Not much can be said about the Dodgers that has not already been said by someone on this blog. Much is informational, even more is well opinioned, and some is of a concern nature with the regular season not yet started.
It is also difficult to sneak something on this board that someone has not already posted. So, here are a few swings and hopefully not all misses.
Brandon Gomes:
Mark posted the article yesterday announcing Gomes’ promotion to vice president of the Dodgers and assistant general manager continuing his rapid ascent up the front office ranks. He will answer to president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, who like Gomes, is a Tulane University graduate. Friedman was general manager in Tampa Bay for much of Gomes’ pitching career there. No surprise there is a connection between the two.
For me that is a bit unexpected. I thought he would be named GM of the Dodgers. The other unexpected part happened back in September when Jeff Kingston was also named as vice president and assistant general manager of the Dodgers. Kingston came from the Mariners, for whom he had the same title reporting to general manager Jerry Dipoto. In addition to supporting Dipoto in player acquisition and contract negotiation, Kingston oversaw the player development and analytics departments.
Do we have dueling assistant GM’s – Gomes 34 and Kingston 41? Are the usual duties of the assistant split between them in areas of expertise or the GM duties filtered down to them? One gets the feeling until a GM is formally named that Andrew Friedman is the un-named GM.
Brad Miller:
The one many are talking about. He was signed by the Seattle Mariners in the second round of the 2011 First-Year Player Draft out of Clemson University.
The left-handed hitting Miller is a versatile, utility type infielder who has 680 games of MLB experience with the Rays, Mariners and Brewers. His big year was 2016 in which he hit 30 home runs for the Tampa Bay Rays in a Max Muncy type of year. Miller, along with Muncy and Cody Bellinger, are the only three Dodgers in camp who have hit at least 30 home runs in a season at the MLB level.
Following that breakout season things did not go so well as Miller struggled with health issues. He played the entire 2017 season with adductors torn off the bone. Bilateral core surgery followed the season, but he was also playing with a torn labrum in his right hip. He underwent the same type of arthroscopic surgery on his hip that Corey Seager had about a week later last August with micro fracture added to address cartilage damage.
Now 29, Miller waited until the end of February for an invitation to spring training and knows it is a steep hill to climb to crack the Dodgers lineup.
“Shoot, no doubt,” he said. “But they’re good – that’s what you want to be on. That’s why I came here, honestly. I felt they reward performance.
He was signed as a minor league free agent and can become one again but I am guessing he accepts an assignment to start the 2019 season in Oklahoma just as Muncy did in 2018.
Loons 2019 Play-by-Play Announcers:
Brad Tunney moves up to take the spot vacated by Chris Vosters who moved on in other career opportunities. Tunney and Vosters had packed a one-two punch with the Loons for four years. Blake Froling has been hired to move into Tunney’s former spot.
“We are excited to have Brad as the new voice of Loons baseball and to add Blake to our team,” station General Manager Matt DeVries said. “In his time with us, Brad has exhibited exceptional work ethic and understanding of the impact we can make for sports fans in this area. We’re incredibly excited for him and know that he will continue to do a great job for us.
Blake Froling wasn’t looking for a new job. However, the opportunity to join ESPN 100.9 in Midland, MI as a play-by-play broadcaster and content coordinator was too good to pass up. He will be the No. 2 play-by-play voice for the Great Lakes Loons, broadcast high school sports, podcast, and create various digital content. During his time as a student at Michigan State University, the 23-year-old worked with the Spartan Sports Network and was the sports director for the student radio station
“This job in Midland will allow me to do at least 70 home games as the No. 2 broadcaster with the Loons and fill a big hole in my resume. In addition to the play-by-play, my responsibilities will include some media relations in minor league baseball, which is another area in which I wanted experience but had no way of getting.”
Marshall Kasowski:
I expect all of us who follow minor league baseball have developed favorites. My list is quite long but a couple might top the list. Omar Estevez is one of mine and I think highly underrated. Perhaps the one I will watch most closely in 2019 is Marshall Kasowski. It will be interesting to see if he can follow up his 2018 season in which he moved through three levels. During the 2018 season he posted a 2.09 ERA along with a 1.05 WHIP with 111 strikeouts in 64.2 innings pitched. He walked 38. The only issue I can see is that he will have to keep his walks to a minimum and just trust his stuff.
Austin Drury:
Drury is my pick to follow the path of Kasowski in 2019. He did work as a starter in his three years with North Florida but pitched strictly in relief during the 2018 season. He was selected by the Dodgers in the 34th round of last year’s draft and split his professional time between the Ogden Raptors and Great Lakes Loons. The 21-year-old left-hander posted a 1.21 ERA along with a 0.81 WHIP while striking out 28 in 29.2 innings and walking six. With the Loons in their play-off run he made 10 appearances with a minuscule ERA of 0.51 and a WHIP of 0.74. He struck out 18 and walked 5 in 17.2 innings.
