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…
The Dodgers have built an organization that has no limit to its “window of contention.” It’s actually a giant door that feels permanently wedged open, with the talent in the minors and the win-now, win-tomorrow-too mindset of the front office. But as always, there will be changes – there are changes every year. The Dodgers are still the odd-on-favorites to win it all in 2022. Just remember, it is very…
The Dodgers were in this same position last year. They were down 3-1 to the Braves and won three straight games. I was confident that they could do that… LAST YEAR! I do not think they can do it THIS YEAR! If you have a great team, The Whole Is Greater Than The Sum Of Its Parts. We have often heard that, but what does it really mean? The meaning…
First, to Badger. I love trade scenarios. I do not care how outlandish they are or how realistic they may be. I enjoy reading Bums trade proposals. I am not sure that I ever read one that was realistic, but they are fun. Bluto sometimes gives us scenarios from the baseballtradevalues.com site. They are fun for me. That is what blogs are for. Throw out ideas. To the best of…
Being no-hit in baseball is humbling, humiliating, embarrassing, and in this case, it is a wake-up-call! Bear was right yesterday, these are not the 2020 Dodgers. This version is different from last year. Gone are the “all-or-nothing” bats of Kike and Joc who have been replaced by McKinstry and Lux. That has not been a problem. The problems is that the team has gotten poor production from Betts, Seager and…
The cream is rising to top the top. The Catman is back, albeit, quite rusty, but his velocity was fine. Phil Bickford is settling in as a nice piece in the bullpen. Cody Bellinger is trying to regain his stroke as is AJ Pollock, after stints on the DL. Zach McKinstry is back and making an impact. But maybe the biggest news is that Mookie Betts is coming out of…
Going into last night’s game, Clayton Kershaw had the highest ERA I can remember at this juncture. His ERA was 3.33 before the game and 3.66 after he gave up 5 ER. However, his WHIP sits at 1.01 which is barely above his career average of 1.00. He is now 33 years-old and has started 369 games and pitched 2,403 innings with 2,603 strikeouts. He has 77 strikeouts in about…
While I’m at it, let’s talk about Friedman for a bit. Where’s that vaunted depth I’ve heard so much about? Anybody with just a little bit of baseball knowledge could have seen that Dustin May would go down for the year, Gonsolin would miss significant time and that your number one prospect, Josiah Gray would get injured. Now’s the time to see that depth.
There is a lot to unpack about last night’s game, but to blame Dave Roberts for putting in his closer in the 10th inning is just plain silly. If Blake Treinen did his job, Kenley would not have been needed in the 10th. Before last night’s game, Kenley Jansen had given up 1 run and 2 hits in his 11 appearances in May! Even after last night’s debacle, his ERA…
Well, the Dodgers lost last night – for the first time in 10 games – and of course, someone must be blamed. “Dave Roberts should have never started Trevor Bauer” is a theme that seems popular today. Second-guessers are never wrong! However, I guarantee the decision to start Bauer was done by “committee.” The Dodgers front office sends Dave Roberts all types of data about everything related to the game…