There has been a lot of discussion about the state of the game with respect to Home Runs and Strikeouts. Many of us remember when hitting wasn’t so much hit or miss as it is today, and for many of us remember the game was more enjoyable when teams were “producing” runs. But the HR has always been the attention grabber. The first and arguably the most prodigious HR hitter…
The Dodgers are at somewhat of a crossroads at the break. They are in 1st place in the NL West and are 3.5 games behind the Cubs for supremacy in the NL. They are 1.0 game behind the Brewers, .5 game behind the Phillies, and are virtually tied with the Braves in the very tight NL race. There are 11 teams within 5.5 games of the Wild Card. The AL…
Three weeks for the trade deadline and rumors without knowledge continue to excite or anger baseball fans across the country. It is fun to read other fans takes on their teams and how their prospects line up with others. I was really enjoying Brewers’ fans takes that Keston Hiura should not be included in any trade for Manny Machado, but the Dodgers are silly for not including Verdugo or Ruiz…
In the last thread, Tylerdurden31 stated that “If it clear we are one if the best five NL teams. We could be the best right now (even after an abysmal start). Between now and October we will experiment, test, and look for new ways to get production. Occasional failures like today must be tolerated in order to locate the growth potential in our roster. Win games? That’s last year. This…
There have been a lot of speculative discussions on a potential trade for Baltimore SS Manny Machado. Bumsrap referred to a May 4, 2018 article from an Orioles fan’s point of view. If I am going to trade for a rental, it can only include players that are replaceable by others in the organization. Alex Verdugo, Mitchell White, and Jeren Kendall are all replaceable, but not Gavin Lux. If the Orioles…
Editorial Note – I wrote this before the Buehler injury. The 2018 Amateur Draft is now over. All that is left is the signing of the draft picks. The Dodgers did not select a high school player in Round 11 indicating to me that they expect the top 10 to be close to the bonus pool + 5%. There will be some savings with picks #9 and #10 as…
2018 MLB Amateur Draft Preview for Dodgers By Always Compete The 2018 MLB Amateur Draft begins on Monday June 4, and continues through Wednesday June 6. Rounds 1 and 2 will be completed on Monday; Rounds 3-10 will be completed on Tuesday; Rounds 11-40 will be completed on Wednesday. If you believe the organization has multiple good but not great prospects, this year’s draft does not figure to turn things…
Reviewing Class A players and projecting is very premature, but it does get done. That is why so many A level and even rookie level players are included on Top prospects lists, only to fall out later. The most difficult jump in professional baseball is from A Ball to AA. So there is a lot of guessing that goes on with these evaluations. Depending on the age, it is doubtful…
Currently, AA is where most of the top prospects reside. Although still relatively young, some of the current roster will absolutely play at the ML level, but outside of Keibert Ruiz, none project to be perennial AS. There could be some AS performances from some of the higher rated players, but they all have questions that will need to be answered. Keibert Ruiz – The second of two likely…
The Dodgers minor league system is filled with “depth” pieces. As therealten pointed out, perennially competing for the playoffs and a potential WS takes a toll on the Dodgers draft slot. The last time the Dodgers had a top ten draft slot, they did very well with a HS pitcher from University Park, Texas…Clayton Kershaw. In 2016, the Dodgers had the #20 selection and drafted HS SS, Gavin Lux. In…