But that has never stopped us before… has it? We will say whatever we damn well please… and worry about the consequences later. So, here is what I think I know, and if you disagree you must be some kind of derelict! After all, 10 games into the season, we should have all the answers (or not).
- Cody Bellinger – He’s better than last year, but this will be a process. BTW, it’s a process that I think he will conquer, but it will take time nonetheless. Prediction: I would say that at the end of the season, his stats will look something like this: .249 BA, 26 HR, 67 RBI, 29 DBL, 6 TRP, 18 SB, and I will be happy with that.
- Mookie Betts – Last week, I tried to trade him back to the Red Sox, for Alex Verdugo but was vetoed by the Sox. In fact, they said, “This is the second Trade we have swindled you on.” I also rue the day we traded for Crawford and A-Gon… and predicted it at the time. Prediction: Mookie Betts will hit .267 with 29 HR and 61 RBI, with a .887 OPS. But, damn, that guy can bowl!
- Chris Taylor – CT3 is the heart and soul of this team. Everyone loves him. Prediction: He will man LF most of the time, and will hit .251 with 28 HR and 69 RBI.
- Justin Turner – 2022 will be his last season as he will retire and join the Dodgers’ Front Office. Prediction: JT will hit .278 with 17 HR and 69 RBI.
- Trea Turner – In his last year as a Dodger, Trea Turner will be the equal (not the better) of Corey Seager defensively, and provide steadiness at the top of the lineup. Prediction: Trea will hit .306 with 39 DBL, 7 TRIP, 18 HR, and 119 runs scored.
- Max Muncy – Max will split his time between 2B and DH – in fact, Max and JT will be the primary DH’s. Prediction: If he is fully recovered from his injury, Max will hit .234 with 29 HR, 108 BB, and 71 RBI.
- Gavin Lux – Here is where I am lost. I have no clue. No prediction. I just hope he does exceptionally well.
- Freddie Freeman – Freddie will become the face of the Dodgers and fans will love him and Charlie. Prediction: Freddie will win the NL MVP, hitting .319 with 34 HR, 119 RBI, and a .987 OPS.
- Will Smith – He will make his first All-Star Game Appearance and be recognized as the best catcher in the NL. Prediction: .286 BA, 28 HR, 92 RBI, .901 OPS.
By June, the lineup will look like this:
- T. Turner SS
- Bellinger CF
- Freeman 1B
- Smith C
- Muncy 2B
- Taylor LF
- Betts RF
- J-Turner 3B
- DH – whoever
The Dodger’s offense will not be what they projected, but it will be solid top-to-bottom and along with their deep, deep, pitching, they will win over 100 games again, beating the Giants by 9 games and the Padres by 13 games. The Dodgers Rotation will win 79 games, led by Clayton Kershaw with 17. The Dodgers will not have a Cy Young Finalist in the Top 10. Craig Kimbrel will have his arm fall off, and someone will need to step up.
Ryan Pepiot also had 3 months in the majors and was a swingman, winning 4 games with a 3.14 ERA. After Justin Turner broke his right hand being hit by a pitch in late August, Miguel Vargas took his place and batted .308 with 12 HR and 47 RBIs. Trevor Bauer returned after MLB refused to suspend him and was 2-3 in his 6 games with a 4.44 ERA, however, he was kidnapped in July, and never heard from again. Weeks later, his alleged victim, was quoted as saying,”But I was just kidding.”
Disclaimer (or not): OK, maybe I do or maybe I don’t believe a word of what I just wrote, but now half of you want to kiss me and the other half want to lynch me. I just cannot win!
At Your Leasure…
Jordon Leasure is a 6′ 3″ 215-pound RHP for the Great Lakes Loons. He was born in Brandon, Florida in 1998, and was drafted in the 2021 Amateur Draft in the 14th Round out of the University of Tampa. So far, in 7.1 IP this season, he has 16 Strikeouts. Yes, he walks a few (that is to be expected) in that he has 5 Walks to go with those strikeouts. In his senior year at Tampa, he had an ERA of 1.17 and in 38 innings, he struck out 60 batters. He is 23-years-old… soon to be 24, so he could move quickly IF HE CAN HARNESS HIS CONTROL A LITTLE BIT! Just a little!
