Of course, MLB is building a new 50-story building to house all the Rumors. Bad-A-Bing, Bad-A-Boom! But seriously, folks…
The Randy Arozarena Rumors Won’t Go Away
Three Problems:
- The Rays are not sellers (yet);
- The Dodgers need help in CF, not LF; and
- The Rays are not Sellers (yet).
Brent Rooker Makes Miguel Vargas Look LIke a Gold Glover
Brent Rooker might be a nice DH, but he makes Miggy Vargas look like a Gold Glove LF. Hard NO!
Do Not Put Any Trust in Rumors
Especially rumors put out by fish hacks. And we are all fish hacks. Believe it when it is announced. For the record, I would not pay the prospect collateral required for Crochet, Skubal, and even Flaherty. It will come down to a bidding war and may require a lot more prospects than expected. I am of the opinion that the Dodgers can stand down… unless they can steal Bellinger!
Family Time
Of course, my wife is from San Francisco, and this week, we have family from SF in town, and I have been spending a lot of time enjoying the “pool view:”
At any rate, to a person, the people who live in SF and there are seven (to a person) say San Francisco is a “shithole” (not my words… theirs). Several are actually moving here. It’s sad what has happened to that city and yet people try and convince you that you should not trust your “lying eyes”! That was my opinion and my wife’s opinion as well. She says, “They ruined my city!”
Mark, what is your poolside beverage of choice? Mine is an ice cold can of hoppy west coast IPA.
I am not a big IPA guy, although I do drink an occasional Three Floyd’s Zombie Dust. I like to sip on a Maker’s 46, but at 70, I don’t drink a lot. Less alcohol and eating right keeps my blood pressure low.
Exact same reason I rarely drink now. The BP hates alcohol so gota do what the BP says.
Agreed on the beer – however, I still like the taste of a beer on a summer day by the pool.
Besides the BP issue, the other big one is the waist line.
Luckily for me, there are now some great non-alcoholic beers out there. One that I highly recommend is “Athletic” brand.
Other than that a good bourbon now and then during the week.
Sam Adams Octoberfest. Good beer, and great with pizza. Don’t drink the hard stuff anymore, but occasionally I will have a shot of Butterscotch Schnapps, or a Mikes hard lemonade.
Mark, you wrote:
For the record, I would not pay the prospect collateral required for Crochet, Skubal, and even Flaherty. It will come down to a bidding war and may require a lot more prospects than expected. I am of the opinion that the Dodgers can stand down… unless they can steal Bellinger!
Well, the consequence of not dealing the prospects is that you will lose some of them during the Rule 5 draft.
Dodgers just can not protect everybody. It is smarter to deal them now, even if it is a sligth overpay, for guys like a Skubal (if availble) or Crochet or Tanner Scott or even Mason Miller. Dodgers are all in and I am pretty sure we will see them make at least one blockbuster deal and one or two minor ones.
One example is Cartaya. He just has no place with Smith signed longterm and Rushing ahead of him as a catching prospect and Lirano just behind. Same for all those young arms. Can not keep them all and stash them away for emergency.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have not looked, but there can’t be more than three or four players eligible for Rule 5 that the Dodgers want to keep.
The following players could be removed from the Dodgers roster next year:
Kike Hernandez
Austin Barnes
Daniel Hudson
Conner Brogdon
Anthony Banda
Joe Kelly
Michael Peterson
Yohan Ramirez (maybe soon)
Ricky Vanasco
Ryan Yarbrough
Gus Varland
Hunter Feduccia
Cavan Biggio (soon)
Miguel Rogas
I don’t think we have to worry about Rule 5.
Found this about potential Dodgers prospects eligible for the coming Rule 5 draft. Dont know it is accurate and complete.
https://dodgersdaily.net/2023/12/06/rule-5-dodger-candidates/
Not many of our top prospects on the list as far as I can see. However: We have an abundance of young pitching and catching. We can do a blockbuster trade for a Crochet or Skubal . Can not stash all of them in the minors.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mark,
Great comment above on the potential players who could be gone after this season which allows for some rule 5 players we want to keep and possibly add some younger talent to the 40 man
14 potential spots could become available on the 40
If we wanted to keep a couple I could see.
