Earlier I listed the teams in each of their proposed divisions. At the time, it was anticipated that the Braves and Pirates would switch divisions, but otherwise the two West divisions, the two Central divisions, and the two East divisions would join together to form a single West, Central, and East division. The starting pitching in the West figures to range from terrific to bad to really bad. The Dodgers…
Multiple sources have indicated that a plan for a proposed 2020 MLB season is due to be presented to the MLBPA in the “next week or so”. Former MLB infielder from Crespi High School in Encino, CA, Trevor Plouffe, in a tweet, has indicated that his sources are pointing to a report date of June 10, and a season start date “around”, July 1. This date is congruent with Ken…
Time for Dodger Baseball. I like the sound of that as we begin Spring Training games today against the hated Giants. We all know ST games are meaningless in wins and losses, but I still want to see a win in every game. If you compete, compete to win. Before I get into ST, I want to offer my response to the apparent skepticism about the Dodger pitching. Are there…
I cannot see the Dodgers signing Josh Donaldson. He reportedly has two pending four year deals (Twins and Washington). But the Braves have right of last refusal (meaning that is where he wants to play), but they are going to need to guarantee that 4th year, which they are contemplating right now. There is no reason for the Dodgers to continue to chase their tails here. JT is a quality…
I do not think any Dodger fan can possibly disagree about the disappointment over the last three years. I use three, because realistically that has been the span where the Dodgers were in a position to win it all. Certainly Doc has had a problem of “thinking too much” in the playoffs. It was never more evident as it was in Game 5 of the NLDS. But the players have…
Most teams realize that the best and least cost approach to building a perennial winner is through draft and development. With a little more than 3 weeks before the June Amateur Draft, teams are very busy looking at who the next Mike Trout, Clayton Kershaw, or Aaron Judge may be. If it were an exact science all three would have been the overall #1 pick and yet they were not….
I wanted Chris Sale at the 2016 trade deadline when he was burning bridges with the ChiSox. I cannot fault management because he was not traded until the Winter, and I have no idea as to who Chicago was demanding. We can speculate all we want, but nobody here knows. I was a strong advocate for Justin Verlander at the 2017 trade deadline, but understood why the Dodgers did not…
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…
Finally, ST has arrived, and the first ST game is today against the ChiSox. The 7-man scheduled pitching rotation for Saturday’s game is Daniel Corcino, Jaime Schultz, Kevin Quackenbush, Josh Sborz, Stetson Allie, Josh Smoker and Joe Broussard. Sunday’s game 7 man scheduled rotation will be Hyun-Jin Ryu, Brock Stewart, Dennis Santana, Adam McCreery, Tony Gonsolin, Mitchell White, and Dustin May. I had already written a lengthy response to Mark’s…
There are currently 38 Dodgers on the 40-man roster without consideration of either Yasmani Grandal or Hyun-jin Ryu accepting their respective QO. With the current makeup, the Dodgers will have a salary total of nearly $179MM or approximately $27MM under the 2019 competitive balance tax threshold. We will all know no later than Monday, November 8 at 2:00 PM PT if either accept. Assuming they do not accept, below is…