185 posts
My Dodger Fan Granddaughter says “Peace!” 162 in a row baby! I heard from a reliable source last October that Striker Buehler was hitting 95 MPH, but they shut him down so as not to rush him. Now, Dave Roberts says he is hitting 92 MPH in bullpen sessions. That worries me as for…
The Dodgers this season saw two of the best in the major’s bat back-to-back all year. Both put up excellent seasons. Both have had stellar careers to this point. Both Freeman and Betts will get some serious Hall consideration. Where do they rank with the hitters of the past…
In 2004, the first season under new owner Frank McCourt, the Dodgers won their first division title in 8 years. The 1995 Dodgers won the division after the strike was over in a shortened season. But they were ousted out of the playoffs in the NLDS. The new GM was Paul DePodesta…
Well for the first time in six weeks, the MLBPA and MLB met in a zoom type meeting where MLB brought its latest proposals to the table. The MLBPA was not impressed according to Jeff Passan and the chances spring training is delayed just escalated. Of course, we do not know at…
MLB hands out more awards than one might think. We all know about player of the week, month, and so on. They also award one for the rookie of the month. So I am checking out the Dodger media guide to see how the Dodgers have fared. The Dodgers have had 7 NL Rookies of the Month…
You look back over the years and there are very few Dodger players at the top of the offensive numbers in the NL. Or the majors for that matter. Pitching? That is a horse of a different color. The last Dodger to win a batting title was Tommy Davis in 1963 when he hit .326. He also won in 1962 with a .342 mark. Kemp led the league in runs
Since there has been a glut of injuries to Dodger players this season, I thought this might be a good topic of discussion. So far there have been, and hopefully will not be any career-threatening injuries. May, Rios, Nelson are all out for the year. Early in the season, May and Rios were injured and have already had their surgeries. Nelson still waiting to see how they will handle his .
With Mark on the 10-day inactive list to attend to family business in Las Vegas (ever notice how these trips are never to Des Moines, Iowa or Wichita, Kansas?), Jeff (AC) was desperate for some assistance on the LADT writers roster. With his options limited, he had to resort to adding someone from the alternate training site, and had no choice but to call on me, the Zack Reks/Edwin Uceta
Since the deadline is just a few days away, I thought it might be fun to look back on some of the trades the Dodgers have made over the years. Some were significant in helping the team win, others, well they just were not all that good or popular. Winter: 1958 On the 4th of December, the Dodgers sent Gino Cimoli to the Cardinals for OF Wally Moon and P
Then in early April in San Diego, Malone went after a fan who was verbally abusing Gary Sheffield. He resigned a few days later, and Dave Wallace, former pitching coach was named interim GM. They traded for outfielder McKay Christenson in July. In July they also traded for Mike Twombley, Terry Mullholland, and James Baldwin in separate deals Usually for minor leaguers.
Last week, Joc Pederson left the Dodgers as a free agent to join the Chicago Cubs, and prior to that, Kike’ Hernandez signed with the Red Sox. Both were very popular with Dodger fans. Kike’, the Banana Man to many, and a versatile player, had enthralled fans with his energy, and his sometimes flair for the dramatic. His best day as a Dodger was in game 5 of the 2017
Hi gang! I thought I would lighten the mood around the morgue and talk about a subject I know a little about. Beards. As I was looking through my baseball cards, I noticed the obvious. There is a lot more facial hair in the game today than when I first started watching the game. Clean faces were the thing. Back in the 1800 s, a lot of players favored wearing a
If you want a sure fire way to start an argument, just pick the best players ever for your team. Everyone has their own ideas of who are the greatest players in a team s history. And the Dodgers have a long and colorful past. 67 years in Brooklyn as a part of MLB, and 62 in LA. So, choosing the best ever is a hard task. In this case, I
In October of 2014, the ownership of the Dodgers decided to go in a new direction and named Andrew Friedman President of Baseball Operations. GM Ned Colletti was moved to another position in the organization and Friedman brought in Farhan Zaidi as the new GM. At the time, the only thing I knew about Friedman was that he had been running the Tampa Bay Rays. I knew they had gotten
I got to thinking about this the other day when I was discussing Steve Garvey and why I did not think he belonged in the hall with a friend of mine. He is a Dodger fan who lives in San Diego and Garv was one of his favorite Dodgers ever. I thought it would be interesting to go back in time and check out all of the players who have
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,
On October 14th, 2014, the Dodgers announced the hiring of Andrew Friedman. Former Tampa Bay GM and Vice President of baseball operations as President of baseball operations for the Los Angeles Dodgers. His contract was for 5 years and 35 million dollars. Friedman was born in Houston Texas and attended Tulane University on a baseball scholarship. His college career was derailed by a couple of injuries. He earned a B.A .
