Many fans are talking about 28-year-old (soon to be 29) Luke Raley and how well he is doing with the Rays. Yes, Luke is doing very well this year, OPS’ing .9047and playing LF, RF, and 1B. He played three years in college and six years in the Dodgers Farm System. Of course, you cannot keep all of the players due to Rule 5, so in an effort to at least get something in return for him, the Dodgers traded him to the Rays for Tanner Dodson, the 100 MPH flamethrower outfielder converted pitcher. Dodson is a “project” – already 26 years old, he is likely a year or two away from the bigs (if he can ever control his throws). He is 4-4 this season with a 2.96 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP, as he has pitched 24 innings, allowing 20 hits, 19 strikeouts, and 14 walks.
Tanner Dodson was the best they could get for Luke Raley. There are likely a lot of Luke Raley’s in the Dodgers’ Farm System. These are guys who do not get it immediately, and finally… after several years and maybe multiple teams, they put it all together. I am happy for Luke Raley, but he was just another LH bat, and they had to trade him or likely lose him. Tanner Dodson may also be of that same ilk, and he may become a high-leverage reliever at 28 or 29.
NOTES: Julio Urias and Daniel Hudson are both set to be activated at the end of June or the first couple of days of July. That should help the pitching staff immensely.
Down on the Farm
OKLAHOMA CITY
- Landon Knack did not fare well in his first AAA start – Let’s just say that his 10.13 ERA sums it all up.
- OTOH, Gus Varland, whom the Brewers sent back to LA under Rule 5, is flourishing in the bullpen with a 2.84 ERA. He’s not a high-leverage option but could be a multi-inning guy.
TULSA
- Diego Cartaya continues to struggle – he is still hitting .210. Puzzling – Is this the real Diego or just a blip?
- Jose Ramos hit his 13th HR and has 42 RBI with a .278 BA and .857 OPS. He is mostly playing CF.
Trainwreck
Right about now, that is what the Dodgers are. This story will unfold in time. This is a playoff team, no matter how you want to mock me. This, too… shall pass! Remember, a month ago, most of you wanted David Peralta gone. Not that he is the greatest player ever, but he is hitting .276 on the season and, in the last 15 games, is at .435. So make fun of me all you want. I will come back with a vengeance! It would be nice if Vargas starts hitting, and I believe he will. There is a lot of baseball to be played! Why am I so confident in Vargas? Dino Ebel sums it up, “Miguel Vargas is the hardest-working player on the team.” James Outman is also adjusting by cutting down on his swing and trading power for more hits. The power will come back… give it time. Vargas needs to sit a couple of games to clear his head. The good news is that his defense is very good.
“The roster is not very good!” “This is not a playoff team.” Yada, Yada, Yada! Every year I hear the S.O.S. about how the Dodgers won’t win (and when I say win, I mean to make the playoffs). Once you get there, it’s a crapshoot anyway. This team will make the playoffs, and I will rub your snotty little noses in it. š Watch and learn. Nine years running, I have been right. This will make 10.
Considering just making the playoffs a successful season and then calling them a crapshoot is a losing mentality from the start
It is a crapshoot. That is a fact! When there were only two teams to make the playoffs, it was not a crapshoot, but now with twelve (count them 12) teams to make the playoffs, it is absolutely a crapshoot and believing otherwise is not only untrue but very delusional!
You are right, another is Ryan Noda. He is with the A’s now, but he spent 2 years, 21-22 with the Dodgers. He was the player they got from the Jays when they traded Ross Stripling. His first year, he hit .250 with 29 bombs at Tulsa, then in 22 he was with OKC and hit .259 with 25 long balls. The A’s grabbed him when the Dodgers placed him on waivers in December. He is hitting .245 with 7 homers. His OPS is .818. He has a .397 OBP. Not bad. You take OKC’s present roster, and there are a few names there who have little chance of playing in LA. Right now, they have 6 outfielders on the roster, 2 of them, Dugger and Pages, are on the 7-day IL. One, Sam McWilliams, is on the restricted list. The other three are Ryan Ward, Bruce Avans and Kole Calhoun. Neither Ward nor Avans have much of a chance of being called up. Both are hitting in the .230’s. Calhoun meanwhile is trying to make it back to the majors. He has not hit all that well in the few games he has played.
Of the infielders, Brigman is doing quite well at AAA, hitting .368, but he is 28 and is not on the 40 man roster. Jones has been very hot of late and has raised his average to .313 with 9 homers. Hernandez is with the Dodgers right now in case Taylor has to be placed on the IL. Jones is 25, Mann is 26. Yurchak is 26 and has zero chance of being called up. Freeman is in his way. Neither catcher, Feduccia or Mazeika are hitting all that well. Feduccia is 26 Mazeika is 29. They also have Frietas who has been playing some first and DHing. He is 34.
Pitching is where the Dodgers have the most players who could be called up to help.
We all know about Stone, but he has been getting rocked since he was demoted. He needs to re-find his juju. Hudson is up and pitched in the 15-0 blowout. Andriese, although he has 217 games experience in the bigs has little chance of being called up. He is starting now. Erlin has 117 big league games under his belt, no shot at coming up. Mark mentioned Varland, and he is a possibility. I have seen Washington pitch a couple of times. I think he gets a look see next spring. Also intriguing is Burdi, who has yet to be scored on in 4 games. Interesting read in Yardbarker. They ranked the starting lineups of all 30 teams. The Rays were number one. And believe it or not, The Dodgers were number two.
Does anybody know the rules of the minor-league baseball IL? Why do they have Andy Pages on the seven day when heās out for the season with shoulder surgery?
Is it some way of manipulating the roster?
They do not have the same 10-15 and 60 day IL’s down there. They just keep players on the 7-day all season. Pages is on the Dodgers 40 man, but it still says minors. I wonder if they have no more room on the 60 day.
Pretty low class what the Braves did to Charlie Culberson yesterday.
They could have waited a day.
About the most classless DFA I can remember.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I would not be surprised if Gonsolin is the next pitcher to go to IL.
The drop in velo is staggering. Often a precursor to a major physical problem.
And Yes, this roster is not championship caliber. WasĀ“n at the start of the season and even less after the injuries.
Stick a fork in them BumĀ“s and wait til next year.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mookie Betts is allegedly going to compete in the All-Star HR Derby!
Probably the best shot a member of the LA Dodgers has at a title this season.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tony Gonsolinā¦ā¦.Crashā¦..Burnā¦..Thud!!!
RIP, Tonyā¦.you were great one timeā¦..now is not that timeā¦.wait for my favorite lineā¦āmaybe next yearā
Anyone think Kershaw and Miller (letās see if he rebounds from this first beating he just took) can carry us to the Dance? Even Urias returning is no givenā¦.he has been iffy all seasonā¦.I see no reason to think all of a sudden he will become beasty againā¦.unless of course, he does. (I hope.)
Lets keep an eye on Freddie. Really hurt his wrist on slide into 2nd. Probably one of those ‘unpublished’ injuries that players stay in lineup, but lead to ‘slumps’. Hope I am wrong
He already is in a slump.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!
Last 10 games 11-37 (.297) 7 RBI’s.
OK we’ll use that as his baseline
4-24 on the current home stand.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1-3 (.333) in last three at bats
I am not saying that Gonsolin is not injured, but he touched 93 MPH twice in his last inning. His fastball was mostly 90-92 MPH.
I think he has made a conscious decision to drop his velo from 94-95 to 92-93. I am more concerned about his stamina. I actually think he is better when he does not throw so hard.
I will have to see couple more starts…
His average velo on the fastball has dropped considerably from his first starts plus he could not get up for his scheduled start last time. Captain Kirk would call Red alert on this.
Dodgers are sinking faster than the Titanic .
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1.5 to 2.0 MPH is not “considerable” – that’s how much it has dropped.
1.5 -2-0 on average is not considerable in your book ? Not so long ago he could reach high 90s with his fastball.
Respectfully disagree especially since he could not make his scheduled start last week too.
And now he gives up 7 runs, most in his career.
We will find out soon enough what is going on.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In 2022, Tony Gonsolin’s average 4-seamer was 93.1.
This year, it is 92.3.
In 2021 it was 93.8
In 2020, it was 95.1 (as a reliever)
In 2019, it was 93.6.
In 2018, he hit 99 in the minors, but it was not on average. Clayton could probably throw 96 on one pitch.
I, too have thought he may be hurt, but the falloff is minimal.
Shane Bieber’s drop off is nearly double that.
It was mentioned yesterday in the booth, that his fastball actually has more spin at the lower Velo.
What I saw yesterday was that he was getting a lot of success with his splitter going through the lineup a couple of times. Then he had problems locating his fastball, so the Giants were just sitting on the off speed
He definitely looked like he was getting gassed, which is concerning that early.
He used to have a reputation for really bearing down with runners on, and leaving them stranded.
Maybe heās worried about his arm and trying to preserve it If heās not recovering on normal rest, like they said, it seems like he is destined to have surgery. Or maybe heās more suited for the bullpen.
I donāt know the exact number of innings. But I know heās never pitched a full year in the majors.
* Some of the folks posting on this site remind me of a few parents I encountered as a high school coach. We didnāt have many but when we were having a tough season and out of the championship hunt, some parents just wanted to quit. They saw no value in continuing to play.
* College baseball has never been better. The portal and NIL have kept players in college that previously would have signed. In the past guys who threw 90 were seldom in college. Now the game is loaded with high velocity pitchers. Brand name college programs draw big crowds and have great facilities and coaching. Itās a big time environment and nothing like playing in front of 500 people in Poe Dunk USA. Many programs have high tech hitting and pitching labs labs that are far better than anything in MiLB. Top player now spend less time before making the show.
