Hope everyone is well. I was just perusing the 2021 Media Guide. A really good source of information for fans. Unfortunately, they no longer sell them. So Mark got me the download site and now all that info is on my computer right at my fingertips. And the first subject I thought I would touch on is career defensive leaders at all the positions. One of Eric’s favorite subjects. Now, these players are not rated by dWAR. They are listed by Fielding Pct. And they had to have played 300 games at the position listed. One thing you will notice on these lists, most of the players played in LA. There are a couple of reasons for this: (1) A superior and much better field to play on; and (2) Baseball gloves are much bigger and more flexible than the old ones.
Catcher
#5. Russell Martin coming in at .990. Martin played for the Dodgers for 6 years. He was a solid presence behind the plate. He called a good game and had a decent TOS pct of 30%. #4. Paul LoDuca. LoDuca comes in at .991, as does Tom Haller. LoDuca played 7 years for LA. He also caught 30% of the base stealers. He had a decent bat. But I do not remember much about his game-calling skills. Tom Haller came over from the Giants in a trade in 1968 and played 4 years with the Dodgers. Tom was a very good game caller, and a solid receiver. He caught 35% of the runners trying to steal. # 2. Yasmani Grandal. .995. This one I find hard to believe, but stats do not lie. I guess passed balls do not count against your fielding pct. Grandal had 43 passed balls as a Dodger. He also played 4 years for the team and was considered one of the best framers in the game. He was not very good at throwing out runners. His caught stealing pct is 26%. # 1. AJ Ellis. Ellis comes in with the highest fielding pct of any catcher who ever played for the Dodgers. .997. AJ played 9 years for the Dodgers. He was for years, Kershaw’s personal catcher. AJ did not hit for a high average, but his career OBP as a Dodger was .340. He was excellent at calling games. Compared to Grandal, AJ had only 34 passed balls in his 11-year career. His caught stealing pct is 33%. He also hit .365 in 17 post-season games. Grandal an abysmal .125 in 36 games. Only Martin ever received a Gold Glove.
First Base
#5. James Loney .994. Loney played 7 years in LA before he went to Boston in “The Trade”. 2008 was the only season he ever had double figures in errors. Solid hitter, but not a lot of power. # 4. Eddie Murray .995. The Hall of Famer came to LA in 1989. He played for the Dodgers for 3 years. Although he never repeated his Gold Glove-caliber seasons with LA, he was nonetheless steady at 1st. He won 3 Gold Gloves with the Orioles. # 3. Adrian Gonzalez. . 995. The Butter and Egg Man was a solid player and steady glove at 1st after arriving from the Red Sox. He played 6 years for LA, not only providing solid defense but becoming the Dodger’s steadiest run producer. He won 2 Gold Gloves with the Padres and one each with the Red Sox and Dodgers. The last coming in 2014. Tied for # 1. Wes Parker and Steve Garvey. .996. Parker joined the Dodgers in 1964. He was part of the World Series Champs in 1965. He was not a great hitter or power source, but he was a wizard with a glove at first, and when he occasionally played the outfield. Wes did finish with a .267 career BA. He won 6 consecutive Gold Gloves at 1st from 1967 to 1972. Steve Garvey joined the Dodgers in 1969. Originally a 3rd baseman, he was moved to first base because he had a lot of trouble making the throws to first. I think the Dodgers were worried about the fans sitting behind first getting injured. After playing the position sporadically, Garvey moved there for good in 1974. From 74 to 77 he was a Gold Glover at the position. It did not hurt that he also was a very good hitter.
