The Dodgers Depth is a blessing… not a curse… even though it seems that way at times. They have too many players for so few positions.
Hyeseong Kim has 5 MLB games under his belt with 12 ABs and he looks like he belongs. He actually looks like a spark plug. But 5 games is not a lot! Fortuneately, no decisions have to be made immediately. Tommy Edman will likely be on the IL a few more days and Teoscar Hernandez may be back in two or three weeks. If Edman comes back and there are no other injuries, James Outman will go back to OKC, even after his three-run bomb. We all know that James has the power to play in the show. It’s the K’s that are the problem. Outman is a better Centerfielder than Pages, but it’s closer than many think. Pages is improving day-by-day. Outman has an above-average arm… while Pages has a canon!
When everyone is healthy… AND if Kim keeps it up, the Dodgers may be forced to make a decision on Muncy, Taylor, Conforto, or Rojas… maybe. They will cross that bridge IF they come to it! Lots of $$$ owed there… Lots of time before that happens!
Don’t Count on Evan Phillips This Year
Evan Phillips went to the IL with a forearm strain. Whenever I hear “forearm strain” I immediately think “OK, he’s going to need Tommy John Surgery.” I’m right over 50% of the time… Damnit! This is not good. I hope I am totally wrong! The Dodgers have plenty of depth, namely Wrobleski, Frasso, Bazooka (he will be back sometime), Kopech (hopefully his forearm strain is not TJ), Loutos, Sheehan, Bobby Miller (who knows?), Wrobleski, et al. Patience, Grasshoppers! Let’s not forget Knack and Sauer! The key word is DON’T PANIC! I really, really like Evan Phillips, so this really sucks. I hope for the best, but realize it’s probably the worst!
Clayton Kershaw to the Rescue
Clayton Kershaw will be back in 10 days. He’s not the second coming, but I think he will surprise many of you… not me. Never, Never, Never Count out Clayton. He is the last of his kind!
MLB.COM on Jang
Dodgers: Hyun-Seok Jang, RHP (No. 15)
— Dykstra, Callis & Mayo
“Signed for $900,000 out of Korea in 2023, Jang has overpowering stuff (mid-90s fastball, mid-80s slider, upper-80s changeup) but still is learning to harness it. The Dodgers hope to turn him into a starter, but he also could end up as a high-leverage reliever. He has struck out 90 in 56 1/3 pro innings over two seasons, and he has logged a 4.12 ERA while continuing to battle the strike zone at Single-A this spring.“
Oklahoma City 7, Albuquerque 6
Tulsa 8, Amarillo 2
Great Lakes 4, Dayton 3
Visalia 4, Rancho Cucamonga 3
ACL Dodgers 9 ACL Royals 2
Thursday schedule
Tulsa (Jared Karros) at Amarillo (Roman Angelo), 2:30 PM PST, game 1
Tulsa (Jerming Rosario) at Amarillo (Jose Cabrera), game 2 (makeup of May 6)
Great Lakes (Wyatt Crowell) at Dayton (Luke Hayden), 4:05 PM PST
Albuquerque (Jack O’Loughlin) at Oklahoma City (TBA), 5:05 PM PST
Rancho Cucamonga (Sterling Patrick) at Visalia (Lorenzo Encarnacion), 6:30PM PST
For more detailed recaps,stats,schedules, standings and box scores for Dodger minor league teams go to the top of this page and cIick on MINOR LEAGUE AFFLIATES.
I had read that both Max Muncy were born on the same date (but not the same day) but I had no idea that they have practically the same numbers, it’s incredible!
Think you are wrong on EP.
He said he feels no pain when he pitches, its just between starts. That’s a good sign.
A couple weeks rest and he should be good to go…hope im right!
I hope I am wrong!
UGH UGH UGH about Evan Phillips.
Man, Dalton Rushing is all but breaking down the door to be in the bigs. And I think he WILL be this year. But will he “stick”?