* The College WS has been great. I did see the best college pitcher Iāve maybe ever see. LSUās Paul Skenes, 6ā6ā, 235 is MLB ready right now. 4 pitch guy. 100 mph all day, snappy slider at 88, great change at 90 with fade.
Before the game, Kris Peterson, who I respect, said he “could start tomorrow the Yankees – Boston game”. I thought, yeah, right. That is pure bull. Then I watched the kid go out and just dominate a very good Tennessee team. It was like the 13 year old, 6ā little league pitcher blow away the little kids.
* Before you mistrust me, watch the kid pitch.
* For all the Dodger fans incredulous over how poor our record is, remember what we are attempting to do in this transitional season especially given the injuries weāve incurred. It is easy to run off the ship like rats, itās important understand whatās happening in a rebuilding situation. We will have a much better picture at seasonās end what we have and what we need. We can assesss the future for each player as we plan for future success.
For 2024, I drool over a starting rotation with Buehler, May, Miller, Pepiot and Sheehan. I donāt see us breaking the bank for Borasā Urias and I hope CK returns. We him and need a LHSP. Everybody else can audtiion for the bullpen. I think Gonsulin would be better as a reliever. Heās a 5 inning guy but his splitter might be lethal one time through the order.
* Hereās my “flyer of the week” suggestion – use the money it would take to sigh Ohtani and use part of it to acquire the Skenes kid who will be a high draft pick, maybe the #1 pick by the Pirates. Probably in the 9 million range. While itās illegal to pay cash, it is legal, once the kid is signed, to offer players/prosects in a trade for him. The rules are complicated but I think AF could put together an attractive package. Adding this kid to the 2024 staff I mentioned, looks like a starting staff that could be young and formidable for years. (without speculating injuries)
AF can then work on signing a roster to fill the needs that arenāt covered by our veterans and rookies from this season. That is our future, not trade deadline rentals or temporary band aids for overpriced quick fixes.
* Itās no fun being shitty but let AF and the staff play this thing play out.
Iām not calling in the dogs and pissing on the campfire with this team just yet. Getting some guys back from injuries and progress by the rookies is certainly possible. But any run we make to a wildcard spot would have to be done by our current roster and not trade deadline acquisitions.
Well stated!
Good stuff, as always, Phil.
I seem to remember that when Gonsolin was coming up through the system, opinion was divided on whether he’d ultimately be a starter or a bullpen piece. I’m thinking that at this point the majority may be leaning the way you are, and figuring his ultimate destination will be as a reliever.
I’m intrigued by your idea of trading for Skenes once he’s drafted. What pieces would you give up for him?
Good question, STB. And I can’t answer that right now. I think that depends on how the season plays out; how the veterans perform and the rookies develop. If Skenes gets the expected 9 million it will take some players with some cred since we can’t pay cash to get him. I’m not beyond considering Muncy, CT3 and prospects. AF can figure out a deal.
I would personally like to get away from the 3 outcome players for more versatile, contact types. Let’s see if out rookies can fit that profile. I think that’s where the game is headed.
I don’t know what it would take to get this pitcher but we’ll know more as the season plays out.
I don’t think the low-payroll Pirates would want to be paying CT $32MM over the next two years so we’d have to include a good amount of cash to get them to take him in the deal.
I think we have a $10MM team option on Muncy which they might be happy to do.
My guess is that they would insist on a couple of our best prospects be included since we’d be talking the #1 pick in the draft.
Very little chance this would even get close to happening but something interesting to throw around.
No, you’re right STB. I wouldn’t make much of a GM but my inclusion of CT3 in any deal is more wishful thinking then anything else. I like the guy but this was a bad signing for 15 million a year for a guy hitting .207/.730 with a 32% whiff rate.
But I would be willing to give up a lot for this potential generational pitching prospect. He’s the best thing since Garrett Cole and would be expensive.
You’re right that there is little to no chance here but it’s fun to throw around. I’ve learned a lot from Bradley about shooting for the moon.
Excellent post
Lots of here and there commenting/coverage of umpiring on this blog.
This is a great and informative look at how the NBA handled poor officiating, and had been institutionalized in that league:
https://open.substack.com/pub/matthewyglesias/p/how-nba-twitter-fixed-basketballs-065?r=bg1q&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
Interesting article Bluto. The NBA officiating was all about home-cooking for years. It was referred to as “making the professional” call. Not the right call but the popular call. It satisfied the home fans, kept the stars on the floor and the games close. The lack of quality, accurate officiating combined with the increasing toxic fan behavior actually drove my old friend, Frank Layden, from coaching. He thought when it went to 3 officials on the floor, it would improve. But it didn’t. That combined with the verbal abuse he took, being spit on etc, made him finally say sayonara from coaching and turned it over to Jerry Sloan.
Perhaps the Dodgers brass just never saw the true upside of Luke Raley. If they had, they would have put him on the 40-man roster. Oh well. It’s true that the Dodgers were at risk of losing him in the Rule 5 draft, so a trade was in order.
On the other hand, AF & Associates had decided that Eddys Leonard and Jorbit Vivas should be on the 40-man roster ahead of Raley. I wonder what the internal discussion was like. Why Leonard and not Raley? It was surprising to me when those two per put on the 40-man, but we assume that AF knows what he is doing.
But was that the right call? These guys are young, unproven and unlikely to reach the majors until 2024, if then. The Dodgers have been thin at SS, but Leonard’s name rarely comes up. More of a UT option. I’m not sure a Billy Beane (or whomever) would have chosen them over a more proven player like Noda.
OF course it’s easy to criticize in hindsight, and I didn’t question the Raley-Dodson trade at the time. The Dodgers have had success on pitching talent, after all. (Beatty for River Ryan comes to mind–but we now know that Raley is much better than Beatty.) But in an alternative universe, Raley is on the Dodgers roster instead of Peralta. Credit to the Rays for making the smart move that has helped them become the winningest team in MLB. (Maybe they’ll reach 111 wins!)
Final note: About a month ago I noticed a common theme in discussions on LADT. Some of us would criticize decisions by AF or Roberts–I often criticized the OF surplus– and others would say, in effect, “Hey whiners, the Dodgers are in first place! Hey, we’ve got the best record in the league!”
That was then. Now our lads have fallen into 3rd place, behind the D’backs and Giants. The potent, underachieving Padres lurk below.
Injuries have taken a toll on the Dodgers, but injuries really don’t explain why the bullpen is in tatters. And it’s not clear if the cavalry is coming. Max and Urias should return, but how good will they be? The Dodgers can tap more unproven talent in the minors–or AF can make some bold moves in the trade market, which is something he avoided last season (losing out to the Pads on Drury and Hader, for example) and during the winter break.
I think the Dodger brass thought fairly highly of Raley’s potential. They drafted him in the 7th round and then wound up trading him to the Twins in the Brian Dozier deal.
They thought enough of him to get him back when they traded Maeda to the Twins. Teams don’t normally trade for a player they’ve gotten rid of. But then when he had a chance to play here he did terribly, hitting well under .200 (although an admittedly small sample size).
I think that ultimately they just decided to give some other guys a shot but I’m sure they aren’t totally surprised by the fact that he’s having success with Tampa.
Here’s the crux of it:
1. Raley was 27 when he was traded and was already on the roster.
2. Vivas and Leaonard were 20 and 21, respectively.
3. Raley is best at 1B.
4. He does not hit lefties well. He has 10 HR against RHP and 2 against LHP.
5. He needed a chance to play and stay in the lineup: Last year he hit: .197 after spending most of the season in AAA. This year, he hit .226 in April, .262 in May, and .342 in June.
6. The Dodgers are doing that with Vargas who is 6 years younger and Outman who is 3 years younger.
Bear would remember this better them me but didn’t we have hopes that the Dodger prospects Luke Raley, DJ Peters, Zach Reks and Cody Thomas would contribute to the Big Club? None of them made it and we moved on to the next wave of prospects.
That was the case. Everyone thought Peters needed to cut down on his K’s. He never did, but he had light tower power. Thomas was the same, he hit some bombs in spring training in Arizona. Peters was pretty good defensively. Bellinger was going to be the first baseman and Peters in CF. Reks was always more of the 4th or 5th outfielder type. I am also happy that Zack McKinstry is doing well in Detroit. Always liked his approach at the plate and the fact that he is a very gritty type player.
That’s sort of funny that Peters had to cut down on his K rate. For his career he K’d 35% of the time. It was considered too high. Let’s compare to guys now; Trayce Turner 52%, Outman 40%, CT3 38%, Muncy 34%. I guess it’s okay to strikeout now.
Been ok for a few years. I always complained about Pederson’s K rate.
Good afternoon Old Bear, the turn taken by the comments in this great Blog is interesting. I had previously asked you about the mental strength of the players (especially the very young ones), it was in relation to G Stone and you answered me, correctly, that the LA Dodgers training staff also attended to that aspect of the players.
However, I still think that many players cannot bear the pressure of being in a certain brand like (Dodgers, NYY, Red Sox) where they play daily in stadiums with attendance of 95% of the capacity of the building to play, for example in Tampa in stadiums semi empty where there is not much pressure from the fans.
Perhaps for this and other unknown reasons, they allowed L Raley to feel more comfortable and there he is flourishing as a baseball player, because he had many opportunities here and things didn’t work out for him, good for him.
I hope that the young rookies who are now in the team have, on the one hand, the mental strength and integrity that they are in a great team that not everyone can be, and on the other hand, they also have enough time and opportunities to show themselves. in what they do. I send you a greeting and I would like you to give your opinion on the previous point.
