Paul DePodesta once said “If it can’t be quantified, it’s not important!” I am sure that is part of the reason why he in no longer in baseball. He is now the stat guru for the Cleveland Browns. In the book Moneyball, in which DePo was one of the characters, you also heard that he did not value defense very much. I guess that’s why he is so comfortable in Cleveland…
Only a moron would try and predict what the Opening Day roster will look like this early in the Spring. It’s way too early. There will be injuries – there always are; There will b e surprises – there always are! That is why W.A.G. Predictions are so inaccurate. In fact, you likely have to be a moron to even hazard a guess, so here goes: Starters Grandal -C Gonzalez …
I’m talking about the Dodgers 2017 starting rotation. Much has been written about the staff and many fans assume that guys like Scott Kazmir, Brandon McCarthy and Hyun-Jin Ryu, who have extensive injury histories will just be injured again… and they may be right, but I happen to feel the odds are against that. Then again, the odds were against the Dodgers having more injuries than a Chicago Emergency…
I have been telling you a few things over the Winter: Julio Urias is going to have a breakout year; Yasmani Grandal will come close to 40 HR; Willie Calhoun won’t play 2B due to horrible defense and lock of foot speed; Among Ryu, McCarthy and Kazmir, at least two will be contributors; and Cody Bellinger is ready. Former GM, Jim Bowden also has some bold predictions going into Spring…
In case you don’t know, FAZ stands for Friedman, Anthopoulos and Zaidi – the three-headed monster (or braintrust) that ultimately makes the Dodgers deals. I have never been a great fan of sabermetrics, nor am I a fan of platoons, but FAZ is a huge fan of platoon splits… and I know why. I get it – it just doesn’t mean I like it. As most of you know, I…
Dodger fans have been lamenting the fact that Dodger starting pitchers (not named Clayton Kershaw) are not pitching deep into games. I have listened to this so much it makes me want to puke. 200 innings used to be the landmark by which starting pitchers were judged. Shoot, in 1963, Don Drysdale pitched 315 innings and Sandy Koufax pitched 311 innings. Johnny Podres pitched 198 innings and between the three…
What goes around, comes around, so that is why a team’s starting pitchers are called “a rotation?” Get it… Rotation? I say… Rotation… Son, Rotation? OK – I’ll stop. In 2016, the Dodgers used 109 different starting pitchers… well, that may be only a slight exaggeration, but they used a lot. At one point last year, the Dodgers had seven (count ’em 7) starting pitchers on the disabled list at…