I tried not to leave anyone out so as not to offend anyone… but I am sure someone is offended. Sorry! As I write this, it is 1 degree F, but it was -11 yesterday. We only have about 2″ of snow on the ground, however. When it is this cold, it doesn’t snow here. We just got done with our Company Christmas Party, and it was a blast. Below is a one-minute blurb of how we party in Indy.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1290461231751840
It was a great time, and now we set our sights on 2023 from a Dodger’s Point-of-View; there is a lot to be excited about. To me, the process is as enjoyable as a result. The whiners and the liars want to make it seem like it is “Doom and Gloom” and that the Dodgers did not do anything while the Mets built a powerhouse. All I will say is “Watch and Learn.”
We don’t know as yet what will happen with the Trevor Bauer situation, but we do know that public perception has certainly changed. Maybe Bauer showed some poor judgment, but I dare say that he could not hold a candle to the late, great Kobie Bryant or Magic Johnson regarding that type of behavior. It is just a compulsion that some fans cannot help but place the blame on Andrew Friedman. Someone is always to blame. How about blaming the lying groupie? I mean, what are the odds? Just about everyone I talk to about the Trevor Bauer situation feels that MLB has been patently unfair to him and the Dodgers. In the Court of Public Opinion, Manfred has been found wanting!
I do not know if Bauer will be back, but it would be felony stupid to do what Bill Plaschke suggests and just release him. Plaschke, like most journalists and politicians, have never run anything but their mouth. They have never built anything or contributed to society. What is the difference between a Journalist and Politician, and a Catfish?
The former are bottom-dwelling garbage eaters, and the other is a fish!
Bryan Reynolds is not going to be under the Christmas tree (and he really is not a good CF’er), but it’s possible he could arrive in July. It’s pretty apparent that the Dodgers are re-setting the Luxury Tax, and rightfully so. If you haven’t learned it yet, you should make it your business to learn this: MONEY DOES NOT BUY CHAMPIONSHIPS! I predict that it will end badly for the Mets this year.
The Dodgers are still the class of the National League in 2023, and they will likely get better. I am going to enjoy the ride. Merry Christmas from everyone at LADT!
And a Festivus for the rest of us!
Hope your holiday is awesome Bluto!
Same to you and yours!
Thank you man, I really appreciate it.
I guess I should have thought of that.
Well said!
Feliz Navidad!!
Same to you brother.
I want to wish each and every one of you out there a very Merry Christmas. If that offends, not my problem. May the New Year bring you much joy, happiness and health.
I’m more than offended. I’m literally shaking right now. Everyone should realize that saying Merry Christmas is supporting evil, colonialist, white supremacist, patriarchal, gender binary power structures. You might as well be giving a Nazi salute when say that!
Happy Kwanzaa.
(that’s sarcasm)
Hope your holidays are full of joy, and Merry Christmas.
On a holiday that wishes peace and goodwill to all, why such hate?
OMG. It was joke.
Happy Kwanzaa, (that’s sarcasm).
I see nothing funny about denigrating peoples beliefs.
I thought that was funny, Dodgerpatch. We all need to laugh more!
Bah-humbug to all or whatever! Tis the season to be grieving. Don’t let me bring you down though. So cheers!
Back at ya Quas. Hey, I am just happy to still be here with all the garbage that has gone on since 2020.
Well, now the Mets are expressing doubts about Correa’s physicals. They might be looking to back out.
We all knew Correa was a dirty rotten scoundrel and we also have known Boreass is the Devil, so no surprise from me.
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/12/mets-have-raised-concerns-over-carlos-correas-physical.html
Just read that. Awesome. What if he was forced to go back to Minnesota? It seems there is some question about his surgically repaired leg.
Correa should just go for the high AAV short-term deal. All of these decade + deals are bad, much less for someone with questionable medicals.
Me thinks that Manfred should be the one suspended and fined for his questionable behavior as he has done much more harm to baseball than Bauer ever did. Merry Christmas to all.
Merry Christmas (Feliz Navidad) to all and Happy New Year. May the new year find all of you well. I enjoy your comments and opinions. Keep up the great work.
Thank you Mark for this blog and the work you do.
Merry Christmas to all you Dodgers fans. May God bless you and your families.
Bauer needs to prove his worth on the mound not in the eyes of Manfred or the LA Times.
This blog has been such a blessing to me you guys have no idea just how much. Thank you Mark, Old Bear, B&P, Evan please forgive me if I forgot any of you who contribute to the greatest sports blog on the web. God bless you all and your families. Merry Christmas!!
Merry Christmas Joe. For me it is a labor of love. Mark has inspired me a lot. Especially after we met in Denver. He is about as rabid a fan as I have ever known.
