Alex Freeland Has More Work to do!
I generally don’t have a “favorite” player… kind of like I don’t have a favorite kid… or grandkid. However, I am unashamed to say that Alex Freeland is now my favorite player, simply because of what he has had to overcome to get where he is. I admire his parents for what they did for him, and I admire his indomitable spirit. However, the time has come for Alex to…
I generally don’t have a “favorite” player… kind of like I don’t have a favorite kid… or grandkid. However, I am unashamed to say that Alex Freeland is now my favorite player, simply because of what he has had to overcome to get where he is. I admire his parents for what they did for him, and I admire his indomitable spirit. However, the time has come for Alex to go back to OKC as soon as Kike Hernandez is activated. The Dodgers won’t rush that one. Obliques are sneaky little gremlins. He allegedly took a live at-bat against Edwin Díaz on July 5, which is a good sign… for both of them.
Alex Freeland’s walk rate is 10.6% That’s good. For context:
| BB% | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 5–6% | Low |
| 7–8% | Average-ish |
| 9–10% | Good |
| 11–13% | Very good |
| 14%+ | Elite patience |
So the bat goblin math says: his walk rate is solid, but the 30.3% K-rate is the red flag. Ideally, you’d love to see him keep the walk rate around 10–12% while cutting the strikeouts closer to 24–26%.
When Kike comes up, Alex has to go back to OKC and work on that. He is only 24 and has time to improve. I don’t want to hear anything about Hyeseong Kim. He is OPS’ing about the same as Freeland… only he’s at AAA. The Dodgers will be just fine with Kike. I could also see Kevin Call being traded. He’s league average, but has a below-average arm and little pop. Could the Dodgers have the audacity to call up Mike Sirota to be the 5th outfielder at the trade deadline? Hummmm…
- Next year, I can see the Dodgers trading a couple of outfielders for a shortstop… with Mookie going to 2B. Alex will be Superutility.
- In a year or so, could the Dodgers go after Kyle Karros?
- I predict this is Teoscar’s last year with the Dodgers. New LF’er: Josue DePaula!
- Dalton Rushing is growing right before our eyes.
- Could Will be Wally Pipped?
2028 Opening Day
C – Dalton Rushing
1B – Kyle Tucker
2B – Mookie Betts
SS – Kevin McGonigal (Dodgers traded Hope, Kim, Davalan, Zazueta, Ko, and West)
3B – Kyle Karros
LF – Josue DePaula
CF – Mike Sirota
RF – Andy Pages
DH- Ohtani
Bench: Freeland, Miller, Tibbs III, Smith, George
Call me crazy!
ACL Dodgers 4 – ACL White Sox 1
The two ACL teams fought to a scoreless tie through 6.0 innings. Fresh off his ACL Pitcher of the Week award, RHSP Luis Gamez pitched 4.1 scoreless, hitless innings. He did not walk a batter, and of the 13 outs he recorded, 11 were strikeouts. That is domination. Gamez is a 19 year old from Mexico.
RHRP Josehp Marte pitched a scoreless 1.2 innings. He allowed 1 hit and struck out 2.
ACL White Sox scored an unearned run in the 7th inning to take a 1-0 lead.
In the bottom of the 7th, with one out, 3B Elias Medina hit a game tying HR (3). LF Abel Lorenzo singled and 2B Reyli Mariano drew a BB. SS Sam Mongelli then hit a walkoff 3-run HR for thew win.
NO ACL Dodger had more than 1 hit.
DSL LAD Bautista 13 – DSL Astros Blue 11
DSL LAD Bautista sent 19 batters to the plate in the 1st inning and scored all 13 runs.
- BB – 10
- HBP – 1
- Singles – 2
- Doubles – 2
- Triples – 1
- Balk – 1
C Oliver Chapman had a 2 run double (4).
DH Fran-Jean Haseth had a 2 run double (6).
LF Willy Bergolla had a 2 run triple (2).
DSL Astros Blue scored 5 in the 3rd and 6 in the 7th.
DSL LAD Bautista did not get a hit after the first inning. They did get 1 HBP and 6 BB.
DSL LAD Mega 9 – DSL Royals Fortuna 0 – 7 innings
DSL LAD Mega scored in four straight innings, beginning with the 2nd.
