Nothing Wrong With Back of the Rotation SP for LAD
I said it when Roki Sasaki was struggling…If not Roki, who? He finally started to pitch with more confidence and he put together a string of positive starts. Yes, there were those who forgot about his previous four excellent starts and instead focused on his CWS start. He is a back of the rotation pitcher. He is not an Ace. There is still time as he is just 24 years…
I said it when Roki Sasaki was struggling…If not Roki, who? He finally started to pitch with more confidence and he put together a string of positive starts. Yes, there were those who forgot about his previous four excellent starts and instead focused on his CWS start. He is a back of the rotation pitcher. He is not an Ace. There is still time as he is just 24 years old.
Then there is the other back of the rotation RHSP that many do not care for, Emmet Sheehan. Comments like he should not pitch to batters a third time through, or 4 and done. Sheehan is all of 26 years old, and has accomplished 6.0+ innings multiple times this year and in his career. He is a back of the rotation pitcher. He is not an Ace. Was not drafted to be and is not expected to be.
The difference this year over last year is the number of HRs allowed. But consider that he is in the 90th percentile for Chase and 85th percentile for Whiff. It is not his stuff. It is his command. He has had it on multiple occasions, but he is struggling with it thus far. With his ability for chase and whiff it is probably a mechanics issue, not stuff. How does he get it back? He pitches.
I have had a couple of really good conversations with my son this past week. He is not a big LAD fan and he loves to argue with me. He knows I like Sheehan and he decided to watch Sunday’s game, just to argue with me. But he surprised me. He said there are going to be a lot of fans criticizing Sheehan, but he liked what he saw. For five innings he dominated. He made a horrible pitch for the HR and it looked like it deflated him. Then he told me, “I don’t think fans understand just how hard it is to try and pitch a shutout.”
With the LAD lackluster offense, Sheehan may have thought he had to pitch a shutout for 6-7 innings. While he did not experience stress with runners on base in the first five innings, it was the stress of trying to be being perfect. One bad pitch ended the day for him. Of course it should not have, but he is a young back of the rotation pitcher trying to stick in the LAD rotation. He knows Glasnow and Snell will be back. He is not making millions. He is just above MLB minimum. He is not going to make the big $$$ unless he sticks in a rotation.
Go back and look at Yamamoto’s early season struggles when he was not getting any offensive help. On May 12 he gave up 5 runs in a 6-2 loss, and the next start he lost 1-0. His last four starts have been extra special, but he got a lot of run support…5 runs, 9 runs, 9 runs, and 7 runs. How different might it have been if he was getting his early season run support? Yama is an Ace and is being paid as an Ace.
So if not Sheehan, who? River Ryan? IMO Ryan is legit, but he may be more suited to be a high leverage reliever come the end of THIS year. He has 55.1 total AAA IP. 32.0 IP with 7 starts this year. That is 4.5 innings per start. He is not fully ramped up yet. Close, but not yet. After Ryan, there is NOBODY.
Sheehan is having a better year over many proven SP. He would be #2 for the Cubs only behind Imanaga. He would be #3 for Milwaukee and NYM. #3/#4 for a number of teams. But he is with the Dodgers, and Dodger fans want pitchers who can qualify for top of rotation status.
Just like I stuck with Sasaki, I am sticking with Sheehan.
- Eric Lauer – 4 starts, 22.1 IP – 3.22 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, .228 BAA, 5 BB, 17 K, 5 HR
- Emmit Sheehan – 13 starts, 64.1 IP, 4.76 ERA, 1.20 WHIP. .244 BAA, 17 BB, 72 K, 12 HR
- Roki Sasaki – 12 starts, 62.1 IP, 4.76 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, .246 BAA, 24 BB, 64 K, 11 HR
ACL Reds 4 – ACL Dodgers 2
The Reds scored 4 off SP Jose Taveras in the 1st inning. In 3.2 IP, he gave up 5 hits and issued 4 BB.
The Dodgers did not have a hit in the first four innings. In the 6th, they scored 2 runs with a double, error, BB, and single. They got their 3rd hit in 7th. LF Leider Padilla had a double for the only XBH. No hitter had more than 1 hit.
DSL Reds 4 – DSL LAD Mega 2
RHRP Nehemias Valdez had a good 2.0 innings of scoreless pitching. No hits or walks and 1 K. For 2026, 4 games, 4.1 IP, 1 ER allowed, 1 hit, 1 BB, 3 K.
No DSL LAD Mega hitter had more than 1 hit.
- C Robert Saucedo, double (3).
