Be Careful What You Wish For…

Posted By on September 9, 2023

It seems like a large number of Dodger fans do not like the platoons. They want to see a lineup that rolls out there every day and is the same. What they fail to realize is that is part of what has made the Dodgers one of the best teams in baseball over the last ten years. Some of you have wanted Jason Heyward to start every game in RF and eliminate platooning. Be careful what you wish for.

For his career, Jason Heyward has a .268 BA against RHP with a .353 OB% and a .788 OPS. Compare that against his splits against LHP: .230 BA. .301 OB% and .643 OPS. After the Dodgers re-tooled his swing, the disparity is even worse. Why on earth would you want that? Maybe so that you could lose more games! That’s the only reason. It makes absolutely no sense! Be careful what you wish for.

David Peralta is a killer of RH pitching. Over his career, he hits .243 with a .304 OB% and a .667 OPS against LHP, but he kills RHP to the tune of a .291 BA, .345 OP%, and a .822 OPS. Yet, you want him out there every day? Get outta’ Dodge! Be careful what you wish for!

Kike Hernandez kills lefties to the tune of a .800 OPS but is .667 against RHP. Amed Rosario is another one. He hits almost .300 against LHP but only .244 against RHP, and his OPS is .200 points lower! Come on, man! Be careful what you wish for.

Many fans want a set lineup every day. The Dodgers could do that, too, and win fewer games. Are you freaking crazy? Platoons and putting players in the best scenarios where they have the best opportunity for success is part of what has made this organization so great. Be careful what you wish for.

Andrew Friedman and his band of nerds know so much more than you do… than I do. Dave Roberts has all of that information at his fingertips. The name of the game is to put players in positions where they have the best chance of succeeding. If that does not make sense to you, then you must live on another planet! It also works. That’s part of the reason the Dodgers own the best record in baseball over the past ten years!

Now, you may think, “That is not how they used to do it!” That’s right, they didn’t “used to do” a lot of things. Baseball has changed… Evolving is a better adjective. It will continue to do so. As an example, Ron Fairly (a LH hitter) hit .278 for his career against RHP, and he OPS’ed .802 against them. That is a damn good player. But he hit .221 and OPS’ed .641 against LHP. Maybe the team understood that, but I doubt it. Ron Fairly is a player who should not have played against LHP… much like Jason Heyward and David Peralta.

Some players have reverse splits, and some are neutral, like Chris Taylor. His OPS against RHP, and LHP are almost the same. Max Muncy is like that… for his career, although this season, he is OPS’ing .871 vs. RHP, and .697 against LHP. That may mean that he should be platooned in the future.

Lane Thomas of the Nationals has had a nice “breakout” year, and some Dodger fans wanted him at the trade deadline. He has a .984 OPS against LHP but only .747 against RHP. Then there are elite players, like Freddie Freeman, who has a career OPS of .944 against RHP, and ..809 against LHP. That’s why he plays every day and is getting better with age. This year, his OPS is 1.053 against LHP, and .960 against RHP. Mookie Betts is much the same.

Will Smith is much the same, although this year has worn Will down. I always envisioned Will playing another position (like 3B) while Keibert Ruiz was the “everyday Catcher.” Will could catch in an emergency or maybe 30-40 games a year, and his bat would play at a much higher level. Kaybear is finally realizing his potential. He is a couple of years younger than Will and has the same number of HR’s while not as accomplished as a hitter… yet! But that ship has sailed. Next year, I would like to see Will change positions, but while the Dodgers are loaded with catching prospects, none are ready for the Show as yet.

What About the Pitching?

The Dodgers bullpen, which is #1 in baseball since June 20th, is now all the way up to #6 overall. When they were 29th, I predicted they would be Top 10. Now Top 2 looks possible. The Dodgers are second behind the Braves for the most runs scored, but overall, the Braves are a better-hitting team. The Dodgers are, however, better in the clutch. All bets are off in the playoffs.

Now that we know Walker Buehler will not be back this season, the Dodgers are looking at Bobby Miller, Ryan Pepiot, and whoever else steps up between Gavin Stone, Emmet Sheehan, Michael Grove, and the two old lefties. I have no opinion about Lance Lynn. He is a bulldog and still has the velocity, but unless Kershaw can magically gain velocity, he cannot pitch more than a couple of innings. I am enjoying watching this develop and seeing the youngsters transform into big-league pitchers right before our eyes.

Emmet Sheehan wished he had a couple of pitches back, but overall, he showed me something. He would have looked better if Muncy played better D at 3B. Bobby Miller and Ryan Pepiot have grown the most and are a worthy #1 and #2 for a team destitute of starters. The bullpen is sound, and while many fans were begging for David Bednar, I would not trade Evan Phillips straight-up for him. Look at their stats… especially WHIP. Bednar’s is 1.07, while Phillips’ is 0.75. Bednar is good, but I’ll keep the prospects and Phillips. Sometimes, the best trades are ones you don’t make.