See, here’s the deal: He has a fastball that is in the high 90s and an above-average-to-very-good slider. He’s a perfect closer! He won’t be in Great Lakes for very long – as long as he can shave a walk or three off of his stats. Next year, Jordon could be a Top 20 prospect, but he is not even in the Dodgers Top 40 Prospects right about now. It is sick how many big, large, huge, arms are in the Dodgers farm system. It boggles my mind!
A Tribute to Badger
Badger has been around so long that most of you think that is his real name. However, it is not. I am one of the few who know his real moniker and now I am going to reveal it. His real name is Elwood P. Suggins, Jr. There, I said it. Next, we all know that he played a lot of baseball in his younger days. However, he is now 108 years old and only plays pickup games with the Little Sisters of the Poor. You may wonder what position he played, so I am going to show you his very best position. This is it:
At any rate, Badger has been on the blog forever (don’t I know it?) But, it is only because everyone else who was here this long is dead… except for me. Here’s a song for you, Badger… from where you used to frequent!
Well Will Smith will want to kiss you! I’ll take the under on that one. I’ll take a whack at Lux. .278 with an OPS of .789. But a big breakout next year as our new SS! Other than Smith, the only other somebody wanting to kiss you is your beautiful wife. Maybe!
Thanks for the shoutout Mover. One correction, I won’t be 103 until next March. Elwood is a family name.
You look taller there.
I miss Sedona.
Now predictions:
Yours. Entertaining. Mine. I predict you’ll be wrong on every one of yours. Except for Will Smith being an All Star. There’s nobody better. I also predict we will need, and find, another starter.
Jordan Leasure. Never heard of him.
Our superstar catching prospect at Rancho is off to a horrible start. Four K’s last night. Vargas, Busch and Pages look like our best near future position prospects so far. If Busch continues to develop it would seem less likely to sign TT. Unless he’s into deferred money. A lot more arms in the pipeline than bats. A couple of former #1’s Kendal and Vogel look like busts
And add Hoese as another first round bust
Sorry I think Vogel was third round pick but first position player taken but point is we haven’t exactly been killing it with recent drafts and positionnplayers
Actually, Hoese is starting to come around…
He was 3-4 the day before and is hitting the ball harder.
Hey Mark, any thought to buying the naming rights for Dodger stadium?
Yes, I guarantee it will not be US Water Systems. That I guarantee.
Morning gang. I have to take a training class today to learn what I need to know about helping with my brothers’ physical therapy. Then this afternoon I am off to Riverside where an old-time pickers bunch is playing at the VFW to celebrate the birthday of one of us old farts. Not me. That happens in June. My nephew loaned me his telecaster for the gig. I left mine at home, the altitude change makes it hard to keep them in tune, Got the Padres tonight. I should be back in time to watch the game. I like most of Mark’s predictions, but I think Mookie is going to turn it around a lot more than some of you do.
Out of all your predictions, this one slapped me in the face…..
Chris Taylor with 28 HRs…..are you his brother?
The most he ever has hit is 21 and that was when he was a virile young man at 26 (2017). He has none to date this year…..I’d be happy if he hits half of what you said (14).
I’m glad you decided not to do Lux because you are right- we still don’t know what path he is heading on. And yes, I will take those numbers you gave to Bellinger.
As for Mookie- hard to believe Verdugo may outhit him this year. Did he do it last year? If not, I’m sure they were close to each other. And to think, I thought when we got Mookie, he was one of the five best players in baseball. Don’t think that now…..maybe Fenway is much friendlier for batters. That Green Monster does look alluring.
Overall, nice job Mark…I certainly give you an A for effort.
TM
Don’t forget. Without Mookie no way we win it all in 20!
Exactly.
True dat…..but I wasn’t dissing the trade. I was more interested in showing how it appears Mookie is declining from super star status to just being okay, nothing exceptional (save the glove). And he’s not even 30 yet. Just wondering…..
Oh, just so it’s clear, I’m not giving up on him and now, I don’t even want Verdugo back….I’m believing the real Mookie we all know and love will return to us hopefully soon.
