Not Beaten – Humiliated!

For those of you calling for Dave Roberts head on a pike, the chances of that happening are ZERO. 2022 was the last year of Dave’s previous contract. 2023 is the first year of his three-year extension. They could obviously eat the contract, but that is not happening. Also, who would you hire to replace him? You need a great ego manager, since there are a lot of ego’s in this dugout. Most are team players and only want to win. I will also say I respect Mookie Betts a lot after he stepped up and took responsibility for his bad performance. So did Freeman.

Dave Robert’s does not coach how he played. Remember the stolen base the help win the World Series.

Time to make a change we need a young coach with exciting ideas. Don’t fire Dave he is great for the Dodgers but not as manager. Maybe hire to be front office person

We need some player the have some fire. Humberto was the closest thing we had. When we had Puig it was fun to watch the games. We had some great players who never get fired up. We don’t have a team leader. Seems like everybody wants to look too professional. How bout bring in some fire. Andrew we need players who hate to lose . Throwing water on each after hitting a home run is not fun. We are Los Angeles home of entertainment. Please put out a team the is exciting

Words of a fool

Last thing I’ll share.

Texted a friend who’s a Dodger fan. Asked how he was doing. He just sent me this.

https://youtu.be/DEKyx_eTxBQ

Thanks for letting me rant. Last night hurt. A lot.

Last thing I’ll say. We need to add heart to this team. I’m a huge Bear fan. And I’d rather have the heartbreak the Dodgers have produced the last decade than what the Bears of done to me. I’m a Bear fan for only one reason. Having just 4 or 5 channels to watch growing up, I was starved for sports. Watched the Dodgers and Lakers. When I couldn’t watch I went to bed with a radio next to my pillow. I really started paying attention in 1983/84. And I watched all the local highlight shows. George Michael’s sports machine. Joe Roggin (a local LA highlight show). And at that time there was one guy who owned the highlight reels on Sunday night. It was Walter Payton. That’s why I’m a Bear fan. My first football memories were watching Payton (and the Bears) at their prime. It wasn’t just that he was great on the field. He was the greatest competitor I’ve ever seen. And one of the most charismatic team leaders I’ve ever seen.

Give me the heart of Walter Payton. The Dodgers need heart. They need to learn to fight for every inch. Payton saw many more losing seasons than he did winning seasons. But he never let up, win or lose. If he was a Dodger in 2022. He would have been disgusted.

https://youtu.be/D7YXps2xUfM

I did say productive, not star. I don’t expect for them to produce MVPs or cy youngs every year. But they’ve produced no productive players from their farm system since 2019.

Not counting Smith, buehler and May or Lux, can you name me one player WHO GRADUATED TO THE MAJORS AND BECAME A PRODUCTIVE REGULAR? Since 2019? Name one.

The players you are naming are still developing in the minors. Guys like Vargas, cartaya. im not counting until they are actively producing in thr majors, playing everyday and making an impact with the big club.

That’s the point of the farm system is to produce productive mlb regulars. The point is to have those players on the big league club and playing productive baseball regularly.

Vargas and cartaya may well become productive players but there are not there yet.

So my point again is to ask if you can name one player produced since 2019 not named Smith, May or Lux that is producing at the major league level at a high level? I can’t name one.

Since 2015 can you name anyone other than Buehler, May, Smith and Lux? Ok that’s 4 players (not 3 as I stated earlier) in 8 years. Not a good track record.

Don’t know that I would cut as much off the bone as Eric wants to do. This team did win 111 games though did disappoint again in playoffs. Honestly, last year was not as disappointing given the injuries and the exhausting battle with SF for most of the season. Also this Padres team didn’t overachieve in the playoffs. They underachieved all year and were focused for the playoffs. Darvish and Snell have pitched tough against LA and Musgrove gives them a more formidable top three in playoff series than Dodgers. Their hitters with Machado, Soto, Drury, Bell, Cronenworth and the rest are every bit as deep as the Dodgers top heavy group. If this group with Hader was together all year the Padres would not have finished 22 games back. It is disingenuous to pretend they are the little engine that could. Of course they gutted their farm system to accrue this talent and I like the Dodgers approach of sustained excellence better. When recalling their “failures” in the past nine years we can’t forget that they lost in 2017 to a cheating scandal and their opponent in 2018 was also found to have used Apple Watches to gain advantage. I was disappointed as well and I agree that they have to make some decisions on guys they have been more than loyal to these past two years – Bellinger, JT, Muncy and Taylor. Not sure they don’t bring back 3 of them but there are some tough decisions.

