I Am Ashamed To Be A Dodger Fan

Col just lost to AZ, s we’re still only 1.5 out.

Underachievers and a FO that was restricted from acquiring some key parts in the off season because of the CBT. Alexander and Koehler are the big BP additions one of which didn’t throw a pitch and one was so-so as an effective piece.

Severe regression by CT3, Bellinger, Wood, KJ, Barnes and key injuries to JT, Kershaw, KJ and Seager all contributed to a underwhelming season to say the least. It’s time to jettison Grandal and put that $16 million somewhere else. Go with a veteran like Ianetta or Lucroy and see if Barnes can rebound and if not bring up Smith or acquire an addtional catching veteran.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Kershaw opt out and sign in Texas and I can see Puig, Ryu, Joc, and CT3 all or a combination thereof not be on the team next year. CT3 has no real value but perhaps the FO can find a piece that comes out of nowhere like he did but someone who actually puts the ball in play with some frequency.

I would not bring back Machado back….he seems to be entitled with his half-ass hustle and his lack of clutch hitting. JT, Seager, Hernandez and Cody in the infield, Verdugo, Toles, Kemp and Harper in the OF. Perhaps Hernandez continues to be the “swiss army knife” and the FO gets Lowrie for 2B but it’s time for some fresh pieces.

Dodgerrick your assessment is spot on as usual, I have appreciated your takes on this site as well as others, AC and Mark come to mind. I realize we are all assessing with limited information but I also have watched enough baseball to know they have merit. Even the smartest and most knowledgeable people in the room, FAZ and Robert’s have to believe they have fallen short a lot in the mediocre 2018 National League. I know all the same management characters will be back in 2019, as they fulfilled the only real ultimatums of ownership, stay below the luxury tax and fill the stadium nightly. However as Mark asked earlier I hope fans hold them a little more accountable in 2019 and start adversely affecting the gates and upsetting advertisers by watching a little less.

The questions I have are do they really believe their philosophies are not perfect or will they just believe this season was a statistical anomaly, not soon repeated. A season that was just marred by injuries and bad luck. I hope not or 2019 will likely be a repeat.

Wake up FAZ, wake up Robert’s, you have been outhistled, out worked and out thought by teams with less resources and far less talent. Please evolve no one this site is getting any younger, we all deserve at least one more 1988 before we move on.

I keep beating the drum for the reasons that the Dodgers have underachieved this season. Yes, I believe that they have underachieved. If you look at the talent on this team they should win more games then they have. But as they say, they play the games on the field, not on paper.

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1 – Many Dodgers had career years last season. Jansen, Bellinger, Wood, maybe Puig, Taylor all played over their heads last season. You can’t build a team assuming that all players will replicate their best seasons. Players with track records, like Kershaw, you count on year after year. Guys like Taylor had nothing in their careers to suggest they would re-create 2017 annually. That’s not to say that they won’t, but you can’t bank on it.

2 – The Dodger way of building a bullpen, which is putting together a group of previously unsuccessful pitchers and assuming that enough of them will be good that you will have a bullpen at the end of the season, is designed to lay an egg 50% of the time. Other than 2017, the Dodgers’ bullpens have been mediocre.

3 – Homer-happy platooning has resulted in one of the most inconsistent offenses in baseball. There is a reason that the Dodgers lead the NL in run differential and are 4th in MLB – they can’t score a run if they need to in a close game. Between the bad bullpen and the inconsistent offense, they win the blowouts and lose the close ones. They can’t hit in the clutch, they don’t play the hot hitter, and they don’t play their best players. Their approach with 2 strikes and with RISP is to try to hit a HR every time.

4 – They play the way the computer tells them to play. That makes them predictable – everyone has the same computer. They don’t take chances that might lead to extra runs – no hit and run, no SB, nothing that the computer doesn’t say.

5 – Their defensive efficiency is not what it was last year. Too many bad plays, errors, and missed opportunities with the leather.

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Things have to change next season. The manager and many coaches have to go. (I doubt they will, but they should.) The Braintrust needs new computers, or they have to back off and let the manager manage. They need to get rid of 1/2 of the ‘pen and get some decent relievers. They need to put more emphasis on bat to ball skills and bench or trade the strikeout happy guys.

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I have more to say, but that’s it on short notice.

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By the way – if they can’t beat the likes of the Reds and Mets, they don’t deserve to go to the post-season anyway.

Thanks Mark, as usual your timing is on point, wanted to throw up after hearing another Robert’s. sugercoat postgame. They are chokers and underachievers, is anybody of importance calling them out, likely not.

Not even a thought of an adjustment in the box, but why would there be when there is no adjustments from leadership. Just the same old numberes game.

Numbers are not a predictor of urgency, or heart. St. Louis series likely the end.

… Maybe I’m just getting too old for this.

Sad moment for Dodgers fun. I am praying to Arizona win. I INSIST MAYBE THIS TEAM IS NOT AS GOOD AS WE WANT TO…….DO YOU REMEMBER THATS extraining game in PHILADELPHIA?

Straight H2O.

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This is just crap.

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No urgency…

Which Scotch are you partaking in this evening?

Feel better!!!!