Rumors & Rumors of Rumors

An easy prediction today:

Yohan Ramírez is finally DFA off the 26 and 40 man rosters and Kershaw added to both for his start against the Midgets today.

Buehler (hip) said Wednesday that he will begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Oklahoma City on Friday, Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times reports.

“Buehler added that he felt good following his bullpen session Tuesday, so he will now advance to facing minor-league hitters. The plan is for the 29-year-old right-hander to rejoin the Dodgers’ rotation once he’s made two rehab starts in Triple-A, per Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic, putting Buehler in line to return sometime during the Dodgers’ early-August series against the Phillies”.

Yep Bear,

Looks to be a right quad or groin from what’s Orel thought.

This has got to be the end for Ramirez

Taylor injured and it doesn’t look good. Biggio replaces him. Dodgers might need a bench piece at the deadline. Ohtani still chases that high strike too much. At least they won’t get no-hit.

That is a valid concern with Rojas and could be a career ender.

I would go with Mookie and if Ahmed can hold his own we go with that tandem for the rest of the yr.

Against a lefty Ahmed plays short and Mookie moves to 2nd

I can’t believe I’m saying this but I rather have the multipurpose Taylor then Baez.

I would go after the rental Flaherty as the cheaper option?

He is pitching like a Ace and I may have more faith in him then in Glasnow come the postseason.

Bichette just isn’t physically right , but I would definitely make a play for him in the offseason as he is going into the last yr of his contract.

Man Robbie Ray has been out of baseball rehabbing for 450 days and Glasnow missed 2 weeks.

Looks like the other way around .

Glasnow has not been very good since the last week in May. Not counting tonight his ERA has been 4.23 over the last 2 months.

Maybe his back, maybe getting close to his 120 IP. But Ray completely out pitched him and yes I know he is a Dodger killer but man (No hit)

Let’s go boys

Agree on all counts

Ahmed is very similar to Rojas career wise both offensively and defensively.

Although Rojas was hitting much better this year but was coming back down to earth

The bottom line is that no one knows who the Dodgers will go after. Every rumor is just that. I don’t believe any of them until I see it announced and the guy has a number on his Dodgers uniform. Ahmed has 43 career homers. 14 of them have come at the expense of Dodger pitchers. 12 against the Rockies and 5 against the Padres. No, you cannot keep every young player in your system, but it is great to have really good ones to fall back on when someone goes down to injury. But a kid like Ryan or Wrobleski, with their makeup and the way they attack hitters, that stuff cannot be taught. I do not trade either of those kids. Knack, and pretty much the rest you can pick and choose. Take who you want. But the Dodgers big problem in any trade for prospects is that other than at catcher, they are very thin position player wise. That is why I believe that they won’t get Skubal if he is traded. Baltimore can offer MLB ready position players and other than Lux, Vargas, and maybe Outman, LA cannot. As for Arozarena against Robert Jr. Arozarena is not injury prone and the guy is a monster in the postseason.

10:10 PM ET

Giants (48-54)

Dodgers (61-41)

SP Robbie Ray L

0-0 .00 ERA

SP Tyler Glasnow R

8-5 3.47 ERA

Confirmed Lineup

DH S. Ohtani L

C Will Smith R

1B F. Freeman L

RF T. Hernandez R

CF Andy Pages R

LF M. Vargas R

2B Chris Taylor R

3B E. Hernandez R

SS Nick Ahmed R

81° Wind 9 mph Out

Wow,

And the craziness begins. We are lucky Ahmed was available.

Bad hitter but an all star defensive shortstop .

So Kershaw comes up Tomorrow.

What is the move ?

Does someone have to be DFA’D off the 40 man and who do we think that is?

And if not the same person DFA’D, someone else has to come off the 26 man roster and go down to AAA. Who could that be that still has options?

Easy move is Ramirez, he kills 2 birds with one stone?

But I think they want to work with him, but I don’t think he has options.

MiggyRo to IL. Nick Ahmed is his replacement.

07/24/24 Los Angeles Dodgers optioned RHP Landon Knack to Oklahoma City Baseball Club.

07/24/24 Los Angeles Dodgers activated RHP Tyler Glasnow from the reserve list.

Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register reports that Mookie Betts has began to take dry swings without any balls in play, noting that Betts is pain free in his left hand.

“He said he has no pain in his injured left hand but he has to get used to the vibration caused by hitting a baseball before he is ready to advance to soft toss and then taking batting practice. All of that will likely take another three to four weeks”.

If you hit the ball to Rooker he will catch it, but he is a statue. Fielding % is only one metric, and it can lie!

Fielding % is just about the dumbest stat out there because it rewards players who have poor range and punishes those with great range.

Rooker is playing a lot of DH these days. There’s a reason for that.

I haven’t looked this up, but I heard that Elly De La Cruz leads ML shortstops in errors. But he also makes plays with his range and arm that most mortals can’t make.

That said, I’d much rather have Rooker in LF than Vargas. But I probably would prefer Arozarena to Rooker.

I still think Lux needs to prove he can hit lefties.

I hope he gets the chance.

But if Mookie is destined to play 2B full-time–and I think he is– the Dodgers would be best served by dealing Lux.

And it would be better for Lux too.

Vanesco DFA’d. Does Yohan Ramirez have compromising photos of Doc and AF. He lives another day.

Kyle Hurt to undergo Tommy John surgery. Bummer.

