With three (count ’em 3) offensive rookies on the MLB Roster, is that the end of what we will see this year? Well, I will say that it is likely what we will see for a while. Some fans are pining for Luke Williams, but (at best) he is a “fill-in” at SS – SS is not his position. He is a “poor man’s Kike Hernandez.” Kike could play any position at a high level – Luke Williams can play most positions at a below-average level. He’s disaster insurance.
OKLAHOMA CITY DODGERS
Yonny Hernandez is having a solid year at OKC, but he has very little “pop” in his bat. Again, he’s disaster insurance. Beyond that, the Dodgers have a number of journeymen at OKC, including Ward, Avans, Yurchak, and Mann. They are all players who could see the Bigs, but they are not solutions – just placeholders. I’m not being mean… it’s damn hard to play at this level. The Dodgers choose to keep Hunter Feduccia at OKC as he is not on the 40-Man Roster, but as we see what happens with JDM (there are “whispers” he may need back surgery), it could be that Feduccia gets the call and Will Smith DH’s more.
TULSA DRILLERS
Tulsa is where a large number of Dodger prospects reside. Jonny DeLuca, Andy Pages, Jorbit Vivas (most likely trade collateral), Jose Ramos, Diego Cartaya, Imanol Vargas, Tanner Dodson, Nick Frasso, Kyle Hurt, Landon Knack, Nick Nastrini, John Rooney, River Ryan, Emmet Sheehan. Of the position players, Andy Pages and Jonny DeLuca are at the top of the list. Diego Cartaya is inexplicably not able to hit his way out of a wet paper box (there’s a story here, but I can’t get it.).
Of Pages and DeLuca, it is felt that Pages is the better of the two, but Jonny D has some insane splits against LHP (albeit in a very small sampling). JonnyD is hitting .284 with a .376 OB% and OPS’ing .974, but in 19 ABs against LHP, he is hitting .421 with a .522 OB% and 1.469 OPS. That is insane… and a very small sampling. Of course, you can see where I am going here… Could Jonny DeLuca be the platoon partner of Jason Heyward? Well, if he can keep that up until the All-Star Break, he would get some consideration.
Of the pitchers, Frasso, Rooney, and Knack could have a shot. Knack needs to keep it up, but he could be a solid addition to the rotation. The rest of the bunch could be in next year’s class.
GREAT LAKES LOONS
Dalton Rushing is clearly the slugger here. He is hitting .263 with a .450 OB% as he is being walked 33% of the time. He is OPS’ing .950 and has 4 HR to go with five doubles and one triple. He has struck out 28 times and is a true “three outcomes player.” However, 20-year-old Yenier Fernandez is catching the bulk of the games and could be the next Yadier Molina. He is hitting .321 with a .404 OB% and a .868 OPS. Watch this kid!
So the minor league help on the horizon is not plentiful, but it is worthy of watching. July would be very, very soon to bring up a 24-year-old to the Show. He will actually be 25 in July and can play all three outfield positions. He does not have a big arm, but it is above average. He could be that “lefty-killer” the Dodgers need.
Major League News
The Dodgers went down to the wire and used the long ball to destroy the Padres’ Fans’ hopes amid chants of “Beat LA.” Padre fans don’t root for their team – they root against LA! They have no identity without us! There is a big difference. The Dodgers are the “Dragon Up the Freeway” who have owned the Padres for twelve years. The Padres are the Dodger’s pesky little brother who wants to be the big brother… but never will be. Too bad, so sad! Now grow a pair, little boys! With the Padres, it’s “style over substance.” Just shut up and play.
Speaking of up-and-coming teams, don’t look now, but the D-Bags are looking more and more like a .500 (probably better) team as they are led by the manchild and Rookie of the Year, Corbin Carroll. The only thing that can derail them is injury… as they are not deep, but they are scrappy and confident… and fun to watch.
Minor League News
- The Dodgers are closed-lipped on Nick Frasso, as they are prone to do, so either his harm is hanging by a single tendon right about now or maybe it was a blister forming. Who knows?
- Alex Vesia struck out the side in the bottom of the eight in OKC with 14 pitches – 11 of which were strikes.
I thought Eric had a good suggestion last night.
Put Mookie at SS to open an outfield spot to be shared by Busch and Taylor.
Go with the young guys this year like the Dodgers did in the 1970s with Garvey, Lopes, Cey and Russell. That worked out well for the organization and fans.
