Stop the Corey Seager Bashing!

It’s frustrating to watch, but I’m not concerned. Seems par for the course for the Dodgers to have a rough month at least once per season where you openly wonder who are these guys. In 2017 – wasn’t it 17 losses out of 18 to close out August? Maybe it was 18 out 19. We were still under .500 thru early June in 2018. We were a little more even in 2019, but we didn’t exactly close out the season that strongly. Even last August, we were eeking out wins, but the offense was really struggling.

We’ve always had a streaky offense that relies a lot on the HR, but I always used the baseline if our starters are pitching well and we’re hitting HRs, we’ll always give ourselves a chance. At the moment, starters are doing their part, but the homers are down, I think we’re 15 HRs off last year thru 34 games. If our past is any indicator, the HRs should pick up before our batting averages do, but those extra HRs should make a difference in these 1-2 run games we’re losing now that we haven’t in the past. Unless, of course, the league messed with the ball. I thought that thru the first month of last year as well, when we hit a lot of warning track shots. Eventually they started going out.

Today was disappointing. Bats are not being consistent. But it was close.

We went to the Quakes game Tuesday (opening day). Then Thursday. Then Friday (Covid canceled). The game last night in Anaheim (Saturday). Crazy game, obviously. My son wanted to go to either the Quakes game at 2:00 or the Angles v Dodgers game (I really can’t keep up anymore. I’m 45 for F*** sake). I’m fat and have a freaking job. For real.

I will say this. The Anaheim staff last night have been trained based on old Gestapo manuals. Going to a game there is like being in some combination of a military boot camp and fascist indoctrination. I don’t use hyperbola lightly. But it was terrible.

I’ve been to hundreds of MLB games. Hundreds of minor league game.

Both my son and I and our friend had close friends on both teams. My friend knows the ushers. We know security. But the the “covid” protocols have nothing to do with covid. They’re just being assholes. By policy.

I will go to minor league games but I will NOT go to another MLB game until these unscientific and ridiculous rules go away. Last night we felt like prisoners. Being directed to “move on” and “you can’t stand here” over and over. My son just wanted to get a video of our friend getting his first MLB hit. That’s all.

MLB and each team needs to lighted the F**k up. It’s ruining the fan experience.

Tickets we bought weren’t cheap. We won’t be going back to an MLB game until this shit stops.

Full stop.

All we can hope for as of now is that all the guys that are injured and are expected back this year, get back and stay healthy and that the Dodgers make the playoffs. I want them to continue the division winning streak too.

Friedman better be looking for bullpen help before the trade deadline.

I still believe in the offense and starting pitching.

By the way, I have no problem with Seager, including his defense.

If your pitching and offense is good, then all you need is adequate defense.

World series hangover. Everyone take a bong toke.

Post game press conference – Bauer says he’s pissed! He didn’t come here to lose. He doesn’t want to speak for anyone else, but the team can’t think they’re going to win games simply by taking the field.

Bravo! Somebody needed to say that out loud. Maybe that will offend some of the guys who aren’t producing but feel better after every game because Doc announces that he knows they are trying.

I’m going to predict right now that they win 7 of the next 10 games they play and part of that will be because of Bauer speaking out. You don’t win championships simply by trying and maybe this will be the verbal kick in the ass they need to get going.

Instead of playing like the nice guys they are, they need to start playing mad.

It is time for the Dodgers to get rid of the experiment and send Lux, and others back to minors or trade them. We lost hitting and watching today fielding by KiKi Hernandez and bought into a no hit, average fielding Lux. A bus needs to get ready to transport Lux, Nuese, Ruiz back to where they can learn to hit. At the rate they are progressing in the big leagues they will never make it. I also think Seager should be on a short leash and someone needs to train Bellinger how to not upswing to get a home run each time.(also gets hurt all of the time.

Thanks MT for the perspective on Corey Seager. I have always liked him as a player and think he is a great hitter. But he has his weaknesses. He has been adequate on defense but will never be an elite defender and may need to move from SS in a few years. He is a below average base runner for a SS. And his tendency to swing at the first pitch limits the Dodgers ability to work pitch counts. Overall, I would love to keep Seager a Dodger for 10 more years. However, I cannot see paying him $300 million plus like Lindor, Tatis, and Machado. And since his agent is Boras, it is unlikely he accepts less than $300 million. So enjoy Corey this year while you can.

In terms of the Dodgers this season, I will recite a Bill Parcels quote. “You are what your record says you are!”

They are an average baseball team with many flaws. The perception that they were one of the best teams in baseball history was ill-founded, and the predictions of 120 wins were silly. They can still win the World Series, but they can also miss the playoffs. We can point to the injuries, the umpires, the bad luck, the young players, but all teams have to deal with these issues. The Dodgers have many shortcomings that are not likely to fix themselves. In my view they are not built to succeed in close games. The bullpen is inconsistent, the bench is weak, the defense is below average, they give up the most stolen bases in baseball by far, they refuse to play small ball, they seem unwilling to move runners over, and the manager is below average strategically.