Thanks JoeZ, really appreciate it. Bless you and your family.
Merry pagan rituals to all!
Dodger fans get a lump of something from an MLB.com writer who rated the quality of current lineups. By his reckoning, the Dodgers drop from the best lineup way down to No. 7. He projects this lineup:
1) Mookie Betts, RF
2) Freddie Freeman, 1B
3) Will Smith, C
4) Max Muncy, 3B
5) J.D. Martinez, DH
6) Gavin Lux, SS
7) Chris Taylor, LF
8) Miguel Vargas, 3B
9) James Outman, CF
Seems reasonable to me, except that it will be awkward to have both Muncy and Vargas at 3B.
A lot of us would like Lux to bat leadoff or second. If he can get back to early season form, that would be great.
Freddie, as I recall it, often batted second in Atlanta. For a time he batted second in LA, with Trea third. With Trea gone, moving him up one spot behind Mookie makes sense. He’s great on-base guy–and really not that great a power hitter. More of a doubles guy. Maybe more of those will fly over the wall next year, but I’m OK with Freddie being Freddie.
We can expect more HRs-per-AB from Mookie, Max and Will. And maybe JDM, assuming he bounces back. Maybe Outman and Trayce too–but with a lot more Ks.
The lineup does look a little shaky to me. Another proven outfielder would be nice. Except for Mookie, it’s a pretty iffy group. (I’m glad the Angels got Hunter Renfro at reasonable cost. I wonder if he was on AF’s radar.)
This guy is going with RHB, LHB, RHB ect. through #7 in the lineup.
The better lineup in my opinion would be:
Betts
Smith
Freeman
Martinez
Muncy
And then take your pick, but probably best to split up Taylor and Outman because of the strikeouts.
Or to use Betts power in the middle:
Smith
Martinez
Freeman
Betts
Muncy
Or:
Smith
Freeman
Betts
Martinez
Muncy
No way Martinez hits second. You need SPEED at the top of the lineup, and Marinez is slower than a John Deere tractor. Betts or Lux in the leadoff slot. You can move Mookie to third in the lineup if Freddie hits first. I put either Muncy or Martinez in the 4 hole with Smith hitting either 5th or 6th. Thompson, Outman, Vargas, Heywood and who ever battle it out for the bottom 3 spots. Lux hitting 9th made sense last year with Turner on the team, now they need his speed up at the top of the order.
Haha! I’m with you on Betts in the middle, especially after leading the team in homers.
I’m fine with Will and JDM fighting for that spot as well. No way JDM bats 8th.
I think in that second lineup he is hitting fourth with Mookie in the three hole.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah. Happy Quanzah, and Happy Festivus to all because I love all holidays . Dodgers should keep Bauer and try to trade at Deadline.
Happy Holidays to everyone! Thanks to all for your input and encouragement. The readership and comments here are the best. Enjoy your time with family and friends.
Same to you Evan, have a Dodger blue Christmas.
Merry Christmas everybody. God Jul.
I agree 100%, Mark. MLB and Manfred bungled the Bauer situation to the point of absurdity. This certainly shouldn’t be the precedence going forward. But what happens next is going to more complicated than just the bogus allegations against him. As I’ve said all along, Bauer has made few friends in the sport. He seems dead set on being a social media star (and all too often in a bad way). He’s always been labeled a “distraction”. If you think of a “good teammate”, you think of Kersh and JT. Nobody would ever bring up Bauer in that context. Then there is the fact that, unfair or not, any team that he plays on is going to get a healthy portion of negative publicity and the all too predictable social media hell storm from the professional activist set. That’s just a reality. Any team he plays for will have to deal with Bauer being the only story the media will focus on for months. It will be a massive distraction. Right or wrong.
And yes, Magic and Kobe made their mistakes as well. But let’s not forget they also paid a hefty price for those mistakes. It cost Magic the last few years of his career. Kobe spent a decade rebuilding his reputation. And the two of them had one thing going for them; they had stellar reputations in their clubhouse. Bauer should take a lesson from Kobe. Show some humility and be the best teammate possible. He does deserve to play. But 2020s aren’t the 90s or 2000s. Different world. And not for the better.
Merry Christmas and a better, healthy, and prosperous year 2023 to all the readers, writers, collaborators, and owners of this fabulous blog (the best in the entire galaxy), may you enjoy these holidays in the company of your loved ones. Health to all.
Here here.
This is the best blog on the interweb, no question.
Now the Mets are having issues with Correa’s physical. Contract is in doubt.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all at LADT.
Thank you all contributors and especially Mark for a terrific site which brings much joy and pleasure, insights and entertainment throughout the year.
