To say that “Relief Pitchers are Volatile“… is an incredible understatement! In AA and NA culture, they often say: “From a hopeless dope fiend to a dopeless hope fiend.” Relief pitchers can be maddening. In 2022, Andrew Friedman said this in a SI interview: “Relievers, unlike starters, or position players, can be great one season, and a disaster the next. Which makes it all that more risky to shell out…
Rant & Rave Sunday The Athletic: Hitting coach Aaron Bates spent the hitters’ meeting earlier in the day reinforcing the danger that a Red October in this building could bring. At one point, Bates cautioned the players that the crowd of 45,777 would reach a frenzy. He told them it would be up to the Dodgers’ offense to drop the decibels.“There are certain places where it’s hard to play in…
I will not draw any conclusions from what I am about to post. All I will say is that Preller has a .490 winning percentage since he took over in San Diego. Here’s a best-effort, year-by-year rollup of Padres prospects/minor-leaguers A.J. Preller has traded away since he took over on August 6, 2014 (i.e., players who were prospects or very early-career depth at the time they were dealt). I grouped…
At the trade deadline, all of the sports media proclaimed that the Padres had “Won the Trade Deadline.” After all, they got O’Hean, Lauerano, Sears, and (OMG) Mason Miller, who throws 150 MPH as a closer. The Dodgers and every other MLB team were warned that the Padres were the best of the best. Yeah, Right! Many of the less astute Dodger fans bought into this, too, and they wondered…
Certainly, the Dodgers have the star power. They showed at the stars come out at night in the Playoffs at Dodger Stadium; however, there is one factor that is not usually measured, and that is JunkyardDogism! I love that word… partially because it makes Bluto’s head explode. 😉 What “Junkyard Dog” Means Example: NBA player Jerome Williams in the 1990s/2000s was literally nicknamed “Junkyard Dog” because of his hustle and…
The Los Angeles Dodgers won the World Series in 2024. It is tough in the modern era to win it two years in a row. In fact, it has not been done in 25 years. The Dodgers have a shot, but it is much more difficult this time around. Everyone has analytics and scouting. It’s a chess match, and it’s never been harder to win back-to-back than now. That said,…
Many Dodger fans have lost what little of their minds were left in the past few weeks due to epic bullpen meltdowns, among other things. First of all, here the Dodgers are: winning another NL West Title 12 out of the last 13 years. Andrew Friedman has been involved in most of them. He just did it again! He did it despite not being perfect! Michael Conforto was a boat…
Andrew Friedman said he was not going to be forced to make trades at the deadline because it results in dope-fiend moves that frequently don’t give excellent results. SD gutted their farm, and they have not really flourished. What is happening with the Dodgers’ bullpen would be funny if it weren’t so pathetic. I disagree with Duke that AF should have gutted the farm for more closers. How many is…
