248 posts
Well, let the bidding begin. A number of publications have put out their top 50 Free Agents list. MLBTR is one of my favorites to follow. They are no better with their prognostications than are any other publication. They run contests every year, and many of the readers have…
“It certainly felt like a rivalry to me,” said Dodgers left fielder Luke Raley, whose first major league home run, a game-tying shot in the fifth inning, was almost lost in the crazy turns of a game that fell just short of five hours. “There was a lot of intensity in this game. It’s something I look forward to being a part of more.”
Agony and anticipation. That is what the winter meetings have always felt like for me. I am pretty sure many others feel the same. It has been more that way since the advent of free agency. Back in the day when players got no more than a one year deal and were tied to their teams by the reserve clause. For you youngins, that means that the team that signed
Of course, Kike was a defensive wizard while Mickey was a defensive liability, thus the large glove. Mickey was a better hitter for average, while Kike had a lot more power. Both were great teammates and the clubhouse was better with them. In Hatcher s 12 years in the Majors, he put up 2.9 WAR. In 7 seasons, Kike Hernandez put up 10.2 WAR in half the AB s as Hatcher.
Watching the game on Sunday against the Astros, I saw Chris Taylor lay down a bunt that went for a hit. And it took me back to a time when the bunt was an offensive weapon to be reckoned with. Over the last several years, especially with the Dodgers, the only time you saw a bunt was when the pitcher came up and attempted to move the runner over. Maeda,
As Mark is prone to do, he has laid down the gauntlet. If you don’t bow down to Doc and AF you need a STUPID tattoo? I have supported both gentleman for the most part, but while I would have difficulty blaming AF too much (because of lack of insider knowledge), certainly Doc has opened himself up to scrutiny. Let’s start with AF. The Dodgers lost 2 healthy mid-rotation starting
● The Trade deadline is upon us, and as always, the question is, should the Dodgers make a move or stand pat? ● Obviously, the primary argument for making a trade is simply that no matter how good the team is, you can always get better. ● First question is always, what do the Dodgers need to finish out this year? Another ace pitcher wouldn’t hurt (do they ever hurt?)
Halfway through the year and some things are clear, while others, not so much. The Dodgers are clearly the class of the NL if not all of MLB. The Dodgers are 3.5 games better than the Cubs and 4.0 games better than the Padres. If the season were to end today, the three division champions would be: Dodgers Cubs Braves 2nd Place Teams would be: Padres Cardinals Marlins Current Wild
With the 66th pick in the MLB player draft, the Los Angeles Dodgers select Clayton Beeter, a draft eligible sophomore, right-handed pitcher out Texas Tech University, where he majored in accounting. Like Landon Knack and Bobby Miller, Beeter was scouted by Marty Lamb. Lamb (who is worthy of his own profile) has had very good success with players he’s scouted(including Walker Buehler and Will Smith). If Beeter signs(he does have
MLB completed its draft yesterday and we learned a couple of things: First, I have no special talent for mock drafts. I struck out on all of my choices. Not to worry though, I still enjoyed myself some Mocha Latte Gelato. Second, there was no discernable strategy employed by teams that was different from prior years. As in the past, several high school talents, that figured to be tough signs,
With the addition of Mookie Betts and the maturation of other YOUNG players, I think it may be time to bring back that moniker. The name Big Blue Wrecking Crew has been utilized any number of times throughout Los Angeles Dodger history, even on a LP Album featuring Steve Yeager, Rick Monday Jay Johnstone, and Jerry Reuss. But, it has generally been applied to the group of Dodgers who bashed
My grandkids enjoy playing “Where’s Waldo” That is until they don’t. You see, while you think it would be easy finding a nerdy-looking bespeckled man, dressed in a bold red and white striped shirt, wearing a red and white beany, the artist has made a career out of crafting immense visual puzzles, complete with mammoth oceans of people, spiraling buildings, and mythical beasts that make spotting the elusive Waldo an
Anyone who has not been living under a rock knows about the Redsox Dodger Trade Debacle. The Red Sox traded David Price and Mookie Betts to the Dodgers and paid half of Price s salary, while the Dodgers sent Kenta Maeda to the Twins and the Twins were to send flamethrower Brusdar Graterol back to the Red Sox. In a separate move, the Dodgers will send Joc Pederson and Ross Stripling
I was in the middle of a meeting with our outside CPA s discussing tax strategies last night when a colleague busted in and told me the Dodgers just traded for Mookie and Price. That is all he knew at the time. Unsure who went in the deal. He just knew that I wanted the Dodgers to get Mookie. My meeting broke up shortly thereafter and I went back to my
I know that many are afraid of a Betts/Price trade because of the financial concerns for David Price, and I can understand that. So I went back and looked at the Nick Punto trade (I know Mark’s favorite subject); a previous time when the Dodgers assumed a huge financial obligation for a perceived benefit. I pulled the below article: https://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2018/3/29/17104518/gonzalez-beckett-crawford-red-sox-dodgers-trade-retrospective One of the lines that caught my eye was when
