35 posts
With Mark on the 10-day inactive list to attend to family business in Las Vegas (ever notice how these trips are never to Des Moines, Iowa or Wichita, Kansas?), Jeff (AC) was desperate for some assistance on the LADT writers roster. With his options limited, he had to resort to adding someone from the alternate training site, and had no choice but to call on me, the Zack Reks/Edwin Uceta
Much has been said and written about the Dodgers depth and how that makes them a very dangerous team. I do not think that there is a question (at least not for me), that the premier builder of the 40 man roster is Andrew Friedman. During his tenure, over the last five years in a 162 game season, the Dodgers have 485 wins, more than any other team in MLB.
There have been a lot of speculative discussions on a potential trade for Baltimore SS Manny Machado. Bumsrap referred to a May 4, 2018 article from an Orioles fan’s point of view. If I am going to trade for a rental, it can only include players that are replaceable by others in the organization. Alex Verdugo, Mitchell White, and Jeren Kendall are all replaceable, but not Gavin Lux. If the Orioles
Currently, AA is where most of the top prospects reside. Although still relatively young, some of the current roster will absolutely play at the ML level, but outside of Keibert Ruiz, none project to be perennial AS. There could be some AS performances from some of the higher rated players, but they all have questions that will need to be answered. Keibert Ruiz The second of two likely
I frequently hear this: This is the same Dodger Team as Last Year. The Dodgers are standing pat. I guess some people think that if they say it enough, it will become true. If that s the case, keep repeating over-and-over that you are Brad Pitt. Poof, it will happen! READ THIS SLOWLY: This is not the SAME team as last year. Is it better? I don t know . MAYBE. Maybe not,
Moment-by-moment, memory-by-memory, the Dodgers have did it again! Dodger Broadcaster, Joe Davis Joe has made it a lot easier not to miss Vin he s not Vin, but in case you haven t listened to the stiffs and homers other teams use, he is near the top of play-by-play baseball announcers. What a comeback and what a way to kill a snake! Now, back to the things at Hand! If the
Think about that for a minute. There s a lot we don t know and some of it is stuff that we know we don t know. We know the Cubs are struggling and need a couple of starting pitchers and maybe a veteran catcher, They have some pieces to trade, but they are also sitting on a really bad contract belonging to Jason Heyward. We know they have some good young prospects
Thursday night’s game was the official half way point in the season. So I thought it was an opportune time to look at what is right, or what is wrong, what can be fixed, or what doesn’t need fixing. With Thursday night s win, the Dodgers are 53-28. That is a projected win total of 106. They will win 94 even if they go 41-40 the rest of the way. The
It s fun to sit around and play GM at times. We can make trades without compunction for Matt Kemp, Marcel Ozuna and about any other player on the planet. In reality, almost none of those trades ever happen. I probably suggest more trades than anyone and I cannot remember a single one that was ever made. I guarantee you that Farhan Zaidi and Andrew Friedman have been working the phones
In his first game back from the DL last night, Rich Hill pitched 5 innings and allowed 6 hits while walking no one. He gave up one run and his ERA sits at 2.77. Some fans, like to criticize Hill because it means their irrational hatred of Andrew Friedman is somehow justified in their small minds. They criticized his rehab starts in RC because he walked a few batters because
Ryu gets tattooed and now there is a problem with the starting pitching? I do not consider Ryu anything more than a #7 on this team. I have no idea whether Ryu would have pitched better with regular rest or extended. Maybe his curve just does not work in Colorado. I have no delusions that Ryu will be anywhere close to the pitcher he was before his shoulder problems.
