Well, it is over. Judging from the comments I read on yesterday’s post, most think that there will be some huge changes coming, and well, there might be. The loss to the Diamondbacks was, if nothing else, embarrassing. Embarrassing to the players. Embarrassing to ownership and embarrassing to the fans. The fans will get the bulk of the feedback. We always do. I have already heard it from several Rockies fans who live in my building. I also got the business from my Giant’s fan daughter and her hubby. Oh yes, my two granddaughters who live in Arizona let me have it with both barrels on Facebook.
I have been around too long and seen this kind of thing too many times to get very upset over the loss. Disappointed? Yes. Surprised? A little, but not much. It is no secret that I am not a fan of the present playoff setup. My reasoning is simple, I think there is too much time off for the bye teams. In the two years this system has been in place, 5 of the teams with a bye have been knocked out in the first round. Last season it was the Dodgers, Braves, and the Yankees. This year, the Dodgers and the Orioles have already been knocked out, and the Braves are on the brink once again to the Phillies.
The Dodgers had to win a wild-card game in 2021 just to get to the NLDS. Then they had a hard-fought five-game series that they won in game 5. They fared better under that format than they have winning 211 games over the last two seasons. But that should not be used as an excuse. They were beaten, and beaten soundly, by a better-prepared team. Their pitching and their offense totally failed them. Their superstars were less than super. As a matter of fact, they stunk. To their credit, both stood up and faced the music and made no excuses. They will be back, and they will be better.
So now, we have to wait until the dancing is done between the remaining combatants before we see which direction the Dodgers will go this offseason. Some decisions will be relatively easy. Others, not so much. There is only one player, though, whose future is entirely in his own hands. Clayton Kershaw. Management will allow CK to decide his own fate. Will he retire with the bad taste of his worst career start?
Will he take free agency and head home to Texas where many have felt he would like to end his career? Or will he ask the Dodgers for another one-year contract and come back to try it one more time? He is 56 strikeouts from 3,000. No Dodger pitcher has ever had that many in a Dodger uniform. I doubt strikeout records mean much to Kersh. Do the Dodgers offer their all-time best pitcher another 20 million? A lot to digest there.
As of right now, the Dodgers have exactly 3 players under contract for two years or longer. Mookie Betts contract runs until 2032. Freddie Freeman, his deal is until 2027 and Chris Taylor, his deal runs through 25 with a 4-million-dollar buyout for 26. Rojas, Barnes, and Gonsolin are the only players under contract for next year besides those three.
Dodger free agents are Wong, Kershaw, Kike, Urias, JD, Heyward, Peralta, Rosario, Hudson, Brasier, Miller, Marisnick, Erlin, Andriese. Arbitration eligible are Buehler, Smith, Yarbrough, May, Almonte, Phillips, Graterol, Ferguson, Vesia. Busch, Vargas, Lux, Miller, Sheehan, Grove, Pepiot, all under team control. Most of the minor league veterans they signed will most likely move on, namely Dahl. Duggar, and Barnhart. Reyes has a team option.
Lynn’s option most likely will not be picked up. Muncy has a 14-million-dollar team option. Kelly has a 9-million-dollar option and a one mil buyout. I am really on the fence about Muncy. His OPS is very good, .808. But I just have a really hard time getting past the strikeouts. Especially since his K totals have increased every year for the last three seasons. He did finally manage to get over .200, but I am not overly excited about a mediocre fielding .212 hitter who strikes out 150 times a year. Too many wasted at bats.
The Diamondbacks won with a bunch of contact hitters who just happened to hammer Dodger pitching for 9 homers in three games. Four in one inning in game three. The only player close to being labeled a superstar is their ROY candidate, Corbin Carroll. The rest of the team is made up of a couple of seasoned vets, Walker, Marte, Longoria, and Pham. And some very talented kids. Two of their starters, Gurriel and Moreno, came over from Toronto in an off-season trade for Dalton Varsho. Arizona for sure won that trade.
So, which way do the Dodgers go?? Well for one thing, those who posted on that stream that Roberts will be getting fired are going to be disappointed. Now it is true that the Dodgers could very well fire Dave Roberts. But this debacle is not on Dave. It lies squarely on the shoulders of the players. And Roberts signed a three-year extension last winter. Unless they want to pay two managers at the same time, he is not going anywhere.
I have seen people calling for Freidman to be fired. That is also highly unlikely. He signed an extension in 2019. I have looked all over the internet and cannot find out how much he is being paid or for how long. His first deal was five years 35 million. I would think the second would be close in length to the first and of course, more money. And Freidman is the man who procures the players that Roberts must use.
I give Roberts a lot of credit. This has been maybe his most difficult managing season. He has dealt with more injuries and lack of production on some fronts than in the past. His team finally came out of its early season malaise and woke up in June. But what is past is past. The future of the franchise will not be decided on what happened this year.