Bobby Miller goes for his 10th win today!

Dodger Updates

  • Mookie Betts CT Scan and MRI showed no damage. He should be back early next week. That’s good news.
  • The Police allegedly have the video of Julio Urias allegedly beating his wife. That’s why we have not seen it.

Down on the Farm

  • OKC – Not much good happened here. Vargas was 1-3 with a BB and double and that was about it, as the Dodgers lost 4-1. Jimmy Nelson did pitch a hitless inning with 2 strikeouts.
  • Tulsa – They lost 12-3. Nothing to see here.
  • GL – A 4-1 loss. Bruns went to 0-7 but pitched three scoreless innings with 0 Walks and 4 Ks.
  • RC – The only winner -6-5! DePaula was 2-4.

This article has 31 Comments

  1. Of course they want a set line-up.

    Baseball is entertainment and fans follow certain players. I recall a woman a few years back who really liked a certain player. She would attend one game a year. She was really excited to see him play, but he wasn’t in the line-up that day. She was pissed and who can blame her.

    My favorite era had to be the Cey, Lopes, Russell and Garvey days

    I get the platoon, the Dodgers use it to produce more offense, the opposite of the Braves set line-up approach.

    Both teams are successful.

    Maybe a hitter could be better against both righties and lefties, but often they don’t get the opportunity with data driven teams.

    Never thought Buehler would be back, thought it was a push. Good decision to focus on 2024.

    1. Funny you should mention that group.

      Garvey, Cey and Russell have very similar splits against both LHP and RHP. Davey Lopes was much better against LHP, but he was not horrible against RHP.

  2. I prefer the same lineup every game. The Dodgers don’t have the players for that. Roberts is doing a good job with the lineup and substitutions. They are consistent and make sense.

    Regarding Smith being tired. Could be. I remember when Grandal caught for the Dodgers. It seemed to me that he would start off well but by the end of the season he could hardly field his position or hit. I believe he was mostly replaced in the playoffs by I think Barnes. I think Grandal tired as the season progressed.

    1. In 2017, Grandal had his best BA as a Dodger, .247. He hit 22 homers and drove in 58. But he hit .267 in the first half, and .202 in the second. He had 11 homers in each. But his production was way down. Barnes got the bulk of the playing time in the playoffs. Grandal had 11 total at bats in the playoffs and had no hits. He hit .282 at Dodger Stadium and .202 on the road. He never was a great defensive catcher in the first place. As a Dodger, he led the league in passed balls twice.

  4. 4:05 PM ET

    Dodgers (86-54)
    Nationals (63-78)

    SP Bobby Miller R
    9-3 3.80 ERA
    SP Jake Irvin R
    3-5 4.35 ERA

    Confirmed Lineup
    LF D. Peralta L
    1B F. Freeman L
    C Will Smith R
    3B Max Muncy L
    DH J. Martinez R
    RF J. Heyward L
    SS E. Hernandez R
    CF James Outman L
    2B Kolten Wong L

    42% Rain
    85° Wind 8 mph R-L

    MAGIC NUMB ER NINE

  5. Low-A: Pitcher Joe Kelly started a rehab assignment near home in Rancho Cucamonga.

    Friday scores
    Sugar Land 4, Oklahoma City 1
    Springfield 12, Tulsa 3
    West Michigan 4, Great Lakes 1
    Rancho Cucamonga 6, Visalia 5

    Saturday schedule
    4:05 p.m. PT: Oklahoma City (Gavin Stone) at Sugar Land (Brandon Bielak)
    4:05 p.m.: Great Lakes (Hyun-il Choi) at West Michigan (Garrett Burhenn)
    4:35 p.m.: Tulsa (Ben Casparius) at Springfield (Connor Lunn)
    6:30 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Roque Gutierrez) vs. Visalia (Landon Sims)

