There is no way to sugarcoat this, so I will just say it: “Andrew Friedman failed the Dodgers by not having starters stacked at least twelve deep.” At the start of the season, the Dodgers had Clayton Kershaw, Dustin May, Julio Urias, Tony Gonsolin, and Noah Syndergaard. Syndergaard was the guy that many (me included) thought would benefit from the Dodgers’ “Magic Fairy Dust” used to resurrect pitchers’ careers. It turns out that Noah was under the (dis) illusion that Mark Prior and Company would help him figure out how to throw 101 MPH again. That was his illusion. The Dodgers thought that he might just want to learn to pitch, but no! Thor wanted to be a power pitcher again. There was no chance. All I can say to Syndergaard is:
How Friedman traded Thor for Rosario is a stroke of genius. Thor? He is out of baseball. Amed is a solid piece.
Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin, and Clayton Kershaw blew out their arms, and Julio Urias did not seem to understand that beating your wife is illegal. “Who knew?” BTW, the Dodgers have erased just about everything related to Julio Urias: murals, bobbleheads, and even his locker, which Kolten Wong now has. Never speak of him again. Will he be a Dodger next year? He won’t be in baseball next year! But, I digress…
Andrew Friedman should have had an additional five Top-of-the-Rotation Starters waiting in the wings. Clemens, Martinez, Koufax, Santana, and Erskine would have been great. But NOOOOOO! He traded for Lance Lynn, who, had he been available for the Home Run Derby, would have won it for whoever he was pitching to. He also replaced the others with Bobby Miller, Ryan Pepiot, maybe Gavin Stone and Emmet Sheehan., and even Ryan Yarbrough! What was he thinking? [sarcasm alert]
My Home Office
After 20+ years of being “the first guy there and the last guy to leave” at our office, I am no longer that guy. I now have a home office and sometimes do not leave the house all day. This is now my domain.
I recently bought a Samsung OLED 49″ Curved Screen where I display three apps. In this case (from L to R), I have Outlook, US Water Systems Website, and LA Dodgertalk. Below on my laptop, I have Microsoft Teams, which our company uses to communicate. To the right of the monitor is an iPad that has my ten security cameras, and then in the upper LH side of the photo is my TV, which happens to be on Monday Night Football. I also have some bitching speakers. Why leave home?
Last Night’s Debacle
It was actually the Padres World Series as they beat the Dragon Up the Freway! They were celebrating Big Time. What a bunch of Clowns. Gavin Stone needs to read a book on pitching! Never speak of this again!
I am not sure of my availability for the rest of this week. I leave for Cleveland Clinic today, and I am stopping at one of our vendors tomorrow in Ashland, Ohio (an hour outside of Cleveland). My oldest son is flying to Cleveland from Brooklyn and will drive back with me on Friday. He will spend the weekend with us before flying back on Monday. I will likely post tomorrow AM and then be mostly unavailable until Saturday. It’s testing all day Thursday and then maybe the ablation on Friday, but there is no timeline. Have fun and play nice. The Bear will take care of things.
I am bummed that I won’t be in Ft. Wayne today to watch the first game of the Playoffs, with the Loons playing the Tin Caps (Padres). The Loons always give me pressbox access.
I don’t think ‘ashamed’, is being fair. (from last thread) Right now it is possible we start the playoffs with all rookie SPs. Or Rookies plus damaged Kersh and crappy Lynn. If we face pitchers who can throw secondary pitches for strikes, our fastball hitters (Max, JDM, Taylor, Kike) will be striking out at alarming rates. So hoping for the best and that Freddie and Mookie are ready.
And yes this is on AF he should have at least 10 more SPs ready.
A dozen! đ
14
To AF’s credit, he tried to land Eduardo Rodriguez, only to have Eduardo surprisingly invoke his no-trade clause. The rotation would look a lot stronger now with Rodriguez in the mix.
