78 posts
I have always wondered about the predictability of having a closer and why teams have simply gone in the direction of having a 9 th inning man, no matter what the situation was. If you really think about it, throwing that “stopper” out there for the final three outs night after…
The last Dodger no-hitter was a combined effort by Buehler, Tony Cingrani, Yimi Garcia and Adam Liberatore against the Padres in Mexico City, Mexico on May 4, 2018. It was the first combined no hitter in team history, and it was also the first no hitter thrown outside of the…
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
As was discussed quite a bit earlier in the week, the Dodgers have a very prolific MiLB system even as far down the draft they have been picking from because of the continued success of the ML team. That is true when also taking into consideration a few of the early draft pick busts they currently have. 2015: 1 – Walker Buehler – Starting rotation 1b – Kyle Funkhouser –
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.
●Mercifully, the winter meetings are over. Lot’s of questions unanswered, but the main one for me is: Now what? As I wrote few weeks back, keep her steady as she goes. Also, remember, it was December 21, 2018, when the Dodgers surprised us with the Kyle Farmer trade. There’s lots of time between now and the start of spring training. ● It looks like Pedro Moura, of the Athletic, was
Well, the horse is dead and I won t beat it (very long), but I think Andrew Freidman made a mistake in letting Yimi Garcia walk when he could have been signed for about $1.1 million and if he was going to let him go, why didn t he do it two weeks ago and put Jordon Sheffield on the 40-man? I know that that AF is not perfect, but this move
Bill Veeck, Charlie Finley, George Steinbrenner were examples of owners that were bigger than life and wanted nothing more than to win (and put on a show). Walter O’Malley was cut from the same cloth. Peter was more of a pragmatic businessman who knew he could not spend to stay in the game, and got out. None of those early owners would let MLB tell them how to spend their
• Admittedly, the constant banter about trade speculation and the wait for free agents to sign can be very wearying for me . . . Frankly, I can’t wait for the winter meetings to start. My baseball life was so slow this week, that I actually found myself spending some rather depressing time thinking about the Dodger signing Andrew Jones, Jason Schmidt, and Darryl Strawberry. Oh my! Please, please, please,
If in response to the above question, you said Not Much! I will say you may or may not be right. See, indecision may or may not be part of my problem, and no one knows what a bullpen guy will do from year-to-year, but I will say that you cannot look at the past and predict what a bullpen pitcher will do in the future. You can guess even
With the addition of DJ Peters (OF), Mitchell White (RHP), and Zach McKinstry (Utility), the 40 man roster is set. We can all debate as to who we think would have been a better choice to be protected, but I have no quarrel with who was ultimately protected. AF could have influenced by a number of calls for a specific prospect or lack of calls for a specific prospect to
BRAVES AND THE PEN: Braves have now signed 3 pitchers who will serve as late inning high leverage relievers. On Monday they signed Chris Martin to a two year $14MM contract after signing Will Smith to a three year $40MM deal. Earlier this month, they signed Darren O’Day to a one year $2.25MM contract. They also have Mark Melancon in the final year of his four year $62MM contract. Thus
In case you have forgotten, the 2019 LA Dodgers are a young team (overall), with a very deep and very god farm system and accomplished the following: Most Wins in LA Dodger History 106 Best Team ERA in MLB Yes, it has been 32 years since the Dodgers have won the Worl Series. Yes, 2019 was a bitter pill to swallow. Yes, it is way past time for the
I think it s time to debunk some myths that have been propounded since the Debacle of Game 5 (That s what I call it). In the interest of full disclosure, I called for Dave Roberts firing and still would fire him, but some of what you all believe about him is incorrect and I m here to debunk it among other things. By the way: I can still live with Doc and
The State of the Bullpen… and Dodger Pitching In the month of September of teams that are likely candidates to play the Dodgers in the 2019 Fall Classic, here is how they compare in bullpen ERA since September 1st: Dodgers 3.28 Astros 3.47 Yankees 3.81 HR per 9 Innings Dodgers .95 Astros 1.52 Yankees 1.59 BABIP Batting Average Balls in-Play Dodgers .242
1. Kenley Jansen is Fixed False. With his 8th Blown Save last night, he again demonstrated that he was lacking command and in order to get a strike, he throws some very hittable pitches. I was against the re-signing of Kenley Jansen and this is why. Big contracts to relief pitchers seldom pan out, but here we are and the Dodgers have to make do with what they have and