Do they go with the kids? Obviously, on some levels, especially with the starting pitching, they won’t have much choice unless they jump into free agency again. And this team with AF at the helm has never given any free agent pitcher more than a four-year deal.
Vargas, Busch, Deluca, and maybe a couple more players will get long looks in spring. Of primary concern to the Dodgers will be how Gavin Lux handles being off for an entire season. Will they plug him in at SS? Do they give him reps in the outfield to increase his versatility? They already have their Swiss Army knife in Chris Taylor. And with 30 million owed with his two years and 4 million dollar buy out, I do not think he is getting traded unless the Dodgers eat some of that cash.
That leads me to believe that Kike Hernandez will be elsewhere next year. Amed Rosario did not exactly light it up after the trade. He finished with a .256 average and 3 homers for LA. But he did not lefties as well as he had in the past. I think he too will find employment elsewhere. He did show some promise at second base, but the Dodgers are loaded with middle infielders.
Will Smith was very good at the beginning of the year, and then tailed off. I have to believe the injurie he hid from the team had something to do with it. The concussion did not help either. And as much as I might like Austin Barnes, I have to believe they can find a better option at backup catcher. Eric had some suggestions I thought were very interesting. The only problem I see with Feduccia is A. His lack of experience above AAA. B. His age. He turns 27 next June, so he is a little long in the tooth to be a prospect. He hit .279 in 90 games at AAA with 11 homers and 57 driven in.
But he might be the best option barring a trade for some team’s young catcher. And the Dodgers are loaded with top catching prospects. In free agency by far the youngest available is Francisco Meija. He is a little over 27. All the other available free agent catchers are in their 30’s.
Eric also said something about getting a star outfielder or using our young stars. I can see his point, Heyward and Peralta are both free agents. I thought at one point that Heyward was a lock to be re-signed. I am not so sure of that now. Free agent wise, there are not a lot of really great ones who will be free agents. Probably at the top of the list is Bellinger, but chances he comes back to LA are very slim. Harrison Bader is a free agent. Great glove, lots of speed, but not much slug. The youngest will be the Korean, 25-year-old, Jung-hoo Lee. The rest are mostly retreads like Heyward and Peralta. Deluca will get some serious playing time in spring. Andy Pages probably would have been one of those getting some serious playing time, but his injury set him back.
And the other question is who do they protect on the 40-man roster when the time comes? 10 of their top 30 are RHP, with Frasso being at the top of that list. 3 are lefties, Kopp, Bruns and Wrobleski. Rushing is the #1 prospect with Cartaya coming in at # 3. Feduccia is actually the # 29 prospect.
So, we all know it is going to be a winter of change, just how much and who remains to be seen. There might be a coaching staff change or two, but I can foresee no radical movement at the top of the food chain, Roberts and Freidman will still be among us when the smoke clears.
I really suck at predictions, so I won’t be making any.
Taking a break from writing for a little bit. My exe wife is ill in California, and I might have to travel out there to help my daughter out. But I will be reading and checking in. There won’t be much in the way of Dodger news until after the World Series. Jake Reed did declare for free agency again though. What are the chances AF gets him back at some point for the fourth or fifth time?
The 104 win Braves are out too. Says a lot about this playoff format when the two best teams of the regular season (and it was not even close) are out of the playoffs that early.
If you had bet on the Phils and D-Backs in the NLCS you could have made a small fortune.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Same thing happened last season. All of the 100-win teams got knocked out of the playoffs, and the only team that had a bye that advanced, you guessed it, the Cheetos. Story on MLBTR says Kershaw is uncertain about his future. It also said he is going to take longer to decide this winter. Last year, he signed on December 10th. I look for it to be after the holidays before he makes up his mind this time.
Dodgers should not wait too long for him. They need at least one top starting pitcher in free agency (or trade).
Can not wait on Kersh until the market is dry.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don’t think they will wait. They will lick the tires on a few, including Jordon Montgomery and Blake Snell, but it all depends upon what he wants and what others will pay. AF will not sign a dope-fiend contract with any pitcher. The Dodgers will especially be interested in Montgomery since he has no draft pick compensation attached to him.
It’s more likely that AF will sign a “Tyler Anderson type” of pitcher.
Maybe Yoshinobu Yamamoto
Who is that lefty from Japan everyone has been talking about? I cannot remember his name. I think Montgomery is far more likely than Snell, simply because Snell is a Boras client, and we know how Andrew feels about Boras. You and I both know; he is not going to give any pitcher more than three years. Last pitcher they gave four years to was McCarthy. His name is Yuki Matsui.
