As we speak, Mookie Betts is listed as the Dodger’s starting shortstop, but against tough LHP he slides over to 2B, as Gavin Lux is deemed a liability against lefties and Miguel Rojas plays SS. Miguel still plays SS at a very high level and he does hit LHP better than RHP as a rule. This year, he is OPS’ing .818 against LHP and 1.000 against RHP, but obviously, that is skewed by the small sample.
Still, I think the platoon of Mookie and Miguel at SS is sustainable. The likelihood that Gavin Lux can hit LHP better is also on the table, but if you look into his history in the minors and the majors, you will see that he struggles against LHP. That was true with Joc Pederson, it’s true with James Outman, and it is also true with Trey Sweeney. I like Sweeney and think his is an underrated SS defensively. I think he could be a platoon SS in that he may hit RHP enough to get 400+ At-bats as an SS, but his deficiency is LHP.
I expect to see Trey at the MLB level, but most likely it will be as a utility man as his bat does not play well against LHP… especially LHP with breaking balls. Noah Miller is a switch hitter who has some promise, but at 21 years old, he is 2-3 years younger than Sweeney and other Dodgers prospects. I will say that I have not seen him enough to be able to predict what he might be, but he has my attention. He could be something special…. time will tell.
Austin Gauthier probably lacks the range to play SS on a daily basis, but he is better suited to be a utilityman as his bat will play at the MLB level. Austin does not have a true home defensively, but he is an average defender at second base and third base, and can also play shortstop and left field. He makes the routine plays and has average arm strength.
I think SS is the least of the Dodgers problems. Many fans and pundits have blasted the move, but it might be what propells him to having a MVP year. I think Mookie is the Dodgers Ss for the rest of this season. In the offseason, Willy Adames and Ha-seong Kim will be free agents and the Dodgers will be interested in both. The SS position is in good hands this season with Betts and Rojas. Of course, Chris Taylor and Kike Hernandez can play SS in a pinch as well.
Speaking of Chris Taylor, he has 1 hit in 27 ABs, which is a really small sampling. Conventional fan wisdom might be that he needs to sit. I think he needs to play. At around100 ABs we will see what he is. His career OPS is .758, but he has had two years where his OPS was around .850. Injuries have been an issue. Still, in my book, he plays.
Is the Ohtani Gambling Probe Over?
Many fans have let out a collective “Whew” when the news broke yesterday that Shohei Ohtani was exonerated by the Feds, but is it really over? Is there more? Michael Baumann of Fangraphs has an excellent piece today entitled MLB Avoids Worst-Case Gambling Scenario. But It’s Not Time to Relax. It is a worthy read and says in part:
Ohtani might be catastrophically naïve. His advisors might be oblivious to the point of incompetency. Mizuhara might have behaved in a fashion that is incomprehensible to most reasonable observers. But there’s no evidence that Ohtani is a crook. Oswald acted alone.
— Michael Baumann/Fangraphs
Now that the details of the investigation appear to exonerate baseball’s biggest star, MLB has once again been the beneficiary of good fortune. Baseball’s first great scandal of the online sports betting era, the Alabama incident last year, involved neither professional baseball nor illegal gambling. More than that, the criminal mastermind who placed the bet was like something out of a Coen Brothers farce and got caught immediately.
This time, when the fruits of the federal investigation came to light, they exonerated the star player under suspicion. MLB could treat this like a bullet dodged. The league should instead treat it like a warning shot. Because the worst-case scenario didn’t come to pass, but the conditions for creating the worst-case scenario were absolutely there.
It finished with ….” it’s hard to denounce gambling as untouchable with one hand, while taking in millions of dollars from sportsbooks with the other. In its attempt to bleed every dollar from every crevice in the game, MLB has bet that this is not an impossible contradiction to resolve.”
Therein lies the problem. It may be over for Ohtani, but not MLB. It’s just starting!
Pages looks ready.
I don’t know what to say about Lux other than it’s a mess.
Pages started out slow but has heated up.
Vargas started out hot but has cooled down.
This is a game of adjustments. Now, we watch and see what happens with each one…
I think Gavin Lux is eventually going to be a pretty damn good major league hitter. If he can get healthy finally and regain his confidence, he has the swing, the batting eye and talent to be special. I’ve always thought Lux is a top of the order hitter. LA might not wait long enough to find out though. I am so much more energized about our team when our farm system produces everyday players. We definitely have some arms and bats that are going to be somewhere in the MLB. Joendry Vargas is going to be pretty special with his physical tools, not mentioned. Moving away from middle infielders.. Dalton Rushing is can’t miss. Diego Cartaya might be overrated at this point. The Rancho outfield of DePaula, Hope and George looks awesome. Andy Pages looks great. Miguel Vargas still has loads of potential. Our hard throwing young pitchers…Frasso, Ryan, Hurt, Knack, Wrobleski, Ferris and Kopp to name a few all have athletic gifts.. Our future is bright and our present is even brighter..
