The Dave Roberts Saga Continues

For the record, I don’t “hate” (to strong a word) Doc….I just don’t want him to keep trotting out a guy from the bullpen to close who is not a given (Jansen).

Mitch White- who saw this coming? Nice not to see 7 guys’ name come out of the pen.

Marvelous Max- anyone besides me think he is our best hitter? And that includes Mookie. So, I wonder how much he will resign for whenever his contract is up?

Pollock- who is this guy? I’m also glad CT3 got a night off…he needed it.

1st inning- don’t you love it when you look at the scoreboard and see LA 3 other team 0 after one inning? Man, I can sleep so much better going to bed with that knowledge.

I’m reluctant to add this last one because I’m sure a few of you will throw rocks at me, but what the heck, i like being funny…..Who needs Cody and Gavin? Anyone surprised to see ofers from those two when most everyone else is mashing? Oh, and if you think Cody is back, he is only batting .235 in August and sinking fast, so maybe you should reserve judgment a bit. But the good news is this- leave them batting 7 and 8 with the pitcher at 9. Might as well put all your “automatic” outs together. That way, for those who are watching the game on the tele, this would be a good time to leave the room to grab a bite to eat. Or for those a bit more daring, see if your significant one is interested!

TM

PS. I know Cody is not really an automatic out…I think.

A few weeks ago Eric Stephen wrote a piece on Kenley Jansen that summed up what we had been seeing for quite some time. I didn’t have the exact numbers but I had a pretty good idea what I was seeing.

Kenley is, by baseball measurement, an old horse. Obviously he’s still capable but it’s unwise to ask an old horse to work hard two days in a row. And 33 pitches is insane. I understand that Jansen is the Dodgers closer but I think if you want him closing playoff games effectively, overworking him in the summer is a really bad plan. Even with that, what this pen has accomplished is remarkable. What this team has accomplished, and is accomplishing is also remarkable. I don’t always agree with each individual Roberts move but I look at what he has done in his years here I am grateful the Dodgers have him as their leader.

As for Cody and Lux, I’ve seen improvement. Obviously Cody stays in my lineup. It would be foolish to bench him. Lux? He needs experience. The more at bats he gets now the more confidence he will have coming off the bench later. And on this team, his role will be to hit off the bench.

I saw Roberts talking to reporters yesterday and he said Mookie could be back as early as late next week. That surprised me. I hope he’s right.

I still see us winning the Division. That opinion has not changed and it won’t change.

You are CORRECT. You never give the enemy intel they could possibly use against you. I never see why fans insist on knowing everything, they have to realize that if they know it, the enemy does too.

Mitch White looked very pitcher-ish last night for sure. After going to bed right after Cory hit that last HR I was surprised when I woke up to see he went the distance & threw 90 pitches. Pretty impressive.

Better go shut things down now & let the boss know I am out of commission for a while as we are getting hammered by thunderstorms and flash flooding here in western CO & we lost power about 30min ago. My UPS battery won’t last forever.

cheers

pb+

Wow, that was a really dominant performance by Mitch White last night. I’m so happy for that kid. While Bruihl was still in the game, the camera panned over to Mitch in the bullpen. He was just chilling on a folding chair, relaxed and comfortable. He looked more like a disinterested fan waiting for the game to begin rather than a Starting Pitcher getting ready for a game.

While not technically a Starting Pitcher, he sure pitched like one. Starter, reliever, or Ross Stripling 2.0? Was that performance enough to keep him on the 26 man and in the rotation for the time being? Or, will AF do the shuffle and banish him for 10 days in order to call up another reliever?

Damn, I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get to see Neftali Feliz for the second game in a row since being called up. I think the chances of seeing him in tonight’s bullpen game are pretty good. It was a good move by Doc to let Mitch finish his masterful performance and save one more arm for tonight’s bullpen game possibly giving Mariachi Joe another day another day to recover from the Fluvid.

Just a few days ago people were freaking out that we were 5 games out with just under 7 weeks to play. How does everyone feel about being 3 games back with a full month plus the rest of August? We have them just where we want them. But, can we remain healthy for the rest of the schedule?

