It must have been painful for some of these free agents going through contract negotiations the last couple of years. Led by AF, most teams are not all that keen on signing over age players/pitchers to long term $100MM + deals, and the players’ agents are having a rough time talking their clientele into accepting a deal much less than what they originally believed would be available, but probably closer…
Ron Porterfield was named the Tampa Bay Rays Head Baseball trainer in 2006 by Andrew Friedman and served in that capacity until 2017 when Friedman lured him to Camelback Ranch with the title of Director of Pitching Health or Medical Director, depending upon which article you believe. Throwing a baseball is not a natural act. It puts lots of stress on the human arm and sometimes creates extreme damage. Andrew…
This is far and away the hardest post I have ever had to write. I chose to include a picture of Clayton Kershaw because win or lose he is a Dodger legend, and he is my co-favorite Dodger (equal to Corey Seager). One of my grandsons wears a Kershaw jersey, while the other wears a Seager jersey. If this was in fact Kershaw’s last game as a Dodger it will…
WHAT A GAME!!! 18 innings – 7 ½ hours. My nine-year-old granddaughter picked a great game to see her 1st ML baseball game. My daughter-in-law and granddaughter were decked out in Dodger gear, while my son was non-committal. They stayed all 18 innings. He just texted me (1:35 AM) and said UNBELIEVABLE! Max Muncy comes close in the 15th, and then unloads going oppo in the 18th for the…
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…
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…
This will be somewhat unusual for me, as generally I am an extremely unapologetic pro-FAZ supporter, and I still am. But to critically examine any operation, personal biases need to be thrown out, even when it comes to the Dodgers. Sports team owners do not get into the game for short term profits. The big profits come when the team is sold. For the Dodgers, the ownership group has…
What’s happening to this year’s crop of free agents? This is December 27, and out of the top 50 MLB TradeRumors free agent predictions, only 19 have signed new contracts, and one decided not to opt out (Masahiro Tanaka). Of the 30 unsigned players, none of the top 11 have signed new contracts (excluding Tanaka not opting out), and 15 of the top 20 are still unsigned. Of the…
I find myself in somewhat of a dilemma. I never believed the Dodgers would spring for Stanton. That is not what they do. It is not who they are. But yet I was getting excited about the chance of the ONE true game changer available this year becoming a Dodger. I was convinced that the Dodgers only entered into the discussion to get Stanton to say no to the Giants. I…
Who are the most consistently GOOD starting pitchers today? I do not mean solid, but GOOD good. Jon Lester is solid, but has only received CYA votes in 3 years. His best finish was #2 to Max Scherzer in 2016; the year that was being dominated by Kershaw until he hurt his back. Madison Bumgarner is solid, but his best CYA vote was #4 (twice – 2014 & 2016). I…