I am more interested in an organizational reevaluation of what they value. The banning of the shift should lead to a return to valuing contact and limiting strike outs. Also an increase in the value of the stolen base with limited throw overs and bigger bases. Is there more emphasis on range defensively and better defenders that the shift can’t hide.? AF is no dummy and I would be shocked if they have not identified qualities and attributes that are more valuable now. This should inform their off season decision making. Finally, please stop with the signing of injured pitchers at a discount. As was mentioned we have had way too many pitchers these past few years either rehabbing, coming off rehab, or dealing with recurring injuries. We should try to grow some of own power arms as relievers instead of developing every single pitcher of note as a starter. Could we not have given Stone, Pepiot, Miller or Knack a chance in September out of the pen?

One other thing I would like to touch on here is about the farm system that Mark likes to champion as the best in baseball. I know he may get a bit upset at me for posting this, but I have to challenge him here. The farm system has not been that good over the last few years and has produced almost no impact players since 2019. Name me one prospect that has come up and made a difference since 2019? I can’t think of one player. The last home grown prospect that made a difference was Will Smith, and maybe to a lesser extent Dustin May. That was a few years ago.

If these prospects are so good as some like to suggest than why weren’t they promoted and in the lineup and producing? Either they are still developing or not very good yet, or both. If Miguel Vargas was so good, he would have been in the lineup hitting in the postseason and driving in runs. Other than a couple of semi-effective relievers, not one minor leaguer or prospect has been productive.

Another issue is that Friedman is not good at drafting players. Other than Smith, Buehler and May, I can’t think of anyone else drafted that has made an impact at the major league level. Maybe Lux? I’m still not high on him as he is a light hitter and has no power. Although he did improve greatly this season. So that’s 3 players in over 8 years. That’s not a good track record.

The last of the great prospects from the old regime Urias, Kershaw, Bellinger, are all getting older or are already old, or struggling in Bellinger’s case. The one guy who ended up becoming a star Alavarez in Houston, he traded for Josh Fields. He needs to draft better players. The farm system has to be more productive than it’s been.

I’m going to do what Mark did, call out what went wrong and talk about what to do going forward at least what I think. Speaking of Mark, he said one glaring thing up top that I absolutely disagree about and that is Amaya. We do not need another Cesar Izturis or Alex Cora. All defense and very little hitting.

What went wrong:

Obviously the hitting sucked.

The bench sucked, so no alternatives.

Doc or whoever calls the shots sucked AGAIN.

That sums it up.

The first 2 lines above tells everything about the offense, so no need to talk about that, except for Betts who is making a billion dollars didn’t show up and earn that billion dollars. But the third line above I’ll explain.

The first loss of this series, Doc or whoever calls the shots did nothing wrong.

The second loss of this series, Doc or whoever calls the shots made 1 mistake, BUT IT ENDED UP NOT MATTERING because once again the hitting sucked. That mistake was not using the better option May instead of Heaney.

Now here is the kicker, the third and final loss of this series. First of all when you are in a do or die situation you turn to your BEST. After pitching a shut out for 5 innings and allowing only 2 hits and 2 walks, Doc or whoever calls the shots took Anderson out of the game. WTF? The second WTF was Phillips (The BEST in the bullpen) pitching the 9th inning when the game was already over, considering once again the hitting sucked and Josh Hader was a lock to pitch the 9th inning. What should have happened since Anderson was on a roll, he should have been kept in the game preferably to get the ball to Phillips (The BEST in the bullpen) to pitch up to 2 innings to end the game. If another reliever was needed to pitch 1 inning in that situation because Anderson was shaky in the 6th inning then so be it. Preferably it should have been Martin, who was statistically better than Phillips during the regular season, but Phillips pitched a lot more high leverage innings than Martin.

Now going forward:

Friedman needs to somewhat clean house when it comes to the offense.

Alberto needs to go.

Bellinger needs to go.

Gallo needs to go.

Taylor needs to go.

Thompson needs to go.

Muncy needs to go.

Anyone with a contract expiring that I didn’t say needs to go should be signed if possible, and the only ones as far as I know are both Turners.

Since 4 outfielders need to go, Outman needs to make the team and should make the team right out of spring training. That leaves 5 spots open for new faces and I am not sold on Vargas, but Justin Turner will need a backup at 3B and I guess Vargas will do. The 4 remaining spots should be filled as much as possible with guys who can hit for average and power against both righties and lefties. No more platoons and 3 true outcome hitters as much as possible.

As for the pitching, it’s complicated. But any free agents that are acquired, and we will need some, need to be able to pitch to both sides of the plate effectively, because we are living in the 3 batter minimum era. Off the top of my head these guys need to go, and I might be missing some names.

Heaney needs to go.

Price needs to go.

Kimbrel needs to go.

Graterol needs to be in the minors for depth only.

Ferguson needs to be in the minors for depth only.

Bickford needs to be in the minors for depth only.