Jordan Procyshen:
When I checked the Dodgers lineup yesterday and players eligible to play in the game I came across Jordan Procyshen. He must have been one of my misses as he was new to me. He is a 26-year-old catcher who was selected in the 14th round of the 2014 First-Year Player Draft by the Boston Red Sox out of Northern Kentucky University. The native of Calgary, Alberta played five years in the Red Sox minor league system before being released last August. Over those five seasons he posted a triple slash of .238/.316/.323.
In 2015 Procyshen was named the best defensive catcher in Low-A by Baseball America, at that time recognized for his good footwork behind the plate and a strong arm to control the running game. Procyshen’s best tool is his ability behind the plate. He has a career fielding percentage of .984 and only 20 passed balls in the minors. Additionally, he has thrown out 35% of would be base stealers.
“For me, it’s always been a big asset of mine — I love being a catcher,” Procyshen said. “It’s not an easy position, but it keeps you in the game the entire time.
Following his release by the Red Sox the alumnus of the Okotoks Dawgs of the Western Canada Major Baseball League, signed on as a coach with the summer collegiate team. He continued to train at the academy. His coaching career was short as he got a call from the Dodgers in mid-January.
It would seem with the present situation with the Dodgers minor league catchers, he may well be assigned to the Great Lakes Loons to start his season although he has had some experience at the AA level. He may well be there to mentor the young catchers moving up from the Ogden Raptors and to open a door to a coaching career.
Chris Parmalee:
First baseman Chris Parmalee was signed by the Dodgers to a minor league contract on March 16. He is a former first round selection by the Minnesota Twins in the 2006 MLB June Amateur Draft from Chino Hills High School in Chino Hills, CA.
Now 31, Parmalee has played 311 games at the MLB level, mostly with the Twins, with 32 in Baltimore and six with the Yankees. He has posted a triple slash of .248/313/.405.
During 12 minor league seasons his slash line over 974 games is .270/.316/.448 with 124 home runs.
There are no stats provided for him for 2018 in MiLB, Baseball Reference or the Baseball Cube.
Discussion (100)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Boy, you guys give up quickly…
The guy is working on staying in the zone longer. Patience Grasshoppers.
CT3…..meh!
Damn, how ’bout AJ Pollock? Yeah, the home run was cool, but what about the play when he came all the way from deep center to back up 2nd and get the double play. That is a pro, you can’t teach this.. Joc or Puig never would have thought about that. This guy reminds me of Utley back in the day, where if he wasn’t hitting, he was helping the team defensively. Plus the man can hit for average and hit for power. Some of the fanboys out there(Including the voice of doom, Bill Plashke of the LA Times) seem to think that Freidman totally screwed the pooch and kept us out of the World Series by not signing Harper. Screw that, Pollock is a classic Andrew move, a bit of an risk injury wise, but big time high upside if he stays healthy, and above all, won’t break the Dodger piggy bank with a boat anchor contract. The more I see him, the more he is starting to grow on me. Doesn’t say a whole lot, just get’s the job done.
It looks like Kike is the second base man.
I thought May looked good too.
But even his composure was impressive too.
Dustin May looked very good. He did not look overmatched at all against the Cubs. He doesn’t leave that ball up for Hamels to stick his bat out, he gets 3 more shutout innings. He looks very much like a potential #2.
Corey made that look so easy.
That hip correction surgery is going to give him more power.
I think any questions about Seager needing IL time to start the season have been answered…offensively and defensively. I love wearing my #5. Have a household wearing #5 for his 1st game.
Agree. May looks really good, and he’s not been getting the corners from the ump either. I like his stuff, especially against the Cubs regular lineup.
Oh, and welcome back Seager
Yeah, it’s going to take Corey Seager a long time to come back and he needs to get fat.
May’s offspeed pitches looking really sharp. Hard tight slider and curveball with plenty of depth.
Actual Dodger roster news: JT Chargois sent to minor league camp. Probably out of the running for 13th pitcher spot.
Hill/Buehler/Ryu/Maeda/Stripling
Jansen/Kelly/Baez/Floro/Garcia
Alexander/Urias/Ferguson
Ferguson essential holds Kershaw’s roster spot until he’s back.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Do we have a new leadoff hitter?
Corey almost jacked one…
Is it me or is the reply tree structure on this blog getting hard to follow.
Replies are not falling in with the original post.
It’s either the code, or some really inept actions by my fellow users.
