No, I don’t think you do! Here we are again, talking about the Absolutely Horrible Dodger bullpen (well I don’t think it’s horrid, but some of you do). Already there is talk that the Dodgers won’t win, that the bullpen is just terrible (should be “blown up”) and fans are planning what relievers the Dodger should add in the offseason. I thought it would be interesting to look back at…
1. Kenley Jansen is Fixed False. With his 8th Blown Save last night, he again demonstrated that he was lacking command and in order to get a strike, he throws some very hittable pitches. I was against the re-signing of Kenley Jansen and this is why. Big contracts to relief pitchers seldom pan out, but here we are and the Dodgers have to make do with what they have… and…
I was going to save this for the off-season, but with 2Demeter2’s fantastic blog yesterday on the Technological Advances in Player Development, I put this blog on the “fast track.” So let me start with this: I am not sure how it all worked out, but I can tell you that in the past, I have fired people, but we agreed privately (for the sake of their career) that the…
To lose a game without learning something is a sad state of affairs. Yes, the Dodgers lost last night game, but they learned a few things in the process: If you can’t jump out of a boat and hit water, you probably won’t win (OK, OK, we already knew that); Hyun-jin Ryu has gone from being left off the playoff roster (in some of your minds) back to Cy Young…
Well, it’s always been serious, but with two weeks left in the season, it’s “Playoff Tune-up Time” which is very serious. It’s likely that Rich Hill and Alex Verdugo will not be ready for the NLDS… or maybe the NLCS and the World Series. David Freese and Justin Turner are banged up and we have no clue how healthy they will be. This is the hand the Dodgers have to…
So, if you listen to the Herm Edwards, you would always play to win the game. Well, that might be true in a 16 game football season, but I am going to suggest that while you don’t ever play to lose, in a baseball season that is 10 times longer than a football season, there are reasons you don’t always play to win the game. “Sometimes we need to lose…
After being the best team in baseball for quite some time, the Dodgers are now playing second fiddle to the Yankees and Astros who both have one more win than the Dodgers. The surging Braves are just three games behind the Dodgers for the best record in the NL, having won nine games in a row. In their last 10 games, the Dodgers are .500 while the Braves are 9-1,…
“The sky is falling!” “The Dodgers are doomed!” “Kershaw and Ryu are through!” “We can’t win with Jansen as the closer.” “Bellinger has regressed to the mean!” “I just hope that these die-hard Dodger “Homeys” are not fooled by all these wins, because the negatives will be more apparent as they get into the playoffs.” “I think that Colletti did just as good of job with way less money and…
“Opinions are like…” Well, you know the rest, but here’s the difference. Opinions are welcome here, A-Holes are not. At the company I run (US Water Systems), we have 10 “Core Values” ranging from “We Don’t Panic” to “We are fair… but not suckers” to our 10th Core Value which is “We do not tolerate Assholes.” Pardon our French, but there is no better way to say it. Snarky, divisive…
A comparison was drawn between Jeff Shaw and Kenley Jansen and I would say that is appropriate. Kenley certainly isn’t as good as he once was, but he’s not as bad as many of you think. It was suggested that Corey Seager should sit… and the odds of that are slim and none. He’s not 100% back, but he’s leading the league in doubles and he’s not going to get…