The last 3, as far as I know have options, and if any of them don’t, then they need to go too. Anyone that I didn’t mention here that have contracts expiring, they should be signed to a new contract if possible. Also stay away as much as possible from using the minor league pitchers on the 40 man roster currently, except Pepiot. They are Bruihl, Burrows, Grove, Jackson. This is where getting good free agents comes into play and having Graterol, Ferguson, Bickford in the minors for depth.

Gavin Stone needs to make the team and should make the team right out of spring training. Bobby Miller watch, if he turns things around, promote him to the big league team.

I just wanted to hop over here and give my takes on this season and engage in some healthy discussions. These are my opinions so feel free to agree or disagree, but no disrespect is intended towards anyone here at this site. Just be nice to me please. Here are my takes on the Dodgers.

I agree with a lot of what Mark is saying about the general direction of the organization. I have actually always liked Dave Roberts, I think he’s a nice guy and runs a good clubhouse. But he follows orders. He gives canned responses to the media. I’ve never liked Andrew Friedman and his organizational philosophies/strategies on baseball. Honestly he’s always been a loser. He was a loser in Tampa with limited resources and no money. Now with the Dodgers and given a ton of money and resources he’s only won one championship in a covid year out of what 9 years now? He can build great regular season clubs, but does not understand anything about how to build winning teams in October. It’s not just that the players didn’t perform, or there were injuries, his strategies, roster construction, philosophy and game management have a direct correlation on why they lose every year in the playoffs or World Series. Here are just a few.

1. Building and managing a pitching staff around middle relievers instead of starting pitchingl.

The Dodgers had good pitching this year, but revolved the staff around heavy bullpen use. The secret recipe for success in October is making sure your starters go deep into games and the bullpen is used sparingly. Starting pitching is the name of the game and the Dodgers just don’t get this. I understand that a lot of other teams are using this strategy, but just because other teams do it, doesnt mean it’s a good idea. If everyone jumped off a bridge would you do it too? The starters don’t have to toss complete games, but let them go 6-7 innings and then go to the pen. Tyler Anderson was dominating the Padres. If he had been allowed to pitch into the 7th inning the Dodgers might have won. But they pulled him after 5, because that was their plan before the game. It’s not the 1980’s anymore surely, but how many starters pitched over 150 innings this year? 1 maybe 2?

2. wasting roster spots on injured and innefective pitchers/players

There were several pitchers and position players that were injured and not able to play and roster spots were wasted on them. Treinen, Graterol, May, Gonslin, Taylor, etc all were hurt and either never got into games, or were shells of their former selves. They really only had 3 fully healthy and effective relievers and 3 starters to use.

3. going with struggling hitters all season long.

This is something Mark touched on here. Going with guys like Bellinger, Taylor all season long when they were either hurt, or struggling. not making a change until the last game and the last minute is another problem they have. It seems they are unwilling to deviate from their plans. They just assume every one of their plans will always work out. October is never like this.

4. Horrendous benches

Friedman has built some of the worst benches I have seen in my Dodger life over the last few seasons. Im sorry while Hanser Alberto is a nice guy and good teammate, he is a terrible hitter. Yet he was allowed to waste a roster spot all season. Im guessing maybe they figured that they don’t need a bench anymore because of the DH, which is wrong for many reasons.

5. Poor game management

Remember them blowing leads in 2015, 2016, 2017 World Series, 2018 World Series, 2019, 2021, and on and on and on. They a 3-0 lead. All they had to do was let Tyler pitch as deep into the game as he could. Get one or two relievers up just in case, but letting Tyler pitch into the 7th and then going to Phillips who was their best reliever all season long would have probably won them the game. And then letting Khanle give up 3 runs and stand there and not at least try to pause the game and get someone up sooner was such a huge blunder.

No hit and runs, sending runners, station to station base-running. Poor plate approaches in general. Not moving runners over didn’t help either.

6. They are predictable

Another problem is that they are far too predictable. They are not flexible when things go awry, and often in the playoffs they do. Opposing teams easily are able to predict their strategies.

I believe it’s time for Guggenheim to move the franchise in a different direction. There are many ways to build a winning team in October. Look at what the Cleveland Guardians are doing. They have one star and the rest of the club is young cheap dynamic players with a veteran manager on a low payroll. The Padres went out and got several key players to help them win in October and their bullpen has clear defined roles. They knew exactly who to go to in the 7th 8th and 9th innings. Even their lesser players like Profar, Kim, Myers etc were all playing at high levels. no hocus pocus, no “piggybacking”. Their relievers were all lock down and dominant.

Friedman and Roberts inspire little in their players. There was a big void in leadership throughout the season and playoffs. They never rallied around each other or came together even to some extend. They got punched in the mouth once by the Padres and folded up like a beach chair. Winning in the postseason takes toughness, and the ability to fight. This year’s Dodgers had none of that.

