The Dodgers Can Afford Hyeseong Kim at 2B

I hope all are safe.

The news is calling Los Angeles HELLA

Everyone here is safe, right?

Not sure where in LA (other than Mark, obviously) people live.

I must see things a bit differently. Russell Martin is said to be a party animal. He played 14 years and had a great career. Some of his personal decisions may have cost him but at the end of the day Martin is a grown man and as long as he isn’t breaking the law he should be able to be or do what he feels is right. I understand that Ruth, Mantle, Ted Willams and Stan Musial loved the social life of being a star, yet they produced between the lines. I really can’t see a correlation of being a socialite being a factor in the locker room unless the player comes in and it affects his play. That is where leadership steps in and guides young players to moderate the after hours activities. When I was a basketball assistant at a University our head coach really didn’t care what a player did, he just wanted to make sure they got plenty of sleep. The players seem to understand this and our off the court problems were minimal. We treated the players as adults, when we had a problem we would ask a senior or an upper class man to have a chitchat with that player. If you guys have inside information that Lux’s partying effected his play or his relationship with teammates do tell.

Jarrett Siedler of Baseball Prospectus on the Dodgers farm system:

Tommy Edman is a slightly heavier lite hitter who happens to be be part korean! baseball needs to start before you guys post each other to death!! And i do miss Bradley and his almost never close trade proposals! Glad you’re back Bear! I saw, ( didn’t make it up) , dodgers may be up to another significant trade! Maybe a second baseman? Maybe a certain white sox center fielder?? Which would then move Tommy to second base. who knows?

Mark I think Bluto reminds me of Ruben Sierra. You officially have a village idiot. Affectionately of course.

Book em

Bluto: It is really hard to let this one pass. You have consistently criticized others for spelling and grammar mistakes, and you come up with the sentence “Making up stuff about a player’s lifestyle habit, and what impact they may have.” Habit is singular and they is plural. It would be enormously better to make sure you are grammatically correct before judging others.

You have also consistently said each grammar or spelling correction was kind of a joke. That is entirely BS. I for one, am very tired of your condescending, arrogant attitude. Please have a little more respect for people in your responses.

I also have to comment about your continual criticism of the “light hitting Korean”. Once again, a clear example of your arrogance thinking you know more than the powers to be who run our team. Why don’t you wait to at least see what he brings on the field before saying what role he will play.

You bring a lot of positive to these blogs with your posts. It is entirely unnecessary to try to always be the “bad guy”.

I hope Gavin has a good career. I think Flaherty likes the night life too. And AF will not give big money to that type of player. It is impossible to maintain that high performance engine if you put too much antifreeze in the radiator. Bad boys, clubbers and selfish ballplayers need not apply. Fun Diego is 90 miles down the road. I remember when Pham got stabbed.Hmm. Out clubbing. I have nothing against Lux, he just didn’t fit the Dodger mold. Once Gavin reestablished his trade value, he was definitely on his way out the door. Thanks for the memories!

Book em

Let’s not forget all the people and Dodger fans who will be impacted by the Wild Fires. This is no joke.

The LA Times Ben Harris has a good article on how the Dodgers might look in 2025 (Hint: It’s that delusional stuff I told you):

In part:

“So far this offseason, the team has remained committed to giving Betts an extended run back at shortstop, where he started last season before returning to right field. In a perfect world, Betts will continue to develop defensively into a legitimate everyday shortstop. But if he doesn’t, the club will have a much simpler fall-back plan, capable of sliding him over to second base, which he has handled more capably in recent seasons.

In the meantime, Kim could take over Lux’s role at second base, at least as a platoon option against right-handed pitching. And if a need at shortstop arises, Kim also could contribute there — something the Dodgers seemed more hesitant to do with Lux, after his defensive struggles at the position.

Lux’s departure also could alter Edman’s role. Instead of being locked into an everyday spot in center, there might be more infield opportunities for the smooth-fielding utility man, who served as the Dodgers’ primary shortstop in last year’s World Series run.

Where second-year outfielder Andy Pages previously seemed boxed out of consistent playing time, he might now have a pathway to more at-bats against left-handed pitching. There also should be more playing time for Miguel Rojas and Chris Taylor as well.”

Here is the Long and the Short of it:

1. Lux is gone. I will check in on him from time to time (like I do ex-Dodger players), but he is out of my mind (come to think of it, maybe I am too)

2. Mookie is going to play SS in 2025. Only an Act of God will change that. Nothing has been decided for 2026, but CT3 and Miguel Rojas will likely be gone and if Alex Freeland does well, he will be the SS.

