Hang on for a Wild Ride!

On a different note, the Indianapolis Indians were named the Ballpark Digest 2018 Team of the Year.

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Mark and I have had an ongoing discussion regarding the prospective success of the current LAD bullpen. We already know that Urias will not be in the mix. Many of us thought that would be the case, but others believed he was going to come back and be effective and that was a reason the Dodgers did not need to get an elite reliever. Sure, starting pitchers like Stripling, Maeda, Ferguson, and Wood can join the bullpen, but they are starting pitchers. They are not used to getting up multiple times in a game or going in back to back games. Only once has Ferguson come in in back to back games, and in that game, he gave up a 3 run HR against the Giants. I will say again that there are very very few more supportive fans of Caleb Ferguson than me. But he is less than 1 year removed from A Ball and putting him in late inning high leverage situations is not his strong suit right now. It may be next year, but in a pennant crunch, that is not who I would look to.

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When was the last time Stripling was productive and effective in a high leverage relief situation? In his 11 games in relief in 2018, only two games were in a hold situation. Last year, Stripling had 4 holds, 5 losses, 3 wins, 2 saves, and 3 blown saves. Strip has become an excellent starting pitcher and his stuff can probably transfer to relief, but do you really want trust Strip in multiple high leverage situations in the final 3 weeks (not two months).

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Maeda is good in perhaps multiple inning situations, but high leverage late inning? Back to back days? He has relieved 5 games this year, and in only one has he had as few as 2 days’ rest. In the 5 relief appearances, his average days rest is between 3 and 4 days. Jansen has gone back to back to back. That is what is needed, not starting pitchers who can provide multiple innings relief, but not successive days.

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Let’s take a look at 4 late inning high leverage relievers who were traded at the deadline: Jeurys Familia, Keona Kela, Brad Brach, and Ryan Pressly.

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Jeurys Familia – 19 games (21 IP) since the trade to Oakland. 6 back to back days, 4 with 1 day rest, and 0 days with more than 3 days’ rest. In those 19 games, 15 have been scoreless, and in 2 of those games, 5 of the 7 runs were scored. 1 HR, 7 walks, and 28 K’s. 4 holds, 0 blown saves, 4 wins, 1 loss. Remember he once had a 53 game consecutive save streak.

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Keona Kela – 15 games, 14.1 IP after trade to Pittsburgh. 13 games were scoreless, 1 with 1 run, and 1 with 4 runs (09/01). That one game shot Kela’s ERA up. In the 15 games, he has 4 holds 0 blown saves, 2 HR, 5 BB, and 22K’s. He was in 4 back to back games (including the one he gave up 4 runs), 6 with 1 day, 3 with 2 days, 1 with 3 and 1 with 4 (just after acquisition). In August, he appeared in 14 games and had a 0.63 ERA.

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Brad Brach – 16 games since trade to Atlanta with a 0.63 ERA. After sitting out 5 days before his 1st appearance, he spent the next 15 games never going over 2 days rest; 3 back to back, 5 with 1 day rest, and 7 with 2 days rest. 13 games he held the opponent scoreless. He has allowed 0 HRs, 7 walks, and 14 K’s. Since the trade, 7 holds, 1 blown loss, 1 win, and 1 loss.

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Ryan Pressly – 15 games, 14.1 IP, 1.23 ERA since trade to Houston. 6 holds and 1 blown save. 1 HR, 0 walks, and 19 K’s. 2 back to back games, 7 with 1 day rest, 4 with 2 days, 1 with 4 days, and 1 with 5 days. 13 of the 15 games were scoreless, and the other two games only 1 run was allowed.

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It might have been nice to have at least 2 of these guys in August when we needed relievers, instead of 5 consecutive blown save losses. All four of these late inning high leverage relievers were available. How many of these relievers could the Dodgers have traded for with Yusniel Diaz, Rylan Bannon, Zach Pop, Dean Kremer, Breyvic Valera, Luke Raley, and Corey Copping. The area that needed the most help was the bullpen, not a SS or 2B. If we had 2 of them, we could be comfortably in 1st place.

well OKC won that first game today. Next game is for all the marbles!

Watching all kinds of baseball today. Everybody’s bullpen sucks 🙂

Today vs deGrom:

Joc

JT

Manny

Muncy (2b)

Verdugo (CF)

Belli

Grandal

Puig

Wood

Great read indeed.

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I must admit I am one of those old guys who loved the game as it “used to be”. The human aspect- spirit, determination, awareness, etc. – is all important to me as you can’t measure it and it is what wins games when analytics are used equally on both sides. That is why I gravitate to minor league ball where the game is still a game and the youngsters are not nearly as much placed into slots because of numbers on paper. They are allowed to play, especially at the lower levels.

What Analytics Missed About Matt Kemp

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Great Read!

Josh Sborz just induced a fly ball for a third out with the bases loaded and the OKC Dodgers up 4-1. He replaced Zach Neal. That is what I call a true “save”.

Catcher Hunter Feduccia of the Loons just picked a runner off first base with the bases loaded and two out. No score in the bottom of the seventh.

