It s Not About the Money!
Well, at least it should not be about the money. Andrew Friedman gave Carl Crawfish his walking papers last year and ate about $32 million in the process. It was not about the money it was about how well you can play. It was about what was best for the Dodgers. Baseball is a wonderful game you just never know what will happen. Use Your Eyes . and Sabermetrics
Well, at least it should not be about the money.
Andrew Friedman gave Carl Crawfish his walking papers last year and ate about $32 million in the process. It was not about the money – it was about “how well you can play.” It was about what was best for the Dodgers.
Baseball is a wonderful game – you just never know what will happen. Use Your Eyes…. and Sabermetrics – yes, there is that! That said, Adrian Gonzalez looks old and slow. Chase Utley looks old and fast… but he still looks old. On Sesame Street they used to ask “Which one of these doesn’t belong?”
I’ll spare you the pain: Adrian Gonzalez and Chase Utley do not belong. Ouch! Cody Bellinger and Chris Taylor do. The Dodgers will win more games with Chris Taylor and Cody Bellinger than with Chase Utley and Adrian Gonzalez. I will say this: Chase Utley and A-Gon are “borderline” Hall-of-Fame Candidates. I feel bad for Chase and Adrian, but they, of all people, should understand.
There is always someone breathing down your neck. FAZ has loaded this team with incredible depth and THAT DEPTH has cost A-Gon and Chase a job! That’s my opinion using my eyes and sabermetrics as well. Chase Utley is hitting .114 while Chris Taylor is hitting .310. Adrian Gonzalez is a nice pinch hitter (as he demonstrated last night), if you don’t need a HR. He has frequently been the cleanup hitter and he has 10 RBI’s. In a lot fewer at-bats, Andrew Toles has 13!
Cody Bellinger is now hitting .345 with a .406 OB% and 1.061 OPS. Yes, it’s only been 29 AB’s, but your eyes can see “greatness” is written all over this kid. Not only does Cody Bellinger belong on the team, but he belongs at 1B! I believe he is better defensively than A-Gon, he has much better range, he is a much faster runner and he can really hit… with power. If you saw the AB where he hit a moon shot foul and then on the next pitch went the other way for a bases clearing triple, you saw something rare. Joc would have still been trying to jack it out, encouraged by his previous contact.
A-Gon was a great player, but it’s not about yesterday, it’s about today and tomorrow and FAZ has two very tough decisions to make. The bottom line is they want to win. Sorry Chase and A-Gon. I can see A-Gon on the bench as he can handle the bat, but you can’t have two aging LH pinch hitters on the bench. Neither can be traded.
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Discussion (58)
Disagree, not disagreeable
In his last 5 games batting leadoff, Toles is 7/19, batting .368, 2 HR and now we want to replace him with Joc Pederson?
Give the man a chance!
I agree with Bums lineup above, Utley goes on the DL to be used later when needed as more players will get hurt. AGon and Grandal get playing time also. More players will get hurt so need some flexibility. AGon has too much committed to him salary wise to cut him loose and still has value, just not as an everyday player. Joc does a decent job at leadoff, takes walks and provides power and speed. A few bunts might loosen up the shifts he sees. Puig is ideal in the 2 hole as he takes the ball the other way, and also provides speed and power. Both are good defensively. Seager and Turner drop into their more natural spots and Bellinger provides protection. Toles drops into a spot where his speed plays but without the pressure of leading off. Barnes is a good defensive catcher and has speed and a contact bat. It will change against LH starters. Taylor just provides way more than Utley at this point. Kiki is versatile but needs to quit trying for a home run on every swing, he is not that player. That is the best group of position players at this point in the season.
I agree with your opinion about both players. It’s been too long since LA has had a World Series trophy and our best chance is with the younger players that have shown that they belong in the big leagues. This happens to all players, you can’t escape the cruel process of aging. The front office created depth, let’s use it not trade it !
Agon did heat up at the end of last year and had an overall productive year, but he was clearly trending downwards. He went from a pretty steady wRC+ of around 130 to 112. Zips and Steamer project him to produce a 107 and a 105 wRC+ . WAR numbers for Agon’s tenure with the Dodgers are 2.9, 3.6, 3.1 and then the precipitous drop to 1.3 last year. He had a 6.1 WAR with a 155 wRC+ one year with the Sox. That’s when the Dodgers should have had him. He should have been signed originally when he was a FA, but that was during the McCourt regime and Frank and Jamie were to busy using Dodger equity to pay for divorce attorneys. I know Coletti wanted him…..I thought he was a great fit in LA….but they waited and then had to overpay by taking on Crawford’s contract. Oh well. Nice that we’ve had him
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.Looking for trends in his statistics, he getting thrown more four seam fastballs and they’re being thrown a little harder. His contact percentage has dropped and his pop up rate has spiked up. He’s just not catching up to high fastballs anymore. Nearly every batting metric dropped to career lows last year, and have absolutely cratered this year so far.
. His defense has declined by a significant margin as well. UZR/150 for his time with the Dodgers are:
6.5
.
5.1
.
3.2
.
-.06 last year
and so for he’s at -11.3.
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He’s not making the hard plays anymore. Bellinger’s a stud defensive first baseman. It might be time.
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Toles has picked it up lately. If he can earn a more consistent spot in the left, and if Bellinger takes over the 1rst baseman job, the Dodgers have two eligible candidates for ROY.
CF Pederson
RF Puig
SS Seager
3B Turner
1B Bellinger
2B Forsythe
LF Toles
C Barnes
Bench: Gutierrez, Gonzales, Taylor, Grandal, Hernandez
Boy do I agree with you Mark, but I do not see it happening. The only way it does happen is if they take themselves out of the picture. FAZ is loyal and they will stay. I am ok with them staying. I think their leadership will be needed in October. I believe Bellinger and Taylor will both be sent down. It may not happen if a trade is made. They will be back up.
I really think Puig is close to breaking out. He is hitting the ball very hard. He just needs to get some air under his hits. This is what Turner has been working on. I bet Turner is trying to help Puig.
The one I think should be traded is Joc. I would trade Joc for prospects. Put Bellinger, Toles and Puig in the outfield. Keep Gutierrez, Utley, Barnes and Kike as your subs. The staters are fine and we have replacements. The bull pen needs some help. The odd man out is Taylor, but he will be coming back with any injury. He will be back in September.
I would trade Dickson. He is blocked and he deserves a chance to play.
This is the first time I could agree with you about agon. Your arguments about the trade with boston were always wrong and agon has been the best hitter of the dodgers for five years. but not anymore. You finally have solid arguments about your comments about gonzalez