The Best is Yet to Come

Thank you M.T. attempting to produce a calming effect!!! I never like to enter the fray when the villagers are wandering thru the streets with torches in hand…

Machado is and never was a mistake… He’s in a slump…

My guess is Doc is back in 2019… Adding Honeycutt to any of the whining and gnashing of teeth was plain stupid…

Maeda n Strip, maythe baseball gods be with you and lets get something rolling…

We must gave been looking at a different pitcher. Axford did hit 99, and was consistently in the mid to upper 90’s. But I didn’t see the movement you’re talking about, and towards the end of his outing there were some hard hit outs. Hope I’m wrong, but Axford is not someone I am counting on.

I respectfully disagree with your assessment that FAZ values relievers. Paying Kenley Jansen who was the ONLY pitcher in the Dodgers organization who could close, was simply recognizing that they needed a closer. Every contending team needs a competent closer. Jansen was the best.

.

Chris Hatcher, Juan Nicasio, Joel Peralta, Yimi Garcia, Pedro Baez, JP Howell, Jim Johnson, Adam Liberatore, Ian Thomas, Luis Avilan, Sergio Santos, Bud Norris, Louis Coleman, Casey Fien, Nick Tepesch, Grant Dayton, Jesse Chavez, Josh Fields, Josh Ravin, Tony Cingrani, Wilmer Font, Erik Goeddel, Daniel Hudson, JT Chargois, Dylan Floro, John Axford, Zac Rosscup, Pat Venditte. These are the relievers that have trotted out to the mound as members of the Dodgers during the FAZ era. Which one of these are competent late inning high leverage relievers? Middle relief? Sure, but certainly not late inning high leverage. The bullpen was so good in 2017 that they had to go out and trade for Tony Watson and Tony Cingrani who were used extensively down the stretch.

.

I excluded Brandon Morrow and Tony Watson, two good late inning high leverage relievers the Dodgers chose not to sign. Not signing Morrow was somewhat understandable as he wanted to close and got a 2 year $21MM contract. That understanding was countered when Logan Forsythe’s option at $9M was exercised. Losing Tony Watson because of a 2 year $7MM contract tells me how they value late inning high leverage relievers. Farhan made it quite clear that he believed that the loss of Morrow and Watson would be more than offset by Garcia and Cingrani. How did that work out? Value good relief? Then why is Baez still on the roster (and I am talking about the 40 man)? Why did it take so long to move Hatcher?

.

FAZ values competent late inning high leverage relief so much that they have to p___ off two starters to move into relief and hope that a 22 year old with major shoulder surgery who has not pitched in 15 months can come back and be a difference maker in a pennant race. Maeda and Strip will make the transition, but please do not expect them to be happy about it. It is probably going to cost Maeda $1.5MM. They value relief so much that their best reliever is a 22 year old starter who is one year removed from the California League. I am still hoping that Alexander will be a good late inning guy, but how is his confidence now after being pulled in his first real closing effort to be replaced with a waiver wire pitcher? Even Baez doesn’t get that treatment.

.

I do not think they value relievers. I think they want to surround Kenley Jansen with 20 middle relievers between LA and OKC and hope one will emerge. Joe Blanton did 2 years ago. Brandon Morrow bailed them out last year, but only because he had an opt out if he was not recalled by June 1. They had no idea what they had. As good as Strip has been as a starter, just how good is he going to be in a late inning role on back to back days? Maeda was good last post season, but will he be able to back to back days. Or back to back to back as Jensen has had to do?

.

It may work out, but it will not be because FAZ values relief. It will be because they needed starters to replace the relievers they did have.

.

When Ryu comes back this week, someone will need to be removed from the 40 man. I expect Rob Segedin to get his release.

Fun article about Dozier in The Athletic:

I got nothing. Let’s beat SF tonight

I am not sure how you have an organizational philosophy to not extend your pitchers late in games and limit innings at every turn and then not value relief help more.

