If you want to see fans lose their collective minds there is one place you absolutely have to visit. TWITTER. My foster father would have referred to it as a place where real twits go to meet. There are some intelligent posts there, don’t get me wrong. But after awards, series, trades, and even when nothing is happening in the baseball world, you will see some of the most idiotic trade suggestions and ideas for improvement that you have ever seen.
And that my friends is just on the # Dodgers feed. I shudder to think what goes on throughout the site. Today the Dodgers non-tendered three players, Luke Williams, who they claimed off waivers from the Giants, Edwin Rios and Cody Bellinger. Of course, Bellinger is the big name there. Former MVP, ROY and a gold glove center fielder. Twitter went pretty bonkers over the whole thing, some fans lamenting Cody’s impending free agency and most likely leaving and signing with another team. The other two were barely mentioned.
Fans like continuity with their stars especially when they are home-grown. This is just the first phase of a period that will certainly cause angst among fans as some of their favorites leave and sign elsewhere. Dodger fans still guessing the fates of Trea Turner and Justin Turner. Not so worried about Heaney, Martin, Kimbrel. Most want JT back. And many would love to see the talented Trea Turner return. But you won’t see any support for Kimbrel returning,
I have seen so many leave the team either by trade or free agency. I think trades sting a little more because you usually do not see them coming. But fans still go berserk when they happen to include ones favorite player. Duke Snider’s trade hit me that way. Koufax retiring when he was only 30. I knew Garvey was going to leave, the Dodgers were counting on Greg Brock to be his replacement for years to come. Didn’t happen. Twitter is also the place where you will see more anti-Roberts posts than anywhere else. They were seeking his head after the loss to the Padres. I put most of the blame on the front office never really replacing Buehler. Also, the Padres mid-season pickups proved to be much better than the only offensive player LA got. Chris Martin did a decent job. Gallo was a disaster.
I get a lot of heat for my constant support of Bellinger even after he has been non-tendered. No big deal to me, I have always liked the kid and I happen to believe he is going to be a much better player for whoever he plays for this season, and his replacement is going to be less of a factor. You can pooh pooh his contributions over the last two seasons all you want, but he had his moments.
But I still get a kick out of reading all the dire predictions, and weird trade idea’s fans come up with. And sometimes their comments border on being simply dumb. I read one this morning on Twitter. A guy said that Bellinger was done, and should be offered nothing more than a minor league deal. Nuts.
Speaking of nonsense Bear, I have seen a few posts here (not on twitter) suggesting that it’s unnecessary to assemble the best team we possibly can because the best team now has about a 20% chance of winning a World Series. Their logic is to be a mediocre team, win less games, sneak into a wild card slot and hope to get hot in the playoffs. Basically just quit trying and leave success up to fate.
That is one of the most ridiculous ideas ever. I come from a mentality that you try to be as good as you possibly can. Essemble the best team you can and play to win every game. What was wrong with enjoying our play for 6 months, winning 111 games? So you get disappointed in the playoffs, so you quit? What happened to enjoying good baseball and not being a quitter?
When I coached we were usually successful but we had seasons where we were eliminated from contention before the end of the season. We had some spoiled parents who just wanted to piss on the campfire and call in the hounds when we couldn’t win a championship. Like that was the only thing worth playing for. What happened to fun? Enjoying watching or playing the game, striving for improvement and pride in your organization? Pride in your character and competitiveness? It applies at every level? Some of the spoiled wanna-be’s needed to be Mariner fans for the past 20 year and understand what it means to be a loyal fan.
I totally agree Phil. I coached a pony league level team one year while I was in the Army. Since my team was the last team entered in the league, I got the kids that were not selected in the first selection process, plus one boy who was deemed to be too old by a day to play little league. I think that is an archaic rule that should be changed. But I simply told the kids to go out, do the best they could and have fun. Losing is not real fun, but when they finally won their first game, after four losses, you would have thought those kids won the World Series. I had my best pitcher come down with a sore arm, so I never let him pitch again. He played second base to put less stress on the arm. We ended up winning 3 games out of 12. But I enjoyed the experience and tried to teach them the right way to play. I bought them all trophies at the end of the year just so they felt they had done something fun. We had a nice party and after the season there was a player vs. the coach’s game. We won by one run, I was on the mound, and when I threw the last pitch, it was literally the last pitch I ever threw in any type of game. I blew my arm out! How about being a Cubs fan and waiting over 100 years for the next championship, or the Padres, Brewers and Rangers, who have never won.
Yes, that is as silly as saying “Build a team for the playoffs.”
The morons who say “don’t build a team as good because the best team only has a 20% chance of winning” are just that: MORONS! . Hey, the other 11 may only have a 5% chance! I am going to build the next team I can with as much youth as I can and if they don’t deliver, look to make a trade at the deadline.
“Speaking of nonsense Bear, I have seen a few posts here (not on twitter) suggesting that it’s unnecessary to assemble the best team we possibly can because the best team now has about a 20% chance of winning a World Series. Their logic is to be a mediocre team, win less games, sneak into a wild card slot and hope to get hot in the playoffs. Basically just quit trying and leave success up to fate.”
No one here has suggested that the answer is to be a “mediocre team,” and “quit trying.” If you have to embellish to make a point, then the point is not worth making.
Being the best team during the regular season conveys a proportionally small statistical advantage for winning the WS when it comes playoff time. The best team doesn’t win the WS often enough for it to matter all that much. If so, why spend so much money on expensive players, incur an onerous salary cap penalty, or block the young players so carefully cultivated and developed? Why try to construct a juggernaut when it makes little difference?
