- It would be wonderful if the Dodgers could make a deal at the deadline to get a hitter who doesn’t strike out much, hits .280-.290, and has some power. Wait, morons, he is already on the team… and he is leading the team in batting average and second in OPS, albeit in just 42 ABs, but Miguel Vargas needs to play. It could be the guy the Dodgers need to trade for is already on the team.
- I keep hearing that this isn’t a championship team, and it leads me to believe some of you live in an alternate universe. One of the Top 5 players in baseball is on the IL and another player who happens to be the 3B and usually hits 35 HR and drives in 100 runs is on the IL as well. They will be back, Does that make us any better? Duuuuhhhh…
- With Vargas, Betts, Muncy, Buehler, Kershaw, Yamamoto, May, Graterol and others added to the team, this could be an entirely different team… especially if James Outman can return to killing RHP.
- Willy Adames would look great in Dodger Blue next season. I’d take him over Bichette. Mookie and Miggy Ro can hold down SS this season.
- BTW, some fans like to rag on Robert Van Socyoc, but all you have to do is look at his record and also remember what he has done with Rojas. It doesn’t work with everyone, but the Dodgers lead all of MLB in Runs, OB%, and OPS, and they are #17 in Strikeouts while being #3 in HRs. As they get healthy, they will be the best offense in baseball… wait! They already are. BTW, HERE IS a recent interview a high schooler did with JD Martinez who is a RVS disciple.
- Justin Wrobleski will allegedly start on Sunday. I have been waiting for this. This could help decide whether the Dodgers go after Crochet or not.
- Kyle Hurt can’t be far off…
Rant & Rave Saturday
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Discussion (26)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Vargas LF
Pages/Outman CF
T. Hernanadez RF
Logical, Simple ..but nooooooo…
AF & Co are cooking up something BIGGER ..BETTER …something SPECTACULAR!!
Just wait and see. It will all reveal itself soon enough.
Maybe tomorrow, or next week, or next month, or next year.
Just be patient, ..and have faith. 🙂
I think it is more important that we give Taylor, Hernandez, Biggio (and Heyward when he comes back) a long runway to show they are capable of getting above the Mendoza line. Obviously, tongue in cheek but what more does he need to do?
will they play him now?
Hate the City Edition boring uniforms.
just can’t sit will tomorrow!! but they probably “WILL “
if bichette is available, the dodgers should pounce! But, only if he signs an extension. i would personally prefer bichette over adames in the long term. and if RVS is as good as advertised, no problem! Love Rojas, can’t imagine where they would be without him! But he’s bound to wear down eventually playing every day. there has to be a scenario where the dodgers put a better lineup on the field. As i said earlier, dump the dead weight! Bellinger is going to be available. Bring him back!
Who would you trade to get him? Remember, their GM has said neither he nor Guererro are on the market. The Yankees, who desperately need a first baseman, were ready to make a huge offer for Guererro. Likely now they will turn their attention to Bellinger and move him back to first.
i know Bear, just wishing. I would pull ron cey out of retirement before i would trade for Bregman!! …. I would not put Vargas at 3rd at this point in the season. put him in left field and leave him alone. I’m still saying, dump the dead weight!
No Bregman! mcmahon from the Rockies.(if you can make a really sweet offer), one they can’t refuse! Vargss in left , Bellinger in center, Teo in right. Mcmahon 3rd , rojas short, mookie 2nd, Freddie at first. Lux and prospect to white sox for dejong. to backup rojas. dump biggio and kiki. Taylor can play all infield and outfield positions. keep pages for insurance if cody opts out after 1st year. And last but not least, Barnsie can stay as backup! …. As far as pitching, Hell No to Verlander! He’s close to done! Maybe sweeten. the lux deal and try to pull the big lefthander from the white sox into the deal! There, all done. You’re welcome!
7:15 PM ET
Brewers (52-37)
Dodgers (54-35)
SP Freddy Peralta R
6-4 3.83 ERA
SP James Paxton L
7-2 4.28 ERA
Confirmed Lineup
DH S. Ohtani L
C Will Smith R
1B F. Freeman L
LF T. Hernandez R
RF Andy Pages R
CF James Outman L
SS Miguel Rojas R
2B Gavin Lux L
3B Chris Taylor R
90° Wind 2 mph Out
I’m with you on your shortstop analysis NJ.