As I stated on my last post, I am starting to soften on Pete Rose. How can he be banned for life when MLB is embracing gambling on baseball? They have a show on the MLB channel, Bettors Edge sponsored and produced by BetMGM. I think Ohtani placed his trust in the wrong place. According to the investigation, Mizuhara blocked the alerts from going to Ohtani’s phone. That is way too much access for a flunky like he is. Still have to sign in every time I post Mark. Is it just me, or does everyone do that. I think what they have is fine for the season at SS. But in the playoffs, you need elite defense. Even Trea made a critical error in the series against the Padres. It looks to me as if they will make a decision about SS by the trade deadline. If they trade for a SS, I would guess AF will go after his boy, Adames. Jeff D. suggested he go after Correa.
pete Rose is pretty much a scumbag, but as a player he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, but he should never be allowed to be back on the field in the dugout or anywhere around the game just yesterday we had a athlete pass who was accused of committing a double homicide he was found innocent, but 80% of the country believe he committed the murders he still in the football Hall of Fame just as another famous football player was involved or a double homicide in Georgia still allowed near the game and will be in the Hall of fame. We’ve been talking about early concerning Lux, Taylor, Gavin Stone, and possibly even Bobby Miller. When does early become late ? Can throw Chris Taylor out with the bathwater just yet but we need production from the left field spot and as Right now we’re getting none. Gavin will have a big start tomorrow night in LA. If he struggles as he has so far, I think they have no choice but to send him down with With Gavin Lux, we either have to play him or send him down or trade him. And right now his trade value couldn’t be that high. Want the kid to succeed badly a lot of talent in that kid but sooner or later he hast to produce Yamamoto. The bump tonight in dodger Stadium for him to shut the Padres down. Michael King, Do the Yankees to the Padres in the Soto deal on the hill for the Padres. Sweep the Padres put them in their place!
Put Wrobleski in the pen this year
Not unreasonable
He might be the lefty the pen needs.
Unlike Kopp, Ferris and Bruns, Wrobleski is not a kid.
Pete Rose is a scoundrel full of character flaws and is also the MLB hit leader.
You can’t erase history, and he is part of the game’s fabric, but you can ban him from ever participating in a baseball organization again.
He is not long for this world. Let the scumbag into the HOF before he dies.
Agree 100%. Just can not deny what the man has done between the lines.
Let him into the HOF before he dies is exactly my feelings too. Did not kill anybody .
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Supposedly he never bet against the team he was managing or playing for. Can it be proven he didn’t? If not, why let him in the Hall and keep Shoeless Joe in oblivion?
That’s even worse than if he occasionally did bet against his own team!
I have mixed feelings about Jackson, but I also think he was the kind of person who was basically led down the wrong path by guys with pretty low character. The Sox were definitely underpaid for their services. That is the way the game was then. I have stood firm about not letting Rose in the hall for many years for all the reasons cited. And Pete is one of the most self-centered athletes ever. My biggest problem with Rose has always been his lack of remorse or his not giving the fans an apology. Now I have heard that supposedly he apologized, but it wasn’t public, and from what I heard, it was more of a PR move than an actual apology. But with baseball now holding hands and giving advanced stats directly to BetMGM for their bookies, I think the game has made his betting irrelevant. Betting on games is one thing, actually throwing games and losing on purpose, well that just stinks. You let Joe in, you are going to have to reassess banning Buck Weaver too. Weaver never took a dime and played solid baseball the entire series. And he had a valid bitch about being tried with the others and not being allowed his own attorney.
Friday Dodger Minor League Schedule
3:05 p.m. PT: Great Lakes (Jared Karros) at Lansing (Luis Carrasco)
5 p.m.: Tulsa (Ben Casparius) vs. Arkansas (Reid VanScoter)
5:15 p.m.: Oklahoma City (Nabil Crismatt) at Round Rock (Jack Leiter)
6:30 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Edgardo Henriquez) vs. Stockton (Tzu-Chen Sha)
Regarding Lux and CT3, I think there is a lot to a player playing everyday that enables them to “find” their hitting stroke. I remember 2021 when Taylor was needed as an everyday player (SS) due to injuries. He carried the Dodgers in the first half, made the All Star team, and ended the season with 500+ ABs, 20 HRs, and a .254 avg.