2nd Base
# 5. Delino DeShields .980. DeShields barely cleared the 300 game limit in his 3 years in LA. Traded for Pedro Martinez, he never was quite the player he had been in Montreal. Never won a Gold Glove. Made 153 errors in 13 years in the majors. # 4. Charlie Neal .980 . Charlie joined the Dodgers in 1956 in Brooklyn and played for the Dodgers for 6 years. He went to the Mets in the expansion draft after the 1961 season. A .259 career hitter, he had some pop and hit 73 HRs in his 6 seasons with the Dodgers. He played 8 total seasons and had 68 errors at 2nd base in 663 games. He also had a great 1959 World Series hitting .370 with 2 HRs and 6 RBI’s. # 3. Alex Cora .981. Cora joined the Dodgers in 1998. He played 7 years in LA and was considered an excellent defender with not much pop in his bat. Another player who barely cleared the 300 game minimum, was also a SS. Only made 106 total errors in 14 seasons. Now the Red Sox manager. # 2. Mark Grudzielanek .983. Mark joined the Dodgers in 1998. He played 5 seasons in LA. In his first two seasons in LA, he was primarily a SS. But in his last 3, he was the regular 2nd baseman. He later won a Gold Glove with the Royals. # 1. 983. Jackie Robinson. We all know Jackie’s story. But he played 3B, 1B, OF, and 2nd base during his tenure as a Dodger. But getting most of his work at 2nd.
3rd Base
# 5. Tim Wallach .964. Tim joined the Dodgers in a trade with the Expos in 1993 when he was 35 years old. He spent 3 years as the Dodger’s primary 3rd baseman. He was a very good hitter and had a steady glove at 3rd. Like most 3rd basemen, his error total at the hot corner was high 240 in a 16-year career at 3rd.
# 4. Billy Cox .964. Billy joined Brooklyn in 1948 in a trade with the Pirates and spent 7 of his 10 major league seasons with the Dodgers. He was considered one of the best glove men of his era. A career .262 hitter, Billy also played 2nd and some SS. He had a .302 BA in 15 World Series games. # 3. Justin Turner .967. JT as we Dodger fans like to call him has been a Dodger since 2014 and now is in his 8th season in the blue. Signed as a free agent after his release by the Mets, he has become a very valuable piece of the Dodger roster. He has also played some 2nd base, SS, and 1B for the Dodgers. He is a career .295 hitter in the postseason. # 2. Casey Blake .966. Huh? Some might say. Blake is another barely over the 300 game mark playing a total of 374 games at 3rd for the Dodgers. Some will be surprised that Ron Cey did not make the list. But Penguin’s career fielding pct at 3rd was .961. # 1. Juan Uribe .978. I was as surprised as anyone to see Juan at # 1. He was a Dodger for 5 seasons. And played most of those games at 3rd. He had a solid bat, and I did see him make some impressive plays at 3rd. But it was usually his flair for the dramatic hit that caught your attention.
Shortstop
# 5. Rafael Furcal .967. When I think of Furcal, I think of a pretty decent fielding SS with a very good bat. Furcal joined the Dodgers in 2006. His biggest detraction was that he only played 3 full seasons at SS. The rest of the time he had partial seasons due to recurring injuries. He never won a Gold Glove, but he was a career .281 hitter with some power. # 4. Alex Cora .968. Cora was a Dodger long enough to acquire the needed games to also qualify on the SS list. # 3. Dave Anderson .970. Anderson was a light-hitting infielder who played 2nd and 3rd along with SS. He played 8 years in LA and 2 with the Giants. He joined the Dodgers in 1983 and caddied for Bill Russell until he retired after the 1986 season. # 2. Corey Seager .970. Surprise! Corey made the list. Solid hitter, he sometimes makes miscues on very easy plays. But overall he is steady and usually makes up for a gaff with his bat. # 1. Cesar Izturis .980. Izturis was a so so hitter, but he was an excellent defender. He had a cannon arm and had the range to get to balls most SS cannot. He joined the Dodgers in a trade with the Blue Jays and played 5 years in LA.
Outfielders
# 5. Juan Pierre .987. Juan played for the Dodgers from 2007 to 2009. He was a decent hitter, and an excellent outfielder and base stealer. He played LF and CF mostly for the Dodgers. He made a total of 40 errors in the outfield in 14 seasons in the majors. One of their better free-agent signings. # 4. Dusty Baker .987. Dusty came to the Dodgers in a trade with the Braves after the 1975 season. He spent 8 years with LA as the primary left fielder. A solid bat, he was a member of the first group of four players from the same team to have 30 HR’s or more. He joined Reggie Smith, Ron Cey, and Steve Garvey by getting his 30th on the last day of the season in 1977 off of J.R. Richard. It was his only 30 HR season.
# 3. Joc Pederson .990. Joc was a center fielder when he arrived in 2014. He ran some of the best routes to the ball of any CF in the league. But he was later more in RF and LF than Center. He was a low average high power hitter. But he was solid at all 3 outfield positions.
