While sitting here in my recliner, remote in hand, watching the Dodgers-Red Sox, I have some random thoughts on the passing season (with apologies to Thomas Sowell):
• First, and foremost, it is important for all of you to know that I have not made a single mistake in the past 5 – 10 years as to Dodger in-game decisions, lineups they should have used, and as to trades they should or should not have made. Not wanting to boast, but it’s an amazing record if I have to say so myself. Of course, every one of those decisions was made in hindsight and no one, except for me knew what I was thinking at the time the decisions were made in real-time. It surprises me though, that the Dodgers do not appear to have any interest in utilizing my remarkable services.
• Despite all the claims that he calls all the shots, I have yet to see Andrew Friedman in the dugout during any games. I also have not observed Dave Roberts being handed any notes during the games or taking any phone calls.
• Joc Pederson has been a frustrating player for me. When drafted, I was very excited when he signed, foregoing a scholarship to USC. His minor league performance just added to the thrill. I thought he would be the second coming of Duke Snider, if not, at least Don Demeter. He exhibited great bat to ball skills, could hit with power, and steal bases. But alas, he has to date, fallen short of those expectations. His performance and ability have been discussed on this blog endlessly. Then came the Home-run Derby and my oh my what a performance he put on! It was absolutely epic!! I was so proud of him representing the Dodgers. On top of that watching Clayton Kershaw’s adorable daughter Cali, lead Team Pederson with chants of “Let’s go Joc!” was the best. What a moment! Then comes Friday and it’s back to reality, as Joc sits in the first two games against the Red Sox.
• The All-Star game reminded me of how nice it is to have a solid, dominant, reliever, on whom you can rely in the late innings. Ardolis Chapman, warts and all, was absolutely lights out. That said, I do believe the Dodgers will obtain a reliever or two in the next two weeks. Will Smith seems like the obvious choice, but he is going to be in high demand and some team will overpay to get his services. Felipe Vasquez seems to be the flavor of choice currently, but I just can’t envision a scenario whereby Pittsburgh trades him.
• What is to be done with Austin Barnes? He looks lost at the plate and, from my view, seems to be pressing more and more. Dave Roberts is on record saying that he is confident that Barnes can snap out of his current slump. I like the thought of giving Will Smith the opportunity. It becomes a simple question for me, who would I rather have hitting in the bottom of the 9th of game 7 in the WS, bases load and 2 outs? Barnes? Martin? Smith? Of course, I’ll give you my answer after it happens. Hindsight you know.
• David Freese is a special kind of player. His days as a full-time player are over. However, in a part-time role, he has given the Dodgers a whole lot more than we could have ever expected. I’m hoping he doesn’t collapse before season’s end.
• Kike is another player that I find frustrating. At times he looks like a star in the making. Albeit those times are few and far between. Many have called for him to be traded. If he is traded, who takes over Kike’s role as a multi-positional player? I personally believe that Gavin Lux could give us better overall production at 2B. I just don’t know if it’s this year or next.
• I’m not sure why we the Dodgers would want to move Seager off of shortstop. He is very good there. Sure, give him rest now and again, but keep him put otherwise.
• Justin Turner is getting older and it is showing some in his at-bats. I hope he can muster up one more outstanding half to lead us to the WS. When on, he makes a world of difference and makes everyone around him better.
• Do we really need another power-hitting right-hand bat to platoon with Joc in left field? I’m not so sure that Nick Castellanos or Trey Mancini would provide a significant upgrade over what we already have. Despite it being a small sample size, D.J. Peters’ performance in AAA is very encouraging. As Vin would say, “his power is prodigious!” Perhaps he can be an in-house answer as opposed to being trade bait.
• A Pollock/Verdugo center field rotation for the next several years makes me feel very comfortable.
• Bellinger is a great young player. I think the best of him is yet to come. That said, Cody has not won the MVP trophy yet. As good as he is, I find myself not enjoying the “MVP” chants that rain down every time he comes to the plate. Let’s wait towards the end of the season and see where he is then. Moreover, if Bellinger doesn’t win the MVP, I’m absolutely okay with that. I would be extremely happy with a .325 avg, 200 hits, 45 home runs; 125 RBI and 120 runs, and an OPS close to 1.100. MVP or no, that’s a very good year
• Same is true for the CY Young award. Ryu hasn’t won it yet, and might not. If he ends the season with a 17 – 5 record and a 2.10 era, who on this blog would not be happy that he chose to accept the qualifying offer?
• Same can be said for Walker Buehler. If he finishes with a similar record as Ryu, with a 3.00 era, who here would not be ecstatic?
• Alex Verdugo will probably not win the
Rookie of the Year award. Once again,
it doesn’t matter. If he finishes with
a .300 avg, 18 home runs; 75 RBI and 70 runs and produce a 5.0 to 6.0 WAR, I’ll
gladly take him over the Pete Alonso, power notwithstanding, any day of the
week.
• I don’t know when I have been as excited about the Dodger prospects as I have this year. I was too young to pay attention during the Garvey, Cey, Valentine and Lopes years. I was excited when the Dodgers had the Jacksonville Five (Martin, Billingsly, LaRoche, Guzman, and Broxton). Gone, for the time being, are the days that we would hope Jerry Sands and Blake DeWitt (and I mean them no disrespect, as they were good players), might turn out to be something special. Lux, Smith, May, K. Ruiz, Peters, Gonsolin, White, Downs, Cartaya, Gray, A. Jackson, Amaya, Uceta, Ortiz, etc., and the newly drafted players are very fun to follow.
