On Track For 100 Wins… AGAIN!
The Dodgers are on pace to win over 100 games this season… again… for the fourth year in a row. No has EVER (in baseball history) EVER done that, but were it not for the COVID-19 short season, the Dodgers would have won 100 games six years in a row! Let that sink in! No team has…
The Dodgers are on pace to win over 100 games this season… again… for the fourth year in a row. No has EVER (in baseball history) EVER done that, but were it not for the COVID-19 short season, the Dodgers would have won 100 games six years in a row! Let that sink in! No team has ever been this dominant for this long… EVER! Yet, I think some Dodger fans would trade two championships for a losing seasons the other five years, and that only proves that they value being miserable over continued excellence. Well, it also proves that they do not even come close to comprehending what a crapshoot having twelve teams make the playoffs makes it. I have to admit that most are old and only remember how easy it was to win when only two teams made the playoffs. They cannot comprehend why it is statistically more difficult to win now, so they continue to say, “Friedman can’t build a team for the playoffs.” I have to deal with that level of comprehension daily, and it wears on me. This is a broken record that plays over and over again every year… over and over… over and over! It could be that they suffer from a treatable disease:
I’ve posted this before, but Al Yellen wrote the best Essay entitled: “With MLB’s new playoff system, it’s impossible to ‘build a World Series team’“ I am publishing it in it’s entirety:
It’s been said by many that teams who want to succeed in Major League Baseball should build a “World Series team.”
I’m here to tell you that’s basically impossible now that MLB has 12 teams in its postseason. This year, we have a World Series between the No. 7 seed and the No. 12 seed (that is, if all the teams were seeded by record, which they aren’t).
This doesn’t mean the playoffs aren’t entertaining. The first couple of rounds this year were a bit less than compelling, granted, but both LCS had entertaining moments, interesting games, great pitching and hitting and a walkoff win. If you want to enjoy October baseball — and if you’re here, I assume you’re a baseball fan who does — you simply have to accept that the World Series is no longer an attempt to crown the best team champion. It’s simply a tournament played over four-plus weeks’ time that results in a winner. That doesn’t mean it can’t be good and enjoyable baseball.
Even in the “olden days,” the World Series didn’t always crown the best team champion. Take, for example, the Cubs, who won 10 N.L. pennants in the 40 seasons between 1906 and 1945. That’s really good! They won just two World Series in that span, in 1907 and 1908. They had the better regular-season record both times. But in the other eight, all losses, the Cubs had the better record five times, including being 22½ games better than the White Sox in the only all-Chicago World Series in 1906. Two great pitchers, Ed Walsh and Doc White, shut the Cubs down and the Sox won the Series four games to two.
It. Happens. All. The. Time. And it’s more likely to happen now when we have more postseason series — and when MLB expands, perhaps by the end of this decade, we’ll likely have even more. I’m fully expecting MLB to have a 16-team postseason when there are 32 teams.
Too many? That’s an argument for a different day. Today I want to examine what this all means to the Chicago Cubs as they currently stand.
JD said it right: “Oh, no.” If Dansby Swanson catches that ball, the Cubs win the game — and presuming everything past that went just as it did in reality, the Cubs are in the postseason and the Diamondbacks are not.
That’s how much of a crapshoot this all is.
So what do the Cubs now need to do in order to give them a chance to be in that postseason crapshoot every year, or nearly every year?
The Mets outspent everyone last offseason. What did that get them? Twenty-six fewer wins, and one of the guys they previously spent big money on is in the World Series — for another team, with the Mets paying a lot of the contract. I assume you don’t want that for the Cubs.
Go on a spending spree like the Padres did? They spent a ton of money on Xander Bogaerts, and the Cubs got the better shortstop for less money — and next year Bogaerts might be asked to move off shortstop. Interestingly, the Padres wound up winning just one fewer game than the Cubs did, but they had to win 14 of their last 16 to do it, and now they’re looking for a new manager after Bob Melvin and A.J. Preller reportedly clashed amid “institutional failure.”
