Purely a Trainwreck!

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1. I was unaware of Verdugo’s ‘possible character issues’. Could someone please elaborate.
   Sad to see Agon nearly gone.
   Chris Taylor just won’t go away.
   Wood to the bullpen
   George to the Lakers.

   1. Let me just say that Verdugo’s father has been a little “overly involved” with his son’s coaches, etc and he feels “entitled.” I can’t say too much, because I have a friend who knows him well in Tucson, There’s a little about it out on the web. I’ll try and look it up later. He could be fine…

      1. I think I read that Verdugo has outgrown some of the character issues.
         .
         I would look to replace Puig in RF with Verdugo.
         .
         For Trout I would offer Toles, Puig, Alvarez, Calhoun, Wood, and another pitching prospect. Hatcher is always included in all trades.

      2. I’ve read this stuff about Verdugo and it all may be true. I will say that he was great with the kids and tried to sign as many autographs as possible for everyone. Hopefully, A-gone took him under his wing a bit on Team Mexico.

2. It was the wrong decision to send Taylor to AAA after the spring he had.
   Bum, Trout would be the best news ever, but I’m afraid it would take more.
   Think you would have put Urias & Belinger in the mix.

   1. If the Dodgers were to trade all those players the Angels would be deep and the Dodgers shallow, the reverse of what exists now. I was just trying to change the players Mark offered but keep the offer similar.

3. As we put the train wreck of an 8th inning in the rear view mirror, I did see some positives.
   Joc looks pretty good at lead off and has deceptive speed. I am curious to see if they turn him loose stealing.
   As much as the Team Dad is struggling, he hit the ball on the nose 3 times, just right at guys. He is due. Stellar defensive grab on that line drive by the way.
   Seager is starting to warm up, which will help everybody.
   I agree with Mark, Wood in the bullpen makes us real tough. He has great 3 inning stuff.
   We take Turner’s defense for granted. The guy makes the hard plays look routine. He has worked hard for that. Love it.
   I wish they would play Toles more, he has upside, just needs more at bats. Great bottom 3rd of the line up guy.
   Until the 8th, this was a great game to watch, we battled pretty good. One inning doesnt worry me.
   Taylor is the real deal, ride that wave into shore, and yes, Kike should be worried.

   1. Roger

      Toles didn’t hit those two runners in, on his first two out, chance.

      But he hit Grandal in, on his second two out, chance.

4. Obviously, I will have to see more from Taylor – we know he has a good glove – just not much Outfield experience, but I think he can grow into a decent Outfielder. I love the look of his bat and the speed, but He’s going to have to show me more. This is a tough game. When things are going good for someone, we think he’s Babe Ruth and when he is in a slump, we want to retire him. Things are seldom what they seem in the instant!

5. I would reward Joc by leading him off against the lefty!

   1. Mark

      I too, think they should let Joc lead off against this tougher leftie starter, and see what he can do.

6. Verdugo article:
   –
   http://www.askcoachwolff.com/2014/06/08/parents-v-coaches-star-hs-pitcher-dictates-coach-playing-time/
   –
   Of course, that was a while ago and he may have overcame his father’s meddlesome ways, but his dad is still a piece of work.
   –
   Here’s what one scout has to say about Verdugo:
   –
   
   Verdugo is a sweet-swinging 20-year-old who’s already advanced as Double-A. But with subpar athleticism, he must further develop his power before he can stand out as a possible major league star.

   1. Mark

      Obviously Agone is hurting and he isn’t even close, to his usual self.

      I think when a player is like that, they need to go on the DL and get healthy, but what are our options, and Scotty isn’t the answer?

7. Adrian Gonzales Exit Velocity has dropped, but his average distance has also dropped 40 feet and if you look at his launch angle and average height of his hits, you have to conclude that he is trying to just get a hit. Not a god ting for a middle-of-the-order hitter. I hope it’s just injury, but if it is, DL him!

   1. Mark

      I am more worried about our starting pitching rotation, then our offense.

      We have to many four and five pitchers, in this rotation, especially with Hill not pitching, in the rotation.

