Of Course, Fans Know Better!
Some Dodger fans are losing their collective minds after 13 games, even though the Dodgers are on track to win 112 games with a .692 winning percentage. I have heard all of the following suggestions: Chris Taylor is toast. Max Muncy is a bum Mookie should be in CF Mookie should…
Some Dodger fans are losing their collective minds after 13 games, even though the Dodgers are on track to win 112 games with a .692 winning percentage. I have heard all of the following suggestions:
- Chris Taylor is toast.
- Max Muncy is a bum
- Mookie should be in CF
- Mookie should be at 2B and Miggy should be at SS
- Andy Pages should be in AAA because he cannot play CF
It seems that many Dodger fans feel that this team is a colossal failure. They evidently believed my satire that the team should win 162 games. Anything else is a failure! Of course, all of that is silly at best, probably delusional. Give it time. Maybe Andy Pages can’t play CF… but maybe he can. I have seen too much baseball to say he can’t play CF, and don’t forget, I was the one who said Lux could not play SS. BTW, Gavin has been playing LF and hitting cleanup for the Reds. I was also the one who said Lux should be in LF! Progress is not linear. I see progress on some plays with Pages and then question other plays. That happens with young players.
Patience Grasshoppers.
Dodger Notes
- Walker Buehler has an 8.68 ERA after nine innings in which he has given up 14 hits and nine runs. Yikes!
- Keibert Ruiz is hitting .343 with a .981 OPS after being one of the worst players in baseball the past two years – Progress is not linear!
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Discussion (59)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Tuesday scores
Oklahoma City 16, Round Rock 3
Tulsa 1, Arkansas 0
Great Lakes 10, Lansing 5
Stockton 6, Rancho Cucamonga 2
Wednesday schedule
9:05 a.m. PT: Tulsa (Peter Heubeck) at Arkansas (Nick Fraze)
3:05 p.m.: Great Lakes (Luke Fox) at Lansing (Yunior Tur)
5:05 p.m.: Oklahoma City (Tony Gonsolin) at Round Rock (David Buchanan)
7:05 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Samuel Sanchez) at Stockton (Blake Hammond)
Second rehab start for Tony Gonsolin, who pitched 1⅔ scoeless innings last Wednesday. He’ll be on five days rest.
For more detailed recaps,stats and box scores for Dodger minor league teams go to the top of the page and cIick on MINOR LEAGUE AFFLIATES.
Promising results for Frasso so far but he is no longer an elite prospect. Maybe a multi-inning reliever down the road or trade fodder.
Still glad to see him back.
Lets win today and have a happy flight!
Trade Ohtani and Betts Designate Snell and Sasaki and start rebuilding!
Also fire Andrew and dave!!
that will do it!
Great comments Mark. The only thing I’m frustrated about at this point is all the base on balls we’re issuing. It drives me crazy to lead all of the majors in walks, when we are widely considered to have the top talented pitching staff…. maybe ever.
What happened to my clearly intelligent comment?
I still think this team is way too reliant on the long ball. Over 60% of their runs have come on homers. In this series alone, 4 of their 6 runs came on long balls. Ohtani has 4 homers, but just 5 runs batted in. His last homer on Monday, was his first with a runner on. Shows how critical it is for the bottom of the lineup to set the table for the big boys. So far, it is not happening.
I agree with you Mark and I also can’t argue strenuously with many of the fears some have offered.
Lux is playing LF more because of who is already playing short and second than his inability to play second. That’s why Betts played RF instead of second in Boston. A bat will find a glove.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Wednesday that Freeman (ankle) will be activated from the 10-day injured list when first eligible Friday, David Vassegh of AM 570 LA Sports reports.
The Los Angeles Dodgers have recalled right-handed pitcher Landon Knack to start Wednesday’s game against the Washington Nationals.To make room on the active roster, left-handed pitcher Justin Wrobleski was optioned back to Triple-A.
4:05 PM ET EARLY GAME
Dodgers (9-4)
Nationals (5-6)
SP Landon Knack R
1-0 .00 ERA
SP Jake Irvin R
0-0 5.40 ERA
Confirmed Lineup
DH S. Ohtani L
SS Mookie Betts R
2B Tommy Edman S
RF T. Hernandez R
LF M. Conforto L
C Will Smith R
3B Max Muncy L
1B E. Hernandez R
CF Andy Pages R
55° Wind 6 mph
“The Dodgers believe Snell will not be out for the long term and think he can recover with rest. That was confirmed by team physician Dr. Neal ElAttache, so the plan is for Snell to start throwing again next week, via Jack Harris of the L.A. Times:
A meeting with head team physician Dr. Neal ElAttrache on Monday confirmed that Snell will not need an injection or any other medical intervention, either.
The plan now is to have Snell begin throwing again at the start of next week.