To AF’s discredit, he signed Bauer despite a variety of red flags about his character. Many fans thought Bauer was just not worth the potential trouble. I also thought his presence blocked rising talents like Gonsolin and May. It seems that AF made smarter deals when hunting smaller game, such as Anderson and Heaney. (He seems to like rehab projects. Perhaps Giolito will be next. Will the uncertainty surrounding Ohtani’s injury scare off AF? I doubt it.)
But I’m excited about the prospect of Miller and Pepiot leading the Dodgers to glory. Remember when the Angels won their title? They got huge performances from rookies John Lackey and Francisco Rodriguez.
With all the injuries and issues with the starting rotation and rookies filling,in , the Dodgers will be lucky to win one playoff series. The offense will have to come up big for even that to happen. Itâs been a very good year considering. Lots of money coming off the books in 2024 and Iâm sure AF will have a better chance to win the trophy then, Lots of positive things happened this year and it was exciting to watch.
Getting the Brewers in the NLDS may be the luck the Dodgers need to win that one playoff series.
There is nothing to be ashamed of. The Dodgers will be the underdogs, and that is just fine. With pitchers like Sheehan, Grove, and Stone, the light will suddenly go on, and almost overnight, they will improve. We can only hope it happens in the next three weeks! There are lots of decisions to make over the winter, including what happens with Clayton.
Maybe we are not thinking what he is thinking. Maybe he does want to play into his 40s so that his kids have those memories. Maybe he wants to sign a 5-year/$100 Million deal and get his shoulder and elbow fixed. Would the Dodgers or the Rangers sign him knowing that he would miss a season and a half? I think either team would. He is Clayton Freaking Kershaw!
Nice office setup Mark. Why pay to go see any sporting event?
Nice display setup.
But no Bloomberg Terminal?
Tuesday schedule
3:35 p.m. PT: Great Lakes (Justin Wrobleski) at Fort Wayne (Henry Baez), Division Series Game 1
4:05 p.m.: Tulsa (TBA) vs. Corpus Christi (TBA)
5:05 p.m.: Oklahoma City (Robbie Erlin) vs. Tacoma (TBA)
6:35 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (TBA) at Inland Empire (TBA), Division Series Game 1
Kind of strange where we find ourselves. If the Dodgers play .500 baseball the rest of the month, we will be at 96 wins. After losing Lux Walker and May I wouldnât have thought that was possible. On the flip side, I never would have thought weâd be going into the playoffs with THIS rotation.
We still have as good a shot as any in the modern playoff structure. We will only have to win two series to get to the WS. The consensus is that all roads go through Atlanta. But letâs not forget that last year, the consensus is that all roads go through LA. That was until the Padres nicked us out in the NLDS. The same could happen to Atlanta. You simply never know. We have a potent offense, a top 3 bullpen and a great clubhouse. While the odds would be against us, the kids could step up and help us take down Atlanta too.
Given that we donât have a healthy Kersh, anybody named Julio, Walker, Dustin or Tony in the rotation⌠my expectations are certainly tempered. But, unlike last year when we were the 500lb gorilla, I see a lot more fire in this team than I did last year. We coasted the last few weeks and came into the NLDS with about as much life as a wet rag. The Dodgers know they are the underdogs now. They have to play like we havenât clinched the division. I saw that last night.
Smith has been struggling but he had an epic AB against Hader last night. I think it ended up being an 11 or 12 pitch walk. Fouled off quite a few good pitches. Got Hader to exceed his season high pitch count. Dodgers got the bases loaded against the best closer in the game. Gave us a shot to win. Didn’t work out. But they didnât give up. I donât care if we are a .500 ball club the next 18 games. As long as they keep playing with intensity and the starters at the kiddie table finish their juice boxes, gain more experience and learn, we have a shot.
Excellent Points Jayne Cobb!