I think it’s the end of the line for Kersh and the Dodgers. Thank you Kersh for all the wonderful memories and for the incredible person and stand up guy that you are. I will miss you but will root you on in Texas! Blessings to you and your family and your many ministries.
I will not be surprised if he has surgery.
In the AFL last night:
Ben Casparius pitched an inning and allowed 6 runs on 5 hits.
Ronan Kopp followed him with an inning allowing 1 H, 0 Runs, 1 BB and 3 Ks
Not much to see here for the Dodgers other than Yenier Fernandez.
Why couldn’t Friedman have signed a Nick Castelanos? The guy is a beast! hope the off-season isn’t another dumpster diving episode! I’m sure Josh McDonald will be available! seriously, Max does not need to play 3rd base anymore unless it’s for someone else. this team needs more contact and less swing and miss. I am a little jealous of the Phillies lineup, maybe not so much Schwarber (spell check)! we have one of those.
Who is Josh McDoanld?
You championed Castelanos tbf
You also said the Diamondbacks would fade second half
Who wins the 23 World Series now??
Phillies.
I think he means Josh Donaldson. Who is way over the hill.
Freidman didn’t sign Castellanos when he was a free agent for the simple reason that the Dodgers had no place for
him to play. Castellanos signed with the Reds in January of 2020. The Dodgers were pursuing Betts at the time. The Dodgers were pretty set for 2020. The next time he was a free agent was after the 21 season. That was probably when LA could have signed him. But he signed a 5/100-million-dollar contract. The Dodgers used the bulk of their money to sign Freeman. They had to fill the pitching staff with one-year deals because of no Trevor Bauer. I think you are referring to Josh Donaldson. Sorry, he is way over the hill and hit a combined .152 with the Yankees and Brewers. He used to be good. As for Schwarber, they guy mashed 47 homers with a sub .200 batting average, but his OPS was higher than Muncy’s and he drove in one less run.
Here’s my problem calling the recent Dodger loss in the NLDS the result of a crapshoot. My general definition of crapshoot is something that is unpredictable. In a baseball game I would use the word crapshoot after losing a game on a bloop base hit that falls for a base hit and two runs score, or a ground ball that hits the 3B bag and rolls into LF for a double, or a slow roller at 40 MPH off the bat that finds a hole through the SS and 3B. It’s a copout to call our exit from the playoffs the result of having to play a crapshoot when it what we witnessed was nothing short of a complete ass kicking and an embarrassment for a proud franchise.
Averaging 2 runs per game in a three game playoff series, #1 and #2 hitter going 1-21, your #1 pitcher going .1 inning, allowing 6 hits and 6 runs, your #2 starter going 1.2 innings allowing 4 hits and 2 BB with 3 runs and your #3 starter going 2.2 innings allowing 4 runs on 4 solo HR’s.
Some more sobering stats…1 solo HR, 0 stolen bases, team leader in RBI’s was a guy that only started 1 game, team batting average .177, batting average allowed to the D-Backs was .284.
Not a crapshoot, but a complete and utter beatdown. Kasten needs to convene a meeting, conduct an autopsy on why the team has played so poorly in the last two post seasons and identify the reasons why, develop a plan to prevent it from happening again and start making changes soon.
Sure the playoff system gives a lot of lesser teams a shot. But the result is Not a crapshoot, but a lot of crappy play was shot out by the team
One problem is that Mookie is really streaky. It works itself out over the course of a season but in a smaller sample size like October, it’s a huge issue. Mookie was other worldly in August but crashed in Sept and Oct. Muncy is also that way and therefore unreliable in Oct. Wouldn’t be surprised if he is gone by next Oct.
I hear that a lot about ‘streaky’. But it seems very few players play the same every month. Just the same they need to hit in October. And it doesn’t matter that Acuna sucked also. Freddie and Mookie let the team down bigtime!!!
We weren’t expecting a lot from the starters–and they underperformed even that. But game 2 and three were winnable games. If they get on base, the rest of the guys get more hittable pitches
After a great regular season, the Dodgers were so disappointing in their 3 game playoff collapse. They clearly overachieved with a 100 win season despite injuries to their entire pitching staff. I usually criticize the managerial moves by Roberts in the postseason, especially the pitching decisions. For the most part, he did a good job using the bullpen in games 1 and 2. In game 3, going with Lynn was questionable and leaving him in to allow 4 HR was a poor decision. But overall Roberts was not the issue this year. The playoff loss is on the starting pitchers and the offense. They did not perform and Arizona outplayed the Dodgers.
With the Phillies advancing again this year and the Dodgers getting knocked out early again, it makes me look back to Friedman passing on Bryce Harper in 2019. Harper signed for $330 million over 13 years, an average salary of $25 million per year. Friedman reportedly offered 4 years at $45 million per year for a total of $180 million. It didn’t make sense to me at the time that Friedman would not take on the final $150 million over 9 years to sign Harper which is only about $17 million per year. Now 5 years later, Harper is still a dominant postseason player.
