Let’s start with what we know:
- We know that this is a talented team that just came off a World Series Championship.
- We know that by signing Blake Snell and Roki Sasaki and with Shohei Ohtani, Dustin May, and Tony Gonsolin ready to pitch eighteen months removed from Tommy John Surgery, the starting staff should be very deep.
- We know that the bullpen should be very deep with Tanner Scott, Alex Vesia, Michael Kopech, Blake Treinen, Kirby Yates, and the Bazooka to go with any number of other pitchers.
- We know that the Dodger Farm Systems is one of the Top Farm Systems in baseball, thus making the depth unbelievable.
- We know that Dave Roberts is one of the best managers in the game (and needs to be paid like one right about now).
- We know that Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, and Shohei Ohtani are all former MVPs.
- We know that Max Muncy, Will Smith, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Michael Conforto, and Teoscar Hernandez are all capable of hitting thirty or more home runs!
What we think we know:
- We think we know that we have enough depth on the pitching side to withstand a spate of injuries.
- We think we know that Emmet Sheehan, Clayton Kershaw, and Brusdar Graterol will be ready to pitch by the second half of the season.
- We think that the offense will be one of the best in baseball.
- We think we know that there will be some devastating injuries… we just don’t know to who.
What we don’t know:
- We don’t know what role injuries and off-seasons will play.
- We don’t know if Kim can play 2B at an MLB level.
- We don’t know if Kike Hernandez will re-sign.
- We don’t know if 2024 was an anomaly or a breakout season for Miguel Rojas.
- We don’t know what rookies will step up.
- We don’t know what non-roster invitees might be a factor.
What do we know that we don’t Know?
- We simply don’t know what we don’t know… because if we knew what we didn’t know, we would actually know it! Think about that for a minute!
You can build a superteam on paper, but then you have to play the game. Time and again, it has been proven that buying the best team and having the best team on paper often does not mean anything. That’s why they play the game, and that’s why baseball is the best game in the galaxy!
Dodger News
- From MLBTR: The Dodgers announced their full coaching staff this week. Most of manager Dave Roberts’ staff is coming back, but there are a few alterations. First base coach Clayton McCullough departed to take the skipper job with the Marlins and will be replaced by Chris Woodward. Third base coach Dino Ebel will also take up a role working with outfielders. The club also announced this week that Brandon McDaniel joins the staff as major league development integration coach.
- McDaniel, 41, is not new to the organization. He has been working various roles throughout the system over the years, often working in the realm of strength and conditioning. For the past few years, he has had the title of vice president of player performance. He will now have an official role on the staff for what will be his 13th year working for the club at the big league level.
- The rest of the staff will be filled out by Danny Lehmann, Bob Geren, Mark Prior, Robert Van Scoyoc, Aaron Bates, Connor McGuiness and Josh Bard, with all of them returning to their previous roles.
- From Duke: Ex-Yankee reliever Stephen Ridings, recently signed to play for OKC, hopes to be the Dodgers next RP rehab success.
Every season, the Dodgers seem to come up with a gem that just needs a little polish. Ridings, now 29, has pitched in the Royals, Yankees and Mets organizations.
Back in ’21, he pitched five inning for the Yankees, striking out 7 with a 1.80 ERA.
Will Pages get regular at-bats? Can he play CF?
Where will Edman wind up?
Is Outman toast?
Will Frasso debut?
What does May have left?
So tired of fans thinking they have all the answers. Sit down, be humble. Hard to bear.
Will CT3 have a resurgence and be a key cog in the quest to repeat?
There are:
Known knowns
Known unknowns
Unknown unknowns
There are also mistakes.
We often “know” things that turn out to be untrue.
But we do know that Mark’s list of Dodgers capable of hitting 30 HRs in a season omitted Shohei.
