With the Dodgers epic struggles early this season firmly fixed in the rear-view mirror, the fan expectations are lukewarm… at best. However, here the Dodgers sit, tied for first place with the D-bags and I tend to like it that fans are not too excited (I like it a lot) because conventional wisdom is frequently wrong. Don’t get me wrong – the 2017 Dodgers weren’t bad, but they were a team built to win during the regular season. In the playoffs, they actually did pretty well, but the Astros did it one game better. Here’s something that should not be lost on any of us: In 2017, the Dodgers had the best closer in baseball and the best set-up man in the game… and they still lost to a team whose closer was an abomination and who had no regular set-up man.
Write that down and remember it! No closer and no set-up guy – just a bullpen that stepped up big time. Maybe that’s a better formula than conventional thinking!
So, when Dodger fans pine for Brandon Morrow, Rasiel Iglesis … or some other closers to turn into lockdown setup men, maybe they are suffering from conventional thinking, myopia and tunnel vision. That’s not to say that the Dodgers would not take a Blake Treinen… if the price was right, but the acquisition of Floro and Neal might show that a “real” set-up man might be too expensive… at least today. Floro can be a “piece” in the pen and float back and forth to OKC, but maybe you have to consider what the playoff pitching roster could look like:
Starters:
- Kershaw
- Buehler
- Ryu
- Stripling
Bullpen:
- Alexander
- Cingrani
- Urias
- Maeda
- Wood
- Hudson
- Hill
- Jansen
Of course, leaves Liberatore, Ferguson, Goeddel, Floro, Baez, Chargois, Hernandez, Stewart, Fields and Koehler off the playoff roster. If you can’t beat em’ with quality, then try quantity. I know, I am jumping from Point A to Point Z because a lot has to happen yet. Urias needs to get healthy (he is progressing quickly) as does Ryu and let’s not forget how well he was pitching when he went down. It wasn’t an arm issue, so the prognosis is good. A rotation of two lefties and two righties could be immensely complemented with the addition of Hill, Urias, Maeda, Wood and Hudson into the pen as they are all capable of pitching multiple innings. Yes, things have to line up, but this could be a team built for a Championship.
The defense is solid at most positions. Even Matt Kemp is playing pretty well. Mad Max at 2B is the weak link, but he’s more athletic than you might think. Just leave him there and he will get better. Bellinger and Turner are two of the best in the business. Chris Taylor is very good at SS… underrated as well and Yasmani Grandal is one of the best defensive catchers and pitch framers… passed balls aside (it is what it is). Their outfield defense is not spectacular, but it is solid and the arms are excellent for the most part.
I have talked a lot about Machado, but I would never pay what the Birds want. The Dodgers will be in on Manny, just to drive up the price, but they will not sign him. FAZ is not, and I repeat NOT GOING TO TRADE ALEX VERDUGO. They could trade Puig and/or Toles (I love Toles, but he may be the one to go). Joc’s value is sky high right now and he could be included in a deal for a bullpen arm. On the other hand, if things fall into place, maybe the Dodgers don’t need that traditional set-up man. Maybe it’s pure quality and quantity…
Maybe they are built for the playoffs… all they have to do is get there! That’s the immediate problem.
This may be bad news: J.T. Ginn, the Dodgers’ first-round selection (30th overall) in last month’s MLB Draft, posted a message on Twitter on Thursday indicating he has decided not to sign with Los Angeles and instead will pursue collegiate baseball at Mississippi State University. The slot value of the 30th overall pick is $2,275,800.
P.S. Kelvin Herrera has a 4.70 ERA since he was traded from KC to the Nats. Just sayin…
Discussion (76)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Well we haven’t had a loss like that in a while.
Let’s get it tomorrow
Hudson walks a bad hitter like Simmons with 2 outs in the 8th to face Trout? That’s why the Dodgers need a good setup reliever.
Per ESPN: Matt Kemp has 6 straight hits with runners in scoring position. He leads the majors with a .438 BA in the category. WOW!! I sure am glad nobody wanted him.
Wow, how about Scott Alexander right there!!
I resemble that, Bobby!
I have heard that some blogs are proclaiming that they are one of the TOP 10 Dodger Blogs, but so are we. However, this blog and Jon Weisman’s are the only ones who don’t monetize the site, which is one of the ratings criteria.
Maybe St. Louis is a landing place for Puig?
Let the record reflect that I have NO connections anymore inside the Dodger’s front office. I have a few throughout the game, but nobody under FAZ… and I’m fine with that!
We’re not the only team that missed on its 1st round pick.
Gasparino in trouble.
Kendall a wasted pick.
Ruiz to be traded.
Is today “stupid and baseless speculation” day?
You know, now that we’re a first place club again, I sense a different swag on this board!