AC’s assessment of the FAZ era relievers is spot on, why they did not take a 7 million dollar flyer on Watson is beyond me. I realize they thought they had a duplicate in Cingrani but with volitility of all relievers they should have signed him, the money was there at the time.

For all that FAZ has done well, they have done only average in the relief area. In fact in some areas of pen building they have failed miserably, AC addressed it and that is carrying bums too long( Hatchet and El Gasolino come to mind. They should have been taking out of Robert’s hands much earlier.

Mark solid post above but I disagree about Kemp. I have little confidence he will break out of his slump. I think he should be put on the dl for 10 days to reset and Verdugo brought up, he is better offensively and defensively right now. The timing could not be better with the amount of lefties we are facing this week. Bring back Kemp in 10 days and hope he can find his swing again, if not provide minimal at bats when the rosters expand and DFA him in the fall. Even when he was carrying us there were troubling signs, an unsustainable BABIP, an abysmal walk rate, and an inability to hit sliders consistently. Finally, on Kemp, has he put on weight again or is that just the camera adding 10 pounds?

We need to get hot and Roberts needs to get into these guys a bit. If I have to hear another “the intent” is there postgame speech from Roberts I am going to throw up. I don’t like Roberts but I realize he is likely towing the company line most of the time. Mark or AC can you confirm how much of his moves are his own and how many are completely FAZ influenced? Is the matchup game regardless of how a hitter is hitting completely FAZ or more Roberts or both? I hate to see hot hitters rested as I believe hitters need rhythm and thrive when they are in rhythm. However this team has won a lot of games doing it there way so who am I to criticize,, I do wonder if players really like the organizational philosophy of matchups and rest,Mark or AC?

My final rant, which has already been talked about, is the bull shit about not extending Ferguson one more inning on Saturday to protect him. What a joke. He could have been run out there another inning without consequence. How did kid gloves work with Urias? There has to be some ability for Roberts to divert from these pre determined pitcihing plans based on need and the eye test.

Also, one final note on Saturday, if Roberts was mixing and matching based solely on numbers, Chargois should have been lifted when McMahon came up as he has been pounded by lefties in 2018. Rosscup or Axford should have been in.

Well go blue, need to get rolling, and no better series or team to do it against. This is the first game I actually agree batting Kike’ in the four hole against lefties, please continue to own Bumgarner my friend.

Click your heals 3 times and say “there’s no place like home’ and beat the snot outta mad bum! Bout time for a sweep to recharge the batteries and put these Dodgers in a killer mentality. Enough of getting lackadaisical following small rally bursts. Go for the throat and do it again! Simply god is not good enough. Time to be great. Is that too much to ask for or expect? It wasn’t in 88! Show us!

SABRphiles emphasize the volatility of relief pitchers, especially middle relievers. A few years back, Jason Stark of ESPN.com wrote an article in which he quoted a baseball GM:

“The first thing you’ve got to remember,” said another GM, “is they’re relievers for a reason. The reason they become relievers in the first place is because they have some flaws. They don’t have a third pitch. They can’t repeat their delivery. They’ve got an unorthodox arm angle. So we made them relievers — because if we had a choice, we’d make them starters. Just the fact that we made them relievers means you’re looking at an imperfect crop to begin with.”

–

Another quote from a different article: “There’s no right way to build a bullpen; sometimes the big money thing works, sometimes the scrap heap approach works. … the best thing to do is have enough depth in case Plan A, Plan B, or even Plan C fails. ”

–

This is the thinking that informs the Braintrust. Relievers are a dime a dozen. If one doesn’t work then just get another one because relief pitchers, other than the guys like Jansen who are great year after year, are so inconsistent.

–

Think of this – name one reliever resigned by the Braintrust other than Jansen? You can’t because there aren’t any. So each year, you build a new ‘pen with guys from the minors and other teams’ broken and spare parts. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t but the process matters to these guys more than the outcomes.