Good point Jose. And I will give you a great example of a player who totally caved to the pressure of New York. Jeff Weaver. Weaver, originally with the Tigers, was one of their better pitchers. But they were a pretty bad team so his record was not all that. Over 3 years with the Tigers, he won 33 games for them. He was traded in 2002 to the Yankees before the deadline on the 5th of July in a three team trade that involved the Yanks, A’s and Tigers. The A’s sent Carlos Pena and Franklyn German to Detroit, The Yankees sent three players, including Ted Lilly to the A’s. The A’s also sent cash and Jeremy Bonderman to the Tigers, and the Yankees got Weaver. He would go 5-3 over the rest of the season and help the Yanks get into the playoffs. But the next season he was 7-9 with an ERA close to six. He just never liked pitching in New York and he got booed a lot. That winter he was traded to the Dodgers with two other players for Kevin Brown. Over an 11 year career, the only team he had a winning record with that he spent more than a year with, was the Dodgers. 38-29 over four years. In 2009, after he returned to the Dodgers for a second stint, he won a playoff game against St Louis in the NLDS. As far as the kids go, every player has their limits. Some players openly show their emotions. That happened to Bobby Miller on Sunday and he ended up losing the game. How he handles that loss will say a lot towards what kind of pitcher he will develop into. Sometimes it takes more than just talent. I think Gavin Stone is learning a valuable lesson. How he deals with the adversity he is facing right now at AAA will also determine if he has the mental makeup to play in the majors. Not every player has the intensity that a guy like Kershaw has. But also remember how low key Koufax was.
Itās less than half a year with Raley. Letās at least wait until the end of the year before we declare him a big fish that got away
The big fish who got away was Yordan Alvarez. But of course Raley is a good player who got away. He was in OKC for a 2-3 years, and always played well but was blocked by Freeman and others. He’s been a vital part of the Rays’ success.
Perhaps Dodson will someday blossom into an ace or shutdown reliever, but he seems to be pretty far down on the depth chart now.
Alvarez once again? He had not even played a single game in the Dodger system. Totally raw, nothing now but a DH, Took him 3 years to make it to the Astros. Missed all of 2020. No talent manager on any team could have seen that he was going to become the hitter he is now. He has played 286 games as the DH. 129 as an outfielder. He was traded before the DH became universal. The Dodgers lost Shane Victorino in a rule 5 draft, got him back, and lost him again in the rule 5. But the biggest fish they ever lost in the rule 5 was Clemente.
The Dodgers paid Yordan Alvarez $2 million in June 2016 just before trading him for Josh Fields. No team invests that kind of money in a player without knowing his talent and thinking highly of him. For comparison, the same month the Dodgers drafted Gavin Lux and Will Smith in the first round and paid both roughly $2 million.
The trade of Alvarez was a mistake by the Dodgers and it doesnāt matter whether he had played a game with the Dodgers. Neither had Lux or Smith and there was no way they would have traded them for Josh Fields.
By the way, the biggest game Fields pitched in was game 2 of the 2017 World Series. He came in for the 10th inning and gave up three hits and 2 HR without getting an out. And the game was in LA so no trash cans.
Friedman has made many great moves but this was a bad trade and including Alvarez was a mistake.
Well you are entitled to your opinion,. but I disagree. They might have thought he had talent, but no way they knew he was going to hit like he has, and he was a man without a position. 2 Mil is nothing. They got three years out of Fields. He pitched in 124 games during the regular season and had a combined ERA over those three years of 2.61. He was 8-2 with 4 saves. And anyone can nit pick the one bad game he had in the post season. Over his seven prior appearances in the post season in 16 and 17. He was unscored on. And he would never have had to pitch the 10th in game 2 if Jansen had done his job. He blew the save. They scored 2 after Fields gave up two, and then McCarthy gave up the game winner.
“The Dodgers paid Yordan Alvarez $2 million in June 2016 just before trading him for Josh Fields. No team invests that kind of money in a player without knowing his talent and thinking highly of him. ”
You are comparing apples to peas. Back then, they paid huge bonuses to Olivera, Yadier Alvarez, Arrrrrr and others. Yordon’s was on the low side. You can have your own opinions but not your own facts and it’s fact that Yordon got a small bonus, compared to the others.
Geeeezzzzz!
one good month for Raley this year
Mark is mistaken again. My facts are correct. The Dodgers paid Alvarez $2 million just like I said.
You may think they just spent that money without any scouting on the player but I disagree.
I am entitled to my opinion that this was a bad trade. Go ahead and disagree but you shouldnāt accuse me of making things up.
I did not accuse you of making up anything. Mark is just saying that in comparison to what they spent on the other guys, 2 mil was chump change. To you it was a bad trade. At the time it was a prudent move. They needed a proven bullpen arm and they traded an untried untested kid to get him. It worked out for them. Fields was as advertised. At the time. It was totally a good baseball trade.
Ok. Thanks for the response Bear. We can agree to disagree.
I will move on to celebrating a nice victory tonight!
I wouldn’t be so quick to assume that Julio Urias and Daniel Hudson will “help the pitching staff immensely” upon their return. They won’t help “immensely” unless Urias pitches like last year (instead of like he’s done so far this year), ..and unless Hudson actually returns to previous form after not pitching for an entire calendar year. And these best-case-scenario’s are far from sure bets.
David Freese. HUH?
I think they should have declined his decline and voted him in anyway. It has nothing to do with what he thinks.
It has a lot to do with him, though.
Actually it does because he weighed the decision for several weeks before deciding to decline. He felt he was not worthy to be in there because of what he did in a single playoff season. And that was what he was being honored for. I admire his ideals.
Got some nosebleed seats for Tuesday’s Dodgers-Angels game in Anaheim.
Rooting for the Dodgers, but also hoping Ohtani launches another HR or two.
How good is Ohtani?
Most of us may know that, at this moment, he is leading the majors in HRs at 24 and OPS at 1.016.
He is also leading all pitchers in batting average against, at .178, and 4th in Ks with 105 in 82 innings.
Ohtaniās going to solo in English any day now. Heās getting full sentences smoothed out & heās funny af. Big deal to fans.
Vlady Sr. never said a word to fans in English. How weird is that ?
The Dodgers continue to assert that Ginsolin is not hurt:
https://www.yardbarker.com/mlb/articles/tony_gonsolin_trying_to_be_too_fine_led_to_poor_execution_against_giants/s1_17075_38933122
Doc -āBut today was probably the first day that I saw that as he (Gonsolin) got up a little bit in the pitch count, the stuff wasnāt as sharp.” Hum……………. he got up in the pitch count and started to lose it. My math has it that he was at 60 pitches after 5 innings. He started to lose it in the 6th after a 10 pitch walk to Estrada, he started gettin shelled. Between 60 and 90 pitches, it was a different guy.
If 60 pitches is your effective ceiling, you are either ailing or need to be in the bullpen or an opener..
Like what is the point of pressing the case that Gonsolin is injured? Secretly hiding an injury?
Good for Luke Raley.
The Dodgers believe the answers to the starting rotation are in the system.
But it’s up to the bullpen to become more forcused and pitch better. Yes, Daniel Hudson should help, but it looks like that will be the focus of Andrew Friedman at the deadline. That could change if the relievers turn it around. But that’s a big IF.
Hopefully, James Outman continues to improve his swing. Not so sure about Vargas. Eventually I think he’ll be good, but honestly I thought he’d be better. But even Mike Trout had a tough first season.
I would have to agree with those saying giving a big contract to Julio Urias might be a mistake. I’d probably move on. Just hasn’t pitched all that well lately.
Maybe the Dodgers need to take a page out of the Atlanta Braves playbook and sign some of their young players to extended contracts. Will Smith would be a case in point. Why wait?
Too early to judge Diego Cartaya.
No question, the LSU pitcher has great stuff.
I really like Ohtani, but will the Dodgers be willing to go in big? They basically didn’t do that with Bryce Harper then turned around and went all in on Mookie Betts. So who knows? But if this season turns out bad, look for a big signing. They will need to create a diversion and a big signing or trade will do that. Just a thought.
Okay, I’m not ready to toss Tony Gonsolin over the rail. He has pretty good stuff and I believe he can adjust. Pitchers can go up, then down and back up during a season.
It’s still June. If it stays like this through July, and the Dodgers are 10 or 12 games back, then you can panic.
All is well until it isn’t.
I hope you’re not suggesting that Vargas is a bright shiny object!
Mike Trout didn’t have a great first season–when he was 19.
I trust we all hope that Outman, Vargas and every other rookie will improve their performances. We pretty much know what to expect from the veterans. Vargas received more hype than Outman, and the Dodger brass clearly expected more from him. I’d say that Vargas performed below lofty expectations while I’d say Outman has pretty much met more modest expectations. Both are very much works in progress.
The rookies who have exceeded expectations are Bobby Miller and Sheehan, with the small sample size acknowledged.
These two sure look like bright shiny objects to me!
NOhtani
Yeah, it would really suck to have a flamethrowing ace who is on pace to hit more than 50 HRs.
Who would want a player like that?
A LOT more on Raley, the subsequent changes he has made and the opportunity he was provided:
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/fueled-by-adjustments-and-opportunity-luke-raley-is-raking-with-the-rays/
Luke Raley’s wisest clip:
“I would say that confidence is a big part of hitting. And you build confidence with opportunity. The more opportunity you getā¦ even if youāre struggling, you can still build confidence by taking good things away from each at-bat. Iāve changed my mindset into thinking that making an out isnāt always negative. You can find a positive in your at-bat and grow from that.ā
Pitchers say a similar thing about giving up hits and not being so binary.
Didn’t work for Joey Gallo.
Wonāt work for everyone.
Nothing in player development works for everyone
Culberson was DFA’D because Murphy might need to go on the IL. He has a hammy issue. Chomp is going to be d’Arnaud’s backup while Murphy is down. Culberson had not played since the 18th of May.
If anyone wants to watch a highlight, check out the one of Elly de la Cruz beating out a ground ball to 1b.
