Since becoming a Dodgers fan at age 9, sixty years ago, I have seen this story so many times that I laugh instead of panic. Most years, the Dodgers had no chance, but I rooted for them anyway. In 1988, they had no chance, but the impossible happened! Over the past ten years, Dodger fans fully expect to win every game, every year… and rightfully so! The Dodgers are the envy of every team in baseball, but maybe it is time for a re-set.
Now, I am not saying that the Dodgers just have to lose this year and not make the playoffs – I fully expect them to make the playoffs in 2023, but there will be some bumps in the road. There were earlier in the season, and they are still there. The injury bug has devastated the pitching staff, and all they can do is keep fighting.
Oh, they could make some dope-fiend moves and trade the future for some instant gratification right now. However, if the Dodgers were going to “load up” this season, why would they have waited until now? Why not also load up in the off-season? Many of you do not get it – my only question is, can you not comprehend it, or do you just refuse to accept it?
“We’re the Dodgers – we can trade for anybody we want and sign anybody we want because we have all the money!” I am not going to call you dumb if you believe that – I am just going to say that you must have bad luck when it comes to thinking! Here’s the reality of the situation. THE DODGERS FARM SYSTEM IS LOADED! This is the first time I can remember them having the best farm system in baseball in a “Coon’s Age.”
But that does not mean that all of these prospects are ready and able to help right about now. Also, remember two things: (1) Progress is not linear (they will be ready when they are ready), and (2) Half of them will not make it (we know that historically). For every Bobby Miller who makes it, Gavin Stone won’t. For every Emmet Sheehan who makes it, Nick Nastrini will not. For every Andy Pages who makes it, a Diego Cartaya won’t! [Those are just examples, not what I think.] I have no opinion as to who will and won’t make it. All I can do is look at the stats (which mean EVERYTHING to some fans, but in reality, they don’t mean jacks___t!). I trust my eyes more than the stats when evaluating young players, and to date, there is no metric for evaluating “want to,” “determination,” “desire,” and “heart!”
None of this is lost on Andrew Friedman. The Dodgers are in a very unique position. The farm system is loaded. Already, Miguel Vargas and James Outman have been integrated into the lineup. Michael Busch could be back any day. It is also not lost on Andrew Friedman that Austin Barnes can’t hit and that he now has a losing record as a starting catcher. AF can see that Trayce Thompson can’t deliver what the Dodgers need. Even Jason Heyward’s sun is setting to some degree.
There’s not a lot he can do right about now. Only a complete idiot would trade the prospect collateral required to get a catcher or another outfielder. This team just went 14-2 with the same players! So don’t tell me they are so bad that they cannot do it. The pitching staff is gassed. Even Ray Charles can see that! Bobby Miller and Gavin Stone will likely pitch this week, and Landon Knack is not far behind. Alex Vesia has righted his ship. John Rooney and Emmet Sheehan are progressing nicely. Michael Grove and Nick Robertson are also possibilities.
For some reason, the Dodger Brass are loathe to call up Hunter Feduccia, and of course, his BA has dropped to .267, but he still has a .402 OB%. I suggest releasing Thompson and calling up Hunter, so you have another bat who can hit RHP. David Peralta and Miguel Rojas will do what they are supposed to do. Remember, the Dodgers were the hottest team in baseball a week ago! I suggest you keep your wits about you when things are going poorly… and by the way, it’s not the hitting: It’s the pitching, and this too shall pass!
Take a deep breath… shoot, take something stronger! You evidently need it. Me? I enjoy the process!
Discussion (40)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Some questions, and some information:
1. What would be the national reaction if the Sisters of PI were targeting Muslims instead of Catholics?
2. WWVD? (What Would Vin Do?) and would the Dodgers honor these haters if devoted Catholic Vin Scully were still broadcasting? Or even if he were still alive?
