Contrary to what the Dodgers say, I do not believe there is a battle to determine who the starting left-fielder will be. It has already been decided. When Matt Kemp showed up early to Spring Training 40 pounds lighter and looking to be in the best shape of his life, he had a leg up on the competition and when he blasted a HR in his first game, the deal was sealed. Barring injury, Matt Kemp will be the starting Left Fielder and likely hit 5th. If you happen to believe Kemp will still be traded, well I want what you are smoking!
Not only has Matt Kemp shown up right (40 pounds lighter), acted right (no drama – he even gets along with Puig), said everything right (“That’s the thing, man, when you get older, you can’t ruin my mood.”) and hit everything right. Unless he gets injured, Matt Kemp will be the starting LF when Mad-Bum takes the mound on Opening Day (if he takes the mound). The thing is: Dodger fans would revolt if Kemp shows he can play and doesn’t!
The real battle is for who backs him up. Kike Hernandez is the super-sub so he is not really in that mix. It will likely be Joc Pederson or Andrew Toles and the player that is the backup at the start of the season may not be the one there at the end of the season. I think Toles and Verdugo will start the season at AAA and Joc Pederson will be Matt Kemp’s caddy at the start of the season.
Trayce Thompson looks to be 100% recovered from his back injury and disastrous 2017 season, and I think he will play a lot this Spring so as to showcase him for a trade. However, if the Dodgers don’t get a good return for him, he could make the team.
The Dodgers are making noises that they will carry 8 pitchers in the bullpen… which makes sense. That would leave only 4 position players on the bench and would preclude the Dodgers from carrying 3 catchers. If healthy, Austin Barnes is the backup catcher (some may say the starter). Kike Hernandez and Chase Utley are also on the team and if the Dodgers carry 8 in the bullpen, Joc Pederson would be the 12th position player.
That leaves, Max Muncy, Thompson, Toles, Verdugo, Segedin and Farmer at AAA. Muncy has been playing these first four games of Spring Training like his life depends upon it. Kyle Farmer is hitting out his wazzooo right about now and the battle is on for a couple of spots in the bullpen.
This Pen is No Bull
There are some very live arms at this camp, with several capable of hitting triple digits. The Dodgers have indicated that they may keep 8 pitchers in the pen, which would make sense, considering how they use the pen. If the Dodger carry 8 in the bullpen (and I am not convinced they will, with the 10-day DL and all), there are only a few spots available. Barring injury, these guys are locks:
- Kenley Jansen
- Pedro Baez
- Scott Alexander
- Tony Cingrani
- Scott Koehler
That leaves the following pitchers as bullpen options (some have a better chance than others:
- Ross Stripling
- Wilmer Font
- Brock Stewart
- Yimi Garcia
- Edward Parades
- Adam Liberatore
- Dennis Santana
- Josh Fields
- J.T. Chargois
- Dylan Baker
- Walker Buehler
- Yasiel Sierra (slim and none)
- Joe Broussard
- CC Lee
- Mark Lowe
- Pat Venditte
… I probably forgot one or three. My favorites would be Stewart, Liberatore and Font (I like Venditte, but I doubt he makes it), but it could be Parades or Garcia… or Lowe… or Chargois or Fields. What’s your take?
Discussion (52)
Disagree, not disagreeable
The Battle For Left Feld
Thompson is 4 for 10, 1 rbi, no walks, 1 strikeout, and 1 stolen base.
Kemp is 2 for 7, 3 rbi’s, 1 home run, 1 walk, and 1 strikeout.
Toles is 0 for 7 with no walks and 4 strikeouts.
Pederson is 1 for 8 with 1 walk and 4 strikeouts.
I believe the opening day Left Fielder will be Kike Hernandez. Can’t sit the guy vs Madison Bumgarner.
If Utley makes the team it is not because of his bat. His bat has termites.
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It’s not just Seager’s arm I am worried about but Barnes’ also. Neither has made a throw in ST
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Lincecum does not look good in blue, but come to think of it Texas has blue jerseys almost the same color of the Dodger’s. He looks good in Texas blue.
