AF has gone on record indicating what he will be prioritizing: “Adding a reliever or two is something that we’re going to keep an eye on and kind of sift through. Really for us, it’s about identifying the talent in a vacuum but also then trying to get as many diversified looks as you can in the pen. This year, we really liked our pen and our pen was a…
Walker Buehler, Clayton Kershaw, David Price, Julio Urias, Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin, Josiah Gray. It sure seems like the Dodgers are loaded with starting pitching. But are they? Outside of Walker Buehler, which of the above pitchers is a lock to being a top of the rotation starting pitcher. Clayton Kershaw? Sure fire HOF pitcher, and should end his career as a Dodger. There is no question in my mind…
We need to end this myth that Mookie cannot hit LHP. Over his career, against LHP, Betts is slashing .297/.379/.509/.888. Mookie’s career against RHP – .302/.372/.526/.897. Those seem like even splits to me. Over his career, Mookie has faced RHP 76% of the time. I think it is more likely that Betts was unfamiliar with NL LH pitchers, and after a year on a new team and a new league,…
Late last week, I listened to a podcast on the state of MLB and MiLB from Baseball America’s Kyle Glazer and JJ Cooper. Baseball America has some of the best baseball journalists anywhere, and I have not yet found any baseball journalist who is more up on the subject of the state of MLB and MiLB than JJ Cooper. I try to read everything he publishes. The National Association of…
Yes, baseball is a game played by a bunch of kids. In MLB, they are very rich kids paid by very rich owners. As much as most of us want it to remain strictly a game, we cannot. MLB is a business played at a very high stakes level. While the face of MLB (Rob Manfred) and MLBPA (Tony Clark) are problematic (and I am being kind), the high priced…
I continue to read that AF cannot sign high priced FA because they need to hold money for their prized youngsters: Corey Seager, Cody Bellinger, Julio Urias, and Walker Buehler. AF has set himself up with large contracts coming off the books as these players come into their FA years. Now there is no guarantee that any of the four want to stay with LAD, but there should be sufficient…
While reviewing the list of LAD pitchers, the Dodgers have 66 pitchers currently in their organization. Per Fangraph’s Roster Resource the breakdown is as follows: MLB Starting Pitchers (5) MLB Relief Pitchers (9) MiLB Starting Pitchers (34) – 9 Rule 5 Eligible MiLB Relief Pitchers (18) – 13 Rule 5 Eligible With the pending MiLB contraction, those numbers are obviously going to decrease. Many of these pitchers are organizational depth,…
The Hot Stove League is always fun for us armchair GMs, allowing us to look at ways of improving a reigning World Series championship team. Not just a WS championship team, but THE consensus choice of the best team in MLB for 2020. But changes must be made. Nothing can stay at the top by being stagnant. Changes can come internally or externally. AF is a master as to building…
CLAYTON KERSHAW GETS HIS RING!!! We can put the Kirk Gibson HR and the Orel Hershiser team celebration into the Smithsonian, because we have new LA Dodgers World Series heroes. It took the 3rd time in 4 years for the Dodgers to finally cross the Championship line. Mookie proves to be a difference maker not only for the game but for a World Series Championship team. Corey Seager ends a…
What a difference a night makes. After last night’s game I commented that the Dodgers need to come out swinging in the 1st against Glasnow. Mookie Betts leads off with an 8 pitch double followed by a run-scoring Corey Seager single, two wild pitches and Seager gets to third. JT strikes out, Muncy walks, Smith K’s and Belli comes up and gets an infield single to score Seager. After a…