Sometimes You Have to Lose Some Battles To Win A War
All over the Dodger Baseball Blogs, fans are losing their minds about the lineups Dave Roberts is rolling out there. They are questioning his batting orders, substitutions, resting players and use of minor leaguers. Let me remind you that Dave Roberts was the NL Manager of the Year in 2016 and is the odds-on favorite to win it this year. So, is is likely that Dave Roberts has suddenly lost
All over the Dodger Baseball Blogs, fans are losing their minds about the lineups Dave Roberts is rolling out there. They are questioning his batting orders, substitutions, resting players and use of minor leaguers. Let me remind you that Dave Roberts was the NL Manager of the Year in 2016 and is the odds-on favorite to win it this year. So, is is likely that Dave Roberts has suddenly lost his mind? Not only is it not likely, but it’s all part of the plan. I’ll explain.
Many of us felt that the Dodgers were on the cusp of making history by winning 117 games – most of all time, by surpassing the 2001 Seattle Mariners who won a whopping 116 games. The Mariners used only 15 pitchers that year and Lou Piniella kept “the-pedal-to-the-metal” and the team responded… even though most of the final month, they were up 14 or 15 games. It turns out they were gassed and the Yankees beat them 4-1 in the ALCS.
Dave Roberts and the Front Office don’t care about THAT record – they care about putting the team in the best position to win the World Series in 2017. That’s all. They are resting some guys and putting others into situations to see how that player responds to certain situations.
- How will Fabio Castillo do in back-to-back games?
- Can Cingrani and Watson be high leverage guys?
- Can Granderson hit #2?
- Can Logan Forsythe hit RHP?
- Is Luis Avilan a high leverage guy?
- Can Grandal and Gonzo hit in the heart of the order?
- Can Austin Barnes hit higher in the order?
- Is Verdugo an option and can he play CF?
- Can Wilmer Font be a middle-reliever?
Doc is willing to lose some battles in order to assess how some new players fit into the scheme of things. He is talking his foot off the gas and playing this like it is Spring Training. Is that the right way to do it? I don’t know, but I am sure Lou Piniella might have done things differently in 2001 if he could have done it over. It’s the right thing to do… if it works! It’s obvious that the Dodgers are coasting. It’s almost a Spring Training-Type of Audition for the players. In reality, some players need time to get acclimated to the big leagues, to get their timing down and the like.
Andre Ethier, Adrian Gonzalez, Yu Darvish and Alex Wood are trying to get re-adjusted mechanically and timing-wise. The rookies are trying to get their sea legs and adjust to the majors, and the Dodgers have a 14 game lead. Doc is not pushing the team right now, although he will soon start getting them ready for the war. He’s willing to lose some battles, right now, in order to win that war.
Dave Roberts is getting some good intel on his players so that he can best pick the 25 for the playoffs. Doc has not lost his mind and neither should we – it’s all parts of his plan and that plan is Total World Domination in 2017!
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Discussion (78)
Disagree, not disagreeable
On a positive note, Joc had two hits today including a HR.
Hartung and Nomar for a 2nd game in a row were unbearable so I put on Monday and Kennedy and synced it with my DVR. They just lit up Castillo for throwing a change up to Will Meyers.
An interesting battle is for the two or three lefties in the pen and let me just say Ryu should not be one of them and I’m a Ryu fan. Avilan is a lock. Watson has pitched like hot garbage other than his most recent efforts. Cingrani is a project that is making progress. Then there is Paredes who looks like a real LOOGY to me but needs more opportunities to prove himself.
Paredes is a guy that should get some opportunities. Guys like Castillo and Font served a purpose for a dbl header but shouldn’t be in high leverage situations until the division and home field is clinched.
I think there could be some surprises as to the makeup of the playoff roster. Forsythe continues to confound. Last year he hit .270 against LH pitching and .263 against RHP. 16 of his 20 HR were against RHP. Last year his OB% was .333. THis year it is .361, but his batting average is horrible. This year he is .290 against LHP and .197 against RHP.
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He has to play against LHP, but can’t see the field against a RHP. He should leadoff against LHP.
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I could see just one of the following players make the playoff roster: Utley, A-Gon and Ethier. I think it will be Utley because he can play 1B or 2B, pinch hit and RUN. But, I would not start Utley. He’s strictly a bench player. I would start Austin Barnes at 2B against RHP. He has reverse splits against RHP – .346 BA and a .454 OB%.
