It Must Be June…
It took all of two months, but the “Fire Dave Roberts” choir has started singing and the armchair GMs are ready to trade half the team for the Flavor of the Week. Maybe the “Fire Andrew Friedman” Trio will start playing as well when he calls Max Muncy back to the majors and…
It took all of two months, but the “Fire Dave Roberts” choir has started singing and the armchair GMs are ready to trade half the team for the Flavor of the Week. Maybe the “Fire Andrew Friedman” Trio will start playing as well when he calls Max Muncy back to the majors and fails to send Cody Bellinger down. Well, it actually makes sense that Muncy and Bellinger should be in the Major Leagues. Neither one is going to learn anything they don’t already know by playing at OKC. If Max is healthy, then he should play in the majors. Nuff said!
Now, I am not saying that this will last forever, but Bellinger is only about .050 points behind Will Smith in OPS and no one is calling for Smith to be deposed. Cody tantalizes us with a HR and a Walk and then takes two steps back. Nobody is calling for JT to be sent to OKC, but JT is OPS’ing about 40 points below Cody. Just in case you aren’t aware, here is how players are evaluated by OPS:
So, where do the Dodger hitters fall (right now)? Let’s take a look…
- Mookie Betts .955 – Great
- Trea Turner .819 – Above Average
- Freddie Freeman .808 – Above Average
- Chris Taylor .775 – Average MLB PLayer
- Will Smith .744 – Average MLB Player
- Gavin Lux .702 – Below Average MLB PLayer
- Cody Bellinger .699 – Below Average MLB Player
- Justin Turner .652 – Poor MLB Player
- Max Muncy .590 – Poor MLB Player
At the present time, the Dodgers have no Superstars. .. statistically speaking! They do have one Great Player (Mookie) and two Above Average Players (Trea and Freddie). They have two Average Players (Taylor and Smith), two Below Average Players (Lux and Bellinger), and two Poor Players (Muncy and JT). I happen to believe that those numbers may very well be much higher for 80% to 90% of these players at the end of the season. Of course, it is not possible to predict where they will end up, but I believe their OPS will look something like this by year-end:
Mookie Betts 1.000
Trea Turner .920
Freddie Freeman .960
Chris Taylor .800
Will Smith .840
Gavin Lux .780
Cody Bellinger .770
Justin Turner .790
Max Muncy .800
That’s right! I am picking Mad Max to get to a .800 OPS by year-end. I believe that the only reason he is coming back (allegedly tomorrow) is that he is not injured. I do not think I am closer to the situation than Andrew Friedman, Dave Roberts, and the Dodger coaches and trainers. I am pretty dang sure they have the inside scoop! So, if they are calling him back up, then it is for a reason.
This has been a weird season for many professional hitters. Look at some of these player’s OPS:
- Matt Beaty – .364
- Andrelton Simmons – .374
- Miguel Sano – .379
- Paul DeJong – .417
- Christian Pache – .439
- Lorenzo Cain – ..444
- David Fletcher – . .488
- Nick Madrigal – ..500
- Steven Duggar – .509
- Josh Harrison – .527
- CJ Abrams – .,543
- Yadier Molina – .553
- Jason Heyward – .573
- Andrew McCutchen – . 582
- Wil Myers – . 582
- Trent Grisham – .583
- Cavan Biggio – .589
I’ll stop there, but you get the picture. All of those players are worse than Max Muncy in OPS. If Max is healthy, he knows how to play. You may not like the way he does it, but his career OPS is .839. Max will return to form. I am not as convinced about Cody Bellinger, but I do believe he will get better. How much? I am not sure, but his defense and speed cancel some of the batting issues.
Just so that you see what is happening to other players, here are a few other prominent players’ OPS: Gleyber Torres – .753, Bo Bichette & Charlie Blackman – .750, Alex Bregman – .716, Nelson Cruz – .693 (about the same as Cody), Brandon Crawford – .669 (I’ll bet Farhan had that contract back), Marcel Ozuna – .673, Darin Ruf – .660, Jesse Winker – .611, Adam Duvall -.596, Whit Merrifield – .575, Javy Baez – .544. This is a problem that is all across baseball right about now. Is it the ball? The weather? Global warming? Who knows?
Give this some thought – with all of the Dodger’s hitters’ struggles, they are right with the Mets in total runs scored in all of MLB. Imagine what will happen when they pull out of this funk and return to near normal. Also, think about what will happen if Walker Buehler fixes his mechanics and Heaney and Kershaw return. This will help the bullpen as they will not be as stressed and especially since there are several other pitchers who will also be back. This team’s problem is not the Front Office or the Manger. It is player injuries, mechanical issues, and just not getting untracked. It’s not on Roberts or Friedman, it’s on the players. They simply need to execute better.
Patience Grasshoppers and it is silly to be making any trades right about now. They ain’t happening.
Dodger Minor League Notes
- Carson Fulmer with another win, but it was not without drama.
- The Loons and Drillers were rained out!
- Pete Heubeck started for RC and went 3 innings. He allowed 1 hit and 1 BB and struck out 5. He looked very solid… even good… especially for a 19-year-old!
Finally, Rob Manfred has some major problems… not the least of which is Trevor Bauer. Any similarity between Bauer and Johnny Depp? Stay tuned…
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Discussion (109)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Heaney with a fine outing at OKC. 4.1 scoreless innings.
Pepiot followed that with 4.2 one run innings, striking out 6 and no BBs.
kid is looking better and better, finding his command. At the least he is excellent value in a possible trade come the deadline.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!
Something I don’t understand….
