It's Time For a New Closer

I might be the most nostalgic Dodger fan alive. I have a love for the guys who are “good guys”. I still talk to DJ Peters. He and his wife just had a beautiful baby boy. And he also got released by the Giants in the KBO. At pretty much the same time. What a mixed bag.

I love Max. But reality is a thing. It pains me.

Like the day I realized I had no chance to play division one or pro ball. It sucked. But Max needs to be told his Cinderella story has come to an end. It was a great run. But it’s over. I have all the sympathy.

Remind me of a scene from Moneyball. “Some of us are told we can’t play the kids game anymore. Some of us are told told at 18. Some of us are told at 40. But we’re all told”.

I hurt for Max.He is very competitive,you can see that.I know he is working really hard trying to get it back.I have been thinking he’ll brake loose all season.We are still hoping.Hang in there Maximus!

You’re right Quas. Watching him hit right now in the ninth. He does need some R&R for a mental regrouping. Just hit a long double off the right field fence.

Max is an athlete. His hitting is suffering likely due to all the effort he put into dialing his defense as that is the reverse of his problems. He’s surely trying and it’s going to come, but soon enough? Stress is the issue now and he’s trying everything. You can just see that in his every expressions. Gotta feel for him.

A friend and I were going over AF’s history of trades. He’s smarter than all of us combined.

If you look at the list of minor leaguers he’s traded, he got the best of each team that was involved. I remember names like Willie Calhoun, Jharel Cotton, Yusnel Diaz. Montas had been good.. But he had TJ and a PED suspension after that trade. Josiah Gray and Ruiz might end up being good MLB players. But I’d still make those trade in a heartbeat. About the only real miss was when we traded Yordan Alvarez before he played a single pro game for the Dodgers. But, who knew at that time he’d be what he is? Vargas, Cartaya… we’ve seen them do nothing but mash. They won’t be traded. If we do trade anybody, good luck to the team that gets was AF is willing to trade. They’ll likely regret it. Which is also why other GMs are probably reluctant to trade with him. Dodgers play chess. Everybody else is playing Hungry Hungry Hippos.

Paderes offer per MLB Insider is crazy. SS CJ Abrams, LHP Adrian Morejon, McKenzie Gore, OF Robert Hassell III, #23 MLB prospect and OF Joshua Mears, Padres #8 prospect. supposedly the Nats asked for one more prospect. Teams to submit their final offers asap. Giants listening to offers for their veterans.

Max’s game is complete shit right now. Can’t forget the easy out #3 in Philly he booted to give the game to the Phils and tonight he boots a routine ground ball to 3B. Stop the madness, when has Doc and AF seen enough?

Chris Martin is basically Phil Bickford with more innings pitched in his career. This year Chris Martin is worse than Phil Bickford. This is based on stats. This trade does nothing for me, it just gives Doc another crappy reliever to use in games that are winnable. Chris Martin is not playoff material.

The Dodgers traded with the Cubs for the wrong guy. It should have been for David Robertson instead.

I’m glad to see that some of you are now finally talking about what I’ve been talking about for a long time. The 1 part of the team that has room for improvement is the bullpen. Especially for the playoffs.

I think it was Mark that brought up David Bednar. He is my 3rd pick among the smaller pool of relievers available than previous years because of the expanded playoffs. Bednar has only been good since 2021. 1 full year and this year. Before that he was horrible in 2019 and 2020 but it was only 11 innings and 6.1 innings. The reason Bednar is my 3rd pick is because he has been good in only 107.1 innings and the price for him will be bigger than my top 2 picks that are rentals. Therefore will not cost as much and have better career stats than Bednar in much more innings pitched. Therefore are more proven than Bednar and they are doing better than Bednar this year too. But don’t get me wrong, Bednar would be an upgrade over most of our bullpen. Therefore I would be glad if the Dodgers got him. He is my 3rd pick for the bullpen.

8:10 PM ET

Dodgers (67-32)

Rockies (45-56)

SP Clayton Kershaw L

7-2 2.49 ERA 76IP 81K

Confirmed Lineup

RF Mookie Betts R

SS Trea Turner R

1B F. Freeman L

DH Will Smith R

2B H. Alberto R

LF T. Thompson R

3B Max Muncy L

C A. Barnes R

CF C. Bellinger L

0% Rain

94° Wind 5 mph Out

On James Outman: This is purely a “SHOWCASE.” If the Dodgers are lucky, he will come up and hit like a madman so that he can be traded. He will be a nice 4th or 5th outfielder and he can play all three positions, but, like McKinstry, there is no place for him.

So, Zach McKinstry was likely told he was going back to OKC, and both he and Friedman know he has no future in LA. This is Andrew helping Zach stay in the bigs. Now, it’s on Zach. Martin is a huge reach… but you never know what might happen. He’s exactly the type the Dodger Gurus can transform.

Martin strikes out 30% of hitters, something the Dodgers need. He gives up the HR more than we’d like, so will be interesting to see how/when we use him.

FYI,

Chris Martin is 36 and has a 4.31 ERA this year. I’m not sure if he is an improvement over Bickford, but I guess he has experience on his side.

I don’t see any reason to pop open the bubbly stuff on this “minor” transaction though, but I am still expecting to see a much bigger splash to be made soon.

Rays To Acquire David Peralta

By Steve Adams | July 30, 2022 at 2:40pm CDT

The Rays and Diamondbacks have agreed to a trade sending outfielder David Peralta from Arizona to Tampa Bay, reports Robert Murray of FanSided (via Twitter).