3. In 2026, if Freeland mans SS and Mookie Mans 2B, then Kim will be what Kike and CT3 were.

4. Food for Thought – 2026:

C- Rushing

1B – Freeman

2B – Betts

SS – Freeland

3B – Smith

LF – DePaula

CF – Edman

RF – Teoscar

DH – Ohtani

Bench: Kim, Miller, Pages, some catcher

Time to move on. Lux is gone

Time will tell, but 2B will likely be a platoon with Kim against RHP and Taylor, Rojas, Kike (maybe), and /or Edman against LHP.

Talking about players who liked to party:

Russell Martin=Party Animal.

It’s what will keep him out of the HOF.

He would have been twice as good, if he partied less. For real!

I’ve read all the comments and I am still laughing at unrequited man love.

Verlander signs one year deal with the Giants.

Ahhh rumors, a single player likes to go out. Probably the first player ever that enjoyed the night life. I have trouble believing that other teammates would call out a teammate publicly. In my opinion they are bigger assholes than the player that’s partying. To say Lux is an average player while he sat out one season and he’s going to be 27 plus he’s getting paid half of what Kim is being paid to say he’s average at this point is nonsense. Check back in two years then pass judgement. He may end up sucking.

Lux was a league average player at best during his time with the Dodgers. He has untapped potential. Will he ever achieve what he is capable of?

Kim is 2 years younger, they have more years of team control, he is faster, and a better defender. Lux has more power but not great power. And his platoon splits were more extreme than I thought. Last year he OPS’d .394 against LH pitchers vs .739 vs RH pitchers. for his career it was .552 vs .745.

The other thing that I have heard when Dodger players are interviewed – Lux likes the nightlife. I wonder if he is disciplined enough to reach his potential?

Don’t want to belabor the point but I will. At the age of 24 Lux hit.276. At the age of 25 he had to sit out the season with an awful injury. Coming back at the age of 26 Lux absolutely sucked in the first half of the season. In the second half of the regular season he hit .304. Lux is still in his prime and after sitting out a season it’s hard to come back and do the hardest thing to do in sports hitting a baseball. Next season he will be 28, making less than 3 million. To me Lux was a grinder (dog), which is a compliment. History I believe will prove the Dodgers undervalued Lux.

I might be the only guy thinking that Mookie is going back to second base. He’s always played on the right side, as in right fielder. Sees and anticipates the ball slicing off a right handers swing. Knows how left handers pull the ball. I admit , I had no idea Kim committed 35 errors at SS. But, I really think Mookie is more comfortable playing second and is better defensively there too. I’m high on Freeland and thought he had a chance at starting at SS THIS year. 4 of our top 10 prospects on most scouting lists play short. I don’t see any upside by putting Betts there. He’s moving back to second base, I hope. My 2 cents today.

The late and great manager was quoted “you don’t run the ball to home plate.” Earl Weaver said this when asked why he doesn’t run his pitchers more. I know we are not talking about pitching here but the only baseball sense of bringing Kim in to play second is his defense. No doubt defense is critical in having a great team but my unprofessional opinion is Lux was adequate at second base.

Again I’m not disillusional enough to believe I know more than our front office, but I don’t like this trade even a little bit.

I’m getting off my soapbox now. Bear I’m hoping your doing great. Mark I’m looking forward to meeting you at a ballpark near you next summer. As of Monday of next week I’m officially done with my current job.

I think he will play 2B for the Reds and Matt McLain will move to the OF or 3B, but you never know.

I keep hearing from the pundits that Lux will play “all over the diamond”.

If that’s really what the Reds plan to do (and they haven’t actually said so), then I think they made a bad trade.

Our front office has used Lux all over the place since he arrived and came to the conclusion that he’s a very serviceable second baseman, but really doesn’t fit anywhere else.

He couldn’t cut it at shortstop, he didn’t work out well in the outfield (although he really wasn’t given much time out there), and with his questionable arm, I doubt he would make a good third baseman.

I hope the Reds stick him at 2B and let him play there every day, against all pitching. That way we’ll all find out if he can ever become the player we hoped he’d be when he was in L.A.

2026:

C Smith

1B Freddie

2B Mookie

SS Freeland 20/20

3B Bichette JR

LF Teoscar

CF ???

RF Pages

DH Ohtani

Bench:

Rushing

Edman

Kim

???

RIP Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary. Passed away at age 86.