Now To The NLDS

October 4, 2018

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…

Read More >>

Projected 2018 Dodgers NLDS Roster

October 2, 2018

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…

Read More >>

Player Development is not Always Linear

September 29, 2018

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…

Read More >>

Fan Appreciation Day

September 24, 2018

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…

Read More >>

Is This the 2017 Big Blue Again?

September 20, 2018

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…

Read More >>

The Master Plan was Diabolical…

September 15, 2018

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…

Read More >>

Rant and Rave Wedenesday

September 5, 2018

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…

Read More >>

Dodger Chatter: Gerardo Carrillo Leading the Loons

August 31, 2018

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…

Read More >>

Stuck in Charlotte

August 29, 2018

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…

Read More >>

Murphy’s Law

August 16, 2018

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…

Read More >>