A lot of Dodger Fans have written this guy off for 2018 and have traded him away already… except that he is still with the Dodgers. There is perhaps no more polarizing Dodger than Yasmani Grandal. He was acquired by the Andrew Friedman front office who traded the fan favorite (at the time), Matt Kemp for him. I am certain that is part of the reason Yasmani is so vilified. …
Secret Weapon #2
When a rookie pitcher gets a September call-up, one of three things generally happens: They look bad; They look mediocre; or They look good! Adam Wainwright of the Cardinals came up in September and put up a 13.50 ERA, but followed that up with a 3.12 ERA the next year. There are many other instances of where pitchers did not impress in their September auditions, but came back and were…
The Athletic
I am going to give a shameless plug to The Athletic and print an article in it’s entirety. That’s generally a NO-NO, but I am doing it so that you can see how good they are and how valuable they will become. Pedro Moura wrote the following this week: Pedro Moura: Why I’m here, and why I think you should be, too I started today at The Athletic. I left the 137-year-old Los…
The Dodgers Have Some Secret Weapons
Secret Weapon #1 This is a series that will focus on several weapons the Dodgers have that could make a world of difference to them in 2018. Today, we will discuss secret weapon #1. This series will run several days – I can’t tell you how many there are because you can’t know (yet) how many secret weapons the Dodgers have. When the Dodgers traded Adrian Gonzalez, Scott Kazmir, Brandon…
Spring Training is Just Like Christmas in February.
Okay now that Yu Darvish is signed, sealed, and delivered to the Chicago Cubs, who is the next domino to fall? 21 of the top 50 are still unsigned, and 6 of the top ten. Interestingly, 5 of those 6 are represented by Scott Boras (JDM, Hosmer, Arrieta, Moustakas, and Holland). Is it collusion, or is it anti Scott Boras? So what does that mean for the Dodgers? The…
Chris Archer Trade Scenario
In doing some research, I was reminded of two trades the Cardinals made this year that did not include Ozuna. In 2014/2015, the Cardinals had two solid OF prospects that they were very high on…Randal Grichuk and Stephen Piscotty. This year they were traded to Toronto and Oakland respectively. In the trade to Toronto, Grichuk netted them a very good RH middle reliever, Dominic Leone. In 70.1 IP in Toronto,…
I Am So Happy Darvish is Not a Dodger!
I was never a fan of Yu Darvish… until he became a Dodger. Then, I rooted for him. To me he screamed “underachiever!” OK, maybe I am wrong, but I think that a professional pitcher north of 30 should understand what “tipping pitches” is and should be savvy enough not to do it. Yet, Darvish tipped his pitches or just plain chocked! Well, tipping pitches is choking too, so there’s…
What to Keep Your Eyes Out For This Spring
I am going to go out on a limb and make a few predictions as to what could or might happen during Spring Training. Pitchers and Catchers are just hours away from reporting, so I am going to throw out a few things to look for. Watch Kiebert Ruiz. You are going to be amazed at how good of a catcher he is and expecially his footwork behind the plate,…
Spring Training Info
DODGERS ANNOUNCE 2018 SPRING TRAINING RADIO BROADCAST SCHEDULE LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers today announced their 2018 Spring Training radio broadcast schedule with 16 broadcasts in English on AM 570 LA Sports and eight Spanish-language broadcasts on Univision Radio’s KTNQ 1020 AM. Both AM 570 and KTNQ 1020 will carry the Dodgers’ Cactus League opener on Feb. 23 against the White Sox, and will also close out the…
MLB Has Some Big Problems
2017 marked the third consecutive season in which MLB attendance declined. In fact, it went below 73 million for the first time since 2002. You need to realize that attendance has declined for 5 out of the past 6 years (Maury Brown Forbes Magazine). It’s not huge, but it is a decline… almost half a million less in 2017 over 2016. Major league baseball attendance has declined 8.59% since 2000. …