Dodger Bullets from the winter meetings

December 8, 2022

This is the time of year where everyone has an opinion and that means the intelligent and the morons.  Unfortunately, the latter seems to get a lot of play. The calls from some for the Dodgers to break the bank and shell out hundreds of millions on 30 year old stars in deals that pay them into their 40s is beyond insane.  Hasn’t anyone learned from the Pujols deal? Talking…

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Five Problems Facing the Dodgers

October 30, 2022

Every Dodger fan has their own idea of how to “fix” the Dodgers or how to build them for the playoffs. First of all, the Dodgers don’t need “fixed” – they won 111 games and picked a horrible time to turn cold. After leading MLB in hitting with RISP with a .272 BA (Houston was 2nd with a .270 BA), the Dodgers proceeded to hit .147 during their short time…

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End of an Era?

November 8, 2021

Well, let the bidding begin.  A number of publications have put out their top 50 Free Agents list.  MLBTR is one of my favorites to follow.  They are no better with their prognostications than are any other publication.  They run contests every year, and many of the readers have turned out better with picks than the writers.  One year I got 12 out of 50.  Not bad, but there were…

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LAD and Free Agency???

November 6, 2021

There has been a lot of speculation about FA the Dodgers may want to re-sign or sign.  We have no idea what the CBT will be, or what the penalties will be if a team exceeds that limit with the upcoming CBA.  Currently the taxes can reach a maximum 50% for all salaries above the CBT, and can reach a total of 95% for all salaries greater than $40MM in…

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AC Thoughts on 2021 NLCS and Free Agency

November 2, 2021

Please excuse the timing of this post.  It was written early last week, however I was rushed to the ER with what turned out to be a TIA or mini stroke.  I was in the hospital being pricked and probed for nearly three days, but came away with a clean bill of health. So now I am publishing, albeit a tad tardy. IMO there was very little difference between LAD…

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2021 – Gavin Lux Starts Over

February 21, 2021

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…

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CBT Threshold or De facto Salary Cap

January 27, 2021

There has been a lot of chatter about the cool reception the current group of FA’s are receiving.  DJLM got $90MM, but he is going to be spreading that over 6 years for a team favorable AAV.  George Springer turned a small bidding war between the two teams that figured to spend (Mets and Jays) into a Toronto overspend of 5 years $150MM.  That was about $25MM more than the…

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What Drives a Free Agent

November 24, 2020

A little less than a year before the birth of our son Andrew, Harry Chapin put the finishing touches to a song that emanated from a poem penned by his wife.  The song was Cat’s in the Cradle.  As I did not grow from a happy childhood, the song did not initially appeal to me.  But as my career was taking off, and Andy was about two, the song began…

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Mookie’s Glove and Corey’s Bat Push Dodgers to Game 6

October 17, 2020

Okay, the 25 year old Fresh Prince also comes through in the clutch as he has done so many times.  Biggest hit in his 2 year career…a well timed 3-run HR. After the first three innings my headline was: Dodgers Look For Walks, Braves Look For Hits A.J. Minter has never started an ML game. Minter’s previous high in IP was 1.2 (once).  He goes 3.0 IP, faces 10 batters…

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Two Game Sweep of the Asterisks

July 30, 2020

We cannot summarize the two game series against the Asterisks without reengaging about Joe Kelly.     Let’s look at the pitch to crybaby Correa to get his mouth going and get Kelly “taunting”.     Was Correa really upset about a breaking ball high and tight that went to the backstop to put runners in scoring position? I doubt that was Kelly’s plan.  Was he complaining about the pitch to Bregman?  No he…

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