It seems to me that a certain number of Dodger fans like to criticize Andrew Friedman’s signings and/or trades. Of course, it is usually done with perfect 20/20 hindsight. While fans of any sports team may criticize general managers, it’s not simply to feel superior, although that may be a factor in some cases. Fans lack the complete information and context that a GM has when making decisions. GMs work with significantly more data about player health, readiness, and team finances. Fans, on the other hand, often base their opinions on limited information and subjective preferences, leading to criticism of decisions they don’t understand.
While some fans may criticize GMs out of a misplaced sense of superiority, it’s more common that criticism stems from a passion for the sport, a desire for their team to succeed, and a lack of understanding of the complexities of the GM’s job. Ultimately, GMs are under constant scrutiny, and their decisions are subject to intense public debate. This is no more evident than with the Dodgers under Andrew Friedman. This season, many fans have roundly criticized his acquisitions of Michael Conforto, Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell, and others. Personally, I am afraid of Kirby Yates, but it was a one-year deal, just like Conforto, so it’s just a matter of opinion.
The signing that seemed most difficult for me to comprehend was Tanner Scott, who was signed to a four-year, 72 million deal. Like most relievers who “get it” or finally become a solid closer in their late 20s, Tanner Scott followed that same path. He spent his first five years in the Majors in Baltimore and had Tommy John Surgery in 2019. His ERA at Baltimore was 4.73. He then moved to Miami for parts of three seasons, where his ERA was 2.70. Finally, in 2024, he was traded to San Diego, where he put up a 2.73 ERA. The Dodgers signed him as a free agent this past offseason.
Andrew Friedman knows all too well that relievers are a fickle bunch, so he is frequently loath to sign them to big, long-term deals. He has been largely successful with developing relievers from Dollar General or the Bonepile. I was surprised by the deal, but I also know that Friedman has vastly more information at his disposal than I do. I voiced my displeasure, but moved on. However, the fact remains that Tyler Scott has mainly been responsible for seven (count ’em, 7) of the Dodgers’ losses. Let that sink in. The Dodgers might be 43-17 if he had done the job he was paid to do. Last night was just the latest example.
Tyler says it’s poor location, and the Dodgers validate that, but I am thinking that it’s more than that. His fastball and breaking ball velocities are down from his previous years, while his exit velocity is up. Hitters are hitting against him with a higher launch angle, and his whiff percentage is way down. I am wondering if that UCL is fraying… again! There, I said it. We shall see, but this is getting beyond silly. Maybe he needs an IL stint… if for nothing more than to clear his head. Kirby Yates will be back by this weekend (allegedly). That was a bitter loss last night… snatching defeat from the jaws of victory!
Discussion (23)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Gutty win.
Came back vs the Mets twice now in the 9th. Heart of a champion.
If you bash Scott when he does poorly, praise him for yesterday.
Lets do it again tonight!
Fun stat:
Max’s 2-HR game lifted his OPS over the past 30 days to 1.001, which trails Shohei’s 1.177 and Freddie’s 1.063.
Max’s plate discipline was on display too. He walked 16 times, K’d 15.
Today Max also had a hard shot skip between his legs, of course….
I kind of like the idea of Buehler coming back. Don’t expect it, but it would be interesting… Meanwhile, scribe Ken Rosenthal has mentioned four or five Orioles who could be traded, including possible Dodger fits Cedric Mullins and RP Felix Bautista… “Mount Bautista”–listed at 6-8, 285 pounds–isn’t having a great year by his standards but he has converted 10 out of 11 save opportunities.
I did not expect the bullpen to be a great area of need, but….
Nice comeback win!!!! Roberts trusted Tanner Scott in the 10th and he got the job done and the win.
Freddie walks it off!
Go Dodgers
That ball was crushed. Let’s go Muncy!
Go Dodgers!!!!
Passan previews the Dodgers @the trading deadline.
($$$$$$)
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/45434376/mlb-2025-early-trade-deadline-preview-all-30-teams-jeff-passan-buehler-bichette-gallen#lad
Objective: Get to October with a full rotation.
Best fit: Walker Buehler
What to know: The notion that the Dodgers were going to win 120 games was always fanciful. They don’t build their team for regular-season wins. They want to put together the most devastating 26-man squad for the postseason. ..
Beyond that, the Dodgers’ farm system is so deep … to bring in someone who knows their system, knows their culture and knows how to show up in the biggest moments is a fit that’s almost too good to be true.