They can decide which veterans to keep between Heyward, Peralta and Thompson.
To the best of my knowledge, Busch has very little experience in LF, and I do not think the Dodgers will put him in that position.
David Peralta has been playing excellent defense in LF, and I believe he will hit. His time is not up. He gets another month to me. See how long it has taken Taylor? Peralta is a better hitter!
A shout out needs to go to Caleb Ferguson, dude has been great.
Yes Ferguson has been lights out. I wonder if he should be part of closer by committee. No disrespect to Ferguson, but I’ve never seen him on the mound with his mouth closed.
Just like ex-Dodger pitcher Wood. Not a good look.
Same with May!
Mouth breathers. Can’t trust ‘em.
Whats the chances Austin Wynns plays for every team in the NL West this year?
Has that EVER happened?
I do not think so. I have seen them play for three of the five, but not all five. Rockies are Wynn’s third. Doubtful he plays for either the D-Backs or the Padres as their catchers are pretty entrenched right now. Have not seen much said about the passing of Vida Blue. Guy was a rock for the A’s and won 209 games in his career. same as Drysdale, a Cy Young, same as Drysdale, and a MVP. Big D never won one of those, played on three Championship teams in a row. Yet he is not in the Hall and Big D is. Probably because he was only 1-5 in postseason play. He was 73, a year and a half younger than I am. RIP Vida,
The first baseball glove I ever purchased for little league was in 1983, and that glove was signed by Vida Blue.
Of course, 12 year old me didn’t know who Vida Blue was at that time, so I just assumed I was given a cheap glove.
My first glove that I ever got was a Jim Gentile first baseman’s mitt I got from the Sears Christmas catalog. It cost 15.00$. At the time, a lot of money. It was a Rawlings. My first bat was a Duke Snider model Louisville Slugger. I think it was about 8 bucks.
Mine was a Joe Adcock 1B Mitt, just like this one:
Mine was an Eddie Matthews. Mom got it with S&H green stamps.
My first glove was a Johnny Antonelli model. I’d never heard of the guy in those days. He was a left handed pitcher and I was a right handed shortstop but I liked the glove. My dad had a Wilson A-2000, state of the art glove. It still is. The smaller version was a A-2010. I got one of those at age 12.
I never warmed up to Rawlings gloves, “heart of the hide”. I used a McGregor in pro ball and rebuilt the web to my liking. I love the small Muzuno gloves now. Great shape for infielders.
We used to travel to a popular old time sporting goods store in Portland. They had a “bat cave” under the sidewalk above. I would stock up on an Adirondack or 2 but preferred Louisville Sluggers. The were $3.99 a bat. A nice Victus Maple Pro Bat now is $200.00.
Mine was a Maury Wills model – Spalding.
My foster father bought me a six-fingered Spaulding in 1964 when I played for the Jr. Varsity team. I had it for years.
I threw something up yesterday on Vida B. Lost in shuffle I guess.
He lit the league up and was incredible that MVP year. Lots of good memories of those Reggie, Vida, Catfish, Rollie, Bert C teams.
Shame on Billy Bean & co for the state of that franchise. They are a joke.
It’s not on Bean – it’s on the owners who, like Walter O’Malley, had to wait out a process so they could make billions. In all fairness, who wants to go see a game in Oakland?
I get the owners are tight but, playing cynic, if Billy’s so good why does he stay there all these years?
My question is, do the Dodgers need the cavalry to come? Sure, more injuries are going to happen throughout the year, but they certainly seem to be clicking right now. 8 out of 9 wins, first place in the division and second in the NL behind the Braves.
The Dodgers need a RF’er who can platoon with Heyward and hit LHP.
I’ll give it a go. I’ve been in platoons before. Several of them in fact. I’ll need a courtesy runner.
I saw Platoon. Good movie.
I’ve owned balls and gloves.
Does platoon have anything to do with Plato? Asking for a friend
The right question is usually more important than the right answer.
Plato
“Open a Can of Imagination!” – Play -Doh
How much leash does. Thompson have Mark? Can’t really use him as a pinch hitter. Doc uses Barnes as a pinch hitter praying he draws base on balls. Go get a right handed hitter that can hit!
I think his leash is just about up! It may not be fair to him, but he is not what the team needs.