After tonight’s bullpen game, we’ll start to look like we have some semblance of a rotation with Bueller, Sherzer and Price lined up for the last three games in the Mets series. With the off day on Monday and Urias eligible to come off the IL on Tuesday to begin the SD series, White would be available to follow Urias on six days rest and Bueller would line up for the 3rd game. Scherzer, Price, Urias, White, Bueller until Kersh is ready to rejoin the rotation with Gonsolin on standy by.

AF is playing 3D chess with the 40 man to the extent that I can hardly keep up. He’s the best in the business at shuffling roster spots between core superstars, minor leaguers with options, reclamation projects and talented cast offs that are in need of a tune up to turn them into solid roster options.

I’m a huge Oakland A’s fan this weekend, as they host those no good Bums by the Bay. The A’s are in a hot Wild Card race with the Yankees and Red Sox all bunched up together fighting for those two spots while also just 2.5 games behind the Astros for the Division lead. They have everything to play for this weekend in their home park with the season on the line.

On Internet:

A lawyer’s look at the Bauer hearing (day 2)

(day 1)

FanGraphs on the Dodgers and bullpens:

Double-A Tulsa 3B Miguel Vargas (Dodgers) homered twice on Saturday. That gave him 12 home runs since his promotion to Tulsa and 19 overall this year

The Giants could lead the majors in Homers and not have a single player eclipse 30:

FanGraphs on the points of strength/weakness for the Dodgers’ depth:

Strengths: The Dodgers’ depth has already been tested on nearly every level due to what feels like a never-ending stream of injuries, but they’ve survived and a healthy version of this team remains an exceptionally strong World Series contender. The addition of Trea Turner creates a cornucopia of options on the infield, which is important since their group at Triple-A is exceedingly light. A healthy Mookie Betts does the same for their outfield situation. Chris Taylor is the best multi-position player in baseball, and a walking depth-machine nearly everywhere on the diamond. The bullpen has been banged up like much of the rest of the team, but they’re getting healthier and have found surprising production from some unexpected sources, like Alex Vesia.

Weaknesses: At this point, when it comes to the rotation, it’s quite simple: If Julio Urías and Clayton Kershaw return (and more importantly, return to form), the Dodgers should be fine. If not, they’re in trouble as they try to catch the Giants. The acquisitions of Turner and Max Scherzer cost the club Keibert Ruiz, and while Will Smith and Austin Barnes are a fantastic catching combo, any injury would force the club to lean on a sub-par vet like Chad Wallach (on the 40-man roster), Tim Federowicz or Tony Wolters.

For the second time in three starts, Low-A Rancho Cucamonga’s Gavin Stone (Dodgers) held a team scoreless for six innings. This time it was Inland Empire he shut down, fanning 12. Since July began, Stone has struck out 56 and walked only 4

Fangraphs on Phil Bickford:

Next is Phil Bickford, who has finally seized hold of a big league role after a very long and eventful prospectdom. Bickford had a velo spike as a high school senior but teams were late to identify and vet him. The Blue Jays took him 10th overall but failed to sign him; Bickford went to Fullerton, where he struggled as a freshman. On the Cape after his freshman year he was so electric that in order to take advantage of the spike in his stock, Bickford transferred to the College of Southern Nevada to be draft eligible as soon as possible. He was often 93-96 with a plus slider at CSN and went 18th overall to the Giants in 2015. Traded to Milwaukee, then later suspended for a few positive drug tests, Bickford languished away at High-A for several years and last appeared on a prospect list in 2018. He was only sitting about 88 during his 2020 big league debut. Now he’s parked in the 93-94 range with the Dodgers and looks like a middle relief lock again. He’s been added to the 40 FV tier on the Dodgers list.

Baseball America on Beeter:

Clayton Beeter, RHP, Dodgers: The Dodgers have put Beeter on an unusual schedule this year in his first pro season. Beeter is a starter, but Los Angeles has held him to very strict pitch limits. He didn’t go beyond the first inning until his ninth start. He didn’t edge past two innings in an outing until August. And he’s now moved up to three innings in an outing. Beeter has still not thrown 50 pitches in any appearance this year, but he has made 23 appearances and 22 starts, which means he’s easily leading the minors in starts. Beeter struck out six of the 10 batters he faced on Sunday, allowing one run in 2.2 innings.