The ground ball was like 100mph off the bat, the 1b dove, stopped it, and ran to 1b….. and de la Cruz beat it. INSANE!!
I went back and watched Sept 12th, 2021. The day Scherzer struck out # 3000. He accomplished that against the Padres. Struck out 10 went into the 8th with a perfect game. Snell left with a hammy injury, and it took the Dodgers a few innings to figure out Crismatt. But they won 8-0. When Koufax threw his perfect game in 65, there was a little over 29,000 fans in attendance. He threw 113 pitches. 79 were strikes. He ended up with 14 K’s and struck Banks out three times. He also as most of us know, struck out the last six hitters. The Dodgers scored their only run on an error, and had one hit. Lowest number of combined hits in any MLB game ever. Only three Dodgers in that lineup were hitting over .270. Wills, Fairly and Gilliam. What a difference 58 years makes.
My Dad had a butcher shop in Glendale. Joe T. From American Provision had four tickets to the Dodger- Cub game that September 9th. Mr. T offered the tickets to Pop and we were off to the game. I kept that ticket stub. My son has possession of it, now. Quite a game. One lousy hit, but Koufax dominated. Bob Henley pitched a pretty good game too.
He says he is the fastest man in the world.
I say watch the Orioles play. They make the game fun to watch and never out of a game. And hey they have a good lineup and a bullpen and in the ninth they have a closer that comes in and closes the game. And they built there team my bringing up guys threw there minor leagues and getting high draft picks to. That’s what turns a team around drafting right player. How the dodgers don’t have a stud shortstop in the minor leagues is embarrassing when they lost seager that next year they should have drafted the shortstop of the future. He would have been here now but they didn’t. Do that. And we get what we get bad baseball playing. We look like a fourth place team now.
Look what position the Orioles have drafted in over the last several years, and then look where the Dodgers draft. Houston sucked until their draft picks started panning out. Considering where the Dodgers have drafted over the last several years, it is amazing that they have as many top 100 prospects as they do. And players like Cruz and the kid in Cincy don’t just grow on trees. I would like to see you do better. Drafting any player is a crapshoot. 90 percent never make it to the big leagues. some times you just hit the jackpot and others you are left with egg on your face. The Dodgers best SS prospect right now is at Rancho, Doncon. Leonard is the SS at AA. Hernandez has been playing SS and 3rd at OKC. Only question on him is his bat. Fans might be panicking, but Freeman isn’t. You get high draft picks when you suck. In MLB you cannot trade draft picks like you can in football and basketball.
The Orioles have been terrible for the better part of a decade, or two. An embarrassment to their city. Which is already an embarrassment.
Yes, they are good this year. They had the first ānew eraā ballpark in the early 90s. They had Cal Ripken. They had Machado. And they did nothing with those players. Made the playoffs a couple times. Over 30 years. Terrible owners. One of the worst.
Dodgers have an epic record. Since McCourt exited. The record isnāt comparable for ANY team in baseball, during the same period. And you canāt argue otherwise.
Donāt bring up the Orioles! Seriously! Itās easy to tank. For year, after year, after yearā¦. And then another couple years!
Swirl down the toilet forever. Rack up draft pick after draft pick. Thenā¦. āWe are good!ā Once a decade, or two.
When Clayton Kershaw wipes his assā¦. You want to know what it says? Orioles. With the correct color.
Sorry Bradley.
I was just saying the Orioles are fun to watch this year. They play ball like your suppose to and have grownup talent. The Dodgers play like either homeruns or strikeout and it’s nite after nite. The Orioles bunt steal hit and run move runners over and field good. There entertaining. Let look at the Giants then a lot of there guys have gone threw the minor league and produce when they get a chance. And then continue to produce. Vargas Outman Busch Miller Shehan are all bright futures for the Dodgers just this year there learning and hope they click soon. Because that’s your future. If the Dodgers didn’t have Freeman and Betts and Smith we would be worst then the Rockies if we didn’t have those guys. They counted on these young guys the dodgers did and there not ready yet. So it’s a rebuilding year. So how will next year look then. Who will be there and who won’t.
I hate to break this to you Bradley, but after checking the Orioles active roster, 4 pitchers, 1 catcher, 2 infielders and 3 of their outfielders are home grown draft choices. The rest of their roster came from other organizations or Latin Leagues. Two of their pitchers are Dodger draftees. Are they fun to watch? yes. When they are winning. They are definitely having what is for them, a great year. But do not expect them to do this year after year. If you check the roster you will see a majority of their pitchers are over 26 and they have several in their 30’s, If the Dodgers didn’t have Freeman Betts, Smith and Martinez, well maybe they would be pretty bad,. But they do have them, and they are not going anywhere.
My point is you build with the farm system look at the Giants every guy that comes up from AAA sticks with the club if another guy isn’t producing. The dodgers they don’t have guys in the minors to replace the guys in majors but the Giants seem to be doing that and um oh there GM uses to be with the Dodgers so your telling me he is better at finding talent then and the GM for the Dodgers isn’t and so he just trades doe guys that’s what the dodgers theory is take from other s then build guys coming up. Giants seem to be doing that but not the Dudgers why is that could it be Friedman and Roberts just don’t have it any more and Fahadi and Kotsy do for the Giants. Oh wait it’s because the Giants drafted higher then the dodgers so we didn’t gwtt good guys they did. If a team faulters the look at the manager and the GM as the problem and they change them. Unless they make a major trade at deadline like get a Trout Rendon and Ohtani to be Dodgers to save there butts this year Roberts and Friedman might be done if they don’t do a trade like that a Wow trade.
If you are talking about Zaidi, he is NOT the GM. He holds the same position with the Giants that Freidman has with the Dodgers. And he, like Freidman, came from another team, the A’s. Not all of their rookies stick. That is a generalization. They have players on the IL just like the Dodgers do who will be back at their positions just as soon as they are healthy. You are way off base and totally wrong in what you are saying. GM’s have very little to do with scouting and signing. They have development and scouting departments. Before players are drafted, they are scouted extensively. Yes, where you draft has a huge impact on the talent you can draft. I have a question for you, what do you think of Bobby Miller? Okay, here is the skinny. Because of Covid, Miller, like many other college and minor leaguers, had a truncated 2020 and no season at all. Miller, because he had pitched so little, fell to the Dodgers in the draft, had he pitched, he would have been drafted much higher. You are trying to simplify something that is very complicated. Most of the Dodgers best prospects are at AA. At AAA you usually keep a mix of your top pitching and position prospects PLUS, players with MLB experience whom you can call up in an emergency. You have zero clue why they do what they do. You just think snap your fingers and make a trade or sign the best kid out there. It doesn’t work that way. And the team has been the best in the majors for the last decade. You cannot win every year.
My dear friend Bradley, change your hobbies and predilections to the teams you admire so much, but do not expect that the LA Dodgers board of directors or the members of this blog support the line of play of those teams from your home chair, I repeat, you admire.
Ohtani currently leads the Angels in
Batting Average (.300)
Home Runs (24)
RBI (58)
Stolen Bases (10)
Runs (49)
OBP (.384)
SLG (.632)
Hits (83)
Innings Pitched (82)
ERA (3.29)
Wins (6)
SO (105)
WHIP (1.05)
Opponents Batting Average (.178)
AF has said that the Dodgers will most likely be targeting pitching at the deadline.
They need contestant hitters a good backup catcher a better fielding third baseman an everyday Leftfielder like Betts and Freeman everyday players. And pitching relievers they seem to have starters from what you all say down in the minors. So where is all that going to come from trades free agents and talent threw the minor leagues if there ready. The Dodgers want to win now not four years from now but yes every year.
Freidman disagrees with you and he is the one making the decisions.
I may get stoned for saying this but does anybody think our minor league talent might be overrated a bit? Maybe we think and want these guys to be better than they are or will become.
It seems like daily here guys are talking about this and that player in the minors, and as far as I can see, Outman had one good month and has dropped considerablyā¦.Vargas had one good month and has dropped considerablyā¦..Miller is the only pitcher who has succeeded but letās wait a bit to see if the league gets data on him to expose his weaknesses and tendencies. He got bombed his last outing and Iām curious to see if he can rebound. Grove and Stone look less than mediocre and no one has risen to take over in the bullpen. Of course we brought up May and Gonsolin, but those guys are always injured, so I canāt feel good about that.
And is Outman the only OF weāve had brought in the past 5 years? How could we not have a bevy of those guys? It seems every year we have to fill our OF with 30+ guys from other teams. Lastly, it seems we have 3 guys who will be sure a thing playing catcherā¦Cartaya was the big name last year, but heās dropped off the face of the planet too. Anybody ever a sure thing down there?
Okay, let me have it.
Agree TM. Especially with the positional players so far. But as a wise sage once said, āprogress isnāt linearā. So I think we have to play it out this year and see where Outman, Vargas, Busch and al perform beginning of next year. I still have hope.
TM – Isn’t this what we need to find out? Let’s see who in our highly rated minor league system who can play MLB and who can’t. We reset the luxury tax, get out from under Bauer’s dead money, assess our talent and use the off season to spend the $ that’s come off the books. You won’t get stoned by me. Prospects are just that. Sometimes you get the peanuts and sometime you get the shells.
Iām patient, but just look at our situational players for now ā¦.
Freddieā¦.traded vet
Vargasā¦..struggling rookie, future unknown
Rojasā¦..traded vet
Muncyā¦..traded vet
Bettsā¦.traded vet
Outmanā¦..struggling rookie, future unknown
Perraltaā¦traded vet
Smithā¦.brought up from minors and successful
Conclusion: 1 of 8 has made itā¦.2 iffy but possible
I think Muncy was signed, not traded for?