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Kershaw – one of the best ever?
http://www.espn.com/blog/buster-olney/insider/post/_/id/16751/olney-clayton-kershaw-is-a-hall-of-famer-without-throwing-another-pitch
Bluto, that was a nice article on Ruiz. What a nice young man. It will be easy to root for him.
Utley looks done! Love the guy but it appears father time has indeed caught up with him.
Lincecum to Texas
Great article that focuses on K. Ruiz, the team’s catcher prospect.
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I like how it touches on the positive developmental atmosphere the team has in place for Latin American prospects:
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https://sports.yahoo.com/unlikely-family-venezuelan-prospect-keibert-ruiz-195528737.html
Old friend alert:
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Frankie Montas is 93-95, flashed a plus slider in first inning of work. It’s early, but Montas was 98-100 pretty consistently 18 months ago.
At some point in time these kids will have to play at the major league level. You cannot continue to send hem back to AAA.
Lincecum is a #&@*π Giant and druggie! No, no, no!
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Utley has too much gray hair to be a pro athlete.
The Dodgers will use the 10 day DL to effectively give them more bench players, a bigger bullpen and hide players without options.
“we forget what we want to remember and remember what we want to forget” –Cormac McCarthy
a few things:
1. we still have urias and buehler for the second half of the season
2. we just need one of Santana/white/alvarez to hit for us to have another stud arm in the wings
3. alex Verdugo not only exists, he’d be the starting lf on many mlb teams this year
4. kyle farmer, locastro, muncy, & peters will be rotated onto the roster throughout the year
5. we have plenty of potential DHs for when the need arises: seager/grandal/kemp?
6. trayce Thompson would look nice in a pirates uniform
7. as much as we may dislike Utley’s skills, his experience makes him a lock for any roster imaginable
8. a few trades could really clear some things up here
9. maeda is a reliever. his contract complicates things. come October he’ll be back to setting up kj
10. toles feels like last year’s chris taylor–a guy who may not make the team but could impact the season majorly
Utley: He is a slow starter – Don’t judge him by what happens now. That said, he may decide to hang it up. That would not surprise me.
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Baez: I think he can improve this year. He hasn’t been pitching that long.
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Fields: Better than you think.
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Stewart: I am violently opposed to him as a starter. I think he will be a trememdous reliver and a AAAA starter!
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Lincecum: If he can pitch, bring him on.
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Kemp: Starting Left Fielder and an asset to the team. I have never been a Kemp fan, but I think he has one OUTSTANDING year in him… maybe two!
the best that can be said for baez and fields is that we can ride them hard before ditching them come the postseason. they are decent regular season options to have.
Kemp will be playing until he gets injured…. or they figure out he’s allowing more triples than he hits.
The 4 man bench causes big problems. The Dodgers have resolved some of these by having Swiss Army Knife players who can do many things, like Kike Hernandez, Chris Taylor and Austin Barnes. This is the problem of resigning Chase Utley who really only plays 2B notwithstanding efforts at 1B and 3B. This is also the problem with keeping Matt Kemp who really can only play one OF spot given his recent past (LF). I much prefer a 5 man bench for this reason.
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If I were the king I would keep a 5 man bench – the other catcher (Grandal/Barnes), Kike, the other LF (Kemp/Joc), Utley and Toles.
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If the Dodgers keep 8 for the ‘pen, I would keep Jansen, Cingrani, Alexander, Koehler, Baez (ugh). I agree with AC – try to keep Font as long man since he doesn’t have options and stretch Stripling and Stewart out in AAA. As Bluto said, we have 5 fragile starters in the rotation and we will need more than spot starts of 3 or 4 innings from someone else. I think that Fields makes it and that’s 7. If they keep 7 then that would probably be it. If it’s 8 then they keep one more lefty – either Parades or Liberatore. I suspect the latter has the edge.
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I am not too keen on 2 homer-prone relievers with straight fastballs and am more than a little concerned about the Baez/Fields combo.
Based on potential injury and added rest given to Kemp and Seager, Joc or Toles will get innings in CF as well as LF and Taylor will get innings at SS. Kemp and Joc/Toles will get 400 PAs and hopefully Seager will get 600 but maybe 400 is in the cards for him as well.