The Cubs don’t have that. They’ve got a President of Baseball Operations who did a pretty good job putting together a contending team in 2023 and a manager who they like (even if some of you don’t). Yes, they have just lost a key executive to the Red Sox, but I suspect they can carry on without him.
The Cubs will have to spend money, no doubt about it. Job 1 is re-signing Cody Bellinger. You know, a couple of years ago Phillies owner John Middleton said the team was spending “stupid money” and regarding Bellinger, they might have to.
But beyond that, and also locking up Justin Steele to a long-term deal, the Cubs already have a pretty good core signed for reasonable terms. Swanson, Hoerner, Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki are all signed for at least three more seasons. That’s a pretty good core to build around. The Cubs found out late in the 2023 season that a bullpen made of used chewing gum wrappers wasn’t going to cut it. That’s where they should focus after re-signing Bellinger, and not necessarily spending big money on that, either. “Intelligent spending” was mocked by many when Jed Hoyer used that phrase a while back, but it does actually seem like the right thing to do.
To circle back to the headline, you can’t build a “World Series team.” Teams that appeared to have done that this year — Dodgers, Braves in particular — are watching the World Series at home with the rest of us.
Build a team that’s good enough to get into the October tournament and withstand injuries. That is, in my view, what the Cubs have to do to be able to get in the playoff conversation every year, or nearly so. Do that and it should work out in a championship or two, eventually.
So, this brings me to the crux of what I want to discuss today: Will the Dodgers make a BIG MOVE at the trade deadline? Before I answer that, I want to remind you of what Andrew Friedman said when he took over for the Dodgers. He said this, according to Jon Weisman:
— Andrew Friedman (via Jon Weisman)
“It’s an incredibly exciting day for me, coming into a franchise with such an historic history, occupying the same seat held by legendary baseball men like Buzzie Bavasi and Branch Rickey, is both challenging and humbling. Baseball would not be where it is today, without the Dodgers, and I have to say it feels great to be a Dodger today.
“Baseball is great when fans care deeply, and no team has better fans than the Dodgers. They expect their team to compete deep into October every year, and so do I. The fans know that baseball’s best when you win, so I’m looking forward to working with the many talented people in this organization to help us get to where we want to be, which is bringing a World Series championship back to L.A.
“I will focus on process, and I will be as open and disciplined in our thinking as possible. Success requires an entire team of people who are on the same page and who trust implicitly in the processes we implement together. I look forward to working with the many talent people who are already here in baseball ops and adding dynamic people from the outside as well.
“Most of all, we will create a culture of trust throughout our entire organization. An environment of trust and forthrightness breeds a healthy and highly functional organization. And I want our players to know that we will communicate openly and take care of them at all costs.
“I fully recognize the magnitude of the job ahead of me. This is a world-class organization with world-class expectations.
“It’s important to be able to supplement your major league team and it’s important to be able to use certain guys to go out and get things that you need, whether it’s in the offseason or in July.
On the relevance of team chemistry:
“It’s a much longer answer than we have time for right now, but if you are a team that wins 70 games and you have great chemistry, I don’t want those 25 guys. Those aren’t guys that I necessarily want to be in the trenches with. A lot of those stories about chemistry from the media come after the fact — it’s a narrative after the fact. … I’d rather win with what you determine to be bad chemistry than lose with what you determine to be good chemistry.
“We look at scouting reports. We look at the different metrics. We look at who they are, their makeup. We do a lot of digging on the people we are going to acquire.”
On communicating with players:
“We’re gonna communicate. We’re going to talk to guys. We’re going to be very open and honest and forthright. People are going to know exactly what we’re thinking. I think it’s important that whatever conversations we have with players behind closed doors, that we have with the players, that they understand what we feel like our their strengths, what we feel like are their goals and things they need to work on, so that line of communication is open and guys know what the situation is and where we stand.”
“It’s an incredibly exciting day for me, coming into a franchise with such an historic history, occupying the same seat held by legendary baseball men like Buzzie Bavasi and Branch Rickey, is both challenging and humbling. Baseball would not be where it is today, without the Dodgers, and I have to say it feels great to be a Dodger today.
