104 posts
Bluntly stated: “ If you have one of the best farm systems in baseball, it is Felony Stupid to waste it. ” We have repeatedly seen that buying expensive free agents is no guarantee of anything. Baseball executives are becoming painfully aware that youth and energy, and…
Medwick OF Brooklyn Joseph Michael Medwick was born on November 24, 1911, in Carteret, New Jersey. He was the 4th child of Joesph and Elizabeth Medwick. He was of Hungarian decent. His parents immigrated to the US in 1893. His obituary stated that he was a four-sport star in…
Well, it is no battle. That just sounded intimidating. So, yesterday, I wanted to see what fans thought about the Kershaw – Koufax debate… and it pretty much went the way I believed. However, yesterday I deliberately withheld some evidence that may or may not change your minds…
That was a nice sweep of the Cubbies, but you have to consider that they are not a very good team and they are also young and not very sharp in the fundamentals. Still, the Dodgers should have swept them… and they did! In case you haven’t been paying attention, the Dodgers have…
Suddenly, the Giants are four games behind the Dodgers, who are tied with the Yankees for the best record in baseball. They both have a .720 winning percentage, but the Dodgers lead all of baseball in runs scored per game with 5.08. To me, that is an amazing statistic in light…
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…
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
I thought it might be fun to look back to 2017 and what Keith Law had to say about some Former Dodger Players. I like Keith Law a lot. He has a lot of insight into prospects but he is not perfect. If he was, someone would be paying him $50 million dollars a year. Jose De Leon Born in Puerto Rico but drafted in the 24th round out of
Yesterday Badger brought up an article as to who got voted the dumbest motherf* $#$@ in the history of baseball. It was a very interesting topic and brought a lively discussion. I have no idea if there is a perceived difference between dumb and stupid, but for this exercise, I am considering that the authors meant stupid. The definition of dumb is …”temporarily unable or unwilling to speak”, and I seriously
Abbreviated Spring Time Random Thoughts by 2Demeter2 (aka/Rowan) I was hoping to finish my article on Alanna Rizzo this week, but I have been down and out with the flu and a cold for the past 4 days, feeling rather punkish. So that article will have to wait for another day. On the other hand, one of the “benefits” of being down and out was that I got to
It is time for a little Devil’s Advocacy. I have been an unapologetic fan of Andrew Friedman and what he has accomplished, and just as critical as to what he has NOT accomplished. I was critical when AF did not beat out the Astros offer for Gerrit Cole before the 2018 season. The Astros traded a #5 SP in Joe Musgrove, a decent but unceremonious 3B, Colin Moran, a RHRP
So many of us have been looking at FA possibilities and trade possibilities that most have not paid any attention to the first date that will impact the 2020 Dodgers roster. The 40 man roster needs to be set by November 20, 2019 with all Rule 5 eligible prospects protected. The actual Rule 5 draft will take place on Thursday, December 12, 2019. That gives AF and his staff less
Frankly, I am a person who believes that conventional wisdom is usually wrong. That leads me to look at things some people don t notice and see things that they don t. It s not a science more of an art that has to be continually refined. When many investors are buying, I may be selling and when they are selling, I am looking to buy. Like anyone, I am not always right,
I love the movie, Legends of the Fall and so with the kickoff of the Arizona Fall League, I always use this as an excuse to play this Ending Scene from the movie: The Arizona Fall League begins play this year on September 18, and there are a plethora of Top Prospects invited to play. Here is the Dodger list so far (it could be added to) for the Glendale
This is AF’s 5th full year, and hopefully he will continue for several more years. He is human so he is prone to making mistakes, but never has he made an error without a very good reason for making a change. Most of us may not have understood the decisions, but they were always made to help the team. And I recognize and appreciate that it was a rhetorical statement,
I have been working on about ten different ideas for what to write, and none of them came to a cohesive blog post. Maybe this one will not as well. There has been a lot of speculation as to who the Dodgers may trade for and who they may be required to include in a trade. It is a huge climb from AAA to MLB, and yet we are ready
Looking back today on the trade that brought Rich Hill and Josh Reddick to the Dodgers for Frankie Montas, Grant Holmes and Jherel Cotton, I thought it was a good bet at the time, but if Friedman had it to do over, he wouldn t. He wouldn t, not because it was bad deal, but he wouldn t because it did not win a Championship. Holmes may be toast and Jharel Cotton might
I have not been shy about stating how I feel about the bullpen. And I do understand that recognizing that there may be a problem and doing something about it can be and often is two different things. Maybe with the way the starting pitching is performing, this will become less of an issue, but I prefer to plan rather than to react. I have never disagreed with Mark about
If Alex Verdugo can throw a 98.4 MPH seed from LF to Home Plate to gun down a poor defenseless runner, he can probably throw 103 MPH off a mound. The Dodgers should immediately convert him back to a pitcher. Jim Callis and Mike Rosenbaum of MLB.com anointed Dennis Santana as the Dodgers future closer. However, AC and I did that a year ago. He s the Dodgers future closer unless
The strength of the Farm system is unquestionably the pitching. It is not even close. The breakdown of the MLB Pipeline Top 30 prospects is: 12 RHP 2 – LHP 4 Catchers 5 – SS/2B 4 – 3B/1B 3 – OF Baseball America pretty much resembles MLB Pipeline’s prospect list except BA includes reliever Josh Sborz, and OF Carlos Rincon, replacing Braydon Fisher, Marshall Kasowski, and Leonel Valera .