M. Conforto LF
Today’s at Bats
2nd: Conforto grounded out to second.
Friedman seems to be back in his comfort zone with his recent moves to piece together a bullpen. Shuffling the deck hoping to get one or two reliable arms. Whether the Scott signing ends up being worth it or not (and it is way too early to decide that), I do trust that the Dodgers FO will have a very good bullpen by mid-August.
Not surprised by the news on Glasnow. That has got to be frustrating for both the Dodgers and Glasnow. Can’t imagine the source of Howard Cole’s reporting, if any. Personally, I was more optimistic that Ohtani, Snell, and Sheehan make it back by the end of July. Keep our fingers crossed that this five man rotation stays healthy until reinforcements arrive. If Bobby Miller has really turned a corner that would be a godsend.
Off to a good start tonight. Muncy is on one of those heaters. Should Conforto change his number from 23 to 4-3?
Hoping for 4 innings for Kersh
Howard Cole is a piece of shit.
Shohei Ohtani is NL Player of the Month for the second time as a Dodger
Ohtani hit .309 (34-for-110) with 15 homers, 17 RBI, five doubles, a triple, 17 walks, 31 runs scored, two stolen bases, a .782 slugging percentage and a .398 on-base percentage across 27 games.
At the beginning of the Friedman era, he signed several oft-injured but relatively-inexpensive pitchers – can we forget Scott Kazmir, Brandon McCarthy, and Brett Anderson? They were rarely healthy and except for one good year by Anderson, rarely good.
He is trying his luck with better oft-injured pitchers. He is paying them a lot more money but thus far, they have been equally-unavailable. Glasnow has never had a healthy season. We were all hoping that his injury issues were behind him after Tommy John surgery, but I guess not. Blake Snell has thrown more than 129 innings twice (his 2 Cy Young campaigns). This is year is not going to be one of his infrequent injury-free years.
I agree with Mark that the upside of both pitchers is really high. But they have to pitch to have upside. Thus far both have been bad gambles. At the end of Snell’s 5 year $182 MM contract and Glasnow’s 5 year, $136.5 MM contract, we can judge whether these were good gambles or not.
In the meantime, what do they do for pitching?
10:10 PM ET
Mets (38-22)
Dodgers (36-24)
SP Tylor Megill R
4-4 3.52 ERA
SP Clayton Kershaw L
0-0 4.91 ERA
Confirmed Lineup
DH S. Ohtani L
SS Mookie Betts R
1B F. Freeman L
RF T. Hernandez R
C Will Smith R
3B Max Muncy L
CF Andy Pages R
LF M. Conforto L
2B Hyeseong Kim L
66° Wind 10 mph Out
The Dodgers are going to designate catcher Chuckie Robinson for assignment, reports Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. That will be the corresponding 40-man move for signing right-hander José Ureña, which was previously reported. The Dodgers will also have to make a corresponding active roster move for Ureña.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts confirmed after Monday’s 4-3 extra-inning loss to the Mets that Betts (toe) is expected to return to the lineup Tuesday, Alden Gonzalez of ESPN.com reports.
The best ability is availability. A good Pepiot is better than what the Dodgers are getting from Glasnow at this time. General body soreness? Not sure I’ve heard that one before. I think Howard Cole is usually quite bad at what he does. I don’t think Glasnow is refusing to perform. However, I’m starting to worry his acquisition is going to rank right there with Dave Goltz, Don Stanhouse, and Jason Schmidt.
May’s pants are too long.
That being said Yarborough and Blackburn may be journeyman, but in these two games they found the magic sauce that confounds LA ( and really all teams). Getting secondary pitches over for strikes and in good location. Once you can’t sit on fastballs in hitters counts you are going to struggle. With Yarborough throwing mostly 70-80mph , hitters still seemed to be out in front too many times.
“The Dodgers are signing right-hander José Ureña, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. He’s expected to be in Los Angeles tonight to join their staff against the Mets, for whom he pitched earlier this year (albeit just one appearance)”.
A corresponding move is necessary on the 40 man roster.
Once again, Mark argues that it’s simply wrong that fans criticize Andrew Friedman’s decision. We are mere fans, after all, and thus lack the knowledge and insight that the Almighty AF has.
To wit: “Fans lack the complete information and context that a GM has when making decisions. GMs work with significantly more data about player health, readiness, and team finances. Fans, on the other hand, often base their opinions on limited information and subjective preferences, leading to criticism of decisions they don’t understand.”
