second out. Then the sac fly. Should have been the 3rd out and inning over. But they still charged him wiht an earned run. How come ?

    Starting pitching without TG would take another huge hit. Especially if Dustin is as shaky as he is now.

    Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

        1. I think because you cannot assume a double play, hence that run was earned.

          Trea and Lux both need to fix their D over the next few weeks.

          1. I still dont get it. There was a man on first with no outs. Then the error occured which should have been an out. After the error there were runners on 3rd and 2nd. Then the ground out , runners held.
            The sac fly should have benn the 3rd out and no earned run.
            No need to assume a double play to make the run unearned.

            Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  4. I can’t wait to see where Emmett Sheehan and Ronan Kopp wind up on your list. I’m really excited about those two. Are they the next Sandy and Don?

    Stick a fork in Kimbrel. He’s pitching his way off the roster.

    Another great comeback last night. Pretty lame that Betts sat for most of the game. Let’s not back into the playoffs.

    There’s a fine line between rest, and rut. Too much rest leads to a rut. There’s 3 more games until an off day, then 9 in a row until the end of the season. After that, there’s another 5 days of rest before they play again. Time to start playing baseball again. They can rest players again when they play the Rockies.

    Time to get some of these pitchers back. Gonso needs to get back out there to see what he has. No time for a rehab assignment, throw him back into action and let him get a couple of starts before the season ends. Line him up for the last game of the Padres series and the last game of the season. If he succeeds, he’s on the playoff roster. If not, move on. We don’t need him in the pen.

    Tio Albert should get plenty of ABs to try to get to 700 against all the lefties starters. Maybe he’ll get both against Heaney tonight with his propensity towards allowing big flies. He’ll get more opportunities against Kersh on Saturday and Anderson on Sunday.

    It’s bush league for the Red Sox to walk Judge 3 times. Throw to him, your season is essentially over. You’re not a wild card team.

    Speaking of Judge. How about we let Trea walk, sign Judge and put him in RF and let Mookie and Lux handle the duties up the middle?

    I’m not convinced that Outman is a 4th outfielder. He can handle CF and the bar for offense in center is pretty low.

    Bickford, Ferguson, Graterol, Kahnle, Martin, Phillips, Price, and Vesia make a very good bullpen, but…
    Almonte, Ferguson, Graterol, Kahnle, Martin, Phillips, V-Gone, and Vesia is better.
    Most likely it will be …
    Almonte, Ferguson, Graterol, Kahnle, Martin, Phillips, and Vesia since there will be a good chance that 6 starters will be on the roster. May, Kershaw, Anderson, Urias, Gonsolin and Heaney will piggy back.

  5. If Outman is a fourth outfielder then Bellinger is in the teens. AF please don’t force me to watch another season of him TRYING to hit a baseball.

    2. He’s got one more year on his contract. His trade value is at an all time low. Might as well work with him in the offseason and try again next year. Outman can use a little more seasoning. No reason to just hand him the job.

      I’d rather they spend free agent money chasing elite players instead of replacement players.

        1. So last night I had a dream where the Dodgers sadly couldn’t sign Trea Turner this off-season, as he wanted to move east. So all that money earmarked for him and all the money coming off the books and about half the organizations outfielders including Bellinger, all got bundled in a deal for …….. Aaron Judge. He looked great in Dodger Blue. I never have had such an outrageous dream since the one I had about Freddie Freeman becoming a Dodger.

          1. Dodger Stadium is not Yankee Stadium and thusly Aaron Judge would not hit as many out. Maybe about 2/3 as many, I hadn’t checked. But I have seen some of his HRs and clearly of the ones I saw at least half would of not made yard in LA

      1. They should insert a paragraph in Belli’s contract that he isn’t allowed to pick up a golf club as long as he’s a Dodger. That’s the same way he swings a baseball bat. No wonder he can’t hit.

      2. Amazingly, Bellinger doesn’t drop his head to hit a golf ball. Pretty good swing. Maybe he should play more golf and not less and learn to keep his head from dipping and moving forward.