“Baseball is great when fans care deeply, and no team has better fans than the Dodgers. They expect their team to compete deep into October every year, and so do I. The fans know that baseball’s best when you win, so I’m looking forward to working with the many talented people in this organization to help us get to where we want to be, which is bringing a World Series championship back to L.A.
“I will focus on process, and I will be as open and disciplined in our thinking as possible. Success requires an entire team of people who are on the same page and who trust implicitly in the processes we implement together. I look forward to working with the many talent people who are already here in baseball ops and adding dynamic people from the outside as well.
“Most of all, we will create a culture of trust throughout our entire organization. An environment of trust and forthrightness breeds a healthy and highly functional organization. And I want our players to know that we will communicate openly and take care of them at all costs.
“I fully recognize the magnitude of the job ahead of me. This is a world-class organization with world-class expectations.
“It’s important to be able to supplement your major league team and it’s important to be able to use certain guys to go out and get things that you need, whether it’s in the offseason or in July.
On the relevance of team chemistry:
“It’s a much longer answer than we have time for right now, but if you are a team that wins 70 games and you have great chemistry, I don’t want those 25 guys. Those aren’t guys that I necessarily want to be in the trenches with. A lot of those stories about chemistry from the media come after the fact — it’s a narrative after the fact. … I’d rather win with what you determine to be bad chemistry than lose with what you determine to be good chemistry.
“We look at scouting reports. We look at the different metrics. We look at who they are, their makeup. We do a lot of digging on the people we are going to acquire.”
On communicating with players:
“We’re gonna communicate. We’re going to talk to guys. We’re going to be very open and honest and forthright. People are going to know exactly what we’re thinking. I think it’s important that whatever conversations we have with players behind closed doors, that we have with the players, that they understand what we feel like our their strengths, what we feel like are their goals and things they need to work on, so that line of communication is open and guys know what the situation is and where we stand.”
On autonomy:
“I’m a big fan of collaboration. I think that anyone who thinks there’s one person making all decisions, it’s naive.”
On payroll:
“We’re gonna solve for winning, and I think the payroll part of it will be a byproduct of that. A healthy, highly functioning organization has a lot of good young players you’re interjecting with veteran star players and (being) able to do that in a way that allows you to remain competitive, that’s our challenge. That’s the thing that will drive us every single day in what we do.”
Andrew also stated that he wanted to build a sustainable team to win year after year, not win for a few years and then tank. He also said something very wise:
“I don’t believe the best team wins the World Series every year. I think the hottest team wins the World Series every year.”
— Andrew Friedman
Here’s another wise quote:
“Making sense of MLB’s postseason rollercoaster is a fool’s game.”
— J.P. Hoornstra
Will the Dodgers Make a Blockbuster Trade?
While anything is possible, I would not predict that he will make a Huge Splash. The Dodgers are still running away with the division, and many players will be back in the next six to eight weeks. Dave Dumbrowski will not hesitate to gut the Phillies’ farm system, while Friedman will not do the same in the Dodgers system. However, it does not mean that the Dodgers will stand pat at the trade deadline. I think that what Friedman has done in the past will predict what he might do in the future… and he seldom does what any of us predict.
I think that Tyler Rogers of the Giants would fit in well in the Dodgers’ bullpen. Rogers has a 2.92 ERA in a majors-leading 40 appearances this year, with 27 strikeouts and only two walks. The 33-year-old righty with the submarine delivery is affordable ($3.2 million salary this year) and controllable through 2025 as well. He has not allowed a run in 10 of 11 appearances this month. Rogers has a career ERA of 2.96 and has led the league in games pitched in two of the past four years. His submarine delivery would play well with all of the flamethrowers in the Dodgers ‘ bullpen. Friedman can deal with Farhan and could get Rogers relatively cheaply.