1. Juston Heyward is playing very well against RHP; and
2. Dave Roberts says he is the “best human being” to ever grace a MLB Clubhouse.
UPDATE ABOVE!
Good Morning guys – nice comeback last night. Noticed KC designated Frammil Reyes this morning . Guy hit 30HR/85RBI less than 3 years ago. Might be good idea bring him in and drop Thompson. He is what he is at this point, they need production.
Good catch. He’s RH so all he has to do is hit lefties. I can’t look at his splits right now.
His line this year is .231/.288/.519 with a 37% strikeout rate. Don’t we already have something akin to that or even slightly better?
For Franmil Reyes, I see 2023 splits – vs RHP = .175, vs LHP= .211.
Career RHP = .242
vs LHP .269
Based on 2023 numbers I don’t see any help there.
Big boy though.
Maybe they can “fix” him. He has to only hit LHP. I’d try him over Thompson!
Of course, we said the same thing about Joey Gallo… who was fixed for a minute this spring!
Jonny DeLuca is sounding better by the minute!
I wonder if Kiner-Falefa is on the Dodgers radar. He’s a SS/LF. A righty. Having a down-year so probably is a value acquisition.
No power, not a great defender. No thanks.
7:40 PM ET
Dodgers (21-14) 1st place
Brewers (19-15) .5GB
SP Tony Gonsolin R
0-0 3.38 ERA 8IP 4K
SP Freddy Peralta R
3-2 3.63 ERA 34.2IP 41K
Confirmed Lineup
2B Mookie Betts R
1B F. Freeman L
RF J. Heyward L
DH Max Muncy L
CF James Outman L
LF D. Peralta L
3B M. Busch L
SS Miguel Rojas R
C A. Barnes R
In Domed Stadium
NO Dodger Minor League games tonight
Betts, the Dodgers top utility player. Now appearing at second base. I thought Rojas was the utility infielder.
Rojas IS a utility player. Second string.
Mark brought up today what I’ve brought up before (In the offseason) about DeLuca. I saw a need for an outfielder that could hit LHP and I saw DeLuca’s splits last year against LHP and I was impressed and he’s doing it again this year in a small sample though. Why not platoon him?
1) It doesn’t cost the Dodgers anything.
2) It’s not like he’s going to be an everyday player.
3) There’s more RHP than LHP, so his role would be limited.
Also the Dodgers need to keep Rojas from starting and that’s why I like Betts at SS. Otherwise Taylor at SS.
It’d be nice if the Dodgers could squeeze Busch in somewhere.
Just my 2 cents.
I’m also for calling up Feduccia if Martinez is out, like Mark is talking about and sending Smith to DH, but also catching when Feduccia gets days off.
The Dodgers are now saying that JDM might be back net weekend!
I wonder how effective Martinez will be hitting with the lingering back problem.
He is in Arizona working out. He should be ok since he is hitting live pitching.
I still can’t believe that DeLuca, Ramos and Pages are in AA it’s not like Duggar, Zimmer and DeLuzio are tearing up AAA and deserve a call up. Same goes for Knack and Erlin.
At this point DeLuca can’t hardly do any worse than Thompson. The only issue is Thompson is out of options, although I can’t imagine he would not clear waivers if he was DFA’d.
The trade market looks like it’s going to be thin this year. At this point only the A’s, Reds, Royals, Rockies, Tigers and Nationals are out of contention. With most likely the Marlins, Pirates, White Sox and possibly the Cards and Giants falling out of wild card contention.
Is it true that the “Crying Keyshaw” video above was actually broadcast at Pet Co Park? If so, it a disgrace to the Padres and it’s management.
Yes, the San Diego fans and Peter Seidler have the class of a Trailer-Trash Cereal Killer.
Here is what I have to say about a San Diego fan:
You are swine you vulgar little maggot. Don’t you know that you are pathetic? You worthless bag of filth. As we say in California, I’ll bet you couldn’t pour piss out of a boot with instructions on the heel. You are a canker. A sore that won’t go away. A zit on the butt of society. I would rather kiss a lawyer than be seen with you.
You are a fiend and a coward, and you have bad breath. You are degenerate, noxious and depraved. I feel debased just for knowing you exist. I despise everything about you. You are a bloody nardless newbie twit protohominid chromosomally aberrant caricature of a coprophagic cloacal parasitic pond scum and I wish you would go away.