  6. Fan view of last night’s game:
    * All’s well that ends well – again
    Nice to get a win after losing 2 straight. Way to come through Mookie and great teams figure out ways to win.
    Gallen is a dude. It’s nice to see him pitch to his potential which he hasn’t always done. This is the caliber of pitching that we will see and we better find a way to win.
    Fun game to watch late. Exciting ending. Nice to see Mookie get a walk off hit.
    Jim Wolf caught some flack from the dugouts but I thought he was good behind the plate. He has a pitcher friendly zone and I like that. Make em swing it.

    * Now my critical old coach’s view:
    With no panic, no urgency and just looking at things with a clear head, there are a couple of things that I find concerning:
    * I understand Doc is resting guys and using lineups we won’t see in the playoffs. But we will have the same players. The bottom of the order might be the death of us.
    Gallo, Lux, Thompson and Bellinger were 1 for 12 with 10 K’s, last night. Again. The lack of contact from this group is remarkable. I understand the 3 outcome guys but don’t like it. Making teams play catch in the playoffs is important as mistakes happen with the pressure.
    Gallo is Gallo. In September he’s hit his 3 homers while striking out 22 times in 47 ABs.
    Lux is 4 for 23 with 10 K’s,
    Thompson has slumped in September as well, going 8 for 49 with a whopping 27 K’s,
    Bellinger is still Bellinger and he’s 8 for 46 with 0 homers and 17 strike outs.
    Just for yuks, you can toss in CT3. He’s 12 for 62 with 2 dingers…..and 23 K’s.
    Combined for Sept, our outfielders, minus Mookie, are hitting .176 with 99 strikeouts. That’s a K-rate of 44%. With 9 homers.
    * We aren’t finding any new guys to play. This is who we are going to live and die with. They better get their asses in gear as the top 3 can’t carry this load.
    * We have some excellent RHP in our pen. Someone needs to coach me up as to why Evan Phillips doesn’t have the stuff to close. He sure looks calm, cool and collected to me. Graterol is getting back, Bickford’s had a great month and Martin has been an awesome acquisition.
    * So why is the shittiest guy of this group still the closer? What else does the braintrust need to see from Kimbrel? And with our effective lefties in the pen (and perhaps Treinen coming back?) Kimbrel would not just lose the closer role, he wouldn’t make my playoff roster.
    Say UNCLE, piss on the campfire, call in the dogs. Put a fork in him – he’s done. Eliminate the stress, speculation and worry. The impending doom. Mop the floors. Make the coffee until play off time and pack your shit.
    Oh by the way, he got the WIN last night.
    * As Gallo makes a horse shit attempt to bunt for a hit, Orel says the hitter gets frustrated over giving up an at bat, with an unsuccessful bunt attempt. Joey shouldn’t be pissed at giving up at bats. He does that plenty. He should be pissed at such a poor attempt.
    * Lux gets an A for effort on the attempt to get the out at 2nd, in the 3rd. You love the try but it’s just not a smart baseball play. It’s early in the game, Urias on the bump dealing. Get outs. Not the time for an attempted web gem. On a risk reward basis it was not a wise decision and it cost an unearned run.

    1. Per your last sentence— The run give up by Urias is considered earned. A previous poster made the case that it should be unearned and I agree with him. Don’t understand why it remains earned.

      1. OK, here’s the sequence:

        Alcantra singles.

        Varsho reaches on a Fielders’ Choice and goes to 2B on Lux’s error. Alcantara went to 3B.

        Perdomo grounds out (1 Out)

        Marte Walks

        Garrett hits a sac fly to score Alcantra. (2 outs)

        Rivera hits into a force out (3 Outs).

        You can only assume that Varsho would be out. If he were, Alcantra would still be on 2B AND when Perdomo grounded out, he would have taken third and scored on the sac fly regardless.

        1. The rule doesn’t have use common sense. There was an out to be made there, it wasn’t made because of fielders bad choice . So why punish the pitcher? Just like Kimbrel getting the win , I know those are the rules but some rules need to be changed
          Dodger game on CRAPPLE TV tonight, at least it’s free

  7. NON-BASEBALL ALERT:

    In the wake of Michael Mann putting out Heat 2, I’ve been re-watching his movies.