-Hudson (does he want to play another yr)
-Feduccia- ( short term,) pending if Rushing and or Cartaya are still here with another 1yr to develop.
-Banda ( let’s see how he finish’s up TY)
– Rojas ( absolutely yes, as an infield backup)
Vanasco was DFAed today to make room for Ahmed.
The 40 man roster will look different after the season is over.
Whose eligibile for the Rule 5?
I could see trading away on catching prospect but no upper pitching prospects. The Dodgers have the hammer.
I get to watch OKC tonight. Beautiful ball and Brick town is a great sitting.
Dodger starting pitching in 25. Ohtani, Yamamoto, Sasaki, (he’s coming to Dodgers), Glasnow. Now you also have May, Gonsolin, Sheehan, Miller, Stone, Knack, Ryan, WrobleskI, Hurt, Frasso, Bruns, and more. There just isn’t enough room for all these starters. You can’t just let them languish in the minors. It’s a waste of organizational capital and unfair to the players. AF is too smart and loyal to let that happen. We need a CF right now. I’m trading some of that capital for Robert jr. The potential is just too great. Deal with SS in the off season.
Could not agree with you more, Cassidy. Dodgers are all in and if they have to do a slight overpay they should.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Right. No point in hugging all the prospects when there isn’t enough room on the ML roster.
Depth is nice, but right now the Dodgers have several issues that can be addressed by savvy deals. Who plays 3B? How could the OF be improved? And doesn’t think a guy like Tanner Scott would improve a suddenly shaky BP?
The performances of the rookie pitchers suddenly make me less worried about the desire for a frontline SP, but the Dodger brass has signalled that is their top priority as the trade deadline approaches.
This team, with the current roster, should easily win the West. But can it win the World Series?
The “crap shoot” theory would argue against any move at all.
Who would have guessed our rotation that we had a the all star game this season, last winter. Sometimes life isn’t fair.
Does anyone else see a Yordan Alvarez type swing with DePaula?
I’d rather not trade him; keep him for the later part of this decade and next.
If there is an untouchable in our system for me it would be dePaula.
Great natural and easy swing from the left side. Doing well after his promotion to high A ball at age 19
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes, DePaula might be the most “untouchable.” The label, alas, was never applied to Yordan…. which should make us leery of the labels.
That said, DePaula needs to prove he can be competent in the OF or maybe 1B.
The DH job might be locked up for the next decade.
How times change quickly. Dodger ‘hottest’ team in baseball and Lux player of the week!!
As Lux goes, so go the Dodgers.
Yes the Dodgers need a CF. Better defense with the added benefit of a Pages/Heyward platoon in RF.
I still think Lux needs to prove he can hit lefties.
I hope he gets the chance.
But if Mookie is destined to play 2B full-time–and I think he is– the Dodgers would be best served by dealing Lux.
And it would be better for Lux too.
I would trade Hope and Ferris for Cody Bellinger and be done. 😉
I like Randy but don’t think he is a center fielder. If I couldn’t swing a deal for Cody, I would not make a trade. I wouldn’t trade Lux or Vargas as I believe they will be solid players in the second half. We also have enough pitching coming back that we don’t have to overpay for a pitcher. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Andrew stand pat.
I agree with your feelings about San Francisco. It used to be one of my favorite vacation spots. I was there about two years ago and half the shops near Union Square were boarded up. Hopefully someone will clean it up.
Fat chance of that with the government that runs that state. Same reason I stay the hell out of Denver. It is pretty much a shithole too.
07/24/24 Los Angeles Dodgers signed RHP Will Gagnon.
07/24/24 Los Angeles Dodgers signed LHP Jakob Wright.
07/24/24 Los Angeles Dodgers signed 3B Chase Harlan.
07/24/24 Los Angeles Dodgers signed OF Brendan Tunink.
07/24/24 Los Angeles Dodgers signed RHP Mike Villani.
07/24/24 Los Angeles Dodgers signed RHP Seamus Barrett.
07/24/24 Los Angeles Dodgers signed OF Kole Myers.