For the Dodgers to be approaching a division title and 100 wins with the top 8 starting pitchers injured all or part of the year is amazing! Plus losing Lux in spring training and many other hitters during the year! And having the MLB arbitrator award Bauer $23 million against the Dodger cap in the middle of the offseason did not help either.
I appreciate the efforts of the players, coaches and front office to get the team to this point. While they will not be the best team entering the playoffs, they will likely be among the top 4 favorites, and will have a puncherâs chance to win it all. My perspective will likely change if the Dodgerâs make a run in the postseason and my expectations rise but right now this has been a great and enjoyable season. Hopefully I can just appreciate and enjoy the journey from here!
Bauer is apparently done for the season. Hip injury.
Itâs gonna be fun with the kiddies. Letâs roll!
The very young SP has tempered my post season expectations, but anything can indeed happen in the playoffs.
Miller and Lynn seem to be the only SP that can go a solid 5 or 6 innings (Lynnâs past two performances makes that statement precarious at best) while the kiddie corps and CK will probably be used at openers with a slew of relievers used to get the game to back end of the BP.
Dodgers will need Mookie, FF, Will, JDM and Max to have a great offensive post season if weâre to be successful. After all that has happened this year Iâm excited as much as I have ever been for the post season. We will be underdogs and Iâm good with that.
Now letâs keep the Giants from making the post season and that will be an added + to a great regular season.
Mark’s point is well taken. Dylan Hernandez of the Times has written an idiotic article, essentially asserting that the Dodgers’ current pitching woes were somehow engineered by Andrew Friedman. Somehow, it’s his fault that Buehler couldn’t recover from Tommy John surgery fast enough and that Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin both had arm surgeries this year. Oh yeah, and that Julio Urias allegedly hit his significant other.
There is no way for the Dodgers to have planned for this. You can argue that they didn’t do enough to win it all at the trade deadline, but they couldn’t reel in either Justin Verlander or Eduardo Rodriguez.
I don’t think that the Dodgers have enough starting pitching to win this year. Of the kids, only Miller and Pepiot look ready. But really – somehow it’s Friedman’s fault?
https://sports.yahoo.com/hern-ndez-dodgers-think-win-110047095.html
What a garbage article.
âThey think they can win without a front-line starter.â
Letâs see. At the beginning of the season we had one of the greatest pitchers who ever lived who was 12 and 3 with a 2.30 ERA last year. Julio who was 17 and 7 with a league leading 2.16 ERA. Gonsolin who was 16 and 1 with a 2.14 era (he didnât get the era title because he didnât qualify). Three guys who had CY Young quality stuff last year. We were loaded with starting depth. The envy of all of MLB.
Even with all the injuries and bad news of almost every verity and a bullpen that literally sucked until the end of June, we locked in the second best record in the NL.
What is this writer smoking?
The Angels are maybe the only team to deal with more injuries than the Dodgers. They couldnât stay above .500 and went all in at the deadline only to become literally the worst team in baseball. The pathetic Oakland As have a better record since the deadline than the Angels. Dodgers have the BEST. Despite being forced to trade for scraps, despite making big moves for starters who simply refused to play for the Dodgers. AF did what he could. The other starters everybody wanted have pretty much been garbage since they were traded. Garbage.
But sure. AF sucks. Guy doesnât know what heâs doing.
These kinds of articles just piss me off. Does the Times have any decent baseball writers anymore? I canât think of one.
I am embarrassed to belong to the same species as Dylan Hernandez! What a total moron!
Little early for the playoff doom and gloom. Anything can happen in a short series, we all found that out last year. Lynn might just surprise everyone and pitch well. He has the experience, and what’s more, he has a competitiveness that many do not. He hates losing. Dodgers are calling up Kyle Hurt to work out of the pen. 6’3″ 250-pound RHP. He has been starting but will work out of the pen for now. Part of the trade with the Marlins for Floro.
Whatever you think will happen in the playoffs, throw it out the window because usually the opposite happens.
I like our squad!
