LAD's 5th and 6th SP are not a Problem

The Dodgers' most consistent 5/6 pitcher has been Eric Lauer... but I understand why we tend to think of him as a part-time interloper on this team. From what I've been reading, the Dodgers soon will be trying to flip Lauer for a prospect. I suspect that's true, and another sign of just how ridiculously deep this team is. A guy comes off the Blue Jays (!) scrap heap, and he gets the Prior pixie dust--and drops 3 runs on his ERA. IIRC, the Dodgers have won every game Lauer has started. Other contending teams would be pencilling Lauer into their playoff plans and offering him a new contract--but the Dodgers, with Snell and Glasnow in the wings, consider Lauer expendable. At the start of the season, my sense was that Wrobleski ranked below Sasaki and Sheehan in the Dodgers SP depth chart. But then he became an all-star.... and now we're not sure he's good enough for the playoff rotation. Might depend on how sharp Snell and Glasnow are pitching... IF they are pitching. As for the bullpen, will Edwin Diaz rise to the moment? Klein, Phillips and Hurt are other RHRPs are slumping now. If Diaz isn't the answer, then may Sasaki and/or Sheehan will be. A week from now, these Dodgers won't look the same. Diaz and Kike will arrive... and perhaps even Skubal

Dodgers Digest says the Dodgers are under the penalty threshold by less than $20. https://dodgersdigest.com/2026/07/27/2026-mlb-draft-dodgers-sign-15-of-their-16-picks-including-1st-rounder-bo-lowrance-plus-7-udfas/

Greetings from the UK. We are staying at a Hotel built in 1874. Quite the place... and the Brits are pleasant and.... different! On Sheehan and Skubal: Let me remind you: Progress is not linear. At age 24, Skubal had a 4.34 ERA in 149 IP. He broke out at age 26 with a 2.80 ERA... and then became THE TARIK SKUBAL at age 27. At age 24, Emmet Sheehan did not play (TJ Surgery). At age 25, he had a 2.82 ERA in 93 IP. He is struggling right now, but he has just 226 IP. Skubal had a lot more innings at the same age. He is figuring out who he is and is controllable through 2030. I would not throw the baby out with the bathwater! Consistency is what he needs: arm slot, delivery, control. It will come... Evan Phillips is also going through what most pitchers who have TJ experience go through: Your arm just feels different, and you have to regain that touch!

Six days till the deadline. Kike will be activated today, who goes? Will LA actually be a seller at the deadline like Doc has said? Seattle has been struggling. LA needs to sweep. D-Backs lost yesterday, so LA is now 12.5 up in the NL West. Brewers lost so the Dodgers are a full game ahead in the overall standings for best record.

There are rumors that the Dodgers could trade Call. If so, does that mean Freeland is on the roster for the remainder of the season and playoffs? Or will someone like Tibbs be brought up? And what about Kim? While he might not be on the roster for the remainder of the season, does his speed and defense get him a roster spot for the playoffs?

The Mark Walter fraud investigation is front page news in The Times this morning. After reading the article it sounds like another billionaire lying about numbers, which is nothing new, but what do I know. Jeff and others would have better knowledge about what it means and how it might affect the Dodgers. Sheehan. Would 2 degrees arm angle cause command issues? Maybe. Orel seems to think so. I tried looking up how many inches is 2 degrees on a 6’5” pitcher’s deliver and didn’t get anywhere. Doesn’t sound to me like that is the reason so many pitches end up center cut but I’m not a pitching coach. And I think he should approach the first inning as if it’s the 5th, which means work up a sweat in the bullpen warmup. Forget about reaching third time through the lineup. Mow ‘em down once. I still believe Tucker can put together a few good months to help deepen this lineup. Not so sure about Mookie and Teo. I think each of those guys can have their moments, and hopefully those moments will include October. And I still see Skubal in Blue.

Emmet Sheehan's last 10 Games: May 19, 2026 (@ SDP): No-decision (Dodgers lost) May 25, 2026 (vs COL): No-decision (Dodgers won) June 1, 2026 (@ AZ): Loss June 7, 2026 (vs LAA): Loss June 14, 2026 (@ CWS): Loss June 21, 2026 (vs BAL): Loss June 28, 2026 (@ SDP): Win July 5, 2026 (vs SDP): Loss July 12, 2026 (vs AZ): No-decision (Dodgers won) July 20, 2026 (@ PHI): Loss The Dodgers are 3-7 in the last 10 games Emmet pitched in. Not a very promising record for staying in the rotation.