And out the door are players including:
Codyā¦.brought up from minors and successful
JT—-signed vet
Darvish…traded vet (traded with prospects)
Seagerā¦.brought up from minors and successful
Ruizā¦.brought up from minors and successful
Pedersonā¦.brought up from minors and successful
Scherzer…traded vet (traded with prospects)
Hernandez….traded vet
Raleyā¦.brought up from minors and successful
Calhounā¦.brought up from minors and successful
Conclusion: lots have made it and have been successful, others have been used (successfully) as trade chips.
Ruiz had too short of a history as a major leaguer with the Dodgers to be considered successful. He was at AAA when he was traded. Calhoun and Raley did not see much success as Dodgers.
What does it matter if they were successful as Dodgers?
Neither has exactly achieved a high level of success in the majors so far. Ruiz so far is a career .249 hitter with 19 bombs and an OPS+ below 100. Willie Calhoun is a .240 hitter for his career with 37 bombs and a OPS+ lower than Ruiz. And he is a negative WAR player. I would not take him over any of the outfielders the Dodgers now have. Ruiz would be Smith’s caddy and nothing more. Better than Barnes at this point though.
Revamp your list, Peralta and Muncy were signed as free agents so was Freeman. None of them were traded to the Dodgers. Muncy was working and had been out of the A’s organization for a while. Peralta was a free agent after being let go by the Rays. Braves signed Olson and let Freddie walk. How quickly one forgets.
No need to let you have it TM. Prospects are suspects until they make it. The Dodgers have had plenty of young outfield prospects, but none of them could dislodge the players they already had on the team. DJ Peters, Thomas, Reks, Raley, Matt Beaty played infield and outfield. He is in KC now. McKinstry is playing the outfield for Detroit. But you can look back over time and there are so many who were supposed to be all that, and never were. Billy Ashley, hit a ton of homers at AAA and about 8 at the big-league level. Karim Garcia. That guy was supposed to be a great hitter. He was…at AAA. The difference between AAA and the majors is huge. As for Miller, he is going to be fine. He got flustered and made a bad pitch and it cost him 3 runs. I can’t wait to see Sheehan pitch again. His stuff is electric.
Great line Obi- Wanā¦..āprospects are suspects until they make it.ā
Now thatās wisdom , 48.
It is what I have always believed. I saw guys like Garcia, Gonzalez, Ashley and many others who tore up AAA and bombed at the MLB level.
Having 12 teams now doesnāt make it a crapshoot it just makes it tougher and takes more talent along with other championship intangibles. To call it luck like a roulette wheel in Vegas takes all the purpose out of it. To pretend itās a crapshoot is a excuse for losing and thatās delusional
You’ll be ok
The Phillies last year were not the most talented team in the NL
Wild cards often win the World Series so timing is probably the biggest factor. Which makes it a crapshoot.
Welcome back Michael. I guess that was a temporary 86. And here I was thinking that I had crossed over to a state of lucidity these past couple of months.
No it is not, crap shoot is exactly what it is. It is also getting hot at just the right moment. Braves were not the most talented team in 21. If it is all about talent, how come so many wild card teams have won in the last decade or so? No, it is more about being hot or on a roll. Phillies were hot. Just not hot enough to beat a more talented team that happened to get past the opposition.
You must be a charter member of the flat-earth society.
Glass half full—-Plenty of games left to play.
Glass half empty—We have overtaken (undertaken?) SF. SD is next
The Athletic surveyed 96 players and asked them who they thought Ohtani would sign with.
Results:
Dodgers – 57%
Angels – 11%
Padres – 7%
Mets – 7%
Yankees – 6%
Unless they asked Ohtani’s best friend on the Angels, this survey probably isn’t any more accurate than if Mark ran a survey here and asked us.
Oh, I think it is decidedly more accurate than a survey here.
We know nothing, players knows something.
The players also predicted that the sun will rise in the east 78% in the North 13% South 5% and West 3% receiving votes. 1% predicted the sun will never rise again Those votes are believed to have come from the Oakland Aās players
Credit to Larry V
Yes, the players should have some insight.
But right now something strange is happening that can alter Ohtani’s attitude: The Angels are kicking some serious butt while the Dodgers are June-swooning. The Angels have moved into 2nd place ahead of the Trashtros–and they did it with only modest contributions from Mike Trout, who just had the worst monthsof his career. Ohtani has been spectacular, of course, and guys like Mickey Moniak and Brandon Drury have also come up big.
Just about every player wants to be with a winner. Some might just take the biggest paycheck, but my guess is that Ohtani wants to be with a team that will always be in the championship hunt. The Dodgers, I think, still have the advantage, but if Ohtani leads the Angels to glory his sense of loyalty figures to be stronger.
Loyalty?
Like Tommy Kanhle with the Dodgers? after they fixed it and paid him a lot of money for doing nothing, and he signs with the Yankees.
I think AF was looking for a chance to sneak in a rebuilding year and made the decision once Lux went down in addition to Buehler (and health concerns for May and Gonsolin). AF is giving the rookies a runway this year to see what needs to be done for next year. One of the commenters mentioned a new young rotation next year and that could come from the tryouts this year. I hope for the best but will just watch we see if any of our young players help us get ready for next year. I do hate to waste a season of aging stars like Mookie and Freddie. I know this sounds pessimistic, but we had 10 great years in a row, and I think we will come back next year.
I think he felt the team was good enough to make playoffs and then see what we need at deadline to fill in the pieces. So maybe that was the ‘plan’. But as Mike Tysen once said, ‘they all had a plan until I punched them in the face’. So we have been ‘punched in the face’ with bullpen collapse +injuries. So we wait to see what new plan is. I don’t think we will see a wholesale dumping of players like other teams do.
For all our moaning and groaning, Vegas still has us as 2nd and/or 3rd to win WS. And Mookie is 3rd in MVP race. Just sayin. We know nothing, Vegas knows something.
All that means is thatās the way the betting is going. Thereās a lot of dodger fans out there betting with their hearts.
Vegas is often very wrong.
Well they donāt build those big beautiful hotels because theyāre wrong very often
Better check that Cassidy. Those were mostly built by people who were billionaires to begin with or big corporations. The day of the small time casino owner is long gone. And Vegas was started by the mob. Oddsmakers are very wrong a lot of the time, especially when it comes to the odds of some event happening. Dodgers were the odds on favorite last year. What happened to that.
Vegas. makes money off the vig, just like all sports betting they set an initial line, and then it changes with how the money goes. Vegas. never loses
Very true Nonic. But the bettors often do
What does it matter if the owner is “small-time” or “big-time”? Oh, I get it. The CapEx. Yes, that makes sense. Alot of sense. Especially with commercial real estate’s current situation.
What matters is that outside of Trump, most people who own casinos make a shit-ton of money. And I think most of Trump’s issues just came from debt and debt payments.
As to whether Vegas favorites end up winning? It’s definitely true for college football and I’d bet (PUN) across the board for more sports than not.
https://www.theonlycolors.com/2020/9/29/21492301/vegas-always-knows-a-mathematical-deep-dive
Also true for NFL:
According to Bet Labs, NFL moneyline favorites that were -115 or lower posted a record of 175-88-2 during the 2022 regular season. That’s a win percentage of 66.5%.
And the NBA:
How often do moneyline favorites win in NBA? Over the past five seasons, 67.25% of favorites have been successful in the NBA regular season.
Home favorites have a slightly higher success rate than those on the road, with 69% of home favorites winning compared to 64.4% of those on the road.
The 2021-22 season was the closest it had been over the last five seasons will hardly anything splitting them, 67.71% of home favs won, and 67.75% of those on the road won.
Professional sports bettors rarely sustain a long-term winning percentage higher than 55 percent, and it’s often as low as 53 or 54 percent. If someone tells you they win 70 percent of their picks (at 11-to-win-10), you are talking to either a liar or a bad record-keeper.
Very true. I once played a lot of poker. Mostly for fun but I took it really seriously at one time. Once I got pretty good I realized the game is dead boring. Playing it correctly really isnāt fun at all, IMHO. You have to really grind it out with a barely above 50% win rate and overcome the ups and downs. Iāve never bet on sports. But Iām assuming itās the same. Anybody who says they win big all the time are just leaving out how often they lose big. And are flat out lying if they say they are making money over all.
Known a couple grinders who approached poker more/less like a 9-5 gig. They were āprosā making
āā¦about $40-50 avg/hr. ..ā. Some small wins, plenty small losses.
How they survived Reno with all the bad lights, smoke & pink chicken is beyond me. Lifers. Married with kids. Go figure.
I thought online was cool for a few years but, knew it was tilted to the house 24/7. Bots playing 10-12 tables simultaneously . Weird times..
I thought Vegas makes most of their money from Slots
They historically have. But sports betting has been increasingly more of their revenue. Especially football. But like slots, they only make a 2-3% margin on all the bets placed.
Sports betting is almost up to $300 billion a year now.
So what is our collective LADT winning percentage? Who had the Phillies winning NL last year?
A lot of people seem to think our minor league talent isnāt as deep as advertised. I donāt agree. Sure, the rookies that weāve utilized to plug holes in the roster have been inconsistent. But rookies are almost always inconsistent. Sure, you can find examples of players who came up and found instant success. But thatās is actually rare. Most were generational level talents. Many of the best players in the game today struggled for their first 200-500 ABs before they found consistency. Many top prospects get those ABs and it became obvious that they werenāt going to stick in the show. Thatās the process. As Mark has said 1000 times, progress isnāt linear. And the only way to know what you got is to let kids get playing time and see how they perform. Some simply donāt have the ability. Others canāt handle the pressure and spotlight. There is no easy answer. You make a plan, and see how it works out. If it doesnāt, make adjustments and give other young guys a shot.
Again, we can complain about Outmans strikeouts or that Vargas hasnāt been able to get hot for any significant number of ABs in a row. But the FACT is we are scoring more runs per game than we did last year! We are actually scorning more runs per game so far this year than we did in 2021 and 2022! And that is after losing Seager and Trea Turner. Our offense isnāt the problem. So just stop with all that.