This is for Bear although he most likely has all of this in his data bank and more. It is a rerun of an article I posted on Think Blue LA back in December of 2012. At that time I wrote: Yesterday I spent some quality time with myself organizing and cataloging my latest Clayton Kershaw and Matt Kemp baseball cards. Today, I will take my Duke Snider cards out
Much has been said and written about the Dodgers depth and how that makes them a very dangerous team. I do not think that there is a question (at least not for me), that the premier builder of the 40 man roster is Andrew Friedman. During his tenure, over the last five years in a 162 game season, the Dodgers have 485 wins, more than any other team in MLB.
In March 2013 I decided to play Nostradamus regarding the Dodgers and made predictions as to what would happen to a number of Dodger players in eight years. So here we are, seven seasons later, and I can now see how far off I was with my predictions. Surprised? Not really. I always seem to view the Blue with optimism. Here is the post below. I’ll interject with italics to
●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
Several years ago, when the Dodgers traded for Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez (among others), I called BS. I still do. Yeah, I know what Kasten and Colletti were trying to do, but that was not the only way. Five years ago, when the Dodgers hired Andrew Friedman they had the biggest payroll in baseball and had been bounced from the playoffs two straight years after missing them altogether the
Since I started blogging, I have used this as a forum to give my own personal views about certain prospects. I think I have an eye for talent and I have not been shy about picking out certain players and predicting greatness for them. Right around the time I first started posting on Dodger blogs, I was in Vero Beach and became enamored with an 18-year-old prospect who played 3B .
Most often when I attempt to communicate the concept of time with my younger grandchildren, I talk in terms of “sleeps.” “Three more sleeps and I’ll be there, or 2 more sleeps and I go home.” We’re at that stage of the season, where we can communicate similarly about the Dodgers. 11 more wins, and we enjoy the parade!! Last year, we were flat out overmatched by the Red Sox.
Looking back today on the trade that brought Rich Hill and Josh Reddick to the Dodgers for Frankie Montas, Grant Holmes and Jherel Cotton, I thought it was a good bet at the time, but if Friedman had it to do over, he wouldn t. He wouldn t, not because it was bad deal, but he wouldn t because it did not win a Championship. Holmes may be toast and Jharel Cotton might
Sometimes the people or players who help you get to a certain place or benchmark are not the people or players who can take you to the next level. I have witnessed this firsthand as US Water Systems has grown from 22 employees two years ago to almost 50 today. Some of the people who helped get me to certain places aren t capable, or willing to go to the next
I know many of you out there in LADT land have been “calmly” discussing your varied opinions on AF. Some think he is the best President Baseball Operations/GM in the history of baseball, while others believe he is very much overrated. I do not know what is wrong with the latter group. Aren’t those of you who are in that group just glad to be the 2nd best team in
It has been suggested that the Dodgers need bullpen help and I am all for it. It has also been suggested that the AJ Pollock signing was a bad deal and it has been chanted that getting rid of Puig, Kemp and Wood was dumb. Others have suggested that the solution is to sign big name free agents and pitchers next off season. Evidently, no one has been paying attention
The strength of the Farm system is unquestionably the pitching. It is not even close. The breakdown of the MLB Pipeline Top 30 prospects is: 12 RHP 2 – LHP 4 Catchers 5 – SS/2B 4 – 3B/1B 3 – OF Baseball America pretty much resembles MLB Pipeline’s prospect list except BA includes reliever Josh Sborz, and OF Carlos Rincon, replacing Braydon Fisher, Marshall Kasowski, and Leonel Valera .
As usual, the sharks are circling the USS Dodger as they have been since the Andrew Friedman Era started. They are hoping, wishing and praying that the hull has cracks in it and sinks so that they can devour the man for whom they have developed an irrational hatred. The sad part is that the sharks are Dodger fans and Andrew Friedman has done nothing but make the team better .