The Athletic’s Katie Woo reports that Tyler Glasnow (back) threw “roughly 25 pitches” to hitters this past Friday. "Woo noted that Glasnow’s fastball was sitting 95-97 mph during the session. The team plans to have him throw to live hitters one more time before sending him out on a rehab assignment. That means Glasnow could begin his rehab assignment this weekend or early next week. He would likely need about three starts before returning to the Dodgers, which means he might be an option for them during the first week of September. Just in time to get him ready for the playoffs, which has always been the Dodgers’ primary concern". Source: The Athletic

I think the Ohtani knee is really an opportunity to get some rest ; before ramping up for October. He was never going to pitch all season long. He can sprint on it, so it can’t be that bad!! Glasnow, like last season is here for the a playoffs and Is being treated as such, and the same is true for Snell. They are for the Post Season, a bit like your Christmas Decorations, you only need them for a short time every year. Look for Yamamoto for have a back or hammy issue in the coming weeks. Hopefully Will can get back, and maybe share the Catching 50/50 with Dalton going forward. Not long till the TD. I would keep Lauer as insurance. He’s been decent. I would look to add one more lock down reliever. Chapman would be nice.

Go Get Skubal. Put yourself in the BEST position to 3 peat.

I enjoy watching Glasnow dominate when he pitches. Unfortunately, most that joy is diminished within a few starts when another breakdown of his body. With the outlook of a early September return I look forward to him helping the Dodgers during the playoffs and World Series. A repeat performance of the 2025 postseason would be helpful. A starting staff of Yamamoto, Ohtani, Snell, Glasnow and Wrobleski waiting in the wings. What other team could match that staff? Back that up with a bullpen of Scott, Diaz, Sasaki, Vesia, Phillips, Stewart, Henriquez, and maybe one or two of Sheehan/Klein/Dreyer. It's the Dodger offense that needs to step up and provide the necessary run support. With the above pitching staff and continue excellent defense the Dodger hitters need only to score 2-4 runs a game to win a third WS title. Carry on.

I had a doctor’s appt this morning so I didn’t get to Jeff’s request for my take on Sheehan and his changed arm slot. By the way Jeff, thanks for asking for my opinion. I agree with Orel about a change in arm angle, even a couple of degrees changes the shape of pitches and can affect command. Sheehan’s arm angle dropped two degrees from 35 to 33 degrees. What’s that mean? A change in arm angle obviously alters the pitches spin and movement. A drop of arm angle, even a couple of degrees flattens the fastball and reshapes the breaking balls. Flatter fastballs can produce pitches more north in the zone. Maybe increase swing and miss but affects control. Breaking balls are affected by a change in axis so they break differently and that can affect command. Most pitchers have a natural arm slot and a change risks control and consistency. A change can also affect arm health but some pitchers change slots because of arm pain. Sure there have been pitchers who throw off hitters with tricky deliveries like Juan Marichal, Johnny Cueto and Dick Mountain but they all still had a natural slot to start with. My theory is everybody has a natural arm slot. When a caveman walked out of his cave and picked up a rock and threw it at a Pterodactyl flying by - that was his natural slot. The last thing I would do, with a pitcher was to suggest a change in arm slot. That would be a last resort. First of all it can cause arm injury due to an unnatural stress on elbows and shoulders. And secondly, it changed pitch shapes and command. I watch Paul Skenes a lot and he is having an off year. His pitches lack the break and sharpness from the previous seasons and his control is way off. He has changed his arm slot 3 degrees in 3 years. Is he injured? Was it intentional? Who knows but he isn’t the same guy.

So where should Bo Lowrence rank among Dodger prospects? On many teams, he'd quickly join the Top 30. With the Dodgers, I think we'll be waiting a while. From what I've read, Sandefer could move up fairly quickly. He joins Zazueta, Root and Ferris among the SPs to watch... And I still have some hope for Gavin Stone and even Bobby Miller. Landon Knack, not so much.