The Dodgers have had tremendous starting pitching this year which has kept them competitive in every game with the exception of 2 or 3. Hopefully, the starting pitchers maintain their excellence while the rest of the team figures it out.

JT Chargois called up by the Mariners.

Three rookies at the bottom of the order. All ofers

26 lob!

I’ve wondered how much of the losing has been caused by the change in the ball. The Dodgers were built to win by hitting home runs. Long balls that would have been homers last year are now outs (mostly). In close games those lost runs would have been the difference between winning and losing. Maybe time for a new hitting approach. The current one isn’t working.

And the beat(s) goes on! Another wasted great start! But that’s a great Angel pitching staff that shut us down.

Along with Zeros, Notso is not the answer at third behind Turner!

7 walks and just one run

So would you suggest that Muncy swing at balls in the dirt instead of walking?

So Beaty is not playing because RH Batters have superstar stats against Quintana

I may be crazy and Eric will crucify me but I still believe in Santana. I think his stuff is very good. He just has to trust it and throw strikes. By the end of the year I predict he’s a dependable bullpen piece!

Lindor has been a disappointment so far. Does not look anything like a player worth the money he is getting….feeling the pressure of a huge deal??? Most likely but he will figure it out sometime. Machado had the same problem his first year in SD. The true greats figure it out. But I believe in Seager. I think his bat will be roaring thunder soon. And when the team is playing better, and the errors do not loom so large in the final line, Corey will be a huge part of the solution to the offensive woes. You cannot predict injuries, and they have decimated a team that avoided major injury losses last year. This too will pass.

I agree with Mark and others that this is no time to panic. With preseason expectations and the fast start all was good in Dodger land. Right now, except for the starting pitching, the team is doing poorly in every other area of the game. At times it’s almost comical. I was one who thought the BP was finally going to be a strength. It looks like that that might not be the case. But, we’ll see as the season progresses. Injuries have been the main culprit which has lead to bringing up pitchers that aren’t major league ready or don’t have major league talent. Mark has mentioned Mitch White as a future solid BP piece. Initially, I was not impressed and still not sold. Only 25 he can get better. I hope he does. He might need another out pitch.

The hitting has been painful to watch during this slump. Why does Roberts continue to put Muncy in the four hole? OK, I’ll answer my own question. Because that’s what Roberts does…. until he doesn’t. Max is the poster boy for today’s baseball of three outcomes. Max had 81 AB’s in April. He has K, BB, or HBP 53 times. That’s 65% of the time. And this is our # 4 hitter? His OBP is awesome, but slugging only .383. Many times he didn’t look like he wanted to swing at the pitches, He would be a great #2 hitter. And, in May the three outcome percentage is 68%.

With Seager and his defense it’s not the errors that are troubling, but the lack of range. I never thought it was an issue in the past (when he was healthy). It seems if he has to move laterally at all he can’t get balls low to the ground. And, his throws seem to be lackadaisical at times. That can stem from a lack of focus. Maybe, his mind was on his poor offense. I have confidence that by the end of the year all will be good numbers wise. He’s just too talented.

philjones’s comments yesterday on the large number of injuries for the Dodgers and MLB in general is really concerning. What IS the answer? You would think with the drastically improved nutrition and all the ways they have to measure and develop conditioning how does this happen? I have absolutely no medical background, but using common sense it may be because of these advancements pitchers feel they can throw as hard as possible on every pitch without any consequences (especially with relievers). This could be why relievers are so inconsistent. Usually when a person does weight workouts they do so to increase muscle mass and strength. If you do this on a consistent basis, with proper recovery time, your muscles should get stronger and stronger. When a starting pitcher goes to spring training or are coming back from an injury they build up their arm strength. But, once they achieve the results they desire then the building up of arm strength stops. The magic, one size fits all mantra of 100 pitches becomes the standard. That reasoning doesn’t make any sense to me. I have never seen any explanation on who came up with the universal 100 pitch threshold. I have never pitched professionally, but I know some here have or have sons that have pitched in pro ball. So, maybe they would have a better perspective on the subject. In Japan, the starters only pitch once a week, but pitch count isn’t a real concern. And, I believe they throw a lot between starts. They feel that the more you use your arm muscles the better condition the arm stays. But, they aren’t paying SP $20-35MM yearly either. We hear that Bauer wants to pitch on three days rest. I don’t believe any other pitcher studies or knows his mechanics more than he does. I would think it would be difficult for the Dodgers have him pitch every three days, but it would be interesting to have him pitch 120-150 pitches for a few games and see what happens. If he feels it would not be productive or healthy he has the smarts to stop. Pitchers threw well over 100 pitches 30+ years ago all the time. Just ask Fernando.

