Joe Kelly was a trainwreck early in the season, but when I last checked, he was pretty good. The Dodgers plan when they signed him was to change his grip and smooth out his mechanics. In case you have been hiding under a rock, it did not work very well… at least for a while. But, it’s how you end up that counts.
They say that good things come to those who wait. Who the heck is “they” anyway? But, the Dodgers waited and the fans lost their minds in the process. Many were institutionalized over this. Others should have been institutionalized! But, right about now we realize that it’s how you end up that counts.
Yimi Garcia gives up more home runs than singles and he may be a fine reliever someday, but his year is done at the end of September. If he is on the playoff roster, then I am Betty Crocker. Move on and just wait until next year. Relievers are a fickle bunch. He might be the Dodgers Kirby Yates next year. Look it up. There is no roadmap with these guys.
Caleb Ferguson started out horribly this season. Here’s the thing: You never know what battles someone is fighting. They may have personal issues with a parent, girlfriend, wife, grandparent or a health issue. We don’t know what is going on in Caleb’s life, but he may be struggling with something. Baseball players are people too. The stats don’t support it, but I think Caleb Ferguson will be lights out down the stretch. Let’s call it a “hunch.” The line between “success and failure” is very fine.
Kenley Jansen has been vilified recently for any number of things, among them, not using his slider enough. Well, it is true that he and the Dodger’s catchers were not on the same page earlier in the season, but right about now, his slider usage is up to 11.6%. Some fans accuse him of being stubborn and refusing to throw his slider. Again, most fans haven’t a clue. Kenley’s biggest problem is that RH hitters are hitting .247 against him, while LH Batters are hitting .194.
He has to fix that and maybe it’s pitch selection or changing location. Kenley has been doing this for a while and he is working with Honeycutt and Prior to resolve this issue. He has lost some velocity on his cutter, but still has about the same slider velocity, so maybe he just needs to figure out how to take a tick or two off the slider to maximize the difference. He is working on it and hopefully will “find it” sooner than later, but he remains a work in progress. Believe me, Kenley wants to be successful more than we want him to. I remain hopeful.
Pedro Baez has just been solid all year and I think he has shown that is sustainable. Dylan Floro still has time to right his ship. He has not been as bad as most think, but he has to get a lot better. Casey Sadler (in a small sampling) looks like a keeper and May and Gonsolin will both likely play a role in the playoffs.
Kenta Maeda’s ERA doesn’t match his other peripherals, indicating we might expect a lot of good pitching from him. I think he will be given every opportunity to be the 4th starter in the playoffs and probably will be. Adam Kolarek has not pitched enough to make a judgment call. He will get more chances. Julio Urias is the Wild Card. Can he accept a bullpen role and excel in it before going into the rotation next year? I think he will. He’s a humble kid and wants to win. I am sure it was somewhat of a shock to find out he was not going into the rotation this year as he expected. It takes time to adapt and he will.
Of course, the Big Three of the starting Rotation, Kershaw, Ryu, and Buehler remains the best in baseball and Maeda would give them a nice L – R balance. I am counting on Joe Kelly to continue down the path he is on and two players on the DL could play a big role: Rich Hill and Ross Stripling. For his career, Ross Stripling has a 3.70 ERA as a starter and a 3.24 ERA as a reliever. He’s a guy who gets you some innings and just fits in where he can.
Andrew Friedman has indicated that the Dodgers will carry 12 pitchers in the playoffs. This is my best guess:
- Kershaw
- Ryu
- Buehler
- Maeda
- Jansen
- Kelly
- May
- Gonsolin
- Urias
- Sadler
- Baez
- Ferguson
Sadler, Hill, Stripling, and Floro are the alternates. Those are some pretty good pitchers not making the roster.
Tyler White has not seized the day. Will Jedd Gyorko get the call-up today?
Minor League Highlights
- Tony Gonsolin pitched 5 dominant innings, allowing 2 hits and striking out 9 while walking 3. He also sacrificed and got a hit in his only AB.
- Jeff Gyorko hit a 3-run HR while Austin Barnes was 2-5 and is at .298.