• I was very excited about the Dodgers draft this year and particularly liked the players they were able to sign on the last couple of days. If AC, DC, or MT don’t beat me to it, my next post will be about the players signed and what we can reasonably expect from them as to their ceilings and floors so to speak.
• I don’t know about the rest of you folks, but I sincerely appreciate everything that Mark T., AC and DC do for this blog. I read this blog every day. My work keeps me from being able to comment each day. Because of their efforts, and in like fashion the readers and those that comment regularly, I always learn something new and I’m constantly stimulated in thought by their posts. Thank you, gentlemen, your efforts do not go unnoticed or unappreciated.
I end this post with 3 random thoughts that I borrowed(and slightly altered) from Thomas Sowell, one of my favorite all-time commentators:
• One of the problems with being a pessimist is that you can never celebrate when you are proven right.
• The best New Year’s Resolution I ever made was to stop trying to reason with unreasonable people. That may be especially valuable during baseball trading season.
• The old are not really smarter than the young, in terms of sheer brainpower. It is just that we have already made the kinds of mistakes that the young are about to make, and we have already suffered the consequences that the young are going to suffer if they disregard the record of the past.
2Demeter2’s Minor League Lowdown!
OKC had the day off .
Tulsa Drillers beat the NW Ark. Naturals: 9-2
Good offensive day for the Drillers as they pounded out 17 hits. They were led in the hitting department by Drew Avens and Carlos Santana, who each had 3 hits. Avens had 3 RBI and Santana chipped in with 2 RBI. Cody Thomas, Errol Robinson, Jared Walker, and Logan Landon each had 2 hits. The only extra-base hits were doubles by Avens and Santana. Jordan Sheffield started and pitched 1 inning, allowing 1 run on 1 hit and 2 walks. He also struck out 2. Parker Curry followed and had a nice outing pitching 5 innings, allowing but a single run on 4 hits and 1 walk. He struck out 4. Ryan Moseley threw 2 nice scoreless innings, allowing 1 hit, 1 walk, and striking out 3. Yordy Cabrera finished the night throwing a clean inning, striking out 1.
RC Quakes lost to the Stockton Ports: 6-0
No offense for the Quakes yesterday, as they were only able to muster three hits, one each by Donovan Casey, Devin Mann and Deacon Liput. Leo Crawford was the starting pitcher and he worked 5 innings, allowing 2 runs on 7 hits, 1 walk, and 8 strikeouts. Bryan Warzek followed and had a forgetTable out, as he allowed 4 runs on 2 hits and 2 walks in 0.2 innings. He was followed by Conner Strain and Darien Nunez, who each pitched 1.2 innings of scoreless ball. Nunez registered 3 strikeouts.
Great Lake Loons beat the Peoria Chiefs: 9-8
Classic pitchers duel. The offensive stars for the Loons was Leonel Valera, who went 3-3, with a home run, 2 RBI and 2 runs scored; Hunter Feduccia walked 3 times, hit a home run and scored twice. James Outman and Luke Heyer also homered, with Heyer chipping with 3 RBI and 2 runs scored. Stephen Kolek started and had a rough night keeping the Chiefs off base. He allowed 11 hits, 2 walks, and 6 runs in 4 innings. He did strike out 6. He was followed by Zach Willeman who pitched a solid, but wild 3.1 innings, allowing 1 run on 1 hit and 5 walks while striking 1. Justin Hagenman got the save, pitching 1.2 innings, allowing 1 run on 3 hits, no walks while striking out 2.
Side story (forgive me if this was previously posted), but
the other night, Jacob Amaya followed in his late grandfather, Frank Amaya’s,
footsteps. Amaya hit a 3‑run home run in
Cedar Rapids while going 2‑4, with 3 RBI.
His grandpa, Frank Amaya, played for Cedar Rapids in 1957 which was a
Brooklyn Dodgers affiliate at that time.
How cool is that? Amaya’s
grandfather, also a shortstop, was in the Brooklyn Dodgers organization
starting in 1955. He died the year
before Amaya was drafted by the Dodgers.
Ogden Raptors defeated the Missoula Osprey: 17-11
Another pitchers’ dual. The Raptors jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead by the 3rd inning, but held on for the victory. The offensive star was Joe Vranesh who went 4-6, with 2 home runs, 5 rbi and 2 runs scored. Justin Yurchak chipped in with his 8th homerun and Sam McWilliams added his 7th on the season. Brandon Lewis and McWilliams had 3 hits apiece and Ryan Ward added 2 hits. As you could imagine, not much pitching in this game, with only Corey Merrill and Reza Aleaziz having any success. Merrill threw 1.2 scoreless innings in relief and Aleaziz pitched the final two innings allowing no runs, no hits, with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts. The Raptors have won 12 of their last 19, have a 7 game winning streak and have outscored their opponents 82-29 during those 7 games. The Raptors have an eight-game lead in their division, with 10 to play.