Clarification of your known unknowns; The issue isn’t whether Kim can play 2nd base. It’s whether he will hit enough to warrant a spot on the 26 man roster.
dadgum it Mark, youin’s sounded like my gunsmoke fav or ite Festus splainin sumtin to ole Doc ! you know what i know? i know this site is plum special! well if you knew it already, now we know what we knew ! Dodgers are SPECIAL!
Of course EVERYTHING is an unknown because it hasn’t happened yet. That’s the opposite of the Steven Wright ( or Mitch Hedberg) joke . When people ask him for a photo of how he looked in the past, He would say EVERY photo is from the past. Anyway we can only make educated(or uneducated) guesses. My uneducated guess is that age related nagging injuries will keep Rojas from having a similar year. As for Taylor, I see his role continue to diminish
Mel Brooks when an interviewer observed that he had lost his father at a young age.
“That’s not true.”
“But–”
“We didn’t lose him. He died. If we had lost him, we’d have looked for him.”
I’ve always thought Miller had great stuff, and he started last season well before falling away badly.
Gavin Stone did much the same a couple of seasons ago, only to come back stronger and I fancy Bobby to do the same. Having Snell Mentor him can only be a good thing.
He could just do with finding a little movement on his fastball – if he does he will be fine.
I think AF has assembled a squad that is built for the Playoffs and short series.
His experience of past campaigns has taught him that you will need 3 Ace Type Starters, Kershaw and Grienke wasn’t enough, and certainly going in with stop gaps or injured players isn’t gonna get it done.
Hopefully come October a selection from
Snell
Yamamoto
Sasaki
Ohtani
Miller
Kershaw
Gonsolin
May
Will be enough. There’s always the opportunity to add an Ace as a Rental (think Flaherty) should things get really bad, as we definitely have the Prospect Capital.
He’s tried to preempt this need by doing his shopping now.
I fully expect to see a season of management of innings pitched, and an all out attempt to get the returning wounded rounding into form come September. There will be liberal use of the IL and plenty of rest for the aging Freddie, Mookie and Max.
I think AF has afforded Doc the opportunity to literally plan for October all season long.
I know it’s very hard to repeat, but it’s going to take a very good team to beat the Dodgers this year.
What about Glasnow?
What about him?
He is healthy!
I was wondering why Watford left him off the list. THAT”S ALL
There’s so many good options it’s easy forget one. I’ve done it many times.
The pitcher I’m most looking forward to is Shohei.
Bring on the unicorn!
Yes – totally forgot Glasnow.
Should have plenty of options
Happy to see that Snell wants to mentor Miller, but wondering where that relationship comes from? Did they know each other before Snell signed here? Does Blake see some similarity between himself and Bobby, either in makeup, stuff or who knows what?
I liked the Snell signing to begin with but to see that one of the first things he does is announce he wants to help a struggling young starter, that tells me he has already signed on to doing things the Dodger way.
I have no clue, and maybe this falls into the area of We don’t Know what we don’t Know. However, they are both big guys with big fastballs.
Early in his career, Snell won the Cy Young and the next year, he had nearly a 5.00 ERA, so he knows what it is to struggle.
Sometimes, you meet a person and you just bond instantly. Who knows why? I think we all have friends like that.
Out of rehab and resting at my sis’s house. Heading home to Colorado on Monday.
OK, I’ll warn everyone! 😉
Thanks a lot pal. I already sent word to my building that I am heading back.
Happy for you Bear
God bless you.
Ippei Mizuhara, former interpreter for Shohei Ohtani, was sentenced to 57 months in prison today. Per Sam Blum of The Athletic, there will be three years of supervised release and Mizuhara has been ordered to pay Ohtani nearly $17MM in restitution.
Good luck with the restitution!
Ohtani has agreed to defer most of the restitution.
