I am of the opinion that most of us know nothing about building a bullpen. Garret Cleavinger was a pitcher most of you wanted to go bye-bye. He has had up and downs, but I see his stuff plays up to major league hitters. Last night, he pitches a 1-2-3 inning in the eighth, including two strikeouts. He is learning to trust his stuff… and that is how a bullpen…
Let’s get one thing straight: Andrew Friedman is the President and GM of the Los Angeles Dodgers. It is his responsibility to oversee anything that is connected with “Baseball Operation.” For the sake of this blog, Andrew Friedman is responsible for building the Dodgers Bullpen. To date, most Dodgers fans are saying that he built a deplorable bullpen. I have heard one fan say it was an “average” bullpen. They…
Right-hander Logan Boyer was selected by the Dodgers in the 11th round of the 2019 First-Year Player Draft out of San Diego State University. He was an interesting selection but fit the Dodgers pattern of trying to get what we might call a steal in the 11th round having signed the 10th rounder for a small signing bonus. He, in fact, signed for $297,500 which was $172,500 above the slot,…
We all have perfect 20/20 hindsight, but lest we forget, bullpens are not only built in the offseason but they are built during the season. To say that the bullpen almost blew the game last night would make you Mr. Obvious. Even Ray Charles can see that. The Dodgers are just going to have to suck it up for a few more days or weeks until pitchers and Bellinger become healthy. Oh, he might make a signing or two – Shane Greene comes to mind, but I would not expect anything major until at least July. This is not panic time – they are only 128 games left!
If you don’t laugh about it, you would probably cry, so I choose to laugh about the Dodgers woes. Some day, we will look back and say “Remember when we thought they were done?” During this 4-14 losing streak, the Dodgers have only have three problems: They can’t pitch; They can’t hit; and They can’t field. Last night, the fielding was OK, so the only problems were that they could…
Generally, LA Dodger Talk does not cover each game play-by-play… at least during the regular season. The reason why is that after a few games you have no idea how a team will hit, field, pitch, or how bad or good the bullpen will be. Oh, many fans think they know, but it is just their own necrotic (hopefully not psychotic) thinking. I can’t stop you from going insane after…
“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.”
A couple of weeks ago Jeff asked if I would do a brief write-up on two Dodger prospects – Nick Robertson and James Outman. I had previously profiled Robertson so that one was easy with an update. Today I took a look at Outman and found there was not a lot of detail available on him. I do remember him quite well in his time with the Great Lakes Loons…
A few weeks ago, in their zeal to break a story, several news outlets and Dodger blogs reported that the Great Lakes Loons were out as the Dodgers’ Low-A Affiliate and that Spokane would essentially take their place. It was even reported that Rancho Cucamonga would become the Low-A Affiliate while Spokane was to be the High-A Affiliate. This rumor may or may not have started with J.P. Hoornstra, but…
Late last week, I listened to a podcast on the state of MLB and MiLB from Baseball America’s Kyle Glazer and JJ Cooper. Baseball America has some of the best baseball journalists anywhere, and I have not yet found any baseball journalist who is more up on the subject of the state of MLB and MiLB than JJ Cooper. I try to read everything he publishes. The National Association of…