Hey Mark, fun predictions, but even better is that photo of you and Badger. Looks like a good memory and makes me feel like Badger might have a sense of humor in there somewhere. While I don’t agree with all of those predictions, they certainly aren’t beyond the realm of possibility. Maybe a little bullish on Smith and Freeman and a little bearish on Belli and Mookie, but hard to argue at this very early point in the season.
One of the best off days all season. A whole day off after a day game and a short trip to San Diego. Gotta love that! On top of that, Patch’s favorite team finished off losing 3 of 4 against the Mighty Mets. Ouch, that’s gotta hurt!
Another test this weekend against the Padres who seem to hit lefties well with nothing but lefties lined up to face them. Big ballpark and the ball not travelling particularly well in the early season, humidors and all. Weather is a little on the chilly side, but offshore winds are on the way with a nice warm day game on Sunday. Petco is going to have a large crowd. I checked for tickets for giggles and kicks. There’s not much out there on the mlb site and they aren’t cheap either.
The Giants get a mediocre Nationals team in DC as the Rockies get ready for a rising Tigers team that’s off to a less than eye-opening start to their season. Who cares about the D-Backs? Anyone?
I don’t think Diego’s slow start is going to last long. I was perusing through the stat pages of our Top-30 prospects yesterday and was pleasantly surprised that most of them are performing quite well in the early going. I think Keith Law has it right. We are absolutely stacked in the minors.
Vogel was always supposed to be a project with the bat. The early showing isn’t good. I haven’t seen his swing, so I don’t know if it’s fixable. The Dodgers tried with Kendall who has the worst swing I’ve seen since Erisbel Arruebarrena. I have no idea if Vogel is that bad. He’s a local kid from my home-town, so I’m rooting for him.
I try not to get overly high or low on guys in the early going. If you start off on a streak, you look like Trout and if you start on a slump, you look like Mendoza. I’m encouraged with Belli and Lux, I don’t think Mookie will be as bad as you do and I don’t feel too good about Muncy, coming off injury and shuffled between second and third. I’m not that fond of “three true outcome” type players like Muncy and Joc to begin with.
Baseball is very contradictory at times. Why is it that strikeouts are glorified for pitchers, but not stigmatized for hitters? You have to be wary of the usefulness of stats that emphasise or emphasize outcomes that a large parts of the population like BABIP or FIP. No stats are perfect, that’s why you have to look at all of them.
Even a stat like OPS favors some players over others.
It does not take into account strikeouts
It treats walks like singles – How often does someone score from second on a walk? – Is the walk earned if it sets up a force play with less than 2 outs?
Who says that 1 point of SLG equals 1 point of OBP? Would you rather have a player with a 300 AVE 320 OBP and 500 SLG, or a guy with a 260 AVE, 400 OBP and a 420 SLG? Both players are slow baserunners.
Who says a double is worth twice as much as a single and a triple three times as much? Both can clear the bases with 2 outs.
What good is a FIP of 3.00 if your ERA is 4.50 or vice versa. What does it really tell you? It really favors ground ball pitchers and xFIP is even worse. BABIP favors guys that don’t hit homers.
FIP penalizes pitchers that give up homers and BABIP penalizes hitters that hit a lot of homers. How does that make sense?
Fangraphs WAR and Baseball Reference WAR can’t even agree how to rank players. Every team with an analytics department would rather user their own version of WAR than BR or FG.
Vargas, Cartaya, Busch, Pages. None of them put up numbers like Gavin Lux so far in the minors. The best bet for our next great home grown player is Gavin.
Mark desperately wants to be right about Alex Verdugo. I maintain he’ll wind up looking a lot more like Todd Hollandsworth than Tony Gwynn when his career is over. I’ll say it again. Not enough speed for Center and not enough power for a corner. Mark wants to trade Mookie for Verdugo? I say no. Let’s see who’s right at the end of the year.
I think it’s safe to say the algorithms for “wins” strongly favors OPS. And after giving it some time and consideration I’ve come to agree with it. On base and total bases. Great stat. I will never agree with the computers on strikeouts in general, even weak contact can add points to your BA, but, I agree a K in the book is better than a 6-4-3.