AZL Mota Lost to the AZL Royals: 8-0
Kody Hoese and Alex DeJesus each had 2 hits, but that was pretty much it for the offense. Julien Smith started and continued his struggles as he seeks to return from his arm injuries and surgery. He pitched 2 innings, allowing 5 runs on 9 hits and 3 walKS. 2019 draftees Cyrillo Watson and Zack Plunkett each followed with scoreless innings, keeping their ERA’s at 0.00. Plunkett, who played catcher in college, struck out 2 in his inning.
AZL Lasorda lost to the AZL Mariners: 5-3
Edwin Mateo and Jorbit Vivas each had 2 hits, with one of Mateo’s hits being a double. Michael Busch served as the DH and went hitless. He has yet to register his first professional hit. Carlos Duran started and allowed 4 runs on 8 hits in 3 innings. He also walked 1 and had 3 strikeouts. Let’s not be too harsh on the young man though, he is only 17 and this is his 1st year in the USA. He is still 6’7″ and weighs 230. He’s a big boy who has lots of projection. Franklin De La Paz followed with a scoreless inning and Juan Morillo pitched the final 3.1 scoreless innings in relief, striking out 6.
Awesome 2D.
A new and interesting post everyday is a challenge. MT, AC, DC, 2D sharing the load and doing it really well.
Nice article and I agree with many of the sentiments. My time investment with the Dodgers has wavered since I began following them in 86, so I might be missing some other fruitful times with our prospect talent, but certainly the early 90s was a good time particularly with Karros, Mondesi, Piazza, Offerman off the top of my head.
In the spirit of reflecting, this Boston series has been the most enjoyable of the season for me. I think it served as a nice mid term examination on the state of the team and what we’ve shored up that was missing and what we’re still short on. Boston, basically returned the same team that won last year, but we’ve had a bit of a facelift in comparison and I think the improvements really shined this weekend.
*Bellinger – sure he played in the WS, but he wasn’t the All Star he is now. He didn’t have a great series, but his beat out and homer helped wake up our offense in game 2 and his legit fear factor lead to two intentional walks Sunday. None of our hitters were getting that respect from Boston last year. (well, maybe Puig once if I recall correctly, but that might have been for force out purposes). Even going hitless, he’s affecting the game and getting on base, which was a problem last WS.
*Verdugo and Pollock- killing Boston with their own medicine. Sure, they hit homers, but they also sprayed around the field and had some crucial hits. We couldn’t buy a crucial hit against them last year.
*Robert Van Scoyoc — I thought our hitting approach was night and day compared to last year against them. We looked more patient, confident, and we made their pitchers sweat for a change.
*Seager – okay, so he didn’t really do much, although neither did Machado last year against them. Corey, is apparently (well, probably obviously) a rhythm hitter. It basically took him two months to start hitting like Corey Seager again before the hammy. I think he’ll reclaim it quicker this time. I mention him because Boston hasn’t seen our best version yet. Shoot, they got our 5th and 6th regular starters the first two games. I’m really looking forward to the LA series. I think we sweep them and it will remembered as the point in the season where baseball realized this year is about the Dodgers. Maybe, it’s just me, but this team, despite it’s weaknesses, feels like a Championship team.
As the ancient philosopher Dugie once said – “The boys can hit, we’re nasssstyyyyy!”
Fun read, 2D2. Conjured up memories of Frederick Exley’s “A Fan’s Notes” and Allan Malamud’s always entertaining (and much missed) column, Notes on a Scorecard. Thanks.
I’m not familiar with Exley, but boy did I ever love reading Malamud! I hadn’t thought of him for awhile, but he was one of the primary reasons people subscribed to the LA Herald Examiner in the 60’s. Thanks for the reminder of a simpler day!
I still have a copy of the final edition of The Examiner, dated Thursday, November 2, 1989. In the Sports section, there are farewell pieces by Bud Furillo, Doug Krikorian, Bob Keisser, Jack Disney, and many other staff writers. Great memories.
Did you guys forget about the all time great sports writer for the LAT Plaschke! Just kidding! No, I’m talking about the late/ great Jim Murray! What a writer he was.
Murray was in that rarefied air where only a few ascend – for me he was to LA sports writing, what Vin Scully was to broadcasting. Whereas, Malamud and Krikorian were the writers for the common man.
This was a very nice series win against 3 quality lefties and a playoff hopeful. I’m very pleased to stick it to the bean-eaters in their own yard. The big difference between the teams is that the Sox can’t kill their starting rotation during the year by using their starters in in pen and we don’t have the ultimate knucklehead in RF allowing base-runners to advance in hopes to throw them out or to ignore the defensive positioning and allowing them to reach base as a result. In the first series of the second half we showed our chink in the armor once again with the pen giving up a late lead. We also showed that the lineup is balanced with Pollock and Freese and foreshadowed what a rested Freese will look like in a potential Joc platoon. I just hope that the management team will realize Belli is best served playing first base IF Joc is still deemed integral to lineup against righties.
Overreactions:
After we lost the first game of the series, we can’t beat good teams? Someone said this and it couldn’t be further from the truth. Only the Yankees have a better record against teams >500 Dodgers 35-22 614% Yankees 24-15 615%.
Pollock / Pederson Platoon? The eye test in a very weird park shows that Pollock is very comfortable in CF and can handle the position with grace and ease. Possibly the player of the series, Pollock came off the DL to hit 428 with 2 Bombs, 3 Runs and 6 RBI.
