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…
October 27, 2020… After that unforgettable strikeout of Willy Adames by Julio Urias Almost four months to the day, the Dodgers are going to be taking the field in an actual baseball game, even if it is only a ST game. The Dodgers are starting 32 year old LHP, Mike Kickham. Kickham signed a MiLB contract on January 27. Lat year Kickham last year pitched for Boston, and pitched in…
Somebody made a point as to what the Padres transactions did for the psyche for the other teams. The Padres have now joined the Dodgers, Braves, probably Mets, and maybe the Nationals (with their pitching and Soto/Robles/Turner) to separate from the rest of the NL. Some team from the NL Central will get to the playoffs, because, well one of the teams has to. It is a rule. Because of…
There is always the debate as to whether prospects are meant to be held onto so as to build from within, or should they be used as prospect capital to acquire existing MLB stars. Of course, these trades need to be made at the peak of the prospect trade value in order to maximize the return. The Dodgers have had a perennial top 10 farm club since AF signed on…
The key thing that Andrew Friedman will not do is Panic! It’s time for countermoves but it’s not time to panic. Maybe “countermoves” is not the right term. Maybe the moves that Freidman will likely make would have been the same moves he makes anyway. I have no way of knowing. I am sure that David Price will be back and that makes the Dodgers better.
Editorial Comment – This post was written prior to the Blake Snell acquisition by the Padres. The longer this offseason goes without much movement, the more likely AF is going to get involved. The number of teams that want to jettison payroll is growing and is undoubtedly going to pique the interest of teams like LAD. While it will stress out fans who continually want to see something happen to…
On Tuesday, December 22, 2020, the Philadelphia Phillies hired Sam Fuld to be their General Manager, with no real experience in front office player personnel decision making. It is incredulous to me that an industry such as MLB can continue to operate in the manner they are currently operating. It is one thing to talk about Social Injustice as MLB continues to do, and then another thing to do something…
The financing of a baseball season is going under the microscope this offseason and potentially into next season. There is no question that MLB lost several billion in revenues. According to Forbes’ estimates from 2019, as gathered by the University of Michigan sports economist Rodney Fort, MLB teams made a total of $9.9 billion as follows: REVENUE (IN BILLIONS) UNDER… CATEGORY NORMAL SEASON HALF-SEASON W/O FANS* Gate receipts $2.84B $0.00B…
Most believed that the Reds were going to be a very dangerous Wild Card team to face because of their starting pitching. Trevor Bauer, Luis Castillo, and Sonny Gray. The Braves never had to face Gray as they dispatched the Reds in two. But it wasn’t easy. The Braves needed to go 13 innings before Freddie Freeman had a walk off single to beat the Reds 1-0. The Reds outhit…
The Dodgers will be entering the playoffs as the overwhelming favorite to capture their first World Series championship since 1988. They will start the playoffs as the best team in MLB; however, there have been more than a handful of Wild Card teams that have won the WS, and by definition they were not the best team in MLB for the season. But they were the best at the end. …