You’re a putrescence mass, a walking vomit. You are a spineless little worm deserving nothing but the profoundest contempt. You are a jerk, a cad, a weasel. Your life is a monument to stupidity. You are a stench, a revulsion, a big suck on a sour lemon.
You are a bleating fool, a curdled staggering mutant dwarf smeared richly with the effluvia and offal accompanying your alleged birth into this world. An insensate, blinking calf, meaningful to nobody, abandoned by the puke-drooling, giggling beasts who sired you and then killed themselves in recognition of what they had done.
I will never get over the embarrassment of belonging to the same species as you. You are a monster, an ogre, a malformity. I barf at the very thought of you. You have all the appeal of a paper cut. Lepers avoid you. Because off your face the rabbit population actually decreased. You are vile, worthless, less than nothing. You are a weed, a fungus, the dregs of this earth. And did I mention you smell?
If you aren’t an idiot, you made a world-class effort at simulating one.
You snail-skulled little rabbit. Would that a hawk pick you up, drive its beak into your brain, and upon finding it rancid set you loose to fly briefly before spattering the ocean rocks with the frothy pink shame of your ignoble blood. May you choke on the queasy, convulsing nausea of your own trite, foolish beliefs.
You are weary, stale, flat and unprofitable. You are grimy, squalid, nasty and profane. You are foul and disgusting. You’re a fool, an ignoramus. Monkeys look down on you. Even sheep won’t have sex with you. You are unreservedly pathetic, starved for attention, and lost in a land that reality forgot.
You are a waste of flesh. You have no rhythm. You are ridiculous and obnoxious. You are the moral equivalent of a leech. You are a living emptiness, a meaningless void. You are sour and senile. You are a disease, you puerile one-handed slack-jawed drooling meatslapper.
On a good day you’re a half-wit. You remind me of drool. You are deficient in all that lends character. You have the personality of wallpaper. You are dank and filthy. You are asinine and benighted. You are the source of all unpleasantness. You spread misery and sorrow wherever you go.
I cannot believe how incredibly stupid you are. I mean rock-hard stupid. Dehydrated-rock-hard stupid. Stupid so stupid that it goes way beyond the stupid we know into a whole different dimension of stupid. You are trans-stupid stupid. Meta-stupid. Stupid collapsed on itself so far that even the neutrons have collapsed. Stupid gotten so dense that no intellect can escape. Singularity stupid. Blazing hot mid-day sun on Mercury stupid. You emit more stupid in one second than our entire galaxy emits in a year. Quasar stupid. Your writing has to be a troll. Nothing in our universe can really be this stupid. Perhaps this is some primordial fragment from the original big bang of stupid. Some pure essence of a stupid so uncontaminated by anything else as to be beyond the laws of physics that we know. I’m sorry. I can’t go on. This is an epiphany of stupid for me. After this, you may not hear from me again for a while. I don’t have enough strength left to deride your ignorant questions and half baked comments about unimportant trivia, or any of the rest of this drivel. Duh.
Maybe later in life, after you have learned to read, write, spell, and count, you will have more success. True, these are rudimentary skills that many of us “normal” people take for granted that everyone has an easy time of mastering. But we sometimes forget that there are “challenged” persons in this world who find these things more difficult. I wish you the best of luck in the emotional, and social struggles that seem to be placing such a demand on you.
P.S.: You are hypocritical, greedy, violent, malevolent, vengeful, cowardly, deadly, mendacious, meretricious, loathsome, despicable, belligerent, opportunistic, barratrous, contemptible, criminal, fascistic, bigoted, racist, sexist, avaricious, tasteless, idiotic, brain-damaged, imbecilic, insane, arrogant, deceitful, demented, lame, self-righteous, byzantine, conspiratorial, satanic, fraudulent, libelous, bilious, splenetic, spastic, ignorant, clueless, illegitimate, harmful, destructive, dumb, evasive, double-talking, devious, revisionist, narrow, manipulative, paternalistic, fundamentalist, dogmatic, idolatrous, unethical, cultic, diseased, suppressive, controlling, restrictive, malignant, deceptive, dim, crazy, weird, dystopic, stifling, uncaring, plantigrade, grim, unsympathetic, jargon-spouting, censorious, secretive, aggressive, mind-numbing, arassive, poisonous, flagrant, self-destructive, abusive, socially-retarded, puerile, clueless, and generally Not Good.