Harper has a career postseason OPS of 1017, compared to 710 for Betts. And Betts makes $30 million per year compared to $25 million for Harper. Some players seem to excel in the postseason and have the ability to hit elite pitching, while others struggle against the best pitchers in the playoffs.
I am happy to have Betts as a Dodger, but maybe Harper would have been better. Or best of all both Harper and Betts.
Dodgers offer to Harper wasn’t serious. A player isn’t turning down 150 mil in guarantted salary for a short term deal with more risk. Also, Harper was considered a bit overrated at the time. Coming off a couple subpar years with the Nats.
Nevertheless, despite the payroll, the Dodgers only have two long term deals in Freeman and Betts. Padres and Phillies have 4. No excuse not to spend anymore because they have the flexibility.
Well, okay, I’ve just spent the morning reading reaction of the LA media, which was pretty extensive.
Beyond the injuries, which were pretty devastating to the starting pitching, there is a search for answers. How do you win 100 games, then fall apart in the playoffs? The loss to the Padres was considered a fluke. The loss to the DBacks is a trend.
I will give the Dodgers credit for being able to sustain and win another NL West title. Honestly, that was a remarkable achievement, an organizational success story. But the failure in the playoffs can’t be ignored.
That’s an organizational failure and that falls on Friedman.
So, yes, the winds of change are in the air at Dodger Stadium. That does not mean that Friedman’s job is on the line, it isn’t. But he needs to change. They need to move on from certain organizational philosophies. Friedman is a sharp guy, it’s time to adapt to a new environment. The winter must be the key to next season. You can’t wait to make key changes in July. The cost will be higher with more competition and a limited number of potential trade partners, all this changed with the new playoff formats.
The Dodgers quiet winter approach needs to change. The constant pursuit of bargain basement deals needs to end. Nothing wrong with a deal or two, But sometimes you have to go higher, outbid the other guys. You’re the freakin Los Angeles Dodgers. They got outbid for Bryce Harper by the Phillies, after laying an oddball deal on the table that was never going to happen. They lost Corey Seager to the Rangers, again getting outbid by a lesser team. Oh and forget California taxes. That’s not the reason. Look at all the superstars playing for LA teams.
Yes the playoffs are a crapshoot, but the Dodgers shouldn’t get blown out by lesser teams in October, especially not two years in a row.
Oh, and Bear is correct. The Dodgers need to focus on pitching, pitching and more pitching.
Well said.
So I don’t know if the answer is so easy. So last year the Padres did what you said and beat us. This year they missed the playoffs.
This year we lost to Arizona–who had no real stars in their lineup. Good chance they miss the playoffs next year.
So we have the hitters to win these games. They just don’t show up. We had 4 guys with 100 RBIs!!!. 2 guys batted over .300
sorry Mark! Donaldson
Donaldson is old, 36, and he hit .152 combined between NY and Milwaukee.
The Dodgers have a team built for the regular season. you can succeed through the course of the season with the Peralta’s Heyward’s, Kike’s, Taylor’s and so on. Not so much in the postseason, and given Mookie and Freddie’s struggles, what can we expect?
The Dodgers won the World Series with a team that had Muncy hitting .192, Bellinger. .239, Pederson, .190, Kike .230, Taylor, .270, and they had to win more postseason games than any team in history so far to do that. So that built for the season stuff is not correct. They were not even supposed to be in the playoffs this year. Everyone, and I mean everyone picked the Padres. Their stars played well that season. Their stars played well this year. You NEED guys like Peralta and Heyward, great clubhouse guys who went out of their way to help the kids when the kids were there. It is hard enough just to get to the playoffs. To win? That is even harder especially when you run into a hot team. That team was a game from being eliminated after four games in the NLCS. They came back and won three in a row. In two of those games, 5 & 7, they came from behind to win. That takes grit and teammwork.
I’m not buying into the down time between the end of the Regular Season and the start of the NLDS as being a contributing factor in the Dodgers demise.
They had a break of 5 days during the All Star break, and came back to win 6/8 games. – scoring 6,5,1,6,10,5,11 & 16 in those games.
It’s nothing to do with being rusty. It’s more to do with your Starting Pitcher, your Ace if you will, allowing 6 runs in the first innings of an NLDS game, and letting all the air out of the balloon.
Confidence is a very difficult feeling -The D’Backs suddenly had it, knowing that game one win was now a certainty, whilst the Dodgers had the complete opposite, and all confidence was drained. The same could be said of the crowd and the energy they bring. Totally gone in less than an inning.
Then momentum takes over and it’s very hard to change it once it’s started.