      I know Urias is going to come up soon, but it might take him a few games to get major league command of his pitches, in order to not be vulnerable to major league hitters, and to not throw to many pitches, early in a game.

      We need another high quality pitcher in our rotation, beyond Urias.

      Because we can’t count on Maeda, and Ryu, to not to put us behind in games early, right now.

      And we still can’t let Wood face the order, after the second time through.

      He almost immediately gets hit hard, if he is allowed to face even the first hitter, the third time around.

      He didn’t have very good command of his pitches, most of the night, and that can’t happen, in a hitter’s park, with a team, that has a decent offense.

      We use to beat these teams, the Dbacks and the Rockies, with our strong starting pitching.

      And pitching is at least 80 percent of the game.

      And we can’t expect our bullpen, to be perfect every night.

      And it looks like we need to win almost every game we face a rightie pitcher, because of our leftie pitcher, vulnerability.

      And we have to win games that we should win, because of our leftie vulnerability, and with our back of the order, starting pitching.

      McCarthy might pitch like a number three pitcher some times, but that isn’t going to happen, all the time.

8. What came first, the chicken or the egg? What came first, hitters dominating starting pitchers or bullpens pitching 4-5 innings a game? My take is that hitters have been dominating starting pitchers for a while now, to the point that few can get through the lineup 3 times. It’s a hitters game. Period. That’s what MLB wants, and the fans do too, I guess. Lately, I’ve seen on TV starting pitchers that seem to be terrific early on, but when I read the box score the next day, they are out in 5 with 4+ runs given up. Hitters advantage across the board. I advocate again to raise the mound to get more of balance between starting pitching and hitting. We can’t blame steroids now (I think) for the dominant hitting. Maybe we can blame lack of steroids for starting pitching to be so bad. Or maybe hitters are still juicing with something that the pitchers aren’t. I don’t know. I just hate the present state of affairs with the weak starting pitching, Dodgers included. MLB and the union will never allow the raising of the mound. I think the umpires are calling a fair strike zone now, so it can’t be that. These guys just aren’t good enough. Add to that the 100 pitch count, and we have the type of game we can see at a local park on Saturday.

9. Mark: “I was having flashbacks to the Indiana Pacers game on Thursday night where they coughed up a 25 point halftime lead. This seals the the deal for Paul George to opt of his contract and paves the way for a sign and trade to the LA Lakers. All Larry Bird wants is the #3 pick and the #28 pick the Lakers own along with Brandon Ingram and another player”.
   .
   Yeah, never say die Larry, gets his butt kicked, then calls the Lakers hoping Magic will make it all better. Hopefully Magic told him to call the Celtics before hanging up. With all the missing posters this morning looks like some people are staring at the knife rack right now, others getting delusional like Larry. Me? All this Indiana basketball talk reminded me of this:
   .
   Coach Norman Dale: “I would hope you would support who we are. Not, who we are not. These 25 individuals have made a choice to work, a choice to sacrifice, to put themselves on the line 162 nights for the next 7 months, to represent you. That kind of commitment and effort deserves and demands your respect. This is your team.
   .
   OK, I’ll admit some of our players look like “Ollie” but let’s remember we aren’t stuck with Ollie, all season, like Coach Dale. We got choices! We got options! We got TIME!
   .

   Wilbur ‘Shooter’ Flatch (Ladodgertalk posters): You gotta promise me you won’t get your butt kicked in no more games!
   .
   Coach Norman Dale (FAZ): Scout’s honor.
   .
   Well, we all know how that turned out, but it all ended GREAT!! Never ever forget, it can always be worse, we could all be SF Midget fans. OK Dodgers, let’s win some for the Gipper!!
   .
   http://www.chasingthefrog.com/reelfaces/hoosiers.php

10. Oaks and Alvarez today. Buehler’s ball-strike count wasn’t great, but still pretty efficient.

11. By the way, Cody Bellinger hit .273 against LH pitching last year.

12. It was interesting to listen to Orel talk about Taylor’s new swing this year. Of course he did almost hit for the cycle in AZ last year when he first came up too. I don’t see the need to try to teach him CF. I understand why, but quite frankly I would trust Puig with CF before Taylor. New swing, new position. A lot to take on. Someone mentioned he looks like Mike Marshall and I agree. However, he was hitting about .230 at OKC. He impressed at Camelback, but I need to see more to convince me he isn’t a AAAA player. Speaking of OKC, I see Trayce is still hitting .000.

