It's Getting Late… Early!

I think it really does not matter what Vargas does between now and opening day. I still think he is going to have to go to AAA and hone his game. He has at bats like today, where he looks like an All-Star, and then the games before today’s where he looks like he couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat. These are the 13 position players who will be heading to Korea. Ohtani, Freeman, Muncy, Outman, Heyward, Lux, the Hernandez boys, Smith, Barnes, Taylor, Rojas, Betts. Sheehan won’t be ready to open the season. I think the five starters will be, Yamamoto, Miller, Glasnow, Paxton and Stone. Yarbrough will be in the pen as a long man and the 5th starter option if Stone is not picked. Buehler, and Kershaw will go on the IL when the season starts. The eight pen arms? Graterol, Phillips, Kelly, Trienen, Brasier, Vesia, Hudson, and one of Hurt, Vanasco, or Gage.

The Dodgers don’t need Rojas. Lux, Betts, Taylor, Kike can all play SS and 2B. Taylor and Kike can play 3B. Gauthier will be down there in the minors, if it goes that far for a call up.

Why not trade Rojas for a prospect and have Pages as Heyward’s platoon partner and fill in for Teo H and Outman on their days off and pinch hit too. That’s enough at bats to go around for Pages. I’d rather have a homegrown that obviously will hit better than Rojas, since Rojas has the bar set so low.

I really don’t think Kike should be Heyward’s platoon partner. Kike’s stats against LHP have gone down since 2018 except 2021. Even Taylor would be a better fit in that spot considering he’s hit LHP better than Kike in that span.

Their’s versatility in the outfield that it could work out.

But then again, who cares, the offense is stacked.

Just my 2 cents.

White Sox, Cleveland and the Royals are the only teams in the AL without a former Dodger on the 40-man. Giants and Colorado the only teams in the NL without a former Dodger on the 40-man. About 12 exe Dodgers on the Non-roster lists.

I like Singing the Blue’s option #2–Switch Mookie and Lux.. Mookie is a great athlete who moved to 2nd with no hiccups. His arm is certainly strong enough and I don’t think his size (5’9″, 180lbs) is a negative. Ozzie Smith was 5’11”,, 150l lbs, How did that work out? At least no one will complain that he is too big to play shortstop like you-know-who always says about Seager.

Great spring training start for the Dodgers. My takeaway is that our minor league position players are much better than the other teams’ minor league pitchers. We’re really tough in the last half of the games when all the scrubs are playing. Not complaining–it just emphasizes the depth of the Dodgers as well as the development of their players.

DePau;a hit a bomb and Pages is breaking down the door.

Just saw there were 2 games. How did DePaula look. And Pages looking like a guy who wants to be the Dodgers future RFer. Or sooner!

What a day! Lux, Outman and Vargas! If Outman stops striking out, the skies the limit! Glad for the young guns. And Rooney is making a move

De Paula with a 2-run blast.

I guess Vargas has hit a ball hard. Solo homer today.

Lux 3-3 so far

Andy Pages with a three run homer,his 2nd of the Spring in the game against the Cubs today in Glendale. He could be a factor if an outfielder goes down . To think Artie Moreno rejected the trade that would have sent Pages to the Angels in 2020.

Very fast hands from Pagés, impressive !!!

Gametime. See Y’all later.

Outman is fine. He will play 75% of the time in CF – whether he strikes out a lot or not.

Kike is his caddy.

The Dodgers are all in this season, but I do not believe Lux is a championship caliber. SS.

I like his bat. I didn’t kill anyone or call him a moron. What’s wrong with that?

LOL! When I see Mark’s ongoing relationship with Lux I can’t help but think of some supervillain in some James Bond (or Austin Powers) movie pulling a lever to a trap door so one of his subordinates dies a slow and agonizing death over some trivial mistake. Stalin was more loyal to his generals than Mark is to Lux.

Lux’s first throwing error:

“It’s just one throw. You can’t make anything of it.”

Lux’s second throwing error:

“Lux is gone. An Adames trade is already in the works. The deal is as good as done. See! I told you!”

Imagine the pressure on poor Outman to not strike out against a lefty. I wonder if Vargas runs out an infield hit on a slow dribbler to third whether he’ll be re-anointed as the next Tony Gwynn.

Pages playing CF

“Giants new manager, Bob Melvin has brought a bunch of rules to the Giants during the spring, most notably around the national anthem. Melvin is requiring every single person who could be in the Giants dugout for a game — players, coaches, trainers and even the bat boys — to be on the field for the anthem.” –

Minor League Batting averages:

Ronald Acuna – .303

Austin Riley – .283

Freddie Freeman – .303

Minor league stats mean something, but not everything.