Cannot for the life of me understand the fascination with DeJong.
As a longtime Lux fan, it pains me to say this but I would like to see someone else take over that position, whether that be Mookie sliding over from ss to make room for someone like Bichette or Mookie staying at ss for the rest of the year and getting a better second baseman, such as Hoerner from the Cubs. Actually, Hoerner has played shortstop as well so if they traded for him they could figure out the best combo up the middle between him and Mookie.
Both Bichette and Hoerner are having off years so far but I think both would be helped by a move to the Dodgers.
I’m also a big Brendan Rodgers fan. The Cardinals are mostly using him in left field right now but he can also play second and third base. He would come in very handy with Max out for who knows how much longer. Only problem is that the Cards are not very likely to trade him while still in the playoff hunt.
Not sure why the
concerns over Bichette’s defense over the last few yrs.
Add in his offense and you have a very good and potential All- star SS for the foreseeable future.
Use the prospect capital it will take to get him, resign him to an extension and he is your shortstop for the next 7 yrs.
From: Just Baseball
Bichette had a nightmarish defensive season in 2022, but improved significantly in 2023, and his growth defensively makes him a pretty special player when you considering his offensive contributions.
Over the last three season’s the 26yr old Bichette is second to only Trea Turner — more on him in a minute — in hits among shortstops, with 555. Across that same period, Bichette has an .815 OPS and has made two All-Star Game appearances.
The most encouraging part of Bichette’s second All-Star campaign in 2023 was how much he improved defensively. Bichette had 47 errors between 2021 and 2022, but cut that down to just eight in 2023. He went from having an unsightly -16 defensive runs saved in 2022 to five in 2023.
2024 -7 errors and a fielding % .970.
He is an excellent hitter having a bad first 1/2 of the season so far.
Dejong is a worse defensive SS in 2024 with 12 errors and offensively not very good.
Some power with below avg bat to ball skills.
He already has struck out 94x’s and his strikeout rate is almost at 34% TY.
We have enough of those guys already.
Bichette frees up Rojas to be your number 1 infielder to come off the bench or come on in late innings as a defensive replacement were needed
I don’t believe Rojas keeps up his current offensive stats as we get into sept/oct.
I would rather make no move if we can’t get Bichette, and hope Rojas can hold up and continue to hit.
Off season I would look at Adames if they can’t get Bichette.
And if Muncy can’t come back or is unable to stay healthy, Rojas can play 3rd in the playoffs or if Mookie is needed in the outfield Rojas could play 2nd in the playoffs.
Would you rather have Lux/Taylor or Kike starting at one of those positions or both of them in their if Max can’t go or Mookie is needed elsewhere?
Dejong is nothing more than getting another Kiki/Taylor clone who can’t play the outfield.
Add Bergman in the off- season ( with reverence to Dodgerdad) and the left side of the infield is good for the next 5yrs.
The white Sox I would look to get is Tommy Pham for the stretch run. Good bat off the bench and a good defensive outfielder that can play all 3 positions, maybe a jerk, but has some dog. We need some dog.
Andrew no more checkers.
Go Dodgers !!
Personally I hope he is the next and first Latino star (not pitcher) since… I can’t even remember who, maybe Pedro Guerrero.
And no, Beltre doesn’t count since he became a superstar on another team.
I don’t understand why the majority want to trade Vargas with so much desire, he will be the LF of the Dodgers next season.
Dodgers need a outfielder that can hit consistently. That’s who they need to get in a trade. Sure another homerun hitter is great. But a guy that doesn’t swing for the fences every at bat. Like Chris Taylor and Keke Hernandez and Heyward do. Here are some outfielders that would help. Jessie Winkler, Lane Thomas, Cody Bellinger, Michael Conforter, Kyle Tucker, all these guys would give a spark in the lineup. Which also these players can at least move the runners over and not strikeout every at bat. And Lux he needs to go to like the Cubs. And the Dodgers get Nico Hornier. He can play all over the the infield and hit. So, instead of looking at the Whitesoxs they should look at the Cubs to trade with.
My prediction is that if a position player is traded it will depend where they play Mookie. If Betts plays 2nd, Lux would have been traded. If Betts is moved to the outfield, Vargas would have been traded which, in my mind, would not age well.