Not good against lefties? After dispatching Price and Sale it seems like the lineup is capable against southpaws. At 20-12 625% there’s 4 teams that have better results against lefties. ATL, CLE, HOU, OAK. Unfortunately for a lefty heavy rotation, we have a good chance to see two of them in the post-season.
Pointing out the obvious:
Doc says in his non-committal Doc ways that the plan is to still have Julio join the rotation later this year, alluding to late August as a target. The timeline lines up the the trade deadline, keeping Julio in the pen until we can acquire reinforcements, then building up Julio.
We went into the 2nd half with a 13.5 game lead and came out of the first series against the defending champs and post season hopefuls with a 14.5 game lead. With 16 days until the deadline and practically EVERY NL TEAM and half of the AL teams in striking distance for a Wild Card spot, patience is a virtue when considering a trade for bullpen help, or any deadline deals.
Friedman hints that he’s not singularly focused on bullpen, but it always looking to improve the roster in any way.
For all the Pollock haters, I just have one question. Does crow taste like chicken?
I believe the Jacksonville Five included Loney, not Guzman.
Well we took 2 of 3 at the Champs house. That is exactly what we needed to do. Now we go to Philly for 4. They’re playing better. I expect at minimum a 2-2 split.
If CT3 does go on the DL, does Garlick get the call up?
… and the answer is:
Led by the awesomely-named “Jacksonville Five” (top prospects Chad Billingsley, Andy LaRoche, Joel Guzman, Russell Martin, and Jonathan Broxton), Jacksonville made the Southern League playoffs.
haha wow I’ve been believing Loney was part of that group for 14 years now! Finally I’ve seen the light
I think Bums led you to believe Loney was. LOL.
The last AFL game I watched had LaRoche, Kemp, Ethier (I think), Loney, and Abreu playing. I wasn’t impressed with LaRoche but I was with Abreu and Loney. Kemp at that time was considered big time.
I know with Lux making lots of noise in the minors it would be a long shot to land Whit Merrifield before the trading deadline but wouldn’t that be special. Barnes and Kike are putting me to sleep during their at bats and both seem lost. Kike will on occasion will run into a long ball but it’s getting further between occasions. I am also seeing mental lapses on defense from our defensive specialist. When can we get Will Smith up and going in the major leagues? Barnes is lost but I am hearing that LA’s pitchers want to throw to him. Maybe with Will Smith getting more work before the playoffs, they might feel better about him behind the plate. I have mixed feeling about the pen. Kenley looked great last night and Kelly is showing improvement. Baez, wow what happened? I guess he faced their best hitters. Adding another back end piece is going to be what could be a make or break decision for a championship in 2019. With all that said, it’s a great time to be a Dodger fan.
Sorry Roberts but over a year and a half is not a slump it’s who Barnes is. Do you really want him coming up at a crucial at bat in the playoffs? He’s a black hole!
It’s not Doc’s decision.
Let’s see. CT3 needed to go in for X-Rays (probably 2 innings too late). The only position player remaining was Barnes. Doc didn’t have a choice. Some say Smith should be there instead of Barnes. Maybe, but again, that is not Doc’s call. If the reliever had done his job, then that situation would not have come up. He may decide who comes in when, but his choices are limited to who he can call on. He plays the players he has, and right now that is Austin Barnes and the Bullpen.
For the first time in baseball history a player stole first base thanks to the Atlantic League… No more wild pitch or passed ball? I don’t like it!
https://twitter.com/BlueCrabs/status/1150202820093730816?s=19
Last night Martin did a great job blocking pitches in the dirt . He saved at least one run with a great stop.
For some reason it seems like JT isn’t having a very good year. Then I look at the stats and he is hitting 290–300 on a pace for about 18 HR and playing a good second base. Sometimes looks are deceiving.
Everyone says CS is a great shortstop, then why does he have so many errors?
Just saying…………….
JT plays a good third base. Looks are really deceiving.
Hard to tell these days with all the shifts. 😉
Well done 2D2, you have a nice wit and I had to smile reading your post! The Dodgers were fun to watch the last 2 games and being on national broadcasts was also nice to pay back Boston just a little bit on a big stage. I really liked Doc bringing in Kelly to close it out, what a boost to his confidence and in that park, he could really help build the bridge to Jansen. He also went out to talk to Baez after back to back HR’s but left him in and he came through to put the rally down. Hindsight being what it is his bullpen usage last night was really good (except for Cup and Yimi but they got a verrry short leash) and Jansen looked vintage. On to Philly and a Bryce spanking!
Today’s articles say that Doc told Baez he was tipping his pitches on the first two hitters.
Totally agree with you, Vegas. Nice job by Doc twice there
Does anybody worry or care that Muncy strikes out a lot?
It would be disruptive for pitchers to do anything more than compliment Smith after a game Smith caught. Saying they like to pitch to him could create some friction between their current battery mates.
Another random thought…
We brag about our great defense and yet we are 10th out of 15 in the NL and 20th out of 30 in MLB. (In defense %)
Muncy has 10 errors, Seager and Taylor 7, and J Kelly 4 with a F% of .600, Urias has 3. How can pitchers have so many errors? Pitchers need to take some ground balls.
Fielding % is but a small part of defense.
As are errors.