A different first inning in game one might have seen s very different outcome of the series.
It’s nothing to do with being rusty, it’s more to do with getting the first blow in, and executing when the pressure is on.
I totally disagree with you there Watford. The layoff affected them both years. That is obvious.
In my opinion, the problem with the Dodgers is a playing out of what was wrong with the ownership which took over after the abysmal McCourt. Of course Guggenheim is far better–but not enough. They are a hedge fund whose goal, as with all hedge funds, is to maximize profits. Don’t all sports ownerships want profits.? Of course, but to varying degrees. Guggennheim has shareholders; and some of them, like the one whom Bill Shaikin of the LAT quoted some years ago as wondering when the Dodgers would lower heir payroll to mid-rung, are about profits more than on-field success.
Now, I don’t know much about the Phillies owner, and there no value in researching it, but my understanding is that he is very wealthy, and wants to win. It appears that he will spend what it takes to do that. The Dodgers ownership will not. The wanted Harper, but they thought if they offered more per year at a much lesser length, they could get him, but of course he went for the 14-year contract, not the four years the Dodgers were offering. Could the Dodgers have signed Verlander in 2017? Did the Astros simply offer him a better deal.? Likely. Could the Dodgers have kept Seager. had they offered enough to offset the tax differential between California and Texas? Who knows; but with the Dodgers, it is “this far and no further.”
Do you think it is coincidence that Stan Kasten’s Braves won fourteen straight division titles, and only one WC, that coming after the Braves fans and media got so tired of this that they finally got him to relent and sign Greg Maddux? Kasten is about maximizing profits, not titles; and Walter and his major partner in Guggennheim want that, too.
So Friedman, who did more with less at Tampa Bay, was their ideal GM choice. They chose him specifically for that reason. Similarly, Dave Roberts, in a different context, was ideal; A good guy, with appealing dual minority ancestry’; a company man who gets along with players, but who obviously has no late-game managerial acumen, and is utterly predictable in his decisions. He stays; most of the fan base supports him, and on it goes.
This is what the ownership wants. In my opinion, no change in GMs is going to alter hat. Kasten and the big money owners here call the shots. I am very tired of Roberts as manager, but I do not think that there is anyone who would make a major difference, unless the ethos here changed, and that is not happening.
Actually, it’s like one of those sports novels I used to read; the home team was a bunch of scrappers, not as talented as the economically entitled players on their rival, but with a will to win. Here, the Dodgers are the “pretty boys,” while teams with some players who have come up the hard way, and with a manager who is not like a fraternity coach, beat them out.
Is it as simple as that? Of course not. But I think it is the gist of it, and the reason why the Dodgers can pile up great regular season records, and drastically underachieve in the postseason, which is what should count the most–except when the ownership is fixed on achieving maximum regular season profits, and not worrying very much if the playoffs are a failure. The fans will come back for the next season.
i don’t think we’ll see much long-term change, although if they hold on to the franchise long enough, they might win another title. But maybe not, next season will achieve less than this one. The money keeps rolling in, even so. The mistake is in thinking that as long as the hedge fund owns the team, there will be a revamping of the organization to where winning titles is the major focus, instead of profits, ”Dodger postgame happy talk,” and a focus on stability, not rocking the boat, or demanding too much in ultimate season results.
This is the best explanation of what happened to the Dodgers. We think that the owners are as interested in winning as we the fans are, when in reality, what they are interested in, is making profits. They have done well, while we loose they win. There is no more to say. Excellent comment. Go Dodgers.
That’s ridiculous. We’ve had one of the top five payrolls for years and years. All they’ve done is make a little tiny bit of room so they can load up on another contract or two.
Agree whole heartedly William. Great post always enjoy your perspective. You need to post more. Miss your analysis.
Thanks, Zeke, I appreciate it.
This is a good site I came across, thanks for having it. No a lot of good forums for the Dodgers for some reason.
Been a fan for 35 years. Dodgers losing in the playoffs (now to out right lesser competetion) is an organizational failure and not random. You don’t lose 6 straight games, several of them in embarrassing fashion, to intradivion opponents you dominated if there isn’t something rotten at the core. Their front office and hitting approach doesn’t work in the playoffs. They literally never hit in the postseason. When you make the playoffs every year and this happens, it’s not by random luck. Sample size isn’t small, it’s fairly large because it happens every year.
Ownership can’t be thrilled right now. LA fans do not care about 100 wins. Pyrhic victories that mean nothing. I am not sure why Friedman always gets a pass and Roberts gets the attention. Friedman assembeled a pretty mediocre roster outside a few guys. Despite that, no reason to get embarrassed by an 84 win team with a negative run differential.
