Elly De La Cruz has stolen 30 bases in 35 attempts, so it seems logical to keep him off the bases… right? Nah, that’s too easy – let’s have him get on base all five at-bats! Tyler Glasnow will have an occasional bad game. That was one last night. The hitters either show up en masse or they are no-shows. Chris Taylor got an “excuse me” hit on an 81 MPH screaming line drive (sarcasm alert). The whole lineup looked pathetic, but Taylor and Outman were patheticer. I just invented that word for this occasion.
Heyward will likely be activated tonight. Will this be a double-play? CT3 and Outman for Heyward and Vargas. Shake it up! Vargas is not getting many good pitches right about now. Again, last night, he had one at-bat and was 1-1 with three walks. His OPS is still around 1.100. Pages deserve to play, and Miggy deserves to play, too. Also, his enthusiasm won’t hurt a bit. Pages do not have the speed or range of Outman in CF, but he gets better jumps and reads, so let him play CF every day. From what I see, he can handle it. Heyward can also handle CF. Let’s see what we have before the trade deadline.
The Dodgers have the most at-bats in baseball. They have also scored the most runs, but they are eighth in strikeouts. They are first in walks and #1 in OPS by 22 points! They are also #1 in OB% and are 2nd (.01 point behind the Astros) in batting average. I see nothing that explains why everyone hits, or no one hits… except mindset! Change your thinking – change your life!
Down on the Farm
Spoiler Alert: Every team in the system lost last night!
X-RATED
The Athletic
There is a great article in The Athletic today by Fabian Ardaya on Dodgers prospect tiers: How Diego Cartaya, River Ryan, and Dalton Rushing are progressing.
Read it! Spoiler Alert: River Ryan is just about ready to return at OKC.
Discussion (29)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Yes you did Bear!! Good call! …. So, what happens now? Vargas is up, Outman down, Taylor, who knows. We know Kiki is at 3rd with Max out. Isn’t Vargas playing left today? Right or left handed pitcher for the Reds today? What happens when Max. returns?? …. Thought Paxton pitched ok last night except for a couple of mistakes. NO WALKS! Bullpen good again! … Big hit for Will ! …. Hopefully he catches today and tomorrow!! But a day game after a night game, Doc will roll Barnsie. out there im sure!
The bottom of the line-up does damage and ices the game! Yayy!!!
The quality of posts here has really fallen.
Terrible AB for Ohtani in the 4th inning with 2 out/2 on-base.
Montas never throws anything in the strike zone to Shohei, and just allows him to swing ‘n miss his way to a strike out.
Lux, Barnes, outman, knack, feduccia for Jansen and Bichette
Heyward has played four games, so no he has not been the same, but he has a good track record. He is one of the better defenders out there. Heyward won’t be platooned, but he will sit against LHP. He can play right, center or left. Vargas plays LF only. Hernandez can play left or right. Kike and Rojas will man third for now. Lee of the Giants lost for the season with a torn labrum. If Vargas can match his success at AAA in the majors, more power to him. But he is going to have to prove he is better than he was last season. Yes, he had an injured hand, so I hope he does well. But I am not going to hold my breath either. I still think they should just cut Taylor loose. He is not helping the team at all.
Before starting the season I made a prediction: “Vargas will be promoted in June, he is going to OKC to learn to play LF, if the Dodgers see that he does well, he will be promoted in June and will take the place of Heyward who will not have the same year 2023”.
Well, in essence I was fine, Vargas was promoted, I was wrong in the month, it was not in June, it was in May and it was not because of Heyward, although the latter, for whatever reasons, is not the same as in 2023.
The fact is: Vargas has arrived!!!
Seems Vargas will be platooned with Heyward in the outfield.
But full-time PA’s is the only true test for Miguel’s bat in the majors.
05/17/24 Los Angeles Dodgers placed 1B Max Muncy on the 10-day injured list. Right oblique strain.
05/17/24 Los Angeles Dodgers activated RF Jason Heyward from the 10-day injured list.
05/17/24 Los Angeles Dodgers optioned OF James Outman to Oklahoma City Baseball Club.
05/17/24 Los Angeles Dodgers recalled RHP Ricky Vanasco from Oklahoma City Baseball Club.
05/17/24 Los Angeles Dodgers recalled 3B Miguel Vargas from Oklahoma City Baseball Club.
05/17/24 Los Angeles Dodgers sent RHP Nabil Crismatt outright to Oklahoma City Baseball Club.
05/17/24 Cleveland Guardians traded LHP Anthony Banda to Los Angeles Dodgers.
05/17/24 Los Angeles Dodgers optioned LHP Nick Ramirez to Oklahoma City Baseball Club.
Fan Graphs reports Muncy to IL with right oblique strain.
David Vassegh
@THEREAL_DV
#Dodgers Lineup vs #Reds RHP, Frankie Montas:
1.Betts SS
2.Ohtani DH
3.Freeman 1B
4.Smith C
5.T. Hernández LF
6.Lux 2B
7.Pages CF
8.Heyward RF
9.E. Hernández 3B
SP James Paxton
Here’s one move for a roster spot:
Dodgers outfielder James Outman had his locker removed from Dodger Stadium. The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya reported the news on Friday.
My opinion:
Heyward for Outman?
Vargas for Pages?
RP Ricky Vanasco is at Dodger Stadium. Is Nick Martinez being optioned to add another fresh bullpen arm? Looks like a busy transaction night.
i was just kidding about bullpen pinch hitting Bear. But if Grienke was still on the team, I’m just saying!!