3. Are there no Catholic ball players who will speak out against this anti-Catholic bigotry? Or non-Catholics, for that matter? (“They came for the ——— but I was not a ——- so I said nothing”) It’s time for some courage, that rarest of human attributes.
More information: “ Among the abhorrent actions of the worldwide “Order,” whose motto is “Go forth and sin some more!”—a perversion of Jesus’s command from John 8:11 “Go and sin no more,” co-founders “Sister Vicious Power Hungry B*tch” and “Sister Missionary Position” wore the habits of a Roman Catholic convent to a gay nude beach, and in 2007, they tricked the archbishop of San Francisco into giving them the Eucharist during Holy Communion. This past Easter Sunday, they hosted a “Jesus and Mary-themed striptease”
where a pole dancer was
“writhing upside down on a large wooden cross.”
Half-naked men were also there
competing to be crowned the “hunkiest” Jesus
along with contestants vying to win the group’s longtime “Foxy Mary” contest.”
My family was planning on attending the Quakes game tonight but anything that can even be perceived as support of the Dodgers is now off limits for us. So very sad.
I stated when I said that I would keep writing as long as Mark left access to the dashboard that there would be no name calling tolerated and keep the discussion to baseball unless the subject pertains to something that has to do with baseball. The Dodgers LGBTQ night pertains to baseball. We all have views. I respect everyone’s right to an opinion. But do not cross the line. No name calling. Period.
Nice comeback win. First NL team with 30. Pads 8 back and 4 games under .500. Don’t sleep on the D-Backs or the Giants who are playing well with some new blood. Lakers get swept, but face it, Nuggets were the better team all year. Hopefully Leboner will move on and I can watch Laker basketball again. Hunter Dozier DFA’d by the Royals.
Here is John Wick falling down steps in Paris for ten hours. Thank me whenever.
https://youtu.be/r7a4g-65SzA
There was a picture of the hate group in the LA Times recently. Wow. What a sick bunch of people.
A friend of mine took his dad to Dodger Stadium about 4 years ago. Unbeknownst to them it was Pride Night. My friend told me for he and his dad that game was ruined. And every game they had ever been to was now ruined. And every future game was ruined because they would never ever go to another game.
Stone will need another pitch with more action in the strike zone if he’s to be a legit SP in the show.
Vargas doing well being more aggressive at the plate, but needs even MORE aggression, ..just trust his bat-to-ball ability more. He’ll break out when he does that.
The JDM signing is a total success so far. …but only if he can stay healthy w/o any more extended IL stints.
Hopefully, Rojas can keep his recent hitting surge going. Then he’d be perfect batting ninth.
Great comeback win and that Eric is why they signed JD Martinez. When healthy, he is one of the best hitters in the majors.
Anyone can change their name but that doesn’t change who they are. There is no such thing as a transgender, at least factually. Any parent who would allow a child to have the choice to alter themselves physically sexually should be harshly punished and restricted from being a parent in the future. Talk about playing god…….what A CAN OF WORMS!
And they’re heading for the exits at Truist! Heart of a champion tonight. Huge win! I think!
Outman has settled into where I thought he would be at the end of the season on his slash line.
.255ish BA/.850ish OPS
I hope he does better than that but that was my prediction in the offseason.
Yikes! Gulp!
Almonte is now pitching…..(closing my eyes)
Uh oh Almonte shuts em down!
There may be questions about Vargas’s defense but there is nothing wrong with the way he turns a double play. Really like the way Stone battled back.
Big night for Rojas! Hopefully this gets him going!
James Outman saved the game!
Gutsy comeback from Stone and then just didn’t trust his stuff in the 5th. Sitting in front of a bunch of his family at the game tonight. Good move by Roberts bringing in Phillips here. Just didnt work out
Every Catholic should boycott the Dodgers, but I am not going to tell you what to do.
Marcel Ozuna is a punk ass bitch!
Well the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are back.
Unbelievable….