- Gavin Lux only went 1-5 and is down to .432. Send him back to AA. 😉
- Marcus Solbach, who is 27 years old and worthy of an AC-DC write up went 5 innings and allowed 1 unearned run on 3 hits and 7 K’s. He jumped from the rookie leagues to AA this season.
- Jeronimo Castro pitched 7 innings for the Ogden Raptors and allowed 1 ER while striking out 7 and walking ZERO.
- In case you are wondering, Diego Cartya (still 17) is hitting .274 in the Rookie League and has thrown out 10 of 22 runners. He will most certainly start at Great Lakes next season… or Rancho.
After seeing the headline, I thought the story would be about the team’s ability to finish strong.
I share Mark’s feeling that Furgusson will do well from here on out. I think Hill will be in the bullpen for the playoffs.
Who will be this year’s Chuck Essegian?
This year’s Chuck Essegian (1959 WS hero with 2 PH home runs) will be (drum roll) – Jedd Gyorko
Essegian answer to trivia question, played in Rose Bowl game and World Series
Jedd Gyorko–Good choice
From yesterday’s thread: Hawkeyedodger August 13, 2019 at 1:29 am
….”Lux hit a 469 foot HR off of Ricky Nolasco tonight. I didn’t know Nolasco was still hanging on.”
1. That’s a poke wherever it was hit.
2. Nolasco still hanging on and still hanging pitches.
Mark, you list Sadler as one of the 12 playoff pitchers and also one of the alternates. Did you mean to list Chargois as an alternate instead of Sadler?
The fact you are listing 6 starters in the bullpen or as alternates shows they did not do enough in the offseason to address the bullpen. The fact it may work is a testament to how hard a bullpen is to construct and money is not always the answer. Switching some starters to relief roles in the minors and targeting college bullpen guys in the draft shows the brain trust is aware and long term they want to address internally. I believe this year they have enough IF the starters go deep and the bats give them a cushion.
Let the bullpen contest roll and see if all the Dodgers needed to do was use their in-house talent instead of trading it for this year’s crop of closer talent.
I don’t think it was plan A to go in house but they are committed to plan B for the rest of this year. The hindsight is 20/20 crowd will pounce or gloat over the results. Whoever they select, it should be enough IMO.
Post season BP’s tend to include “starters”
If you exclude closers, starters are your best pitchers. You only need 3 – 4 starters in the post season. Most competing teams will have at least 5 – 6 starters who are at least semi-healthy when the season winds down.
It is a testament to the Dodgers 25 man depth AND farm system depth that we are discussing the possibility of 5 “starters” in the mix for the post season BP rather than the usual 1 – 2.
I don’t see Ferguson in the playoff pen. I don’t trust he can throw his curve for strikes in pressure situations and hitters just sit on his fastball. Unless he develops a third pitch this winter I don’t see him becoming a factor. Too bad because if he developed a nice slider I think he could be special!
I think if May is on the post-season roster, he will be the game 4 starter since he doesn’t have any experience going out of the pen. A lot can change between now and then.
I also think that Hill will be on the roster if he’s ready to go. Again, won’t know until we actually see him come back.
469 feet!?!> All I can say is WOW!!!
And Mark are you applying your title to Bellinger as well?
What title/
In all honesty you do pay for the games given away early in the season. Though that probably won’t be a problem this year. Hopefully the Dodgers will up their odds of getting to and winning the WS this year by carrying the home field advantage throughout the postseason. It’s all we can reasonably expect at this point.
I don’t think anyone “gave away” any games.
You either win or lose.
Assuming that Hill, Stripling won’t be available as starters, then we are looking at 4th starters too. I assume that the choices will be Maeda, Urias and May. I would be surprised if 21 year old May, with very little experience would be called on in this capacity. Urias hasn’t been stretched out. I assume that Maeda is it by Hobson’s choice. He doesn’t fill me with confidence.
Pen is then Jansen, Baez, Kelly, Hill (if available) and Stripling (if available), Urias, which leaves 2 spots open. If Chargois, Garcia, Floro or Ferguson are in the ‘pen then look out. None have pitched well this year – Floro is the best of the group, but he hasn’t been good since May. Sadler has been solid but apparently doesn’t have the confidence of the Braintrust. Gonsolin and May – one has 2 big league appearances and the other 3. May has never pitched out of the ‘pen and we have no way of knowing if he can. Remember, Buehler couldn’t when they tried it. The new LOOGY (Kolarek) hasn’t been good.