    Urias needs to be in the rotation next time. Wood back to the pen. I think Wood would be effective as a starter too, but not if he’s bouncing back and forth. They’re wasting innings in OKC if there are anymore. They let him throw 93 pitches yesterday. Time to do that in LA. I like Wood backing up Maeda and McCarthy while Stripling backs up the lefties. It’s a good way to mess up other team’s platoons. I have less confidence in Romo every time I see him.

    I’m not convinced that Cody is ready, but a combo of Braun with Cody would be better than what Agone is bringing. I like Toles. I think he’s a good ball player and I’m not advocating dumping him like some, but Braun would provide what Agone is not and more. When Bellinger is ready, is there enough from a group of Calhoun,, Thompson, Peters, Rios, Farmer, Oaks, Wood, Stripling, McCarthy, Stewart, Toles, etc to get them to take Agone as the salary dump? I tend to think not right now. Thames can play OF, but is mostly playing first. The Brewers don’t need OF players and will be after pitching. Not being able to count on Rich Hill makes it tough to move certain players. The Dodgers aren’t going to be able to dump Kazmir on anyone. So, the next worse contract at this point is Gonzalez. To simplify, can the Dodgers dump Agone for Braun without moving White, Alvarez, or Buehler and I wouldn’t want to deal Puig. He hit two missles for outs last night. He had about 4 hits taken from him by Arenado and Para this year too. I’m not saying trade all of those guys and there are certainly others not listed, but an aging Agone with a bad neck and tendinitis in his elbow could bring down this lineup for two years.

    1. Hawkeye

       I don’t know if Thames hits leftie or rightie, but couldnt we trade for him, for less then Braun?

       I don’t know if Thames is the real thing, and I know he is hitting in a hitter’s park, but if he is playing mostly first, he could come in and play first, instead of Agone.

       Because I think Agone needs to go out on the DL, he has been able to over come most of his injury problems in the past, but he isn’t doing close to that, right now.

       Thames has been playing in the Korean league, so I don’t know if he is real.

       And I know the Brewers want starting pitching, but we need better starting pitching, in our own starting pitching rotation.

       A bunch of number fours, and more fives, is not going to help us be the team, we really are.

       1. And then when Adrian comes off the DL? Also, Adrian won’t tell anyone he needs to go on the DL. The Brewers have a pretty stocked minor league system and a low payroll so I don’t even know how motivated they are to move Braun anymore. I’m all for the WBC and I found it entertaining this year. Players can get hurt just as easily in a spring training game as they can the WBC, but if Adrian was still battling tendinitis, he should have remained shut down. Instead he went, came back with it still bothering him, and then belly-ached about never playing in it again after chastising people for not playing in it. Now he’s come out of the gates hitting weak groundballs with warning track power. He needs to step up.

          I’m not sure if Thames got a one year deal or more, but the Brewers will be looking to cash in whatever they can at the deadline to continue their rebuild.

          1. Thames has a cheap 3 year deal with a team option for a 4th. He’s 30 years old. If he continues to hit, he won’t be cheaper than Braun nor will the Dodgers be after a first baseman to block Bellinger. I can’t speak of his defensive prowess in LF, but I don’t see dumping Agone to Milwaukee as a match if Thames is bad in the OF.

             1. Hawkeye

                I thought Thames may be on only a one year deal.

                But why do the Brewers even need Thames, they are rebuilding?

    2. Cody will be up in Early May. Write it down that I said it!

    3. Hawkeye

       Wasn’t Mike Marshall a lot bigger?

       It is his dark eye brows, that makes him look like Mike Marshall.

13. It is past time for Bellinger to replace Gonzalez; The Dodgers know it, it is just a question of when.

    1. If Gonzalez doesn’t get it together, the Dodgers will have problems getting 50 cents on the dollar for him at the end of the season. Let’s say he does get it together, who would give the Dodgers 50 cents on the dollar?

