40 posts
This is the time of year when we hear that teams will be listening on potential trades for Player A. However, most of the time those proclamations are simply rhetorical. The Brewers have said they are willing to listen to offers for Josh Hader. The Rays will be listening on offers for Blake Snell. The Reds will be listening on offers for Sonny Gray. The Cubs are listening on offers
Sorry for the delay in getting this posted. I already had my article queued up and ready for publish before last night s come from behind walk off win. Zac Gallen is going to be a superstar in this game and he just shut the Dodgers down. But the 2020 Dodgers are relentless and have no quit. I think that is a tribute to Mookie, just as 1988 was a tribute
It is time for a little Devil’s Advocacy. I have been an unapologetic fan of Andrew Friedman and what he has accomplished, and just as critical as to what he has NOT accomplished. I was critical when AF did not beat out the Astros offer for Gerrit Cole before the 2018 season. The Astros traded a #5 SP in Joe Musgrove, a decent but unceremonious 3B, Colin Moran, a RHRP
Well now that the Dodgers have signed AJ Pollock, what comes next? Maybe something. Maybe nothing. Is JT Realmuto on the horizon. Apparently, the Pads are very much in on JTR, but they are insisting on extension talks before they consummate the deal. Obviously, either Francisco Mejia or Austin Hedges will be going back in a package. The Pads have ML OF’s available as well a bucket load of high-level
The more we read about minor league ball players, the more we learn about the commitments they make, not just as baseball players, but as young men. They have all of the challenges in life just as young men who do not pursue an athletic career have, plus they have the near impossible task of navigating a road to MLB littered with speed bumps. Many, or most, are
Editorial Note – This was written before the massive Russell Martin deal went down, and I did not want to consider this post to be like Kemp, Puig, Wood, and Farmer and just dump it. The written word is a strange thing. One reader will read comments one way and another reader another way, and yet the writer had a totally different reason for the comment. The most recent
With apologies to the late great David Bowie. I continue to read about all the possible changes coming to the Dodgers, and I have zero comfort that any one of them will ever transpire more than another. I do believe that there will be at least one significant change, maybe more, which is why the negative comments on the Reds trade are curious, unless it gives those who just do
Okay, I am done arguing with people on this or any other baseball site about corporate finance, which happens to be a subject I am very well-versed in. But that is different than knowledge of the Dodgers balance sheet of which I have none. So, let’s move on. I am writing this in an El Dorado Hills Starbucks at about 1:30 PM. So this may not be current by
So far, this year is beginning to mimic last year a bit. There has been some movement, but it is for the lesser thought of FA or in one case a player who wants a bigger pay day next year (Josh Donaldson). It seems that a lot of teams are looking for the trade route first before even considering a high cost FA. Look for Harper and Machado to
Yesterday I looked at what might the team be looking at/for in 2019 with pitching (starting and relief) and catchers. Today I am looking at the infielders and outfielders. Infielders: Much of this will be determined by how Corey Seager rehabs. Will he be able to play SS as well…
I hope you all bear with me. I would like to somewhat continue the FAZ discussion from yesterday. And then to give one last autopsy report on the 2018 WS. As Mark indicated, FAZ took over a team that had a payroll in excess of $250MM. One would think that a team with that…
OK, let s get a bunch of things straight! Not a bad finish for a team that “was just trying to get under the luxury tax.” Yep, I heard that all year. It wasn t about winning, it was only about Tax Evasion. Evidently, FAZ wasn t too bad for guys who don t care about winning. But, I do and it was a bitter end to a tumultous season. The Dodgers were beaten
A couple of days ago, Ken Gurnick wrote this: Corey Seager’s elbow blew out, and the Dodgers found a way. The entire starting rotation went on the disabled list, and they found a way. Kenley Jansen’s heart raced, and they found a way. They even found a way to overcome a nine-game deficit in the National League West. And on Saturday, the Dodgers found their way back to the World
WELCOME TO THE FALL CLASSIC 2018!! By the time the Dodgers and Red Sox square off in Game 1 of the 2018 World Series, it will have been 356 days since the Dodgers went down in Game 7 of the 2017 World Series. It will be 30 year s this month since the last Dodgers WS victory. This year’s WS can make all of those bad memories go away (at least
Pumpkin Nights vs. Dodgers Baseball. That was my choice last night. Do I go with the family to see a festival of lights made from carved out pumpkins with various themes or do I stay home and watch Game 6? Well today they have a mechanism that allows you to record television shows, so you can watch them later. So, as you can see by the picture, I chose to
In a game that started so positively for the Dodgers, quickly morphed into what we have come to expect…a lot of strikeouts, inability to create runs, and questionable player changes during the game. But it was all a prelude to what may go down as the THE GAME to take the team to a WS Championship. I always like it when the leadoff hitter gets on base. After a