… other than that you are OK!
Wow! That’s a lot of negative energy!
And they would say “I know you are but what am I?”
Wow! That is some thesaurusy stuff right there.
Hey Mark I thought that was Scott’s last post before he got banned.
About time you dusted that one off and shared it again.
I think that one was first introduced some time early this century. I think it’s been updated maybe.
Come on Mark
Don’t sugarcoat it.
I preferred Jorge’s Padres abuse.
A much easier read
Jorge set the bar high…
Last night was the most fun I’ve had watching a ballgame in a very long time.
I just looked up DeLuca’s stats against LHP in previous years in the minors and he’s hit LHP good his whole minor league career. I must have forgot that since when I looked it up in the offseason.
Which Peralta wins out tonight? I’m rooting for the lefty.
Milwaukee is one of the best parks to watch a game.
I have watched a few games here: https://www.jsonline.com/videos/sports/2023/03/28/go-inside-j-leinenkugels-barrel-yard-restaurant-american-family-field-brewers-stadium/11557168002/
It is awesome!
Dodgers moved all the way up to #3 in the Power Polls. Rays #1, Braves #2.
Stuntman’s back.
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRKRjVC8/
Again too many quiet Dodgers bats, looks like a win tonight will have to be another low-scoring, nail-biting affair.
On the bright side, we’ll be done here in just a little over 2 hrs.
Mark, thanks for the response to my question regarding the Padres mock of Kershaw and the Dodgers. Where is the baseball Commissioner and the owners on this? Where’s the press coverage of this? I will complain to Commissioner’s Office for not reprimanding the Padres and the Times for not covering it. I hope others would join me. And Mark, it’s great to have you back and feeling better.
Can’t fans and organizations have fun anymore?
Let’s not be overly sensitive here.
Fun? Juvenile and inappropriate. The same goes to the insult given to Mookie.
Get over it DICK
Another Dodgers let-down on defense. That misplay by Busch in the 5th – COSTLY!
He’s learning to play 3B on the fly… and he’s not doing bad… just not great!
3 run error. That ain’t good.
Nice to see
Dodgers flat from the jet lag. The line-up looked suspicious at 8 & 9 hole. And now Suero pitching – the white flag
Stick a fork in them.
Get them tomorrow!
It’s bound to get better – we have Thor pitching!
hehe
Gonsolin pitched great. 6 innings, 80 pitches, 0 earned. The bullpen sucked.
This offense cannot win a championship. And the defense is shaky. Outman is consistently swinging through mid mid 95+ fastballs like Bellinger last year. Not a good sign. And he doesn’t show the ability to foul off tough pitches. What a raw deal for Catman. He’s close to getting back to his top level. He’ll be fine. It’s our inability to hit good pitching that’s a huge problem.
And Vargas has problems with heat too.
You don’t like this slashline Cassidy?
.273/.367/.570/.937
3rd/3rd/1st/2nd on the team.
Of course we fans like it, but you’ve surely noticed those numbers are considerably lower than where they were about 2/wks ago, as teams have obviously found and exploited his hitting weaknesses. And expect the downtrend to continue until Outman successfully adjusts. Hopefully he figures it out.
Looks like a quick 2-game skid with Thor pitching tomorrow ….unless the Dodgers bats heat up again.
Hate watching a game thru haze, annoying!! Can’t the dome management find a way to clear the place of smoke before the game starts? Seriously unacceptable!
I just stumbled on to a You Tube site which seems to report on prospects for hardcore roto players. Are there leagues in which these fantasy teams have their own fantasy farm systems? (Ours just had a draft of current major leaguers. This was in the mid ’80s, and Bob suggested that each owner should be allowed to keep one player from his previous team. Of course Bob had Mattingly in his prime, so we dubbed it “the Mattingly Rule” –and voted the proposal down 15-1.)
Anyway, three of the Top Ten prospects listed by this outfit were Dodgers: DeLuca, Vivas and Rushing. Warmed my heart.
The best thing about today’s fiasco was Gonsolin’s pitching. The defense has been a sore point in the past couple of games. Urias gave up eight “hits,” but three or four of those really should have been outs. Sloppy stuff.
BTW, from what I’ve read, Yeiner Fernandez’s bat is way ahead of his glove. At any rate, it’s nice to have all this catching depth. I hope Feduccia gets his chance before long.