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,…