I’ll preface this with I happen to like Machado…

MT says ‘little pop’ and I smile…

Coming to the Blue he avg’d 35/92… Not too shabby for a middle infielder… Ray Charles knows that!!!

I hope he’s here, but we’ll see!!! M.T. still pining on Yas

I don’t think Seager returns to SS nor do I think it would be prudent and as someone said, having Manny , Seager, Turner and the Kid in a middle of a lineup = Sweet…

I agree Bobby, Machado may be worth only 5/80 but Boras will laugh at 5/180. Dodgers are likely out, I feel we should make a run at Harper. Likely will be out bid on him by someone.

Any chance we make a play for DJ Lamathieu, maybe like 4/60 or 5/70. I feel he would be a great fit here at 2nd?

Any word on Buehler? Fo him to complain seems concerning, landing foot injuries are problematic.

Yadier Alvarez is pitching right now for Tulsa, following a great 6ip of shutout ball by Mitchell White.

Let’s see if these announcers discuss what happened yesterday.

5/80 for Machado? Comedy. Let’s also offer Kersh 5/60, Harper 6/90, and Dozer 2/10 while we’re at it. Let’s pretend we’re back in 1996 all over again.

Yeah, I’d throw money at the International Market as often as I could.

I realize the new CBA limits the Dodgers’ ability to spend money in Cuba and maximize their revenue advantage, but they can still outspend 80% of the other teams in scouting.

Remember it’s the Int’l money that help facilitate the Machado trade.

Throwing good money after bad is usually not a wise practice, in this case it is IMO.

Keep in mind, we lose today and Colorado/Arizona win, we are out of first and tied for second with Arizona, Milwaukee and St Louis still hold the Wild Cards, this is not the time to let the foot off the gas petal

The dog days of summer are over and evenings are cooling and Kemp might be getting a second wind unless he has packed on weight. For some reason hitting is contagious. Machado didn’t start the fire, maybe Kemp did.

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Taylor vs. Dozier at second. A toss up?

I really think Kemp’s heroics just might be the spark at points this team needed to charge. That Dodgers are likely seeing themselves as belonging in their dream vision. Baez’ seems more mentally healthy and a little confidence is what was needed to be a major fix in the BP. Hopefully he’s a spark too. These guys need to know they belong then it’ll all come together. Dodgers, remember the Alamo!!! Or just remember Game 7 2017 WS is not the real you. And the chance to right that is at your fingertips. Grasp it like Kemp did these last couple games.

Machado – I was certainly in favor of the trade. Regardless as to how it eventually turns out, I will always agree with the trade. I expected much MUCH more from Machado, and I hope the next 25 games will deliver. But if not, it will be time to move on. 5 years $80MM looks about right. I have never believed the Dodgers were going to sign him this winter anyway; nor Harper. That is just not what FAZ does. They will be looking for complimentary pieces, not window dressing.

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Urias – I did not believe he would be an effective bullpen piece in September. It was just too traumatic of an injury and resulting surgery to overcome. I only hope we see a 90% Urias next Spring. Shoulder surgeries are not the same as TJ which have become much more successful over the past 40 years. Below are a couple of articles on the chances of Urias returning to be the same pitcher as he was. The first one is very technical, and the second very subjective with not a lot of data. But neither give the reader a lot of hope that the post surgery Urias will be as good as the pre surgery Urias. Oh that Chris Sale trade would sure look good right about now. Maybe Dodgerrick can find some other studies that are easier to read.

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The loss of Urias, the apparent reluctance to use Fields (another shoulder), Venditte (AAAA), and Rosscup (AAAA) shows just how fragile the bullpen is. Does anyone believe Cingrani (shoulder) is going to come back and provide meaningful relief? John Axford? He cannot make any rehab assignments so how is he going to be ready? We know how no rehab assignments work (right Kenley?) The bullpen was a mess in July and in August and the only ML addition is Ryan Madson, and just for September. IMO that was an ostrich syndrome…hiding your head in the sand and hoping the problem just goes away. It was not realistic. Now they are going to need to make due with bubble gum, paper clips, and baling wire and hope that the bullpen stays afloat.

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I am happy for Matt Kemp. He is back where he always wanted to be, and he has been a hero in back to back games after keeping the team relevant in the beginning of the season. It sure would be nice to see Machado have just one of those at bats.

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Alvarez – Entitled, petulant, selfish, egocentric. Have I left anything out? Using MT symbolism, even Ray Charles could see this was coming. I had the feeling that Alvarez was not going to be the anointed one when he showed up 40-50 pounds overweight in 2017. He dominated rookie ball at 20. Okay but that is really nothing special. He has not been successful since. It is time to forget about Alvarez and move on to players who want to compete and compete with the team he is assigned. I would not send him to Miami, because he would like that. I would send him to Tampa or Seattle or Toronto.

Can Archie Bradley pitch for the visitors the rest of the season? Great job by the starting pitching all weekend. The bats and Roberts lineups were an entirely different story.