      1. He keeps playing how he’s playing it doesn’t matter what Texas does.
        You might be right about the last line

  8. * One thing that’s going to be imparitive to give our young pitching a chance is to play airtight defense. Muncy is a zoo on D. He shows no lateral skills and hasn’t the speed to charge slow rollers and throw out even a below average runners. He didn’t make a difficult back-hand pick last night but he hurt Sheehan even more with a pitiful tag on the steal of 3rd. Karros pointed it out as well. Question – What is the destination of the runner? Answer – the Base. The throw was perfect so take the glove to the destination, the base. Instead, like too many others,Max take a good throw and then reaches for the runner. A tag to the body allows the hand to get in. A tag to the bag bag works every time.
    Muncy was at it again in the 1st after JDM homer. 2&1, he takes a fat middle away fastball so he can swing and miss at a high strike 3, out of the zone. Max for the millionth time, take advantage of fat advantage count.
    * I don’t live in LA and listen to the talk shows so I may be wrong, but it seems to me the Dodger fans really haven’t warmed up to Miggy Rojas. For me, he would be my everyday SS, next year with Mookie the primary 2nd baseman. A lot will depend on how Lux plays in the spring and I know the old adage you don’t lose your job because of an injury. Ask Wally Pipp about that one.
    * I don’t dislike platoons in general. I like out lefty, righty platoons in the outfield and Mookie at 2nd. What I bitch about are platoons just for the hell of it. You don’t need 7 guys to rotate at 2nd base. You don’t need Kike to play short. And I don’t need to see Kolten Wong play anywhere besides an occasional pinch hit duty. We platoon guys with reverse splits. That’s my complaint.

    1. Max Muncy plays 3B like he has only played about 400 games then in his 12 years as a pro. Well, that sums it up.

      On Rojas, Too many fans are into Fantasy Baseball, where defense does not matter.

  9. Platoons are mostly a problem in the playoffs when you just want your best guys in there. Roberts has been outcoached on multiple occasions by being forced into a quick switch due to an early pitching change. Not smart baseball to burn players.

  11. I went to the game last night and had great seats along the 3B foul line.

    When Max booted the backhand play I yelled “come on Max you gotta make that play,” I was quite surprised with his “rabbit ears.” He looked at me and gave me a huge stink eye like you’ve never seen. Fans sitting around me saw it also and commented. I was quite surprised he heard me, I didn’t yell an obscenity or anything profane but he looks to be rather sensitive about his defense or lack thereof.

    Prior to the start of the game I shouted to Outman while he was warming up about Sacramento State Hornets (Outman’s alma mater) and he threw me a ball over the screen. I gave it to a young kid sitting in front of me who drove with his parents to DC from Wilmington NC just to see the Dodgers play.

    The crowd was probably one half Dodger fans.

    1. I had an exchange like that with Dusty Baker and Mike Maddux at Dodger Stadium. It was Bakers first year and he was stinking up the joint. I was in the left field pavilion and rode him pretty hard. He looked at me and stared. But he didn’t say a word. I knew he was probably embarrassed by the way he was playing. I also saw some guys in left really riding Buckner after he made an error in left field. In unison they were yelling You Suck Buck. He never turned around, but he put his left arm under his right armpit and flipped them the bird.

    1. Gulp. Wong got me. Still sticking with original statement. Some outstanding defensive catches by Nats tonight.

  14. Why isn’t Roberts paying attention to my advice on LADT?
    If he had been, he would have given Outman, not Peralta, the lead-off spot with Mookie nursing his sore foot. Outman’s on-base percentage is .363, while Peralta’s is only .307. Outman also brings his power agains righties.
    Plus, he’s swifter than Peralta, which enabled him to beat out a close play at first today. And he stole his 14th base in this game, while Peralta stole his 4th.
    Also, Outman is not while Peralta is not. Over the past 15 days, Outman’s OBP is .446 and Peralta’s is .343. So why was Peralta leading off? Is there a rational explanation?
    So that’s my primary kvetch for this game. If he really wanted to go with a veteran at leadoff, Heyward would have been a better choice than Peralta. (And I wish Heyward didn’t try to be a hero, turning that sinking liner into a triple. Sometimes, you can blame a guy for trying.)
    As for the silver linings…. JD Martinez got three hits and seems well, and much-maligned Max picked up more RBI with his 34th HR and a sac fly.
    Readers of LADT might be under the impression that Max is really a big problem in the lineup–a “black hole,” someone once said– because he strikes out too much, just recently raised his average above .200 and is a “butcher” at 3rd base. The anti-Max lobby is eager to move him out to make room for Busch, a Triple-A slugger who hasn’t proven himself in the majors, and is only just learning to play 3B and is better suited for 2B or LF. Or perhaps Vargas should play 3B, but he hasn’t proven himself in majors either.
    OK, so how just unproductive has Max been?
    He now has 96 RBI, which is three fewer than Mookie and FIVE MORE than Freddie. And get this: Max has achieved his total in just 118 games played, which is 15 fewer than Mookie’s 133, and 23 fewer than Freddie’s 141.
    With 21 games left, the Dodgers have a lot of questions heading toward the playoffs, especially about the pitching. But the lineup should be strong, with Max right in the middle.
    And if you want to trade Max for prospects to make room for Busch or Vargas, well, be careful what you wish for.

    1. Max is not the problem… in fact, he’s part of the solution.

      He has had some inopportune errors at 3B, but overall, the Dodgers are the #2 best defensive team, so he is not killing the team.

      Max will not be traded and will most likely be the DH next year, Max is solid as a #4 or #5 hitter.

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