First I heard that Hurt is getting called up.
Nice! Very high K rate. He could be a good option into the postseason.
Video of Urias posing with some fans in Las Vegas is on X. What used to be Twitter.
10:10 PM ET
Padres (68-77)
Dodgers (87-56)
SP Michael Wacha R
11-3 2.99 ERA
SP Lance Lynn R
10-11 6.09 ERA
Confirmed Lineup
2B Mookie Betts R
1B F. Freeman L
C Will Smith R
3B Max Muncy L
DH J. Martinez R
LF D. Peralta L
RF J. Heyward L
CF James Outman L
SS E. Hernandez R
74° Wind 9 mph Out
As usual, we see Peralta batting ahead of both Heyward and Outman, even though his OPS is about 100 points lower. I prefer batters who are more likely to get on base and also have more power.
I sure wish somebody would ask Roberts to explain his reasoning.
By the way, the Dodgers might have a better chance of beating the Padres if they can make it a one-run game.
Yes, I’m joking. Sort of.
A friend who is a long-suffering Padres fan says that his team has the MLB’s worst record in one-run game since a particularly pathetic Boston Braves team in the 1930s.
Roberts gets his ideas from the Front Office – It’s a collaboration.
I do know that AF likes to put rookies lower in the order. Right or wrong, he wants them to earn moving up.
I get why Roberts might want to put a rookie low in the lineup. And while Outman has a nice OBP–.359, to Heyward’s .348 and Peralta’s .305– he still has that K problem.
It’s more puzzling that Peralta almost always bats ahead of Heyward.
Right now, they are both batting .269. But Heyward’s OPS is much higher: .829 to .696.
I’m pulling for a Hollywood ending to the 2023 season. That being the feel good story of the All Rookie starting rotation marching through the post season because they didn’t know they couldn’t!
Of course the backstory will be the offense putting up quite a fight with a number of MVP’s included.
Nice command post Mark.
Rich Hill available
Yarbrough IS Rich Hill.
Lance Lynn is not throwing BP.
Talking shit to the umpire is not going to help him though.
I now have none to little expectations this post season, so it wonât surprise me to see them one and done, much like last year.
Seriously, how can you win a series with guys like Sheehan, Stone, Lynn, and a broken down Kershaw starting? Although, I do think Pepiot just might pleasantly surprise us.
Notice I have omitted discussing MillerâŚ.and there is a reason for that. I just donât know who he is. Sometimes very good, sometimes very no so good. So, who knows which Miller we see.
AnyhowâŚnothing is written in stoneâŚwho knowsâŚ.maybe they win every game 9-8.
Conventional Thinking is…
Hurt threw 9 pitches, 7 for strikes. Against Tatis, Soto, Machado.
Nice debut.
Unless somebody “needs work,” I hope Hurt comes back in the 9th.
Kyle put a hurt on them in the ninth
And Hurt comes backout for the ninth–and strikes out the side.
Outstanding.
Nice bounce-back performance for Lynn. And it was good to see Will Smith get back on track. He’s been struggling a bit lately.
And Freddie raised his BA to .339. He’s got a real shot at the batting title, with Arraez now at .348.
Good luck with the ablation. I have travelled that road. The number 1 thing to keep in mind is it takes up to 60 days for things to work themselves out. I was in persistent AFIB, so making the transition to persistent âsinus rhythmâ took about 45 days for me. I was bummed when I was âcuredâ and then popped back into AFIB (a couple times!). Turns out, it took time to heal and when it kicks in for good, a miracle. Keep this expectation and keep the faith.
Thank you!
David Vassegh
@THEREAL_DV
Joe Kelly is back at Dodger Stadium and expected to be activated today. #Dodgers
David Vassegh
@THEREAL_DV
Dave Roberts said Kyle Hurt was called up specifically to pitch in the next two nightâs to help #Dodgers bullpen.
This isnât about an October audition.