I drove down to LA this weekend to visit a very close family friend and sharing in his surprise 75th birthday. At the hotel, I turned on the TV only to see SportsNet LA and watched Access Dodgers. I do miss LA for Dodger TV and Dodger Talk Radio. One comment I heard from Pedro Moura was that the Dodgers are not flashy and have a ton of depth but
As we are winding down to less than 2 weeks before pitchers and catchers report, I was having a tough time trying to find a single topic to write a novel on. So I am going to just give some of my thoughts on a few topics. 1. Yes, Stan Kasten stuck his massive foot square in his mouth at the FanFest, and for no good reason. I am by
As I mentioned yesterday, the Dodgers have been #1 in MLB in ERA and WHIP over the past two years. I see no reason why that trend won t continue. In fact, I agree with Rick Honeycutt that the pitching can get even better in 2019. First of all, the Dodgers have a glut of starting pitchers, but two of them will likely be gone after this season, namely Rich Hill
If were are under the illusion that Bryce Harper was coming to the Dodgers, then you are likely to be asking that question and it s possible anything I say will not satisfy you. I was not a fan of getting AJ Pollock and really wanted Nick Castellanos, but Castellanos was going to cost several players I have no clue exactly who. It s not that Friedman won t trade prospects
Well we have played GM long enough, and yet they still will not listen to us. Now it is time to play Director of Player Development A couple of weeks back there was a blog that posed the challenge to name the starting rotation for the OKC Dodgers. Never let it be said that I would not accept such a challenge and I of course gave me 2 cents worth.
I think some GM s think that they have Andrew Friedman over the proverbial barrel since he has already moved three key players off the Dodgers roster. Right about now everyone is trying to sell high and buy low and there s not a lot happening, all over the hot stove league. But, if you think Friedman traded four players for the privilege of overpaying for others, you are smoking some really
With apologies to the late great David Bowie. I continue to read about all the possible changes coming to the Dodgers, and I have zero comfort that any one of them will ever transpire more than another. I do believe that there will be at least one significant change, maybe more, which is why the negative comments on the Reds trade are curious, unless it gives those who just do
Well we are now in December, less than one week away from the Winter Meeting, and the Dodgers have Kevin Quackenbush and Adam McCreery. So, I guess the Dodgers are all set. Andrew Co. addressed the bullpen, what else can anyone else want? I have been scouring the internet to catch word that the Dodgers pulled off a trade for JT Realmuto or Corey Kluber. Or if Andrew
I am sitting continuing to try to understand how the Board of Trustees and the AD at USC have chosen to retain perhaps the most over his head coach in all of NCAA Football, Clay Helton. Rudy mentioned that both Westwood and South Bend are cheering loudly, but my radar has all of the Pac 12 and South Bend laughing at this. Oh well, enough pity party for me. It’s
I was going to write about who I thought the three top potential GM candidates might be…Josh Byrnes, Kim Ng, and Chaim Bloom. My money was on Chaim Bloom, Rays Senior VP Baseball Operations. For those who may want to know a little more about Chaim…