Even though Snell is set to resume throwing soon, he is still expected to miss at least two starts, if not mainly due to the minimum IL requirement for pitchers.
Snell’s IL stint was backdated to April 3, which makes Friday, April 18, the earliest day he is eligible to return”.
I hope Freeland gets an opportunity with the Dodgers this year. Nice glove and being a switch hitter is a plus.NO errors thus far at shortstop and third base at Oklahoma City.
From MLBTR: Pages has only had 41 plate appearances at the time of this writing. He had multiple stretches of 40+ PA last year that were worse: one that began in mid-May, and another than began in late July. In that last example, he posted a .363 OPS from July 21st to August 3rd, even worse than the .415 OPS he currently sports. Then from August 5th onward, he hit .286/.351/.586 in 78 PA. It’s a bit like the stock market – if the Dodgers “sell” on Pages now, they might miss out on a possible resurgence.
That said, Pages only has 484 big league plate appearances to his name, and he has a 95 wRC+ to show for it. More than a quarter of those PA have come against southpaws, which is where the right-handed-hitting Pages has had most of his success. I think there’s an above-average hitter in there and the ability to play a competent center field. Many teams would be happy to have the 24-year-old Pages, but I do not actually know whether he will succeed as a Major League regular, particularly in a high-pressure environment.
Certainly there could come a point where the Dodgers look to upgrade at second or center field, using Tommy Edman in the other spot. That point would likely come in July. Luis Robert Jr., the most obvious answer, should be available even now. On the second base side, I could picture Luis Garcia Jr. or Luis Rengifo becoming available this summer. At this point the clear sellers are the same four teams we expected: the White Sox, Nationals, Marlins, and Rockies. Certainly the Angels, A’s, and a few of the NL Central clubs could join them.
UPDATE: Somewhat proving my point, Pages homered, singled, and walked on Tuesday after I wrote my initial answer.
Almost home. Just landed in KC
Three walks in the first inning… ugh !!!!!
Good call on Pages.
Gonsolin’s line at Oklahoma City: 3.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K 46 pitches and 34 strikes.
Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has announced that right-hander Landon Knack will get a second start when his rotation spot comes around, per Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. He will most likely face the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium.
Some suggestions I have seen on LADT…
Lux should play center!
Vargas is “stellar” at 2B!
Will Smith should shift to LF!
Et cetera. But it’s not really news that the pot keeps calling the kettle black….
But Mark, you were right about Lux at SS. (Did you tell AF about that? “Andrew, what were you thinking? Even a blogger like me could see that Lux didn’t have arm for SS!”)
Anyway, it was nice to see the mighty bullpen lift the Dodgers to another win and nice to see Pages show signs of life. (Your turn, Max.) Edman, Teo and Shohei keep rolling. And really nice to see Mookie make a terrific play on a shot to SS–backhanded, with a strong throw from the OF grass. (Some nice plays by Kike and Pages too.)
Hey, will Kim be up soon or not? The sight of Kim getting hugs and congratulations in the dugout the other day sparked speculation that he was LA-bound.
In non-Dodgers news, the Angels have an early ROY candidate in Kyren Paris, who is now batting .440 with 5 HRs. He’s the reason the Angels released Mickey Moniak, who is now a Rockie.
While some folks are snarky. Others are jumping off the cliff. And the whole time Mark is the voice of reason.
Thank you .
Book em
One of my realtors here in Panama is a big Dodgers fan, 26 yr old youngster, Ohtani his favorite player. Panama is a great baseball country!
I make sure to wear some kind of swag every day. Gotta represent.
The sky is falling. We suck. We’re 10-4.
Andy Pages’s improvement the last two games has been because he is trying to pull the ball where his power is ,rather than earlier in the season and Spring trying to go to right field . Let it rip Andy!!!
Wednesday scores
Oklahoma City 7, Round Rock 5
Arkansas 9, Tulsa 2
Lansing 8, Great Lakes 2
Stockton 12, Rancho Cucamonga 5
Thursday schedule
3:05 p.m. PT: Great Lakes (Patrick Copen) at Lansing (Kyle Robinson)
4:35 p.m.: Tulsa (Jackson Ferris) at Arkansas (Danny Wirchansky)
5:05 p.m.: Oklahoma City (Justin Jarvis) at Round Rock (Adrian Houser)
7:05 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Hyun-Seok Jang) at Stockton (Ryan Magdic)
Evan Phillips made his third appearance for Oklahoma City, and after a strikeout to open the sixth inning had someone reach on an error, then allowed three singles in a row and a sacrifice fly for three runs (one earned) in his two-out, 25 pitch outing.
For more detailed recaps,stats and box scores for Dodger minor league teams go to the top of the page and cIick on MINOR LEAGUE AFFLIATES.