MiLB- Odds and Ends

Cody’s lack of confidence ……yawn….boo hoo……don’t the Dodgers have a Sports Shrink for guys with his mental issues? And tell Gavin to go with Cody too.

Look at the bright sides fellows, he can catch and run, so maybe we are being greedy to also want him to hit. After all, he is only making 16 million .

I wonder what place we would be in if we had 8 players who are all Golden Glove players but who can’t hit a lick and are practically automatic outs? I mean, if we don’t mind one guy who fits that role, why not all 8? Something to think about……

As for Jansen, God bless him really….I like him as a person and he has done so much for us over the years. But…..we won the WS last year because he was not asked to close. That should tell you something. It yells at me!

Only 3 hits last night with CT3 getting 2 of them. Was their pitcher their ace? I sure hope so.

Anybody else besides me getting worn down having to keep up with all these injuries and drama? I’m starting to look forward to the NFL starting up (go NY Giants) and I just came off an amazing playoff run by my favorite hockey team (Montreal Canadiens), so maybe I should relax a bit more over this season, not fret over all the drama and injuries, but rather reflect more on last year’s season in which we were able to win so many clutch playoff games after an amazing shortened season.

In fact, if you don’t mind, I’d like to share with you what i did this morning….after I watched the 9th inning highlight of our loss last night, I decided to go on YouTube and watch the 9th inning of game 6 vs Tampa in the WS last season. Watching that removed the frown and lifted my spirits again. I think I’m going to do this every time we lose….run to YouTube to watch “happy moments” and not let the frustration (sad moments) of this season get to me. Anyhow, that’s just me. You gotta do what you gotta do. Go Dodgers. .

Obviously, our set of metrics as informed fans is not at all how the ownership looks at things. We both want to win, but they are about making money, and of course they spend the money. Winning the title last year bought them a lot of time and goodwill. It was great to win a championship. But it was a short season, not enough time for Roberts to wear out his bullpen. And we came very close to losing to Atlanta, but we made some great defensive plays, hit some key home runs; and Urias was amazing in the playoffs. But we have yet to win a championship since 1988 in a a full season. And our six or so-year run has been admirable, but with a rare exception, this has been a very weak division in that period. Now it is baseball’s best division, and we cannot dominate it. It helps a lot in the playoffs to have won the division. Being a wildcard is not at all favorable, and we don’t really have the kind of team which is going to beat good, division-winning opponents in a series where they have the deciding game advantage. If we don’t win the division, I don’t think we have much chance to win the pennant.

So do we go all-out for this year, knowing that the next few years may well see a decline, even out of contention? We have key free agents, we have very little in the minors to expect big homegrown stars soon. The Giants have a better manager, I think, and maybe Zaidi is the equal of Friedman, based on this rebound. The Padres will go all out to win, have good additions next year. (Clevinger and Gore ), and may well make a big deal before the deadline, some are rumoring Gallo. Are we situated to be powerful next year? I doubt it, and I would want to go all-out this year. But ownership might not want that, preferring to be in the mix next year, even if not the division favorites, and also not wanting to spend much more money, particularly with perhaps having to pay Bauer’s entire contract.

I don’t see any real reason to think that the Dodgers are suddenly going to take off and pass the Giants. They are very confident, have a great team esprit. If all our players got healthy, then maybe; but why should we expect that to happen? Reading through what Roberts has been saying, Betts may be out, or at least very limited, for the rest of the season. Let us hope not. Kershaw may or may not pitch as well as he did before he got hurt. Seager is still out. The minor league players we bring up have not done very well so far.

Who do we have that we could use in a big trade for major players? Ruiz, perhaps. We want to hold onto him, he could become a big star. Or perhaps not. Theo Epstein said that “prospects are just prospects.” We have a very good catcher, we do not need two very good catchers. Moving Smith to the infield might not work at all. Lux? There is someone who hindsight would say we should have traded at high value, but no team much wants him now, not to trade a starter for. Who else? It’s hard to find much, which makes it quite difficult to make a a major trade, as we well may see. We will probably get somebody, maybe two players, but will they be of the type who could get us a championship? This seems unlikely, unless anyone here can think of a package we could offer for a top closer and a good starter, or at least one of those.

