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. The “have” teams are getting filthy rich and they have a chance to win…
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 optimistic in general. I am a positive person! So, I have changed my opinion on the baseball season: “I…
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 elite. Just this week DodgerLover said the team needs to clear the deck for the next wave of prospect talent. Is there…
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, and Bobby Miller in the same context today. And to a lesser degree, Michael Busch, James Outman, Brandon Lewis, Landon Knack…Many…
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 turned out better with picks than the writers. One year I got 12 out of 50. Not bad, but there were…
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…