Sabermetrics don’t value stolen bases and speedy baserunners as highly as some old time baseball fans eyes. Logan Forsythe is not a speedster, but he is an exceptional baserunner with amazing instincts. He is also a very good defensive second-baseman, but until Sunday, I had no idea how good, until he made a play I am not sure I have ever seen. On a ball hit just to the 2B…
Saturday was an eventful day for the Dodgers as Hyun-Jin Ryu and Trayce Thompson made their first official appearances of the season. Ryu is coming back from elbow and shoulder surgeries on his chicken wing and Thompson is only overcoming a broken back. I have to believe that Trayce will start the season at AAA, along with Andrew Toles – it won’t hurt either of them to play every day…
Every Dodger fan knows that Zack Greinke signed with the D-Backs after the 2015 season for $200+ million. On Thursday, The Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro wrote this about Zack Greinke: After his first pitch of the day on Wednesday afternoon – a fastball on the outer half for a called strike – Zack Greinke stole a glance at the video board at Salt River Fields: pitch speed, 88 mph. For the second…
I started LA Dodger Talk over 16 years ago as a place where Dodger fans could come and share their hopes and dreams, tears and fears. Over time, it evolved into a site where no matter what I said, four or five people said the opposite… just because. Yeah, just because! I even proved it by later taking the other side only to have them disagree again. That prompted me…
The Los Angeles Dodgers and their fans have been without a World Championship since 1988 when the greatest event ever in the history of baseball occurred “In a season that has been so improbable, the impossible just happened!” Since then, the brand has eroded to some degree, but that has changed over the past three years and is about to change even more. Al Campanis wrote the book on The…
Todays Post is by Always Compete. I think he brings a wealth of information and we are fortunate that he has agreed to write for LA Dodger Talk. Enjoy! I am a minor league junkie and when discussions find their way to the lower level players like Shea Spitzbarth and Andrew Istler, my interest gets piqued. Shea Spitzbarth and Andrew Istler are two pitchers I became very familiar with last…
I told a buddy of mine yesterday that Scott Kazmir’s hip tightness was probably going to keep him out all season. He said “That’s negative – you have to think positive.” So, let me try to get over this negativity: “I am Positive that Scott Kazmir’s hip tightness is probably going to keep him out all season.” How’s that? This is the same problem he had last year which led to other…
Just so everyone is clear, I am a Willie Calhoun fan – I would love to see him overcome the odds of being a slow runner and a bad fielder and become the opposite. I do not denigrate him because of his stature – that is irrelevant! It’s his fielding and running, and when I say he has “tree-trunk legs,” it means that they are huge and stay in one…
Look, I am a big Positive Thinker. I believe that you get what you believe. A wise man once said: “As you believe so it shall be done unto you.” I have seen it work in my life (big time) , so I admire a guy like Willie Calhoun who is undersized and physically challenged in almost every aspect of the game of baseball… except hitting! When it comes to hitting,…
Yesterday, Bluto called our attention to Q & A session with Jim Callis of Baseball America. Callis has always been high on Yadier Alvarez but now he says he has a “Cy Young ceiling“. He’s still high risk, but he’s really high reward. He also mentioned Caleb Ferguson and AJ Alexy who are in the pipeline as prospects who make make big jumps this year. Neither are in the Top…