My grandkids enjoy playing “Where’s Waldo” That is until they don’t. You see, while you think it would be easy finding a nerdy-looking bespeckled man, dressed in a bold red and white striped shirt, wearing a red and white beany, the artist has made a career out of crafting immense visual puzzles, complete with mammoth oceans of people, spiraling buildings, and mythical beasts that make spotting the elusive Waldo an…
A short Super Bowl Sunday, busy at work weekend, random thoughts post. • My last post was replaced by the tragic news of the death of Kobe Bryant, his daughter and the 7 others who lost their lives in the crash of the helicopter in Calabasas, California • This is written on Saturday morning, and I wouldn’t mind at all if this post is replaced by one, announcing the happy…
It’s not a subject that fans often pay any particular time or attention to, but starting next Monday (Feb. 3) arbitration hearings will begin for those arbitration-eligible players, who were unable to negotiate a contract with their team prior to the date to exchange salary figures. The last time the Dodgers went to arbitration was in 2007 with Joe Beimel. The last time the Dodgers went to arbitration with a…
When I coached youth baseball and at the high school level, travel baseball and specialized training weren’t as readily available as is it is today. We had materials and videos written by Tom House, including the “Winning Pitcher”, “Power Baseball”(written with Coop De Renne) and of course Nolan Ryan’s “Pitcher’s Bible”. For hitters, you had Charlie Lau’s “The Art of Hitting .300″ and“A Hitting Clinic: The Walt Hriniak Way”. Of…
It’s been said that baseball is one of the most “conservative” of all major sports. Baseball players, managers, coaches, executives, and owners typically succumb to the notion that once a particular idea or system gains broad acceptance, it is almost impossible to change. As one author stated: “Baseball’s ‘Conventional Wisdom’ is, at times, venerated as inviolable dogma akin to Holy Scripture. Woe be unto the those unto ye heretics who…
Puppies . . . who doesn’t love them? Part of the charm of puppies is training them and teaching them to help them along the way in their growth to dogs. “Raising a puppy is not necessarily easy, but it’s an adventure that’s full of rewards as you develop a deep bond with your pup that will last throughout his life. A lot of patience and a little extra effort…
Despite the frustrating end to this past season, the Dodgers provided me with some memorable moments in 2019. Opening day with the 8 home runs was a nice start to the season. Bellinger just going insane for the first 2-3 months of the year. Ryu going 6-0 in May. Buehler’s 16K complete game against the Rockies. The rookies’ 3 successive walk-off homerun weekends. Will Smith’s first major league home…
When I read about “WAR” and “dWAR” I’m reminded of a couple of songs from my past, “What a Wonderful World” by Art Garfunkel, and “War” by Edwin Starr, whose lyrics I butcher to get my mind around the discussion of the past several days: “Don’t know much about sabemetrics Don’t know much of analytics Don’t know much about advanced statistics I don’t know what dWAR is for But I…
Let’s assume that the Dodgers make no more changes to their roster. That’s not likely, but for the purposes of this exercise, we’ll make it so. These are my predictions for how the players presently on the 40 man roster will perform next year: Pitchers: W L ERA IP H R BB SO SV WHIP Scott Alexander 2 3 4.12 53 48 17 26 48 1 1.235 Pedro Baez …
●Mercifully, the winter meetings are over. Lot’s of questions unanswered, but the main one for me is: Now what? As I wrote few weeks back, keep her steady as she goes. Also, remember, it was December 21, 2018, when the Dodgers surprised us with the Kyle Farmer trade. There’s lots of time between now and the start of spring training. ● It looks like Pedro Moura, of the Athletic, was…