I know you may disagree with me, but it’s time to move on from Andrew Friedman. Since Dave Roberts is his extension, him as well. He’s had 8 plus years to win championships, and he was only able to do it once during a shortened covid season. They’ve had some of the most brutal crushing heartbreaking losses under him. Why not bring in someone fresh and let somebody else have a shot at winning a World Series? They will continue to lose every year in the playoffs with him in charge.

Just my take on this. Wish everyone well here.

The idea that the team could be “blown up” – are you all 11 years old? The Dodgers are unquestionably one of the best teams, if not the best. They’re much better than the Padres. They’re better than almost anyone. They lost three of four games in the playoffs and got eliminated. Do you know what sample size is? To look at a four game slump and think that it reveals a 111-win regular season to be an illusion — that is the reasoning of a child, not a rational adult.

Renovate the Dodgers! No, a complete rebuild isn’t needed, but a renovation sure is. Start at the top. DUMP THE PROPELLER HEADS! The Dodgers seem to be the victims of “over analysis” too much analytics and a manager with his hands tied behind his back. The strings are all pulled by the propeller heads (starting with Friedman). Guggenheim is happy as long as there are butts in the seats and long lines at the team store. WE WANT A WINNER. Start with Chase Utley as the new manager. Some new players who are hard nosed and will change the culture around the Ravine. The current Dodgers remind me of office workers in 3 piece suits who professionally go in to work every day and do their duty, but don’t get too up or too down, just steady. Kiki, Joe, Puig had some emotion and flair. I miss that.

A tweet from another fan, mirroring exactly my feelings today.

idk how to approach my fandom anymore. Just feels like the regular season is meaningless. Not sure why I should care when an 80something win team gets hot at the right time and topples the Dodgers every year no matter who the Dodgers add to their lineup

Thinking about cancelling my mlbtv subscription I had since it hit the market. Also will not go to ST next spring.

Frustration level never was so high as today about this new playoff debacle.

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

It’s not on Doc. He’s done what was asked of him. But something has to change. As others have pointed out, there was no fire. No urgency. No soul. As much as I’ve come to hate the Padres, this was a fantastic movie script for them. A horror movie for Dodger fans. Let’s face it. We were the arrogant villain who just got humiliated by a lesser opponent who wanted it more. The problem is that 2022 was a sequel. I said the same thing last year. Dodgers got a few new faces, won more games but the script turned out to be the same. We’re Apollo Creed. And we just got knocked the hell out by a doofus who can’t talk good.

The Dodgers can’t just lick their wounds and keep on the same plan. Some sort of major shakeup has to happen. Whatever is causing or allowing this malaise to exist has to go. There has to be a shock to the system. New blood. On the field and off.

I agree with Mark. They need to unleash the youth. Nobody can tell me the bottom of our order would be less productive with young players we have in the system than it was with Bellinger, Muncy, Taylor and Gallo. Maybe the young guys will play with some heart. They don’t have massive contracts and a ring from 2020. They might really fight for those things.

And I’ve become less interested in signing Trea. There is an awful lot to like about him. But I don’t see that killer instinct. Freeman has it. Mookie has had it. He was the spark in 2020. No idea what happened to that in 2022. Post extension Mookie isn’t the same player. And I’m not talking about stats. We’re missing a major intangible.

I’ve always been “meh” on Doc. His winning % is amazing in the regular season. Players seem to like him. He seems to work well with management. I’ve defended him when fans blame him for everything up to and including the weather. But maybe we need a guy who will get thrown out of games. Get in a players faces. Inspire some kind of fighting instinct. Our coaching staff seems to be more like mid level managers who just don’t want to “rock the boat”. Get in a players face? Nah. Just put it in a memo. We’ve become IBM. And some guys named Jobs and Gates are eating our lunch.

I hate to say this about a coaching staff that just won 111 games. But they probably need to go. All of them but Prior. And I’d like to see the Dodgers look internally.

Bellinger, gone. JT, gone. That money could go to better use elsewhere. Vargas plays everyday. Amaya gets a real shot. Add a couple bats in free agency. Build a roster less reliant on Mookie. Freeman is our centerpiece.

Blow it up.

I don’t want to watch this movie again. Not only did Rocky 3 suck. It had a very predictable ending.

Everything you wrote, surely influenced by the defeat, you would not have written if the bullpen had done the job, if the bullpen had done the job the team would have reached the fifth game, what you wrote is rubbish.

One thing I don’t understand is that we never bunt!! In late Games 2 and 3 we had RISP with no or one out while the scores were either tied or trailed by 1. ONE RUN makes a lot of differences!! Yet, the players never attempted a single bunt and all tried big swings – and the results were zero runs!!

I blame this on DR and the hitting coaches (whoever they are).