07/24/24 Los Angeles Dodgers signed SS Jackson Nicklaus.
07/24/24 Los Angeles Dodgers signed LHP Evan Shaw.
07/24/24 Los Angeles Dodgers signed SS Kellon Lindsey.
07/24/24 Los Angeles Dodgers signed RHP Aidan Foeller.
07/24/24 Los Angeles Dodgers signed SS Elijah Hainline.
07/24/24 Los Angeles Dodgers signed free agent C Gio Cueto to a minor league contract.
07/24/24 Los Angeles Dodgers signed LHP Cody Morse.
07/24/24 Los Angeles Dodgers signed free agent LHP Myles Caba to a minor league contract.
07/24/24 Los Angeles Dodgers signed RHP Brooks Auger.
07/23/24 Los Angeles Dodgers signed RHP Logan Tabeling.
All signings above were related to the recent Dodger’s Draft, except Cueto and Caba who were both undrafted.
07/22/24 Los Angeles Dodgers signed RHP Isaac Ayon.
Mark. I have a question for you regarding Lux.
Roberts recently said something like Lux had been swinging the bat as if he was protecting his injured leg. Lately, he has been more aggressive.
I recently saw Lux unsuccessfully turn a double play. His throw was fairly strong and accurate.
Do you think Lux could have been protecting his leg while throwing and do you think he could ever play shortstop ?
I am sure he was unconsciously (at least).
However, I base my judgment on him playing SS based on what I saw “pre-injury.”
I think he can be a very good 2B and may even hit LHP, but his arm is too fringy at SS to play there. This is one of the few times I have disagreed with Friedman. There is no way Lux is ever a SS, and I do not believe he should have ever played there!
Thanks.
The dodgers need to get a shortstop and centerfielder and starting g pitcher and out Betts at second base when he comes back and the big question mark is third base will Muncy be back if he doesn’t then the trade has git to be with Ray’s dor Arozorena Paredes and Elfin then if tha happens who is on second base if Betts goes back to shortstop. But if Muncy does come back I guess he could play second base.
What does All In mean for this year? In a sport where the best teams in the regular season rarely win the World Series, going All In has fairly low odds of paying off with a championship. Nathan Eovaldi, Jordan Montgomery, Dane Dunning, an injured Max Scherzer, Andrew Heaney, Jon Gray, Zack Gallen , Merrill Kelly, Brandon Pfaadt, and Ryne Nelson were the starting pitchers for the two World Series teams last year.
I get the idea of not wanting to hoard prospects at the risk of losing them to Rule 5. But the trade deadline is a seller’s market since the expanded playoffs creates fewer sellers. As a result, your prospects are bringing back less than they would in the off-season. I would not pay that cost for Crochet (who may be a reliever during the playoffs) nor Skubal (who is not likely to be traded to Dodgers if the Orioles are in the mix). Granted, we do not know what the FO knows about the likelihood of Yamamoto, Buehler, Miller, or Kershaw returning to form this year. But, adding a Flaherty, Eflin, Eovaldi,or Fedde at a lower prospect cost makes more sense to me if they think that even two of those four come back. Plus the frequency of serious arm injuries across baseball makes pitching depth even more important.
If they acquired Arozarena and one of the four pitchers listed above I would consider that a good trade deadline to augment a roster that definitely seems to be getting healthier.
FWIW, I would trade Rushing before Cartaya. Cartaya is actually younger than Rushing and profiles as a better defensive catcher.
AVF – thanks for the info on Dodger signings.
My pleasure
Kyle Hurt to undergo Tommy John surgery. Bummer.
Somehow that doesn’t come as a big surprise.
Anyone know if that’s his first or second TJ? Hopefully only the first.
It’s his first, and he will miss next year as well. He may be the closer in 2026.
Vanesco DFA’d. Does Yohan Ramirez have compromising photos of Doc and AF. He lives another day.
The Dodgers have had almost two years to make something out of Ricky Vanesco. For them to cut bait now means that they believe he will not work out.
OTOH, they have only had Ramirez a couple of months.