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
Rich Hill won the 2019 Tony Conigliaro Award, becoming the first Dodger to do so. The award has been given out every year since 1990 to a Major Leaguer who has overcome adversity through the attributes of spirit, determination, and courage that were trademarks of Tony Conigliaro. Rich Hill is a worthy recipient and I hope he will accept a reasonable one-year incentive-laden deal. Rich Hill exemplifies what power the
Earlier in the week, I read an article from Dodgers Nation on the perceived struggles the Dodgers seem to have with signing elite free agents. There is no real answer, but a lot of potential scenarios. And then there was a comment during the week, “If the Dodgers do nothing much at all, is that good, are we glad that they chose not to try to improve the team, while
Let’s assume that the Dodgers make no more changes to their roster. That’s not likely, but for the purposes of this exercise, we’ll make it so. These are my predictions for how the players presently on the 40 man roster will perform next year: Pitchers: W L ERA IP H R BB SO SV WHIP Scott Alexander 2 3 4.12 53 48 17 26 48 1 1.235 Pedro Baez
All off-season I have hoped the Dodgers would go BOLD. Of course I was disappointed. I thought this would be the year. But unlike some here, I am not about to concede the WS to NYY (or LAA) this year or any time in the future. NYY CBT is already at $245,341,667 with holes still to fill. $2.5MM more in spending and they exceed the top penalty. The tax is
Last year, the Dodgers had Nine (count em, 9) rookies on the roster in total. I did a hurried comparison and I think only San Francisco had as many rookies as the Dodgers. I could be wrong feel free to do the research and get back to me. But the point is: The Farm System is productive and still a TOP 3 system. In fact, if the Dodgers just
Bill Veeck, Charlie Finley, George Steinbrenner were examples of owners that were bigger than life and wanted nothing more than to win (and put on a show). Walter O’Malley was cut from the same cloth. Peter was more of a pragmatic businessman who knew he could not spend to stay in the game, and got out. None of those early owners would let MLB tell them how to spend their
• Admittedly, the constant banter about trade speculation and the wait for free agents to sign can be very wearying for me . . . Frankly, I can’t wait for the winter meetings to start. My baseball life was so slow this week, that I actually found myself spending some rather depressing time thinking about the Dodger signing Andrew Jones, Jason Schmidt, and Darryl Strawberry. Oh my! Please, please, please,
If in response to the above question, you said Not Much! I will say you may or may not be right. See, indecision may or may not be part of my problem, and no one knows what a bullpen guy will do from year-to-year, but I will say that you cannot look at the past and predict what a bullpen pitcher will do in the future. You can guess even
In 2018, Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. hit .381 over 4 minor league levels with a .437 OB%. He hit 20 HR and 29 doubles to go with 37 walks and 38 strikeouts in 357 AB s. His OPS for the year was 1.073. He was the 2018 Minor League Player of the Year. In 2019, Gavin Lux hit .347 across two minor league levels with a .421 OB%. He hit 26 HR
So the past few days we have seen all sorts of made-up, fantasy league baseball trades . most of which have no basis in reality. Bluto may have had the best idea: CWS getsJoc Pederson (from Dodgers)George Valera (from Indians)Civale (from Indians) CLEVE gets:Seager (from Dodgers)Maeda (from Dodgers)Kopech (from CWS)James Beard (from CWS) LAD gets:Lindor (from Indians)Kluber (from Indians)Bummer (from CWS)Konor Pilkington (from CWS)Rocchio (from Indians) That was creative in getting
Yes, people think that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, but sometimes, it s crabgrass or Astroturf. People have traveled the world looking for something that was already right under their chin at home. Conventional wisdom demands that the Dodgers add a RH Power Bat, a Frontline Starter, and a Lockdown Reliever. The conventional wisdom demands that Andrew Friedman not look at the waiver wire or
I am planning a series of blogs on each aspect of the Dodger team. Today we are going to talk about starting pitching. As it currently stands, Rich Hill and Hyun-jin Ryu are free agents. I would let Ryu walk unless he agreed to a 2-year deal under $38 million. Rich Hill is welcome back on an incentive-laden deal that would put him in the bullpen. Bottom Line: Neither will
In case you have forgotten, the 2019 LA Dodgers are a young team (overall), with a very deep and very god farm system and accomplished the following: Most Wins in LA Dodger History 106 Best Team ERA in MLB Yes, it has been 32 years since the Dodgers have won the Worl Series. Yes, 2019 was a bitter pill to swallow. Yes, it is way past time for the
As we are getting ready to see who the Dodgers first opponent will be in the post season, it is extremely difficult for me to consume any negativity ascribed to the Dodgers after this season. No conditional statements…they were great. The best team in LA Dodgers history. I say LA Dodgers because the 1953 team that 105, did so with 8 less games. I still read from some how bad