Bluto, thanks for the video on Grove. Maybe I”m crazy, but he reminds me a LOT of Buehler!
“Roberts said that with an eight-man bullpen, the Dodgers can pick up the leftover innings as Buehler builds arm strength. Buehler’s second regular-season start will come after the club’s first scheduled day off on April 4, not only giving Buehler an extra day of rest, but the bullpen as well.”
“At that point in time, we can have people that can piggy-back him and finish a game,” said Roberts, who expects to have Julio Urias in the bullpen and rested for a Buehler start.“
We have a much better line up tonight!
AJ
JT
Corey
Kike
Cody
Taylor
Barnes
Rios
May
But I thought Urias was pitching tonight.
A lot of talk about miller who is a .239 career hitter. His career ops is low 700s. He once hit 30 homers and he has had a good spring. He is 29 so he probably isn’t going to suddenly become a hitter. Maybe he will be last years version of Max Muncy. I have read that he is versatile so that is a plus. Maybe injuries have held him back. He just don’t appear to be a guy that you would lose sleep over losing.
Team needs RH Hitters. I am yet not sold on the OF. Bellinger will be good in OF. Will give Pollock a chance. I dont like Joc or Taylor too much , Verdugo needs to earn job and has more skill probably and would be better but still unproven. Why not Sign Krimbel 1 year ?? I am not too sure of Bullpen ………
Thanks MJ. I am living my dream.
What are the chances that Muncy doesn’t make the opening day roster? So far this spring he hasn’t looked very good. Certainly not a middle of the order type hitter. Two players that have looked good are Miller and Castro. What are the chances either or both of them make the opening day roster? CT3 hasn’t looked that good either and I wonder if he is going to recapture his 2017 magic.
I like DJ Peters! I know, he strikes out too much… but so did Dave Kingman and others like him and they had careers in the MLB. Peters is young, I hope he learns to be an overcomer! His power is amazing.
Prediction: If the Brewers sign Kimbrel, we will see a NYY/MIL World Series with more innings pitched by relievers than starters.
Come to think of it, have we already reached this tipping point? Did relievers throw more innings than starters in last year’s postseason?
Bum, I know you like Pederson. These are just my opinions. Nothing more. I would like to see Pederson succeed because he is a Dodger. He has had 4 years to prove himself. Every year he is fighting for a starting job, and has not really won it yet. He is at best a platoon player. By being a platoon player it takes 2 players to fill one position. At this level you should be able to hit a left and right handed pitcher. Pederson cannot. I think the Dodgers have tried to unload him, but they cannot. Nobody wants him. He cannot hit left handlers. They would have the same problem the Dodgers are having with him.
Now, Alex Verdugo. He has proved for the last two years he can hit AAA pitchers. Both left and right handed. We do not know what he can do at the major league level. He does not provide a good platoon for Joc. Both are left handed. Yes, you can ask Verdugo to bat against left handed pitchers, but is that the best thing to do to Verdugo? Now, Verdugo did not look good last night. One game. Now if you look at the total body of work for Verdugo, he needs a chance to play a lot. Sending him back to AAA is not an option in my opinion. The only place you can realistically put Verdugo is left field. You have to put Taylor or Kike as a platoon with Joc. So here is the problem as I see it. Joc has had 4 years to win the starting job, and he has not done it. How many more years do you give him? Does Verdugo deserve a chance to prove that he belongs? How much time does he get? The Dodgers are constantly working around the problem that Joc cannot hit left handlers.
I will not respond if you answer me Bum. I have too much respect for you. I will read what you say.
Funny how some won’t miss Grandal when he is ranked so highly by most baseball people. If the two catchers we have now are hitting like they did last year, I think there will be some whining on here.
I don’t think we will miss Grandal as often as he missed catching balls pitched or thrown to him.
Nice write-up DC. Like you, I often follow my “favorite” prospects. Mind you, I like all Dodger prospects because they’re part of the Dodger Blue family. There are certain players, however, that I enjoy following more than others. The reasons vary, it could be their name (Meaux Landry, James Outman)), their back story (Kyle Garlick, Marshall Kasowski), their school affiliation (Dillon Paulson) or just because (Stephen Kolek, Austin Drury, Deacon Liput, Donovan Casey and Cody Thomas). I was also excited to see Chris Parmalee join the organization. He may be no more than minor league depth, but there was a time he was considered one of the best pure hitters available in the draft. Goes to show how difficult baseball can be. No matter how good you are considered to be, you still have to consistently put it together in game situations. Another young man that I’m going to add to my list is Jeter Downs. The few times I’ve seen him play, he’s really looked impressive, both offensively and defensively.
I don’t know enough about Brad Miller to determine whether he is a “must keep” player. The few at bats I seen him take on TV, he looked promising for sure.