I actually think Lux would be solid at 2B is we let him play everyday. I feel like platooning affects hitters b/c it limits their ABs and ability to make game-to-game adjustments. Mentally too, I imagine, because the team is saying you cannot hit lefties.
Come playoff time, I want battled tested players. I want a hard-nosed Lux who can battle and get a clutch hit off a lefty reliever in a critical situation. The current roster dynamics will not produce that version of Lux.
It used to work that way but baseball has changed so much. LH hitters seldom see lefties in high school and college, so when they see them in the minors and in the majors, the concrete is already set. That and pitchers figure out their weaknesses and exploit them.
You only had to watch Lux, Pederson, and Outman in the minors to know they couldn’t hit LHP. Now, it’s too late. I went through this with Joc Pederson, then Outman and Lux. Back when I had favorite players, Ron Fairly was my guy. I thought he was great, but he was semi-platooned. I hated Alston for it. I didn’t understand, but Ron could not hit LHP. He OPS’ed .802 against RHP and .643 against LHP.
Some guys just have to platoon. Others don’t!
CT3 has a career OPS of .771 against LHP and .751 against RHP.
I don’t agree with any sympathy towards Pete Rose. There is one unforgivable act in baseball. Only one. He and every other player, coach and employee has known what that is since 1921. Sorry, no sympathy.
I think people have a poor understanding about why MLB bans anybody employed in the sport from betting on baseball AND betting with ANY illegal bookmaker on ANY sport. If you place a legal bet in Vegas or in any of the legal online sports books, you deposit money and that money is all you can lose. So if a player is a degenerate gambler and loses tons of money by betting on other sports, then that money is lost and it ends there.
However, if you’re placing bets on credit with an illegal book making operation (even bets that are not related to baseball) there is the possibility that you end up indebted to that illegal bookmaker. Illegal book makers are pretty much assured to be connected to organized crime. And organized crime would like nothing more than to have a professional athlete (especially one that has a significant influence on the outcome in the games which he plays) in their debt and afraid for their physical well being.
Pete Rose may have never bet against his team. At least there has never been evidence he did. However, he owed gambling debt to organized crime. How do we know he didn’t act to change the outcome of games on behalf of those whom he owed money? Even if he only had debt from betting on football, he’d be under pressure from the damn mob to pay off his debt using his influence as the teams manager.
That can’t be permitted. Period. And that was why the rule was written the way it was.
That said, the fact that baseball and every associated entity related to the game either owns or accepts sponsorship dollars from legal gambling operations is absolutely hypocritical. Fantasy baseball was fine. But it’s now just straight up gambling that is being promoted. Just like the steroid era. MLB is complicit in the issue. And it’s only a matter of time before a player is caught betting on baseball through one of these online services. Once again, they chose money over having clean hands.
I am in 100% agreement with the post from Jayne Cobb
… and I do not disagree with that.
Ban him from baseball. He is. Keep it that way.
Just let him into the HOF.
No hof for Rose. He knew the rules, and defied them. If he gets in, the rule of law loses.
That strikes me as a contradiction.
Banned from baseball, but not from the Baseball Hall of Fame?
have never been a fan of wholesale platoons. i understand that is baseball today. a full time left fielder would be fantastic. sitting outman against tough lefties is ok. but sometimes the one getting platooned would probably be just as effective. with taylor right now left, right, both handed it doesn’t matter!! kiki has never come close to being a regular player. he’s been a useful bench player and thats it! having rojas has been the best of the bench squad by far. how long mark before they look at vargas again.? can’t be any worse offensively than the guys on the bench now! taylor is a superb defensive player but he’s been a total disaster at the plate! i understand your opinion on rose Bear, but if murderers can be in the hall of fame? any news on heyward?
They will look at Vargas and Pages in the next 4-6 weeks, in my opinion.
Pages jacked another monster homer in his first AB tonight.
He is red hot!
Put him in LF and let Teoscar play RF.
10:10 PM ET
Padres (7-8)
Dodgers (10-5)
SP Michael King R
2-0 3.14 ERA
SP Y. Yamamoto R
1-1 4.09 ERA
Confirmed Lineup
SS Mookie Betts R
DH S. Ohtani L
1B F. Freeman L
C Will Smith R
3B Max Muncy L
RF T. Hernandez R
CF James Outman L
LF Chris Taylor R
2B Gavin Lux L
62° Wind 13 mph R-L
Follow the Game
Watch
Dodgers – SportsNet LA
Padres – San Diego Padres
National – MLBN (out-of-market only)
Listen
Dodgers – Dodgers Radio AM570, KTNQ 1020
Padres – KWFN 97.3, XEMO 860
Ouch!