Moving forward:
1. Please get 3 pitchers who in October can give you quality starts. Kershaw is sorry to say it, finished. You can’t expects guys coming off major arm surgery to be your horses next year. Go look at Philly or even Arizona. They have horses at the top of the rotation. Hopefully some young guys make a leap next year. We’re the Dodgers, literally the franchise that was all about pitching. What we had in this series was a disgrace.
2. Go get some championship players. Lineup had zero depth. When you have to pinch hit a bunch of platoon guys because a lefty is brought in, you don’t have a great lineup. Heyward, Perralta and Rojas are second division players. Outman looked deer in the headlights and Vargas and Busch did zero at the major league level. Maybe our minor league hitters are just overrated and overhyped. People talk about the 2020 team, that team had way more talent than this team.
3. Get Ohtani and Snell. You cleared payroll for a reason. Go get real talent. Dodgers have let Seager, Turner, Turner, Sherzer and Bellinger leave (all of them had good years too and Turner/Seags are killing it in the postseason). You can’t play in LA and be serious by replacing those guys with one year fring players.
4. Max Muncy is a horrfic third basemen. I may know nothing about baseball, but I’ve had enough of him at third base.
Ohtani? He won’t pitch for at least another year. How much is he worth as simply a DH? LA is not going to give him 500 million, which is the figure everyone is tossing around. As a two-way player maybe, but not just to DH for the first year. Maybe they back load a contract. But they are not even considered the front runners to land him anymore. As for Snell, he is a Scott Boras client, has expressed an interest in staying with the Padres. Freidman has not signed a Boras client since I think the second year he was here. He does not care for Boras.
As Bear said, definitely disappointed with the way things ended! Now I would like to see AZ win it all!
However, I must admit I did thoroughly enjoy the season with all the young new faces, even though some flamed out (Vargas), overacheived (Outman), not given enough rope (Busch), pleasant surprise (Miller & Sheehan), injured, but showed massive improvement in limited exposure (Peipot).
I am looking forward to having Lux back next year – not sure why the animosity he is shown, as the year before he performed to a level we wanted (i.e. 300 BA) until a late season injury affected his final statistics.
That said, I am so done with Muncy (I know it may not be logical – but I don’t care!! – so tired of the strikeouts, looking at pitches right down the middle, etc etc.) – still never understood the reason he stayed in the 4, or 5-hole most of the year.
Barnes has no business being the backup next year – literally “anyone” would be an improvement.
It should be a very interesting off-season, with one or two moves that will take all of us by surprise.
AGAIN, I want to thank Mark & Bear and along with all the other contributors to what is easily the BEST site on the web.
To Mark and Bear – for very selfish reasons (i.e. I want this site to continue) – PLEASE pace yourselves during the off-season (only post on breaking news) and even next year with a only couple or 3-new posts per week.
To Bear – hope the ex’s illness is something she can overcome.
Thanks Shawn. She has some fluid around her heart and is having difficulty breathing. I talked to my daughter, and she is improving some and should head home tonight. Her birthday is the 15th, she will be 75.
So I see Dodgers get record for most wins in a three year span without making it to the WS
Awesome summary of the Dodgers, Bear. I have no idea where you find the time to post as much as you do on here and on Jeff Dominques’ site. Enjoy your break. I have given myself ample time to process what happened and get over the shock of our early exit. More perplexed then shocked, I guess. But from experience coaching, I seldom knew exactly how our teams would perform in elimination situations. Practice and mind set seldom told me how we’d actually perform.
I think I drank the Kool-Aid going into the playoffs. I thought we might be able to piggy-back, mix and match pitchers and use the bullpen to win. In reality, it should have been clear that everything had to go perfectly. It didn’t and we never could recover from our first inning deficits.
The anomaly wasn’t our early exit. It was winning 100 games with this team and expecting a deep run,
From the start, this team was in transition and not expected to be a championship squad. For all the reasons we know, we won games with synergy, chemistry, joy and very good management by Doc, who should be Mgr. of the Year.
But we weren’t that good.
This was obviously compounded by the injuries to the starting rotation. What 14 different starting pitchers used. We saw lots of new promising faces, but I really thought this decimated group could advance far.
We had to be unconventional to have any chance. And Doc tried. One aspect that I think hurt was Doc’s predictability with the platoons. An opposing skipper could turn over our outfield whenever he wanted to. You’d simple start a RHP, try to get through 4 or 5. Bring in a LHRP for an inning and Doc would instantly pulled Peralta and Heyward. It was then Kike and CT3 for the last half of the game. Options were then limited.
Despite player denial, I think the days off hurt. Freddie played 161 games. He struggled down the stretch but post season days off aren’t going to get him out of the slump.
I don’t know what happened to the bats. But we weren’t good enough. We need LHSP, maybe 2. A better 3rd basemen and better outfielders. I like Mookie at 2nd.