I think we might be seeing the effects of drafting low for so many years. The pitchers look good in the minors, but just can’t seem to make the next move and then end up in their mid twenties. There seems to be a lot of guys on other teams breaking through much earlier with just knockout stuff. Charlie Morton throwing 97 at 39 years old, are you f***ing kidding me.
Outman has to sell that HPB. Not sure what the heck he was thinking. I’ve seen hitters point out a HPB just when the pitched ball hits a jersey but Outman was hit on the foot and didn’t say a freaking thing. Gotta have better MLB IQ than what he just displayed.
When it rains it pours.
Tell me if this seems familiar. The Dodgers play a baseball game, the starting pitcher can’t get out of the first inning without falling behind immediately. The bullpen pitches 7 innings. The offense scores (even though 7 of the starters are hitting under .250) and the team loses 12-7.
Once again Outman gets a horrible jump on a ball right at him! Ouch! Stone not ready for prime time! Maybe he can get his era under 50! Miller may have to pitch tonight!
Glad to see you decided to keep the blog open. I rarely post but this site has become part of my daily reading.
The Dodgers are well into a process of supplementing the major league club with homegrown talent. Look no further than our rotation. With exception of Syndegard, our entire rotation is a byproduct of our player development. If it wasn’t for Buehler’s injury, our rotation would be 100% homegrown. Several of our bullpen pieces were developed in-house. While we have lost Seager and Bellinger, 1/3 of our everyday players were developed in our system; Smith, Outman and Vargas.
And now, Clayton is on the Bereavement list & Suero is likely gone.
DODGERS RECALL GAVIN STONE, SELECT TAYLER SCOTT
LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers have recalled right-handed pitcher Gavin Stone, selected the contract of right-handed pitcher Tayler Scott, placed left-handed pitcher Clayton Kershaw on the bereavement list and designated right-handed pitcher Wander Suero for assignment.
Stone, 24, returns for his second stint with the team. He allowed five runs (four earned) on eight hits in 4.0 innings against the Phillies on May 3. With Triple-A Oklahoma City, he was 2-2 with a 4.04 ERA (16 ER/35.2 IP) and 41 strikeouts in eight starts. Last season, he was named the 2022 Dodgers Branch Rickey Pitcher of the Year after going a combined 9-6 with a 1.48 ERA (20 ER/121.2 IP) and 168 strikeouts between High-A Great Lakes, Double-A Tulsa and Triple-A Oklahoma City. He started the season going 1-1 with a 1.44 ERA (4 ER/25.0 IP) with Great Lakes while posting a 6-4 record with a 1.60 ERA (13 ER/73.1 IP) and 107 strikeouts with Tulsa. He finished the season with Oklahoma City, allowing three earned runs over 23.1 innings with 33 strikeouts. The Arkansas native has been in the Dodger system since being drafted in the 5th round of the 2020 First Year Player Draft out of the University of Central Arkansas and he is a combined 13-10 with a 2.68 ERA (74 ER/248.1 IP) and 347 strikeouts.
Scott, 30, was 1-0 with a 1.08 ERA (2 ER/16.2 IP) and 29 strikeouts against 10 walks in 16 games with Triple-A Oklahoma City. He has appeared in 301 minor league games, posting a 43-37 record with a 3.83 ERA (284 ER/667.0 IP) and 532 strikeouts. He has spent parts of two seasons in the Major Leagues with Seattle (2019), Baltimore (2019) and San Diego (2022) and he is a combined 0-1 with an 11.12 ERA (35 ER/28.1 IP) and 27 strikeouts in 21 games (two starts). He was signed by the Dodgers as a minor league free agent on January 3, 2023.
Kershaw, 34, pitched yesterday, allowing four runs on five hits in 3.2 innings. He dropped to 6-4 on the season and carries a 2.98 ERA (19 ER/57.1 IP) and 69 strikeouts this season. The eight-time All-Star is 203-91 with a 2.49 ERA (730 ER/2638.1 IP) and 2,876 strikeouts in his career. He was drafted by the Dodgers in the 2006 First Year Player Draft with the seventh overall pick out of Highland Park High School.