# 2. Goody Rosen .991. Goody Rosen was primarily a center fielder who came up to Brooklyn in 1937, He played 6 seasons in the majors. 5 with the Dodgers and his final season with the Giants when he was sold after appearing in 3 games. He backed up all of the Dodger outfielders during that time.
# 1. Brett Butler .996. No big surprise here. Brett was fleet of foot and could run down almost any ball hit his way. He was a solid bat and a prolific bunter and base stealer. He spent parts of 7 seasons with the Dodgers. He left in 1995 and signed with the Mets, but they traded him back to the Dodgers in August of that same season.
Pitchers
The criteria to get on the list as a pitcher is a minimum of 200 total chances. Any pitcher who did that could make the list. One thing you will notice with this list is that all of the pitchers except one played in Brooklyn. # 5. Dazzy Vance .979. Vance pitched for the Dodgers for 12 seasons. He won 191 games. He is in the Hall of Fame. He joined the team in 1922 at the age of 31.
# 4. Dutch Reuther .979. Reuther joined Brooklyn in 1921 and pitched for them for four years. He finished with a 54-52 record as a Dodger winning 21 games in 1922. # 3. Odalis Perez .980. Only LA Dodger on this list. He joined LA in a trade with the Braves after the 2001 season and pitched 5 years in LA. He compiled a 45-40 record.
# 2. Curt Davis .985. Curt joined Brooklyn in 1940 and played 7 years for the Dodgers. He had his best season in 1942 when he was 15-6. Overall as a Dodger, he compiled a 66-54 record.
# 1. Freddie Fitzsimmons .985. Fat Freddie as he was called, which is strange because he was 5’11 185 lbs, guess that was considered fat back then joined the Dodgers in 1937 after 13 seasons with the hated Giants. His best season in Brooklyn was 1940 when he went 16-2. He won 20 for the Giants in 1928. He pitched as a starter and a reliever for Brooklyn and posted a 47-32 record as a Dodger. His overall record was 217-146.
Well, there you have the list as it is posted in the 2021 Media Guide. If you like you can probably ask Mark to post the link to download it. Some surprises on the list. I would have expected players like Hodges, Campy, Snider, and Reese on there. Have a great day, and let’s play some DEFENSE!
Discussion (57)
Disagree, not disagreeable
This one is on the offense, Not Doc’s choice of pitchers out of the pen. They only had 3 hits until the 9th inning when they got 3 to tie the game. Desclafani shut them down for the first time this season. Up until tonight, they owned that guy. When the first 4 hitters in your lineup go 2-14 you are not going to score many runs. Seager had 4 hits which was exactly half of the teams hits. The bottom of the lineup was not any help either until Taylor tied the game with his bloop hit. Taylor should have just thrown the ball to second on Crawford’s double. Smith hitting the ball on the ground instead of getting a ball in the air so Turner could score, instead, he was a dead duck. They got themselves out almost as often as the pitcher did.
The “next stranger up” strategy in the bullpen strikes me a real problem.
AF loves to work the angles and manipulate the BP, now bringing in newcomers like Vasquez and Phillips. I’m not sure who might be hurt right now, but I’d much rather see a mix of guys like Mitch White and Andre Jackson throwing “bulk innings,” as they say, and thus preserve guys like Treinen and Jansen for later. There were ELEVEN pitchers used in this game, which will probably cause some problems in the next two games.
These are now critical games and strangers are throwing important innings. It’s just nuts.
In closed-scoring games, good defense wins games, bad defense loses them, today it is checked again.
Some out of position players and some unathletic players reared their ugly head. JT should have scored from 2B on the Seager base hit, and this might have been one of the worst games I’ve seen Will Smoth play. 0-5 with multiple opportunities to get a hit or scoring flyball but failed and wasn’t in position to cut off CT3’s throw from CF and then that stretch at 1B. WTH was that? Yes, bad throw but my gosh can’t you jump, can you stretch back, can you make an athletic play?
We had plenty of opportunities we just didn’t execute
What a shame our bullpen fought to the end
What a disaster
Like Orel sez, a shortstop on second…. Routine play…Well bright side pitcher did his job… Bad break.