–

This year’s group of spare parts includes Floro, Chargois, Rosscup, Axford, Goeddel, Hudson, Venditte, et al. Has anyone looked to see what this group accomplished in 2017? The only investment other than Jansen made in this year’s ‘pen is Alexander.

–

Does anyone think that it will be any different next year?

Courtesy of TrueBlueLA, re: the offense: “Since scoring 21 runs against Milwaukee on Aug. 2, the Dodgers have scored 27 total runs in nine games. Last week in six games they were 10-for-48 (.208) with runners in scoring position.”

Concerning the current bullpen woes, I don’t understand why there wasn’t a conference call with Roberts, Honeycutt, Pryor and the front office to address this situation soon as Jansen went down. As much number crunching done by the front office I’m sure they have an algorithm for replacing a closer. And, if there was a meeting of the minds, this bullpen disaster in the last three games, was the plan? Like Jerry Harriston mentioned on a post game show, pick a closer and move forward. It’s probably not going to be up to the standards of Jansen, but let the bullpen know it’s roles moving forward. But, no, it’s fly by the seat of your pants approach. Bring in Alexander to close and then pull him after the 2nd batter because Arenado once hit a home run against him. Alexander has, also, gotten him out three times. And then bring in Chargois who was set up for failure. Again, Roberts overthinks with his bullpen and then tries to justify his thinking post game. It’s embarrassing.

As of now, I would go with Axford to close. Experienced in the role and last two appearances were excellent. Will he be Jansen? Most likely not, but a defined role for him will increase the probably of success. Maeda and Alexander for the eighth inning. The remaining bullpen of Ferguson, Stripling, Chargois, Goeddel, Floro, and eventually Wood. If Axford is somewhat successful, that’s a good bullpen to get us through until Jansen returns.

I must respectfully disagree with the disagreement. 😉

–

I still say that relievers are a crapshoot and FAZ is not so stupid that they don’t value relievers. That’s silly to me. This year, to stay under the luxury tax, spending money on relief pitching was a luxury they could not afford. Even Watson would have been pushing the envelope. Many of us wanted Herrera (on DL), Bear Claw (22.00+ ERA) or Britton (up and down). Of course, there are others who have done well and many others who have done poorly.

–

I want you to think back to last year. This time last year, the Houston Astros were nearer the bottom than the top in MLB in pitching. Their closer was a psycho and the staff had many injuries. On Aug 31st they traded for Verlander and their pitchers got healthy. Some starters became relievers and the rest is history. They ended up winning it all without a closer, because they had a lot of guys who could pitch 2, 3 or 4 innings.

–

I do not think it was by design, but the Dodgers are on the same path the Astros were last year. The Dodgers bullpen had a 3.38 ERA last year, while the Astros was 4.27. This year the Dodgers bullpen ERA is at 3.92 while the Astros is 3.03.

–

The Dodgers are getting healthy and I will remind you that it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. The Dodgers are #2 in starter ERA this year, while the Astros are #1, but some starters are goiing to the pen. All I will say is that I still believe that this team is built for the playoffs…

–

History will acquit or convict me.

Whether or not the Dodgers hitters are slumping, the bullpen is not an acceptable piece of this team. Let’s say the Dodgers make the playoffs. The games are usually going to not be slug fests, but close games where the pen must be relied upon. FAZ’s philosophy is to gather cheap arms for the pen and hope enough work out like Morrow did. Get enough warm bodies in here that they can piece together innings 6-8. Maybe Dozier was a response to striking out on a good relief pitcher, but a quality piece should have been obtained if they were serious about winning it all this year.

I am okay with the team as it is.

Just heard Uncle Ned on Dodgertalk this morning talking about the bullpen and how incredibly difficult it would be for us to get a good reliever and run him through the waiver gauntlet without having somebody claim him. He didn’t sound too optimistic, which he usually is. We might be stuck with what we have in house. Like Mark says, we better hold on tight, this could get kind of rough.