In the 2nd, after a batter reached base on an error, and a 2nd was HBP, the pitcher unleashed a WP putting runners on 2nd and 3rd. C Jose Rivas singled to score both runners.
In the 3rd, with one out, CF Helvin Mendoza doubled (3) and scored on 2B Hendry Arvelo’s single. Arvelo scored when Erny Orellana reached 2nd on a fielding error. A RBI single by 3B Juan Macero scored the 3rd run of the inning.
With one out in the 4th, the batter reached on a BB. SS Antoni Urena doubled (3) and the next batter drew a BB to load the bases. Two runs scored on two WP.
In the 5th, Macero doubled (3). Two BB loaded the bases and a SF brought home Macero.
After a scoreless 6th, DSL LAD Mega got one more in the 7th. 2 singles put runners on 1st and 3rd. The lead runner scored on a PB.
- RHSP Gregg Ferrera pitched 4.0 scoreless innings on 2 hits, 2 BB, and 6 K.
- RHRP Micheal Morfe pitched 2.0 scoreless innings with no hits and 3 BB.
- RHRP Albert Feliz pitched a scoreless 7th. He allowed 1 hit and 2 BB to go with striking out the side.
Macero and Rivas had two hits
Agustin Acosta, ACL Player of the Week
Fresh off of an IL stint, Acosta showed just what he can do outside of the Dominican Summer League. He played five games last week, hitting a homer and driving in eight runs. He went 10-for-18 during that stretch, as his OPS on the season climbed to 1.185.
Luis Gamez, ACL
Gamez only pitched once for the ACL Dodgers last week, but he made the most of his sole appearance.
Through 4.2 innings pitched, Gamez only allowed three walks while striking out 11 batters to lower his season ERA to 3.52. He had a fantastic month of June, posting a 2.12 ERA through 17 innings pitched.
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Discussion (127)
Disagree, not disagreeable
2028 Starters- Go FA for more pitching and prospects especially a near ready catcher
C- Smith and Rushing
First- Pope
Second -Betts
SS-Emil Morales
Third-Chase Harlan
Left-Sirota
Center- DePaula
Right-Pages
Bench- Tucker, Hainline, Rushing, Lindsay
10:10 PM ET
Rockies (37-55)
Dodgers (60-32)
SP Michael Lorenzen R
3-9 6.91 ERA
SP Justin Wrobleski L
10-2 2.80 ERA
Confirmed Lineup
DH S. Ohtani L
CF Andy Pages R
1B F. Freeman L
3B Max Muncy L
LF Tommy Edman S
RF Kyle Tucker L
C D. Rushing L
2B A. Freeland S
SS Miguel Rojas R
76° Wind 8 mph Out
NO Mookie
07/07/26 Los Angeles Dodgers sent C Chuckie Robinson outright to Oklahoma City Comets.
Keep an eye on:
Luis Gámez, a recent international signee
The Mexican pitcher has struck out 22 batters in his last 9 innings.
4.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 11 SO
4.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 11 SO
One of the joys of being a young Dodgers fan in Southern California was realizing that I could claim Brooklyn as part of my heritage. I reveled in learning about Jackie, Pee Wee, Campy and the rest.
Seriously, I really did consider Roy Campanella’s uplifting autobiography to be my favorite book… until at age 13 or 14 I picked up “The Godfather” and got to the part about Sonny and the bridesmaid.
And now True Blue LA offers some Brooklyn/LA perspective:
Dodgers history reaches equilibrium between Los Angeles & Brooklyn
by Eric Stephen
Jul 7, 2026, 10:43 AM PDT
Monday night was a notable game in franchise history for the Dodgers, and not just because the team played their first extra-inning game of 2026, snapping a 91-game stretch that was the second-longest to open a season without playing past nine innings, seven games behind the 2005 Boston Red Sox.
The series opener against the Colorado Rockies was more historical, encompassing the entirety of 143 years as a franchise. Between the regular season and postseason combined, the Dodgers in Brooklyn played 11,109 games. Monday night was the Dodgers’ 11,109th such game since moving to Los Angeles.
The franchise started in Brooklyn in 1884 in the American Association, where they would play for six seasons before joining the National League in 1890.