       Philly? Miami? SEA? NYM? Tex? There won’t be a lot of options.

       1. You can add the Yankees to the possibilities, both their two first basemen are hitting about a hundred points below Gonzalez.

       2. Hawkeye

          He is obviously hurt, he doesn’t often let a 95 mile fastball beat him, that is right across, the plate.

          He was the only player, on our team that last year, that was able to hit a Chapman 100 mile hour fastball, for a hit, right up the middle.

          This is no age regression, but just like I think Kershaw needs to start knowing, when he doesn’t have it anymore, Agone needs to tell Roberts, he just can’t play like he can, right now.

14. I think I have the solution to our LHP woes.

    The Bryce Harper stat of the day from @MarkZuckerman – 11 plate appearances vs LHP this year. Reached in 10 of them!

    1. Bluto

       Harper is on fire right now!

15. I don’t feel comfortable with Wood in the rotation, and he is too good in the pen as a long man. Urias is ready to take that spot next turn as Mark mentioned. If Hill can get healthy, toughen up his fingers, change his grip or whatever it takes we have a solid 3 and McCarthy has pitched well also. That leaves Maeda and Ryu for the last spot but they will need all 6 at some point with the health concerns. Limiting innings seems to be working itself out on it’s own.
    –
    The wheels fell off in the 8th inning but it was a perfect storm of good at bats and bad pitching and not the end of the world. It’s difficult when the bullpen is on a tight rope night after night. Romo will be ok, and a game like this destroys the ERA of a reliever and hopefully does not damage his confidence.
    –
    I am not in favor of giving up on AGon this early and the other options at 1B don’t inspire me. Whatever salary he has is a sunk cost so might as well get what you can out of him. He may not be 100% but at least he’s playing unlike Ethier who is another sunk cost and also Kazmir. He also can field the position and is a clubhouse and community leader. Put Ethier and Kazmir on the 60 day DL and open up some 40 man spots.
    –
    I read an interesting article about Bellinger’s arbitration clock that if called up after May 1st would give the Dodgers another year of team control. He can only be on the roster for 172 days, similar to Kris Bryant 2 years ago. If he keeps producing at OKC he may force their hand.
    –
    I liked Pederson up top last night and Puig could look good in the 2 hole flattering their speed. Put Seager and Turner 3 and 4 and bat Grandal and AGon 5 and 6 in some combination with 2B and LF 7 and 8 depending on the lineup that day.
    –
    It’s a long season and the team will be fine, starting with the game today. The rotation will be good. The bullpen will be better. The bats will come alive and they will start winning series at home and on the road. The Rockies are for real and will compete if they can win on the road. I don’t think the DBacks have the pitching to hold up over a long season. The Giants are flawed, Mad Bum is out and the Dodgers need to take advantage when they play them 7 out of 10 games coming up. Of course the Giants will play their hearts out but could be buried early. The Padres are the Padres and the Dodgers seem to own them. I believe in this team, in the manager and the front office and they all deserve our support while they work through this rough patch at the start of the year.

    1. RIGHT ON!
       .
       Thanks for the info on Bellinger’s arbitration clock.

16. I think that if the Dodgers could get 50 cents on the dollar for A-Gon, they would jump at it! They might get 30 cents on the dollar…
    –
    The problem is this: Dodger fans love Adrian and he is a really good dude. Many think he is worth the $21 million he is being paid. Other teams wouldn’t pay him $8 million… not at this stage of his career.

17. Tonight’s Lineup:
    –
    1. Hernandez SS
    2. Taylor 2B
    3. Turner 3B
    4. Puig RF
    5. Van Slyke 1B
    6. Pederson CF
    7. Barnes C
    8. Eibner LF
    –
    I don’t know why they didn’t put all righties in.
    –
    Can anyone tell me how they could have done that? I know.

