A glass containing water to the half-way point is often used to point out the difference between optimists and pessimists:
The optimist sees the glass as half full. They focus on what is there. “So much that can be done with half a glass of water.”
The pessimist sees the glass as half empty. He sees that the glass used to be full and now half of its contents are gone. Soon it will be empty. And he will be thirsty. Woe is me!
If you want to get deep into any analysis of Glass Half Full or Glass Half Empty, there are really more choices than that. How about these?
So, the pessimist may look at the Dodgers’ infield defense and say, “The Left Side of the Dodgers’ infield is not championship caliber,” while the optimist may say, “When was the last time Mookie failed at anything?” My father was the best bowler I have personally ever seen. He owned a bowling alley when I was a kid, and his best game was a 299. Mookie has bowled several perfect 300 games! As an athlete, Mookie focuses on something and masters it. By the end of this season, he will be recognized as the best SS in all of baseball. There, I said it!
Gavin Lux is showing all of the signs that his throwing problems (aka, The YIPS) are ancient history, and I see him breaking out BIG TIME at 2B. Freddie Freeman is Gold Glove Worthy at 1B, Gavin Lux is also capable of that at 2B, and Mookie will be there soon enough. Don’t worry about Max Muncy! He will be fine.
Bullpen Deliema
J. P. Feyereisen is currently on the IL but will be added (maybe as soon as today) for either Michael Grove or Kyle Hurt. Also, Blake Treinen and the Bazooka will come off the IL, and two more pitchers will have to go down or to the IL. This is the pitching roster as of RIGHT NOW:
So what three pitchers will come off when JP, Blake, and Bazooka return (which will be soon)? Also, there are two lefties in the pen )Vedia and Yarbrough) – will that be enough?
Today is Opening Day, but the Dodgers start the season 1-1. That is crazy!
Will Smith Expended
It had to happen. The Dodgers gave him a 10-year deal, which is the longest ever for a catcher, in exchange for a low AAV ($14 Million). You have heard it here for a long time, but Will Smith will likely catch for just two more years… maybe less. The Dodgers have four catchers who are in hot pursuit of his job and you would be remiss to give up on Diego Cartaya just yet. His talent, leadership, and character are off the charts. Many of you gave up on Gavin Stone, but you can never fully understand player development if you think it is linear.
Discussion (39)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Is it too early to say that the Angels season is over?
It probably had more to do with getting those 3 an at bat on opening day than anything to do with the game.
Nice! We no hit everyone but one player
Damn! Seeing Adrian Beltre throw out the first pitch hurt me inside.
Damn damn damn
4:10 PM ET
Cardinals (0-0)
Dodgers (1-1)
SP Miles Mikolas R
0-0 .00 ERA
SP Tyler Glasnow R
0-0 3.60 ERA
Confirmed Lineup
SS Mookie Betts R
DH S. Ohtani L
1B F. Freeman L
C Will Smith R
3B Max Muncy L
LF T. Hernandez R
CF James Outman L
RF J. Heyward L
2B Gavin Lux L
67° Wind 9 mph Out
Totally a side conversation and unrelated to baseball but IF you have kids in middle school or lower (or grandkids) you have to read the new Jonathan Haidt book:
The Anxious Generation
No one on mlb network is picking Dodgers to win WS. NO ONE! If we needed any more motivation.
There’s a great article in The Athletic today with regard to how the Dodger front office played the off season. Some excellent detail on how they got Shohei, YY and Glasnow and how it all came together.
The Glasnow deal was actually helped along by Brad Paisley.
Anyway, for those who subscribe, take a look for it, authored by Rosenthal/Ardaya.
Optimist. We win it all and go back-to-back in 2025.
If not, Dave Robert can swing from deez nutz.
watching mlb network. last night, jake peaby picked the friars to win the west. matt v. picked the giants. the dodger hate runs rampant! yu darvish is 37 years old. musgrove hasn’t been the same pitcher he was 2 years ago,& cease had an era of around 4 last season. logsn webb is a workhorse. snell walks 5 a gsme and pitches 5 innings a game. the rest of the rotation is an unknown. the dodgers get walker b. back in the not too distant future. glasnow is going to be special! bobby miller is a beast in waiting! stone could do possibly be rookie of the year, and clayton is in the wings. sheehan is about to start throwing soon. yamamoto will be ok. enough said! projecting 110 homers from the big 3. happy for will smith! my prediction for Gavin Lux. 21 homers ,60 rbi,288 average, and 20 sb. not too shabby for s #9 hitter!! MARK it down! (get it ? mark)
My hopes for the 2024 Dodger season is that we make the playoffs, not concerned with winning the Division and have the team in October with healthy,hungry motivated players ready to win a World Series Championship. Nothing less will be accepted for spending one billion plus. Also I hope AF will make the team as strong as possible at the trading deadline by using prospect capital to fill its needs.
If in the next two or three years, one of Cartaya, Rushing, or Liranzo can step up and be a “workhorse catcher,” Will Smith could go to another position… or DH and also be the backup catcher. That would be cool.
This year’s bold prediction: Mookie Betts will have the highest WAR season of his Dodgers tenure. The bar is high — he was worth 8.3 WAR by both Baseball Reference and FanGraphs a year ago, and he’s in his age-31 season. But he’s coming off an MVP-caliber offensive campaign, and if his glove is able to handle the move to shortstop, the positional adjustment could help him rack up more value. It’s already bold that he’s playing shortstop now. But what if he makes the decision look like a no-brainer? — Fabian Ardaya
Agreed!!
Smith , Muncy, could have gone elsewhere but wanted to remain a Dodger!! They are not the top tier superstars like say Ohtani, Betts, etc but they provide great value and great leadership to a team. If he bounces back I am very interested to c what Buehler does.
Good stuff Mark. I am of the mind that the defense is not going to be as bad as most might think. The outfield is in good shape. Rojas will start against some lefties, and the Cards are starting two lefties this weekend. Lux’s OPS against LHP is under .600. The bench is decent, Barnes is who he is. Good defense, weak stick. But once in a while he will surprise you. Taylor and Kike are the Swiss Army knife brothers. They can play most anywhere. The only bench concern I would have is that there is not a thumper coming off of the bench. Taylor has 20 homer power, but in a pinch, he and Kike do not provide a lot of pop off of the bench. Of course, there will be days when any one of the three starting outfielders will be coming off of the bench. I think they will win the division comfortably. But the playoffs can be tricky. I expect Az to give them some problems now and then, same with the Pads. But we will have to wait and see just how all of the Giants new players fit in. Here is a quirk to the season, After July 25th, when they finish a 4-game set against the Giants at Dodger Stadium, they do not play SF again for the rest of the season. This is one reason I dislike the way the schedule is set up now. They only have 15 games against teams from their own division after that Giants series the rest of the season.
Glad to see they extended Will Smith. I’m guessing he plays some third base in the future.
The Dodgers have suddenly gone from a team with mostly short term contracts to a team that will be around for awhile. It’s like the days of Cey, Garvey, Lopes and Russell. Really enjoyed those days.
But with the long term deals for Betts and Ohtani, some are already wondering how the team will age. We’ll probably hear more talk about windows. Not certain the Dodgers actually have a window. Some good talent coming up through the farm system.