As I have said, I think Garrett Crochet is a waste of collateral. By the All-Star Break, he may have 120 innings. In 2023, he had 12 innings and in 2022, he did not pitch due to injury. In 2021, he had 54 innings and just 6 innings in 2020. I cannot see him helping during the stretch run or in October. I can see Wrobleski doing it, however. I suppose the Dodgers could have an interest in Jack Flaherty…
Jazz Chisholm is a player that the Dodgers might value because he can play IF and OF, but there is a lot of bad blood between him and Rojas. Randy Arozarena could be had for LF, but I would rather keep Miguel Vargas. Taylor Ward of the Angels could be in play and would not cost a ton. The Dodgers almost signed Tommy Pham before they decided to sign Teoscar, so they do like him, but they had two opportunities and declined both times.
With Gavin Stone, along with Glasnow, Knack, Paxton, and the choice of Kershaw, Miller, Buehler, Wrobleski, or maybe Casparius, Hurt, or Ryan, the Dodgers seem stacked at starting pitcher. Of course, you can never have too much pitching. The Bazooka may also return in August!
I think we simply have to wait and see how this all shakes out with the current lineup. In about a month, we will know a lot more, and Muncy may be ready to return.
X-CITES
Finally…
I am taking a few days off, and I may or may not be back. I have reached the conclusion that I will not allow the childish, little idiots who live to criticize me because they have never built or run anything themselves in their lives (except their mouths driven by their small brains)… I will not allow them to take away my joy and happiness. I have better things to do than read what these dimwits write… and if I am such a stupid/bad/make-shit-up kind of guy, why do they even read here in the first place? If/when I do come back, I may thin the herd of the idiots that don’t even rise to the level of morons. If you are not one of them, I’m sorry, but they ruin it for everyone. If you are one of the idiots, I am sure you don’t comprehend that either.
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Discussion (137)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Don’t go anywhere Mark this is THE best Dodger Blog out there.
And you are 100% spot on about the playoffs and WS. Ill take what the Dodgers are doing over any team in baseball.
I’m not gonna re-hash 2017 but we all know what happened. So that’s 2 WS championships in 7 years and winning 100 games every year.
Being a Dodger fan is great we dont have down seasons, at all.
I enjoy the ride every summer and know we will have a chance to win it all come October, 2024 is no different.
No team can say that.
Mark I understand your feelings but why not just get rid of the garbage.
Dude, just DFA three or four guys on here and you’ll be golden.
Cheers
Here we go again….
Sorry, I really like you Mark and this blog, but this is childs play at some point.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Most will agree about getting rid of idiots. But that doesn’t mean everyone that may disagree with a certain opinion.
I think Mark now tied with Tom Brady for most retirements. But anyway. Just delete posts that make personal attacks on anyone. Let people express their opinions, and don’t feel compelled to answer idiots.
LOL
This site great when it talks baseball. But this must be the 500th time posting about building team for wins or playoffs. I think all future posts on this subject should be deleted.
Agreed . And Mark should just stop calling other users out and suggest they would prefer feeling miserable over contnued excellency because those users would chose 2 WS titles going along with 5 losing seasons over 10 great regular seasons without a WS title.
Every animal is different. Speaking for me I would chose those 2 titles in a heartbeat even if we had 5 losing seasons in between and it would NOT make me feel miserable . I like baseaball a lot , not only MLB but the minors too.
If the big league team loses but some of our blue chip prospects have good days that makes me happy . It is not only about the big league team for me. Watching the kids move along , making it to DS and eventually win the title is just as nice as all those winning regular seasons.
But hey, that is just me and Mark probably will call me preferring to be miserable over happy too.
I can deal with it though cause only I know what makes me happy. No one else.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!
I guess you would rather have a site where everyone just agrees on everything and keeps patting each other on the back…… boring!
Not quite sure why you would let someone’s SPORTS opinion bother you so much to take your ball and go home. Either just delete the ones that refute what you think or don’t worry about them. Most of them are just PEOPLE’S opinions that may or may not match yours. Yes, some proposed trades are pretty loony but I just read them and move on.
I can agree with the playoff crapshoot to a point but maybe our FO could look at what is causing our top hitters gonads to shrink. Knowing that, look to trades for a non- 3 result hitter or two to try something different. On the pitcher side it’s just health. Every year it is the hitting. I think this is the cause of some of your posters angst.