After Baez gave up 2 HR and Doc told him he was tipping pitches, I think he struck out the next 3 batters!
That’s impressive. Hopefully, Baez will take another step forward as a result. Still need an arm or two.
I don’t know about you all, but man was I getting hot listening to the broadcasting crew last night. Their “neutrality” was sickening. They would acknowledge the Dodger’s place as the best team in baseball but, every time Boston did something on the field they would get all geeked-up. Scully would’ve never done that on a national broadcast. They kept pushing the Dodgers hitting woes too… that was until the Dodgers took the game in the twelfth inning that is!
Winning took that bad taste out of my mouth but still, they were ridiculous.
I’m with you – Vesgersian, ARod and Jessica Mendoza are tough to listen to on the broadcast for the reasons you mention. ARod (when he’s not summarizing the obvious) often criticizes the Dodgers because of their emphasis on advanced analytics. You could argue that a lot of Dodger fans have the same criticisms of the platoons and pitching changes. Jessica Mendoza picked the Cubs over the Dodgers in 2017 and in general usually picks other teams going up against the Dodgers during the playoffs. Not sure why she doesn’t think highly of LA but I was hoping Cali Kershaw won her over when Mendoza handed her the mic during Joc’s HR derby.
The Sunday night crew is just terrible in general. I usually mute them and listen to the radio broadcast. The two man team with Sutcliffe is much better on ESPN. Sunday night, despite some cool graphics, is ruined by three people talking over the game and then constantly complaining about how long it’s taking to do their job. Mendoza is a little better on the radio partly because it’s just two people. Aroid is unbearable to me.
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D2D I was at the game where Amaya hit that dinger. It was destroyed. You can tell the hot, hot weather is hitting the midwest. The scores in the Loons games have been climbing.
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At times last night I thought the Dodgers got away from passing the baton. Bellinger swung at ball four late in the game with a runner on first and no one out. They expanded the zone a little more than usual. All the experimenting on defense has led to more errors the last couple of weeks. They will get that cleaned up.
I was hoping they would stop with the yak, yak, yak regardless of what they were saying.
M.T. you have created a 3 headed monster in AC, DC and 2D2…
2D2 your first bullet pretty much sums it up: It’s hard to be humble…
One question though!!! Why do we have to rotate Kelly and Verdugo??? Verdugo earned his spot… Why not keep it the way it is??? I can’t believe Joc will be around much longer if a trade is made…
One of my favs, Kike has really lost it…
Whit Merrifield would be a great addition to this team solidifying 2B at defense and providing a capable leadoff hitter and right handed bat. He’s also got some pop in his bat and can steal some bases and is the face of the franchise. He has an extremely team friendly deal which means that he either won’t be traded or would cost a lot.
It seems to me that a Whit Merrifield trade would start with Gavin Lux and require additional high value prospects due to the premium required to offset the team friendly deal. This doesn’t sound like the kind of trade that AF will make on a team that already has Max Muncy at the position when you can get arguable similar and perhaps better production for Jose Abreu. Sure the defense would be worse with Abreu at 1B and Muncy at 2B that with Whitfield at 2B and Muncy at 1B. But, it would provide a whole lot more right handed power in the lineup and wouldn’t cost nearly as much in prospect capital.
Both Witfield and Abreu trades would render Joc useless to the team and I just can’t see them giving up on Joc mid-season. But, if I learned anything about Andrew Friedman in his time here in LA, it’s that you can throw everything out the window when assuming past patterns would predict future tendencies. See, Puig, Kemp acquisition and disposition, Ellis, Kelly etc. Maybe a White Sox blockbuster is in the works?
Abreu, Bummer, Colome for Pederson, Rios, Alexander, Floro, Sheffield, Alvarez?
I almost forgot…My thoughts and prayers are out Bob Gibson and his family…
I had the pleasure to to sit behind home plate a few times and see Gibson pitch..
He scared the s___ out of me just when he was getting the sign…
Big D, Marichal and Gibson were wipe out pitchers…
There would be no readjusting of your batting, making little symbols in the dirt etc. your a__ would be looking at the sky!!!
Sad news about Gibson. He was one of my favorite non-Dodger pitchers. I’m relatively certain, if he were pitching today, that hitters would not be celebrating as much as they do after a HR. If they were lucky enough to hit one off of him and they showed off, the next time they would be surgically removing the baseball from his ear. He was a classic!
Very weird game last night. Odd moves made. Predictable moves not made. Strange plays. Boston absolutely refusing to bunt the winning run to third with no outs (which the metrics guys would applaud) but than getting throw out at 3rd on the grounder to short. Duh? Shifts creating confusion on covering bases. Odd plays like Freese’ attempt to catch the long hop from short. Pitcher interference with a baserunner to first. Stuff you seldom see. It also looked possible that at least every other fan in attendance came away with a foul ball.
I wouldn’t make this move but with the emphasis on match ups, there’s a case that Jansen should have opened the 8th. That was really the save situation with the meat of the order coming up. Get through that inning with the 2 run lead and Joe Kelly (okay you choose who) closes with the bottom of the order. There’s lots of talk about pitching changes based on match ups and not by inning. This would have been the time.
I will say again………………….. Joe Kelly is the key in the bullpen for the remainder of the season.
I have a hard time second guessing Doc on bringing in Baez in the 8th with a two run lead, it just didn’t work out this time.