    1. Grandal at 1b, SVS or Eibner in CF for Joc 🙂

18. There’s the answer! Sit Seager, who homered last night, plus Grandal and AGon and give Eibner LF. Unless Seager told Roberts he needed a blow come on! This lineup does have speed up top and maybe someone surprises me and there is some thunder off the bench when the starter gets pulled. Maeda better have his A game going or it could get ugly tonight. Taylor is also the better SS so I don’t get that at all, put Kike at 2B.

    1. Vegas

       I hate to see our team like this, because most every team we play against, have there top line ups, in their games.

       They might platoon a little, with one of two guys, but they don’t have a totally different team play, like this platoon team, the Dodger have play.

19. How about this:
    –
    1. Hernandez LF
    2. Taylor SS
    3. Turner 3B
    4. Puig RF
    5. Van Slyke 1B
    6. Grandal C
    7. Barnes 2B
    8. Eibner CF

20. Well it makes it all righty batters taking Joc out for Grandal who is a switch hitter so why not test the platoon thing all the way? And it puts does Taylor at SS with a better glove however I’m not sure if Barnes is an upgrade at 2B or not. My main problem was sitting Seager after a big game unless he wanted a day off (not likely) and they all just had a day off Thurs. I’m sure the DBacks liked tonight’s lineup!

    1. Well, there is this: Corey is hitting .207 against LH pitching this year!

21. Mark,
    Why, if FAZ wants to limit the innings of Urias, is he in the rotation at OKC? Really only one pitcher has thrown significantly more innings with the OKC Dodgers than Urias and that is Jurrjens, who has thrown 2.2 innings more. In fact really only McCarthy and Kershaw have thrown for more innings than Urias. What’s up with that? Are they saying that Minor League innings are not as stressful? If they are going to throw him like that then put him in the Big League rotation for crying out loud! I don’t like the duplicity I am feeling here. What kind of message are they sending to the kid. All this talk of managing his innings…feels like someone is trying to sell some swamp land in Florida.

    1. Well, he may be in the rotation at OKC, but he started late…
       –
       Have you bothered to look at how many innings he has pitched? They are just trying to limit his innings, especially when he starts. Clayton Kershaw had 24 innings pitched in the spring and has 4 starts this season with with another 28 innings. So, since Spring Training, he has logged 52 innings. How many has Urias logged? 8 in Spring Training and 14 in the minors. That’s 22 innings, which has effectively cut 30 innings off his arm effective now!
       –
       The only duplicity is in your mind. This makes perfect sense. In fact, they will likely DL him at least once… maybe twice. They are letting him pitch a little. When they call him up next week he should be capable of going 6 innings.
       –
       Here’s the message they are sending him: You are valuable. Your arm is valuable. We are going to do everything we can to protect it.
       –
       This is a straw man argument! They want him to be strong in the playoffs.

22. Hey, is it just me, or are we platooning so much that the bench guys are starting to get as many at bats as the starters? Every team we play from here on out is going to throw as many lefties as they can at us until we break the schnide. Unless it is paying off big time to platoon, which seems like a mixed bag at this point, just leave the damn starters in there for 6 or 7 games in a row and let them get some consistent AB’s. We are never going to know unless at some point this year we try it. The other teams must dig it when we trot out the spring training lineup like tonight. It totally weakens us in the long run. I am starting to see a pattern that I think is not good, and I usually don’t worry too much about us. Just seems like some of our keys guys need to in there every night no matter who pitches.

    1. Then I would advise them to hit against LH pitching. They just told Corey that he was going to sit because he is not hitting lefties.
       –
       I really don’t like platoons but if the payers don’t like it, HIT THEM!

       1. Mark

          They didn’t say that about Corey.

          And anything that Corey is hitting, might be affected by the fact he missed most of spring training.

          He is still trying to adjust and get his endurance up.

23. Back to Trout:
    How about Alvarez, Stewart, Calhoun, Verdugo, Sheffield, Peters, Toles and Pederson? The Angels get one Major Leaguer who has 50+ HR and another who is already in the Show, plus 5 TOP 10 Prospects and another Top 20 Prospect?
    –
    The Dodgers would still have Bellinger, Urias, Buehler, Diaz, Lux. White , Estevaz and a bunch more….