Re; Seagers’s defense

B&P’s stats don’t hold up. Per Baseball Reference.com

Seager – Defensive Runs Saved – -3 Range Factor/game – 3.25

Story – DRS – -2 RF/g – 3.5

Lindor – DRS – -1 RF/g -3.78

Tatis – DRS – -5 RF/g – 3.30

As it turns out, all but Tatis have better overall defensive numbers, but even that is a straw man because the comparison isn’t to the best defenders.

JP Crawford – DRS – +6 RF/g – 4.53

Bo Bichette – DRS – -1 RF/g – 4.31

Javier Baez – DRS – -1 RF/g – 4.24

Seager does not compare to elite defenders. The question is whether he is adequate.

Mark reports that “just about everybody” is blaming Cory Seager for the Dodger woes, especially defensively. I will be on record of NOT being one of those and never will be a Seager basher.

I’m going to say it again. Seager’s job is and always will be, to make routine plays routinely and hit. He is not and never will be Lindor, Tatis, Story, or your pick of any latin acrobat defensively. That isn’t his game and a player does not have to be that to be a Big League shortstop now or in the past. Tell me about Bill Russell’s or Larry Bowa’s range. Cal Ripken. Is a human being inputing data into a computer measuring how far a player goes to make a play. Does the computer do it? Shifts considered?

Seager gets criticized for not diving for ground balls. Isn’t that exactly what got Bellinger a ticket to the outfield?

How about we stop picking on the kid for what he isn’t. I personally don’t see him pissing away games with poor defense. Tatis gets to more balls and boots more.

At the end of the season, if all you critics want that type player that Seager isn’t, get ahold of AF and express your wishes. You don’t like his style and range and disapprove of him being signed again. Then you might be happy with Lux at short or shop the market for some expensive replacement with the range you desire. But be careful what you ask for.

Until then, maybe all the critics who I doubt ever played shortstop in their lives past high school, can shut up about Seager. He is NOT the problem. You’re entitled to your opinion but it’s like a broken friggin record.

Mark, I love the MiLB reports daily. I can follow kids I’ve seen play. Keep it up please.

Let’s talk about relievers. Here are the records of some of the relief pitchers you all wanted:

Alex Colome – 5.68 ERA ,3 Losses, 3 Blown Saves

Liam Hendriks – 3.55 ERA, 1 Loss, 2 Blown Saves

Adam Kolarek – 6.43 ERA (the league is hitting .303 against him)

Sean Dolittle – 3.97 ERA, 2 Blown Saves 1.50 WHIP

Archie Bradley – 6.00 ERA

Brett de Geus – 5.79 ERA

Chris Devenski – 7.50 ERA

Jake McGee – 5.14 ERA – Yeah we needed that! He has 8 saves – not sure how.

Derek Holland – 14.21 ERA

Dellin Betances – 9.00 ERA

Amir Garrett – 10.38 ERA

Kirby Yates – Out for the year

Ken Giles – Out for the year

Dylan Floro is looking good with a 1.42 ERA and 1 Blown Save. He has 1 Loss and the league is hitting .182 against him. Mark Melancon has a 0.60 ERA and a 0.467 WHIP to go with 11 saves. No one predicted that!

BTW, Kenta Maeda has a 5.02 ERA with 37 hits in 28 IP.

It’s really hard to build a bullpen! Some dumb luck is also involved. But, of course, every fan can do it better!

A lot of talk about Seager again today. I guess that makes sense since he’s the focus of Mark’s post. Did anyone notice that he was 3-4?

Betts was 2-3 with 4 RBI. Maybe he’s coming around?

Kershaw returned to form after the worst outing of his career. You can tell right away what you’re going to get from Kershaw. It he’s hitting 91-92 in the first inning, you’re in for a gem. If he sits 89 in the first, it’s gonna be a stinker.

Can we make it two in a row with Bauer on the bump? Or, are we going to make another mediocre lefty look like Cy Young?

Beaty, Smith, Muncy, Seager and Betts all had multi-hit games. I wonder how many of these guys will have a scheduled day of unneeded rest during a three game series sandwiched between two off days.

Ruiz is suggesting that he can play some 1B and/or Outfield. Barnes moved to 2B yesterday and committed a key error with two outs which should have been a clean inning for Cleavenger, instead lead to a 7 run inning. Does everything still think it’s a good idea to suggest position changes all the time? Wouldn’t it be better to just trade from depth to acquire a player to fill a need?

The offense scored double digits for the second time in a week and handed Bundy his worst start this year. Not bad for a team that’s missing two starting outfielders. Is this finally the start of a turnaround just before a 9 game homestand against not so great teams before we head to the great pretender in San Francisco?