Our problem is our beat up rotation and complete train wreck of a bullpen. Our bullpen has most of the same arms that were one of the best pens in baseball last year. Donāt tell me anybody saw that coming. This is why spending big money on relievers is so risky. Josh Hader had been light out this year. 18 saves and an ERA of 1.2. But letās not forget after he was traded to the Padres last year he had an ERA over 7.00! Reliefs pitchers are notoriously inconsistent. Lights out for half the season, dog s**t the second. Likewise, our guys with ERAs that are hovering around low earth orbit right now, could become lock down machines with almost a blink of an eye. Thatās the human factor.
The Mets have a payroll that is over $200m more than the Dodgers. Theyāre 4 games under .500 and 13 games out off first. Their team ERA is almost exactly the same as the Dodgers. But we arenāt paying Scherzer and Verlander $85M!
The Dodgers need to fix the bullpen. And get our starters (who arenāt out for the season or named Syndergaard) healthy and back on the field. I donāt know what the answer is in the bullpen. Itās very strange how so many of our best arms from 2022 are completely garbage in 2023. There is something going on. That said, for some years now Mark Prior had been the best pitching coach in baseball. If anybody can figure it out, it will be him. But we do need to figure it out. And make some moves at the deadline.
And yes, the modern playoff structure is a crapshoot. Having the best talent isnāt a guarantee of anything. And spending dope fiend level money is no guarantee either. Ask the Mets and Rays.
Dodgers are having a very tough stretch. We did early in the season also. Then went on a huge run. Iām sure we will do that again. And probably have a couple rough stretches again this season. Thatās baseball. But we have the talent, on the MLB roster and the minors. Things just need to come together. Hopefully before we drop many more games out of first.
Please pull Bradley aside and explain that to him so he will understand.
Iām sure heās too busy watching Oriole games. Seeing how he wishes the Dodgers would copy their franchise plans.
Watching the Orioles this season is like watching a transient eating an In N Out burger. You go āman, I wish I was him right nowā. But ya really donāt.
Exactly. And I do not like In N Out. I much prefer Carls Jr.
Blasphemy
Nope matter of choice there porpoise. I like char broiled burgers. In N Out is the same old packaged crap you get at any fast food burger joint. Carl’s Jr.s burgers are fresh and taste better than anything coming off of plain old stove. There are no In N Outs in Colorado anyway.
Wait.
What!?!?!!?!?!?!
That is Blasphemy!
To a level that the Dodgers just might give you an award for it.
Sorry, I just dislike their burgers. I don’t eat McDonalds anymore either.
Their beef is delivered fresh everyday. It’s not that everybody else’s stuff. They cut their fries right in front of you
Sorry guys, I just do not like their food. My choice.. I would rather eat a Whataburger than In N Out.
One thing that is really dumb is saying “____________player was not ready.” Let me give you an example. Some have said that Miguel Vargas was not ready. That is simply an uninformed opinion. As Miguel moved from A to A to AA to AAA, he always struggled for a while as he went up each level (as many players do). He has struggled longer here in the Show, but if you send him back to AAA, is he going to learn to hit MLB pitching? No – you only learn that in MLB. Sometimes guys go down, but it delays their development.
To be the best, you have to play with the best. I became a “World Class” Ping-Pong player by playing players who routinely beat the crap out of me… until they didn’t. Some players (Luke Raley) need years to adjust, but generally, progress from one level to the next takes some time. I expect Vargas to keep progressing and to a lessor extent, Outman.
Outman has some major holes in his swing that he is trying to fix. Vargas is fundamentally sound, but may be lacking confidence. Both can improve THIS year and if the do, the offense will be dramatically better than last year. Right now. Betts, Freeman, Muncy, Smith, Martinez, and Peralta range from very solid to superstar level.
The pitching is the problem and some of it will fix itself. May will be back or he won’t. Urias will be back and he has a lot of reasons to be great. Nelson may be back, Feyereisen should be, Hudson will be. Maybe Buehler and Pepiot or maybe a trade.
One thing many of you are missing is that the Dodgers are still in a great position going forward.
Maybe this will prove to be a down year, time will tell, but with large sums coming off the books., allowing AF to flex his financial muscle next Off Season, added to the important MLB experience that these current Rookies are getting (and the Top Brass getting a look at what theyāre got), with further depth to dig into if Trades are required to bolster things further – I think we are probably the envy of most GMs out there!
My Post from a couple of weeks back posing the question of a possible sell off at the TD doesnāt look so far fetched now.
Urias, Kershaw, JDM and Muncy would bring back a haul that would only further strengthen our position.
To reiterate – Iām really enjoying watching the youngsters play and grow, and we are about where I thought we would be.
The DāBacks are not a surprise – they were very good the second half of last season and have a youth and hunger about them, and have embraced the new rules as well as anyone. This season was always going to be more challenging. The injuries to May and Urias and obviously Lux have really derailed things.
However there is the potential to me that this could really be an opportunity to set ourselves for the next period of dominance. Some shrewd moves by AF now could really pay long term rewards.
I agree in principle, but you see how the fans are batshit crazy right about now? They would burn Dodger Stadium to the ground if the Dodgers were sellers, to say nothing of the fact that attendance would tank.
Friedman has been to the playoffs every year, and then fans are spoiled rotten. They will demand his head if the Dodgers are sellers.
Dodger fans are totally irrational to the point of thinking the playoffs are not a crapshoot.
That’s right, and I am Betty Crocker!
The Dodgers will be in the playoffs again THIS YEAR!
PRINT THE TICKETS!
Off season they need a shortstop that can hit. Move Lux back to second base platoon Vargas and Muncy at third if they don’t trade Muncy and get a Leftfielder free agent and probable two legit starters to go with buehler May and Gosling that’s next year’s forecast can’t go with Vargas at second base Lux hitting an fielding way better at second base.
Nah. Iād trade for Mike Trout and convert him to a SS. That way, Mookie can move to first and Freddie Freeman can convert to a starting pitcher. And we can trade Lux and Syndiguard for Ronald Acuna. Does Dave Roberts know voodoo? Because we should really consider teaching him that.
Sorry Bradley. I donāt agree with your analysis on this one.
That or
Oy Vey!
Rosario from Cleveland will be a free agent that would be a great pickup for shortstop then Lux can go back to second. Muncy and Vargas third base you could get something for Muncy or make him the DH but what about JD Martinez he’s been good at DH. So if you keep Muncy and Vargas you play Muncy or what could you get for the both of them maybe Chapman from the bluejays he would be a younger guy good hitter and fields good. Now, you have a infield of Chapman 3b Rosorio ss Lux 2b Freeman 1b and Smith at catcher pretty good right.
Not bad, But Rosario right now has a negative WAR and is not hitting all that great. Me I move Mookie to short permanently. He would love it, move Lux back to second. Then figure out what you want to do at third.
āDodgers have signed outfielder David Dahl to a minor league contract. He has joined OKC and is in tonight’s lineup.
Was with Padres/Triple-A El Paso this season until he was DFA 2 weeks ago.
Career .271/.317/.463 hitter over 331 games in the Majors.ā
Wil Myers DFA’D by the Reds.
Another LH Hitter! ARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH
OK, so if Vargas “always struggled” when he moved to the next level, then why was he moved to the majors during the stretch run? Why was he on the playoff roster after hitting so poorly? For all his vaunted bat-to-ball skills, Doc didn’t ask him to pinch hit for Belli in a key situation. He called on Barnes–and it was the right move!
Seems that you’ve just made an excellent argument for why AF should have traded for a proven major leaguer. The Padres did just that, getting Brandon Drury in a career-year for prospects. Did AF try to get Drury? Was he simply outbid? I don’t know. But I do know he decided to trust the unproven rookie–while Drury helped the Pads end the season of a 111-win team. (And Drury is now playing well for the Angels.)
Several teams made moves that helped them down the stretch. The Dodgers got Chris Martin for McKinstry–but the Gallo-for-Beeter deal didn’t work out. Meanwhile, the Pads, Phils and Yankees all upgraded their rosters. In addition to the Drury, the Pads added Josh Hader. The Phils added Brandon Marsh and Syndergaard, who was a lot better last year than this one. The Yankees added Harrison Bader. But the mastermind of the 111-win team ended up with a remarkably weak bench.
It seems like in nearly every post; you point out that the President/GM with the best record in baseball over the past 10 years has made so many errors and is soo ohorrid, and you are so smart because you point them out so eloquently. Does that make you feel successful or important? “I I were President of the Dodgers they would be so much better than this!”
OK, I’m on board. Fire Friedman – hire Duke!
I give up…
Dodgers optioned Hudson back to AAA and purchased the contract of RHP Ryan Brasier. To make room on the 40 man, Andre Jackson DFAed, per Bill Plunkett.
Sad, but maybe it’s best he goes somewhere else and maybe he can tap his talent there.
And you defend AF even when he screws up.
Or were you happy with the playoff bench of Barnes, Vargas and Gallo?
The plain fact is that AF got outplayed by his peers Preller and Dombrowski down the stretch. I don’t see how you can argue otherwise. They made the right moves and AF didn’t. The 111-win team went into the playoffs with probably the weakest bench. And you made an excellent (though inadvertent) argument as to why Vargas shouldn’t have been called up–because, you say, he always struggled when he moved to the next level.
So if not AF, whom do you hold responsible?
BTW, I thought it was weak of AF to say the “hot” team wins the playoffs, as if it just a matter of luck as opposed to personnel. AF surely knows that Branch Rickey said that “luck is the residue of design.”
Writing that does not make it true.
Most of it.
The players play. The bench is there but the starting lineup failed.
