29 posts
I continue to read about the sensational LAD prospects. Mark has the Dodgers as a top 10 MiLB organization while no major publication does. After the loss of Keibert Ruiz and Jo Jo Gray, the publications dropped them to mid-level (around 15). Certainly not bad, but also not…
This is the time of year when we hear that teams will be listening on potential trades for Player A. However, most of the time those proclamations are simply rhetorical. The Brewers have said they are willing to listen to offers for Josh Hader. The Rays will be listening on offers for Blake Snell. The Reds will be listening on offers for Sonny Gray. The Cubs are listening on offers
As was discussed quite a bit earlier in the week, the Dodgers have a very prolific MiLB system even as far down the draft they have been picking from because of the continued success of the ML team. That is true when also taking into consideration a few of the early draft pick busts they currently have. 2015: 1 – Walker Buehler – Starting rotation 1b – Kyle Funkhouser –
Much has been said and written about the Dodgers depth and how that makes them a very dangerous team. I do not think that there is a question (at least not for me), that the premier builder of the 40 man roster is Andrew Friedman. During his tenure, over the last five years in a 162 game season, the Dodgers have 485 wins, more than any other team in MLB.
I thought it might be fun to look back to 2017 and what Keith Law had to say about some Former Dodger Players. I like Keith Law a lot. He has a lot of insight into prospects but he is not perfect. If he was, someone would be paying him $50 million dollars a year. Jose De Leon Born in Puerto Rico but drafted in the 24th round out of
This is AF’s 5th full year, and hopefully he will continue for several more years. He is human so he is prone to making mistakes, but never has he made an error without a very good reason for making a change. Most of us may not have understood the decisions, but they were always made to help the team. And I recognize and appreciate that it was a rhetorical statement,
I have been working on about ten different ideas for what to write, and none of them came to a cohesive blog post. Maybe this one will not as well. There has been a lot of speculation as to who the Dodgers may trade for and who they may be required to include in a trade. It is a huge climb from AAA to MLB, and yet we are ready
Interesting topic on who goes and who stays when Cingrani comes back. Cingrani has pitched in three rehab games (1 with RC, and 2 with OKC). He had three days between his first game and second and dropped it down to 2 games between games 2 and 3. He still needs to show he can go back to back. May 4 – 16 pitches/10 strikes May 7 – 20 pitches/11
I drove down to LA this weekend to visit a very close family friend and sharing in his surprise 75th birthday. At the hotel, I turned on the TV only to see SportsNet LA and watched Access Dodgers. I do miss LA for Dodger TV and Dodger Talk Radio. One comment I heard from Pedro Moura was that the Dodgers are not flashy and have a ton of depth but
Last weekend Mark posed the hypothetical…”OK, the deal with the Devil is this: Dodgers win in 2019, but have a losing record and are like KC, TB or MIAMI for the next 10 years… big time suck!” I apologize, but I just could not let it go. So please ignore if you so desire. I do not accept that as a plausible hypothetical. There is no way the Dodgers are
I am sitting continuing to try to understand how the Board of Trustees and the AD at USC have chosen to retain perhaps the most over his head coach in all of NCAA Football, Clay Helton. Rudy mentioned that both Westwood and South Bend are cheering loudly, but my radar has all of the Pac 12 and South Bend laughing at this. Oh well, enough pity party for me. It’s
The New MLB Pipeline Dodger Top 30 prospeccts have been published. Jim Callis is a premier minor league talent evaluator. He is not the typical sabermetrics talent evaluator. He uses the eye test as well. If he has not seen the player live, he has studied hours of tape. Some people prefer Eric Logenhagen of Fangraphs or Baseball America’s Kyle Glaser, but I am partial to Jim Callis. The
Many have posited (including me) that the depth the Dodgers have generated were critical in their march to 104 wins. I have also written that the depth needs to be pruned at times so that the organization will continue to grow by clearing the way for new prospects or ML 25 man roster help. That is why I had no problem with sending Jharel Cotton, Grant Holmes, and Frankie Montas
Would it surprise you to know that for the past 365 days, Pedro Baez s ERA is 1.62? Would you be shocked to discover that with RISP, hitters are batting .104 against Pedro? Would you believe that Pedro Baez is much better in a high leverage situation that a low leverage situation? All of that is true. Look at the stats (all from Baseball-Reference): Low Leverage Situations: BA .271 Medium
Make no mistake…this IS Andrew Friedman’s team. This is not to take anything away from the immense talents of Farhan Zaidi, Josh Byrnes, Alex Anthopoulos, Gabe Kapler, or Billy Gasparino. They help put Friedman’s vision into motion. The Dodgers caught a lot of flak from fans because of the high FO cost. But these are all outstanding baseball people, and why is it a problem having superior FO talent? It