FanGraphs on Yurchak

Is David Price now a $30mm swing man?

Alas, somewhere in the lower third of whatever CMS Mark uses is my latest post about stuff from around the Internet.

Dare I worry it’s been lost?

Dang nabbit!

I just read the new uniforms Los Dodgers will debut Friday and Saturday. How often will the Dodgers wear those unis ? Only on special occasions or is this the new standard uni now ? I would miss the classic Dodgers unis. IMHO the best in the game. Timeless.

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

As far as the lame City Connect uniforms go, the Dodgers have one of the least obnoxious ones that I’ve seen so far.

I’m not too thrilled with the script on the hats, or the phrase “Los Dodgers” when they could have had some fun with it as “Los Doyers”. Simply having “Los Angeles” would have been better as well. IMHO “Los Dodgers” just sounds corny to me by lazily throwing a nod to our great hispanic fan base by putting a “Los” in front of their “Anglo” team name.

I like the blue pants to go with the blue jersey which would have been a great option for the Color Block uniforms instead of the white on white that they did a couple of years ago. My favorite alternates so far was the powder blue uniforms they used quite some time ago. I think that one featured the Brooklyn “B”, always a classic nod to the past.

Mark, I don’t think I can remember posters saying they hate Roberts. Constant criticism maybe, but not hate. I don’t hate anyone. It’s a waste of energy. I’ve been critical of Roberts in the past, especially in the postseason. This season I’ve begun to realize that he probably has little input into pre game or in game decisions. It would be nice to get an explanation from the FO on why they rest players after a successful offensive performance or if they are on a hot streak. Also, I believe his dealing with the media on injuries is FO driven. This replacing pitchers with two outs was the latest indicator for me that Roberts has little to say about player moves during the game. This screams to me as a “eureka moment” by a nerd in the analytics department. ” Let’s see, with two outs and nobody on the odds are 50.158753% in our favor if we make a pitching change”. So the pitchers get lined up for the game and forwarded to Roberts to make the moves at the appropriate time. But, that’s an assumption my my part. So, why bother to criticize him. He’s just following orders.

Bluto summed it up very succinctly: “The Dodgers don’t need to win games. They need to position themselves to best win the World Series. Obviously, you’d think not playing in the Wild Card game would help. But so would having healthy, rested players and knowing who can cover 3rd in case of injury. So too would all players having confidence and mechanical issues addresses. To name but a few other key criteria.”

This is a quote from above on Roberts reasoning for resting resting players when he does. But, it’s the front office making those decisions, not Roberts. So there’s that. And, what does that quote actually mean? I know I’m a moron so, please, tell me what Bluto’s original quote is trying to say. It makes little sense to me regarding what the Dodgers are trying to accomplish. Right off saying the Dodgers don’t need to win games seems to be a ridiculous statement. So by the end of the season we have played .500 baseball, qualify for the wild card game, and have all or most of our players available with all mechanical issues addressed should be the goal. As far as confidence goes what would create more confidence? Winning baseball games! Not resting players to preserve health. Not working on fundamentals toward the end of the season. By resting players doesn’t guarantee that they will not get injured in the future. Having a goal of playing in the wild card round with hopefully a healthy team seems weak to me considering the talent and depth the Dodgers have. And to use the remainder of the season to see who can cover third in case of an injury, again, doesn’t make any sense to me. That this front office and the coaching staff would spend time on this subject would be hard to believe at this point of the season. My input would be Muncy, Taylor, or McKinstry just off the top of my head. And, I’m a moron. So, what am I missing in how Bluto’s statement should be the Dodgers’ goal? it seems passive and not aggressive or competitive enough.

