Oklahoma City Dodgers Coaching Staff – Part 2

January 24, 2019

Jeremy Rodriguez – Bench Coach Rodriguez will serve as the team’s primary third base coach, work with the infielders and help with defensive positioning in games. He’s the staff’s youngest member at just 29. He played five seasons within the Padres’ organization. The former catcher was born in Burbank, California and graduated from Crespi Carmelite High School in neighboring Encino. He was selected by the San Diego Padres in the…

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Oklahoma City Dodgers Coaching Staff – Part 1

January 23, 2019

Last Wednesday the Dodgers announced their minor league coaching staffs. There were some changes of assignments within the organization, some not returning, and others added from outside. The shuffling of the assignments is always a bit mind boggling as some coaches move to lower levels such as Justin Viele moving from Rancho Cucamonga to Great Lakes and Seth Connor moving from Great Lakes to Ogden. Others moved up such as…

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The New LA Dodgers

January 22, 2019

Farhan Zaidi is the President of Baseball Operations for the San Francisco Giants right here, right now… and while it may never be fully understood what role Zaidi had in in the managing and coaching decisions by the LA Dodgers, I think by the end of the 2019 season, we will find out that Farhan was a micro manager. Great guy, but he was not good at deligation. He had…

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Breakout Candidates

January 21, 2019

Every year, certain players regress, some stay the same and others breakout.  It’s hard to predict who will do what, but there are a few clues that might be there as to which players may be “Breakout Candidates.” Justin Turner “brokeout” with the Dodgers.  So did Chris Taylor in 2017. JD Martinez brokeout as a Tiger.  Scooter Gennett brokeout as a Red.  Breakout years happen all the time… sometimes when…

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My Prediction – Dodgers Minor League Starting Rotations

January 20, 2019

Well we have played GM long enough, and yet they still will not listen to us.  Now it is time to play Director of Player Development  A couple of weeks back there was a blog that posed the challenge to name the starting rotation for the OKC Dodgers.  Never let it be said that I would not accept such a challenge and I of course gave me 2 cents worth. …

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Revenues, CBT Threshold, and Luxury Tax

January 19, 2019

Yesterday Mark commented, “The fact that the Yankees went over the Luxury Tax Threshold does not mean the Dodgers should do the same. That, and the Yankees have no outside shareholders to revolt.  Hopefully you can understand that.”  Maybe it was or maybe it wasn’t, but I assumed that is directed at me since I brought up NYY exceeding the CBT threshold.  I want to be clear.  I never said…

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Your Straight Jacket is Ready…

January 18, 2019

When the Dodgers were sold the last time, Guggenheim and Company were not my pick to be the owners, but here we are.  There’s nothing you or I can do about that. They are the owners, and they certainly have a very peculiar set of circumstances. They are under SEC investigation, defending lawsuits, their principals are using their personal wealth as security, shareholders are upset (maybe even revolting), they are…

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You’ve Got to Know When To Hold ’em…

January 17, 2019

As I talk to Dodger fans or read comments around the blogsphere, it is apparent that there are three schools of thought about the Dodgers: Friedman Hater: This is the most prevelant.  Andrew Friedman won’t spend any money, he dumped payroll and won’t trade any top prospects.  The Dodgers won’t make the playoffs this year.  Wait and See:  These fans don’t have a strong opinion and believe that the Dodgers…

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Gold Gloves, Junkyard Dogs, MysteryTeams and Brain MRI’s

January 15, 2019

GOLD GLOVES In the 2017 season, Yasiel Puig absolutely should have won a Gold Glove, but was denied… probably because lots of people did not like him.  He vowed to use his snub as a springboard and win the Gold Glove in 2018, but for whatever reasons, he regressed immensely, so much so that he was not even in the discussion.  This is not an indictment on Yasiel (I dissed…

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Who’s on First?

January 13, 2019

There has been a lot of conjecture about where certain Dodger players should play.  Some think Chris Taylor should play 2B, and some on MLB allegedly had him at #5 in the Top 2B.  I have no doubt that CT3 could be a Top 2B, even though he has not played well there in what short time he has had. I look for him to have a nice bounce back…

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