Longerhagen's LAD prospect guide for the deadline: https://x.com/fangraphs/status/2082161279070851125?s=46 "There is a scenario where the injured players come off the 60-day IL and the Dodgers don’t trade anyone; they simply choose to option a position player (Freeland or Call) and/or shift Lauer to the bullpen, then designate fringe 40-man pitchers to make room for Snell, Díaz, and whichever other pitchers get healthy between now and the playoffs. But if the market for any of their fringe guys is strong enough to entice the Dodgers to make a deal, they’ll need to decide if they want to trade those players for younger, developmental prospects (like they did when they traded Caleb Ferguson to the Yankees for Christian Zazueta)...."

The Dodgers (stupidly) overpaid to land Tucker.... Which leads me to believe that they'll do what it takes to land Skubal. The arguments for Skubal outweigh the arguments against.

Interesting question about Sheehan and arm angle. I read here that perhaps the larger factor is location, which has potentially suffered this year, which I think in my non-expertise opinion I would agree is the larger factor. I asked Grok: "It has been observed that emmett sheehan has changed his arm angle this season compared to last season. He was much more effective last season. How does a change in arm angle - even a couple of degrees - effect the shape of pitches, and can you determine how much of this effect has made Sheehan's pitches more or less effective than last year? Can you pinpoint that as a primary reason for his regression, or has it been other things like command and where the pitches are in the strike zone?" Grok's answer was that, although arm angle does have an effect on pitch shape, Sheehan's movement has not dramatically changed since last year, and is still substantially different than 2023, when his arm angle was much different than it was this year and last year. His velocity on this four seamer and slider are down a tick from last year - perhaps partially due to his emphasis this year on a full time starter role. Maybe more importantly has been pitch execution and command of this four seamer, which was very effective last year when pitched high in the zone with the carry that came from his change in arm angle versus prior years. If you miss with a high fastball and catch more of the zone, it's gonna be hit hard, and he's suffered from a lot of home runs. With his command regression also, he's having to pitch from behind in the count more often. So, IMHO as just a dork who comments on a blog, arm angle has been a small but relatively minor factor in his regression. I think the more important factors are command and location - specifically mistakes with high four seamers, followed by a small loss in velocity, with pitch shape from arm angle making up a small contributing factor in his loss of effectiveness. Just note, his swing and miss stuff is still good, and his xERA is still close to what it was last year - a mid rotation starter. It's his surface value metrics that have suffered, and these are influenced by mistakes, which are a result of command issues. Here. You can read the full Grok response -

This is one of the epic comments of all time: "My theory is everybody has a natural arm slot. When a caveman walked out of his cave and picked up a rock and threw it at a Pterodactyl flying by - that was his natural slot. The last thing I would do, with a pitcher was to suggest a change in arm slot. That would be a last resort." -- Phil Jones

That chart about the signings of the LAD draft picks leaves me wondering why the Dodgers or the signees haven't divulged the signing bonuses for six players. Was it so small that the amount is embarrassing? No matter. Piazza couldn't have gotten much after the Dodgers drafted him as a favor. Remember Jared Walsh with the Angels? He was a two-way player at the U of Georgia and played all four seasons. The Angels drafted him in the 39th round and signed him for a pittance. He would later succeed Pujols at 1B--and outplayed hundreds of guys drafted ahead of him, making the AL All Star team in 2021. Over 144 games that season, he hit to a .859 OPS with 29 HRs and 94 RBi. It seemed that Walsh would be a cornerstone for the Angels' rebirth. Sadly, neurological issues --headaches, insomnia--derailed Walsh's career. He was later released by the Angels and bounced to the Rangers and then the White Sox. Now, according to Wikipedia, he's under contract to Charros de Jalisco in the Mexican League.

MLB.com has a 10-question interview with Max Muncy that is worth the read.