Bobby summed it up very succinctly:

This isn’t on Friedman, or Doc, or the coaches. They built this team and coached this team to 7 months of historical greatness. Yet come October, what changed? They didn’t coach or manage differently. The guys seem to fold under pressure.

From Houston Mitchell:

–The Dodgers do a great job of building a team for the regular season. An outstanding job. They just haven’t figured out how to build a World Series champion team. There’s not a huge difference between to regular season and the postseason, but there is a difference, and the Dodgers’ push-button job of management hasn’t figured it out.

—The other disappointing thing: No passion on this team whatsoever. To be clear, I can’t read minds and don’t know what anyone is thinking, but the vibe constantly given off is one of “We can turn it on whenever we want. No worries.”

—If you are a “Star Trek” fan, we had a team full of Spocks. The Padres had a team full of Capt. Kirks. Spock will figure out the best route to get you to Disneyland, but once you get there, you want Capt. Kirk leading the way

—And you have to credit the Padres. They outplayed the Dodgers in every facet of the game. I don’t really even dislike anyone on the Padres, except Manny Machado.

—If recent history holds to form, the Padres will win the World Series now.

—But, it’s not Roberts fault the Dodgers lost. They had ample opportunities to win Games 2, 3 and 4 and couldn’t come up with what they needed in any of those games.

Perhaps JT gets offered the job as manager if they decide to relieve Doc of his duties. Forces JT into retirement. I like that move.

How long until the William post?

Worst thing about this is that the Astro’s are now the World Series favorites. Yeah, there are a lot of different faces there, but if they play the Padres, I am pulling for them to sweep the Pads.

https://twitter.com/tuff_overlord/status/1581515102397685760?s=21&t=8OkF3va3Kjuwo9BGI_Q9EA

And yeah, we will be back. This team only gets better. Bet on it.

So next season SD with Tatis, Machado, Soto, Drury, Hader–perhaps they are the team favored to win division. Pitching–We still are better.

Not as upset as I thought I would be. It was just simply ugly to watch, as were many games during the season. I believe the 5-day layoff took some of the edge off of the offense, but they actually lost 3 in a row to a terrible Rockies team during that 6-game series. So they were primed to be beat. Lefty heavy rotation, so they started a guy who was far from being 100% in game 3 and hoped for the best. When you think about it, that was one of their better pitched games in the series since they gave up only 2 runs. You give up only 2, you should win the game. I am usually a lousy prognosticator, but I believe some of these things are going to happen. JT has played his last game as a Dodger. They are going to go for the buyout. They will give Chris Taylor 1 year to redeem his lost season. If they do not sign or trade for a SS, Gavin Lux will be the starting SS opening day unless Amaya shows a lot in spring. With some tweaks they can have a potent offense again. They cannot afford to have Muncy have a season long slump again. Max is going to have to step up his production. Bellinger gets non tendered. If I am Cody, I find the best hitting guru I can and totally revamp the way I approach hitting. If he had listened to Freeman or just simply watched how the guys approaches hitting, he could be a much better player. Not sure if Anderson will get a QO, but they will probably at least talk to him about another contract. Kimbrel, Heaney, Price, all will be gone. Kershaw will play another season, but not in Dodger blue. I think he goes home to Texas. Will Smith is still the best catcher in the game, and I give him a little leeway on his performance yesterday since it was a pretty stressful day for him with the birth of his daughter and then having to helicopter back to the stadium. Austin Barnes had 2 hits in his 3 at bats. He will be the backup again. Thompson will probably not be retained, although he would love it. Gallo is gone. I believe fan pressure on the team to dismiss Roberts and at least some of his staff is going to be very strong. But who do you get to replace him? The Rangers are talking to Bruce Bochy. One other point, same as last year, AF did very little to address the bench at the deadline. It already was pretty much a black hole. He traded for a .160 hitter with a lot of power who strikes out a ton. Hanser Alberto, although a sparkplug on the bench, was a disappointment as he did not do as well against lefty’s as he had been in his career.. Martin did a decent job, and was a nice return for McKinstry. The Padres went out and got a closer, and two solid hitters. Game, set match to Preller. Now the long winter begins, we will have some idea by the end of February what next years Dodgers will look like. Until then, fans are going to agonize over every decision the front office makes. Not me. I am just going to watch and wait.

So its easy to find fault with management, but its up to the players to come thru. This stuff about it being too easy during the year, or Mookie bowling is BS. So last year we fought down to the wire and then people said we were worn out and should have not tried to beat the Giants. I still think the goal is to have the best team and we proved it during the year. So somehow the guys have to figure out in Oct. Sometimes one guy does it like Seager, Or the “Stunt Men’ in 1988. Freddie tried, but it wasn’t enough. Any strategy can succeed if the the guys execute. The Braves won 15 years in a row and just 1 World Series. Hopefully we don’t match that record

Yes, the Dodgers play was awful. But what was more perplexing to me was their spirit. Outside of Freddie Freeman in a few instances, nobody, and I mean nobody, was eagerly and outwardly “pulling for their teammates”. No good vibes anywhere to be found. It was like Mookie, both Turners, Muncie, CT3, et all took “I just want to be by myself pills.” And, WTH was Bueller doing on the FOX pregame show ucking it up with A-Rod, etc. instead of being at the ballpark supporting his teammates. Compare that to how the Padres played. They showed constantly that they were in the fight with their brothers in arms until the end. And that included Manny, who should have thunk it.