If I had to guess the last 2 bullpen spots will go to Floro or Sadler and Kolarek. I don’t expect either May or Gonsolin to make the post-season roster.
Not a bullpen to inspire confidence.
Hill would only be available to pitch long relief – he’s 39 and will take a while to warm up.
Here’s a video link of Lux mammoth HR:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fkr9kEX9knk
That is a shot!
his bat is so quick. I swear I’m seeing prime Daniel Murphy with that swing.
Am I way off base?
He might be better than Murphy. Murphy has no glove.
Here is a video of 6 of his Home Runs.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/video-dodgers-top-prospect-gavin-lux-has-6-homers-in-5-games-and-theyre-all-absolute-bombs/ar-AAEzYbb
Let’s hope there’s no Lux Tax on him.
pint for you, my brother!
DODGERS RECALL OF KYLE GARLICK
INF TYLER WHITE PLACED ON 10-DAY INJURED LIST
LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers announced that they have recalled outfielder Kyle Garlick and have placed infielder Tyler White on the injured list with a right trap strain.
Garlick, 27, has appeared in 26 games for the Dodgers, batting .216 (8-for-37) with two homers and four RBI. In 69 games with Oklahoma City, he is batting .319 (76-for-238) with 20 homers and 51 RBI. The former Cal Poly alum was originally drafted by the Dodgers in the 28th round of the 2015 first-year player draft.
White, 28, has appeared in 12 games for the Dodgers, recording two runs and two RBI. In 83 combined games, he is batting .208 (50-for-240) with three homers and 23 RBI. In parts of four Major League seasons, the former Western Carolina Catamount has amassed 26 homers and 103 RBI in 257 games.
White didn’t have it. Let’s see what Garlick can do. There’s a big opportunity for a right handed bat. I wonder if Peters gets a shot in September?
I wonder why no Gyotko?
I think I saw Doc say that they wanted Jedd to play about a week on rehab. It’s only been 4 games.
Initially they said they wanted him to get about 50 plate appearances in the minors. Between AA and AAA he’s got 20. I assume they’re making sure he’s ready to go before they give White his walking papers.
I’ve been thinking it’s how you finish that counts for a long time. I would like the Dodgers to finish the season strong, if only to get home field in the WS, where they hopefully get. But in the end I just want them to be at their best when the postseason games begin, and throughout the post season.
I suspect that the Dodgers will go int the post-season with multiple pitching plans, and that circumstances my determine what they ultimately do.
Going tobthe yanks vs dodgers series, any speculation on who is pitching fri-sat and sunday?
And who knows? Maybe the Dodgers make it to the WS, and both the Yankees and Astros get tripped up by the lesser playoff contenders in the AL. Certainly not inconceivable. 🙂
I could see the Twins and Indians in a pitched battle to avoid the wild card against the Astros and Yankees who coast in with big leads and fall to the ‘hot’ team. Oakland and Tampa are scrapping too with lots to play for. On the other hand the same fate could befall the Dodgers if they catch a hot team in the first round. My gut says the Cubs and LA face off in the NLCS but it’s a crap shoot with so many teams still alive in the NL.
Here is Grant Brisbee’s Power 2:
#1: LA Dodgers
The Dodgers have now reached the 3D printing stage of baseball development, where they’re limited only by their imagination and they’re just kind of messing around at this point. They already have Cody Bellinger, who was Dave Kingman clay that was somehow molded into Ted Williams, but now we’re supposed to get ready for Gavin Lux, who seemingly went through a couple of months in the minor leagues without making an out? And you’re telling me that Dustin May, the result of someone putting hair and spin rate into the Large Hadron Collider, is going to be the next Dodgers ace? And they don’t have to pay any of these guys more than Chris Herrmann for the next few years.
Seems unfair.
On the other hand, writing this column made me check to see if anyone had picked up May in my NL-only fantasy league, and they hadn’t. So long suckers, and thank you, power rankings.
#2 Houston Astros
Ah, yes, the Humid Dodgers. They’re not printing prospects, but they are ambling around the flea market, looking for other teams to fleece.