I’m also ignorant of what makes one a good choice for the front office. I an glad though that the Dodgers have paired Kingston and Gomes. Seems like a perfect blend of a “baseball” guy and an “analytics” guy.
FanGraphs ranks teams by strength at Catcher.
The good news, the Dodgers are at #3.
The bad news, the Brewers are #1, with old friend Grandal.
Now, Grandal’s streakiness was so irritating it almost drove me to drugs, but he is a top catcher that the team will miss.
Like Orel said last night, the way Buehler looked worry free and happy on the bench, tells us Buehler is feeling pretty good, and that is good to see.
But isn’t it more about the way Buehler is able to spin the ball, that is a big part of the reason, that makes him that good?
If anyone is worth 430 mil over 12 years it would have to be Mike Trout. Thing is, no baseball player is worth that kind of money except in this top heavy predatory capitalist so called economic system this nation has had since 1980. Trout is the Babe Ruth of this era though and no one deserves that kind of money but him. He probably won’t earn all of it but he will get all it. So he is actually being paid for his high performance years . Looked at that way he is really getting paid unbelievably well for those years. As I said no one deserves that kind of money for playing baseball. Hell I don’t think anyone deserves that kind of money for anything. And that doesn’t take away from the real fact that Mike Trout very well might be the best that ever played the game. In my ridiculous opinion he most certainly is. If his arm was just a little bit better there could be no arguments.
Buehler hit 99 yesterday. I guess he’s feeling ready.
I like the Trout signing for the Angels, but I’m not an Angels fan. I just like it when teams extend their own stars. Our own MT says it’s a bad deal. If 1 WAR is worth $8 million, Trout would need to average 4.48 WAR for the life of the contract. He might have that WAR paid off by year 6.
Harper, Arrenado and Machado set the market. Trout’s deal is not out of line with those deals, to me it was fair.
My observations after watching last nights game.
Pollock, Bellinger, Martin, Beuhler, and Castro look ready to go. Probably no place for Castro, but could be a good replacement. Beuhler had command issues, but did well. The mitt was popping. When I see Buehler on the mound, he just does not look big enough to throw that hard.
Pederson, Muncey, and Verdugo did not look good. Last year Muncey would not swing at a bad pitch. Not true last night.
Relief pitchers-none looked good to me except Salor. A little left hander.
Next game for me is Friday. Hope to see Seager.
You wrote a bio on Zach Willeman back in December, but Bluto posted something the other day I thought was intriguing. Apparently the Dodgers brass is pretty high on him, and he is another TJ surgery pitcher the Dodgers were able to steal at the draft whose fastball has jumped up in velo a few ticks, a bit like Buehler.
Good to see Trout resign with the Angels. Angel stadium is a good place to go watch games, and they have a good fan base. As I think Mark mentioned, it’s good business decision, maybe a bad baseball decision. It is satisfying, however, to see Harper bumped already as having the most expensive contract. Maybe he’ll hold out so the Phillies renegotiate.
The problem with the Angels organization, however, is the lack of organizational depth and pitching. They’re a good contrast with the Dodgers, who’ve put focus on the organization from top to bottom.
What they should do is trade Trout to the Dodgers to replenish their minor league system.. I’ll let Bumsrap work out the details.
That was a joke!
Perhaps with Kershaw starting the season on the IL, it might open up a spot for Miller.
It is interesting that he had no other bites – that we know of – or he simply wanted to sign on with the Dodgers. I can’t help but surmise that there is an understanding with Miller and AF. That is , if he doesn’t make it out ST, he will be the first on call from OKC. Corey Seager’s status may also impact the decision.
This from Miller:
“The big thing with some of these teams that are going younger – I’ll say politically correct, they’re going younger – a guy like me I’m not flexible. I don’t have options. I’m not a flexible roster piece. If I perform, they have no incentive to reward that whereas the Dodgers are trying to win. If I show I’m deserving of a spot, they’ll find a spot. No question. That’s kind of my mindset.”
This from DR:
“I like Brad. I’ve liked him even in his days as a young player in Seattle,” Roberts said. “There’s a lot of energy. There’s a baseball player in there with aptitude, wiry strength, athleticism. For us on our ballclub, it does make sense because he can play anywhere on the diamond, a left-handed bat. I don’t know how it’s going to shake out.
“It’s tough. And I think Brad understood that when he signed on. I think we’ve done a nice job giving him an opportunity and a runway. We’ll see how it plays out.”
Nice article DC, I think Miller´s opt-out is at the end of this week, hope Miller will accept an assignment to Oklahoma City, I think he will be back with the Dodgers and prove to be a very good player.