and the next men are Trevor Oaks, Brock Stewart and Walker Buehler. Oaks is a back-of-the-rotation starter who is likely ready now while Buehler is a top-of-the-rotation guy who might be ready in 2018, but won t ever be a workhorse (welcome to the new MLB). Stewart could be a a middle-to-back of the rotation guy or an elite reliever. Time will tell. Mitch White and Yadier Alvarez are due
Have you noticed that a few certain fans like to bang on Friedman and Company about trading away Cotton, Montas, Holmes, De Leon, Peraza and Schebler but fail to mention anything of value FAZ has done? ME: Wow, Alex Wood is doing great! FAZ-BASHER: Squirrel! That Rich Hill really sucks, even he says so. FAZ is an idiot! Schebler (.252) and Peraza (.258) are playing OK in a hitter s ballpark,
I was listening to an interview about how the Cubs were built on MLB Radio a few days ago and heard a story about how Kyle Hendricks was acquired. First of all, I have the greatest respect for Theo Epstein and do not want to denigrate him in any way, but the story shows how sometimes it s better to be lucky that good. As the Cubs were being blown up, Theo
It s not Does Chris Taylor deserve to start over Chase Utley? That s not even a question. The real question is Does Logan Forsythe have a starting job when he comes back? Chris Taylor is an animal. I have always said that FAZ likes to trade for guys before they become THOSE GUYS! They might have done just that with both Toles and Taylor! I really, really liked last night s lineup,
I thought it might be time to play a little Ketchup er catch up! I ve said it before and I will say it again: Make no mistake about it, Julio Urias is the real deal. The Dodgers will continue to use him sparingly at OKC and likely call him up in early May they are neither confirm nor deny that, but I am pretty sure that s what will happen .
Well the Freeway Series has started and this gives FAZ one more chance to scout and decide if they want to pull the trigger on a Caleb Ferguson/Mitchell Hanson trade for Mike Trout. Sure it is silly and extreme, but it is only slightly more silly than some of the Cole Hamels trade proposals I read. It’s easy to sit back and look at results and say that was a
PeterJ asked what I thought the OKC rotation might be. I have been playing with that for about a week, so I thought I might step out and draw some conclusions. Just like LA, OKC is still a work in progress. Whichever LHSP does not make LA rotation will probably go down to OKC. Both Wood and Ryu are pitching well, but only one is going to make the rotation.
In last years amateur draft, the Dodgers took Mitchell White in the second round from Santa Clara University. This prompted a response from a Dodger fan who said that they lived near Santa Clara, California and had never even heard of Mitchell White. The purpose of this post in not to ridicule that person, but rather to emphasize that Andrew Friedman and his gang know a hell of lot more
It s March 16th and Adrian Gonzalez will never play in the WBC again so there is that. He says Little League is ran better and he would be right it s mostly a joke! Julio Urias is pissed he s going to extended Spring Training and the Dodgers have more good players than they have positions. Life is good! Just to be clear, Urias is not going to the pen or
Look, I am a big Positive Thinker. I believe that you get what you believe. A wise man once said: As you believe so it shall be done unto you. I have seen it work in my life (big time) , so I admire a guy like Willie Calhoun who is undersized and physically challenged in almost every aspect of the game of baseball except hitting! When it comes to hitting,
A little over two years ago, I held these opinions: Julio Urias would someday be the Dodgers Ace or Co-Ace with Clayton Kershaw; Jose De Leon would be a close #2; Corey Seager would be an impact MVP-Type Shortstop; Joc Pederson would be a 4th or 5th outfielder (at best); Yasiel Puig had immense talent but we should trade him immediately; and THE TRADE (Crawfish and A-Gon) really hamstrings the
In case you don t know, a Wunderkind is a child prodigy or one who succeeds in a competitive or highly difficult field or profession at an early age. That would be Julio Urias. I find it incredulous that Julio Urias pitched 77 innings in the major leagues in 2016 as a 19 year old and compiled a 5-2 record with a 84 strikeouts and a 3.39 ERA and yet some fans
The Dodgers traded Jose De Leon straight up for Logan Forsythe. Jose De Leon is one of the top right-handed pitching prospects in all of baseball. Logan Forsythe is a second baseman who is entering his prime. Personally, I think Jose De Leon s future is in the bullpen, but I have been wrong before. I liked Brian Dozier, but I also like Logan Forsythe a lot. I just did not
What goes around, comes around, so that is why a team s starting pitchers are called a rotation? Get it Rotation? I say Rotation Son, Rotation? OK I ll stop. In 2016, the Dodgers used 109 different starting pitchers well, that may be only a slight exaggeration, but they used a lot. At one point last year, the Dodgers had seven (count em 7) starting pitchers on the disabled list at