“What we do see depends mainly on what we look for. In the same field the farmer will notice the crop, the geologists the fossils, botanists the flowers, artists the colouring, sportmen the cover for the game. Though we may all look at the same things, it does not all follow that we should see them.” ― John Lubbock, The Beauties of Nature and the Wonders of the World We Live
Kenley Jansen has blown six saves and broken Dodger fans hearts more than that this year. We can analyze until we are paralyzed but in essence, his problem has been the overuse of his cutter, which is still good, but maybe not as good as it used to be. It s also likely that the advanced hitting coaches are helping hitters key in on what he is throwing. Most Dodger fans
We often take a look at minor league players who have never been considered as can’t miss players. Some are very late round draft picks that creep up on the minor league ranks. DC and I have mentioned Zach McKinstry quite a bit this season. Zach was a 33rd round draft Pick (2016) out of that baseball hotbed Central Michigan University. He has continually charged up the organizational ladder and
Jedd Gyorko will likely make his Dodger debut this weekend in the ATL. In case you don t know, he plays every infield position and has logged one game in LF and two at pitcher. At 5 10 and 215 pounds he is best suited for 2B or 3B. At best, he is a utilityman and I am sure the Dodgers hope he is someone who could benefit from the Robert
Joe Kelly was a trainwreck early in the season, but when I last checked, he was pretty good. The Dodgers plan when they signed him was to change his grip and smooth out his mechanics. In case you have been hiding under a rock, it did not work very well at least for a while. But, it s how you end up that counts. They say that good things come to
It seems to me that most Dodger fans believe that the only thing standing between a World Championship Trophy and the LA Dodgers are a couple of relief pitchers. Some say one, some say two, some say three. They often use the example of the 2016 Cubs who went out and got Aroldis Chapman from the Yankees as a two-month rental. The narrative is that Chapman was the missing piece
I stole that from Jon Weisman (I steal most of my original material) I hope he doesn t sue me, but it seemed appropriate for today s Rants and Raves: How many teams have an All-Star RF, who is also a Gold Glove 1B, end the game in CF for defensive reasons? That s what makes him take the place of Mike Trout as the games best player (other than the fact
Some Dodger fans are up in arms that the Dodgers have moved Joc Pederson to 1B in the middle of the season, of all things! He has had flashes of good, but mostly he looks like he has never played there before (he hasn t). The early results have not been great. The Dodgers knew that and were/are prepared to ride through the storm. It makes sense to me for several
Why does Doc keep running some players out there over and over? Some of you are wondering that. Why Kike, why CT3 and why Barnes? Some of you think he s just rolling them out there for the heck of it because you know they can t hit. I believe some think Doc is just blowing a game they should have won. Let me remind you that the Dodgers have the best
Mark and I don’t always agree on everything Blue, although I think we are pretty consistent from a Macro view. But when it comes to the bullpen, Mark and I just do not see eye to eye. I have been a relief pitcher wonk since 1959 and Larry Sherry. Clem Labine would have been my favorite Dodger in the mid 50’s. I am not going to go through the history
So, this is not meant to be contentious, but rather, an exchange of ideas. Yesterday, AC said this: I absolutely agree with Mark that AF will not overpay for anyone. Where Mark and I disagree, is that I believe that to AF it is especially true with relievers. Ummm, Jeff, I mean AC, I agree. 100%. I totally agree that it is especially true with relievers. However, where we may
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
Interesting topic on who goes and who stays when Cingrani comes back. Cingrani has pitched in three rehab games (1 with RC, and 2 with OKC). He had three days between his first game and second and dropped it down to 2 games between games 2 and 3. He still needs to show he can go back to back. May 4 – 16 pitches/10 strikes May 7 – 20 pitches/11
As the game started last night, my wife walked by my office (that s where I watch the games) and asked who was pitching for the Dodgers, I told her that I was watching Rich Hill and the Dodgers get shutout by Patrick Corbin. She said, Well that s negative, think positive. To which I replied, OK, I m positive Corbin is going to shutout the Dodgers. If you look at the stats,