If Kenley had been healthy last weekend, the perspective might be somewhat different.

DODGERS REINSTATE ERIK GOEDDEL

–

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers today reinstated right-handed pitcher Erik Goeddel from the 10-day disabled list and optioned switch-handed pitcher Pat Venditte to Triple-A Oklahoma City.

–

Goeddel, who missed nine games with right lat inflammation, last pitched on August 2 against the Brewers, where he allowed three runs on two hits over 1.0 inning of relief. In 30 games with Seattle and Los Angeles this season, the California native has a 3-0 record, 3.06 ERA (12 ER/35.1 IP) and has limited the opposition to a .202 average.

–

Venditte, 33, has appeared in five games with Los Angeles, allowing four runs over 4.1 innings (8.31 ERA), while striking out four against one walk.

DOZIER

TURNER

MACHADO

KIKE

TAYLOR

PUIG

BELL

BARNES

KERSHAW

Dang, both Taylor and Barnes in the lineup against Bum. Take a damn chance and throw Joc and Grandal in there, no way they could do worse. Taylor is turning into a swinging saloon door. You almost wonder if his eyesight is off. Dude is officially leading the league in strikeouts.

DODGERS GIANTS ON MLB NETWORK TONIGHT, FYI

the last shifts to the bat of kike have been of very low quality. today it will be an interesting exercise to philosophize about which is better: hitting rhythm or statistics’

Per TrueBlueLA:

“During the last six weeks, the boys in blue have hit .201 against left-handers, which is the lowest number in baseball. To go along with the lowest average, they are also last in slugging percentage (.312) as well as OPS (.592).

The player who has most notably struggled the most is Kiké Hernandez. For his career, Hernandez has been known as a better hitter against lefties. When he’d get opportunities to start, they would normally be against left-handed pitchers.

Since June 29, Hernandez has been the worst hitter in baseball against lefties. In 44 plate appearances, Kiké only has four hits. His slash line sits at .095/.116/.143/.259, all the worst in baseball during that stretch.”

–

No more Kike please

Someone know something about Jensen status? I AM JUST READING HE WOLUD NEED ANOTHER HEArt surgery at the end of the season.

Rotoworld:

–

Kenley Jansen (heart) threw a bullpen session Monday and will throw another one Wednesday and Friday.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Monday that the team was “encouraged” about Jansen’s chances of beating his projected 4-6 week timetable. That’s the good news. That bad news is Jansen was also told by doctors that there’s a good chance he will need ablation surgery again this offseason, which is the same procedure he had six years ago. Scott Alexander is the favorite for saves in the L.A. bullpen for now, although manager Dave Roberts has indicated he could use multiple relievers.

More news about the Dodgers’ offense per TrueBlueLA:

Re; Matt Kemp: “Since July 24, Kemp’s three hits are the lowest amongst players with at least 57 plate appearances. The next closest is Jose Bautista with seven. Not only is he dead-last in hits, he is also dead-last in AVG (.060), OBP (.140), SLG (.080), OPS (.220) and wRC+ (-35).”

–

“Another player vitally struggling to hit south paws has been Chris Taylor. In 2017, Taylor hit a remarkable .297 against left-handers. Since June 29, Taylor is hitting .167, which is tied for third-worst. His .217 on-base percentage is the fourth worst.”

–

“Since being acquired at the trade deadline, Brian Dozier only has one hit off of a left-hander (.125 AVG). Austin Barnes is 4-for-27 (.148 AVG). Cody Bellinger is hitting .175 and has the sixth lowest slugging-percentage.

Matt Kemp is hitting .195 and has the third lowest average on balls put in play”

–

“five of the next six starters the Dodgers face will be left-handed, so this upcoming week may present one of the Dodgers’ biggest challenges of the year.”

For what it is worth, I have been noticing that Manny Banuelos has been relieving exclusively lately. Getting tuned up for a September call up?