- CF Helvin Mendoza, double (2).
- DH Jose Rivas, double (2).
DSL LAD Bautista 16 – DSL Royals Fortuna 5
German born LHSP Tom Apfelbaum completed 3.0 scoreless innings. He allowed 2 hits, 1 BB, and 2 K.
CF Rubel Arias is thus far proving he was worth the hype. Will it continue? Can he emulate Eduardo Quintero?
- CF Rubel Arias – 3-5, 1 run, 2 RBI, 1 SF, triple (1)
- 3B Adrian Del Cid – 2-4, 2 BB, 3 runs, 1 RBI, double (2)
- 1B Oliver Chapman – 2-5, 3 runs
- RF Jeibert Rondon – 3-3, 2 BB, 3 runs, 1 RBI, double (1)
- C Haram Hernandez – 4-6, 2 runs, 4 RBI, double (3)
- LF Jhosman Theran – 2-4, 1 BB, 2 runs, 1 RBI, double (2)
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Discussion (83)
Disagree, not disagreeable
So now I’m thinking that maybe Roki is a guy who shouldn’t see batters for a third time….
He was absolutely cruising but then, with two outs in the 6th inning, he gives up HRs to Gunnar Henderson and Pete Alonso–and now the game is tied.
Or perhaps Roberts shouldn’t let Roki see a rival’s two most dangerous hitters for a third time.
Oh well.
Go Dodgers.
Nice win, Padres, and Arizona lose. Giants were up on Atlanta tile the weather postponed the game. LA is 9 up on the Madres and 9.5 on Arizona. Giants are only 2 games out of last place. Guess Posey picked the wrong players.
Great to see the pen be nails two days in a row — they needed that!
Wrobo is just a strike throwing machine! I love it. If he can build himself up to throw 97 consistently, look out! And keep throwing his changeup outside corner to righties.
And once again the bats getting dominated tonight. That is our October Achilles heel
That is why I dislike bunting.
Finally!
And is Snell still a Dodger?
That is speculation and imagination more than deduction. A large percentage of money is from Guggenheim Partners is wonderfully vague, quite possibly incorrect and probably irrelevant. There’s definitely no definite responsibility to other investors! That’s wonderful speculation presented as fact. Interesting you elide over the other sports assets Walter and company are assembling.
As predicted: 06/16/26 Los Angeles Dodgers designated 3B Santiago Espinal for assignment. 06/16/26 Los Angeles Dodgers activated 2B Tommy Edman from the 60-day injured list.
10:10 PM ET Rays (41-28) Dodgers (46-27) SP Drew Rasmussen R 6-2 2.71 ERA SP Justin Wrobleski L 7-2 2.95 ERA Confirmed Lineup DH S. Ohtani L CF Andy Pages R 1B F. Freeman L SS Mookie Betts R 3B Max Muncy L RF Kyle Tucker L LF Ryan Ward L 2B A. Freeland S C C. Robinson R 72° Wind 9 mph Out
But, insider intelligence is what we expect from you. Asking too much? Hey I wasn’t even thinking about it until you mentioned it. It made sense to me. I took a look at the ownership group, there’s quite a few, with Guggenheim owning 27%. And some in that group are getting old. Take a look some time. All things considered, and there’s a lot to consider, nationally, internationally, locally and bifocally. I wouldn’t be surprised if they decided to cash out. Do I expect it? Not really. Just something else to think about.
PJ, I saw one of Puigs once. He had thrown it away. It listed about a dozen hitters and had stuff like this: #13 LF – S3R (meaning Straightaway – 3 step R) CF- D1L (meaning Deep – 1 step L) It went on for each OF position. That was a long time ago. I’m sure it’s different and better now.
Super fun game yesterday. In fact, I had a great few days watching tons of baseball between the College World Series and MLB. Nice to see Tucker get a couple of knocks and 3 RBI and my man, Miggy Ro with the game winning homer. Nice pitching especially the back end. A tidy 2:36 game. I loved the Ray’s safety squeeze. 2:36 was a lot better than the college game Sunday with the Cinderella Troy knocking off Ole Miss 12 to 8 in an agonizing 3:46. Almost a 4 hour game. I smoke an entire pork-butt almost while that game was going on. Yesterday’s OU win over Georgia, 4-3 was a great game. I really enjoyed the Dodger broadcast with Boog Sciambi and Rossie. Boog can be a little controversial but I really like him. Great information and sense of humor with Rossie who is the opposite of a Joe Buck or even a Joe Davis. No Slick-Willie, just an unpretentious baseball-man describing the game. They seem to be guarded like the nuclear launch codes but I’d love to see one of those little positioning cards that defenders pull out of their back-pockets. I wonder how they concisely tell players where to position themselves. Like a quick numbering system. Like 3 steps right of a straight-away position. Has anybody here ever seen one of know how they work? I hope Worbs keeps up the good work today.
