Friedman’s Failures & the Lizard Brain

September 14, 2022

If you ain’t failing… you ain’t trying! Well, Andrew Friedman has failed a lot! It all started with Brett Anderson, Scott Kazmir, and Brandon McCarthy. Maybe they weren’t an absolute failure – maybe they were a “bridge,” but most people view it as a failure. He tried… Good on Andrew. Seth Godin (one of my favorite writers) writes about the “Lizard Brain. Some people call it the “resistance.” Seth Godin…

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Why Kenley Jansen is a Brave and Kimbrel is a Dodger… and AJ Isn’t!

April 5, 2022

According to numerous MLB sources who are all pretty credible, the Dodgers wanted to re-sign Kenley Janson. However, some fans want to believe otherwise. I will be the first to tell you that every report from an “insider” is suspect and not to be taken to the bank, but when I hear from Kenley Jansen that the Dodgers did want to re-sign him, then I take that as gospel. You…

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End of an Era?

November 8, 2021

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…

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Just Sitting in the Outfield Sun… Wasting Time

March 23, 2021

Spring Training stats can be so deceiving: Last week Garrett Cleavinger was the flavor of the week, an almost certain lock to make the team. Sunday, maybe not so much. Last week, it appeared that Dennis Santana had pitched his way off the opening roster. Sunday, he sort of, kind of, maybe, redeemed himself. But then again, “it’s spring and the statistics don’t matter!”

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It’s Time to Break Up the Dodgers!

March 21, 2021

We have all been talking about the Dodgers’ depth for some time now. The national media has touted that this is the deepest organization in baseball. One announcer said that if you split to team up into two teams that they would still be formidable. So, let’s play a little “Fantasy Baseball.” I thought it might be fun to “break up the Dodgers” into two teams and see how each…

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What a Week…

January 30, 2020

Since my wife and I started US Systems in our garage 18 years ago, we have never both been able to be gone for more than 4 or 5 days due to the demands of it. However, in the past two years, we have hired 5 vice-presidents in Sales, Finance, Marketing, Engineering, and Operations from the corporate world. This is the first time we have been able to be gone…

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The Mookie and Price Dilemma

January 6, 2020

I know that many are afraid of a Betts/Price trade because of the financial concerns for David Price, and I can understand that.  So I went back and looked at the Nick Punto trade (I know Mark’s favorite subject); a previous time when the Dodgers assumed a huge financial obligation for a perceived benefit.  I pulled the below article: https://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2018/3/29/17104518/gonzalez-beckett-crawford-red-sox-dodgers-trade-retrospective One of the lines that caught my eye was when…

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2015-2016 Winter FA Revisited

December 19, 2019

Earlier in the week, I read an article from Dodgers Nation on the perceived struggles the Dodgers seem to have with signing elite free agents.  There is no real answer, but a lot of potential scenarios.  And then there was a comment during the week,  “If the Dodgers do nothing much at all, is that good, are we glad that they chose not to try to improve the team, while…

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What Does The Future Hold?

March 2, 2019

Well, I was going to continue with my analysis of the NL West competition, but I thought that I would comment on the this past week and what the future may hold. Most Dodger fans got caught up in all of the Bryce Harper sweepstakes (including me), but as many of us said at the beginning of the Hot Stove League, a long term deal for Bryce Harper is not…

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