Barnes had 3 AB’s and got 2 Hits!
Gallo and Vargas had no AB’s.
It was 4 games. The bench made no different. That’s just a not-well-thought-out smokescreen!
Houston Mitchell has a great Newsletter today:
On May 19, the Dodgers defeated the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-0. Tony Gonsolin pitched five innings of one-hit ball. Four relievers combined to hold the Cardinals to one hit over the final four innings. It appeared the Dodgers were on their way to another 100-victory season. They were 29-17 and increased their NL West lead to a season-high 3 1/2 games.
Here are the NL West standings since that game:
Arizona, 19-9
San Francisco, 19-9
San Diego, 15-12
Dodgers, 10-16
Colorado, 10-20
Overall, the Dodgers are now in third place in the NL West, 4 1/2 games behind Arizona and a game behind the Giants. They are on pace to win 88 games. If the season had ended Monday, they would have made the playoffs as the final wild-card team, but are only one game ahead of Philadelphia for that āhonor.ā
On Friday, they pulled Emmet Sheehan, making his first major league start, after six no-hit innings while leading 4-0. Stop me if youāve heard this before, but the bullpen blew it, and the Dodgers lost 7-5 in 11 innings.
On Saturday, Bobby Miller returned to earth as they lost to the Giants, 15-0, at home, the Dodgersā worst home shutout loss in, let me check my notes … history.
On Sunday, Gonsolin just didnāt have it, giving up all seven runs in a 7-3 loss, meaning the Dodgers were outscored 29-8 in the three games. To the Giants of all teams.
How did we get here?
Until this weekend, the offense has been chugging along, third in the majors at 5.44 runs per game. Despite a relatively low overall batting average, the Dodgers lead the majors in walks and are third in home runs. But with the pitching as bad as it has been, they canāt afford to go into any extended slumps. They have four guys on offense that you could argue deserve to start the All-Star game ā Will Smith, Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez. So, though there are games where the offense has failed to come through, you canāt pin this skid on the hitters.
The problem has been pitching. The Dodgers have one of the worst pitching staffs in the majors. Among the 30 teams (weāll list the leader, where all the NL West teams rank, and the worst team. all numbers through Sunday):
Overall ERA
1. Houston, 3.33
4. San Diego, 3.75
8. San Francisco, 3.85
21. Arizona, 4.46
25. Dodgers, 4.66
29. Colorado, 5.45
30. Oakland, 6.05
Rotation ERA
1. Tampa Bay, 3.11
6. San Francisco, 3.92
11. San Diego, 4.11
16. Dodgers, 4.38
22. Arizona, 4.72
29. Colorado, 6.29
30. Oakland, 6.47
Bullpen ERA
1. New York Yankees, 2.96
3. San Diego, 3.21
11. San Francisco, 3.77
17. Arizona 4.10
25. Colorado, 4.54
29. Dodgers, 5.04
30. Oakland, 5.58
So, though the Dodgers rotation hasnāt been as good as usual, it doesnāt have the lionās share of the responsibility for the slump. That belongs to the bullpen, which has been horrible. It has gotten to the point where the only two relievers I donāt get nervous about are Evan Phillips and Brusdar Graterol (unless they hit the ball back to him).
And this is how the Dodgersā empire has crumbled. Every season Andrew Friedman would bring in arms coming off injury or subpar years, and every season those pitchers would perform miracles. And then the Dodgers usually would discard those guys after the season, and they would soon be out of baseball. Remember Joe Blanton? Brandon Morrow? Jake McGee? Blake Treinen (currently on the IL with the Dodgers)? Corey Knebel? Chris Martin? Craig Kimbrel? OK, just kidding on that last one. There are more who could be named, but weāll stop there.
Every year in this newsletter I would start the season by saying this strategy was going to backfire. And in 2021 I stopped, because after five to six years of success, I figured the Dodgers had a magic formula. The magic has run out this season.
Before this season they brought in Tayler Scott, who was just designated for assignment. Shelby Miller, who has done well but not dominant (18 walks in 30 innings). Wander Suero, who had an 8.10 ERA in four games. Jordan Yamamoto, who retired during spring training. Matt Andriese, who is still in the minors as a starter. Dylan Covey, released after one game and now with Philadelphia. Tyler Cyr, on the 60-day IL. Rubby de la Rosa, who was released in April. Alex Reyes, who they hoped would be healthy for the second half of the season after having shoulder surgery. Unfortunately he has to have another surgery on the same shoulder and wonāt pitch this season. Maybe he can compare notes with Danny Duffy. William Cuevas, who has a 6.14 ERA in the minors. J.P. Feyereisen, another guy coming off surgery they hope can contribute in the second half of the season.
None of these guys has turned into the dominant reliever the Dodgers usually get in these situations. Only Miller has been useful.
So, the Dodgers have had to rely on the same cast of characters as last season. And for whatever reason, they have been horrible. Letās look at last seasonās numbers vs. this season:
Evan Phillips
2023: 2.28 ERA, .158 opp. batting average
2022: 1.14 ERA, .155
Brusdar Graterol
2023: 2.40 ERA, .288
2022: 3.26 ERA, .215
Yency Almonte
2023: 6.30 ERA, .259
2022: 1.02 ERA, .150
Phil Bickford
2023: 7.33 ERA, .278
2022: 4.72 ERA, .233
Alex Vesia
2023: 8.00 ERA, .395
2022: 2.15 ERA, .187
Andre Jackson
2023: 6.62 ERA, .289
2022: 1.86 ERA, .243
Justin Bruihl
2023: 4.41 ERA, .286
2022: 3.80 ERA, .253
Caleb Ferguson
2023: 3.46 ERA, .240
2022: 1.82 ERA, .187
What are the odds that every pitcher would get worse in both categories? The lone exception is Graterol, who is better in ERA but much worse in opponent batting average, so his better ERA is a bit of a mirage.
So the Dodger empire was built on a foundation of sand, and all the rain during the winter has washed it all away.
Thereās no easy fix. Itās easy to say āget a closer and assign roles to everyone.ā But thatās not why every reliever is worse this season. And this poor play has increased the burden on Dave Roberts to make the right call out of the bullpen each game, which has never been his strong suit. Itās easy to say in retrospect that he should have let Sheehan pitch one more inning Saturday, but that still would have left two innings for this woeful bullpen to cover. Yes, I would have left him in. Roberts canāt bring in Phillips and Graterol every game. He has to trot out one of the other guys occasionally, then sit back in the dugout and hope for the best. This is basically the same bullpen that was the best in the majors last season.
Those calling for the firing of Roberts and Friedman are living in Fantasyland. Itās not happening. Roberts isnāt a good postseason manager, but he has the best regular-season winning percentage of any manager in history. Friedman builds a roster that makes the playoffs every year. They arenāt going anywhere right now.
The Dodgers could trade for a reliever, but would that really help? That might give them three reliable relievers, when they need five or six. Do you really want to raid the depth in the minors for a reliever? With the expanded playoffs, more teams have a chance to make the postseason, meaning fewer teams that want to trade a reliable reliever. And if they do want to trade one, they are going to demand a high price from L.A. Joe Kellyās name has been banded about. He has a 4.57 ERA with the White Sox. Iām pretty sure he wonāt solve the problems. Kenley Jansen? He has a 5.25 ERA since May 12, giving up 11 hits and nine walks in 12 innings.
Colleague Jack Harris, our Dodgers beat writer, covered similar territory in a fine story Monday. He asked Friedman and pitching coach Mark Prior what can be done. Their answersā
āWe still have faith in a lot of these guys, their ability to get outs,ā Prior said.
Added Friedman: āIām confident that as we go guy by guy, that thereās very compelling upside stories, that when we look back a month from now it will be very different.ā
The one thing that would be nice to see? Some emotion. There isnāt any on this team. There hasnāt been for years. Doing āmake way for the trainā arm pump after every hit is not showing emotion. How about getting mad occasionally when a call doesnāt go your way? How about showing the fans that you care about winning just as much as they do?
The reason people loved Yasiel Puig, even with all the baggage, was because he wore his emotions on his sleeve. You donāt need, or really want, 26 guys like that, but one or two would be nice. Right now it seems the Dodgers are a bunch of librarians. Letās keep the noise down everyone, people are trying to read. Itās like watching a simulation of a team play. You feel good when they win, but your heart really isnāt in it. Most Dodger fans grew up with Tommy Lasorda getting thrown out of games a couple of times a year. Reggie Smith challenging an opposing player to a fight under the stands. The bullpen charging into the stands when a fan stole the cap off of a playerās head. Not that those are all wonderful things, but at least you knew they cared. Iām sure this team does care. Show it. Right now itās āExcuse me, Mr. Umpire, sorry to bother, but I believe that last pitch may have been a strike. Of course, you have the better view, so I may be wrong.ā
Now, some of you out there have already cashed in your chips for this season. Itās certainly not unsalvageable yet. It seems unlikely every reliever will turn things around, but you have to figure one or two will. The offense is good enough to carry the team if it can get just average help from the pitching. The Dodgers are still in postseason position. So, no, not throwing in the towel.
But if things donāt get fixed soon, weāll know that light at the end of the tunnel isnāt the postseason, but a train headed this way.
One more thing to check before we go. What was the Dodgersā record after 72 games since their postseason streak began in 2013?
2013: 30-42 (90-72 final record)
2014: 38-34 (94-68)
2015: 39-33 (92-70)
2016: 39-33 (91-71)
2017: 46-26 (104-58)
2018: 38-34 (92-71)
2019: 48-24 (106-56)
2020: COVID shortened season
2021: 44-28 (106-56)
2022: 45-27 (111-51)
2023: 39-33 (?)
Thatās a pretty good analysis.
Change of subjectā¦..