But if we do little or nothing, then we must hope that Seager is back and good very soon; that Betts can play well even starting every other day; that Kershaw will be back in form; and maybe even that we get Bauer back, but I think that the tenor of who the Dodgers are, who their media base are, makes it difficult to imagine that. But if we just accept what we have now, we still are in big trouble for next year, unless we want to come up with big money for free agents, ours and other teams.’ So I would want to see us go all-out now, package Ruiz, Lux, maybe Pollock, Gray, to get a player or two who could really help win this division, in which case we would have a real shot to win a title. And as for Jansen, he has matured, he really wants to do well, he is classy. But that was the biggest game of the year to lose last night, and we are not keeping him anyway, so at least don’t use him every time as the closer.

Hope you’re all feeling better after blowing off steam this morning.

I always learn stuff here. Today I learned the following:

1) Roberts is a crappy manager

2) Kenley is a crappy closer

3) We rest our players too much

4) Ownership is only interested in making money

5) The Giants are probably better than we are

6) Yes, we’ve been to the playoffs umpteen times in a row but we should have won the whole thing more than once

7) Biden needs to be mentioned in a baseball conversation

I’m a contrarian kind of guy so I’d like to thank you all for your negativity this morning. Suddenly I’m feeling very positive about things. I figure we’ll win the division by about 5 games.

Damn I wanted that win last night!!!

Now at least for today I’m stuck with , “The Boys are Back in Town”…

Currently A.L.M. in my mind has taken over 1st. place… Please dear God, let him run out of dimes in the payphone…

Singing is trying to capture the crown…

DODGERS ADD OF BILLY MCKINNEY

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers added outfielder Billy McKinney to the active roster and optioned outfielder Zach Reks to Triple-A Oklahoma City.

McKinney, 26, was acquired yesterday from the New York Mets in exchange for minor league outfielder Carlos Rincon. He has split the year between Milwaukee and New York, batting a combined .213 (39-for-183) with eight homers and 20 RBI in 79 games. In his 39 games with the Mets, he batted .220 (20-for-91) with five homers and 14 RBI. In parts of four Major League seasons with the New York Yankees (2018), Toronto Blue Jays (2018-2020), Milwaukee Brewers (2021) and New York Mets (2021), he has hit a combined .225 (125-for-556) with 26 homers and 61 RBI. He was originally drafted in the first round of the 2013 First Year Player Draft out of Plano West High School by the Oakland Athletics.

Reks, 27, went 0-for-6 in his third stint with the team and is 0-for-10 in six games for the Dodgers this season. He has spent most of the season in Oklahoma City, batting .325 (53-for-163) with nine homers and 31 RBI in 43 games. In 299 career minor league games, he has batted a combined .303 (325-for-1071) with 44 homers and 176 RBI. The Chicago, IL native was originally drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 10th round of the 2017 First Year Player Draft out of the University of Kentucky.

Sure it’s a fact Jansen sucked last night. But what he’s given goes seems to go further with me than many others here and I’m proud of that. Every player in the HOF has had a season that they’d like to erase but that ain’t possible, they don’t have that kind of superpower because there’s no such things as super humans. The job of closer is be perfect but that ain’t even on the menu. Jansen is left handed but his brothers made fun of him being so so that’s why he throws right handed. But yes, indeed he sucked last night. That happens when you try throwing harder you have less control. If he’s done I sure don’t know that nor do I believe that. The role of closer is to be perfect and some expect nothing less as they will surely let all know.

Lolzzzz. Time Loves A Hero just started playing on youtube.

William asked: “Mark, some of those saves are “easy” saves; the Dodgers were up by two or three runs, Jansen got some outs. I have no stats on this, but does anyone know how many of these saves were one-run games when he came in late?”

KJ has had 25 Save Opportunities:

One run games – 13 – 9 saves and 4 blown saves

Two run games – 8 – 8 saves

Three run games – 4 – 4 saves

Of his 21 saves, 12 have come with a 2 or 3 run lead, and 9 with a one run lead.

In addition, KJ has two extra inning losses where he has entered with the game tied. He entered a third game tied and pitched the 9th. Max Muncy hit a walk off 3-run HR against AZ to win the game.

Saves by team:

Arizona – 5

SF – 4

Colorado – 2

Seattle – 2

Pittsburgh – 2

Washington – 2

San Diego -1

Miami – 1

Texas – 1

Philadelphia – 1

Blown Saves – Colorado, SF, Cubs, Oakland (one each)

KJ’s last save – July 3 vs. Washington

Those Orel Wan Kenobi bobbleheads they gave away are already being listed on Ebay. Lowest price, 41$ plus shipping. Highest price so far 100$ plus shipping. You have to really want one of those to pay that much for something that cost about 12 dollars to make.

