281 posts
I am not a Manfred Man (see what I did there? Not everyone will get that…), but this delay of the baseball season is not on Rob Manfred. It’s on his bosses. He takes his marching orders from them – he does not tell them what to do. Baseball has a huge problem with its ownership…
I told my wife yesterday that the players rejected the owner’s offer and that there was going to be NO BASEBALL SEASON this year. She said: “Honey, that’s negative, think positive!” so, I thought about it for a while and realized that I am a “glass half full person.” I am…
I continue to read about the sensational LAD prospects. Mark has the Dodgers as a top 10 MiLB organization while no major publication does. After the loss of Keibert Ruiz and Jo Jo Gray, the publications dropped them to mid-level (around 15). Certainly not bad, but also not…
Much has been written about the slow start of Gavin Lux’s MLB career. Mostly by impatient fans. Fans get excited about players when they read stat pages, and claim them to be a can’t miss player. Many are now talking about Andy Pages, Eddys Leonard, Miguel Vargas, Ryan Pepiot…
Well, let the bidding begin. A number of publications have put out their top 50 Free Agents list. MLBTR is one of my favorites to follow. They are no better with their prognostications than are any other publication. They run contests every year, and many of the readers have…
Agony and anticipation. That is what the winter meetings have always felt like for me. I am pretty sure many others feel the same. It has been more that way since the advent of free agency. Back in the day when players got no more than a one year deal and were tied to their teams by the reserve clause. For you youngins, that means that the team that signed
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
Walker Buehler, Clayton Kershaw, David Price, Julio Urias, Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin, Josiah Gray. It sure seems like the Dodgers are loaded with starting pitching. But are they? Outside of Walker Buehler, which of the above pitchers is a lock to being a top of the rotation starting pitcher. Clayton Kershaw? Sure fire HOF pitcher, and should end his career as a Dodger. There is no question in my mind
While reviewing the list of LAD pitchers, the Dodgers have 66 pitchers currently in their organization. Per Fangraph’s Roster Resource the breakdown is as follows: MLB Starting Pitchers (5) MLB Relief Pitchers (9) MiLB Starting Pitchers (34) – 9 Rule 5 Eligible MiLB Relief Pitchers (18) – 13 Rule 5 Eligible With the pending MiLB contraction, those numbers are obviously going to decrease. Many of these pitchers are organizational depth,
The Hot Stove League is always fun for us armchair GMs, allowing us to look at ways of improving a reigning World Series championship team. Not just a WS championship team, but THE consensus choice of the best team in MLB for 2020. But changes must be made. Nothing can stay at the top by being stagnant. Changes can come internally or externally. AF is a master as to building
CLAYTON KERSHAW GETS HIS RING!!! We can put the Kirk Gibson HR and the Orel Hershiser team celebration into the Smithsonian, because we have new LA Dodgers World Series heroes. It took the 3rd time in 4 years for the Dodgers to finally cross the Championship line. Mookie proves to be a difference maker not only for the game but for a World Series Championship team. Corey Seager ends a
Just like every other fan, I have my favorites. I believe I have been more than obvious that Corey Seager has been my favorite Dodger since he was drafted. I also have jerseys for current Dodgers, Kershaw, Buehler, Bellinger, Turner, and Wood. I love the stars, but I am also partial to those who are more role players and not top of the rotation pitchers. The angst I feel with
As Mark is prone to do, he has laid down the gauntlet. If you don’t bow down to Doc and AF you need a STUPID tattoo? I have supported both gentleman for the most part, but while I would have difficulty blaming AF too much (because of lack of insider knowledge), certainly Doc has opened himself up to scrutiny. Let’s start with AF. The Dodgers lost 2 healthy mid-rotation starting
One of the better mid-season trades that the Dodgers ever made was acquiring Reggie Smith from the Cardinals for Freddie Tisdale, Bob Detherage and Joe Ferguson in June 1976. While many Dodger fans were heartbroken to see Tisdale leave the Dodger family, getting Smith more than made up for that loss. After joining the Dodgers, Smith hit .280 with 10 homers and 26 RBI in the 65 games following the
I have been a baseball and Dodger fan for slightly more than 60 years. My love for baseball was immediate, and with the Dodgers, it was love at first sight. In that sixty years, I have listened to or watched roughly 7,500 Dodger games. I have also watched and coached countless youth ball and high school baseball games. I have also had the pleasure of watching my sons participate in