In a game where the two best hitters struck out 7 out of 10 plate appearances, this was a very hard game to watch much less write about. Unfortunately for the good guys, JT s strikeouts were much more problematic than Christian Yelich s. The Blue put up a good fight late, but Game 1 goes to Craig Counsell in his chess match against Dave Roberts. It appears that Counsell played Roberts
With the Yankees being TKO ed by the Red Sox, the slate is set. The Red Sox play the Astros while the Dodgers play the Brewers. Many Dodger fans didn t think the Dodgers would be one of the last four teams standing . but here they are! Think about this: The Dodgers are one of the TOP FOUR TEAMS IN BASEBALL! I think that the Dodgers will be one of the last
I don’t know how to react to last night’s game. There was so much bad that happened and a lot of good. It is easy to concentrate on the 2-out walk to the pitcher followed by a grand slam HR. However, Buehler followed that by retiring the next 10 batters, including 4 strikeouts. It is entirely plausible that without that walk to Newcomb, the Dodgers shutout the Braves for third
Sean Newcomb is left-handed and almost no-hit the Dodgers once this year. The other time the Dodgers faced him, they lit him up. Which Newcomb will they face today? Maybe it s not which pitcher they face maybe it s what approach the hitters take and you will see a different approach because there will be different hitters tonight. Most likely this will be the lineup: C Grandal (You don t take
Now that the Dodgers are in the NLDS, I thought I would take a look back to see how they got here. While I never gave up hope, I absolutely had my doubts. I had concerns about how the team was structured, and in game management. It became apparent that the primary focus for the front office was to get below and stay below the competitive balance tax threshold. If
Now that the regular season is through, we can begin to speculate as to what will make up the NLDS roster. It really shouldn’t be that difficult for 23 of the 25 players, but those last two will surely draw some scrutiny. IMO the givens: Starting Pitching (4): Clayton Kershaw Hyun-jin Ryu Walker Buehler Rich Hill Bullpen (8): Kenley Jansen Kenta Maeda Alex Wood Pedro Baez Scott Alexander
Pitchers and hitters don t progress from one stage to another in a straight line. That s what we would like, because we like predictable. We like things neatly arranged and sequential, but baseball player development happens so differently and sometimes, so maddeningly different than what we like, that we are frequently frustrated beyond belief. This time last year, Striker Buehler, who was then named Walker Buehler, was stinking up the joint
Yesterday’s game was fun and to be appreciated. What a fan appreciation day!!! The Dodgers score 14 and collect 16 hits. Ryu pitched AND hit superbly. He allows 4 hits and collects 8 strikeouts, and ZERO walks, and gets THREE hits. Josh Fields and Julio Urias come in and shutdown the Padres for the final three innings. It is hard to get too excited about shutting down the Padres, but
I like contrarians. They keep us thinking. Sometimes we end up supporting a player more vociferously than may be called for. Think Bums and Joc, Mark and Grandal, MJ and Toles, and of course me and Wood. Most of us have been frustrated with how this season has unfolded and have made some disparaging comments regarding FAZ or Doc, or players such as Joc, Wood, Puig, Dozier, CT3, and lately
Maybe Guggenheim and Company invested heavily in a pharmaceutical firm that had a new blood pressure medication and the plan was for the Dodgers and their coaching staff to do whatever was necessary to keep to Dodgers treading water, choking in the clutch, implosions of the bullpen, freaky lineups to drive up Dodger fans blood pressure so that they would seeking this new wonder drug to lower their collective blood
Last night had a happy ending, but it looked bad for a while as Rich Hill gave up 4 runs in the first three innings. He threw 103 pitches. 75 of which were strikes, and his curveball was amazing. It really was a good outing and the two HR were (in my opinion) just one of those things. Hill pitched a strong 6 innings and kept the Dodgers in the
Right-hander Gerardo Carrillo was signed by the Dodgers as an international free agent on July 5, 2016. The native of Guadalajara, Mexico received a signing bonus of $75,000. He has already climbed into the Dodgers MLB Pipeline prospect list ranking No. 27. He played in the Dominican Summer League during the 2017 season recording a 2.79 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP in 14 appearances, 10 of them starts. He struck
Monday Evening my VP of Engineering and I flew to Ft. Lauderdale for a quick meeting with some inventors of a new water treatment technology on Tuesday Morning and caught a flight back at 5:15 PM Tuesday. Long-story short, the layover in Charlotte stretched from one hour to two hours and in that time, my travel partner developed a severe case of pancreatitis and had to be rushed to a
From the Dodgers point of view, it turns out that Murphy may have been a optimist. In a week where if something could go wrong, it did go wrong, and then wronger and wrongest! I have always maintained a glass half full attitude. The storm generally passes and it s never as bad as the glass half empty people say. Here s a little more about Murphy s Law: Fabian Ardaya of The
