It's Now or Never!
The Oklahoma City Dodgers’ 4A Affiliate, the Los Angeles Dodgers, continued to be unable to get a clutch hit, even on a night when Cody Bellinger got two hits, including a 2-Run HR, again leading us to wonder for the 37th time this year “Is Cody Getting his MojoBack?” I would…
The Oklahoma City Dodgers’ 4A Affiliate, the Los Angeles Dodgers, continued to be unable to get a clutch hit, even on a night when Cody Bellinger got two hits, including a 2-Run HR, again leading us to wonder for the 37th time this year “Is Cody Getting his MojoBack?” I would rather not say! The Dodgers combined to strand 26 runners on base on a night when the hitting was worse than the TV announcing (which was atrocious).
Max Muncy looked good in his first game back and went from Mad Max to Bad Max. Justin Turner has become JustCan’t TurnonaFastball, and Eddy Alvarez can’t hit his weight. Bellinger is not doing well, but Muncy and JT are pure boat anchors right about now. I would call up Martin, Vargas, and Lamb from OKC. Turner and Muncy have to stop pulling the will over our eyes. JT should retire and Max should run with scissors. Enough already!
Lineup
- T. Turner SS
- Freeman 1B
- Vargas 3B
- Bellinger CF
- Smith C
- Lamb/Taylor LF
- Betts RF
- Martin DH
- Lux 2B
It can’t be any worse than what they have now. Unless Muncy has an injury, the Dodgers may have to DFA him and Justin Turner. It’s Time! Bellinger is OPS’ing almost 100 points higher than them and is a Plus Defender. There is still hope for Belli. Mookie has been either hot or frozen and Freddie is not Freddie… yet! The good news is that the pitching is fine. THat no one can jump out of a boat and ht water is maddening. Andrew Friedman may be forced to trade the Farm for a RH Hitter. Shoot, I’d take a lefty like Andrew Benintendi! He can hot lefties as well.
In case you have forgotten, it was I who recommended that the Dodgers sign Joc Pederson in the offseason. Right about now, Andrew needs to do something… even if it is wrong! Call up Lamb, Vargas, and Martin with a haste!
Future Dodgers Down on the Farm
OKLAHOMA CITY
- Jacob Amaya was in a protracted slump at Tulsa, so unexpectedly (for me), the Dodgers decided to promote him to OKC. Let me see if I have this right? A Slump = a Promotion? OK, so two nights ago, Amaya hit a Grand Slam, and then last night he was 3-5 with a 3-run home run! I guess the promotion was just what he needed. Go figure!
- Jamie Martin was 2-3 with 2 RBI and 3 runs scored.
- Miguel Vargas was also 2-4 with 2 BB and 2 RBI. He also stole his 7th base.
- Jake Lamb did not play last night due to a LHP starting the game, but I would think he will get the call pretty soon. In fact, the Dodgers could call up all four of the abovementioned players as the rest of the team cannot jump out of a boat and hit water!
Tulsa
- Tulsa scored 5 runs on just 5 hits as Clayton Beeter, Alec Gamboa, Jose Adams, and Gus Varland shut out Wichita.
Great Lakes
- The Loons scored 3 runs on 4 hits last night as Jose Ramos hit a 2-Run Homer. Kyle Hurt and Lael combined to throw a 2-Hit Shutout!
Rancho Cucamonga
- Rancho pitchers gave up 14 runs to Inland Empire last night and we will not speak of this again!
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Discussion (69)
Disagree, not disagreeable
No, we signed Bauer
Rendon to undergo season ending surgery. Good thing the Dodgers didn’t sign him.
Muncy still hitting cleanup is assassine. For that alone Robert should be canned immediately.
Not having CT3 and Lux bunt in the 9th with the win there for the taking was horrible management, especially for a team that is in a funk getting the key hit. Yet another win managed away by Roberts and his stubberness in playing for the big home run when small ball would have been enough.
I am all for calling up Lamb and Martin. Sent down Alvarez and put Muncy or JT on DL. This can not continue or the Dodgers will sind faster than the Titanic in the standings.
New lineup:
TT, ss
Martin, lf
Betts, rf
Freeman, 1b
Smith, c
Bellinger, cf
CT3, 3b
Lamb, DH
Lux, 2b
Play more aggressive, steal bases, take the extra base.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am going to protest the lousy play by not watching the game tonight. Considering the way they have been playing, I won’t be missing much.
Well, the one problem I have with Chris Taylor is his all or nothing approach. Swings from his heels. Honestly, I was hoping for a squeeze with the runner on third and a chance to win right there. For whatever reason, we have too many players strike out instead of putting the ball in play.
This is really frustrating team on the offensive side. Not all that great defensively. I hope Mookie’s injury is not another lingering one that will impact his season. Maybe somebody hits a reset switch and the offense explodes. It’s almost like a malaise hangs over the Dodgers when it comes to good at bats. Since this hasn’t been a short term thing, I’m beginning to wonder. Is JT done? I hope not, he’s one of my favorite Dodgers ever. Cody, just a guess, will get better. Max, I’m not so sure. At this point, it’s obvious the Dodgers offense was beyond overrated. No real depth except on paper.
Where does this end up? Yes, the Dodgers miss AJ Pollock. Maybe re-signing KJ and keeping Pollock may have made more sense. Honestly, something weird about that moment in time. Wait until we make a trade and dump some money. Then the trade for Craig Kimbrel. Was the money actually part of the equation? None of it made much sense. Maybe they just didn’t want KJ back.