Sorry for the delay in getting this posted. I already had my article queued up and ready for publish before last night s come from behind walk off win. Zac Gallen is going to be a superstar in this game and he just shut the Dodgers down. But the 2020 Dodgers are relentless and have no quit. I think that is a tribute to Mookie, just as 1988 was a tribute
Tough night for the Dodgers on Jackie Robinson night. The team got in late from San Francisco and did not look ready to play. These games happen. Forget about it, get some sleep, and come back tomorrow. It would be easy to pick apart the game, but no team can play on all cylinders each and every game. The Dodgers started out well enough with a pair of singles by
As was discussed quite a bit earlier in the week, the Dodgers have a very prolific MiLB system even as far down the draft they have been picking from because of the continued success of the ML team. That is true when also taking into consideration a few of the early draft pick busts they currently have. 2015: 1 – Walker Buehler – Starting rotation 1b – Kyle Funkhouser –
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’m writing this on Friday morning, basking in the joy of the Dodgers 11-2 thumping of the Padres and thought I would share some random thoughts from my recliner: ● Until last night’s game, this year’s Dodgers just haven’t been as fun for me to watch as teams in the past. In “summer camp” it looked as if though they would be invincible. Once the season started though, and even
Mookie has a 4-4 night with 3 HRs and 5 RBIs, and a HBP. His OPS is now sitting at 1.074. Anyone watching the game realizes that Mookie’s 3 HR night ties him with Johnny Mize and Sammy Sosa for the most 3 HR games in a career. I am going to go out on a limb and say that before his career is over, he will have that record
I was not sure how I was going to write my column for Monday. It was looking ugly for a while, but with a pair of 3-run HRs by AJ Pollock and Mookie Betts, the Dodgers turned a potential disaster into a win. Typical Dodger win with the long ball. In the three game series, the Dodgers scored 17 runs, 14 of them directly from seven HRs. I know that
First observation, this is a much different game for the Dodgers without Mookie Betts. They are still talented enough to win, but he sure does make it much easier. Seager and Betts seem to have been carrying the team on this trip, and the spark just seems to have gone out without Mookie. The pitching matchup for Tuesday night was the one expected for Monday. Two of the brightest MLB
Except for one bad pitch, the Dodgers have been outstanding on this current road trip. They are currently 5-1 on the trip, with three to go in SD. I am not sure that home and away mean that much in 2020, except do like the last AB for a potential comeback. But there certainly is no fan reaction to build momentum upon. The team is currently 7-3, and on pace
I have an article pending on Bullet Joe Rogan, one of the all-time great players in the Negro Leagues. Because of Bear’s wonderful articles on Zack Wheat and his journey with baseball, I thought I would put that off a few days, and just share some random thoughts on an already weird season: ● You know that we’re in the full swing baseball, when the Doc criticisms start in earnest.
Yes, I am thrilled that we have baseball again. And I am just as sure that the Dodgers are going to win this year. I am not much of a gambler, but I dropped a few dollars on the Dodgers winning the 2020 WS. But I have a tough time getting excited about beating a team like the Giants who have very little, if any, chance of making the playoffs.
Before we start the season, let me say that I am extremely excited that Mookie Betts will end his career (probably) in Dodger Blue. Unlike many of you, I am not surprised. We all know how much Andrew Friedman loves his top prospects and he simply was not going to part with three top prospects (including Tony Gwynn-esque, Alex Verdugo) for a rental. Do the math! I think Alex Verdugo
Intrasquad games and the exhibition season has come to an end. The results have been generally positive. The offense seems to be working on all cylinders. They are working the count, fouling off pitches, and attacking mistakes. During these games, they have shown they CAN BE a good two strike hitting team. They are going the other way with so much consistency that it is not a mistake. Some are
We have all heard about the Dodgers and their best in MLB history run of 60 games in 2017 with a 51-9 record. They also pulled off a 42-8 record in a 50 game stretch in 2013 before going 47-13 in 60 games. Both of those runs came later in the season. But how have they done in their first 60 games? Using their 7 year top NL West run
With a raucous sellout crowd pulsating throughout the stadium last night, Joc went head to head against Vlad Jr in a remake of the classic 2019 HR Derby. This time Joc bested the young Blue Jays slugger and won the 2020 Home Run Derby at Dodger Stadium. This was on a night that followed a Josiah Gray masterpiece who went 2 innings striking out all six batters he faced in