End this Giant fantasy, PLEASE!
Bryant has always had a hole in his swing on his hands. I would have liked to see them go in there once.
What a wasted great pitching performance by our bullpen. When is this offense gonna show up and start winning some games!!!!!
Wow, Will Smith with two groundouts tonight with a runner at third base w/ less than two outs. First and Third with no outs in the 10th and don’t do anything with Smith and CT3 and then the pitcher who only has two career AB’s.
Although CT3 did get the soft base hit in the 9th to tie the game up, his bat looks slow and tired right now. Gotta find his mojo.
Gee, we’re out of position players ???
Terrible read by JT in Seager’s hit. He should have scored.
Gotta score here and then let JT close it out!!!!
Wow! You can’t let Crawford take second there. Piss poor by Taylor.
Vasquez will pitch the 10th. Some control problems and young in a hostile environment. This could get ugly, but I’m hoping for a legendary moment in Dodgers vs. Giants lore
If Dodgers manage to win this one I maybe found a reason to start going to some sort of church.
So who closes this?
Who pitches the 10th?
Was that a TT slide at third!!!!! Wow 2 productive outs! Dodger debut for the save! What me nervous?
Yikes. Got to feel fortunate Kenley got out of the 9th. He had no idea where the ball was going. Thank You Belt for swinging 2-0. Joe Davis was correct. Posey was sitting on the slider on the first pitch. He know Kenley K’d him earlier in the year on three straight sliders and it was the only pitch close to the strike zone tonight.
I saw Doc leaving the dugout,I guess he was going to check his shorts
I’m sure he had a smile on his face while he was doing it
The man
The myth
The legend
Kenley Jansen.
Oh yee of little faith!
Oh yes offlittle faith!
This is where legends are made!
Well, this is a fine mess you got yourself in.
Bring in Justin Turner. Kenley is totally outta sync.
All you need to know where Cody stands right now. He was PH for in the 9th inning with a runner in scoring position. Yes, it was lefty on lefty, but that sums up where Cody’s offensive game is right now. Not saying it was a bad move, or even an incorrect move, but it might be time for the Bellinger apologists at LADT to dial it down a notch.
Doc, by that one move, summed up and kind of backed Cassidy and many other’s who have complained about Bellinger’s offense. Some will defend Cody here, but Doc just made a statement.
To this point an utterly disappointing offensive game plan and execution. Mookie, Max, JT, CT3 and Cody didn’t do anything and we won’t win with no offense from those guys. Feels like CT3 hasn’t got a base hit in two weeks and it feels like Cody hasn’t hit since the WS in 2020 (kidding for sarcasm) but he does indeed look like an automatic out.
I would put seager in 2th spot insted Muncy. Muncy in 4th and JT in 5th
When Greene misses the strike zone it’s so far outside batters won’t chase.
Despite or run . That was cheaper we are kepping in game
That could have been worse. Unusually bad job by Bickford. Terrible O-2 pitch by Vesia. Nice plays by JT and Belli. Time for the bats to wake up.
Dodgers need a bona fide fourth starter. Is it Jackson, Gonsolin, CK, White or someone else? BP games take a toll on the staff and impacts many games down the line. This might be our achilles heal.
I hate bullpen games.
Dodgers: David Price Dealing with Arm Issue, IL Stint Possible
by Brook Smith
09/03/2021, 4:30 PM
It sounds like the Dodgers might be going with another bullpen game tonight in San Francisco. The initial plan was to have David Price make the start in game 1 of the series, but that changed pretty quickly. The team announced earlier today that it would be Corey Knebel getting the ball to start instead.
The expectation was that Price would come out of the Dodgers bullpen and provide depth. He did that in his last appearance when Doc ran out Knebel before him. The idea there was to give the higher-leverage guy the better run of hitters early on.
Doc also went on to say that an injured list stint was possible for Price. He did not specify the injury to his arm, but he did note that it would be a shorter-term thing if the Dodgers went that route. For the moment, they’re taking things day by day.
Just saw that the idiocracy that is the MLB, i.e Manfredo just extended Bauer to the 10th.