When are they going to announce a final verdict on Trevor Bauer? Perhaps this is just the Bauer curse.
Hey, all those great hitting gurus can’t seem to reduce the Dodgers flair for striking out. Those mounting strikeouts are rally killers and run production flameouts.
Going to the games, this is a difficult team to watch. Sometimes past Dodger teams would go through a patch or two, but this almost seems to be a pattern.
A lot of people have the tendency to look forward as it pertains to the roster instead of focusing on this year. Why is it that people lose interest is a star studded team that’s always either in 1st place, or striking distance?
The Dodgers are in a funk right now, but they’re playing close to 500 ball. 4-6 in their last 10. A half game behind the Padres. Is the sky really falling? I think the Dodgers are doing their fans a disservice by dominating the last decade. Our fans are spoiled and entitled like this generation of millennials. They expect first place and a blowout from start to finish every year. They don’t seem to want to admit that the baseball season is a marathon. There will be ups and downs.
Look at it this way. If we could just win a few extra innings games, we would still be in 1st place. I think that has a lot more to do with Doc always making the wrong move in those situations. The problem is that you’re in a worse spot if you fire Doc mid season since Bob Geren is his “yes man” bench coach who should have been replaced already for a stronger personality. Look at the rest of the coaching staff. There’s no others with managerial qualities. It sure as hell won’t be RVS or Brant Brown and I can’t Dino Ebel or Clayton McCullough taking that role. Maybe Mark Prior, but that would leave a gaping hole at Pitching Coach, an area where they currently excel. We’re stuck with Doc for now, and by the season ends, he’ll have another NL West title and three more years on his new deal.
I think you got that lineup wrong. Martin is a very good defensive outfielder, he should be in LF. Lamb at 3B. Vargas at DH.
Doc’s record in extras is perfect! Perfectly futile. Tells you a lot about his skills as a manager.
Eddie Alvarez can’t hit his weight, but you’re gonna promote a bunch of guys that had similar stats in AAA? How’s that gonna work out?
I guess Max Muncy saw that Jose Ramirez left 3B vacant and thought he could beat the catcher to 3rd? Thought wrong.
Yesterday, Belli was the one that can’t be fixed, a day later it’s Max and JT. What a difference a day makes.
Amaya went from crap to a 1.086 OPS overnight. Way to go Jake! We’re rooting you on.
I would really love to see Jason Martin get a shot. He’s such a great kid and I watched him play quite a bit as a teenager. Another good local kid. Just put him in LF and leave him there. CT3 can play 3B and JT and Max can split time at DH until they improve.
Max crushed a couple of balls last night with nothing to show for them. Maybe he’s about to break out. Maybe his bat is just bit slower because of the elbow.
I’ve said the same thing about the Branch Rickey rule. But, how does that apply to JT. He’s playing on the last year of a three year deal. He earned the first two years of the contact. You aren’t going to trade a guy like JT or DFA him. But, you don’t need to play him full time either.
I really think it’s time to send Alvarez back down until they need a middle infielder. Bring up Martin to play LF, move CT3 to 3B and let Max get most of the ABs at DH. Use JT and Muncy to spell CT3 at 3B.
Phil Jones said yesterday “There are other quality defensive outfielders who can hit .200 that are not going to ask for the king of money that Bellinger and Boras probably will want. ”
Homework assignment. Show me the list of those CF’s that meet your criteria. I think the results will surprise you. I agree with you about $20M being his ceiling right now. He has one more year of arbitration, so he may or may not get that money this offseason. You say Boras is gonna want a whole lot more? Not even Dr. Evil can get him more than $20M a year after the last couple of seasons. Like I’ve said before, his worth is slightly better than CT3. If he improves, he’ll be worth more. He’s not getting Seager money unless he comes back into his first three years form. If he does, he’s worth it. He’s got a year and a half to get those big bucks, so I think you’re jumping the gun. No need to make a change right now. By then, Outman or Pages might be ready, but I sure will miss his range.
It’s very alarming that Bellinger is striking out 33% of the time and CT3 is striking out 39% of the time.
Surprisingly, the Dodgers are 22nd in strikeouts.
Maybe Pollock is available for a RH bat.
And yes I hate it when a manager says, ‘he wants to play every day’. DUH
The Dodgers are too loyal to dump Muncy and JT. But I agree, it’s time to bring up Vargas and Lamb and start them. And platoon dh Muncy and JT. They cannot be in the lineup together. See if one of them can get productive over the next month or so to the trade deadline.
AF should have followed the Al Campanis rule to either trade or let a player go a year early rather than a year too late. JT was brought back on a FA contract but his game looks over. Appreciate all he’s done for the Dodgers and he just might make a great MLB manager, but his playing days should be over like right now.
Max got a contract and now lacks anything remotely like the guy who worked/played hard to get that contract.
It’s time to shake this stuff up. I know Freddie likes to play everyday also but last I checked the manager fills out the line up card. Sit him down for a game or DH him but for goodness sakes shake it up. I agree it’s time to do something that kicks these millionaires in the ass and gets them to play “team baseball” and enough of this BS we’ve been watching for the last several weeks.
Vargas, Outman, Lamb or someone else, but do something now. AF it’s your move.