Situational hitting with RISP and strikeouts are more of a problem than SS.
True dat!
Walker Buehler rehab start cut short after comebacker off pitching hand
Buehler faced four batters after getting hit on the right hand, and finished the second inning for Rancho Cucamonga. But he did not come out for the third inning.
Some of you don’t like it when I trash a commenter who first trashes me.
In the past, some comments have been so vile that I deleted them and so you may think I was the one who started it.
I am the guy who punches back and gets caught. Eric lied about what I said and then called me stupid.
I punch back. Pure and simple.
I don’t know it all, but I have learned a lot in my study of baseball for 61 years. I still learn and evolve. You are free to disagree, but not be disagreeable.
Carry on! I am not putting up a blog today.
7 thru 9 in the order 0-14. The bench is weak and something has to be done to address this..Kiki and Taylor are part of the reason and why have Trammell on the roster if you’re afraid to use him? As it stands right now,this is not a championship caliber team.
lotta people ragging on joe kelly, maybe they should look at him compared to , oh say Vesia. awful! taylor 0-5 with 3 more strikeouts? why wait to do something? taylor has a tee ball swing. same place same swing! .031 average. even teeball kids make contact! hell kiki can hit. .200! 7 runs early then nothing! i’m tired of all these so called experts saying the dodgers are going to steamroll the rest of baseball! the pirates are playing great baseball right now! it may not last but i bet their bottom 4 is producing way more than the dodgers! it’s early and i’m pissed! 7-3 lead and we can’t hold it! someone said you can’t break out of a slump if you ain’t playing. well taylor ain’t in a slump! you have to have been hitting well to go into a slump! for gods sake give someone else a shot! vesia? get him gone! i feel better now! go blue ! go barnes!
Dodgers have to do something about CT3. This can not continue. Just can not. A trip to Camelback to work on his hitting followed by a “rehab” stint at AAA should be in order .
Have to blame DR for not have him bunt the free runner over to 3rd base.
Strategy in both the 10th and 11th inning highly questionable in both pitching and hitting. Need only to bring in the runner from 2nd to win it in the 10th and tie in the 11th and they just can not do it.
Yes, it is still very early but as AVF wrote above, this team is not the juggernaut that it was expected. At least not yet.
A lot of question marks in the lineup, on the bench and relief pitching. A reliable LHRP for high leverage situations is an absolute must.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!
maybe ohtani will end up playing some left field. but please don’t sacrifice him for lack of production from anybody else! that arm is too valuable. for that! hope i didn’t overreact earlier but no excuse for last night. but someone please explain why Chris Taylor is in the lineup every day it seems? the astros are really struggling! ain’t it special? probably won’t last though ii hope it does! toronto could fall out very quickly in the east. if so AF should be 1st on the phone to ask about Bichette. move mookie back to 2nd! maybe even Gausman! i’m trying to stay positive, but can you imagine the embarrassment if they don’t win the west? i know, it’s early! it’s early! it’s early! i tapped my ruby red slippers and everything is ok! somewhere over dodger stadium skies are blue! way up above us lasorda wants another ring , oh why oh why don’t you!(AF)
Bichette is a huge upgrade. He is hitting .28 with a .637 OPS 😉
Shitty loss. They have several areas to tighten up before they are considered a super team.
I don’t know what all the fuss is about.
Five players, namely Outman, Lux, Kike, CT3, and Trammell are hitting .551 COMBINED!
Outman’s OPS is pathetic and the rest are way beyond pathetic!
Something has to give!
If Heyward returns soon, Trammell is gone. His return would also reduce Taylor’s playing time.
A Huge loss for the Braves
“Spencer Strider’s season is over, as the Braves announced that the right-hander underwent an internal brace surgery on Friday. It was revealed last week that Strider has suffered some UCL damage, and while a brace surgery is somewhat less serious than the worst-case scenario of another Tommy John surgery, the Atlanta ace will still miss the remainder of the 2024 campaign.”
Also, let me remind everyone that Max Muncy hit .186 in May and .111 in June last year and yet ended up with 36 HR and 105 RBI with a .824 OPS. It’s all about the OPS.
Bichette is a very good player! maybe a change of scenery would do him and lux wonders!!
Playing 6 verses 9 innings right now. There is no reason to waste another mlb ab on Taylor. He has to go down to OKC and work through this. And take Trammel with him. Time for Vargas round 2.