I think Martin will fit in nicely in the bullpen. Probably a seventh inning kind of guy. Hits 95 with the fastball. Throws a bunch of different pitches so I think the coaches will tinker with that. Maybe end up throwing fastball,curveball, and slider.

Outman was a surprise. I was thinking next year to make his debut in the bigs. Vargas is who I was thinking would be called up first as he is dominating AAA. Outman plays an exceptional right field. If he can hit big league pitching look for him to stick.

The Chris Martin trade may be an indication that mtg does not expect to have key arms return for the playoffs.

I would love to land Soto. That might be the leverage we need to sign Trea to a short High avg value deal bc i do not see the Dodgers giving Trea 300 million.

Rockies agreeing to an extension with Bard. Cards and Phils make a trade with Sosa, SS , going to the Phils for LH reliever, Jo Jo Romero. Move made so Cards can bring DeJong back. Trevor Story has a fractured wrist. Pederson, who got a two single digit salute from Cubs manager, David Ross, is on the 7 day concussion IL. Probably will miss at least 3 of the games against LA.

Rockies agreeing to an extension with Bard. Cards and Phils make a trade with Sosa, SS , going to the Phils for LH reliever, Jo Jo Romero. Move made so Cards can bring DeJong back. Trevor Story has a fractured wrist. Pederson, who got a two single digit salute from Cubs manager, David Ross, is on the 7 day concussion IL. Probably will miss at least 3 of the games against LA.

Jim Callis

@jimcallisMLB

2nd-rder Dalton Rushing signs with

@Dodgers

for $1,959,390 (slot 40 value = $1,951,900).

@LouisvilleBSB

C, 1.156 OPS with 23 HR, combines power & patience, strong arm behind the plate. Source says LA has agreed to terms with all but its 20th-rder in

@MLBDraft

.

With Martin coming in, someone has to go down pitcher wise. My guess, Jake Reed. One reason AF traded for the guy is that he does not walk people. His walk rate is at 3%.

After trading away utility man Zach McKinstry in a trade with the Cubs, LA is calling up minor league outfielder James Outman. As of earlier this morning, reports had Outman en route to Colorado.

In 90 games split between Double-A Tulsa and Triple-A Oklahoma City this year, the prospect has posted a .279/.381/.534 triple slash line with 21 home runs and 69 runs batted in. Nice. He slowed down a bit average-wise (.225 in 22 games) after joining AAA. But overall, his on-base skills and power have been there.

Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic confirmed the news.

* What a catch by Bellinger. He, Mookie and Trayce can run down some fly balls and Coors is a great arena to show those skills. Belli’s catch was awesome

* On the “not so good” side, Maybe he and Muncy shouidn’t be back to back in the line up. Together they were 2 for 9 with 5 K’s and left 5 orfthe 13 runners left on base. Put somebody between these two.

A quality team AB is damned near impossible for Belli. He struggles with contact so situational hitting is a dream. Last night he got it dead backwards in 2 AB’s. Top 7, no outs, Muncy on 2nd. Belli needs contact to the right side to advance Muncy to 3rd. He just has to do what he always does, pull the ball on the ground into the shift. Instead, he struck out looking leaving Muncy stranded at 2nd. His next AB in the 9th with Lux on first , he pulls a grounder to the right side for a near DP. Exactly what he needed to do his previous at bat.This of course was while the Dodgers were stuck on 5 runs and failed to add on. It almost cost the win. Bellinger shows no ability to “play pepper” to help his team.

* Jess Mendoza made a great comment after TT error and the next play which he turned two. The error didn’t effect the next play. No “stinking thinking” and doubt. I used to talk about this mental side of the game with my players all the time. This is the difference between professionals and young amateur players. More often then not, a high school player will boot a ball and then another and another. Fear of another failure becomes a real thing. I did that as a high schooler. We would talk about fear and doubt effecting the next play. The ability to flush the negative separates the men from the boys.

* Once upon a time the nice play by McMahon on Trayce would have been an out every time. The rule of thumb before replay was the call would favor the outstanding play, if it was close. Conversely, if the play wasn’t clean and was bang-bang, the call went to the runner. The theory was fans didn’t pay to see a great play and the runner called safe. The D would get that call. Obviously, that’s long gone with replay. but I miss the idea that great plays got rewarded.

* I watched Aroldis Chapman come in, throw a 100 and have a clean inning for the Yankees yesterday. It was the 7th. Without fuss, he has moved to a set up guy and no longer closes. I would strongly consider that for Kimbrel with Phillips and hopefully Treinen soon (even Allmonte) closing games.

** But Willie was right again……..”All’s Well, That Ends Well”

Read between the lines folks.

We’ve just traded a lefty hitting outfielder.

Why?

This means we are definitely getting Soto. Otherwise why trade an extremely important guy like McKinstry.

I hope you guys realize how lucky you are to have me here to explain this stuff.

So, if Martin is a Dodger, who is he replacing in the bullpen? Don’t recall, are Bickford/Moronta still with the club? Who will replace McKinstry on the bench? Is it Vargas time?

This all looks like a shuffling of the deck before the big move.

Strange move. Don´t get it. Maybe just to unload McKinstry and give him a good landing spot.

Martin probably will be the first one to get the axe as soon as May and Treinen are ready.

The way the roster is right now it will come down to Lamb or TT for CT3 unless the Dodgers make a bigger move in the trading department to free up some roster space.

Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!