Let’s go take this series in Anaheim now
I don’t know if it’s the worst thing in the world that Ginn didn’t sign. So we save money this year, and we get the 31st pick next year, giving us 2 of the top 31 picks. Maybe next year is a better/deeper draft. It’s not like we just lost the value of the pick; we just lose out on that value for 1 year, but perhaps we get a better player.
As far as Kendall, wayyyyyyyyy too early to call him a “wasted pick”. Everyone knew he had strike out issues, but in every other category (power, speed, defense), he’s great. We help him work out the kinks with the strikeouts and we have ourselves a star. He’s been in the system 1 year for crying out loud. Last year many called Lux a waste, and look at him now. Not everyone shines the second they get to the minors and gets on a fast track. Some players need more time to figure it out. We of all teams should know that better than anyone, as half of our team is like that (Turner, Taylor, Stripling, Muncy, Joc, etc)
FAZ has had 6 first round draft picks. They failed to sign 2 and 1 is a bust (at least until now). Gasparino is in charge…
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It didn’t take FAZ long to get rid of Engle and Guerrero!
It’d be real cool if Dodgers could hold 1st place and not look back going forward but I fear some standings shuffling before July whittles down. Some tough teams ahead but I think the NL west is a lot tougher than the MLB talkers say. Hopefully Dodgers make that clear this month. C’mon Dodgers. be good rascals and join in the band. No Mr. T starter kits!
They should have drafted McClanahan. He signed with the Rays today.
I think I’d rather have Hill in the Starting rotation and remove Ryu. It would be nice to add deGrom to the Playoff rotation but I know it’s a pipe dream.
Good relief work from kasowski and scrubb for rancho
Mark says Kendell was a wasted pick and indeed that might be the case. I don’t follow the minor league’s too closely and don’t know who might be a solid pick over someone who is not, but is the inability to sign your first round draft pick a big deal. Shouldn’t Gasparino and his staff completed their homework and know who they could sign for the slot amount when they picked?
It seems a significant “blunder” when you pick a player to fill a need in the minor league pipeline and then don’t sign him….just saying.
For those who may have missed it, from a post last night on some of yesterday’s minor league activity of note:
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Dean Kremer was promoted to AA today and proceeded to pitch a 3 hit shutout (7 innings) in his AA debut. Two of the hits were infield, and one was a bad hop single. He had 3 walks and as he did with RC, he had a lot of Ks. Tonight he had 11 in 7 IP. He looks to be primarily a two pitch pitcher right now. His fastball was consistently in the 91-93 range, but it was his change up that got the swing and misses. He kept the fastball down and placed it well and got a lot of called strikes, and then threw the change which looked to be unhittable tonight.
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Kremer is 22 and was the Dodgers 14th round draft choice (2016) out of UNLV. He is 6’3″ 180 pounds RHP.
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The Drillers won both games of a DH against the Midland RockHounds (A’s).
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Also promoted to AA today were relievers Nolan Long and Michael Boyle. These are good relievers, but they were not the top two at RC. I believe that Zach Pop and Marshall Kasowski were the top two. Moving Long and Boyle gives Andre Scrubb some more opportunities. Long appeared in the first game and pitched a scoreless 9th to get the win. He did allow 1 hit and 1 walk, but also had 1 K.
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Yesterday Leo Crawford was recently promoted to RC and in his first RC start (3rd appearance), he pitched perhaps the best game of his professional career,..7 innings of 2 hit shutout baseball. He did have 1 walk to go with 7 Ks, and the win.
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In another professional debut tonight, SS Deacon Liput went 2-4 with a triple and 2 RBI’s in a losing effort for Great Lakes.
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4th round draft pick 17 year old Braydon Fisher, had a much better outing last night than his debut. Last night he pitched 1.2 scoreless innings for the AZL Dodgers on 1 hit, 1 walk, and 1 K. His 6/28 debut he pitched 1.2 innings, allowing 2 runs, on 3 hits, 1 walk, and 2 K.
2nd round draft pick Michael Grove has signed (terms not disclosed), while 1st rounder JT Ginn has told both the Dodgers and Mississippi State, that he will be honoring his commitment and attending Mississippi State in the fall…a lifelong dream.
Though Gerrit Cole has been spectacular for the Astros, the Pirates have seen impressive production from the three major leaguers they gained in the deal: Colin Moran, Joe Musgrove and Michael Feliz. The prospect they gained, outfielder Jason Martin, had been just as good. Through 47 games at Double-A Altoona he hit .316/.379/.531 with seven home runs.
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Who would the Dodgers have had to give up to equal that haul?
Jeren Kendall now has 102 strike outs in 273 AB’s. Can you say “Wasted Pick?”
Puig sold his California house.
Dodgers now in first place.
Scott van slyke, henrik clementina, O’Neil Cruz, angel german.