I do not think Taylor has any minor league options left. I am pretty sure the only way he could be sent down is if he was on a rehab assignment.
amen cassidy! past time! Taylor can’t have any confidence at all right now! he’s a good guy! help him by getting him off tv , send him down or release him. he doesn’t deserve the humiliation he’s going through!
The Dodgers lead all MLB teams in striking out with 163. The next closest team is Boston with 142. The Dodgers are second to last in stolen bases with 6.Need improvement in both critical areas of the game.
dodgers don’t run! ironic isn’t it? since Doc has probably the most famous stolen base in recent memory!
course i should have said you can’t steal if you ain’t on base!
Nearly everything Roberts did last night was infuriating when it comes to the bottom of the lineup.
He is obviously thinking long term, but I still worry.
In other news…
Umpire Angel Hernandez also called strikes on 7 pitches that missed by 3+ inches.
This was the most in a game since 2020.
He rang up Wyatt Langford on three consecutive pitches out of the zone.
The strikeout pitch missed outside by 6.78 inches.
I prefer to have everyday players with minimal platoons. The Braves lineup is setup with 9 everyday players. But Mark makes a good point about platoon players. Most LHB have trouble with LH pitching. After checking Lux’s minor league stats closer, he did hit RHP much better than LHP. In his last minor league season, Gavin had a solid OPS of 840 against LHP but that was compared to 1014 vs RHP. I think Lux can hit LHP better than Joc, but he still is much better against RHP.
The bigger problem to me with Gavin has been the lack of power at the MLB level. As the MILB player of the year in 2019 Gavin was only 21, but hit 26 HR in 458 AB. A player that young is generally expected to increase power as he matures. But as a MLB player, in 2022 Gavin hit only 6 HR in 421 AB as a 24 year old. And this year he has zero HR in 43 AB. I am still a big fan of Lux and would like to give him plenty of time to recover fully from his knee injury. He has shown signs of being a dynamic player, and he was playing at an all star level before hurting his shoulder in August 2022. Hopefully, he can regain his stroke and his power will return. He can be a difference maker in an already impressive lineup.
Hey, I would love to have a set lineup, but it’s up to the players… not the manager.
Hit the damn ball.
Saturday Dodger’s Minor League Schedule
1:05 p.m. PT (doubleheader): Great Lakes (Jared Karros & Peter Heubeck) at Lansing (Luis Carrasco & Wander Guante)
5 p.m.: Tulsa (Orlando Ortiz-Mayr) vs. Arkansas (Danny Wirchansky)
5:15 p.m.: Oklahoma City (Elieser Hernández) at Round Rock (Adrian Sampson)
6:30 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Carlos Duran) vs. Stockton (Franck De La Rosa)
I don’t know why everyone is ragging on Trammell. You can’t get hits if you don’t get at bats. Guy has been here over a week and has four total at bats. As bad as Taylor has been, give him a start. He might just surprise someone. Either that or sign Tommy Pham.
The Dodgers were close with Pham in the off season but then signed Teo
gotta do something different!! pham puts the ball in play. seems like AF shys away from him though!
9:10 PM ET
Padres (8-8)
Dodgers (10-6)
SP Matt Waldron R
0-1 3.86 ERA
SP Gavin Stone R
0-1 9.00 ERA
Confirmed Lineup
SS Mookie Betts R
DH S. Ohtani L
1B F. Freeman L
C Will Smith R
RF T. Hernandez R
3B Max Muncy L
CF James Outman L
LF E. Hernandez R
2B Gavin Lux L
78% Rain
60° Wind 13 mph L-R
Follow the Game
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Dodgers – SportsNet LA
Padres – San Diego Padres
Listen
Dodgers – Dodgers Radio AM570, KTNQ 1020
Padres – KWFN 97.3, XEMO 860
Reliever Brusdar Graterol threw off a bullpen mound Friday for the first time since the right-hander was put on the 60-day injured list because of shoulder inflammation on April 2.
— Mike DiGiovanna, via Los Angeles Times
Conner Brogdon and Bobby Miller to the IL Miller has right shoulder discomfort. Nick Rameriz and J.P. Fereresien to be called up.
This is the struggle we need to overcome. Championship teams do it.
Bobby Miller had a little drop in velo last time out so this does not come out of the blue completely.
Hopefully this is only a minor thing as the Dodgers call it but you all know about the Dodgers injury bulletin history.
Striker Buehler should be ready soon to take over Bobbys spot.
Lux got a hit off a LHP which should be encouraging .
Good win. And Stone looked fantastic .
Down at AAA Andy Pages another 3-hit game. If he keeps this pace up he will be in DS rather sooner than later.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!