Trevor Bauer: We shall never speak of this again… well, at least not much or not very soon. The appeal process will begin and there will be a lot of machinations and posturing and misinformation. In fact, once the suspension was announced, I stopped believing anything. The MLB PR Machine has cranked up. We hear there may be a third accuser. Was there really a second accuser? You are free…
The Farm Just Keeps Getting Stronger
I mean… is that even possible? How is it possible? As you read below what I wrote about the minor leagues, the Dodger system is just “riddled” with these power arms. I have never seen anything like it. Farhan can steal a player here or there (like Nunez) and their farm system is improving, but nothing like what is happening Down on the Farm in Dodgerland. It was announced yesterday…
Hopefully, This is as Low as it Gets
Losing two straight to the D-Bags is about as low as you can get, and to those who are not worried about the Giants, well, you should start worrying right about now. You should worry about the Dodgers’ infield defense and the lack of hitting, but you can stop worrying about the starting pitching which is the best in baseball. It’s funny, but the starting pitching was just about the…
Player Profile: Eddie Stanky
Born Edward Raymond Stankiewicz on Sept. 3rd, 1915, Eddie “The Brat” Stanky was a hard-nosed player, who made up for what baseball skills he lacked with a burning desire to win. His father, Frank, and his mother shortened their name to Stanky while Eddie was a child. They lived in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia. A blue-collar section of the city. It was there that he developed his belligerent, enthusiastic,…
Are the Dodgers Ruining Andrew Freidman?
In 2008, Andrew Friedman took the Tampa Bay Rays to the World Series with a $51,000,000 Dollar Payroll. They didn’t win. The $112,000,000 Dollar Phillies did, but it was remarkable that the Rays made it that far on so little money spent. In 2021, the Dodgers did not even get to the World Series and their payroll was $262,000,000 Dollars. That’s more than 5X what AF paid in 2008. Of…
The Torch Has Been Passed
Who doesn’t like to be around a guy who always smiles, never complains, and is just a fun and outgoing person? The Dodgers had that guy from 2015 until 2020, when they won the World Series. He was the “Banana Man” – namely Kike Hernandez! The Dodgers have a history of having some characters in the clubhouse: Jay Johnstone and Jerry Reuss were also right there with Kike. The fact…
Sign ’em Cheap and Stack ’em Deep!
That is evidently Andrew Friedman’s new bullpen strategy and I happen to think it is a stroke of genius. We all know that bullpens are fickle and it is hard to predict with a great degree of certainty whether a pitcher who was great in 2021 will even be average a year later. Injuries happen and pitchers are bad one year and great the next. Now, it is not always…
Player Profiles: George Shuba
George Thomas Shuba was born on December 13, 1924, in Youngstown Ohio. His story is that of a typical average ballplayer. In parts of seven seasons, he appeared in 355 games, hit .259, and never played more than 94 games in any of those years. Nearly a third of his at-bats were as a pinch hitter. He played just long enough to collect an MLB pension, he actually counted down…
We Think We Know… But We Really Don’t
But that has never stopped us before… has it? We will say whatever we damn well please… and worry about the consequences later. So, here is what I think I know, and if you disagree you must be some kind of derelict! After all, 10 games into the season, we should have all the answers (or not). Cody Bellinger – He’s better than last year, but this will be a…
Player Profile: Billy Grabarkewitz
Billy Cordell Grabarkewitz was born on January 18th, 1946 in Lockhart Texas. He is the second child of Adolph Charlie and Helen Grabarkewitz. Lockhart, for those of you not familiar with the Lone Star state, is about 30 miles south of Austin. He was of Irish descent on his mother’s side. His paternal grandparents were Polish immigrants who came to central Texas in the last half of the 19th century….