But, just who is that man? Currently, I do not think it is Andre Ethier (he may never be back), Adrian Gonzalez (another two weeks?), Logan Forsythe (at least a week away), Willie Calhoun (not ready), Scott Van Slyke (seriously?), O Koyea Dickson (sliding badly after great start), Brett Eibner (no), Trayce Thompson (needs another few weeks) or Alex Verdugo (Verdugo is holding his own at AAA, but with absolutely no
I usually wait until the next day before starting a new post, but I think Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi need to consider this RIGHT ABOUT NOW! It can t wait and I know they read this blog. I know it because they call me That Dumbass Timmons! Andrew Toles should be the starting CF. Game over! End of story. That s my story and I m sticking to it! Someone said he
I m a Big Picture guy. I am not very involved in the Day-to-Day aspects of my real business (except as necessary), but am focused on the Big Picture. I was intimately involved in building the business for 15 years, but growth demanded that I become the visionary, and not the Day-to-Day Manager. Besides, I am not nearly as good at the day-to-day stuff anyway. So, here s the way I work:
I said Two Week not Too Weak Takeaways! Yes, I know we lost yesterday Yawn! I have a hunch we will lose again this year. Yasiel Puig is starting to make me believe he is getting serious about this game. He is more focused than I have ever seen. It would have been nice to see him homer in the 9th, but this is reality. I ll take .326/ 4 HR/11
Those junkyard dogs were nowhere to be found yesterday! The Dodgers front office under Andrew Friedman has been linked to numerous players over the time he has been in charge. Cole Hamels, David Price, Aroldis Chapman, Ryan Braun and others have all allegedly been the subject of trade talks with FAZ, but no one pulled the trigger, although Chapman almost happened. If we are to believe the Fish Hacks, Ryan Braun
Five games into the season and the Dodgers are 3-2. There s really not much to go on, but we have seen some good things, some bad things and some ugly things. In baseball, it is all about Peaks and Valleys. Peaks and Valleys write that down! The Good 2.25 That s the Dodger s team ERA. They are among the best in baseball. The starters ERA is 2.93 and the
A few years ago, a blog called The Post Game was published with the picture I just posted on the cover page. There is no photo credit, but they evidently photoshopped it, so kudos to them. I hope they don t mind my using it. In the article they quoted Clayton Kershaw: It s funny that s a headline story World Series or bust, Kershaw told ThePostGame. I feel like every team
Well the Freeway Series has started and this gives FAZ one more chance to scout and decide if they want to pull the trigger on a Caleb Ferguson/Mitchell Hanson trade for Mike Trout. Sure it is silly and extreme, but it is only slightly more silly than some of the Cole Hamels trade proposals I read. It’s easy to sit back and look at results and say that was a
I m not a baseball professional, but Scott Kazmir s hip still tightens up and interferes with his delivery same as last year but his velocity is down. It sounds like that unless he fixes the hip there is going to be no hop on his fastball. I m not a doctor either, but it seems to me that if it can t be fixed, it s the end of the line for Mr .
Andre Ethier is most certainly going to start the season on the DL, but Andrew Toles Grand Salami yesterday iced his place on the team. I punched his ticket! It also doesn t hurt that he is hitting .348. I think this kid may have Wally Pipped Ethier. Next up is our utility infielder position. Chris Taylor has garnered a lot of attention with his Spring success in the Cactus League. He
Well I was about to write how having too much ML ready depth can be a negative. Then I learn that Andre Ethier is scheduled for a MRI for his back on Monday, and it shows once again how depth is a hallmark of a FAZ team. It would appear that with a scheduled MRI, that Ethier will not be ready for opening day. Therefore it certainly appears that Toles
The 2017 version of the LA Dodgers has nearly 40 players who have shown that they deserve to be on the Opening Day Roster, but many won t. I am not going to include Willie Calhoun, Alex Verdugo or Cody Bellinger because they will be ready soon enough, but I am talking about players who have demonstrated that they belong on the big league roster. I am not even considering Charlie
It s March 16th and Adrian Gonzalez will never play in the WBC again so there is that. He says Little League is ran better and he would be right it s mostly a joke! Julio Urias is pissed he s going to extended Spring Training and the Dodgers have more good players than they have positions. Life is good! Just to be clear, Urias is not going to the pen or
I started LA Dodger Talk over 16 years ago as a place where Dodger fans could come and share their hopes and dreams, tears and fears. Over time, it evolved into a site where no matter what I said, four or five people said the opposite just because. Yeah, just because! I even proved it by later taking the other side only to have them disagree again. That prompted me
Just so everyone is clear, I am a Willie Calhoun fan I would love to see him overcome the odds of being a slow runner and a bad fielder and become the opposite. I do not denigrate him because of his stature that is irrelevant! It s his fielding and running, and when I say he has tree-trunk legs, it means that they are huge and stay in one
Look, I am a big Positive Thinker. I believe that you get what you believe. A wise man once said: As you believe so it shall be done unto you. I have seen it work in my life (big time) , so I admire a guy like Willie Calhoun who is undersized and physically challenged in almost every aspect of the game of baseball except hitting! When it comes to hitting,
Yasiel Sierra: Of course, I did not see him pitch yesterday, but the announcers were impressed and so was Dave Roberts. They said he threw a heavy ball. His fastball is 97 and he has a heavy slider which he tended to use too much until the Dodgers told him he could not use it until he had two strikes. His problem has always been command. He was switched last
It s how you play the game. That s what Spring Training is about. Nevermind the record. How did they do? Kershaw was Kershaw Wood was not Good and I can t be ravin about Ravin. Fabio Castillo pitched well, but he is 28 years old and a career minor leaguer with a 32-50 record and a 4.50 ERA. Nothing to see here folks move along! Then again, this is baseball you never
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