I think though, that this is what Mark was talking about. >>> It would be nice to get an explanation from the FO on why they rest players after a successful offensive performance or if they are on a hot streak.<<

But if you know, everyone knows. Telling the enemy how you approach situations gives them info they can try to use against you. I think the takeaway is, enjoy the game, enjoy wondering & gossiping about what you THINK is going on, but NO ONE from the FO is going to tell you anything useful, most of the time, and all the hand wringing & complaining about it is not going to change anything.

cheers

pb+

Well I’ve had a good nights sleep to reevaluate Roberts poor performance last night. He needs to learn how to un-motivate his hitters when we get a larger lead against a poor team like the Pirates. Save those runs for the upcoming series with the Mets. Why does he allow Muncy to hit another home run when the game is already won. Also why didn’t Roberts pull Ehite after the seventh inning and Dave those last two shutout innings for the Mets. He should have brought Hansen in for a two inning save so when he gives up 3-4 runs we still get the win.

At the end of yesterday’s stream, someone posted why didn’t Roberts let Bruihl pitch to the next hitter, he was left handed. Not quite. The next hitter was Wilmer Difo, he is a switch hitter. So maybe Roberts wanted him hitting from the left side. Why worry about pulling a opener after 1.1 innings? Some of the more ridiculous complaints about Roberts. D-Backs pitcher, Caleb Smith was removed from last nights game and his glove confiscated for a possible foreign substance. He became the second pitcher removed for that reason this season. He vehemently denied using any substance.

Mets pitcher tonight is Tajuan Walker. Same guy who no hit them into the 6th over the weekend. I do not think it takes that long for them to get a hit off of him tonight. No starter named yet. Supposed to be another BP game.

I don’t think that most posters here hate Dave Roberts. He has limitations but is the perfect company man. He performs as expected. He seems to be a “player’s manager” and a good communicator and gets buy-in from players who don’t always play every day (although they would on other teams) or play just one position for the good of the team.

I’m not thrilled with the way he handles the ‘pen or micromanages at times, but he seems to be improving.

He’s not supposed to share why he makes moves or doesn’t play someone or about a player’s injury if he would be disclosing something that might hurt the team.

On an unrelated subject, Houston Mitchell of the times has an interesting article about the Dodgers’ defense this year, and it doesn’t compare well to the Giants’.

Total fielding runs above average – Giants are 1st, Dodgers are 9th in the NL.

“As you can see, the Giants are in the top five at every position except second base (12th) and right field (sixth). The Dodgers are in the top five at three positions and the bottom five at four positions. Which is probably why this is happening:

Most unearned runs , NL – 1st – Dodgers – 63”

Dodgers are 1st in NL at 1B, 4th at 2B and CF. Worst defensive player using this metric is Corey Seager.

Out of 15 teams in NL, they are 13th at C, 12th at SS, 11th in LF (Pollock is OK but the revolving door of AAAA players drags the number down).

* Awesome performance by Mitch White. We’ve all been disappointed with the performances of the AAAA/AAA players this year. Well, here was a case when we got a terrific performance. Really nice to see.

* So I’m not in with the new Plan-B. The one where “The Dodgers don’t need to win games. They need to position themselves to best win the World Series.”

That one doesn’t work for me. I want to win the Division and I think we can. I think we can win a Wildcard Game if we need to but I’m not playing the rest of the season with that in mind. I think players can use rest days, especially guys like JT with the groin. CT3 needed a day. My point is don’t sit 2 or 3 regulars at the same time. We are playing great right now so I see no need to screw with that. For the most part, our guys are competitive, veteran professions, who don’t need or want extensive rest to prepare for the post season. I bet each one would prefer to play and try to win the division instead of saying “ We Don’t Need to Win Games”.

* I’m not particularly interesting in “forcing” Lux into this line-up. I think his role should be as a pitch hitter for the pitchers against righties and as a fill in at 2nd. That’s it. He would not start at 2nd for me instead of TT, CT3 or even Muncy, in any meaningful game.