Why not Suwinski instead of Call? More power. Not saying it should happen, but not saying it shouldn’t. It would keeping Teo make a little more sense, right? I believe we all wanted Freeland to succeed, and he might yet. But his strike out rate is just too much right now. Though Kike has some swing and miss in his game too! Alex played outstanding defense this season. Kike is outstanding defensively anywhere they ask him to play! So it’s not much of a question where Alex ends up. A trade in my opinion is not out of the question. I like Emmit a lot. Evidently Roberts has come to not trust him much at all. I agree that a change of scenery may be just what the “doctor “ ordered for him! The Dodgers have been linked to Gausman, though the Braves are rumored to be very interested him. Could be boom or bust for some team. Bo Naylor doesn’t move the needle for me. Stephenson from the Reds would be a better option I believe. Lauer tonight. Hope he keeps the streak alive. Hopefully he gets through the first inning with no damage! As far as Seattle, Julio Rodriguez? Top 5 overrated players in my opinion. I’m no expert, but what has he actually done to be considered so great? Now he probably smacks 2 bombs tonight, but I haven’t been all that impressed by him. I wouldn’t mind Skubal, or Ryan , or even Gausman. BUT, I think the bullpen is in greater need of an upgrade at this moment. Luke Weaver ? Absolutely! Klein needs a reset. Phillips is obviously not quite back. Dryer? Who knows from one game to the next. Henriquez? I said the other day He’s scary good, and he’s scary bad! If Ohtani is healthy for September and October, along with Snell and possibly Glasnow, the starting pitching is good to go. But the bullpen? That’s another story.

Tigers DFAd C Jake Rogers.

Add me to the list of people who say we won't be getting Skubal. Other teams will certainly be willing to give up more and the Tigers will ask a king's ransom even for a rental. Someone will pay it and that someone will not be Andrew Friedman. On the other hand, I do expect AF to go after another bullpen piece and I think it may very well be one of the following Mets: Luke Weaver - RHP - one year of control after this season AJ Minter - LHP - free agent after this season Luke Raley - LHP - free agent after this season Weaver will definitely come at a much higher price than the other two because he has an extra year of control and because he's the best pitcher of the three, but they're all having good years.

Walter’s financial investigation seems to stem from improper financial reporting relating to loans from a pair of insurance companies that Walter owns. Standard Accounting Practices dictate that the loans received by TWG Global needed to be classified as related party loans by the insurance companies. The loans totaled $16B, but were reported as related party loans for $1B or 3% of the portfolio. Not a big problem for the size of the portfolio. But $16B is 48% of the portfolio, and that is significant. Reporting 48% of the asset portfolio would not give shareholders or policyholders a great deal of comfort that their assets were being invested or managed properly. Thus the need to disclose that nearly half of the portfolio was loaned to a related party. Now the investigation begins. What did Walter use the funds for? Guggenheim Baseball Management, LLC is the partnership group that owns the Dodgers. How much is financed through TWG Global, the entity that received the funds from the insurance companies. Not to the level of the current investigation, but this is eerily similar to the Sun Life Investigation from which the financing for the LAD purchase was secured from. I am not going to speculate as to the outcome, but with Grand Jury subpoenas and the understanding as to how fraudulently reported the related party loan was, I am going with the investigation is justified and this may not just go away like the Sun Life issue did. As a minimum, I bet MLB will conduct their own forensic audit of the Dodgers. I would also want to know who the CPA firm was that audited the insurance companies, and did not catch the related party loan. Or chose to ignore it. Misreporting brought down the world’s largest (at the time) CPA firm in the world; Arthur Andersen, because of vast misreporting in the Enron case. I did not work for them, but I had friends who were partners. They were not involved in any way with Enron. To be honest, what has been reported does stink. It may be solvable through restructuring the loans. How that is accomplished is going to depend as to what Walter and TWG Global used the funds for. Will it impact the Dodgers? I have no idea. Business structures are complicated and convoluted, which is why reporting of related party transactions are so important. This has always been a major component of any audit. This could be nothing, or it could be devastating as to the number of shareholders who could file suit against Walter and any of his investments, including the Dodgers. The Dodgers are protected being structured as a LLC (Guggenheim Baseball Management LLC), but that does not mean that Mark Walter and future funding is not compromised. This could also have major implcations for the Lakers.

A trade with Boston would make sense. The Red Sox’s are desperate for middle infielder help. Kim and Freedman would fill that need. I just looked on the Dodgers roster the 26 and the 40, Alex Freedman isn’t listed.

The Red Sox’s need middle infielder help help. Freeland, Kim.etc. Could be a good match. Boston seems to have a good minor league system so it could be a win win. We know they had good outfielders because we grabbed a couple last year. I read where someone posted that where several of our rotation guys might need a to skip some starts. I believe that is what is going on with Ohtani. If his knee is slightly injured, why take a chance at all with the position the Dodgers are in.