Vargas is getting called up. Don’t know the corresponding move yet.
I believe that Miguel Vargas is a .270- .300 hitter who will hit 20-25 HR in LF. He will strike out in the low 20% of his ABs and OPS .800. He is Not a superstar, but he is solid. It’s time.
Eat CT3’s deal.
From the Dodger’s Official Page:
City of Los Angeles officially names May 17 ‘Shohei Ohtani Day’
Dodger star honored at City Hall today
‘Los Angeles Dodger Shohei Ohtani was honored at Los Angeles City Hall on Friday morning by City Council and presented with a resolution declaring May 17 “Shohei Ohtani Day” in the city of Los Angeles for the duration of his Dodger career. Members of the Dodgers front office and Dodger manager Dave Roberts were in attendance as the council recognized Ohtani for his athletic achievements and historic impact as an Angeleno of Japanese descent.
“Thank you very much to the L.A. City Council,” said Ohtani. “I appreciate you recognizing me on this day. I want to thank the Dodger organization as well and all the fans.”
Don´t know if already posted: Sheehan had season ending elbow surgery. ONe less option down the road.
Too many weak hitters at the bottom of the lineup and the bench. In the playoffs that is a dangerous way to construct your roster when relying on only -5-6 top hitters.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!
Dodgers Acquire Anthony Banda From Guardians
By Darragh McDonald | May 17, 2024 at 2:00pm CDT
“The Guardians announced that they have traded left-hander Anthony Banda to the Dodgers in exchange for cash considerations. The southpaw was not on Cleveland’s 40-man and therefore won’t need to be added to the Dodgers’ roster.
Banda, 30, signed a minor league deal with the Guards in January. He has been pitching for their Triple-A club, throwing 17 innings over 12 appearances. He has a 2.12 earned run average in that time, striking out 37.9% of batters faced, giving out walks at a 9.1% rate and getting grounders on 67.9% of balls in play. It’s a small sample but it seems to have intrigued the Dodgers enough to put some cash on the barrel to get a deal done”.
We need another starting outfielder.Maybe we have him .But we are hurting.we can not afford to have 2 weak starter in the outfield.
A quick question. Tommy Pham is hitting .319 for the white sox. Does anyone think RVS could take him and make him a .219 hitter? I believe in him! lol
Not counting Heyward out Bear. I’m not sure with all the time he has missed he can live up to last year. Maybe like i was saying earlier, the bench is bad except for Rojas. Kiki ain’t awful, but he’s still a little light offensively. They may have better pinch hitter s in the bullpen!!
Maybe last night will finally force LA. to do something about the sooooo bad bench! Taylor needs a little nudge to help him move on. Great guy, but it’s time. Outman has to go back down! it’s time. Barnes? yeah i know he ain’t going anywhere! But shouldn’t he? I know , pitchers love throwing to him, but every thing else he does is way below average. Rojas has been the most reliable and productive bench player by far. Kiki has a moment now and then, but nothing to get all fuzzy about! I agree, it’s time to give Vargas another chance. what have they got to lose? And i’m not sure Heyward is going to change much of anything on offense. if he’s totally healthy he’s very good defensively. But right now the dodgers need some production at the bottom and from the bench!! Not panicking over one game, but how this team goes from an offensive juggernaut to a flat as hell dud like last night!! It happens way too often! The top 4-5 can’t do it every single game ! So give Vargas one more shot. If he doesn’t produce, go get a bat!!
In some cases, the Dodgers inflated offensive team stats have so far amounted to meaningless “empty calorie” runs in blow-out wins. A very realistic possibility still exists that containing the Dodgers top-4 hitters would effectuate a total shut-down of the offense in the playoffs.
I have no problem with Mark’s idea of Heyward/Vargas for CT3/Outman. ..however the Dodgers want to do it.
My issue is with RVS and his staff.
I don’t know the answer. Freddie freeman is hitting behind the 2 top if not the best on base guys in mlb. He has 24 rbi. Move Will Smith up mb. He fit better in the 2 spot but I realize he is not going to replace Ohtani.
I know the bottom 4 are killing us but we need another good hitter. Hayward is not the answer. It is either give Vargas a chance or make a trade when possible.
Glasnow looked disinterested last night. They kept throwing Benson fb when he ks on curveballs. The command is off. In their quest to keep them healthy the performance may take a hit. 2 throwaway games in a row.
Outman has got to go down. Mentally this has got to be taking a toll. I’m sure Friedman is trying to find a way to move Taylor.
Maddux Bruns is proof that progress is not linear. Where did the new found control come from? Now we’ll see what Outman is made of. Vargas responded well when sent down and now will get another chance, but are you bringing him up only to platoon with Hayward? I think you got to give him a full time job and Hayward subs in at all 3 outfield spots
Five year deals to older utility players generally don’t generally work out. AF probably regrets the length of Taylor’s contract. Does AF eat the remainder of the contract and DFA him or does Taylor put on his big boy pants on and ask and accept an assignment to Oklahoma City and play every day and get himself right. Right now him and Outman are dead weight on the lineup and 26 man roster. Both are hurting the club.Both situations need to be addressed now!
In the 5th inning with De La Cruz on first, Glasnow threw over to first. De La Cruz ran on the next pitch. Given the Dodgers couldn’t stop him, a better approach would have been to throw over 3 times. If he goes on first movement you’ve picked him off. If he doesn’t get second on the failed third attempt. Since he was going to be on second anyway, three throws would have been a better way to control his running.
Taylor –Patheticist