Anybody besides me get excited to see Giants comeback win over the Pads last night? I know many here see Giants as #1 enemy, but not me. Pads easily win that honor for me in the West. They have players I like to root against much moreā¦.Machado, Soto, Tatis. There really isnāt a Giant player that gets me excited in a bad way.
I was surprised SD didnāt roll out Hader in the 9th inning up 4-2. I know he pitched the day before, but he only threw 12 pitches. I was looking to see if he is injured or some other excuse, but couldnāt find one.
And to see Arizona kill Brewers 9-1 in Milwaukee ā¦..could they really be for real? Hmmm
I actually am with you. There are so many players on the Pads I dislike, plus they are all hot dogs. Only Giant I really cannot stand is Crawford.
10:07 PM ET
Dodgers (39-33)
Angels (41-33)
SP Clayton Kershaw L
8-4 2.95 ERA
SP Reid Detmers L
1-5 4.48 ERA
Confirmed Lineup
RF Mookie Betts R
1B F. Freeman L
C Will Smith R
DH J. Martinez R
2B M. Vargas R
LF Jonny DeLuca R
CF James Outman L
SS Miguel Rojas R
3B M. Busch L
Clear-day
0%
70Ā° Wind 7 mph Out
4 Rookies. I like it!
Four rookies in the lineup!
Fingers crossed….
Andre Jackson DFA’d.
DODGERS SELECT RYAN BRASIER
LOS ANGELES ā The Los Angeles Dodgers selected the contract of right-handed pitcher Ryan Brasier and optioned left-handed pitcher Bryan Hudson to Triple-A. In order to make room on the 40-man roster, the Dodgers designated right-handed pitcher Andre Jackson for assignment.
Brasier, 35, joins the Dodgers after signing a minor league contract on June 4. He made two appearances with the Oklahoma City Dodgers, tossing three scoreless innings with five strikeouts. Prior to joining the Dodgers, he made 20 appearances with the Boston Red Sox, going 1-0 with a 7.29 ERA (17 ER/21.0 IP) and 18 strikeouts. He has been in the Major Leagues parts of seven seasons with Los Angeles-AL (2013) and Boston (2018-23) and he is combined 7-8 with a 4.45 ERA (108 ER/218.1 IP) and 218 strikeouts in 229 games. He was originally drafted by the Los Angeles Angels in the sixth round of the 2007 First Year Player Draft out of Weatherford College.
Hudson, 26, made his Major League debut on Saturday night, allowing three runs on four hits in 2.0 innings against the San Francisco Giants. He is 4-0 with a 2.17 ERA (7 ER/29.0 IP) and 51 strikeouts in 25 games for Oklahoma City this season. He is a combined 36-27 with a 4.24 ERA (229 ER/486.0 IP) and 419 strikeouts in 175 career minor league games (72 starts). He was drafted by the Cubs in the third round of the 2015 First Year Player Draft out of Alton High School (IL).
Amidst the losing and injuries(?), AF lets 4 rookies audition for more playing time. This is fun!
Brasier is no rookie. I would think you are talking about the other guys. Right now there are 5 rookies on the roster, Busch, Vargas, Outman, Sheehan and Miller.
You can say that again lol
wonder how that happened, Fixed it.
You missed DeLuca who is also starting tonight.
4 of the 9 position players are rookies.
THIS
My son will be at the game tonight. I couldnāt go. I have to be up at 4:30 am tomorrow.
Letās hope this is where they start turning it around.
Vargas slightly opening his batting stance.
I hope I wake up tomorrow seeing a victory but can I be honest hereā¦I would be shocked if we do. But hope is a powerful force.
I was in an area today and my car radio could only pickup the bay area stations. The Giant fans and sports radio host actually think the Giants are the third best team in baseball this year. How that happen. I know yasekrimski and Crawford and Pederson they went over there lineup and bullpen and were like dodgers nope were better then Rockies were better Diamondbacks we are better then them and the Padres we see we can play with them this year and not scared. They looked at the west division and go oh yea were third best team in majors. Um there’s a team in Tampa pretty good Orioles came in and sweeped the Giants at home then Brewers at pretty good I just can’t stand bay area sports talks it’s all Giants world series niners Superbowl and warriors oh yeah they will be back um don’t they play in the same league as Denver it’s like they forget that there’s other teams to talk about. Wait they never talked about the Sharks today. See when they win there terrible the next day drives me nuts.
Detmers has way too good of stuff to have the era that he has. Outside of Trout and Ohtani that is a very weak Angel lineup. Canāt believe Ohtani would want to stay in Anaheim.
Beg to differ. The Angels are more than Ohtani and Trout.
Drury and Renfro are solidly on pace for 25 HR seasons. Taylor Ward on pace for 20 HRs. Gio Urshela is hitting .299, but with little power.
The Angels lost catchers Logan O’Hoppe and Max Stassi to injury–but Chad Wallach and Matt Thaiss have been strong replacements. (Chad has an .805 OPS with 6 HRs in 83 ABs.)
Unfortunately rookie Zach Neto has been injured–but he’s hit to a .769 OPS. Mickey Moniak has been spectacular over 24 games, with a .963 OPS and a couple of HR robberies.
The Angels are now 41-34, while the Dodgers are 40-33. And the Angels are doing it while Trout is having one of his worst seasons. If we assume that Trout gets into gear, the Angels could be tough.
The odds for an October Freeway Series are always long, but when were both of these teams solidly in the hunt?
Just a painful learning curve for our rookies! So far, wasting a beauty by Kersh
3 runs in the last 25 innings this $hit is hurting my head
I said a long time ago that Andre Jackson is nothing more than a trade chip (and got crap for saying it). It turns out heās worse than that being DFA.
They have 7 days to decide what to do with him, he can still be traded. And if some team wants him and does not want to take the chance once he is released, they might at least get something back. I would bet he would not clear waivers.
All you see are numbers Eric. You have sight… but no vision. Andre is a person who has the talent to pitch at a very high level. The fact that he hasn’t doesn’t diminish his talent… about which you evidently have no clue.
QUESTION: How many players who have been DFA’ed went on to have outstanding careers?
A bunch including JD Martinez, Kevin Gausman, Luis Tiant, Big Papi and it goes on and on.
Kershaw, what a warrior
Maybe he can inspire our offense
Justin Turner red hot lately
8-23 over the last 5 games with 2 homers and 9 ribbies. But I’ll still take Martinez over the whole season.
Mookie 3Ks so far and foul out this game
Busch somehow turned the baseball into a rubber ball with that crazy hop. Weird.
Can’t quantify it, but Busch has a positive vibe about him. If he finds his swing and starts hitting in the show, he should do well batting 8 or 9 in the line-up.
Cant wait to see if the Dodgers can bring Otani home. He’s great to watch.
Whew! !!!!!!
Phillips’ slider was extra-crispy tonight. Un-hittable.
I like as the closer
I concur
The awaited Dodgers reign of terror has begun. Mark these words.
Good for Michael Busch. Sometimes a team needs a break like that.
Busch made some nice picks at third also
Great performance by Clayton Kershaw! Another gutty outing especially in the 7th inning after two soft hits put runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs!
Clayton continues to be the best reason to watch the Dodgers. True hall of fame performance!
True pleasure watching the hall of famer. Kershaw deserves all the accolades for everything he has done on and off the field. I hope we have not pissed him off and he finishes his career in Texas.
I am hopeful his yearly injury does not pop up, we need him desperately to take down innings, and end slides. If Julio comes back strong, Hudson regains his form, and we get three other pen pieces to perform well we can still win the division.
I agree with Mark this team is going to the playoffs and I am not sold on us being worse then the Giants, Dbacks or Padres.
Just read the Andre Jackson, after yo-yoing between OKC and LA for quite a while, has been DFA’d.
Is it OK to call him a “trade chip” now? Certainly some team out there will offer a prospect for him.
It’s kind of sad. Jackson was understandably thrilled when he opened the season on the 26-man roster, and it looked like he might be the pen’s “long man.” But now he’s the odd man out. I hope he has a soft landing.
I was at tonight’s game with my 13-year-old son, a southpaw studying two favorites from afar. Quite a duel. Detmers outpitched Kershaw–had more Ks, gave up fewer hits–but baseball, like life, is not fair.
I don’t think we fans see all the camera angles. From what was shown on the big screen, I didn’t see how the replay could overturn the call at home. Didn’t look like enough evidence –but perhaps another angle was clear. And Dodgers also caught a break on Busch’s bad hop single.
I despise not treating baseball players like Andre with respect. They have worked too damn hard to be called “just a trade chip.” That’s a pretty silly term anyway. “Just a trade chip implies that they are not worth much… so why would anyone trade for the? Andre is a person who has the talent to pitch at a very high level. The fact that he hasnāt doesnāt diminish his talent. I guarantee you that Friedman has tried to trade him before DFA’ing him and he has 7 more days to do so.
QUESTION: How many players who have been DFAāed went on to have outstanding careers?
A bunch, including JD Martinez, Kevin Gausman, Luis Tiant, Big Papi, and it goes on and on.
There is a very good chance that Andre pitches in MLB again – I think AF realized that he may need a change of scenery. The Dodgers are so deep in pitching that this is a good career move for him.
Veteran outfielder David Dahl has signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers, according to Triple-A communications director Alex Freedman (Twitter link). Heās joining their top affiliate in Oklahoma City.
In his first game last night with Oklahoma City right handed hitting Dahl was 2 for 4 with two doubles.
06/20/23 Los Angeles Dodgers sent RHP Phil Bickford on a rehab assignment to Oklahoma City Dodgers.
06/20/23 Los Angeles Dodgers sent RHP Jimmy Nelson on a rehab assignment to Oklahoma City Dodgers.
06/20/23 Los Angeles Dodgers sent RHP Daniel Hudson on a rehab assignment to Oklahoma City Dodgers.