LADT is truly a blessing.
Much appreciated!
Special Happy Holidays to you Mark for this excellent site/blog and Happy Holidays and the best in 2023 to everyone for your phenomenal writing and reporting. I have learned more about baseball and baseball business on this site than all the sports channels put together. My favourite title this year was “Let the Kids Play”, I second the motion. They will bring desire, intensity and energy!! I compare it to this scenario. A good friend left after school here in Lethbridge, Alberta, went to LA for a career in insurance and benefits and did very well. LA Kings were one of his clients. Had season tickets to the Lakers and Rams and UCLA basketball and football. Never went to a pro game as he didn’t like the desire compared to the kids in college. He said they never stopped as they were playing for their livelihood. Goooo KIDS!!!
Merry Christmas everyone.
Apparently the Dodgers were given notice 30 minutes ahead of the announcement.
The Dodgers will either keep Trevor Bauer, trade him (is that even possible), or release him.
At this point, I’d probably keep him, but that depends on the clubhouse vibe. Not sure how they stay under the luxury tax threshold.
You’re right Mark, money can’t buy championship.
Happy Christmas Guys
Ex Giant Steven Duggar signs minor league contract
I always liked Duggar. Good defensive outfielder. He has regressed with the bat significantly the past few years. Maybe they can turn him around.
That guy can cover some serious ground in CF. I was always impressed how well he handled that huge center field in his home park. At the plate, not so much. In his five year career, 3 of them were worse than Belli’s year last year. Ouch!
Feliz Navidad.
Thanks to all who make this site so cool.
Great in-depth takes without the noisy bickering and peacocking. What a relief!
Go Blue!
Got myself a Christmas present. I ordered a Dodger jacket that features patches from all of the World Champion teams and says 7 time Champion on the back. Also ordered a cap that shows what year they began play in LA. Merry Christmas to all our loyal readers, contributors, Dodger fans everywhere and the New York Mets for showing everyone how not to build a Championship team. Because you can bet your heinie, if they do not go all the way, there are going to be some POed fans in NY.
I’ve been working on Christmas Eve Dinner all day today, hence the late post…
Merry Christmas everyone and Happy Holidays to those who prefer that greeting. Buon Natale!
Here’s my annual Christmas Eve Menu post!
First Course – Assorted cheeses, berries, goose mousse, olive tapenade, and my famous seafood salad (Shrimp, Calamari, Scallops and Lobster).
Second Course – Lasagna with 6 different cheeses, spinach and sauce made with Italian sausage.
Third Course – Sausage with Red and Green Bell Peppers and Sweet Onions in a red sauce. Served with Broccolini.
Fourth Course – Salad.
Fifth Course – Dessert. Lemon Cloud pie, Dutch Apple pie, assorted Christmas Cookies.
Bless all of you and the Dodgers of course!
My Quick Takes
Bauer – play him or trade him. I don’t think Andrew is dumb enough to just cut a guy that has value as one of the best pitchers in the league.
Rookies – Outman and Vargas are MLB ready, Busch, Miller and Stone are expected to arrive this season. All are top ten prospects in the best, or second best system in baseball. They made room, now play them.
Thompson and Outman is a good platoon in CF, worst case scenario. CT3 was good enough to start the season as the every day left fielder last year. Pages is close, DeLuca might surprise, and Heyward is depth. You can do better, but you can do worse. If you can trade Trever for an Outfielder, it might be worth it. Trade from a strength to fortify a weakness.
It’s pretty stupid to say they dropped to seventh overall when Belli, Muncy and JT sucked so bad at the beginning of the year and you’re replacing two of them with top prospects from a top farm system. Unbelievable! A very healthy Trea Turner was only marginally better in terms of OPS than an injured JDM. **Sigh** I think I’ll be making this point for months.
PS Watford. I was thinking about you when writing out my menu. I know you like to see it. 😉
my god what a menu!
Merry Christmas everyone! We’ve had quite a few 200 hitters over the past few years, so to keep adding all these retreads doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Sure turner and muncy were pretty much 225. Career hitters who became very good dodgers! I’m really going to miss Justin as he next to Clayton and Cody have been favorites of mine. I know Friedman is a lot smarter than most so I don’t see any reason to not believe he will make another move before spring training! I hope so because I do not like the possibility of heyward , or Taylor as our starting left fielder. I still hope if Friedman believe s in lux we can maybe add a 2nd baseman. I don’t personally like Bauer, but I would like him even less in a padre uniform, and more than likely that’s where he would end up! I really enjoy being a small part of these conversations, been a dodger fan over 60 years, and the only time I ever thought about not being a fan was if they had signed bonds or A-rod. We can all say we don’t want Bauer, but do we want the pads, the Mets, the giants, the cardinals to have him. Anyway we could stash him in the minors say maybe 3 or 4 months? I know stupid idea, but wouldn’t that be funny! I hope each of you get what you want for Christmas. I have 5 beautiful grandchildren and my oldest is 9 and absolutely loves the dodgers! Both my sons are dodger fans, and are great sons and fathers! So really mark, I only want Brian Reynolds for Christmas. I still have my 2 front teeth!