You have made this site the first place I go every morning. Thank you. You are very talanted.
Mark,you know who the troublemakers are,just block them,delete them or do whatever it takes to rid of them. I still believe this is an opinionated site and opinions should not get personal with anyone.Why let a few assholes ruin it for all the loyal Dodger participants?
Just block the morons. not worth getting upset over them.
this is still the best dodger site out there. Just block them.
Please keep it going!
Thank-you for every morning. My first thing to read.
never usually comment, just look forward to reading your insights!
Hi Mark- most of what makes you crazy is under the radar for me. I’m here primarily for your content and secondarily for the comments. Stupid comments are easily skipped over for me because I’m not invested. You take comments personally because this is your blood, sweat and tears. Totally understand that.
My 2 cents for posters is: don’t be an ass hole and have at least a modicum of respect. And Mark- I’d simply blow people up without fanfare – I bet know one would know or give a single shit. Thanks,
Jim
Perhaps we should discuss wordle, recipes, what’s for dinner or Auburn football like they do at TBLA or just suck it up and embrace the notion we’re all different and enjoy our fandom of Dodger baseball differently and we won’t always agree.
At the end of the day we’re online discussing baseball, many of us are retired and have been watching Dodger baseball for decades. In the big scheme of things that we’re all dealing in this thing called life does it really matter if one guy wants to sacrifice some WS titles for a few losing seasons, or a certain player should be sent out, or a big trade made should be made.
It’s a freaking blog for gosh sake.
Between your previous site and current one it has been an enjoyable daily read for me over the last 12-13yrs.
I hope it continues and hope you come back relaxed and refreshed.
And if you decide to continue, please don’t loose that edge, it keeps the blood flowing.
Let’s just do our best to respect each other views.
Go Mark !!
Go Dodgers!!
I read 2 blogs this one and ladodger chronicles and they each have their own personalities due to the head moderator’s. This one is more edgy for sure. I like both of them and don’t post as much as i used to.
You lost or banned quite a few posters over the years I have been reading.
It’s a blog and people are going to say things others either agree or disagree with. Sometimes its better to not say anything you don’t agree with instead of going back and forth like you and Eric have for the last 3 years.
Just my 2 cents is all and i hope you keep the site going as its a daily occurrence for many of us
It is your blog, Mark; you do what you want. But as many of us said before, don’t let others spoil your love of the game or the team. Yeah, the uninformed and disillusioned are going to always piss and moan about something. And since I used to write for this blog, I know how it can drain one listening to people constantly complain about an era that is unlike any era in Dodgers history. I am old, but I totally understand that the playoffs are crapshoots. And if you go into the playoffs minus major pieces, like 21, when Muncy and Kershaw were not available, your odds of winning go way down. Yet in 21 they got to the NLCS, but just could not come back from a 3-1 deficit. Last year, same thing, injuries to the pitching staff, and the stars not producing against Arizona. Just get rid of the ones who give you ulcers. And there is no need to post every day. If you like, just a game recap can generate conversation. I like posting here, most of the fans here have some solid knowledge, and I respect theirs and your opinions. I shall continue writing for Jeff’s blog as long as I can. Be well my friend, and do what makes you, not others, happy.
Thursday schedule
4 p.m. PT: Great Lakes (Patrick Copen) at Lake County (Rorik Maltrud)
5 p.m.: Tulsa (Chris Campos) vs. Amarillo (Dylan File)
6:05 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Wyatt Crowell) at Lake Elsinore (Eric Yost)
6:35 p.m.: Oklahoma City (River Ryan) at Reno (Humberto Castellanos)
“Chris Campos makes his Double-A debut on Thursday. Patrick Copen, the Dodgers’ seventh-round pick out of Marshall last year, makes his Midwest League debut after getting promoted Tuesday”.