Graterol, Ferguson and Phillips didn’t throw many pitches. Each were effective–but each only threw a single inning. Why not leave them in for another inning? They can’t be tired and other RPs might need the rest.
If it ain’t broke…
Maybe Vesia and especially Hudson needed rest.
Will Kimbrel be back Friday?
My timing was impeccable.
Daniel Hudson needs a few days rest.
Well Mark, they’re gonna have to score more than 11 runs a game to reach your OPS projections! Ha ha!
Well, hopefully Max has taken a step back to his former self. Good day today.
Cody should be better. At times he looks good, other times he swings through balls.
Curious how ending the shift will effect him next year.
I’m fine with Gavin Lux. His hustle helped them win today. Four hits.
I’m not sure the Dodgers need to trade for a bat. They really hit Justin, Cody, Will to pick it up. The top three are about as good as it gets.
They need to keep Trea. No way to replace him.
I will ask your thoughts on something has been bothering me from some time.
I think the troubles DHudson had today was triggered by the use of shift in the 9th, which it is widespread throughout MLB. It was a 4 run advantage and there were 2 cheap hits back to back, hit against the shift. I understand all the Saber Munbo Jumbo but I don’t like para nada my closer gifting onbase runners. If you are going to make a rally, just hit.
Dodgers strike out too much. 15 SO in 39 ABs. Room for improvement.
That was a fun game to watch. Who woulda thought coming in that Muncy would have a 2B and HR and 5 RBI! Lux with 4 hits. Anderson scoreless streak broken and that he wouldn’t go past 3? Coming back from a 4-0 deficit?
Awesome game. I like the way Hudson gutted that one out
Everybody bitching about Muncy, Turner, Lux and Belli. In today’s game, Belli got the scoring started after being down 4-0. Muncy with a bomb a double and 5 RBI. Lux with 3 hits, on base 4 times a couple of runs scored and is all the sudden hitting 286.
It’s nice to see Muncy finally show something. This is his turnaround game. Send him to the minors until he’s fixed is not heresy.
Lux is going to wind up hitting 300 this year. If you have a 300 hitter, who gets on base over 360, can steal some bases and is fast as shit, it doesn’t matter if he’s not hitting bombs. That’s called a leadoff hitter. Hitting in front on Betts, that’s basically what he is / will be. He’s not far off from 300/360 right now.
Belli is who he is. He’s at least a top 10 CF as is. You can do worse.
JT looks like the hitting version of David Price.
Just wondering, and it is just one game. But they used to say that when you are struggling or injured, just try to go up the middle or with the pitch. I know that’s ‘old fashioned’ but wondering if Muncy is trying that.- a hit to center and left- I leave that analysis to those more knowledgeable than me
Lets face it. We all said that we expected Max to start hitting again
I REPEAT!!!
FIRE DOC ROBERTS!!!
HIRE TONY LARUSA!!!!
Way to go Max, and against the left-hander
Max and the Dodgers sure needed that.
Hoping this will be the start of a turnaround.
Remember Mookie looked lost in the beginning of the season, And then seemingly out of nowhere turned it around
FIRE DOC ROBERTS!!!
LETS HIRE TONY LARUSSA!!!!
Not sure why some here are down on Trea Turner all he does is put up a 300-ish average and an 800+ OPS.
I think Freeman is having a big influence on Lux’ approach to hitting.
Players aren’t robots. But I think due to all the technology and analysis, there’s a movement to make them more robotic. Just like golf you have “feel” players and the “mechanical” players, always in search of the perfect method. Pitchers are very similar. While Walker Buehler is searching for his mechanics and that optimum delivery for his 4 seamer and velo, you have guys like Johnny Cueto who just pitch by feel. He changes many things pitch to pitch. He makes stuff up as he goes. Kind of an artist on the fly who seems more concerned with the outcome than the method. And I find that refreshing. And for the Walker Buehler’s that style just isn’t who they are. Their methods seem much more fragile but better when they are “on” their mechanics.
Some golfers play better when they give up the quest for the perfect swing and decide to “play” golf instead or “work” golf. They become less robotic and analytical. I think that could help some pitchers but that certainly isn’t the trend today. I fear all the technology can lead to making more robots and players who are a lot less fun.
Does anyone else notice that Tyler Anderson rubs his hat in a certain spot which looks kind of white a lot between pitches? I have noticed this in almost all his starts. I know they check the pitchers for sticky stuff but that was one example of how hiding sticky stuff was done in the past before they started to crack down on it. I am sure if it was something illegal he would have been nailed for it. Just an observation is all, not saying he is doing anything illegal.
Since you guys are talking a lot about the Dodgers position players, I thought I’d give my opinion.
Besides Justin Turner and Max Muncy, 1 is old and the other is injured. The 2 worst starters to me who don’t have an excuse are Gavin Lux and Cody Bellinger. I’m not sure how long Lux should stay a starter without any power. But then who replaces him?
As for the bench, I liked Edwin Rios but he is injured and I don’t know when he will be back. I never liked the 2 current bench players we have Hanser Alberto and Eddy Alvarez. Austin Barnes is fine as the back up catcher.
Max and a .800 OPS = a lot of walks!!
Lux might be hitting as ordered. Ball not traveling makes OBP that much more important.
Can’t say I like Lux batting stance. Loan some of his bent knee to Bellinger.
The Dodgers will not be OK with Lux hitting .270 with no power. Mike Busch will be knocking at the door. However, I am not convinced Lux cannot hit 15 HR and 35 doubles. Time will tell. I think Busch will be ready in 2023.