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Here’s my lineups:
Against RHP:
1. Barnes 2B
2. Seager SS
3. Turner 3B
4. Bellinger 1B
5. Taylor CF
6. Puig RF
7. Grandal C
8. Verdugo or Granderson LF
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Against LHP:
1. Forsythe 2B
2. Seager SS
3. Turner 3B
4. Bellinger 1B
5. Taylor CF
6. Barnes C
7. Puig RF
8. Verdugo or Granderson LF
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So the 13 playoff position players are:
1. Bellinger
2. Forsythe
3. Utley
4. Barnes
5. Farmer
6. Turner
7. Taylor
8. Granderson or Verdugo
9. Puig
10. Kike
11. Utley
12. Grandal
13. Who? A-Gon?
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It’s a numbers game. Joc, A-Gon, Andre and either Granderson or Verdugo cannot make the team. Could Segedin make it to be an additional RH bat?
1st, I think that most here get it – Roberts is resting some of his regulars and is seeing whether any of the new guys (deadline trades and callups) should be on the post-season roster. But many of the questions that you have posed are either not really being asked by the Dodgers (How will Fabio Castillo do in back-to-back games? – he’s not going to be on the post-season roster anyway) or have already been answered during the course of the season (Can Granderson hit #2? Can Logan Forsythe hit RHP? Can Grandal and Gonzo hit in the heart of the order? – The answers are “no”, ‘”no”, and “no to Gonzo”).
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2nd, the offense stopped working 5 or 6 weeks ago and can’t be turned on again by throwing a switch. Rather than giving the likes of Alex Verdugo lots of ABs, they should be getting guys like Turner, Grandal, etc. the ABs that they need to get started again. If they aren’t hitting on September 30, they won’t magically start again in October.
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3rd, they need to start Ryu and Maeda working in the ‘pen to see if they will be effective there as neither are likely to be in the post-season rotation.
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4th, rather than experiment with Font and Castillo in high leverage situations, they need to arrange roles for the post-season ‘pen. Assuming that Jansen has the 9th nailed down and Morrow has the 8th, do they have Baez for the 7th? Or Avilan? Or Fields (if he comes off of the DL)? It won’t be Castillo, I can tell you that.
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Finally, tell me how losing 8 of 9 help get the team ready for October?
Well Roberts is quoted”he is not taking his foot off the pedal” can Forsyth hit right handed pitching? No and he already knows that. Castillo doesn’t have a chance in hades being on post season roster. A Ilan he had last year and I could go on. I would like to see what verdugo can do. I personally don’t care about the total wins except for home field. I have played enough and coached enough to know that some of the players are going to be pissed when you don’t try to win. It just goes against best practices and I don’t think you can turn it on and off when you want. Ask the cubs? What happened to all these fresh armed pitchers who have gone 5 innings every game. Somebody said maeda is a 5 inning pitcher well I don’t blame him totally. You can’t pitch a guy 5 innings all year then expect him to go 7. I get we will win the division and we are trying to stay healthy. Why waste time on ar bats for Ethier when he hasn’t been healthy in 2 years. I like him and certainly over Bradley and has been a solid player but he has cost the dodgers 35 million for 2 years of nothing. Just move on to someone you can depend on. I just think Roberts flat out gave the padres the game today without a winning effort. That is just unprofessional and I don’t think the players will like it either. We may win the World Series and I am certainly pulling for it but respect the game.
There’s a fine line between a slump and a free fall. Ask the Rockies. There is no way in hell Castillo makes the post-season roster. With Avilan, Cingrani, and Jansen available manage the game to win. They have a bench full of players available so there was no reason at all for Forsythe to hit into a DP. He has not used his roster wisely this weekend. It will be interesting to see if Barnes get PT at 2nd when Farmer comes up. I was the least excited about getting Granderson because he stinks. Maybe that’s all they could get but he’s a horrible hitter who runs into some HR’s if he can keep it fair.
The D-Backs believe they still have a chance to pass the Dodgers and are fielding a lineup with that in mind. I don’t care about seeing how “some new players fit into the scheme of things.” We were doing just fine with what we had before. We now have lose all that momentum.
I get it and agree for the most part with what you said here and what Roberts is doing. But when a rookie in his 2nd game in the bigs loads the bases with no outs in the 7th inning of a 1 run game and their best hitter is up I go to the pen. I also put the IF in DP depth and not halfway and Myers ground ball does not get through. Earlier in the 7th with 2 on and 2 out Forsythe is up against Chacin, who had owned him down by a run and Utley, Ethier and AGon on the bench ready to PH for a guy who has trouble with RHP. You know what happened. As a bettor I stopped playing the Dodgers after the Hill one hitter loss (I don’t bet against them though) and at this point they are not actually trying to win so even though I understand what the team is doing it complicates things. Az comes in riding a 10 game winning streak after sweeping the Rocks, do you think they will take it easy on the Dodgers? If they can flip a switch and turn the tables on AZ with the same 3 starters who just got lit up a few days ago I would be very pleasantly surprised. The Rockies on the other hand can be more easily beaten but the team needs to win some of these games at home for their own confidence as both winning and losing can become contagious. The Padres should have lost every game this weekend and instead took 3 of 4.
Amen brother