FIP is a strange one for me. Fielding Independent? Ks, BB, home runs turned into an ERA? Whatever. I’ll take ERA, which takes into consideration how good or bad my team’s defense is, and WHIP. Also, I believe quality of contact is a most important aspect. And I read at fangraphs raw exit velocity is not considered in that algorithm. Huh? That was a while ago. It must be considered now. Strikeouts are cool, but I’d rather see inning after inning of soft contact. If a guy can pitch to contact successfully he can go 7 innings on less than 100 pitches. Greg Maddux: “It’s not a speed contest. The goal is to keep the ball in front of the outfielders”. I also think those pitchers that are out there thinking… high and tight, low and away, change speeds, find the edges… are far less likely to lose time to TJ surgery.
I’d like a hitter like Verdugo in left field. I think eventually that will be Pages. In the mean time, keep Taylor out there.
Why is Busch at AA and Estevez is at AAA? Both are 24, Busch is better, shouldn’t he be facing better pitching?
Why not have AOPS(Batting Average, OBP + SLG)? Just because it double counts hits? Just because 1.0 is such an easy number to land on for greatness. By adding batting average to the mix, it really gives you a better idea who’s hitting the ball more frequently, which is a good thing.
I totally agree about pitchers who get more weak contact. That’s what Bueller is trying to do. Stop wasting 6 pitches for every out. Keep the ball in front of the outfielders is a good philosophy. Maddux also racked up a lot of K’s (Over 3,000 of them), but wouldn’t even be pitching in today’s game based on this K’s per nine!
I don’t think Verdugo and Pages are anything alike when it comes to hitting. Alex is CT3 without the strikeouts.
Left fielders get less than 2 chances in the field per game to make an out. I really don’t think they’re all that important in the grand scheme of things defensively. Go ahead and put Eddie Rios out there for all I care. He was once a shortstop. Can’t be any worse than Kevin Mitchell.
I agree about left fielders defensively. This is how br ranks them:
C: +9 runs
SS: +7 runs
2B: +3 runs
CF: +2.5 runs
3B: +2 runs
RF: -7 runs
LF: -7 runs
1B: -9.5 runs
DH: -15 runs
I don’t disagree. When I mentioned Pages I simply meant we don’t need Verdugo because Pages is a few minutes away from taking over left field.
I still value a .300 hitter, but many of them in the past hit a lot of singles. I know I did and singles were valued years ago. In today’s game it’s about slug. 1 for 4 with a single is a .500 OPS. 1 for 4 with a double is a .750 OPS. 1 for 4 with a home run is a 1.250 OPS. Same batting average, player one is released, player 2 is about league average and player 3 dates supermodels, drives an Adventador and lives in 40,000 square foot home.
“On top of that, Patch’s favorite team finished off losing 3 of 4 against the Mighty Mets. Ouch, that’s gotta hurt!”
You’re making me sad. I’ll have to go down to Petco with my brown Machado jersey. Jorge’s going with me.
“Baseball is very contradictory at times. Why is it that strikeouts are glorified for pitchers, but not stigmatized for hitters? ”
I think the stats just have different goals. For hitters a strikeout is just an out. Getting on base im any way equals more potential runs scored, so it’s less than strikeouts don’t matter and more that walks are given more weight.
FIP is weird, but it’s useful. It’s only goal is to eliminate all the variables that are outside a pitcher’s control to assess the pitcher’s performance outside of these factors. I don’t think it’s perfect, and I’m now just conditioned to look at both ERA and FIP, and if there’s a disparity then look at walk rate and home run percentage. For example, Gonsolin’s ERA is nuts it’s so low, but with his higher BB rate lower K rate and unusually low HR rate, his FIP is probably closer to reality right now than ERA.
FIP still bugs me though. The whole point is a stat that measures only the things a pitcher can control, but hard versus soft contact is something a pitcher can definitely control. By eliminating all contact from the equation I think you lose some value in pitcher assessment.
I’d like to see a stat that includes hard contact percentage or line drives or barrels. I think one reason it’s not is that you first need to establish a predictable relationship between hard hit percentage and additional runs allowed or prevented that’s normalized league wide.
No more Verdugo talk. I don’t want him back. Even if he is Tony Gwynn he’s an immature head case. Mookie is a high character pro. Puig was fun, but immaturity gets old.