Baez has pitched the 8th more than any other inning this year. 24 8th innings vs. 41 total innings. Next best, he’s pitched the 7th for 8.1 innings, so he pretty much pitches either the 7th or the 8th and usually faces the heart of the order as he did last night. He also owns a 2.25 ERA pitching in the 8th on the season.
I don’t see any other teams utilizing their closer to pitch to the middle of the order in the 8th, but maybe you’re on to something that should be considered. It’s hard to argue against that in the modern game of baseball. But, to do it for the first time all year, against the defending champs, in their own yard? I don’t think that’s the best time to start experimenting.
This is a moot point if we had another closer type on the roster. We’ve been talking about the bridge to Kenley all year. It was supposed to be Baez against the middle of the order in the 6th or 7th, Kelly in the 8th and Kenley in the ninth. Kelly has been slow to acclimate, Yimi is prone to the long ball, Floro and Alexander can’t get lefties out, so the pen is very hard to navigate through. What we need is arms that don’t need to be navigated through.
It appears that Conner Wong has been promoted from Rancho Cucamonga to Tulsa and Hunter Feduccia has been promoted from the Loons to the Quakes. Good job for both of these players.
Catcher Tre Todd has moved up from Ogden to the Loons. Homered with the Loons today and Ramon Rodriguez has moved from the Quakes to the Raptors. Rodriguez was on hold with the Quakes waiting for either Todd or Marco Hernandez to move up to the Loons.
Not to mention another fantastic start for Jose Martinez, 20 year old Venezuelan RHP. Also another good relief job for Guillermo Zuniga, 20 year old Colombian RHP. It looks like that 3 game wall he hit has come down. Back to back solid relief appearances.
I was impressed with Martinez and Zuniga. Martinez looked like a horse who got stronger as the game went on and Zuniga threw effortlessly.
That should help Camargo get more time behind the plate with the Loons. Hopefully, Smith is coming back to LA sooner rather than later. I saw they released a catcher from their minor league system last week too.
Lots to think about 2D2. Thanks. Great to have you on board.
My thought in the game last night, which I watched until almost 2:00 A.M, was that unfortunately Austin Barnes has more than plateaued.
I was interested in the comment by the announcers re: foul balls. I forget the number now but it was quite impressive, 65 or something like that and 4 times as many as the Red Sox. Those are important causing the opposing pitcher to throw more pitches, change his plan and give the hitters more looks at what is being thrown. That makes for good at bats.
Both players have been hot of late. Feduccia is riding a 13 game hitting streak. Last 10 games he is batting .357. In last 10 games, Connor is batting .351. Wong is #6 in Cal League HR’s (15) and #7 RBI’s (51). Good for both kids. I loved Feduccia once he was drafted. I have not seen him play except a couple of MiLB games on TV, so if he has any staying power, I just do not know yet. But I generally stay with my original draft favorites until they are out of baseball.
Rockies down 16-0 already in that ridiculous park. They gave up 9 on Sunday and 17 on Saturday. Every young pitchers should just hope they don’t get drafted by the Rockies.
Rosscup designated for assignment. I guess he didn’t impress last night.
DODGERS RECALL RHP CASEY SADLER
LHP ZAC ROSSCUP DESIGNATED FOR ASSIGNMENT
LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers today recalled right-handed pitcher Casey Sadler from Triple-A Oklahoma City and designated left-handed pitcher Zac Rosscup for assignment. Sadler will wear number 65.
Sadler, 29, joined Los Angeles on July 3 from Tampa Bay in exchange for right-handed pitcher Nathan Witt. He made two appearances for Oklahoma City prior to the promotion, firing six innings and allowing four runs. On the season, he is a combined 1-1 with a 3.26 ERA (14 ER/38.1 IP) in 13 games for Durham and Oklahoma City. Sadler is in his fourth Major League season, accumulating a 1-1 record with 4.38 ERA (19 ER/38.0 IP) in 18 career games.
Rosscup, 31, appeared in seven games for the Dodgers, tossing three innings, allowing two runs with four strikeouts. On the season, he is a combined 2-0 and a 5.00 ERA (10 ER/ 18.0 IP) with Seattle, Toronto and Los Angeles.
Well after seeing how Sadler dominated for OKC he deserves that promotion !!
Why Sadler and not Ferguson? Now the bullpen has one lefty, Urias. One has to think that a lefty is potentially on the way to LA. Right???
Is it because he is a new addition to the FO and they want to get him in some games to see what he can do? I would have also liked to see Ferguson though unless he is not doing well but I think he is?
Ditto on Rosscup always wondered why they got him other than he was a LHP.
The Cup is gone. Sad Sadler is an appropriate replacement (joining luminaries like the Ax, and Mad Madsen last season).
You have to think that the Braintrust has other tricks up its collective sleeve to augment the bullpen. Last season was all about staying under the Competitive Balance Cap tax. This year they should have a little room to work with and will be able to do better.
I suspect that many will be disappointed with who they get if they expect a high dollar value player or a player who will demand top prospects in return. I wouldn’t even want to hazard a guess at who the Dodgers will get at the Deadline – it will probably be someone that nobody has thought of yet. You just have to assume that Sad Sadler isn’t it.