Well, no shit, Sherlock.
But I humbly submit that AF, like Mark, is sometimes mistaken despite all the information at his disposal.
Obvious case in point: As he has often pointed out, Mark questioned Gavin Lux’s ability to be a high-quality major league SS because of his arm. Many of us had our doubts–and yet AF and his brain trust apparently didn’t. In fact, AF & Associates had convinced themselves that Lux and Miguel Vargas would be a dynamite keystone combo. Remember? But Lux got hurt and Miguelito did not live up to AF’s (and Mark’s ) expectations.
It’s a pretty glaring example, I think, of AF’s fallibility. And this was hindsight for a lot of fans: We saw Lux’s flaw when he took over for Seager, and a lot of us realized that Vargas had not proven himself at all on a major league level before he was anointed the starting 2B. He had the job for several weeks before management sent him back to OKC.
AF obviously has made many excellent decisions–like signing Shohei, which someone around here opposed. But what’s wrong with alleging his blunders?
When AF signed Conforto for $17 million, I certainly trusted the rationale. But in hindsight, how many people here think it was a savvy move?
Anyone?
Anyone at all?
I still have faith that Tanner Scott’s long-term deal will pay off, but who knows? Come to think of it, Mark criticized that deal. (How dare he! The impudence!)
The latest bad news is that Glasnow has apparently had a setback in his recovery, solidifying his injury-prone reputation. Am I wrong to argue that a deal for Dylan Cease would have been wiser? A similar talent, but much more durable.
I was fine with Glasnow deal, because I trusted AF and felt better reading about how surgery would make him less fragile. Now that seems like wishful thinking.
I remember some fans were bummed that the Dodgers lost Ryan Pepiot in that deal.
Didn’t bother me…. but let’s see how Pepiot is doing now for the Rays.
In ’25, he’s posted 12 starts and has pitched 70 innings to a 3.21 ERA. Those are nice numbers. His record is 3-5–but then he’s pitching for the Rays, not the Dodgers.
The previous season, his numbers were remarkably similar to Pepiot’s, with a 3.60 ERA over 130 innings pitched.
When the Dodgers landed Glasnow, they extended him with a fat five-year contract. I certainly hope he recovers and helps the Dodgers win another championship, and more in the years to come.
But right now, it looks like the Dodgers might have been better off keeping Pepiot.
What
A loss is a loss, seen this too often to lose anymore hair over it. Offense shut down by two mediocre pitchers, Yarbrough-Blackburn. After this stretch of good teams, they get the Nats, Rockies then the Royals. White Sox, Astros, Brewers and Giants leading into the all-star break.
Tanner Scott is 30 and coming off his two best years, where he was dominant and and his four seamer velo was trending upward.
If you’re going to sign a guy to a four year deal and spend that kind of money, it’s not a foolish signing. You’re locking up a reliever at the top of the performance bell curve.
…but his FB velo is down a tick and a half, and his K% is down, and HR% is up.
Who knows? Maybe touched by the Frayed UCL Fairy?
And that tweet above by Cole … is this guy spreading stuff about Glasnow malingering? First I’ve heard about Glasnow’s recovery stalling because of general soreness.
Baseball American listed 10 Top Prospects in the Complex League, here’s two:
Brendan Tunink, OF, Dodgers
The Dodgers are rich with outfield prospects, including the fab four of Josue De Paula, Zyhir Hope, Mike Sirota and Kendall George at High-A Great Lakes and Eduardo Quintero lurking in Low-A. On the complex, Tunink is working to raise his stock to the level of his higher-ranked peers. Tunink is as athletic as they come, and he’s hitting for both average and power in Glendale, though his strikeouts are a touch high.
Chih-Hsien Ko, OF, Dodgers
Ko is leading the ACL in just about everything. The list includes all three triple-slash categories, hits and doubles. The 18-year-old has shown outstanding zone control for his age and has surprised internal evaluators with the quality of his defense. More than a third of his 30 hits have gone for extra bases, including nine doubles, and he has nearly as many walks (13) as strikeouts (14).
Showed a lot of fight coming back on Edwin Diaz. We just missed a couple HR’s to end it, Max, Shohei, Pages….
Dont feel it was a crushing loss at all. The schedule makers did us no favors by playing the NYY on Sunday night baseball and then turn around and play the Mets.
This is out toughest part of the schedule (and we are weathering it OK), after this patch we have the easiest schedule the rest of the way.
Love where we are at.