Thoughts:
* I’m anticipating some motivated baseball against the Padres, Make a statement early and often.
* I would think that some enterprising Orthpaedic Surgeon will someday figure out a new procedure for Tommy John surgery. Instead of replacing a harvested ligament from the body they will use a piece of woven steel cable for a UCL The market will be dads of 13 yr old pitchers on travel teams. The surgery will be part of preparation for a pro career and not due to injury. The hope is get up to 115 to 120 mph. Instead of Tommy John the procedure will be named the Steve Austin Procedure and cost about 6 million dollars.
* I must admit I was wrong about how MLB decided to check a pitcher for illegal substances as they left the mound. I over complicated the solution by wanting to wait until the new season started, they could introduce a new tackified ball, and an approved substance. After some initial rebellion by some players last year, the whole deal has quietly faded away. The umps now unobtrusively do the quick check on the baseline as the pitcher exits. Now just part of the game. MLB got this one right without any long-term fuss.
* The physical characteristics and skills of who hits where in a modern day lineup certainly has changed. The stereotypic leadoff rabbit followed by the contact / bunter type, then the best hitter before the bopper in the 4 hole. To illustrate the change you need not go no farther than the Pirates. Their leadoff lead guy last night was Daniel Vogelbach. If your not that familiar with ole Dan, just google up his picture to see what I mean. He makes Babe Ruth look like Maury Wills. And he homered.
* Sorry but this is the best I can come up with after a day off.
Good idea Phil. Robo Kid. But I think I’d consider the entire kinetic chain. Rotator cuff muscles subscapularis, teres minor, supraspinatus, and infraspinatus, serratus Scapular retractors, trapezius, rhomboid, levator scapula, teres. Strengthen the bicep too. Tricep. After all that is done make sure the core is flexible and strong. Also, lots of running. The whole thing couldn’t cost more half million. Kid gets it back to you with his first contract.
You know, I think we will see this.
With cloning technology, I think it would be better to just harvest parts from cloned chimpanzees. I don’t want to watch robots, androids or cyborgs, but Hybrids, that’s another story.
“I would think that some enterprising Orthpaedic Surgeon will someday figure out a new procedure for Tommy John surgery. Instead of replacing a harvested ligament from the body they will use a piece of woven steel cable for a UCL.”
Years ago, maybe when Bo Jackson had his hip replacement surgery, I thought that, some day, there will be an ethical question about such things. If surgeries using non organic materials actually make an athlete BETTER than he would be naturally, when does it become unethical. I’ve heard of young pitchers getting TJ just because he often winds up throwing harder.
It’s still too early to predict much of anything; however, I am not as sanguine about Cody Bellinger as you are. The peripherals don’t support it.
Per MLB.com:
He has a 31.3% K rate
He has a 42.9% GB rate
He has a .385 BABIP.
The last number is unsustainable and shows that he has been more lucky than good. His highest single season BABIP is .313 and for his career it’s .284. There’s a lot of air in his numbers and I expect that they will deflate if the peripherals don’t change.
His OPS+ is currently 156, which speaks to your point. It won’t stay there, but it doesn’t really need to on this team. I think his K rate will improve to 26%, his BB% will go from 10.4 to 12.4, and with that his quality of contact will improve. He can hit .260+, get on at .350+, slug around .500 and help this team score a lot of runs. The home runs will come as he still has a lot of slug in him, but I expect to see more like 30+ than 40+. I think he likes running around the bases as much as he likes jogging around them. How about double digit triples with 45 doubles this year?
Are you and patch the same person? I had deja vu when I read this post.
Peripherals eh?
His Barrel % is second best of his career.
His wOBA is second best of his career.
His hard hit % is the best of his career.
To a man, I can’t ever remember hearing anyone say sanguine in a sentence.
When I fart in a wine glass I get a sanguine feeling in anticipation as I raise it to my nose to examine the bouquet. Would that be the correct usage of the word?
I wonder if people actually watch the games. Belli crushes a ball that almost rips the glove off the first baseman, but it increases his BABIP and GB rate and that’s a bad thing?
I honestly believe that he’s evened out a lot of those smashed ground balls with balls that just missed going out.