SHEESH
pb+
I am not going to get into the argument about cultures someone started on here. My two cents though is this. Of all the atrocities committed by this nation, the one we have never made up for or corrected is what we did to native American’s. Most of them still live on reservations in poverty. They have never been given the respect they deserve.
Today’s beat the Giants lineup:
T Turner
Muncy
Betts
J Turner
Seager
Smith
Taylor
Bellinger
Knebel
Remember how we played against the Rox?
I hope the decimation of the Giants pitching staff doesn’t lead to a similar outcome.
I see now SF is going with DeScalfini instead of Long tonight. The schedule shows Long scheduled to pitch Saturday. Now why would SF pitch a mediocre guy like Long instead of Logan Webb? Webb’s last outing was 8/28 in which he pitched 7 innings of shutout baseball.
The last time Long pitched was against Atl and he gave up 6 runs in 4 innings.
Unless they plan on pitching Webb Sunday.
Now that I’m thinking of this, I bet SF makes Saturday their bullpen game. Long may only pitch 1-2 innings. They probably don’t want our boys to see him a 2nd time.
So, I’m thinking:
Descalfini
Bullpen
Webb
Today this isn’t exactly the best site for Dodgers fans. Tomorrow will be better here especially after a win tonight. I guess a day off isn’t good for fans, but if it does players better then it’s all good.
Good, interesting stuff Bear. Thanks for your work.
I have a question about your list. I see 2 current Dodgers on your list, Cory Seager at short and JT at 3rd, so player of the current generation are eligible for your list. Bellinger is a plus defender at 1st and outfield. I looked it up and his fielding % at first is .995, tied with A-Gon but Belli only has 261 games there, so he doesn’t qualify. But in the outfield he’s at .989 in 373 games, tied with Dusty Baker at #4.
What did I miss?
Again, thanks for the research, Bear.
Dodgers Release Yaisel Sierra
By Steve Adams | September 3, 2021 at 10:31am CDT
The Dodgers have released right-hander Yaisel Sierra, as first reported by Francys Romero of Las Mayores (Twitter link). He’d been pitching with the team’s Triple-A affiliate in Oklahoma City.
While Sierra may not be a recognizable name for some, he was at one point a highly sought-after international free agent. Sierra defected from Cuba in 2015 and established residency in the Dominican Republic, at which point he was declared an international free agent. Because of his professional experience in Cuba, he was exempt from international bonus pools and able to sign with the highest bidder. Both the Cubs and Marlins were reported to have made offers, but the Dodgers landed Sierra by signing him to a six-year, $30MM Major League contract in Feb. 2016.
Obviously, that deal looks regrettable in retrospect. The now-30-year-old Sierra has yet to pitch in the Majors and has scarcely pitched above the Double-A level. He tossed 16 1/3 innings with the OKC Dodgers this season but was clobbered for 25 runs on 36 hits (six homers) and 12 walks. Sierra did punch out 18 batters in that time, but he also threw a staggering 11 wild pitches in those 16 1/3 frames. Overall, he has an 8.36 ERA in 37 2/3 Triple-A innings and a 5.43 ERA in just 179 total minor league innings.
Who could have scripted this?
September 3
Tied for first place with the Giants
3 games to play with them is all that are left.
That means one team will hold the “tiebreaker” by record against each other. There will be no tie.
I think the matchups are set.
1. Price with a short leash (the pen will be fresh)
2. Urias – He needs to pitch his career game. ONLY this time would I let him pitch past 5 innings.
3. Striker – He needs to cement his Cy Young.
I like how it stacks up! Even though many criticized Dave for resting Julio an additional day.
I joke about it, but really it is like a dog that barks and never stops! All he knows how to do is bark!
OK I know B&P will accuse me of “beating a dead horse” and I suppose he is right. However, yesterday’s repeated posts about Doc taking Max out without the poster having access to some very important information has made me beat it. Baseball America has come out with a “best tools” ranking where they polled Managers, Scouts, and Executives on many categories. They did it by league. The NL’s “best Manager” were ranked 1. Counsell, 2. Roberts, and 3. Tingler. So, the experts in the game rank him #2 in the NL. He has the highest winning percentage of any Manager in baseball history (I know he has had great players but again so did Sparky Anderson, Joe Torre, Bobby Cox, etc without achieving the same level of success). I truly believe it is OK to criticize some of his moves, but wanting Doc gone borders on insane. He truly is one of the best ever. B&P, I’ve said my piece for the last time.
