16 posts
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
I know many of you out there in LADT land have been “calmly” discussing your varied opinions on AF. Some think he is the best President Baseball Operations/GM in the history of baseball, while others believe he is very much overrated. I do not know what is wrong with the latter group. Aren’t those of you who are in that group just glad to be the 2nd best team in
I wrote about the possibility of a slow start for the Dodgers but did not predict one. I know Mark liked to chide me with that after the first two series. But 5-2 against arguably two of the worst 3 teams in the NL was nothing to brag about. The Padres played the same two teams and went 4-3. And now LAD gets to face the Rockies without having to
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…
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
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
I understand the frustration in losing last night to the Padres. But I am not going to blame this on Doc or the lineup. The two questions I did have before the game were Kike’ and Freese in the lineup and Bellinger not. But Kike’ and Freese were fine last night and certainly not the problem. Kemp has been getting key hits lately, so I am not going to blame
Evidently, there are worse things than not being able to hit LH pitching. Many of us on this blog were growing weary of Joc s two steps back after his one step forward. Well, last night, Joc hit his 22nd and 23rd HR, as the Dodgers leadoff hitter and is currently OPS ing .843. So that we don t forget, here is how most baseball people rank OPS: Rating OPS Excellent 1.000 Great
OK, you all likely know what happened last night: Joc Pederson drove in the first run against Zack Greinke. Hyun-Jin Ryu had pitched 7 strong innings when Roberts pinch-hit for him with Kike Hernandez. On a 2-2 pitch from Greinke, Kike jacked the ball out of the stadium to tie the game at 2-2. Next, Dylan Floro played the role of set-up man and shut down the D-Bags in the
So, who is coming to help on Saturday when rosters CAN expand? The current 40 man is filled with players on the DL. How many of those are legit, who knows? Well I guess FAZ does. Another consideration might be how many of the Rule 5 eligible draftees do the Dodgers want to take a look at in September. Current Dodger relievers on the 40 man: Julio Urias
A new pitcher same result! Baez, Chargois, Floro, Alexander and now Maeda. All have failed as the stopper. A good argument could be made that the biggest mistake FAZ made was not spending $7.0 million to re-sign Tony Watson, but here s the rub: when any pitcher is suddenly thrust into the closer role, the weight of the world is on their shoulders and failure is the norm. How Watson would
That the Dodgers snatched defeat from the jaws of victory is obvious. However, the implosion of the bullpen (Chaggy in particular) is a symptom, not the disease. The symptom manifests itself when the disease is active. The disease is FailureToScoreRunsItis. Last night, Dodger hitters left 12 runners stranded (combined). At the trade deadline, FAZ acquired two of the biggest bats on the market in Machado and Dozier. Add in a
I can t complain about the pitching changes last night. It all boils down to Rosscup not doing his job on lefties. Some will complain about taking Maeda out and they will be the same ones who complained when they left him in. Rosscup doesn t belong. Axford looked like he does. His first outing was horrid (the worst of his career), but he overcame another Joc Pederson outfield gaffe to shut
I am just going to say it, even if it costs me my media access wait, I don t have media access anymore, so here goes: Dave Roberts is dumber than a bag of hammers if he left Pedro Baez in to allow 5 runners to get on base and all score. Even Ray Charles could see that Baez was a deer in the headlights. We all knew what was going to happen.
I have identified ten (10) Dodger players who are most vitally important to the Dodgers winning the NL West, NLDS, NLCS and World Series. It s not Manny Machado he will get his. It s an adjustment, but he will be fine, great! It s not Brian Dozier if Doc lets him play everyday, he will put up MVP-type numbers the rest of this season. It s not Clayton Kershaw I
I just like that headline! I do have to admit that just losing Logan Forsythe makes them better. So, there is that. I hope Logan does well in Minnesota or wherever he lands next year, but great guy that he is, he was an unmitigated disaster in LA. Well, In guess Manny Machado does make them better as well yeah A LOT BETTER! The Dodgers gave up eight, count em