He still has exceptional bat-to-ball skills and surprising power. He has to go back to AAA and figure it out.

I still expect good things from him.

I also expect good things from Lux… just not at SS.

3:05 PM ET vs Cubs at Glendale

Cubs (4-3))

Dodgers (6-2-1))

SP Shota Imanaga L

0-0 .00 ERA

SP Ryan Yarbrough L

0-0 .00 ERA

Confirmed Lineup

SS Miguel Rojas R

1B F. Freeman L

C Will Smith R

3B Max Muncy L

LF T. Hernandez R

CF Andy Pages R

DH Ryan Ward L

2B A. Gauthier R

RF Drew Avans L

71° Wind 10 mph Out

“If Feyereisen looks like he hasn’t pitched in two years”, Lux looks like he hasn’t played in a year !!!

Lux comes from a serious injury that kept him out of baseball for a year, so the problems he is having in SS are totally explainable, he has to get used to the speed of the game and he will achieve that with day to day and as you say: ” this is just ST” or “progress is not linear” that also applies to Gavin Lux and James Outman.

Miguel Vargas has had that “slap swing” since June 2023, right now he is an AAAA player, he has to find his old swing and it has to be soon.

I think we were wrong with Miguel, we put too many expectations on him, he has a lifetime Avg in the minor leagues of .310 that must translate in MLB to an Avg of .230-.240 and 8 -12 HR, that is very poor for a LF

Happy you have decided to return to the show!

This lineup can easily absorb any of Adames’ shortcomings to include SOs and being RH. As we all know, the most important contribution the SS position makes to a team is defense. AF and ownership have decided to, “go all in” this year so adding Willy to the team just solidifies that commitment! Gavin seems like a great person and is very talented BUT doesn’t seem to be the SS for this team this year despite the small sample size this spring. Go FULL VILLAIN this year and send Gavin to his hometown team! Willy can pick it as well as any top defensive SS and can hit over 20 bombas!! Vamonos chico!! It’s likely to happen for sure by July so just pull the bandage off already and pull the trigger, AF!!! Makes too much sense!! Good for Lux as well and maybe more than just Willy could come this way??? DW anyone??? Sorry Bear, gotta disagree with you on this one.

Eric, sorry to hear you don’t want to post as much. You’re not passive aggressive….. you’re persistent on your opinions and nothing wrong with that at all. I enjoy your passion and more importantly your research that backs up your opinions and admitting if you’re wrong. C’mon brother, keep it flowing!!

VIVA AZUL!!!!

Imanaga vs. Yarbrough today at 12:05 PDT/3:05 EDT

On 02/05/24 Los Angeles Dodgers signed free agent RHP Dinelson Lamet to a minor league contract. Does anyone know if reported to camp because he was having Visa problems?

Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs wrote this yesterday:

“…I stand by what I wrote in my 40-man roster deadline piece when I said they’re taking a risk standing pat at shortstop because I’m not convinced Gavin Lux can play there.”

There are quite a number of baseball people who think the same.

With Miguel Rojas on the roster the Dodger brass is not giving up on Lux after a few poor ST games after not playing ball for a year. There is no agreed upon trade with Milwaukee.

Lux will be the opening day starting SS and he will play well. If he plays bad for a significant period of time (perhaps the all-star break/trading deadline) Rojas can be inserted into the everyday starting line-up and Lux can be used for additional pitching, but he is not being traded now.

Will Smith is hitting .091 with 1 hit in 11 ABs. Is he to be traded also?

River Ryan is now the #1 Dodger prospect on Fangraphs. Only two position players there. Rushing and Feduccia. Swaggerty has not been impressive at all. As a matter of fact, his defense has been downright awful. His base running blunder tonight led to an inning ending out at the plate. Gauthier has been very impressive along with Sweeney and Ramos. AAA OKC is going to be loaded.

Chapman signs with the Giants, 3/54 with opt outs after the first two years. Sounds eerily like Bellinger’s deal for less money. Feyereisen was not very good. He looked rusty. On the other hand, Glasnow looked great. Ohtani 1-1 with 2 walks. Freddie and Mookie ofer. Gauthier has impressed all spring long. Mark, I think Lux has more time than you are giving him credit for. And Adames would be at most a one-year fix, he makes them righty heavy in the lineup. That trade is not happening. Former Dodger prospect Brandon Dixon retires. He was part of the trade that landed Thompson and two others in LA and sent Todd Frazier to the White Sox. C J Cron signs a minor league deal with the Red Sox.

After Gauthier’s grand slam, Fangraphs moved him up from #39 to #1.

And Doc has announced he’s the new opening day shortstop.

And they’re working on his HOF plaque.

What’s that? Small sample size?