By the way, the whole survey can be found on Baseball America Best Tools. Enjoy the ride for the next 28 games and on into the post season. It’s going to be great.
Good read:
https://www.draysbay.com/2020/4/15/21219514/mlb-defense-best-statistic-baseball-prospectus
I believe there would be a one game playoff on Monday Oct. 4th and the home field would be determined by the season series record.
Can someone clarify a question, please:
If LA and SF end the season tied, is there a playoff game to see who goes to the wild card and who wins the division?
It seems like a silly question, but after so many rules and changes, I’m not sure anymore.
Just overlooked it glossary is on page 3
I figured Mark is pretty busy so I thought I’d try to help out
https://pressbox.athletics.com/Publications/MLB%20Media%20Guides/2021%20Los%20Angeles%20Dodgers%20Media%20Guide.pdf
It’s over 300 pages I couldn’t find the fielding records though
Very good write-up Bear.
But I disagree with you on the Paul Konerko trade. He could play first, third and outfield, mostly left field. It was a huge mistake to make the deal to send Konerko to the Reds for Jeff Shaw. In Lasorda’s mind the Dodgers were a closer away from being on top. But that was a reach and it didn’t work out. Although Shaw got the job done most of the time, it was always an adventure. The Dodgers with no clear path back to championship play should have bet more on the future than the present at that point in time. Don’t think Fred Claire would have made that deal with most people thinking Jim Bowden picked Tommy’s pocket.
The Dodgers finished third in 1998 in the NL West, 15 games back and third in 1999, 23 games back. In 2000 Shaw was downright mediocre, his ERA climbing to 4.24.
The worst trade, of course, was Pedro Martinez for DeShields. You can blame the decision to make this deal on Jody Reed who turned down a seven million dollar plus multi year contract to continue playing second for the Dodgers. One of the biggest miscalculations by a player and his agent in the history of the game. He ended up playing elsewhere for $300,000 plus.
As to Martinez, the Dodgers were convinced he wouldn’t hold up long term. The DBacks did the same thing with Max Scherzer, trading him because they felt he would be injury prone.
But yes, you’re right, Bear, trading the face of the franchise, Mike Piazza, was no doubt the hardest trade to swallow. But for the record, I absolutely hated all three trades. I would have said no to all three, but then no one from Dodgers asked my opinion, including those clueless Fox execs.
Only 2 Giants have ever homered off of Price, Casali and Belt.
Brett Butler! My man! Because of him I became a Dodgers fan. I fell in love with him while he played in Atlanta….followed him to LA.
Well, how does it feel waking up with no drama from the previous night and no result needed to check on, and knowing you are in first place, albeit tied?
It feels great!
I see we will be facing a lefty tonight, so I hope I don’t see Wonderful William batting 8th again. This is my dream lineup:
1. TTurner
2. Mookie
3. Marvelous Max
4. JT
5. Wonderful William
6. Seager
7. Pollock
8. CT3 ( he’s cooled off a bit so we should reduce his stress)
Go Dodgers!
Nice write up Bear. Delino DeShields for Pedro Martinez will go down as one of the worst trades in Dodger history along with Tommy Lasorda while acting as GM’s trade of Paul Konerko for Jeff Shaw .
On a positive note our 2021 first round pick Maddux Bruns had a better outing in the ACL last night than his first outing 2IP 2H 0R 0ER 1BB 2K
Ha! I said Kenley’s problems were between his ears, he admitted it!
https://www.truebluela.com/2021/9/3/22655249/dodgers-news-kenley-jansen-therapy
It really is kind of surprising that certain big stars are not there and then sometimes lesser-known players are. I am pretty sure that as Bear wrote about Yasmani Grandal, he threw up in his mouth! 😉
Yasmani was a player I had high hopes for. I predicted 30 HR for him but the best he has done is 27 and 28. However, his proclivity for passed balls became intolerable to me. That and his disappearing in big moments. He will likely end up being TOP 25 or 30 in WAR for catchers of all time. He is currently #36, ahead of Mike Sciosca, Elston Howard, BJ Surhoff, and many others. Yasmani is a “walking contradiction.”