What does All In mean for this year? In a sport where the best teams in the regular season rarely win the World Series, going All In has fairly low odds of paying off with a championship. Nathan Eovaldi, Jordan Montgomery, Dane Dunning, an injured Max Scherzer, Andrew Heaney, Jon Gray, Zack Gallen , Merrill Kelly, Brandon Pfaadt, and Ryne Nelson were the starting pitchers for the two World Series teams last year.

I get the idea of not wanting to hoard prospects at the risk of losing them to Rule 5. But the trade deadline is a seller’s market since the expanded playoffs creates fewer sellers. As a result, your prospects are bringing back less than they would in the off-season. I would not pay that cost for Crochet (who may be a reliever during the playoffs) nor Skubal (who is not likely to be traded to Dodgers if the Orioles are in the mix). Granted, we do not know what the FO knows about the likelihood of Yamamoto, Buehler, Miller, or Kershaw returning to form this year. But, adding a Flaherty, Eflin, Eovaldi,or Fedde at a lower prospect cost makes more sense to me if they think that even two of those four come back. Plus the frequency of serious arm injuries across baseball makes pitching depth even more important.

If they acquired Arozarena and one of the four pitchers listed above I would consider that a good trade deadline to augment a roster that definitely seems to be getting healthier.

FWIW, I would trade Rushing before Cartaya. Cartaya is actually younger than Rushing and profiles as a better defensive catcher.

AVF – thanks for the info on Dodger signings.

The dodgers need to get a shortstop and centerfielder and starting g pitcher and out Betts at second base when he comes back and the big question mark is third base will Muncy be back if he doesn’t then the trade has git to be with Ray’s dor Arozorena Paredes and Elfin then if tha happens who is on second base if Betts goes back to shortstop. But if Muncy does come back I guess he could play second base.

Mark. I have a question for you regarding Lux.

Roberts recently said something like Lux had been swinging the bat as if he was protecting his injured leg. Lately, he has been more aggressive.

I recently saw Lux unsuccessfully turn a double play. His throw was fairly strong and accurate.

Do you think Lux could have been protecting his leg while throwing and do you think he could ever play shortstop ?

07/24/24 Los Angeles Dodgers signed RHP Will Gagnon.

07/24/24 Los Angeles Dodgers signed LHP Jakob Wright.

07/24/24 Los Angeles Dodgers signed 3B Chase Harlan.

07/24/24 Los Angeles Dodgers signed OF Brendan Tunink.

07/24/24 Los Angeles Dodgers signed RHP Mike Villani.

07/24/24 Los Angeles Dodgers signed RHP Seamus Barrett.

07/24/24 Los Angeles Dodgers signed OF Kole Myers.

07/24/24 Los Angeles Dodgers signed SS Jackson Nicklaus.

07/24/24 Los Angeles Dodgers signed LHP Evan Shaw.

07/24/24 Los Angeles Dodgers signed SS Kellon Lindsey.

07/24/24 Los Angeles Dodgers signed RHP Aidan Foeller.

07/24/24 Los Angeles Dodgers signed SS Elijah Hainline.

07/24/24 Los Angeles Dodgers signed free agent C Gio Cueto to a minor league contract.

07/24/24 Los Angeles Dodgers signed LHP Cody Morse.

07/24/24 Los Angeles Dodgers signed free agent LHP Myles Caba to a minor league contract.

07/24/24 Los Angeles Dodgers signed RHP Brooks Auger.

07/23/24 Los Angeles Dodgers signed RHP Logan Tabeling.

I agree with your feelings about San Francisco. It used to be one of my favorite vacation spots. I was there about two years ago and half the shops near Union Square were boarded up. Hopefully someone will clean it up.

I like Randy but don’t think he is a center fielder. If I couldn’t swing a deal for Cody, I would not make a trade. I wouldn’t trade Lux or Vargas as I believe they will be solid players in the second half. We also have enough pitching coming back that we don’t have to overpay for a pitcher. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Andrew stand pat.

I would trade Hope and Ferris for Cody Bellinger and be done. 😉

How times change quickly. Dodger ‘hottest’ team in baseball and Lux player of the week!!

Does anyone else see a Yordan Alvarez type swing with DePaula?

I’d rather not trade him; keep him for the later part of this decade and next.

Dodger starting pitching in 25. Ohtani, Yamamoto, Sasaki, (he’s coming to Dodgers), Glasnow. Now you also have May, Gonsolin, Sheehan, Miller, Stone, Knack, Ryan, WrobleskI, Hurt, Frasso, Bruns, and more. There just isn’t enough room for all these starters. You can’t just let them languish in the minors. It’s a waste of organizational capital and unfair to the players. AF is too smart and loyal to let that happen. We need a CF right now. I’m trading some of that capital for Robert jr. The potential is just too great. Deal with SS in the off season.

Mark, you wrote:

For the record, I would not pay the prospect collateral required for Crochet, Skubal, and even Flaherty. It will come down to a bidding war and may require a lot more prospects than expected. I am of the opinion that the Dodgers can stand down… unless they can steal Bellinger!

Well, the consequence of not dealing the prospects is that you will lose some of them during the Rule 5 draft.

Dodgers just can not protect everybody. It is smarter to deal them now, even if it is a sligth overpay, for guys like a Skubal (if availble) or Crochet or Tanner Scott or even Mason Miller. Dodgers are all in and I am pretty sure we will see them make at least one blockbuster deal and one or two minor ones.

One example is Cartaya. He just has no place with Smith signed longterm and Rushing ahead of him as a catching prospect and Lirano just behind. Same for all those young arms. Can not keep them all and stash them away for emergency.

Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mark, what is your poolside beverage of choice? Mine is an ice cold can of hoppy west coast IPA.