As far as I am concerned, there are only Eleven things wrong with the Dodgers right about now: They can’t hit with runners on base; They can’t hit with the bases empty; The starting pitchers (other than the New Ace- Old Man Kershaw) are pitching from erratic to horrible; The relief pitchers are worse; The pitchers cannot hold runners; The Runners are stealing the Dodgers Blind; The Dodgers can’t steal…
What has been the Dodgers main issue over the last several seasons? A lack of consistent offense. Even though they waltzed through the NL last season, there were times when the offense took the day or a couple of days off. When they scored last season, they did it in bunches. That trend has continued early this year. At 8-9, they are off to their worst start in several years….
The simple way to blame someone for last night’s debacle ‘er, loss, is to say it was on Dave Roberts for starting Chris Taylor at 3B after Max Muncy’s big night. However, that would be short-sighted as well. Max has not fared well against Alex Wood – having just one hit in 9 career at-bats against him, and it could be that Max Muncy is becoming a platoon hitter as…
You have to love fans. They are the original naysayers of doom. To read some of the posts and remarks by Dodger fans beginning when free agency started, you would think the Dodgers are doomed to finish 40 games out. As spring rolled on, and they lost Lux to injury, the moans grew louder that they should have signed one of the premier free agent shortstops in the winter. We…
Player salaries have been rising out of control in the past few off-seasons, driven by the San Diego Padres recent signings: Fernando Tatis, Jr. – $340 Million Manny Machado – $350 Million Xander Bogaerts – $280 Million Next up is Juan Soto, who wants more than $400 Million Andrew Friedman knows that contracts like the ones given to Trea Turner, Bryce Harper, Francisco Lindor, Corey Seager, Mike Trout, Giancarlo Stanton,…
The first (5th, 16th, etc.) Game of Spring Training means nothing, but there were things that you should write down and remember for future meaning: James Outman had a good game – He will benefit greatly (as he did yesterday) from the ban of the shift. He did nothing to hurt his stock, and while these early games don’t mean a lot, he actually earned points toward promotion to the…
Yesterday, Dave wrote this: “Last year you posted your stats predictions for the season. As it turned out they were pretty accurate. So looking forward to that again. But I think we need to wait until end of Spring training for that.” So, I am going to do it a little differently this year. I am going to it now, and I might revise my predictions at the end of…
There is no denying that Justin Turner was the Dodgers’ Main Clubhouse Leader during his tenure with the team. Of course, Mookie Betts and Clayton Kershaw were also there and are leaders, and what I am about to write is in no way meant to be demeaning to JT, who will always have a special place in Dodger lore. However, maybe Andrew Friedman and the Dodger Brass felt it was…
I started working on this piece with the intention of showing that the 2023 rule changes are significant to the game, and this season will show major changes that baseball has seldom seen. That morphed into a look at baseball history and the rule changes that have occurred over the years. Maybe I went too far, as dipping back into the origins of the game and rules at the outset…
I see similarities between Jason Heyward and players like Tyler Anderson, Andrew Heaney, Thor, JDM, and others. Anderson and Heaney came to the Dodgers hoping that the Dodgers could “fix” them. JDM didn’t come to the Dodgers to get “fixed…” maybe to get better, but in the past, he did work with Robert Van Socyoc, who is now the Dodgers’ hitting coach and credits RVS with making his career!. The…