Thereafter has a good point about the balls Seager doesn’t get to. Last night Lux dove and snagged a ball. I was still a hit but from what I’ve seen this year, Seager would not have stopped the ball from going through. Has Seager always done this? Or is it the current team funk that is pointing this deficiency out?

As for the bullpen; price should be back relatively soon, so White goes back down. Alexander comes back, Cleavenger is gone. Santana probably stays. Unfortunately he is inconsistent.

I’m done ragging on Doc. Doc is what he is. But I did find it rather amusing, watching the water rising on him last night: wet shoes/socks, then up to the knees, uh-oh waist level, chest level damn, then finally neck level look of FEAR. When Treinen first got here, he was immediately trashed in dodgers fan fashion, I said he was going to be a Big ASSSET.

Blame the umps. The strike zone has not been consistent from any of them. And in any game so far you see multiple bad calls. MLB team batting averages across the board are lousy. And hitters are striking out at a higher rate than any other time in history. Not just the Dodgers. But we are Dodger fans, so how they play affects us a lot. There are holes in all of the contenders, not just the Dodgers. They are not perfect, and never will be. And yet it is way too early to panic, but it is easy to see why we are concerned. I have faith that the true professionals, and I put Seager in that category, are working every day to improve their play. Just look at Mookie the last 2 games. He has looked like a different hitter. They scored 14 runs without a HR last night. That just does not happen with this team usually. And the exit velocity on a majority of their hits was under 90MPH. Then the Angels scored mostly the same way. A couple of those hits would not have broken glass and all 7 runs in the seventh were unearned. After this afternoons game they come home for 9. By the end of this home stand we will get a somewhat better picture of who this team with these players is. They still are just () this far out of first and that while missing a huge piece of the offense, some major pitching pieces and their best bench player so far this season. AF will not stand pat if he sees a need.

Should have been a confidence building rout , turned into a doubt magnifying flirtation with disaster. That takes some real doing. And also the absolutely horrendous ball/strike calls are really hurting the Dodgers, prompting good hitters to swing at s*** they know it’s not a strike, or take a pitch they know is outside and get behind in the count or be called out on strikes. Also , the use of the less lively ball this year is hurting the Dodgers who rely so heavily on the home run.

While I realize Seager will have his moments is it not reasonable to expect him to improve? According to your stats he could spend 4-5 of those months as a league average or less player. It is not his fielding percentage etc. it is the balls he does not get to and never will. I just think AF already knows this and will not give him an excessive contract. All I read is back it up with facts. Well the facts are not the whole story. Anybody can c he is a subpar ss and with turners lack of range positioning will be paramount.

As far as last night. I predicted they would make it close. We can’t worry about what other teams do or don’t do. Even the worst teams when a third right? Well the dodgers are in that group. The defense is awful, fundamentally can’t hold runners, getting picked off at second, we just don’t execute. Bullpen awful lacking Mlb arms. Offense awful, thankfully turner is back or where would we be. I remember someone saying time to move on from turner it’s Rios time.

We will improve no doubt. Can’t be this bad. The current roster will not get it done. We do not have the depth we had last year. We have lost Joc, kike, floro, wood and replaced with peters, neuse, etc. I think AF did what he had to do but we still do not have quality depth. Until the current starters play better and our bullpen gets help expect more of the same.

1 – I said at the beginning of the season that Seager could be MVP this year. He has gotten into some bad habits at the plate but will reverse course and put up stellar numbers. I am more concerned about the defense. Fielding percentage is a smokescreen here. If you only get to 3 balls but field them all your pct. is 1000%, but if you should get to more than you do then it’s not reflective of your defense. Seager’s dWAR is -.2 according to Baseball

Reference.com.

2 – The bullpen depth isn’t very good. I’ve been on that bandwagon all season, even when they were winning. I have no problem with having Santana, White or Cleavinger pitch in a blowout. I have a problem with Roberts leaving them out there long enough to give up 11 runs in 2 innings.

3 – Santana, White et al have not been rushed. Santana is 25 and this is the 4th season that he has pitched major league innings. He just isn’t very good. Cleavinger is 27. White is 26. Vesia is 25. The Dodgers are Cleavinger’s 3rd organization. He hasn’t been good anywhere he’s pitched. White has never lived up to the hype.

Kendall Williams = sleeper

Great post Mark, and all true.

The one glaring elephant in the room is of course the Pen, and I’m not sure we have the depth there that AF imagined.

I don’t see us winning it all with VGon and Treinen as the only reliable pieces.

Time for AF to get creative I think.

Without the pandemic, I would have been in LA this weekend, and heading to the game today, hopefully with Bobby, Pete, Badger and a few more of you LA based fans ( B&P and Patch looking at you).

Still, there’s always next year. Hopefully..