Here’s my response to K rate from yesterday…
Hey Patch, not sure if you’ve noticed, but if you look at team stats over the last 7 days you’ll notice these K/AB numbers…
Cody 7/22
Freddie 5/22
Eddie 5/12
Trea 8/22
Betts 5/17
Taylor 5/15
K Rate, last 7 days for the same players
Cody 28%
Freddie 23%
Eddie 39%
Trea 35%
Betts 26%
Taylor 33%
Found this tidbit. Cody leads all Dodgers in Isolated Power YTD, even with the horrible start.
Freddie Freeman’s BABIP is 368, so are his numbers fake as well? Is he due to regress?
“When I fart in a wine glass I get a sanguine feeling in anticipation as I raise it to my nose to examine the bouquet.”
Wow! You know you always struck me as someone who sniffs his own flatulence, but I never realized you did it with such relish. A fancy wine glass even. I’m impressed.
“Hey Patch, not sure if you’ve noticed, but if you look at team stats over the last 7 days you’ll notice these K/AB numbers…”
Yeah, those are good. Let’s see how things equalize when all the stats have time to give a good overall picture, not just the ones you cherry pick for the sake of happy talk.
“Freddie Freeman’s BABIP is 368, so are his numbers fake as well? Is he due to regress?”
Yes.
I’m not much of a wine drinker. I’m more of a beer, straight out of the bottle kind of guy that doesn’t use words that no one else uses to try to sound smart.
I can easily say the same things about the stats you’re cherry picking.
Regarding Freeman and BABIP.
Year Ave OBP SLG OPS BABIP
2016 302 400 569 968 370
2017 307 403 586 989 335
2018 309 388 505 892 358
2019 295 389 549 938 318
BABIP what is it good for, absolutely nothing, say it again! There’s no correlation between BABIP and Production. Just stop with the BABIP already. In three of those years, he finished with a better OPS and a lower BABIP than he currently has. You can make a case by looking at these numbers that his overall production will improve as his BABIP drops. Exactly the opposite of what you’re saying.
“When I fart in a wine glass”
Well that’s quite a visual.
It’s also a line that will get a plaque in the LADT HOF to be featured at US Water Systems Dodger Stadium.
You may disagree with me but being an a**hole about it is unnecessary and obnoxious.
And if you don’t know the work “sanguine” I’m sorry. How about optimistic? Merriam Webster defines sanguine as “marked by eager hopefulness : confidently optimistic”. I hope that this helps.
The use of the word sanguine is unnecessary and obnoxious. So is referring me to the Merriam Webster dictionary and assuming I didn’t know what it meant.
Blake Treinen to the IL with Shoukder issues.
And to think just a few days ago we were discussing whether Graterol or Gonsolin would be sent down to AAA.
Not enough time for pitchers in Spring Training. Dodgers being cautious because we have an army of pitchers, or real concerns? 8 pitchers now on the IL. Couldn’t get anyone better than Cleavinger to fill in?
I read something earlier this week and I thought I would just pass it around for the heck of it. His name is Roki Sasaki. He’s a 20 yo RHP who is 6’3″ and 188 lbs.
He pitched 8 perfect innings (14Ks) before being taken out….after throwing a perfect game with 19Ks in his previous start!!! In his previous game he had 13Ks in a row. No one had pitched a perfect game in the NPB for 28 years.
The reason given was he was over 100 pitches in both games and the manager did not want to take a chance on him hurting himself. He has three pitches a 102 mph FB, a 91 mph splitter with intense movement and a forkball. The man set down 52 batters in a row.
To me that’s AWESOME no matter what level a player is in. Just FYI
Just curious….so how old is the BADGER?
A year older than me. It’s a secret. National Security. I could tell you, but then I would have to kill you.
Bear is as old as dirt.
Badger is older than dirt.
I am in my 60’s – they are in their next 10.
I represent that remark. I was a road guard at the coronation of Queen Victoria which makes me a little younger than dirt.
All these statistics are giving me a headache! Just tell me if he’s doin good or ain’t doin good!
Totally agree Cassidy. It was much easier just reading the back of a baseball card. Now, you go on baseball reference and are inundated with stats you neither understand or care about. I use now and have always used the eye test. They play good day after day, they are ok in my book.