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I like Font in the bullpen. I like Stewart and Stripling in the OK rotation to start the season. I like Garcia to make a solid contribution during the season and still worry about Baez and Fields.
would like to see him in blue
lincecum would fit nicely on this team
I disagree with your premise.
Mark’s probably wrong on Kemp, but who cares.
More interesting (to me) is this look at the rotation at FanGraphs.
https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/fortifying-the-dodgers-rotation/
They say what many think, that the rotation and it’s depth are OK, but probably needs fortification because none of the pitchers are proven or situated to handle significant season-long workloads.
Right now, the Dodgers look like the team to beat, at least in the NL West if not the entire league, thanks to their combination of frontline talent and depth. Via our projected standings, they’re forecast for an NL-best 94 wins, tied with the Cubs. Come late July, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Friedman and Zaidi engineer another blockbuster if the conditions merit it. But between now and then, the team is one significant and hardly unforeseeable owie away from uncharted waters, and for all of the upside of their alternatives — who, let’s not forget, are vulnerable to injuries, too — the brass still has work to do.
My guesses are Font, Garcia, and Paredes.
My initial selection would be Fields (R), Liberatore (L), and Font (R). That would make 5 RHRP and 3 LHRP. With Font and Koehler, neither Stripling or Stewart are needed for long relief and may best serve the ML team as RHSP stretching out at OKC and be ready if the opportunity arises.
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I think Paredes could be outstanding. In 10 games and 8.1 IP in 2017, Paredes allowed a run in only one game…Sept 7 when he was torched by Colorado (as were other pitchers that day in a 9-1 loss). In the other 9 games, he allowed 0 runs, 4 hits, and 0 walks. Overall he had 11 K’s and 0 BB’s over those 8.1 IP. Those 3 runs in 0 IP on Sept 7 crushed his ERA, which is why an ERA is not ideal to measure relief pitching. His less than 1.000 WHIP is a better indicator. But I selected Liberatore because he has been there before, and in 2016 he was as close to automatic as there was.
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I selected Fields for the same reason…he has been there before, and for the most part has been solid for the Dodgers. Maybe because he is another Georgia Bulldog (with two of my favorites Wood & Farmer), I am an unashamed Josh Fields supporter. Does he have his moments with HR’s? Yes he does (10); as do most of the other Dodger pitchers last year not named Brandon Morrow. But for overall, Josh was 5-0, 2.84 ERA 57 IP, 60 K, 15 BB, and a .965 WHIP. Dodger relievers are going to give up HR’s because they are ENCOURAGED to work up in the zone with their heat. Sometimes those 4 seamers drop down into the zone, and get hit.
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Font is out of options, and now that he is encouraged to pitch up in the zone, he is getting much better results. Last year he led the PCL in both ERA and strike outs, as a starting pitcher. I have no doubt that he can relieve. I think it serves LAD the best to see what he can do at the ML level with his repertoire of pitches. He is out of options, and he would certainly be picked up, and I do think that would be a mistake. If he bombs out as a reliever, he can be a DFA candidate later in the season.
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Yaisel Sierra has virtually no chance of making the 25 man. He may make the 40 man and be picked up in September, but with his $6M AAV, he is highly unlikely to see Dodger Stadium before September when the pro-rata share of that $6M AAV would be more tolerable. If the Dodgers pick up an expensive trade deadline player, Sierra’s best chance will be 2019.
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I do not believe FAZ will mess with Buehler going between starting and relieving this year.
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I do think J. T. Chargois may have the best arm, but I think he starts off at OKC to prove he can stay healthy. But he could be up soon if anyone falters.
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I do like Pat Venditte, Mark Lowe, Justin De Fratus, and Brian Schlitter. All four have ML experience. But there is virtually no room for them. I see no spot for Broussard, or Sborz, or Sopko anytime soon. This will be the make or break year for all three, before they take the Jacob Rhame or Zach Lee route out of the organization.
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I do think Morrow will help the Cubs, and that Watson will help the Giants. But the Dodgers have MORE than enough arms to make up for those losses.
It does not look good for Seager. It looks like his arm did not heal over the winter. He is on a throwing program already. That means Taylor may play SS. Joc, Thompson, Verdugo and Toles for CF.