It has to be stressful to come into a game knowing that you have zero room between staying on the 25 or not. Any one pitch could send a guy like Rosscup down.
As it should be if you are one of the top 750 players on the planet. Zac just did not measure up, and I do not know if he ever will with the Dodgers. In 7 games he had 3.0 IP. He faced 17 batters and 9 of them reached base (6 hits and 3 walks). 2 out of 3 inherited runners scored. When your job is to come in and get the one lefty hitter out, and you walk him on 4 pitches, there is no reason justifiable reason to keep your job. I wish him good luck, but I do not hope to see him on the Dodgers roster again.
So, you agree, it was stressful.
LOL
This news makes my prediction that the Dodgers trade for Jake Diekman make even more sense.
I am sorry. No disrespect, but it makes absolutely no sense. Diekman is worse than Alexander. There is absolutely no reason to trade for Diekman. I would no trade to DSL players for Diekman. If that is the best they can do in a trade, then go with what they have.
Always Compete
I just know that Roberts loves the lefty/lefty match up, I’m not advocating for Diekman I’m just predicting.
Diekman has a good OPS against left handed hitters.
Won’t cost much at all.
Not what I want, just a prediction.
Any more news on Taylor? Good to see the minor league promotions and wish them all success going forward.
Taylor on 10 day IL, a fracture in forearm. Beaty back up with the Dodgers.
Today’s starters, if you replaced Hernandez with Freese (moving Muncy to 2B) and replaced Barnes with Smith would be the perfect 8 vs right handers IMO.
You NEVER know what you are going to get with a reliever.
Jim Johnson had a 2.25 ERA before LA = 10.00+ after.
Shane Greene had a 5.12 ERA last year. This year he is 1.06 and no one can hit him.
Did I mention that you NEVER know?
Tonight’s Lineup:
1. Pederson LF
2. Verdugo CF
3. Turner 3B
4. MVP RF
5. Mad Max 1B
6. Seager SS
7. Kike 2B
8. Barnes last game C
9. The Ace P
The dodgers are loaded with good catchers. With all that movement maybe Smith is on his way up.
I just hope Joc will have a good second half.
DODGERS RECALL OF MATT BEATY
INFIELDER CHRIS TAYLOR PLACED ON IL
LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers today recalled outfielder Matt Beaty and placed infielder Chris Taylor on the 10-day injured list with a left forearm fracture.
Beaty, 26, returns for his fourth stint with the Dodgers. In 37 games with the team, he is slashing .278/.297/.407 with two homers and 17 RBI. With Oklahoma City, he was batting .303 (36-for-119) three homers and 19 RBI in 31 games.
Taylor, 28, left last night’s game after being hit by a pitch in the left wrist. The initial x-rays were negative, but further imaging revealed a fracture. The former Virginia Cavalier has played in 90 games for the Dodgers, batting .261 (68-for-261) with eight homers and 41 RBI. In his six Major League seasons, he has slashed .262/.331/.438 with 47 homers and 193 RBI in 505 games.
Good to see the Dodgers win 2 of 3 in Boston. Baez was obviously tipping pitches I could see that from my tv. Tough break with Taylor who was playing very good. Seager has never a pitch he didn’t like. I noticed some other dodgers going out of the strike zone but Corey is the worst. Kershaw being kershaw, wild pitches, homerun, slider only pitch he has, plus back to back errors driving pitch count up. Anybody who thinks kershaw is our playoff starter is thinking with their heart. You can’t pitch in the big leagues with just a slider. His curve comes and goes, his fb average at best. Barnes sucking again tonight bring Smith up. The Boston bullpen looked a lot deeper than ours. I know their stats are bad but they looked good last night. Jansen looked very good.
Ryu pitched very good but was better than his line. That first inning our defense was fumbling, stumbling etc. several ground balls that should have been dps but Ryu kept his composure. Kike is totally lost. Joc with homerun derby hangover. Oh no I hope there is nothing to that. This bullpen cannot win a World Series. Good call on Rosscup.
The Dodgers have a fantastic team. It can be a great team with bullpen and catcher improvement. Random thoughts ok Dodgers up 5-1 go blue!
Wow – this is the kind of inning that you didn’t see the Dodgers have often last season – to score a run on a double steal that included home. I really like this team (except the bullpen).
Good to see Seager get that hit. Nice hustle too. Maybe this gets him going.
For get about Smith. Barnes is getting hot. 🙂
Might as well let Sadler pitch in this game. See what he has.
For the Roberts haters remember we could have had Kapler. I for one was happy they didn’t hire him. I may criticize Doc for his handling of the WS but I’m grateful they hired him over Kapler.
Sowell, 2dmeter, try reading Mises. Mises.org
I read it regularly.
For those that referred to Austin Barnes as a black hole, I guess he had a good night, and their assessment might be a bit premature. For those that have called Kike’ a loser, I guess the same holds true. Maybe Will Smith is a better choice than Barnes, then again maybe not. But to refer to the primary catcher on the winningest team in MLB as a black hole is a little over the top. The same with Kike’. Now with CT3 on the IL, I guess Kike’ is going to be needed.
I do not expect the Dodgers to roll off 8-10 offensive games like today. But they are capable of it including Barnes and Kike’. The team needs two high leverage bullpen pieces, but not anything else. There is nothing that I see whereby the team is improved over what the current 12 position players are that can come close to the cost. I know many out there want to trade Joc.