Well Cassidy, the stats say Betts isn’t doing so good, Bellinger is doing better, and Freddie is doing great.
I was always an on base guy, from Little League all the way to MABL. I was of course aware of slugging percentage, but it wasn’t talked about much years ago. We hit line drives, learned how to bunt, hit and run, steal bases, take the outs they give you and try to steal one whenever possible to shorten their game. We also hit our cutoff, anticipated the overthrow by backing up bases. Some of that is no longer emphasized, but OBP is still there. The rest of those sabermetrics are not that difficult to understand really, just read up on it at the many websites available. You are Cassidy, a dangerous rough talking sarsaparilla chugging hero cowboy, and a freakin’ Bear. You have faced down far more bloodcurdling threats than a bunch of numbers. So – put on your cowboy pants, and your Bear face, and study your algorithms!
We can talk about how guys like Cleavinger and White might not be that good (and many were saying the same about Gonsolin a few days ago), but if you really look at them with open eyes, you will see that they have some really great stuff. That is something you cannot teach. But you can help them to refine their stuff… and there is a fine line between success and failure.
I use three Stats to evaluate a position player:
OPS
WAR
OPS+
OPS+ is slightly redundant, but with those three, I can make a determination.
And Mark lays a K.I.S.S. on us.
I don’t know whether to smile or throw up.
I was listening to AM570 just now and they were talking about the upcoming Padres Dodgers series…
Manny Machado coming back to LA after opting out after the 2023 season.
Padres 14 errorless games to start the season is largely because Fernando Tatis Jr.’s injury.
No more swag in the dugout, the chain is gone!
New manager has a more professional acting team. Not talking a bunch of crap before the Dodgers series.
Many are pissed at Tatis, refusing shoulder surgery and breaking his wrist on a motorcycle. Fans would trade him to Texas for Seager.
I’m really looking forward to this series.
Are these Pods fans? This is 570. I wonder what the typical Pod fan perspective is.
Any show that entertains the sanguine notion of Machado returning to LA loses all credibility.
It’s a sanguine thought to think any sports show interested in credibility. Their existence has less to do about informing the fan that is does about painting a meaningless picture to generate interest. Kinda like BABIP and FIP.
You’re using lots of fancy schmancy verbiage to say Stupid Hot Takes.
Speaking of blingy chains in the dugout and the tude that goes with them,, that’s why I don’t want Verdugo back. I don’t care if Mookie’s leg falls off.
Mookie has a blingy chain!
SPJulio Urias L
0-1 3.86 ERA
Confirmed Lineup
RF Mookie Betts R
1B F. Freeman L
SS Trea Turner R
3B Max Muncy L
DH J. Turner R
C Will Smith R
CF C. Bellinger L
LF Chris Taylor R
2B Gavin Lux L
Partly-cloudy-day
0% Rain
62° Wind 12 mph L-R
Another SF starting pitcher goes down. Anthony DeSclafani is going on the IL with right ankle inflammation. 2/5 of their Opening Day rotation is now on the IL. OF Steven Duggar is going on the 60-day IL so he will miss a couple months.
Here’s a good article on BABIP and the hitters who are likely to maintain it if it’s above average:
https://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2017/12/26/16815098/babip-mlb-batting-average-on-balls-in-play-stats-statcast
When you look at the offensive numbers for the Giants you would think they’ve only won a couple of games. Just incredible pitching. Seems like everybody who pitches there has career years! Who’s their pitching coach?
Except for Joc!!!!
Another fielding mistake by Turner. I’m not impressed so far.
Who woke the two Mendoza guys up tonight?
I think we have too many bullpen options now. (not that it’s a bad thing, but we have so many good arms and more down in the minors ready to go)
We now have one less bullpen option. Nunez needs TJ surgery.
You can never have too much pitching.
That will open up a spot on the 40 man roster when Nunez is placed on the 60 Day IL. Who might that be?
Well it was bound to happen. Some moron Padre fan chucked a beer can at Cody after he caught a ball. Then later 2 Dodger fans and 2 Padre fans went toe to toe in the stands. I would never go there or SF to watch a game. Had fun pickin with some really old friends tonight. A couple are even older than Badger.