The Astros have a secret database of all the upside-down-airplane stamps in baseball, and they won’t let any of us see it. They’ll just quietly acquire them and turn them into marvelous players. Take Aaron Sanchez, who is already a part of as many Astros no-hitters as Nolan Ryan and is just getting started. But they’re also producing players, too, with Yordan Alvarez becoming the latest homegrown star in a sea of them.
Both the Dodgers and Astros need to chill out. Baseball shouldn’t be this easy. Calm down.
Unless they’re promising us a seven-game World Series that’s built entirely out of Game 5s.
In which case, carry on.
I couldn’t handle another game 5, let alone a seven-game World Series that’s built out of Game 5’s
Two of the Dodgers’ prospects, middle infielder Omar Estevez and left-handed pitcher Leo Crawford, have been named Texas League Player of the Week and Texas League Pitcher of the Week, respectively.
Just my 1 cent, but I would’ve let May get that last out, just to see how he’d perform with a guy on 3rd and 2 out. Could he strand that runner?
He looked gassed. Gave it his all.
I’d be willing to bet real money that Gonsolin and May will both be on the playoff roster. May may (see what I did there?) be the #4. Maeda to the pen.
That’s a safe bet. May’s really fun to watch.
I agree with Doc’s decision to remove May. In May’s case I don’t think it’s necessary for him to prove at this point that he could strand a runner at third. He’s only 21, and for now, considering that he had already thrown 90 pitches, and was showing some signs of fatigue, maybe the best policy is for him to take just baby steps.
I think it had as much to do with wanting Kelly to strand that runner.
Jim Palmer was 20 in the 66 WS and in game 2 shut down…the Dodgers. Sandy Koufax was the losing pitcher. I don’t think 21 is too young for May to pitch in the playoffs, his stuff is good enough if he can handle the pressure. He’d only be a #4 and could have Urias or Hill to piggyback if necessary.
What are the odds that Chargois pitches 2-3 innings, and then gets optioned to OKC tomorrow to make room for another fresh arm?
100-1
This game left me with the question of how does Miami carry on so badly with baseball royalty (Mattingly, Jeter) running the show? They are a truly terrible team that seems to churn out stars for other teams to cherry pick (Realmuto, Osuna, etc.). How do you build a team by selling off your best players? If i were a fan, I’d be tearing what little hair I have left out of my head.
Speculating about the bullpen when there are still 41 games left is fun, entertaining but useless. But since it is being done, let’s do it.
 I think everything revolves around Hill and that will not be known until the end of September, I would like a rotation of 3: Ryu, Buehler and Kershaw. The No.4 a bullpen game: Hill and May.
 With three SP my bullpen would be this: Kenley
Urias
Kelly
Pedro
Hill
Maeda
May
Gonsolin
There are 11 pitchers, so only one place to be defined, which would come from Floro, GarcÃa, Stripling Caleb, etc., etc. Surely Mendoza will also have an audition in September. For me there is only one place available in the bullpen, considering that Hill is already healthy for October.
Who is Mendoza? Do you mean Victor Gonzalez? There will be 12 pitchers according to AF. I guess they could go 11 for NLDS but I haven’t heard any talk of it. You actually only named 10. To me the last two come down to one of Stripling, Sadler or Floro and probably our new Loogy but I will keep rooting for Ferguson to find last year’s stuff.
If healthy Stripling will be on the roster
~
Hill is certainly the Wild card. His health, his effectiveness, his stamina. The Loons, Quakes, and possibly the Drillers will be playing some postseason ball in early September. Hopefully Hill will be back soon enough to get some rehab in there.
González, ok !!!
1 Kenley
2 UrÃas
3 Kelly
4 Pedro
5 Hill
6 Maeda
7 May
8 Gonsolin
9
SP , Kershaw, Ryu, Buehler
There would only be one player left to be named for the bullpen: Floro, Caleb, etc, etc.
Duh. I didn’t see Kenley of all people on your list. Of course the roster of the opponent will go a long ways in dictating whether or not the Dodgers need another lefty.
Mark, I don’t know how you can leave this Martin guy off your playoff bullpen roster. No one can touch him!