What a difference a day makes. That old song is playing through my head. Yesterday Will Smith came through with a huge home run and we were dancing in the streets. 24 hours later folks are so pissed and want to trade folks, send players down, fire the skipper but most hang KJ by his toenails,

I sometimes have plenty of questions about Doc’s in-game decisions and lineups but not last night in game. (the conversation about playing thru injuries can wait for later) Doc went with a very predictable script that has a high probability of success. It set up perfectly; Urias was nails for 7, Treinen a great in his set-up role in the 8th and KJ in to slam the door in the 9th. Done deal. Folks can question KJ in that role until the cows come home but that has been the script. as he has become the closer again. I can’t second guess that. It didn’t work. Kenley tripped over the gas can and we lost. Elation to despondence in 24 hours. But that’s baseball. folks. I’d love to win every game and every decision to work out. So would the participants.

I listened to the Giants broadcast team as I sometimes do as a break from the norm. I won’t do it again, soon, as Jon Miller is so friggin irritating. But I really like Mike Krukow. He was stunned by the Dodger crowd reaction to KJ with the standing “Boowation” (a word I made up). His comment was “Tough crowd, wow, what have you done for me lately, huh?

We certainly have issues and problems and decisions to make but but I’m not going to slash my wrists, or Kenley Jansen’s, over last night.

NOTICE

Hi guys, I have really enjoyed writing for this site it has been a lot of fun. And I wish to keep it that way. I have spoken with Mark about this, and in order to keep the site a fun place to be, no personal attacks or name calling will be permitted. Mark does not have time to read everything every day, he has a business to run. We welcome your opinions. This is your forum. But if someone says something you disagree with, do that respectfully and civilly. Just because you do not agree with someone it does not mean you have to get nasty and start belittling that person. Most here are courteous, but sometimes the conversations become a little bit heated, and that is what we need to avoid. I have seen a couple of sites I used to post on go right down the tubes because things got out of hand. And one reason the Dodgers shut down the comments section on their web page was because of all the vitriol being posted. There is no desire to ban anyone, say your peace, make your case or counter argument and leave it at that. If name calling is seen, that particular post will simply be removed. And lets keep it to baseball and the Dodgers. No politics unless it is directly related to MLB or the Dodgers. Please. Lets keep it civil no matter how much you might disagree with a post.

Tonight’s lineup:

SS Chris

2B Max

3b Justin

C Will

1B Matt

CF Cody

LF AJ

RF Bill as in McKinney

P Walker

No Mookie Cody moved to 6th Justin returns

Looks like Tampa Bay is acquiring Nelson Cruz from Minnesota. (Jeff Passan reporting). No other names yet.

Kenley fooled me into believing in him the last two years. Even in the Cheating WS he was one of the culprits that gave the Astros a trophy. And before you come back with the “they cheated” argument, he was basically a one pitch pitcher in 17, so the trashcan was not necessary. He has a blown save in a game that we wound up losing and was handed the loss in another game.

In 18, he had the Coors field issue and was never the same. He had two blown saves in the WS that year.

In 19 he had 8 BS and finished the season with a 3.71 ERA

In 20 he faded down the stretch and you know the rest.

Four years later, we’re still having the same conversations. Hardly a knee jerk reaction or what a difference a day makes, wouldn’t you say?

There are no words strong enough to describe Doc’s ineptitude. How he setup the pitching was fine, until the 9th inning. On one hand, his hands are tied because he doesn’t have a better option after using Kelly for two the night before and using Treinen to get through the 8th. But, on the other hand, he would have just went with Kenley anyways, and I can’t blame him for that. You cut some slack because of Coors I guess. But after last night, he should be thinking real hard about using Kenley in that spot and the front office and training staff better be working overtime getting Nelson and Knebel back and some help like Eric’s been harping about all year. 😉

The problem with Doc was what he said after the game and making a list of excuses for Kenley. No accountability anywhere.

Is it possible to get both a closer and a quality starter at the same deadline? Possible maybe, but not likely. For better or worse, Jansen is the closer.

From my recliner it looks obvious to me – I think this offense has to carry the load the rest of the way. We have to score more than 5 to win, and by win I mean win it all. They don’t and we won’t. We can’t get 3 hits and expect to win. With Jansen as our closer there will be stretches like this. He’s past his prime. AC’s stats tell the story. He should not go back to back, he should not go more than 3 outs or 18 pitches and he needs larger leads to protect.