Consider this:
Ramirez had 8 outings in May. In 7 of them he allowed ZERO runs. In the one we remember, he was bombed for three runs. His May ERA was 2.79.
In June, he was called out of the bullpen 14 times. 14 TIMES! His ERA was 2.25 in June.
So far, in July, he has not done well, as his ERA is 7.71.
However, he shows a lot of promise, and he can pitch every other day. It would be silly to throw him out after a bad month. Now, he may not survive the next round of call-ups, but I have no problem with keeping him over Vanasco.
Most fans only remember what have you done for us lately.
Of course, he may also have photos…
He’s been released by 7 different MLB clubs. He’s a placeholder and an easy DFA when Brasier and Graterol get healthy. I also have no problem keeping him over Vanesco right now, but he will not survive the roster crunch when others get healthy or RP(s) are acquired via a trade.
Other than his “rubber arm” and versatility to pitch every day, Yohan offers little beyond that. His melt down in Cincinnati when he couldn’t throw a strike to save his life and then couldn’t field his position in Detroit is all I needed to see he’s not worth a roster spot beyond another week or two.
I still think Lux needs to prove he can hit lefties.
I hope he gets the chance.
But if Mookie is destined to play 2B full-time–and I think he is– the Dodgers would be best served by dealing Lux.
And it would be better for Lux too.
I do not think Rojas or Lux can play every day.
So, I think Mookie will play 2B when a LHP is on the mound and Rojas will play SS when RHP is on the mound… especially of Lux keeps it up.
I believe Lux could play short for a week or 10 days if needed. However I think Taylor and Keke would be the first call. But Lux as an everyday shortstop no way
Fielding % is just about the dumbest stat out there because it rewards players who have poor range and punishes those with great range.
Rooker is playing a lot of DH these days. There’s a reason for that.
I haven’t looked this up, but I heard that Elly De La Cruz leads ML shortstops in errors. But he also makes plays with his range and arm that most mortals can’t make.
That said, I’d much rather have Rooker in LF than Vargas. But I probably would prefer Arozarena to Rooker.
If you hit the ball to Rooker he will catch it, but he is a statue. Fielding % is only one metric, and it can lie!
Defensive runs saved.
Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register reports that Mookie Betts has began to take dry swings without any balls in play, noting that Betts is pain free in his left hand.
“He said he has no pain in his injured left hand but he has to get used to the vibration caused by hitting a baseball before he is ready to advance to soft toss and then taking batting practice. All of that will likely take another three to four weeks”.
07/24/24 Los Angeles Dodgers optioned RHP Landon Knack to Oklahoma City Baseball Club.
07/24/24 Los Angeles Dodgers activated RHP Tyler Glasnow from the reserve list.
MiggyRo to IL. Nick Ahmed is his replacement.
Wow,
And the craziness begins. We are lucky Ahmed was available.
Bad hitter but an all star defensive shortstop .
So Kershaw comes up Tomorrow.
What is the move ?
Does someone have to be DFA’D off the 40 man and who do we think that is?
And if not the same person DFA’D, someone else has to come off the 26 man roster and go down to AAA. Who could that be that still has options?
Easy move is Ramirez, he kills 2 birds with one stone?
But I think they want to work with him, but I don’t think he has options.
Looks like Taylor might wind up on the IL. Outman has been called up per Roberts on the postgame show last night. I would think Ramirez gets DFAd. Knack was sent down yesterday.
10:10 PM ET
Giants (48-54)
Dodgers (61-41)
SP Robbie Ray L
0-0 .00 ERA
SP Tyler Glasnow R
8-5 3.47 ERA
Confirmed Lineup
DH S. Ohtani L
C Will Smith R
1B F. Freeman L
RF T. Hernandez R
CF Andy Pages R
LF M. Vargas R
2B Chris Taylor R
3B E. Hernandez R
SS Nick Ahmed R
81° Wind 9 mph Out
Thank you
The bottom line is that no one knows who the Dodgers will go after. Every rumor is just that. I don’t believe any of them until I see it announced and the guy has a number on his Dodgers uniform. Ahmed has 43 career homers. 14 of them have come at the expense of Dodger pitchers. 12 against the Rockies and 5 against the Padres. No, you cannot keep every young player in your system, but it is great to have really good ones to fall back on when someone goes down to injury. But a kid like Ryan or Wrobleski, with their makeup and the way they attack hitters, that stuff cannot be taught. I do not trade either of those kids. Knack, and pretty much the rest you can pick and choose. Take who you want. But the Dodgers big problem in any trade for prospects is that other than at catcher, they are very thin position player wise. That is why I believe that they won’t get Skubal if he is traded. Baltimore can offer MLB ready position players and other than Lux, Vargas, and maybe Outman, LA cannot. As for Arozarena against Robert Jr. Arozarena is not injury prone and the guy is a monster in the postseason.