Lots of interesting times ahead.
Bear (believe it or not) mentioned me up top in a good way (credit to you for that) and I want to elaborate on that and more.
I believe Rushing has it to be a starting catcher but still needs another year or 2 in the minors. So bring up Feduccia as a stop gap until Rushing arrives. Get free agents and trades at other positions of need, not catcher. There’s no doubt in my mind that Feduccia will hit a lot better than Barnes. Barnes set the bar so low. Deal with having Smith and Rushing at the same time later when the time comes, maybe equal playing time for both so they don’t wear out.
Get away from platoons as much as possible. Barnes had to hit for Peralta in the last game of the playoffs. Really, come on. Therefore replace Peralta and Heyward through the free agent market or a trade(s) and put Betts at SS. It’s time to give Busch a shot at 2B where he played the most in the minors. Lux is coming off a serious injury, use him as a utility middle infielder, he’ll hit better than Rojas. There’s teams that have the defense only at SS philosophy that will take Rojas in a trade. Rojas is aging and do you think he will hit noticeably better than .236 BA and .612 OPS that he hit this year. I personally don’t think so. He had 2 hits in the playoffs, so what.
Use DeLuca as a utility outfielder and Taylor as a utility infielder and outfielder. Muncy gets some flack here, but I’d put him #9 in the order because he either walks (a guy on base for the top of the order) or homers (drive in whoever towards the bottom of the order is on base).
The Dodgers will need a good offense because it’s time to give Miller, Pepiot and Sheehan a shot at starting and you don’t know how they will do. I hate to say it and he’s had a great career but I think Kershaw might be done or he’ll have surgery and be out in 2024. Replace him with another good starting pitcher through the free agent market or a trade. Buehler and Stone are possibilities for the last spot in the rotation. And when I say last spot I don’t mean the #5 pitcher in the rotation. Just the last spot because I listed 4 starters.
Try to keep Brasier to go along with Phillips, S. Miller, Graterol, and Gonzalez (he gets some flack here but I like his stats) and get a very good/dominate reliever through the free agent market or a trade and fill out the rest of the bullpen. Personally I don’t want to see Almonte, Ferguson, Vesia, Grove, Kelly, and Yarbrough back. But you have to fill out the rest of the bullpen somehow. Injured relievers that were out all year that I would keep and might be possibilities are D. Hudson, Feyereisen, Reyes, Treinen. You never have enough pitching.
Position player starters (13).
Martinez
Smith
Freeman
Busch
Betts
Muncy
Outman
? Free agent or trade.
? Free agent or trade.
Bench.
Feduccia
Lux
Taylor
Deluca
Starting pitching (5).
B. Miller
Pepiot
Sheehan
Buehler or Stone
? Free agent or trade.
Relievers (8).
Phillips
Brasier
S. Miller
Graterol
Gonzalez
? A very good/dominate reliever. Free agent or trade.
? In house option.
? In house option.
I’d start with Vargas, Cartaya, and Pages in trades.
I know management is going to do their own thing. But this is what I’d like to see IF POSSIBLE. I doubt it’s possible though.
Just my 2 cents.
Good analysis Eric. I agree with a lot you are saying. I think Doc made a huge mistake hitting Barnes for Peralta. One reason is that Peralta had reverse splits this year. He was better against LHP, albeit a small sampling, 35 AB’s, but he hit .314 vs lefties. And Barnes had a terrible at bat swinging at the first pitch and making an out. Pages was injured most of the year, so I doubt he has very much value in a trade unless it is a package deal.
Yeah the Barnes at bat was a head scratcher from the get-go. I mentioned how Doc’s predictable platoon moves could be taken advantage of. And the moves in game 3 were out of desperation and basically sucked.
All 13 position players were used, many too early. When Barnes batted, I immediately wondered who would catch if Will took another shot to the mask or the back of his head. Maybe Kike can emergency catch and Joe Kelly can play purified.
There were so many moves, I couldn’t keep track of who was where.
Mookie played his typical 2nd and right. CT3 pinch hit as usual, moved to center then left, Kike center, second and short. Heyward gone after 1 at bat and Peralta after 2. Wong pinch hit and 2nd. Wow. Not my kind of lineup, even in desperation. But everybody got their letter in 1 game.
In addition to Peralta having reverse splits, CT3 does as well which sort of makes Doc’s platoon in the outfield questionable. Doc was like a jack-in-the-box out of his seat get CT3 in at the first sign of a LHRP. Well CT3 had reverse splits as well. He hit .210 vs LHP (.255 vs RHP). That platoon made no sense to me from the beginning.
Peralta who slumped late still hit .314 vs LHP whereas Kike hit .239.