Also enjoying the news about Zyhir Hope BUT….does he have a position? Reminds me of what was being said about Willie Calhoun almost 10 years ago. He ended up being in the trade package that went for Yu Darvish.
Hope is definitely a corner outfielder. I hear he has stopped increasing his thighs with squats.
Hope is a legit prospect.
The stats for the 2 Max Muncy’s show that there is only room for one Muncy in MLB. If you combine the two, you get a good player OPS = 1068 and BA of .353.
I think I need to partner with this company as a sponsor:
https://imafarm.com/
Love it
Kershaw’s next outing is scheduled for Sunday with Triple-A Oklahoma City, and it could very well be his last one before joining the Dodgers, according to Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
‘Kershaw is eligible to be activated from the 60-day injured list on May 17, but he would appear likely to return the following day”.
Habemus Papam!
Leo – Villanova Grad!
NOVA!
Potential Cubs fan!
Low key annoyed he didn’t address the crowd in English, but I understand his diocese for a long time now is in Peru.
Why does he have to choose a new name?
Why not Pope Robert I or Pope Bob I?
“The Los Angeles Dodgers pitching staff continues to be ravaged by injuries, with Evan Phillips among the latest arms currently unavailable.
The Dodgers put Phillips on the 15-day injured list due to right forearm discomfort shortly after Wednesday’s game against the Miami Marlins began. He was replaced on the roster by Matt Sauer, who wound up completing a four-out save in the Dodgers’ big win.
While forearm trouble can be a precursor to Tommy John surgery, the Dodgers are optimistic with Phillips’ injury.
Manager Dave Roberts revealed Phillips had been dealing with some trouble and could have remained part of the bullpen but the Dodgers decided to err on the side of caution, as seen on SportsNet LA:
“He just has some arm soreness. It’s just not recovering. Could he have pitched today? Absolutely. I just don’t know, and no one knows, how he would feel going forward. So for us, it just made the most sense to IL him. Our expectation is on that 16th day, he’ll be back out there. So just more of a precaution.”
Phillips echoed much of Roberts’ sentiment and said he initially believed the soreness was part of his return last month:
“I thought it was just re-acclimating to the workload. I always felt good when I pitched, so that’s kind of where my disappointment comes in. I do feel like I can still contribute. But I think what it comes down to is we don’t want to mess around with something in early May.
“We don’t really have the luxury of giving me a couple days off to figure it out. We decided it was best to be cautious with it. We’ll get a deeper look at things over the next few days in Arizona and hopefully have a clearer idea of what we’re working with. But I think there’s a lot of optimism in the training room about what they’re expecting. Let’s just hope this is a quick 15 days and get right back to it.”
Phillips has appeared in seven games so far this year, converting one save and pitching 5.2 scoreless innings”.
Get used to it. This dance of pitchers to the IL is going to go on all season.
Glasnow and Snell will return from the IL soon. Kershaw will return from the 60. Kopech due back. Henriquez too.
The Pirates announced Thursday that they’ve fired manager Derek Shelton, who’d been in his position for the past five-plus seasons. Bench coach Don Kelly has been elevated to the managerial position.
Does anyone really thing that changing managers will solve the Pirates’ problems? it’s like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. They need an owner who will spend money and a decent GM
They are a trainwreck of an organization. You nailed it with the Titanic comparison.
Totally agree!!!! Beautiful ballpark with a beautiful view of the city and more than half empty in any given game.
It’s OK to develop your own homegrown talent,but you have to supplement it with trades and free agents. It’s time for baseball to rid of owners who won’t put a competitive team on the field.
I suppose ownership hopes they can get another Clint Hurdle to male a silk purse from a sow’s ear.
Maybe instead of expansion they should have a ‘despansion’. Take the four worst franchises like Pittsburgh, Miami etc and do away with them and have a despansion draft of the players they have.
Skenes to LA…..
Wouldn’t that be nice!!!
GOOD NEWS!!!!!
David Vassegh
@THEREAL_DV
Michael Kopech is pitching his first rehab game today for Triple-A OKC. Kopech is the Comets opener.