    1. Remove Verdugo and Sheffield and the Angels are still getting a 6 for 1 deal (memories of Ollie Matson come to mind). Don’t see the Angels trading Trout to the Dodgers or even to another AL team, bit IF they did, both Houston and Boston could be players.

24. I like the trade for Forsythe but I stand by my pre-spring training comments that I would be okay with Taylor starting the season as the Dodger’s second baseman. He might wind up getting plenty of playing time there as Forsythe could be in and out of the lineup all year.
    .
    I like Ozuna and Archer and I hate to admit it, Braun is growing on me.

25. Kike!

    1. Maeda!!

       1. The Dbacks hit Maeda hard last year, more then any other team.

26. We have one ace and way too many #4 and #5 starters. Two more top pitchers (Urias and Archer?) are needed.

27. Urias is coming next week.
    –
    Archer isn’t!
    –
    Maeda was great the first half of last year and ran out of gas the second half. Hopefully, it is opposite this year.

28. This much I know; Maeda has not been good this year!

    1. I’m much more concerned with the starting pitching than I am with the hitting. Maybe some of your Trout bait can be used to get Archer.

29. I should have said “reel in Archer”.

    1. I’d rather reel in Trout.
       –
       But you have a “bullseye” on Archer! 😉

       1. Ha

30. Another 4 inning start. More Dodger incompetence against lefties. Wash, rinse, repeat.
    –
    Get Maeda out of there.
    –
    The Dodgers have too many spots in their rotation that they need to replace right now. They have 2 guys getting it done, 3 on the DL, and the rest stink. Urias replaces Wood; who replaces Ryu and Maeda?

31. Whew, he pitched 5 – It’s all good.
    –
    Wait! What’s the score?

32. Some good is coming out of this game. Taylor and Barnes look like they belong. Kike is starting to turn it around. Joc looks lost. He just has not gotten any better. This is his third year and I just do not see the improvement I would include Joc in any trade package. Bellinger and Verdugo has to be better than Joc.

33. Bases loaded.-
    –
    Turner strikes out.
    –
    He’s a bum!
    –
    Cut him!
    –
    That’s as dumb as doubting the Dodgers pitching depth. It may not look good now, but the depth will make all the difference!

    1. That’s the quantity over quality argument. i would rather have the latter.
       –
       Dodgers’ depth?
       Kazmir – DL
       Stewart – DL
       Hill – 1 -1 3.38, 2 starts, 8 IP, 1.50 WHIP
       Ryu – 0 – 3, 5.87, 15 ip, 1.50 WHIP
       Maeda – 1 – 1, (so far), 8.05, 18 IP, 1.53 WHIP
       Urias – pitching his innings in the minors instead of the majors – minor league innings don’t count against arm wear and tear

    2. Mediocre pitching depth at this time.

34. This team is a year away. I want the team to succeed, but I have realistic expectations. Too many holes especially in the SP’s
    Next Year:
    Urias in LA full time,
    Buehler or White in LA,
    Gonzalez gonzo,
    Bellinger starting at 1B,
    Hopefully LF resolved (Verdugo),
    Hopefully swing & miss Joc gonzo,
    Scott V – released (who would want him), Utley – retired,

    I do like the trade scenarios for Trout but those are not happening.

35. Forgot;
    Hatcher relased

36. Hatcher and SVS just need to go. Period. Period. Period.

37. This ain’t my first rodeo. Just like last year… be patient! It’s a long season. Don’t lose your minds or hope!
    

    1. 1988

       1. Bingo!

38. Mark:

    Hope needs a subject,
    Right now Maeda, Hill, Ryu look somewhat hopeless
    For the future; Urias, Buehler & White give me a lot of hope, with Alvarez to follow

39. WHY IS HATCHET STILL ON THE ROSTER? I am using caps because it keeps me from driving a dull butter knife through my forehead. WHY , WHY, WHY? This is groundhog day from the first two months of last year. Somebody, ANYBODY, please take a warm six pack for this guy so we can move on to someone else. Not hating, I’m sure he is a good guy, but enough is enough. Pull the damn trigger.

40. 

41. Chris Hatcher has a lower ERA than Ross Stripling…

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