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…
Here’s an interesting question: How many different pitchers will have saves for the Dodgers this season? The Dodgers already have three different pitchers with saves after Dave Roberts elected to use David Price in a save situation last night. It looked like a bad choice for a minute as Daza and Trejo both singled to start the inning. Then Trevor Story pinch hit and Price fell behind 2-0 only to…
We are only 10 games into the season, so everything we are seeing is a small sampling, but right about now, everything we are seeing is “spot on” to what we believed this team could achieve. The Dodgers could have believed all their press clippings and came out of the gate slowly, but they came out snarling and ready to defend their title. They are now 8-2 and very well…
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.
“On the one hand, his fans, teammates, and organizations love him for the offense he brings to the table. On the other hand, all are often driven to despair by his antics and shoddy attitude. Not to mention his greed and stupidity.”
The winter of 2010 brought some more changes to the Dodgers. Joe Torre retired from managing and Don Mattingly took over. The other main point was the now very public and hostile divorce proceedings between McCourt and his wife. So things were off to a rocky start. Colletti though had to put together a team and there were a lot of players who were free agents. He re-signed Kuroda…
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!
The Spring is three games in, and to draw any conclusions would be foolhardy. But I still have some observations from what I have seen thus far. For the first three games, the pitching has been outstanding. Albeit, without Matt Chapman and Matt Olson, Oakland’s offense is just north of woeful, as is Colorado without Trevor Story and Charlie Blackmon. The Giants did not play but a couple of regulars….
In 2020, batters who faced Kenley Jansen had a 14% hard contact rate against Kenley, which happens to be the lowest in all of baseball.