LOL
“No,” Manfred said, when asked if the Dodgers are ruining baseball. “I don’t agree with that. The Dodgers are a really well-run, successful organization. Everything that they do and have done is consistent with our rules. They’re trying to give their fans the best possible product.” However, he did make it clear he’s aware of the frustration coming from other fanbases. “I recognize, however, and my email certainly reflects it: There are fans in other markets who are concerned about their teams’ ability to compete, and we always have to be concerned when our fans are concerned about something. But pinning it on the Dodgers, not in that camp.”
I saw an article on Yahoo Sports (although I didn’t read it all) about which trio is more dangerous or powerful between Ohtani-Betts-Freeman and Lindor-Soto-Alonso, but they didn’t come up with any results. I think that obviously the Mets trio is more powerful, but definitely the Dodgers trio is more dangerous!
I think the Dodgers Trio is more powerful and dangerous!
Mets trio 100 Home runs
Dodgers trio 70 to 80 HRs
Betts was injured last year. Freddie missed a lot of games too.
Look at their yearly average:
Betts – 32 HR
Ohtani – 42 HR
Freeman – 27 HR
Yearly Ave. – 101 average per year
Soto – 35 HR
Lindor – 29 HR
Alonso – 43 HR
Yearly Average – 107 HR per year
HR’s are only part of the story. BA, OPS, SLG and WAR also weigh in BIG TIME
Average WAR:
Mets Trio: 15.9
Dodgers Trio: 18.9
Homeruns are overrated!
Back in 2023, Pete Alonso rejected a seven-year, $158 million contract extension. Yesterday, he signed a two-year, $54 million contract. This is a classic case of what greed can do! I just wonder what role Scott Borass played in rejecting the $158 Million Deal…
Pigs get slaughtered!!! Pete is a dumbass just like his agent. Why do you need more than $158 million to live the rest of your life? Plus he is not worth more than that as a one dimensional player.
The Alonso deal has a first year option for Pete. He will get 30 million in that first year. So in theory, he’s betting on himself and can then opt out for a big pay day. Unfortunately, for Pete, his OPS has been on a downward trend for the past 3 years. His average annual salary for the length of the contract is better than the 7 year offer. But I doubt he will even come close to the total.
It’s a good deal for the Mets, but I’m surprised they didn’t go for Christian Walker.
We’ll see how these big contracts age. So far Mookie-Freddie has been a HUGE success
What about this back ablation?! Sometimes, I think we are walking the same paths!
I have never had the anticipation for baseball to start as I have this year. Can’t wait until things kick off!
Have you had a back ablation?
Watched SNLA this morning. A lot of talk about Kersh and Kike. All the hosts believe both Kersh and Kike will sign soon after spring training starts. Heading home and I have an appointment in the Springs the day they play their first spring game.
Arenado back on the radar ? Would Cards eat more money, take back
Taylor
I don’t see any way that Arenado and Max exist on the same roster at the same time.
So not only would the Cards have to take Taylor but they might have to take Max as well. They’re trying to give their younger players some room to grow so taking in CT and Max really makes little sense. I guess they could involve a third team but I hope they just let Arenado go to Boston or NY and we keep Max as our third baseman.
Agreed.. see him go Red Sox .
Although like idea (not feasible) Arenado 3b,Max 2nd,Kim/Rojas SS,Mookie in CF . Our lineup would be stacked ! D little in question at 2b but like KimRojas better at SS then Mook
1. Kim is much better defensively at 2B than SS.
2. Mookie is bent and determined to play SS… so that is the end of the story.
3. This is the time of year they do Top 10 Lists on MLB Radio. Arenado was not on any of the lists at 3B. Muncy was! I heard a one-round table discussion where everyone was asked if it was Muncy or Arendo. Everyone said Muncy!
Mark agreed .. know Mookie wants play SS. Only concern is if Mookie starts poorly making errors affects his offense.If he played CF our OF would be loaded.
Arenado still has something in the tank and would love see him come.home flourish
My only question: Will Kim hit enough to be the 2B?
I heard that Gavin Lux is set to be the DH in Cincy!