24 posts
For a run of six seasons from 2011 until 2016, Madison Bumgarner was a “horse” pitching over 200 innings each year. It culminated in 2016 when he was a key cog in winning the Giants third World Series in six years. In that 2016 season, MadBum pitched 226.2 innings during the…
Before I answer with my position, let me do my best to lay out some of the factors assuredly being discussed in the Dodger “war rooms”. Max Scherzer is a HOF pitcher who can still bring it at 37. He would be a front of the rotation pitcher even with the Dodgers. This year he is 7-4 with a 2.83 ERA and an exceptional WHIP of 0.886 in 105 IP.
Somebody made a point as to what the Padres transactions did for the psyche for the other teams. The Padres have now joined the Dodgers, Braves, probably Mets, and maybe the Nationals (with their pitching and Soto/Robles/Turner) to separate from the rest of the NL. Some team from the NL Central will get to the playoffs, because, well one of the teams has to. It is a rule. Because of
While most everyone was saying that DJLM was a guarantee to re-sign with NYY, there are comments emanating from Cashman that indicate that DJLM is not a slam dunk. However, the negotiations have gone nowhere in a while. Could it be that some other team is making headway into the negotiations causing Cashman some concern? I have been a DJLM advocate for nearly the last three years. I was disappointed
A little less than a year before the birth of our son Andrew, Harry Chapin put the finishing touches to a song that emanated from a poem penned by his wife. The song was Cat’s in the Cradle. As I did not grow from a happy childhood, the song did not initially appeal to me. But as my career was taking off, and Andy was about two, the song began
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
I am very partial to AAAA players. I know they waaaaaay too often get labeled as dung heap players, dumpster diving players, etc. Never mind that they competed at a higher level than almost everyone on these blog sites who love to denigrate their baseball abilities. I guess that is why I have never been down on guys like Tyler White. I wrote about Max Muncy before most Dodger fans
I know it is only exhibition games, and the Dodgers did not face MadBum, Robbie Ray, Zac Gallen, or Luke Weaver, nevertheless, it was an impressive display of offensive prowess over the Snakes. The DBacks figure to be the Dodgers chief challenger in the West. I think the Pads will begin to start to strut their stuff, but they are still a year away. They just do not have the
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
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
●Mercifully, the winter meetings are over. Lot’s of questions unanswered, but the main one for me is: Now what? As I wrote few weeks back, keep her steady as she goes. Also, remember, it was December 21, 2018, when the Dodgers surprised us with the Kyle Farmer trade. There’s lots of time between now and the start of spring training. ● It looks like Pedro Moura, of the Athletic, was
Well the first domino fell on Thursday when Atlanta signed LHRP Will Smith for 3 years and $40MM. It is a little less than Craig Kimbrel $$$, but not much. The Braves are in a position to sign multiple FA and still be well south of the CBT threshold. I expect them to make a run at MadBum and Yasmani Grandal, and maybe Josh Donaldson. Some prognosticators have suggested with
I was doing some research for a post I was trying to put together when I encountered one of my All-Time favorite Dodger pitchers, Burt “Happy” Hooten. I have no idea why, but I seem to favor pitchers from University of Texas, and pitchers from Texas in general. Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens, Clayton Kershaw, Dustin May, Ross Stripling, Howie Reed, Huston Street, Brooks Kieschnick, Ryan Pressly, Greg Swindell, Shawn Tolleson,
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
Yesterday I wrote about the Padres because of the late signing of Manny Machado. The Padres have suffered mightily for many years, but appear to be on the verge of not only being respectable, but also a contender in a year or two, depending on their pitching progress. Today I suffer because I am writing about the hated Giants. The best thing about the Giants is that they are projected
As we are winding down to less than 2 weeks before pitchers and catchers report, I was having a tough time trying to find a single topic to write a novel on. So I am going to just give some of my thoughts on a few topics. 1. Yes, Stan Kasten stuck his massive foot square in his mouth at the FanFest, and for no good reason. I am by
Okay, I am done arguing with people on this or any other baseball site about corporate finance, which happens to be a subject I am very well-versed in. But that is different than knowledge of the Dodgers balance sheet of which I have none. So, let’s move on. I am writing this in an El Dorado Hills Starbucks at about 1:30 PM. So this may not be current by
Now that the Dodgers are in the NLDS, I thought I would take a look back to see how they got here. While I never gave up hope, I absolutely had my doubts. I had concerns about how the team was structured, and in game management. It became apparent that the primary focus for the front office was to get below and stay below the competitive balance tax threshold. If
The Dodgers are now one week away from playing for real. Kershaw vs Bumgarner to kick off the season. While Kershaw has not been automatic in the playoffs, he is unbeatable in opening games. The Dodgers have been 7-0 in Kershaw’s opening games, including 2 games against the Giants. The Giants fans I know have been drooling especially since JT broke his wrist, and the Dodgers and Giants face off
Some Weekend Observations: Wilmer Font was extremely efficient and effective. He had excellent command of both his 4 seamer and 2 seamer. He threw his breaking pitch just enough to show it and it was never left out over the plate. If he continues along this path, it will be very hard for the Dodgers to not keep him on the 25 man. On January 2, I posted
If the Dodgers do nothing, this is what I would expect come Spring Training. 1B – Bellinger 2B – Forsythe 3B – JT SS – Seager LF – Kike’ and Joc/Toles CF – Taylor RF – Puig C – Barnes Rotation: Kershaw, Hill, Wood, Maeda, Ryu Bullpen: Jansen, Baez, Fields, Garcia, Koehler, Stripling, Avilan, Cingrani Bench: Grandal, 2 of Kike’/Joc/Toles, and Locastro Grandal and JT can relieve Bellinger
Who are the most consistently GOOD starting pitchers today? I do not mean solid, but GOOD good. Jon Lester is solid, but has only received CYA votes in 3 years. His best finish was #2 to Max Scherzer in 2016; the year that was being dominated by Kershaw until he hurt his back. Madison Bumgarner is solid, but his best CYA vote was #4 (twice – 2014 2016). I
The article Mark referred to in the previous post is a continuous reminder as to how Giancarlo Stanton has energized the 2017 Hot Stove League. Ned Colletti would have absolutely been in the middle of the discussions. It is little wonder that a baseball exec like Dave Dombrowski is highly motivated. Dombrowski has not met a large contract challenge that he has shied away from yet. John Mozeliak had been
There has been a lot of discussion about pending ML free agents, but there are 572 minor league free agents, including 23 Dodgers. To qualify for minor league free agency for 2018, a player would have signed a minor league Uniform Player’s Contract (UPC) in 2011 and not be released from the terms of that UPC. Teams can renew a player’s UPC six times before the player is declared a minor