#Dodgers
As much as it’s annoying that the Dodgers lost in 10 with some guy named Feyerhousen – or whatever his name is – the team is going to be playing a lot of games in the next month with little time off. The bullpen is going to be put through the ringer. Going 11, 12, 13 innings would’ve been a disaster.
Yeah, you don’t like losing games, and you want to win the division and get home field advantage in the playoffs, but maybe it’s better that game was lost with a guy named Firehose, who won’t be on the team in September, thus conserving a bullpen that will be severely taxed in the next few weeks.
It’d be nice if you had a starting pitcher who could throw a complete game now and then and give the pen a breather, but that seems to be from a bygone era.
It seems like the precise and complex system that is a modern MLB pitching staff doesn’t leave much room for error.
The knuckleball needs to make a comeback. Teach the bench players how to throw it, so guys like Kike can eat innings.
Our two workhorses are Gonsolin and May!
I’ve been screaming to bring back the knuckleball for years. Guys can throw it all day long without hurting their arm.
There are schools for improving bat speed, schools for improving pitch velo and spin. Why not a knuckleball school?
9:40 PM ET
Dodgers (25-12)
Diamondbacks (19-18)
SP Y. Yamamoto R
4-2 .90 ERA
SP Brandon Pfaadt R
5-2 3.79 ERA
Confirmed Lineup
DH S. Ohtani L
SS Mookie Betts R
1B F. Freeman L
C Will Smith R
3B Max Muncy L
RF Andy Pages R
LF M. Conforto L
2B Hyeseong Kim L
CF James Outman L
In Domed Stadium
A fact impossible to ignore is that the team has the best record in MLB even with the turmoil resulting from players being unavailable due to injury. Placing players on the IL for a “rest” or to more fully heal for a short stint, ie 10 day or 15 days is prudent and doable given the various options available down on the farm. Clearly, the goal is to be at as close to full strength as possible when September comes calling. Some injuries are either long term legit or are perhaps a reflection of the enlightened self interest of the club having the luxury of allowing certain studs to lay low until crunch time approaches. Meanwhile, under the heading of life happens while you’re making other plans: Ben Casparius begins to emerge as a viable starter, Kim shows some exciting skills that may (or may not) continue, and Andy Pages lately has been showing up a whole lot on highlight videos.
Are you also a Duck? 😉
Actually a USC Trojan from way back when we were still writing on cave walls. Have been a Dodger fan since they moved from Brooklyn to LA.
Cool
Two articles and a Sheehan/Edman update:
1. Interesting Ardaya article on Pages and his finding support internally and externally when he was slumping ($$$):
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6340881/2025/05/08/dodgers-andy-pages-raul-ibanez/?source=user_shared_article
2. ($$$$) Rosenthal on how Mookie Betts, who never had great bat speed, had to address bat speed after his early season illness:
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6341106/2025/05/08/mookie-betts-dodgers-bat-speed/?source=user_shared_article
3. Per Ardaya:
Tommy Edman faced Emmet Sheehan today and took some live at-bats. Sheehan was up to 40 pitches. Things appear to be trending well there. Dave Roberts said they’re still building Sheehan up as a starter after TJ — he’s almost 12 months post-op.
Lead off walks and putting runners on base will be the downfall of many starts. Throw strikes and just play the fundamentals. Our talent will produce many wins. Make teams beat you, don’t beat yourself. Watching millions of games in football, basketball and baseball, more games are lost because the team beat themselves versus teams getting beat. Diamondbacks big inning, leadoff walks and HBP made a grand slam out of which should have been at worst a two run home run
Michael Kopech’s line at AAA Oklahoma City last night:
0.0IP 0H 5R 5ER 5BB 0K 23 pitches 3 strikes velo 98.0
Yamamoto wasn’t as sharp pitching on 5 days in between starts instead of 6 days. Hitting Suarez on a 0-2 count loading the bases with no outs didn’t help the cause.