Mark, we the fans have no control of who plays every day. Of course when mookie and max come back the dodgers are better. I said earlier this morning they would sit Vargas today. I guess they will give kiki, taylor, biggio some more “run” to let them figure it out! Figure what out?? Dumbass move today? absolutely! What does the guy have to do? Reps at 3rd for Miguel? wouldn’t it be a better idea to leave him in left field as to not put pressure on him to worry about his defense? …… A world series team? probably, but not without removing some of the dead weight first!
I was bored so I made up a list to predict the 28 player roster on Sept 1st. Note: roster expands to 28, must be 14 pitchers and 14 non pitchers. I did not take into account trades or season ending injuries. This post would be my 14 position players. Please play along. Throw in who will be on the roster and take into account trades if you’d like. Smith, Barnes, Feduccia, Freeman, Taylor, Lux, Rojas, Muncy, T. Hernandez, Vargas, Pages, Heyward, Betts and Ohtani. Later I’ll list my 14 pitchers. A lot depends on where they play Mookie when he comes back.
Vargas has never had difficulty hitting RHP. The only time he has not been successful was when they let him hit with broken fingers. He should play today. This is a dumbass move.
As a long time supporter of Lux it is getting very tiring seeing the same slow roller to the right side of the infield.
Especially after seeing Vargas & Freddy adjust their swings to get hits – I definitely do not see this same ability from Lux and especially Taylor.
It would be nice if the Dodgers would play Vargas for 5-10 games in a row, if for nothing else just to shut up all of us on this site:).
If Taylor plays today and not Vargas it just shows that even high-powered intelligent organization still can and do get it wrong.
If they trade Vargas I definitely see the Paul Konerko scenario re-playing itself out.
Saturday schedule
2:05 p.m. PT (doubleheader): Great Lakes (Jackson Ferris & Peter Heubeck) vs. West Michigan (Joe Miller & Carlos Marcano)
5 p.m.: Tulsa (Kendall Williams) vs. Wichita (Cory Lewis)
5:05 p.m.: Oklahoma City (Hyun-il Choi) vs. Las Vegas (J.T. Ginn)
6:30 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Roque Gutierrez) at Visalia (Adonys Perez)
“Moises Brito, a 21-year-old left-hander who was part of the Mitch White trade at the 2022 deadline, struck out two in two scoreless innings in his Low-A debut.
Joe Kelly made his second rehab appearance in Low-A, this time on the road. He allowed a single — the only hit allowed by Quakes pitchers on Friday — and walk to his first two hitters in the fifth inning, but got out of it with a strikeout and double play. Kelly also got a special introduction in Visalia”.
Agree on Vargas. He’s earned more playing time.
Good win last night and a big night for Will Smith.
Glasnow seems to sail along until he doesn’t.
Do the Dodgers need to make a trade or two at the deadline? No, they don’t. But they will. If they do, will it be for pitching or hitting? They’ve got a lot of pitching, but most are broke right now. According to the LA Times, the Dodgers sustain more pitching injuries than any other team in the MLB.
Muncy will supposedly return soon and that will help the line-up. Losing Mookie hurt. Okay, Rojas is playing well so I’m guessing that Mookie slides to second when he returns. Could Lux be on the trade block? Young player who will eventually hit his stride. Probably.
Okay, Bellinger would be a fan favorite to acquire, but Robert may make more sense if he’s available. I like Crochet, but the Dodgers do have pitchers returning like Kershaw, Buehler and hopefully Yamamoto. The Dodgers do have trade assets to make a big or small deal.
Always enjoy the trade deadline. Good write-up, Mark.
Good stuff, Mark
Heart of a champion
Finally the Dodgers apparently wise up and at least think about giving Vargas some run at 3b. Have been saying that for weeks they should give him an occasional start at the hot corner to keep his bat in the lineup.How about that “dead horse”, Bear ? 😉
Insane they according to Roberts will bench him immediately again today vs Peralta after showing one more time he can hit RHP . Just stupid.
If they are even more stupid and trade Vargas at the deadline they better get some real top talent back for him.
He is exactly the hitter this team badly needs. High average and OBP with decent power. Isn´t that what we are looking for ?
Looking forward to Sunday and Wrobleski. Dodgers have put him on the fast track.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I agree with this post. We are not desperate for help from now to October. Guys like to imagine trades and I guess its fun for them. That’s the fun of this blog. Maybe we can trade Lux for Aaron Judge -even up where Yanks pay the balance of his contract.
Have a great weekend all