Suero, 31, pitched two innings yesterday, allowing three runs on three hits. In four games with the Dodgers this season, he allowed six runs in 6.2 innings with seven strikeouts. He has been in the Major Leagues parts of four seasons with Washington (2018-2021) and Los Angeles (2023) and he is a combined 14-13 with a 4.73 ERA (101 ER/192.0 IP) and 207 strikeouts in 189 Major League games. He was originally signed by the Washington Nationals as an amateur free agent out of Sabana Larga, Dominican Republic on February 2, 2010.
JT is OPS’ing .797 with 5 HR and 18 RBI. The Red Sox have to pay him $10.3 Million this year so as not to pick up his $13.4 Million Option next year. They won’t pick it up!
JDM is OPs’ing .800 with 6 HR and 25 RBI. He is owed $10 M for this season and they are done.
I could see JT back at a $6 Mil deal next year.
The Dodgers ended up taking Gus Varland back from Milwaukee. If you take out his last game, where he got smashed, his first six appearances were not horrible. Watch him…
Dodgers are in first place despite things not being perfect. If I were GM I wouldn’t have done much different.
Pitching is imploding. I thought the pitching was adequate without signing Syndergaard. I thought the prospects would come through. I guess we we will find out. I would have put Bauer on the roster.
With position players losing Lux was a blow. Oatman would not be on the roster except for Lux injury. That almost makes it a wash.
There is still hope. There are 6 guys, Muncy, Martinez, Rojas, Peralta, Taylor and Barnes hitting .50 less than you would expect although Muncy’s home runs are good. I expect Vargas and Outman to be hitting at least .250 by the end of the season. Looks like Thompsons performance last year was an outlier. He needs to bat against righties. Heyward is on par with his last 6 years. So there is a chance that some of these guys do hit better and lessen the dead zone at the bottom of the order. The only thing I would have done differently is to sign Justin Turner and not Martinez.
I am for the youth movement. I like to watch prospects develop and become Dodgers. Plus they free up a lot of salary. I think the Dodgers know when they have a legitimate shot at the ring. When they do they take a shot at the trade deadline to make it happen.
Like many of you I am perfectly fine with watching the next wave of Dodger prospects arrive on the scene this year and next. This is an incredibly deep system by all accounts and though some will not pan out, undoubtedly some will be contributors and some will flourish. And some will be used to bring in other players at positions of need. The Dodgers won’t come out and talk about about a reset or reload but it is not hard to read between the lines.
The fact that they are able to compete for a NL West title while introducing some prospects to the major league in various roles is a luxury not all teams have.
With Michael Grove pitching well in his rehab and Landon Knack turning a corner, they have some legitimate in-house options to fill in the rotation.
It really is a great time to be a Dodger fan. It is nice to watch guys like Betts and Freeman perform every day in a Dodger uniform but it is even more interesting to watch these young players come up through the system and develop at the big league level.
Where’s Badger been? He hasn’t posted in awhile.
7:20 PM ET
Dodgers (29-19) 1st place
Braves (29-17) 1st place
SP Gavin Stone R
0-0 9.00 ERA
SPCharlie Morton R
5-3 2.85 ERA
Confirmed Lineup
RF Mookie Betts R
1B F. Freeman L
C Will Smith R
3B Max Muncy L
DH J. Martinez R
LF D. Peralta L
2B M. Vargas R
CF James Outman L
SS Miguel Rojas R
Rain
49% Rain
70° Wind 11 mph R-L
NO Dodger Minor League Baseball Tonight
Mark – “Oh, they could make some dope-fiend moves and trade the future for some instant gratification right now. However, if the Dodgers were going to “load up” this season, why would they have waited until now?” Exactly.