I few days ago I speculated that my hunch was that Friedman might switch gears away from throwing money at the the Trevor Bauers and TT and might promote Vargas and potentially Bush and try to reset the cap. It’s an interesting prospect, and I was doing a little goofing around on Spotrac a few weeks ago and discovered the Dodgers can shed enough salary to get under the cap and STILL sign a TT.
Still, as B&P mentioned, there are currently some holes in the lineup, especially right handed hitters.
I will watch that Full Metal Jacket scene at least once a year. Such a great character.
https://youtu.be/tHxf17yJsKs
I’m still a fan. I’m only quitting in October
Funny. I do not know how old you are Cassidy, but I have seen a lot more failure than success. They are not the Yankees, nor even the Cardinals. But I enjoy the fact that I can gloat a little during the season after the 32 years of frustration. I am one thing though, and that is a realist. I know some get a kick out of proposing outrageous trades and scenarios. I like to at least think, hey, this can happen.
I just like having some fun with all of this. After all its not life or death, its only a baseball team. I enjoy the fact that we have what seems to be such a quality group of young men as much as they are a group of great ballplayers
Over the years, we have had dozens… maybe hundreds of readers leave simply because the Dodger did not win the World Series. The biggest Exodus was after 2017 and 2018. Here’s what I have to say about that:
At least you were smart enough not to start a site for the Angels!
As far is Twitter goes it’s not limited to just sports fans. The place is a churning cesspool of infantile asshatery. I still follow quite a few writers and journalists on Twitter. But whenever I give in to the urge to read the comments I’m reminded why lions occasionally eat their young.
Good to see you use R. Lee Ermey to make a point. Lived just down the street from me. They named the road after him. Nice guy. Great actor.
As to building a World Series champion, no easy solutions.
Believe the approach should be centered on putting together a team that can win the division, hopefully win a hundred games plus.
Put the team into the best position heading into the playoffs.
Hopefully the team gets hot in the playoffs. Maybe there is a certain kind of player who can make a difference. Any suggestions?
Would Aaron Judge be the one, one of the available pitchers, a potential trade?
I’d like to see players who strike out less and put the ball in play more.
We can always hope Mookie puts the Dodgers over the top in 2023. Just like 2020.
Freddie Freeman is definitely part of the solution.
No question after watching the Dodger show last night, the organization is set on counting on the youth movement. But they are looking for a big signing, at least that is the thinking from insiders and at this point, they may focus on Xander to fill short. Verlander may make some sense, high dollars , short contract.
Even JT spoke about the Dodgers wanting to get below the tax line. He’s willing to wait for everything to play out.
Good write up, Bear.
MLBTR Chat:
Jake
2:42 Are there any prospects in the farm that could immediately fill in some of the vacancies that have left for free agency?
Mark P
2:44 Sure, plenty
Pages, Vargas, Outman, Pepiot, Grove, Busch, Amaya….all should get some form of playing time in 2023, possibly quite a bit of it depending on how things shake out. Any team would love to have such a prospect core on the verge of the majors, but the Dodgers have the additional luxury of maybe not “needing” any of them to produce right away, or dangling a couple of them as possible trade chips.
Seth
2:44 Didn’t see you mention Bobby Miller as one of the top pitchers coming up for the dodgers, was that just an error of omission or is there something else brewing
Mark P
2:45 I forgot Gavin Stone, too. The Dodgers have a lot of good prospects, is my point!
Rico not carty
2:45 Who ends up at third
Mark P
2:47 Who’s on first, I Don’t Know for third base
non-Vaudeville answer…..Muncy is the top pick for 3B probably, with Chris Taylor and Miguel Vargas also involved
JBD
3:32 As a Dodger fan, I wouldn’t mind seeing them let the kids play and reset the luxury tax. They have a lot of good prospects. Outman was outstanding in a very short cameo, went back down and put up a couple of cycles in a matter of days apart. In fact, late in the season I was hoping they would bring him back up. Instead, they picked up Joey Gallo, which I did not understand from the outset. What were they thinking>
Mark P
3:34 The Gallo acquisition made sense, just since playing in the Bronx was weighing on him so much that a change of scenery seemed like it might’ve done the trick.
If I’m an LA fan, I’m cautiously optimistic about a “play the kids” strategy. After all, the Dodgers have a pretty good track record of success with homegrown players. If any of the youngsters aren’t working out or perhaps hit a wall at midseason once the league starts to adjust, then the Dodgers can make some new additions at the deadline
Aaron
3:36 Surprised the Dodgers didn’t protect Jose Ramos, especially after a strong AFL showing. What are the chances he gets picked in the Rule 5 draft?
Mark P
3:37 Ramos has to even reach Double-A, so it might be a reach for another team to put him on their active roster all season. The blessing and the curse of a deep farm system is that you can’t protect everyone on the 40-man
AJ
3:39 Is there a role for Michael Busch on this team or is he trade bait?
Mark P
3:40 He could get regular 2B work as early as this season. If the Dodgers did sign a big-name shortstop, however, Busch would also make sense as a possible trade chip, if Lux then was positioned as the every second baseman going forward
Thanks for posting Mark. Interesting that he’s saying what many here have been saying for a while.
This hot stove is not very hot.
And the Angels strike again.
Yep, they traded three guys for Hunter Renfroe, their second trade so far.