14 posts
I have lost count of the number of times I have read that Kody Hoese is expected to have a big impact for the Dodgers in 2021. I find myself smh and disagreeing. But to some, it comes across as me denigrating the talent of Kody Hoese. Nothing could be further from the truth. I have not seen enough of Kody Hoese to know whether he is going to be
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
Editorial Comment This post was written prior to the Blake Snell acquisition by the Padres. The longer this offseason goes without much movement, the more likely AF is going to get involved. The number of teams that want to jettison payroll is growing and is undoubtedly going to pique the interest of teams like LAD. While it will stress out fans who continually want to see something happen to
Is there in fact collusion going on in MLB? With all of this backlash on the various trades, it is becoming more clear to me that if the MLBPA did not have Tony Clark as the union president, the union would clean the clock of MLB and it’s own lightweight, Rob Manfred. Boston is not hurting in revenue or operating income, and can certainly afford the salaries and resultant luxury
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
There has been a lot of discussion on the state of free agency. Many consider the system broke. Very few teams can be considered as realistic in offering the likes of Bryce Harper and Manny Machado. But the problem is that many of the non “generational” type players wait until the top players sign and then hope that those that miss out on the Harper’s and Machado’s may be in
Editorial Note – This was written before the massive Russell Martin deal went down, and I did not want to consider this post to be like Kemp, Puig, Wood, and Farmer and just dump it. The written word is a strange thing. One reader will read comments one way and another reader another way, and yet the writer had a totally different reason for the comment. The most recent
So far, this year is beginning to mimic last year a bit. There has been some movement, but it is for the lesser thought of FA or in one case a player who wants a bigger pay day next year (Josh Donaldson). It seems that a lot of teams are looking for the trade route first before even considering a high cost FA. Look for Harper and Machado to
The Dodgers are at somewhat of a crossroads at the break. They are in 1st place in the NL West and are 3.5 games behind the Cubs for supremacy in the NL. They are 1.0 game behind the Brewers, .5 game behind the Phillies, and are virtually tied with the Braves in the very tight NL race. There are 11 teams within 5.5 games of the Wild Card. The AL
Editorial Note I wrote this before the Buehler injury. The 2018 Amateur Draft is now over. All that is left is the signing of the draft picks. The Dodgers did not select a high school player in Round 11 indicating to me that they expect the top 10 to be close to the bonus pool + 5%. There will be some savings with picks #9 and #10 as
Okay now that Yu Darvish is signed, sealed, and delivered to the Chicago Cubs, who is the next domino to fall? 21 of the top 50 are still unsigned, and 6 of the top ten. Interestingly, 5 of those 6 are represented by Scott Boras (JDM, Hosmer, Arrieta, Moustakas, and Holland). Is it collusion, or is it anti Scott Boras? So what does that mean for the Dodgers? The
Three weeks before pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report, and the free agent market is still in slow motion. MLBTR listed 50 top free agents. Of those 50, 25 remain unsigned, including eight of the top ten. Of those eight, only Darvish is rumored close to signing. What’s to become of the other seven; JDM, Hosmer, Arrieta, Moustakas, Cain, Lynn, Holland? There are no fresh rumors. Four of
What’s happening to this year’s crop of free agents? This is December 27, and out of the top 50 MLB TradeRumors free agent predictions, only 19 have signed new contracts, and one decided not to opt out (Masahiro Tanaka). Of the 30 unsigned players, none of the top 11 have signed new contracts (excluding Tanaka not opting out), and 15 of the top 20 are still unsigned. Of the
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