No, you can’t stash him in the minors. As a player with more than 5 years of service time, he would have to agree to be sent to the minors and that obviously won’t happen when he’s trying to establish his value for his next free-agent contract after the season.
Dodger dad. The players they are signing to minor league deals are there for depth. Guys like Duggar have a very slim chance of even seeing any time at the major league level. Their best hope is for someone to get injured. Then simply because they have major league experience, they will get the call before a prospect would. And if you noticed, Heyward, Zimmer and Duggar all have center field experience in the majors. FYI, you can forget about Reynolds under the tree. A, If he gets traded at all, it will be at the deadline when they can get the biggest return for him. He won’t be cheap.
Just kidding around b&p. Merry Christmas buddy
LOL – Merry Christmas to you and yours!
B – thanks for sharing. Found myself salivating as I read through your menu.
What a feast!!! Trouble is I’ve got about 8 hours to wait before we eat our traditional Christmas Turkey with all the trimmings.
I know the readership here are spread across your great country, but I sincerely hope that everyone is safe and warm in what looks like some terrible weather conditions.
Eric, hope you have a great day my friend.
lol – Going to my Brother’s house today. He cooks Goose on Christmas! What a treat.
Merry X-mas everybody ! Hope everybody is safe and has quality time with his loved ones.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Merry Christmas morning! Bear you are spot on about depth. But wouldn’t Miller , pages and 1 more above average prospect be in the neighborhood? By plugging Reynolds into the lineup we are now putting a lineup on the field with no 200 hitters! ( if muncy rebounds) love your takes bear, and you ain’t that old . God bless everyone!
Merry Christmas!
Maybe we can sneak TB. Pepiot, Pages, TB & 10mil for BReynolds,
When you say .200 hitters, that is kind of misleading since if you hit between .200 and ,299 you are a .200 hitter. Now, the only player in that lineup that was a. 200 hitter in what I perceive to be what you are talking about is Muncy who had a .196 average. They had Gallo who was also under the Mendoza line. Bellinger actually raised his average last season .45 points from what he hit in 21. Gallo and Bellinger are gone, Muncy is a year more removed from his 2021 injury that put him out for the playoffs which in my opinion was one of the main reasons they lost to the Braves. I also believe Bellinger’s horrific 2021 was more a product of his injuries than him just losing his skills. Muncy is a career .231 hitter. Which with his power and the fact that he has such a high OBP is perfectly ok. Although he is projected to hit only .213 with 23 homers, I think he will be closer to 30. Smith is at this point in his career at least in the .260 range with 20 plus bombs. We all know how consistent Freeman is. If Taylor is healthy, he will be closer to .250 than .200. Lux has improved and Thompson hit close to .240 in his time in LA. Martinez is a solid .270 hitter with plenty of pop. The only unknowns are the bench and the kids. Betts in my opinion needs to be more consistent than he was last season. So even though the guys they have signed are not great hitters, most of them are way above what guys like McKinney, Raley and Reks brought to the table. Even when Kike and Joc were here, they were not that consistent. Joc had his highest season BA ever last year with SF. Kike was no more than a super sub who could not hold the starting job when it was handed to him on a platter. They will probably have at least two if not three rookie position players on the team. What we will get out of them is yet to be seen. Merry Christmas to you and yours too. It is not the years my friend, it’s the miles.
Merry Christmas to all on LADT! I wish each of you a blessed day with family and friends. For us oldtimers, it is a time to reflect on Christmases past and be thankful for all the blessings we have enjoyed in our lives. For those younger, it is a time to fully appreciate the present and embrace your hopes for the future. Truly, a special time for all of us….
Merry Christmas to everyone. And to us a Savior was born! Opened presents last night and got my annual tee shirt from my daughter that read. “According to this box of mac and cheese, I’m a family of four”. And from my son a custom food gift basket of all the freebie food stations from Costco! I thought I raised them better!
Merry Christmas Cassidy. Great T-shirt. I got my friend Butch two. He loves to fish, so one of them says ” The Rodfather” the other says ” One weekends I am a hooker” The favorite one I own says ” My level of sarcasm depends on your level of stupidity. ” I also have one that says Shut the Duck up. Be well and enjoy the day.