What a buzz killer this series was. Anybody but the Padres. There will be plenty of conversation about Doc/the Wizard’s decisions. Some fair. Some not. To me we had too many players not play well. I wasn’t comfortable with our outfield group of Bellinger, Thompson, CT3 and Gallo and we see how that worked out. You could include Mookie also who hit .143 and brought none of his magic to the dance. We will see new faces in left and center next year, thankfully.

* We had multiple opportunities to increase the lead in this game and once again failed to do it. JT, Lux, Max. CT3 killed us.

* For the series, I knew Smith would be critical hitting behind Freddie and he hit .188. JT .154, Thompson .154 and Belli .143 and being basically benched.

* We hit .147 with Runners in Scoring position for 4 games.

* For the series we hit .227. If strike outs were hits we hit .333.

* Finally the bullpen couldn’t hold up. They say the problem relying on multiple bullpen pieces all the time is that eventually one or two guys don’t get the job done. And that was Kahnle and Almonte. It was inevitable as the bats slept.

* This team lacked a killer instinct. When we got a lead we didn’t put our foot on their throats and increase the lead. We sat back and allowed the Padres to gain confidence and eventually beat us.

* Lux may well be the SS next year. I’m still a big Trea Turner fan despite his defensive slump down the stretch. He is not an elite defender anyway but good enough. He still hit .333 and brings a lot of tools to the yard. But I think his asking price will not be met by the Dodgers and he moves on. His detractors won’t be sad. I will. Potential .300 hitting shortstops with elite speed and mojo, don’t grow on trees.

* Lux may make better turns at SS. He’s pitiful at 2nd. We just failed to complete double plays. His one pivot fits all, is so fundamentally flawed. Again last night he failed to complete a double play, with Martin on the mound, that would have ended the inning. A single later, with the go ahead run at the plate, Martin got Myers swinging. A tense situation that could have been disastrous because Lux can’t turn a double play. He footwork stinks and he gets nothing on the relay throw. I personally don’t see him as a good shortstop but that a conversation for another day.

* I long for the days when a pitcher was done because the hitters showed it; Not computers or a group of analysts. Data now decides how long a guy like Anderson will pitch based based on history to predict the future. It takes the human element completely out of it. Anderson was done because a computer said so and Doc danced around that question with skill in the in-game interview.

* This team will and should look a lot different next year. It will be a very interesting winter.

” The Dodgers led all of baseball in 2022 with RISP with a batting average of .272. This postseason it was .147! ”

THIS RIGHT HERE!

I’ve said this since I’ve been on this blog. If our star players do in Oct what they do April-Sept, we’d have at least 4 rings this last 10 years.

This year, we had guys prove for 6 months that they could be clutch. Yet what happens? In the EXACT SAME situations in Oct, they fold. Will Smith seemed to always be up with guys on base this series. And he was an utter failure. If he, “the best catcher in baseball” came thru even 2 times, we’d be playing tonight in a game 5.

This isn’t on Friedman, or Doc, or the coaches. They built this team and coached this team to 7 months of historical greatness. Yet come October, what changed? They didn’t coach or manage differently. The guys seem to fold under pressure. There is no pressure in April or September. There is no pressure in June vs the Pirates. So talent rises and wins out.

But in October? Choke. 2017 doesn’t count as were robbed. I’ll even give the team the benefit of the doubt in 2021. They fought till the very end and really did look gassed after beating SF in round 1. But this year? Worst choke job ever by this Dodger team. Not one person showed up with a big hit like Cronenworth did with 2 out and 2 on.

We have the most talent in baseball, but we don’t have real October performers. Maybe we do need Joc back for October.

During the season we expect there won’t be anything said of real substance. Like yes Kimbrel (Jansen) is our closer and we have confidence in him. or Belli is showing improvement or Gallo is close and is having some good swings. etc etc. That’s to be expected. But in playoffs the truth shows up. Urias got the save and Jansen was bypassed. Gallo di d doesn’t bat. Beli benched.

This will, no doubt, be analyzed for the rest of the fall and most of the winter. The Dodgers won the marathon, got blown out in the sprint. The lack of hitting just didn’t happen, it started before the season ended.