So the platooning seemed more about adherence to the “book” and getting 3 guys time in left and right then about hitting success.
As it turned out, this outfield just wasn’t good enough. I like Mookie at 2nd and 2 productive corner outfielders. And Outman needs to hit better and strike out less or I’d replace the whole outside. And stop the platooning. Are there any quality switch hitters or players that can face lefties and righties?
I’d also like to see Mookie in the infield permanently, either 2nd or SS or both, depending on what they do with Lux.
Just wondered who you’d like to see in the outfield, either through trade or free agency, or internally if you think any of Busch, Vargas or Lux could be moved out there on a regular basis?
I never wanted the Dodgers to get rid of Bellinger. But they did. If possible Bellinger. But Bellinger is a Borass client. Otherwise I haven’t looked over the free agents yet. Also Betts can play in the outfield if an outfielder can’t be had and a SS can.
I looked at the free agent list not thoroughly. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. Career stats a contact hitter with similar splits, has some pop and doesn’t strike out a whole lot.
Otherwise a trade.
The ball Taylor hit in the 9th inning would have been a homer in 11 parks in the majors. Just missed it.
There is no fire on this team come playoffs and why is that. It starts from the top in my opinion. The lame excuses of five day layoff or it being a crapshoot doesn’t cut it. They can go out and acquire all kinds of real good talent but if they got no fight in them come October what difference would it make. Seems to me ownership only cares about selling three million tickets so we’re stuck with the same style and philosophies in building a team and managing a game that are taking us nowhere. Some on here are so engulfed in worshiping Friedman, defending Roberts and believing in the excuses that their eyes are clouded. It’s a great thing winning so many divisions titles and 100 win seasons and is to be commended but there is a higher mountain to climb that this leadership can’t figure out. Someone please explain why there’s no fire, no desire, no intensity, no grit when it counts the most
That is what I am doing TOMORROW!
Hang on. It will be a scathing denunciation!
Baseball more than any other sport where overall talent is less important?
A couple of things guys. Manfred defended the playoff system even though there is some scathing criticism out there of the whole thing right now. I think the system favors the wild card teams. I am sorry, sitting out five days at the All-Star break is a lot different than five after the season. And not everybody on the team took a break. Freeman and Betts and Martinez were there, so was Kershaw although he did not play. And they usually start play again on Thursday. The last couple of years have been an anomaly. I totally believe the off time affects the hitters more than it does the pitchers.
But the Dodgers lost because they were totally outplayed by a team, they beat by 14 games. The Dodgers won 41 and lost 17 from August to October. Mookie Betts started September with 38 homers. He hit exactly 1 more in 29 games. His Sept line was .244/1/9 with an OPS of 718. This from a player who averaged an OPS of over 1.100 the previous three months of the season, then he totally disappeared in the playoffs. He has just 7 hits in his last 13 playoff games. 2 doubles and 2 RBI’s. That won’t cut it. That last month probably cost him a shot at the MVP award.
Freeman slumped a little, but still was good with a .296/4/13 line with 6 bags and a .869 OPS. Then he also disappeared in the playoffs. Martinez was on fire in the last month, .333/8/25. He carried the team. His OPS that last month was 1.050. He hit the only post season homer the team had.
It was pretty much a team effort to play as bad as they did. But I still do not like the down time nor the fact that this system favors the wild card teams. All three 100-win teams eliminated in the first round both years speaks to that favoritism. All the teams with a bye except the Cheetos, eliminated both years. This needs to be fixed.
Like I mentioned, Freddie played 161 games. He has his routine everyday. He probably never went 2 or 3 days without hitting competitively , as he played in the All-Star Game. 5 Days off, one game and another day off can’t be good for his stroke especially as he was not swinging like he wanted. He’s not getting right in the cage or in a sim game.
The Wildcard needs to lose their advantages with this schedule. I think a double-header, if needed on the 2nd day of the Wildcat Series’, would save a day of rest. And no rest days during the Division Series” except for a travel day after game 2. (maybe) If it goes to game 5, no day off. Just like during the regular season.
I hate Manfred but I think the Networks are driving the bus with this playoff schedule.
I think a fiddle would sound way better in that song than the organ and opens for a wider variety of listeners and please lets not have any brass in the mix. We just need to keep it simple………oops never mind. Where am I?
Arby’s
There’s no doubt and totally agree the five day layoff is detrimental for teams that have it. But still could of and should of have won that series with a few clutch hits and the great pen we had even with our poor starter situation and a not very good bottom of lineup if only had some fight in them. Barring miracles don’t think could of got past the LCS with that roster but sure would of been fun trying
was being sarcastic about donaldson Bear! but that’s the kind Friedman targets!
There is ZERO chance Donaldson comes to LA. AF would never target a guy like that… for a plethora of reasons.