Rants & Raves

Fans are losing their minds over these early season losses. There are much more important things in life. It is after all just a game. They will make changes when they feel the time is right, and not before.

News from Internet:

Jay Jaffe had a chat:

Mr. Burrito: I’m not whining, I swear. I get that any Dodgers problems, this year, are first-world issues. But I’m getting worried about Muncy and Pages increasingly looks like a 4th outfielder. Do they need another bat? And, if so, should it be Luis Robert Jr.

Jay Jaffe: I’ve been a little skeptical about Pages given his contact issues, and boy howdy have those resurfaced. He may very well be a 4th outfielder.Not sure yet what’s going on with Muncy but we’ve seen him go through funks before and he always seems to find his way out. Maybe the other Max Muncy is stealing his mojo.

Robert has been so bad for the past year-plus, I wouldn’t touch him with a 40-foot pole

md: What are your thoughts on the (mostly unhinged fan) scuttlebutt of trying to get Muncy outta there for Arenado?Friedman has kind of been on record saying he doesn’t like big midseason trades like that, right?

Jay Jaffe: I’m pretty lukewarm on Arenado at this stage, at least in terms of giving up significant talent for him. By all evidence he’s a league-average bat with a glove that’s still above average but no longer elite. That’s useful but not somebody I wanna pay $25–30M per year for

Allison: Is Luis Robert overrated or just mentally done on a terrible team?

Jay Jaffe: That’s a very good question. I wouldn’t discount the effect of being surrounded by a miserable situation but… even if that’s the case it doesn’t speak well of the player because there are plenty who can block that out and still perform well. What I do think is more likely is that White Sox are so behind the times that he’s not getting the proper intel for how he’s being pitched and how to adjust.

Per Geoff Pontes:

3B Jake Gelof hasn’t played this year he’s on the IL, with a bad right wrist tendon.

Josh Norris at Baseball America takes a look at Sean Linan’s new change ($$$$)

“On April 18, three pitchers finished their outings with 20 swings and misses. The first was Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the Dodgers phenom who two years ago signed the biggest contract of any pitcher in history. The second was Phillies ace Zack Wheeler, a two-time runner-up for the Cy Young award.

The third? That would be Sean Linan, a 20-year-old Dodgers righthander who signed out of Colombia in 2022…””

per Dodgers Daily:

Still in swing school, James Outman had 2 hits last night for AAA OKC & has hits in 7 games in a row. He hit his 6th double of 2024 & has raised his Batting Average 46 points since April 11th.

He played some pretty rangy D out in Center Field in a VERY rangy ballpark in Salt Lake, so that part of his game has stayed intact on the ++ side of things.

Hopefully, he can continue to take step-by-step in creating swing mechanisms that create consistency in contact.

Ben Clemens Had a Chat

Ryan: Tatis is playing out of his mind right now. When he’s right is he the best overall player in baseball outside of Ohtani?

Ben Clemens: Gotta have Judge ahead of him, I think. Not that Tatis isn’t great, I’m a huge fan… but Judge has been the best-performing baseball player for years now. Ohtani might have more raw talent but c’mon, these hitting numbers, absurd

Robbie Boyfred: Nolan Arenado and Lara Nootbar for a package built around Bobby Miller and Andy Pages. Who says no?

Ben Clemens: oh man, getting the SoCal kids back to SoCal. I think the Dodgers would probably say no, depending on how Arenado’s contract gets handled, but I could see the Cardinals being unwilling to move Nootbaar given that he’s one of their best few players and they want to compete again soon. I think the value is at least in the ballpark of right, and probably I’d prefer the Miller/Pages side in a vacuum, so it’d just be about the contract and whether St. Louis is okay trading away more outfielders with huge potential. Their previous outfielder trades have gone mostly badly

Baseball America’s Geoff Pontes on Jakob Wright ($$$)

“This new version of Wright is in stark contrast to his amateur career, when he mostly worked off a cut-fastball and the aforementioned slurvy breaking ball. Now, Wright is showing more power and a collection of pitches that all move in different directions. His new sinker, in particular, looks like it could be a welcomed addition to his arsenal. He threw it seven times in his first start, and it showed the ability to create sink and armside run with good velocity. ”

Per Morosi:

The Dodgers have played 25 games this season.

They’ve yet to have a pitcher start on “standard” rest, which is 4 days.

They are the only MLB team for whom that is true.

Dan Szymborski Had a Chat

Guest Are the Dodgers mediocre? A run differential of a barely over 500 team and a lot of their wins came against cellar dwellers like the Braves and Rockies.

Dan Szymborski No. I think people were too crazy about them — they didn’t have an over/under of 105 or something crazy — but they’re still an excellent team

Lord Thunder What’s longer odds … Luis Robert Jr. staying healthy enough to play in 120 games this season or hitting .250?

Dan Szymborski .250, just eyeballing it, I think he has to hit .like .270 now to finish at .250 And he’s played in 22/24 games, so he only needs to play 98 of 138, which is more liely I think

Let’s compare:

Luis Robert Jr. 76AB 27K 10R 11H 6RBI 7SB 3CS 2HR .145BA .517OPS 53OPS+ -.01WAR

Andy Pages 81AB 23K 9R 13H 7RBI 0SB 1CS 4HR .183BA .650OPS 86OPS+ +.04WAR

Andy is getting better offensively and usually bats last or lower in the lineup than Robert Jr.. Right now it’s a clear choice to keep Pages and look for other ways to improve the team.

uh, sign me up for Nolan. I’m not sure if Max will get to .200 !

The Dodger roster investments have been in pitching and for good reason after what we experienced last season. The SP and BP crew will be managed carefully and slowly over the season, hence leaving rookies in games when they’re getting shelled. Even with our investments I am not super confident Snell and Glass will be around in Oct given their fragility.

I’m not concerned about losses at this point, but there are a couple of things that bother me. First is defense. Our starting outfield is avg which is not good enough in October.

Second is lack of professional at bats. slumping or not, I expect runners to be moved over, sac flies, etc. I think this years team will be more about pitching than mashing HRs, which means small ball. This is also how playoff games typically unfold. Muncy and Pages are poor in this area. I give them time to “find their swing” but a WS team needs players who grind at bats even when struggling. This is not a springtime only issue that goes away with time. It’s character and team ethos.

Preseason this team talked about a hunger and focus to win. So far I see too many misplays, running gaffs, and easy outs.

I know it’s early, but this team still needs to define itself vs listening to everyone saying their loaded.

Any player and any team can have a slump. That’s nothing new, and I think it’s better now that it’s still early, since there’s plenty of time to make the necessary adjustments. What bothers me is why the hell do they swing at the first pitch? Working on the count worked really well for them before. It’s so frustrating to see Othani swing at the first pitch almost every time. It seems like all he wants to do is get an hour to spend with his daughter.

Pitching matchups for the Pirates series. Game 1, Skenes V Yamamoto. Game 2, Keller V Sasaki. Game 3, Falter V Glasnow.