Would be a shame for you to go away!! Look forward to this all day. .. there’s always someone or somebody want to piss in your cereal. Well i don’t eat cereal. Haven’t in 55 years. Hell i don’t agree with everyone all the time, but that’s what makes for good conversation! Give people 3 chances. #1 , warning. #2. week off. #3 permanent ban. You and i have never agreed on Barnes. But, i respect your opinion and acknowledge my bias against him. I pull for him, but he drives me crazy! ….. I want Bo Bichette. Bear doesn’t. But we agree that LA needs another bat. Bottom line everyone practice aa little common courtesy and respect every single person. If you can’t, go away! Go Barnes!!
It still amazes me how many people blindly bite the hand that feeds them.
This is an excellent site that so many individual enjoy to let it be ruined by the few who pick a fight or do a “neener – neener” when a statement by somebody else that they disagreed with is wrong, just so they “may” feel better about themselves??
The amount of time that Mark puts into this site is incredible!
So my question to others is “when” he is wrong who gives a Fxxx!
Let it go, ignore it and move on and write something that is “semi” rational, “reasonably” thought out and “possibly” entertaining. The amount of nit-picking that sometime occurs is ridiculous.
Plus, typically Mark owns it when he wrong on his opinions on certain players.
As most of us are older (i.e. definitely over 55) I think we can handle being called some names – but Mark, maybe instead of saying that a post or specific thought is “moronic” instead say “nonsensical”??:)
Also, as most of us are / have been married, could you imagine the ruckus in your relationship if you corrected your spouse on every little comment and or nuance. Everybody here should have learned to let the small stuff go as it makes for a happier life!:))
I grew up pretty hard-core blue collar, and believe it or not, my dad used the word “that little bastard” as a term of endearment.
Now of course he if prefaced that word with “Fxxxing” – then “usually” it was not a term of endearment, but then, of course in a context of pulling off something funny with your friends/family, getting call a “you Fxxxing bastard” probably meant you scored a point and could expect a friendly retaliation sometime down the road.
That is of course, something that the written word cannot convey vs. the tone/context of the verbal word in a face-to-face get together.
Any way – in summary – I don’t think any of us that reads this blog “as a go to” every morning wants it to go away.
Finally, whether or not I agree / disagree with any/all of your posts, I will say that as we come up on the July 4th holidays that we easily (warts and all) live in the best country ever!! AND I wish all of you a safe and enjoyable holiday with family and friends!
Old Bear 48, thank you for backing up Mark he is so blessed to have you as a true friend. Mark I to will support what ever you decide about this site. Many of the posters on this site have commented here that this the best Dodger blog anywhere. That is 100% correct. Thank you so much for all your work and passion you put into it.
Heard this a few days ago from the BVM sports outlet?
Yes over the last week many outlets are buzzing around a possible trade between Jays and Dodgers
Not sure who the heck they are but if this is even a possibility, I would take this in a NY minute
:
The Los Angeles Dodgers, aiming to bolster their roster by the July 30 trade deadline, are considering a trade proposal that would bring Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette to L.A. in exchange for Gavin Lux, Diego Cartaya, and Payton Martin.
Maybe that’s why they moved Cartaya to AAA a few days ago to showcase him in a trade?
I guess that move will either enhance our prospect capital or put us in the red.
Hope he puts up some solid numbers, but I’m not to gonna bet on that one.
Bichette could be the long term SS solution if they can extend him after the 2025 season .
Although coming off injury and having a below avg yr so far, his career stats speak for themselves.
Bichette : Career
Avg: 293
Hr: 93
RBI: 340
OPS: 801
SB: 55
Strikeout rate: 21.6%
Fielding% : 964
Games : 594
Bichette- 1 hr every 26 AB which avgs around 24 hrs per year
Bichette just turned 26 in March and is just beginning to reach his prime.
Go Dodgers!!
Offense going completely cold and getting embarrassed in first round by teams we dominated isn’t crapshoot. There’s something wrong. Myself I’ll take having good respectable post season runs over 100 wins seasons anytime. I don’t need a great regular season to enjoy it. What happened last couple years when it really counts, that hurts. Every sport has a bunch of teams making playoffs but only in baseball do I hear the loser term crapshoot