In the end, the bullpen imploded in game four. I thought they should have let Anderson go at least another inning. Tired of Analytics. Enough already.

I’m still bringing back Trea Turner, but I’m guessing the Dodgers won’t. They won’t want to pay the freight.

The reality is that Mookie Betts is a very good player, but not a great one. He’s also incredibly streaky. If he gets on a roll, Mookie can carry a team. But that’s a lot to pay a player who has lengthy bouts of inconsistency.

So what do you do with Cody Bellinger? Hard to believe this is the same player who lit up 2019. They could bring him back on a reduced contract in hopes he finds it again. Or you could pursue an alternative in center, if one is actually available.

I think Clayton Kershaw returns for one more year. I like the idea of bringing Anderson back.

Trading Chris Taylor makes sense. Too many swings and misses. Dodgers should consider trading Muncy.

I don’t care how good the defense is, a .210 hitter at short just won’t cut it. Isn’t that the problem with Cody?

Don’t see Guggenheim blowing it up. They’re making boatloads of money. They’re again raising ticket prices. They need to put another great team on the field. Expect them to again win 106 games or more.

They just won 111 games. Why would they step back? They have protected the farm system and some of those players are ready or almost ready. But they will not go young just to go young. They need to win consistently to fill the seats and grow their revenue streams.

I get the disappointment, but the playoffs are, at best, a crapshoot. A team gets hot, another chills out and everything goes off the rails. Bottom line players have to produce. Anything can happen. Why do hitters go cold? Probably a lot of reasons. If Mookie was hot, this conversation probably wouldn’t be happening. The Dodgers had plenty of scoring opportunities. They just didn’t produce.

The reconstructed Padres are way better than the deconstructed Dodgers. The Dodger players are nice people. The coaches are nice people. Dave Roberts is a nice person. Kumbaya is the team’s theme song and Roberts is a wonderful camp counselor. The fact they won 111 games makes me believe in pixie dust! And finally, for all his analytics, AF lets his warm and fuzzies cloud his judgement. There! I’ve vented. The healing will take a bit longer.

I think the playoffs may have decided a few career decisions:

Had the Dodgers mowed through the playoffs and won the WS, I think TT would have thought long and hard about staying a Dodger. Who wouldn’t want to be a key player in a “historic” baseball dynasty? It had been rumored for some time that Philly would be a good landing spot for him considering his preference for the East coast and Philly having a need and some money to spend. I think the Phil’s success and the Dodger debacle make it a near certainty, now. Trea is on Zillow looking for mansions in suburban Philly as I write this.

Early on, it looked like this would’ve been JT’s last year. He looked slower at the plate and just looked like had aged out. He then became the hottest hitter in baseball in the 2nd half. Had he been a key figure in a glorious Dodger WS win he would’ve likely signed another one year deal. Now, who knows? It would save 17 million and open a spot on the roster for Vargas at 3rd or Rios. They aren’t great defensive players – anywhere on the field. Makes me wish the Dodgers could’ve landed Arenado. He’ll be opting out, so there’s always a chance, and he’s a local boy/lifelong Dodger fan, but he’s in a good place in a great baseball town with a solid organization already, so it’s a long shot.

Who knows with Kershaw? I get the feeling he still wants to come back – even after this – but he requires constant management and work to able to stay on the field and stay effective. Even then, although he didn’t exactly get hammered in the playoffs, he didn’t carry the Dodgers, either. If I’m in his shoes I might consider retiring.

It was pretty telling that the Dodgers opted to stop even putting Bellinger in the lineup in this series. He had some really bad at bats. We have used the phrase, “he looked lost at the plate” a lot with respect to Bellinger in the past, but his at bats were so uncompetitive that even the Dodgers gave up on him. His disappearance in this series might mean a non-tender. That would be really ballsy by the Dodgers, and unlikely, I think, but the time of making excuses for Bellinger because of his shoulder are over (they were silly to begin with). He has not been an the star player the Dodgers need since the 1rst half of 2019. He’s just painful to watch and I’m over it.

The Dodgers need outfielders and there are none in the system. Andy Pages, maybe, but he took a bit of a step back this year. Vargas can’t really play good defense anywhere on the field, and outfield is not even his primary position.

I don’t think there will be significant changes to the coaching staff. Roberts is a company man. He manages a system, and he’s not bad at it. I don’t think he did anything particularly egregious in this series, either. Van Scoyoc probably isn’t going anywhere, either, although if a head rolls, it is most likely him. I’ve read several rants about the Dodgers over-reliance on the “long ball” and poor performance with RISP as reason why he needs to go. Actually, the Dodgers were exceptional this year with stringing hits together, hitting with RISP, and they were less reliant on home runs this year than in prior years in my observation. If there was a weakness, IMO, it was having to carry underperformers like CT3, Belli, Gallo, JT for a while, and Muncy for a while. Belli was the obvious weak link, and it hurt in this series.