    Collateral and The Insider are so under-rated it’s criminal.

    1. I have seen Collateral, and it is most excellent.

      You are right about that, so I should watch The Insider too!

  8. It’s already starting. Dodger fans are already criticizing Dave Roberts for sitting players, such as Mookie last night.

    I guess they want the Dodgers to keep the pedal to the metal and flame out like they did last season. Of course, they criticized that too. Detect a trend?

    Why did Mookie sit last night? YOU DON’T KNOW!

    Was he not feeling well or fatigued, or was it a scheduled day off? YOU DON’T KNOW!

    Did he have a slight nagging injury that he could have played with but wants to help it before the playoffs? YOU DON’T KNOW!

    Did he have the flu? YOU DON’T KNOW!

    Did he ask out or did Doc tell him? YOU DON’T KNOW!

    YOU DON’T KNOW! AND YOU NEVER WILL.

    It’s just that irrational compulsion to bash Doc whenever possible with out all the facts and assuming facts, not in evidence!

    I think it’s ugly!

    1. Exactly!

      In the Kimbrel front, Doc’s words about the situation is the most telling that can be for a PR manager to say. Kimbrel has lost his closer job and if Almonte & Gonsolin enters, he we will be out of the playoffs roster.

    2. Wow, that’s a hell of an overreaction to an innocuous comment.

      Another great comeback last night. Pretty lame that Betts sat for most of the game. Let’s not back into the playoffs.

      Not to mention, no mention of Doc at all. But, I guess you’re a mind reader. You should get a new keyboard, it looks like Caps Lock stuck on you.

      I think you get that obsessive compulsive disorder checked out.

      1. OCD ADHD OMG!

        You are obsessing too much. It’s not all about you. It’s about the several Dodger fans that ran Doc up the Flagpole this Morning on AM.

        Of course, if the shoe fits…

    1. So what’s the magic number for us to NOT get to 110? We can fire him when that magic number hits zero

  10. Hey Mark, I re-read yesterday’s posts and today’s. Nowhere on this site do I read one single post criticizing Doc for anything including sitting Mookie. Did you read that “It’s already starting. Dodger fans are already criticizing Dave Roberts for sitting players, such as Mookie last night.” on some other sites or in the paper because I don’t see it here.
    Is it possible that you are picking out that imaginary enemy again just to stir the pot like you like to do?

    1. Of course, it’s possible, but I did not have to resort to that. Here’s a quote directly from this site:

      Pretty lame that Betts sat for most of the game.

      I didn’t have to make it up, and I also heard it on LA Talk Radio. 😉

  11. Indirect association. If you have w,x,y,z hitting at the bottom of the lineup and struck 99 times, then…

  12. I have one serious criticism of Doc. He should have let Kimbral rest yesterday. You know, to stay fresh for this weekend. If he’s going to blow games at least we’d get a chance to see a 700th HR in the process.

      2. In Kimbral’s case it should be a straight jacket. Those things are specifically designed to keep the occupant from using their arms to cause harm.

  13. I can’t understand all of the talk about firing Doc right now. Like you’re gonna go into the post season with a new manager. Let’s at least wait until after the season. Hell, a monkey can manage one of the greatest teams ever to a title, right? Geesh.

  14. According to Dodgers.com, Almonte will be ready for the playoffs. Unfortunately Treinen is probably done. (Unfortunately to me) Price will be activated before the end of the regular season. Gonsolin is iffy.

  15. Mark I suggest that you propose a poll with all of us that we publish here about whether or not we want Kimbrel on the final roster for the playoffs and in his case world series, with a simple answer yes or no and the reason for his choice, I think it would be fun and quite entertaining.

  16. Jose, how many votes do we each get?
    Is there protection against election tampering and ballot fraud?
    I’d like a personal investigation on anyone who votes to ever watch him pitch again.

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