As we await to find out who the Dodgers play in the first round of the playoffs, I think it’s appropriate that we look ahead and see what types of changes could be on the horizon for the Dodgers in 2018. Changes in Players Of course, we do know that Andre Ethier’s contract us up and unless he wants to sign a “Chase Utley” type contract, his Dodgers career is…
Lert me start all this by saying that I was TOTALLY in favor of the Dee Gordon trade. I thought Austin Barnes and Kike Hernandez would be very good players. FAZ parlayed Andrew Heaney into Howie Kendrick who played a nice role for the Dodgers a couple of years ago and even though Chris Hatcher was a bust as a Dodger, I would still do that trade in a New…
The Playoff Roster Remains in Flux If you have been living under a rock, then you may not know that the Dodgers clinched the NL West last night for the 5th straight year. They now have 98 wins and it’s a forgone conclusion that they will win more than 100 games. You have to love a guy like Rich Hill who is peaking just in time for the playoffs. I…
With just 10 games left until October 1st, when the season ends, the playoff roster remains a mystery. I think we all have a pretty good idea that certain players will be on the roster. Position Players Grandal Barnes Bellinger Forsythe Utley Seager Turner Hernandez Granderson Taylor Puig Ethier I left off Adrian Gonzalez because he is not anywhere near healthy. The Dodgers would love to have him on the…
Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register reported yesterday that Alex Verdugo showed up late to Nationals Park on Friday, after the team already had its daily hitters meeting. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he didn’t learn of Verdugo’s tardiness until he was heading out to the field for the workout but would “address it” with him. General Manager Farhan Zaidi is on this trip with the team and said the same thing. “I…
I have been really busy this week and have not had time to post, so this evening I had some time, and I sat down and was going to ridicule the fact that Dave Roberts did not put Austin Barnes in the lineup. I started it and then the Dodgers scored 6 runs in the first two innings. Here it was: Of Course, You want the Best Hitter in Baseball…
After losing 50 games in a row, Clayton Kershaw was called in to stop the bleeding and he did! He also got a walk, a hit and scored a run and made a great base-running play, with an aggressive slide, which you really don’t want him doing. The trainers immediately came out, but he seemed OK. I guess his warrior mentality won’t let him do anything less. Roberts took him…
A team that went 92-41 up through September 1st and then suddenly loses 9 games in a row can’t happen unless it is done deliberately. I have been considering this for a few days and I really believe that FAZ and Doc really want this team to peak at the end of the season. They knew the team was good, but they had no idea that they would run off…
All over the Dodger Baseball Blogs, fans are losing their minds about the lineups Dave Roberts is rolling out there. They are questioning his batting orders, substitutions, resting players and use of minor leaguers. Let me remind you that Dave Roberts was the NL Manager of the Year in 2016 and is the odds-on favorite to win it this year. So, is is likely that Dave Roberts has suddenly lost…
In a word, YES! I was against the acquisition of Darvish or Verlander because I felt both of their arms were about to fall off. Well, it looks like Verlander glued his back on but Yu Darvish has struggled mightily this year. Frankly, he looks no better than Ryu or Maeda… except that he pitches deeper into games…. well, except that he didn’t last night. In fact, last night was…