STB, I think it’s just being realistic to say we need our first team lineup to go the distance. That isn’t giving up, that’s just being pragmatic.

MP, don’t bite. They are desperate and trying to get you to swing at pitch in the dirt.

Put up a for sale sign showing Bellinger, Miller, and Lux and you are going to get calls. I’d take the call from Seattle first.

KJ puede o no tener una mala noche contra equipos como los piratas, lo rojos o los marlins de Florida, pero NO contra los Gigantes o los Padres por todo lo que está en juego. Treinen genera más confianza como cerrados que KJ, me pongo a rezar cuando el releva.

Just to be clear, you are talking about the Craig Kimbrel that had a 4.50 postseason ERA in 2017, an 11.57 ALDS ERA in 2018 (and was removed as Boston’s closer), a 4.50 ERA in the 2018 ALCS, and a 4.15 ERA in the World Series?

Oh, and are you talking about the Craig Kimbrel that has a 0.51 ERA this year, but in 2020 it was 5.28 and 2019 it was 6.53? Is that the Craig Kimbrel you are talking about?

Is it “salted carmel” or butter pecan, because you love your flavors of the week?

I am not a KJ fan, but I will give you $20 million reasons why he will be here this year.

I read all of the moaning and growing and anger and upset and laugh my ass off! You are looking at the prunes, I am looking at the dinner.

If someone was dropped here from outer space, they would assume that the Dodgers would have the first draft pick in the Amateur Draft next year. The fact is, they have the second-best record in baseball.

Silly old women! 😉

If you are going to trade, go big or go home.

1. Kaybear Ruiz, Bobby Miller, Tony Gonsolin, and Jacob Amaya to St. Louis for Jack Flaherty.

2. Gavin Lux, Luke Raley, and Edwin Uceta to KC for Whitt Merrifield

I’m keeping Bellinger.

I’m keeping both Bellinger and Lux.

We can get a starter for prospects.

It looks, and feels, worse than it is. We are 10-7 in July. 6-4 in our last 10. I say again, we get our offensive shat together, get a starter, get Knebel and Brusdar going, we will be there to the end. We don’t hit we don’t win.

What’s the Mookie update? I’m thinking they don’t want Seager to start this game because they can’t afford a no rehab assignment 0-fer with all the other 0-fers in the same lineup. Everyone comes back healthy tomorrow?

I’ll say it before and I’ll say it again. You have to win some of the 2-1 games along the way. That’s what a Championship team is made of.

Some semi-random reactions as the McKinney Era begins……

–Dodgers have to stick with Belli. Of course. Even when he’s hitting like Lux, he can win games with his glove and legs. Will he ever be an MVP-calibre guy again? I’d be jazzed if he’s back up to All-Star level. Could be one of those guys who looks like a future Hall of Famer but then he’s not. Fred Lynn and Dale Murphy come to mind.

–Dodger fans are really counting on Seager to come back strong. We remember Seager as the post-season MVP, but in 2021 he wasn’t killing it before he was hurt, so methinks we shouldn’t expect too much. He might be league-average, which would at least be an improvement over Lux. The uncertainty surrounding Seager, Belli and Betts–widely considered the Big Three of the Dodgers lineup–is an argument to nab Kris Freaking Bryant. Against lefties, Bryant could replace Albert at 1st. He could spell JT at 3B and any OF as need be and provided extra oomph when there’s a DH Bryant grew up in Vegas and attended the University of San Dieog. If everything works out well, he might want to stay in SoCal long-term.

–True, I think, that Alex Wood left because Dodgers wouldn’t guarantee an SP role. Fair, I think. Not sure of timing, but getting Bauer didn’t help them win back Wood. I was OK with Wood moving on to create room for May, Gonsolin, Price, Gray. (Again, more mystified that AF let Jake McGee go.) Was losing Wood an unintended consequence of signing Bauer? Not sure. But it obviously was not the worst unintended consequence… Ugh!

–So that brings us to the matte of pitching. With Nelson, Knebel and Graterol expected soon as reinforcements, I’m not sure that RP is a great need. Then again, a package for Bryant AND Kimbrel… well, that would be a showstopper…. Go big or go home, right?

–As for SPs, I like the idea of getting Jon Gray to pair with Jojo. His debut wasn’t terrible–a learning experience. Work those corners.

And Beaty is a Dodger because he can’t defend, he can’t hit for average and he has no power? We have to do better than that! But then again compared to Bellinger he’s a hit machine!