Jose Abreu – 32 – .816 OPS – 1.0 WAR – $16MM – FA next year
Nick Castellanos – 27 – .803 OPS – 1.1 WAR – $9.95MM – FA next year
Trey Mancini – 27 – .840 OPS – .8 WAR – $576K – 3 years more control
Joc Pederson – 27 – .851 OPS – 1.6 WAR – $5MM – 1 year more control
You want to trade Joc straight up for any of the above? I would not.
The team is 20-12 against LHP. Not great, but not as bad as most make it out to be.
.255/.335/.445/.780 vs. LHP
.265/.346/.475/.821 vs. RHP
Again, metrics against LHP not overwhelming, but not as bad as many like to make it out to be.
RISP – .267/.363/.452/.814
RISP 2/2 out – .250/.370/.430/.800
.800 OPS with RISP is more than acceptable, especially with the starting pitching the Dodgers have. This team is primed to be the best team in MLB. With two additional high leverage relievers, there should not be any question. I know Mark always wants to point out how fickle relievers are, but if the Dodgers cannot do better than Scott Alexander, Casey Sadler, JT Chargois, Dylan Floro, then they are not trying to.
Always Compete
I agree with you about the offense. Since day 1, well not actually day 1 but you get my point, very early in the season I said I love this offense no need to add anything to it and I hope nobody on this offense gets traded.
Maybe there’s a case for Barnes to be optioned for Smith, but that’s about it.
Otherwise September is not very far away, so maybe Smith waits until September 1.
Worst case scenario, Smith gets a good long look in September to see if he can take the job like Seager did to Rollins. Of course when the dust clears after the trade deadline we may see Smith promoted then. I would bet on the September call up. As most of us know, defense and calling a game is more important than hitting from the catcher’s position. Smith needs time working with the pitchers. His defense is arguably better than Barnes already. Let us not forget the Dodgers had Smith in the dugout for the post-season last year to get him acclimated. He’s going to get his shot before the year is over.
Sorry, but after a historic 2 for 5 night by Barnes, he’s still hitting .209. If that isn’t black hole, then please define what black hole is. Oh, and he has an OBP UNDER .300, an OPS of .647 and a .4 WAR (which I believe includes defense?)
For comparison sake, Will Smith, in 26 at bats, has the same .4 WAR as Austin Barnes, the primary catcher on the winningest team in baseball.
Barnes may be a really nice person, and the staff may love him, but from what I heard and saw, the staff also had great things to say about Smith, and Smith showed some decent life offensively as well.
The time has come to make the switch. Maybe Doc and the gang are too loyal to Barnes (a trait which isn’t the worst thing in the world), but the time has come to make a switch.
After all of 29 MLB PA you are ready to declare Will Smith to be the regular Dodger catcher. After all, all Barnes has done is to be the primary catcher for the winningest team in all of MLB with the best pitching staff. The Dodgers are on a pace for 107 wins. Barnes gets no credit with this pitching staff to put this team on that pace? Are you saying that with Smith, the Dodgers would be on a 110-win season? Why are we so quick to want to change out a very important cog in the overall machine because he is not a prolific hitter, when there is more than enough offense to make up for the catcher?
You are ready to declare that Will Smith will continue at his .269/.345/.654/.999 pace after all of 29 PA. I hope he does because it makes the team better. But I am not ready to claim that he will continue on that pace after only 29 PA. After all, in 2017, Barnes hit .289/.408/.486/.895 in 218 PA. Maybe that was the outlier. But he did do it at the ML level. But are you declaring that Smith’s first 29 PA are not an outlier? I know some will point to Smith’s numbers at the minor league level. To date, Smith has a MiLB career slash line of .244/.349/.454/.803, while Barnes’ MiLB slash line was .300/389/.439/.828. Smith has a slightily better slugging, but not in any of the other metrics.
If the pitching staff was not performing at an elite level, I would say go ahead and make the change now. But they are, and Barnes deserves some credit. If Smith comes up in September and beats Barnes out, good for him and the team, but a catcher that has led this pitching staff to this level is not a black hole, and deserves to continue as long as the TEAM is playing this well.
NL catchers with least 180 AB’s Austin Barnes is just ahead of Austin Hedges. Barnes has a BA of .203, .298 OBP, .644 in OPS. Maybe not a black hole but certainly a very weak bat nonetheless. Can’t argue an upgrade is in order.
Being the primary catcher for the best pitching staff in MLB doesn’t count for something? When you have an offense that the Dodgers have, isn’t it conceivable that a good “catcher” is good enough. Is Smith better? Can anybody make that determination from 29 ML PA? Remember Barnes from 2017? I am more than willing to give Will Smith the opportunity, but I also do not believe it is prudent to simply dump Barnes.
Lawsuit against Guggenheim dismissed today:
https://news.yahoo.com/guggenheim-defeats-lawsuit-claiming-siphoned-233747979.html
The Red Sox won with catchers that were all worse batting than Barnes last year. I am all for an upgrade, but it’s silly to think you can just “plug-in” Smith and everything will be fine. It doesn’t work that way. Buehler and Urias may not care but I guarantee that Clayton, Rich and Hyun-jin would not like switching catchers at this juncture… unless it were absolutely necessary… and it’s not.