This is my 20th year in blogging. I registered LA DodgerTalk.com in January 2006, so this has been a “thing” for 15 years! There has been a theme EVERY YEAR with Dodger fans since I started and that is that when things start to get rough… and things do inevitably get rough at times, many simply take leave of their senses. After a torrid start, the Dodgers are 4-6 in…
For as long as Julio Urias has been in the Dodger system, there seem to have been rumors of trading him away. I railed against it! I was OK with losing De Leon, Oakes, Sborz, Montas, Holmes, and Cotton, but I felt that Julio Urias had something special. After all, he had at least four pitches and could control them very well. His curve was knee-buckling and his upper 90’s…
The Boys in Blue are playing at a blistering .778 pace and have the best record in MLB, but it’s way too small of a sampling to conclude anything except that they are way talented and way deep and can win without two of their superstars (Belli and Mookie). After last night, the Nationals are now 1-4 and the Cincinnati Reds are beating other teams’ pitchers like a rented mule….
Kenley is a proud man and if he loses the closers’ role, I could see him walking away… and the Dodgers agreeing to pay him to do that. You may or may not know this: But, when Andrew Luck walked away, Jim Irsay paid him $30 million that he was under no obligation to do so. This is just speculation and is way down the road, but it could happen.
I’ll answer that with one word: NO! No one here has ever built a major league bullpen. I have not built one either. However, I have seen them built many times, and I believe Andrew Friedman knows how to do it. Feel free to believe that Dave Roberts just blew the game yesterday. If you believe it, it must be true, right? I mean, he brought Kenley Jansen in for…
CT3 has earned the 2B starting job… so has Gavin Lux. It may be a platoon in the beginning, but we shall see how it plays out. McKinstry and Taylor will get a lot of playing time.
If this is who Gavin Lux is (from what he has shown this Spring), then the Dodgers are going to have an incredible offense. If he keeps hitting (and I can’t see why he won’t) he is going to be very difficult to keep at the bottom of the lineup. With his speed and baserunning ability, he is a perfect #2 hitter behind Mookie Betts. Speed Kills! That moves Seager to #3 and the trickle-down starts. I doubt that Gavin begins the season as the #2 hitter, but if he earns that spot, look out! This 2021 Dodger Offense is once again going to be the Big Blue Wrecking Crew!
At some point, I could see Will Smith hitting #3 with Bellinger #4 and Muncy #6, but make no mistake about it – the Dodgers have been very good with JT hitting #3 and Mad Max at #4. I just think that Bellinger and Will Smith have the speed to hit towards the top of the lineup.
LA DODGER TALK is not your normal Dodger blog site. Even Ray Charles can see that no other Dodger site has a Dodger historian like Michael Norris. Michael or “Bear” as we know him, is a National Dodger Treasure! What he lays down is not available anywhere else! Then we have 2Demeter2, who has committed to trying to write one blog a week wherein he will give his “opinion from…
One of the things I enjoy most about spring training is the opportunity to watch the kids play. Even though there is little chance of them breaking camp with the Dodgers, how exciting it must be for them to be able to pitch and play alongside the veterans. In no particular order, Jo Jo Gray, Bobby Miller, Landon Knack, Andre Jackson, Michael Grove, Miguel Vargas, Jacob Amaya, Michael Busch, Kody Hoese, James Outman, Andy Pages, Devin Mann, Omar Estevez, Nick Robertson, Ryan Pepiot, Gus Varland, Kendall Williams and Geraldo Carillo, I’m excited to see all of you perform and I truly hope that this experience gives you the confidence to take the next step in your careers and that you ultimately make it to the show.