Agree on all counts
Ahmed is very similar to Rojas career wise both offensively and defensively.
Although Rojas was hitting much better this year but was coming back down to earth
We need to realize that a forearm strain could be the precursor to Tommy John.
Rojas could be toast!
Would he elect to get TJ at 35? I doubt it!
There is a very real chance that Mookie will be our SS in the playoffs or AF will make a trade for Bichette or someone else.
What IF:
AF takes Baez off the Tigers hands? would that lower the price for Skubal or Flaherty?
Maybe RVS can weave some magic on Baez….
Maybe the Tigers have to take CT3 back?
Take more than magic to fix that guy.
If the Tigers decide to move Skubal they’re going to do it only to get back a load of good players. Their payroll is only about 100 million and they aren’t one of those teams who refuse to spend money.
They will not include Baez and his salary and take fewer players.
Bingo. If he is traded, I predict he winds up in Baltimore. But Detroit doesn’t really need to move him. And if they really feel they can contend next year, he isn’t going anywhere.
That is a valid concern with Rojas and could be a career ender.
I would go with Mookie and if Ahmed can hold his own we go with that tandem for the rest of the yr.
Against a lefty Ahmed plays short and Mookie moves to 2nd
I can’t believe I’m saying this but I rather have the multipurpose Taylor then Baez.
I would go after the rental Flaherty as the cheaper option?
He is pitching like a Ace and I may have more faith in him then in Glasnow come the postseason.
Bichette just isn’t physically right , but I would definitely make a play for him in the offseason as he is going into the last yr of his contract.
Man Robbie Ray has been out of baseball rehabbing for 450 days and Glasnow missed 2 weeks.
Looks like the other way around .
Glasnow has not been very good since the last week in May. Not counting tonight his ERA has been 4.23 over the last 2 months.
Maybe his back, maybe getting close to his 120 IP. But Ray completely out pitched him and yes I know he is a Dodger killer but man (No hit)
Let’s go boys
Love this:
That is a valid concern with Rojas and could be a career ender.
Actually, it had been 21 days since Glasnow last pitched, 5th of July.
Taylor injured and it doesn’t look good. Biggio replaces him. Dodgers might need a bench piece at the deadline. Ohtani still chases that high strike too much. At least they won’t get no-hit.
Yep Bear,
Looks to be a right quad or groin from what’s Orel thought.
This has got to be the end for Ramirez
One would think so. Problem is the pen has been overworked the last few days and really the last month. No ready replacement in the minors and they do not seem inclined to promote any of those guys. Rengifo would be a great choice, but doubtful Arte would trade him to the Dodgers. Makes someone like DeJong much more attractive with his power bat. They are going to have to make some hard decisions, and we can only hope that Mookie and Max both come back strong.
He ded
Buehler (hip) said Wednesday that he will begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Oklahoma City on Friday, Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times reports.
“Buehler added that he felt good following his bullpen session Tuesday, so he will now advance to facing minor-league hitters. The plan is for the 29-year-old right-hander to rejoin the Dodgers’ rotation once he’s made two rehab starts in Triple-A, per Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic, putting Buehler in line to return sometime during the Dodgers’ early-August series against the Phillies”.
An easy prediction today:
Yohan Ramírez is finally DFA off the 26 and 40 man rosters and Kershaw added to both for his start against the Midgets today.
I would tend to agree that he would be the one to go. And we will know early since the game is a day game.