Roberts, as a playoff manager, has his flaws. I don’t think he rises to the moment. I don’t think he reads the game well as it develops. He relies on the consensus before game strategy. He plays the averages. He’s who we’re stuck with.

The organization has done everything right. The players who needed to hit just didn’t hit when it mattered. I don’t know the reasons. I would say, however, that I don’t think a five day layoff really offers a division winner an advantage. I would argue hitters need consistent work against real pitching to maintain their timing and sharpness. That’s as good a reason as any that I can think of. I also blame Mookie’s bowling. Dude! Glad you had a perfect bowling score the other night, but we need those performances when you’re in the batter’s box.

Maybe there’s something to the bowling. I don’t think the Dodgers came in with a sense of urgency. In WWII, the ultimate loss of the Japanese has been attributed to the ease of their early success. They suffered from what was termed “victory disease.” Just as we were smug and complacent here in our comments, perhaps that 111 “historic” season went to their heads, too.

And this is playoff baseball. There is a heavy dose of small sample size luck involved, and it was a longshot that the Dodgers were going to win the WS to begin with.

Ok, so I didn’t see all the at bats. But one sequence, I think second time at bat. Musgrove clearly throwing flat sliders, nothing great, but Trayce and Taylor only looking for fastballs. Both struck out. Trayce looking at a hittable slider. And Taylor way out in front of one out of the zone. With 2 strikes why would they expect to get a fastball , when they showed they couldn’t hit the off speed stuff. Doesn’t someone talk to them about this? I guess not or it doesn’t sink in–They struck out 50+% of time!!

I agree Gallo not resigned. I think decision already made- he never got chance to bat. JT looked like he was 100 years old. The two hits I saw were when somehow the pitch hit his bat and he got two bloops. I think its time to move on from Codi. Maybe a change of scene will help. And Yes a big part of failure was Mookie. Team expected him to show up. He got caught stealing by an inch on a great throw. After that I guess they gave up on that. Sure guys got some hits, and solo homers. But that’s not going to get it done when you are 1-50 with RISP. SD were not much different going into last nite. But that’s not the point

It’s going to be amusing watching Mr. Megaphone defend Roberts IN ITALICS after last night’s fiasco.

This series makes me want to go back to Hawaii and sit on the beach and forget about how bad we played, how bad we looked, how embarrassing it was. Living in Reno I will have to listen to the giant fans mock the Dodgers. Hope your trip was as good as mine, welcome back. Sorry we were not able to hook up.

On the last link one poster defended Bellinger citing his poor offensive performance on his shoulder recovery. I call BS, he’s had plenty of time to recover and return to form….what we now see is what he is!

FF gets $27 million AAV and leads the league in hits and is

Second in BA and you think the Dodger braintrust will pay Bellinger $20 million on a one year tendered contract for his numbers? I don’t see it. The only way Bellinger is a Dodger next year is he again signs a one year below market contract to rebuild his worth but he’s not getting tendered at what it even cost the Dodgers this year which was $17 million.

If you can’t win it all with this years payroll it’s now time to go young, go cheap (relatively speaking) and infuse some young talent. Win the NL West or be a Wild Card contender and try to get hot in the playoffs.

Guggenheim will soon hold a board meeting and ask AF to get payroll to the $200 million dollar range, get under the CBT to reset and get on with a youth movement.

I expect to see larger roles from Pepiot, Grove, Stone, Miller, Outman, Busch and a team without Bellinger, JT, perhaps CK and others who might be traded.

Mookie needs to lead and put together a complete season with elite numbers rather that a hot May and August. Actually saw him take a deep sigh of breath when he got a walk in game two. That tight when you’re supposed to be a superstar and take a noticeable exhale breath like he was relieved he got a freaking walk?

I seriously doubt TT is re-signed, Doc may not survive this debacle and I agree AF should not be immune from criticism. The roster construction was terrible and why exactly was May on the roster if he doesn’t even get a warm-up in the BP?

Gonsolin for a game three start after pitching just three big league innings after being on the IL for nearly six weeks.

In a post season microcosm the Dodgers got the bases with no outs and scored one run on a sac fly. The Padres do the same and score five runs. Horrible just really horrible baseball and someone will be made a sacrificial lamb. My initial vote is RVS at a minimum .

To be completely candid I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Guggenheim say “fuck it blow it all up.”

I still say Roberts through this game and got paid nice to do it. There is absolutely no excuse, no reason to take out a pitcher who is throwing a three hit shut out in a elimination game while throwing only 82 pitchers at the time. Unless he was hurt, which he wasn’t, you had to win this game or those 111 wins meant absolutely nothing!! And you take him out?? Nope, I will go to my grave saying Roberts through this game and got rewarded very nice on the side while doing it!