This I know: 1. A large percentage of the money has come from Guggenheim Partners. 2. Mark Walter is 66. 3. Mark Walter has 100% control of the Dodgers 4. He also has a fiduciary responsibility to Guggs shareholders. 5. He isn’t going to be there forever. 6. Ohtani & Yama are in their prime and Japan is a huge revenue source. 7. If they win 3 in a row, their price may be the highest ever. 8. The above is the power of deduction and reasoning. Give it a try! BTW, This is just my opinion, not insider intellegence.
Teoscar Hernandez could begin a rehab assignment as soon as the weekend of June 19-21 if he continues to progress.
“It is human to err.” That’s true. But if you really want to f*** it up you need a computer.
I think it’s probably doubtful too. But it is possible.
I’m saying I don’t trust there won’t be more sore arms going forward. I’m also saying rather than face him twice in a postseason series I’d rather Skubal was with the Dodgers.
The source is reality! They’ve bought a bunch of assets! And never sold one! Not even that stupid eSports one. What kind of question was that? Perhaps some don’t consider the following as assets? Maybe they are thought of as incidental purchases? The Lakers, The Dodgers, Chelsea FC, the Sparks, that team in Germany, Cadillac’s F1 team.
I am not grumpy. I am a realist. And realistically to me anyway, he is still a kid. My kids are still kids to me, and they are all 40 or older. Ryan does have a lot to prove. He has pitched 56 total games in the minor leagues at all levels. He is not dominating the league, far from it. He has nice stats over 7 starts. How many pitchers can you name who with just 7 triple A starts under their belts advance to the majors and dominate MLB hitters? His total experience in AAA is exactly 14 games, with a 3-1 record. He had surgery less than 2 years ago. And you expect him to just pass over guys like Sheehan, who have more experience than he does? You sir are delusional. And quite wrong. He hasn’t proven anything at any level yet.
You sure are a grumpy ol man aren’t ya? He’s not a kid as far as prospects go….he’s older than Sheehan! You implied he wouldn’t get a shot this year and we all know he is going to get some starts. He has nothing to prove in the minors at this point and they have to see what they got. Now get back to cussing out the kids for playing on yer lawn ol timer.
4.0 innings last time. I say free the bats.
Not true. He pitched 4.innings in his last start. The time before that, he did pitch 6.0 innings and gave up 4 runs on 6 hits and 3 walks. Shehan has gone at least 6.0 innings in five of his 13 .starts. All five were quality starts and in 4 of the five the opponent scored 2 or fewer runs in his 6.0 innings. Sheehan has done nothing to deserve going back to OKC.
Opinions are cool. That’s what this site is all about. Second guessing and hindsight, not for me. It is human to err. I admire the man who doesn’t shy away and goes balls out for what he believes will work. Regardless of the consequences or criticism. AF comes to mind…Tucker, and Kevin Cash…Snell. You can’t win or innovate without taking chances. Oh, I have an opinion too. AF will not trade the farm for Tarik or anyone else. And he could give a rat’s behind what team gets him. He just hope’s his foresight in cobbling this team together will win a 3rd championship in a row! Book em
I think they paid for the Laker franchise, the the Laker brand, and the value the Lakers’ organization will be worth once it’s back to being dominant, not just for a “mediocre team”. They also bought a mediocre Dodger team in 2012 but realized what the Dodger franchise and Dodger brand was worth and what it could be once it was run properly. I”m not so sure they’ll sell the Dodgers so soon. The deferred money is actually making the Dodgers money right now in escrow, so it’s a win win situation. It’s not a giant lump sum that’s due out of the blue in 2033-2043.
“They are building an asset group.” Source? “what in the world makes you think they would sell the Dodgers?” A Mark Timmons’ opinion. Walter wildly overpaid for a mediocre Laker team. Their percentage valued the Lakers at $10-$11 billion I believe. They’ve committed hundreds of millions of dollars for under performing players in recent years. Maybe, Guggenheim wants to cash out and let the new owners deal with the remaining bad contracts and deferred payments. Then use the proceeds to get the Laker team back to a championship caliber team. Letting LeBron move on would be a good first move for next season.