The World Series as we know it didn’t begin until 1903, but earlier attempts to determine a champion were less series. For example, the Dodgers won the National League in 1890 and played the American Association-champion Louisville Cardinals in the “World’s Championship Series,” but the series ended in a tie (3-3-1) and was never settled. The Dodgers’ only other 19th century postseason was in 1889, when they lost in the postseason to the NL-champion New York Giants, six games to three.
Brooklyn also finished first in the National League in both 1899 and 1900, but had no postseason to play.
In the modern era, the Brooklyn Dodgers played in nine World Series, totaling 56 games. Since moving to Los Angeles, the Dodgers have played in 14 World Series and 79 Fall Classic games, but also 174 other postseason games.
Dodgers history in Brooklyn & Los Angeles
Location Games Record Pennants Titles
Brooklyn (1884-1957) 11,109 5,650-5,325-134 13 1
Los Angeles (1958-2026) 11,109 6,094-5,009-6 14 8
regular season and postseason combined, through July 6, 2026
At the moment, 143 years of Dodgers history is perfectly balanced between Brooklyn and Los Angeles
In Europe , a talented 14-year-old earns his club money. In America, his parents pay the club $15,000 a year.
That single inversion explains the issues in American society work against US soccer.
Training compensation and solidarity payments send a cut of every transfer fee back to the clubs that developed the player, from age 12 onward. Develop one future pro and your academy gets paid for a decade. Barcelona’s La Masia, Ajax, every Bundesliga academy runs on this logic. The kid is the asset.
US Soccer refuses to enforce those rules. When Seattle’s Crossfire Premier claimed its $60,000 share of DeAndre Yedlin’s transfer to Tottenham, it got nothing. Claims on the Dempsey and Bradley transfers died partly because the federation couldn’t even produce the youth training records.
So American clubs earn zero dollars when a kid turns pro. They earn when a kid enrolls. Which makes the parent the customer, and the product is whatever keeps the parent writing checks: travel tournaments, hotel weekends, $500 showcase events, private training at $100 an hour. Elite pathways run $8,000 to $20,000 a year. A comparable academy spot in Italy costs about 120 euros.
Follow the incentive one level deeper and it gets darker. A club dependent on fees can’t cut its weakest paying players, so rosters optimize for retention over development. The scouting pool shrinks to families who can afford the cliff, which appears around age 11, exactly when development matters most. The country runs a talent filter sorted by household income instead of ability.
Every four years someone proposes fixing this. The proposal always requires the people profiting from the $15,000 model to vote themselves out of business.
Mr. Timmons you are savage and a genius! 103 comments and counting. As P.T. Barnum said….
Book em
Urgent message for Phil!
The following umps have announced that they will retire at the end of this season, accepting MLB buyout offers:
Lance Barksdale
CB Bucknor
Laz Diaz
Andy Fletcher
Marvin Hudson
Brian O’Nora
Tony Randazzo
Barksdale started a full time role in 2006 while the others all started in 1999.
Who says Rob Manfred hasn’t made baseball better?
In Europe, the best young athletes play soccer. In USA soccer is WAY down the list.
A few things:
1. John, I am sorry I kept your comment in jail so long. In the next couple of weeks, we will launch a new web platform, and it is amazing. Hopefully, you won’t be treated as a criminal there. 😉
2. Kevin McGonigle was just a fun concept, BUT could the Dodgers put a package together to get him? It would be a huge overpay, but I believe they could.
3. I have been really, really busy the past month, and Jeff and Bear have stepped up immensely.
4. I still can get a rise out of you. 😉
5. Dano, I am a savage! Genius? Not many would agree! Check my T-Shirt out:
6. Epigraph of my new book: “If you you ever want to beat my father, you have to kill him.” – Stephen Timmons
Alex Freeland evidently reads LADT!
Klein stunk. Walking the leadoff hitter is a huge no no. Then he puts one right in the happy zone. Miggy Ro makes an uncharacteristic error and Freeland a bad decision to throw to third and they end up losing by 1. But this is on the offense. 1-12 with RISP. Tucker another empty game. Muncy hit one on the screws but right at the right fielder. He might have been better off taking the 3-0 pitch. Ohtani and Pages with two of the worst at bats I have seen all year in the 9th. Tying run on second and they could not even move the runners over. Chuckie Robinson accepted an assignment to OKC. Joey Cora dumped by the Tigers. Wrobo robbed of a win by a leaky bullpen and bad defense.
I remain convinced we will win it all this season.