* I was kinda sorry to see Tim Tebow’s career as an athlete come to an end, when he was released by Jacksonville. I mention this because I saw Tim in Fall Ball a couple of years ago when he was trying to be a Met. He was physically impressive and very fast for a big guy. But he looked stiff didn’t seem to have the actions. He made it way farther in baseball then I would have ever predicted. I was never really a fan until I watched his behavior that day. He was great with fans especially the kids. He may have kept the bus waiting or he had his own ride post-game because he absolutely would not leave until every autograph was signed and every photo request honored. A very good guy who got too much guff for being a good Christian man. I really don’t know why he had so many root against him. Sorry his football try didn’t work but there’s no doubt he will land on his feet on SEC TV or elsewhere.

No sure this will happen but what happens if TB is found innocent of all charges? Will he be welcomed in the dugout? If not, will he still pitch for us? Wouldn’t he be a great addition(again) to the staff. How long would it take to get into shape and be stretched out? etc. etc. etc.

I guess Mark (and maybe others) will never understand my dislike (not hatred) of Doc. It’s about a different philosophy about baseball and how to run a team and handle the bullpen.

I won’t get into the handling of the bullpen because if I did this post will be very long. My difference with Doc on other things besides the bullpen is that Doc is a defense first guy and I am an offense first guy, therefore I disagree with Doc sometimes about who he is starting (the starting lineup) and I disagree with Doc about giving guys unneeded rest days (this has nothing to do with injuries, I understand not starting someone because of an injury).

First salvo fired in the next CBA talks. MLB proposed a 180 million ceiling and a 100 million basement for the Luxury tax. Doubtful the MLBPA is going to want to reduce the amount of money it’s best players can make by lowering the tax threshold. And there would be 3 different levels of penalty’s for those who surpass the tax. The Dodgers would be paying a huge penalty under this new system. Penalizes the organizations who have resources to improve their team with big ticket players.

Bauer is done. TrueBlueLa has commentary by Sheryl Ring. Her analysis makes it clear that Bauer admitted to doing sexual and violent things with an unconscious woman. Consent can not be given by someone that is unconscious. Sex without consent is rape. Whether the restraining order happens or not is irrelevant. Bauer will end up in jail if our nation is in fact a place of law and order.

LA ownership, management, front office et all should be gravely remorseful and embarrasssed for ever getting that guy in Dodger Blue.

Breaking News. According to ESPN, the judge DENIED a permanent restraining order against Trevor Bauer. Again according to ESPN.

We can complain all we want about how the Dodgers do things but 8 straight division titles and a WS title and should have been two speak for themselves. Besides no offense to anyone here but I think AF is smarter than all of us at LADT combined. Yes you too Eric!

To all the lawyers in the house, now that the restraining order has been rescinded ,what happens next in the Trevor Bauer case with MLB, the law and the Dodgers?

The denial of the restraining order is a huge setback for the woman.

In denying the order after a four-day hearing, Judge Dianna Gould-Saltman said that according to the 27-year-old San Diego woman’s testimony, Bauer followed her boundaries when she set them, and he couldn’t know the boundaries she didn’t express to him.

“We consider in a sexual encounter that when a woman says no she should be believed,” Gould-Saltman said, “so what should we do when she says yes?”

The judge said the woman’s petition asking for the domestic violence restraining order was “materially misleading.”

I would not say the investigation is over, but I would say that it is on life support.

Now, Rob Manfred is put into a trick bag and if he does not re-instate Bauer, he is going to get his a$$ sued.

I have no idea what his teammates think. Maybe it’s “Damn, with Bauer, Scherzer, Buehler, Kershaw, Urias, Price, White and all the rest, who the hell can beat us?

By the way, I am not a lawyer, but at one time I could have passed the bar. Probably not now…

The judge ruled on the evidence, not public opinion.

The lesson learned here? You sleep with dogs, you wake up with fleas.

I am more concerned about TB the person than TB the player. I was not a fan of his signing, but accepted it, as that meant the Pads would not have his services. He has made enough to live comfortably if he never pitches again. No team wants the stigma of having a player with such universal condemnation in the eyes of the public. However, he has family members that will forever be embarrassed by this ordeal. They are the ones that will suffer the most. I do hope that TB realizes that some changes need to be made to his lifestyle.