In the above statement, there are two contingencies: Let me break that down for you. The Blue Jays may or may not make Bo Bichette available. If they don’t, there is nothing to talk about. I have no clue if they will or they won’t, so we wait. However, I do know (for a certainty) that if Bo Bichette becomes available, Andrew Friedman will be “all in.” Bo Bichette is…
That is not the law firm defending Trevor Bauer, but it is the four most scrutinized members of the LAD organization. I started to respond to Mark’s post from yesterday, but I got called away for errands. It then got too long for a response, so I decided to make it my own post. I am writing this before Game 1 with NYM, so this could all go to H***…
It was Thursday, June 9, 2016. What a great birthday present for me, Day 1 of the MLB Rule 4 (First Year Player) Draft. Everything I was reading indicated that the Dodgers were leaning towards a HS shortstop as their #1 draft pick. They had two other first rounders that they could spend on college picks (and did: Will Smith and Jordan Sheffield). But the thought of grabbing a HS…
Editorial Comment – This post was written prior to the Blake Snell acquisition by the Padres. The longer this offseason goes without much movement, the more likely AF is going to get involved. The number of teams that want to jettison payroll is growing and is undoubtedly going to pique the interest of teams like LAD. While it will stress out fans who continually want to see something happen to…
Every year I get excited about the MLB baseball draft. The selection of young players is akin to bringing home a new puppy from the shelter. You’re never quite sure what you’re getting. You may have that special family pet that for years to come, or you may have a yapping dog that, no mater how much training you provide, never stops peeing on the carpet. In addition, I have…
With the excellent column by DC on the teenage players, and with the outstanding article in The Athletic on Zach Reks, I thought I would take a look at late bloomers. If Zach Reks does make it to the Majors, he would certainly be a late bloomer, but he hardly is the only one. A young infielder was drafted in the 9th round out of South Carolina and had a…
Since the 2016 First-Year player Draft, Dodger fans have been questioning the first selection made by Andrew Friedman and friends. That selection was none other than shortstop Gavin Lux who is currently pushing for a spot on the Dodgers postseason roster. When we questioned the pick we, of course, did not have the inside information that Director of Amateur Scouting Billy Gasparino and his team had. Yet, it seemed to…
A few days ago, Bluto posed the following: “I mean if you are evaluating players from a far then you have to be down on prospects when they fare poorly. But what’s the difference between being down and writing off? And what does writing off mean? Does it mean moving down in the prospect list? Or removing altogether?” I am sure that my opinion of “being down” vs. writing off…
Most teams realize that the best and least cost approach to building a perennial winner is through draft and development. With a little more than 3 weeks before the June Amateur Draft, teams are very busy looking at who the next Mike Trout, Clayton Kershaw, or Aaron Judge may be. If it were an exact science all three would have been the overall #1 pick and yet they were not….
The strength of the Farm system is unquestionably the pitching. It is not even close. The breakdown of the MLB Pipeline Top 30 prospects is: 12 – RHP 2 – LHP 4 – Catchers 5 – SS/2B 4 – 3B/1B 3 – OF Baseball America pretty much resembles MLB Pipeline’s prospect list except BA includes reliever Josh Sborz, and OF Carlos Rincon, replacing Braydon Fisher, Marshall Kasowski, and Leonel Valera….