Most sensible fans do “get it”, I think. Sure, you read some stuff from fans that don’t get it. “Maybe we could include CT3, Barnes and Cartaya and get Mike Trout?” kind of humorous stuff. But while we all want something, because we care.
Most folks that know the game understood that this needed to be a transition year. We had to see what we had on the farm. Time was wasting on some of the prospects. And for the moral and health of the organization, these guys need a look. You can’t continue to dump declining veterans on top of young prospects and keep their interest and respect. They want an organization that offers hope.
Unless some deal drops in AF’s lap before the deadline, I don’t see any desperation driven moves that costs prospects. This isn’t a short-term fix type situation.
Now injuries have forced more young pitchers into the fire. I think at the age of these players and their understanding of the situation, I don’t see anyone being damaged by the opportunity. Yeah, there may be a shelling or 2 but these guys can handle it. There is no David Clyde type 18 year olds in this deal who are going to lose their confidence and get ruined for life.
The silver lining is we get see what we have, reduce the payroll and prepare for next year with some chips. Lots of money coming off the books for the winter. Get a wildcard spot and see what happens the remainder of this year but I don’t favor any drastic moves by the deadline, just more rookie opportunities.
RIP Lakers.
Kyrie next season. Inevitable. Not for me. There’s only one ball. Ask Luka.
I don’t know the exact number but I believe there are more teams able to make the playoffs this year. With that in mind, I do not care if LA comes in first place…..just get into the playoffs is all I want. And then see where it leads us to.
Last year showed me how unimportant coming in first and having the bye helps a team. Both Atlanta and LA were eliminated quickly. In fact, you might even lose your edge by resting a whole week. As for the benefit of resting your arms…. they can rest in November…..
Good perspective Mark!
The team was playing above its head for three weeks and then had a bad trip to St Louis. In the 3 losses, the Dodgers gave up 32 runs! I agree that the lineup has a lot of weak spots but the issue this weekend was the pitching. Bad starts by Julio, Noah, and Kershaw combined with poor bullpen efforts and a 3 run HR in the 8th inning on Saturday. Unfortunately, the road trip gets even tougher the next two stops in Atlanta and Tampa. At least we get to see to two promising young arms against the Braves. A lot of season ahead still, and hopefully the team can hang in there until the pitchers return to health.
Kimbrel, who has actually pitched really well lately, set to join Jansen in the 400 save club.
Dodgers pitcher Michael Grove began a rehab assignment on Sunday with Triple-A Oklahoma City, a month after landing on the injured list with a right groin strain.
He struck out seven in 4⅓ innings in his first game back, allowing a pair of solo home runs in the outing, throwing 64 pitches. Grove also worked around a double and walk in the first inning.
4.1 IP | 3 H | 2 R | 2 ER | BB | 7 K
Sunday scores
Oklahoma City 5, Sugar Land 4
Corpus Christi 5, Tulsa 4
Great Lakes 6, West Michigan 3
Rancho Cucamonga 10, Visalia 5
3of 4 Dodger Minor teams are in first place in their respective divisions except Tulsa which is 1 game behind in second place
“ it’s not the hitting: It’s the pitching”. Exactly. That’s why I don’t see any position moves anytime soon. Pitching in the other hand.. hopefully Stone and Miller can pitch 4-5 innings.
One advantage to trading at deadline and not preseason is that you get to see exactly what you need at the time. You never know who might have an unexpected great season or lose someone you are counting on (like May). But anyway this is a tough stretch coming up. Kershaw gets a little rest by going on bereavement list. He struggled with command the last couple of starts. Lets see what happens next start. An IL trip for him may be coming. But who knows? Next start may be ‘vintage’.
Good suggestions Mark. Unfortunately, fans think with their hearts and not their brains. They see a train wreck happening and they panic. But I remember a pennant winning team losing 11 in a row.