The News Gets Worse for MLB

Ohtani’s WAR is 3.5 as a DH–JDM’s is 1.9. Apples to apples. Blake Snell’s WAR is 4.1 and he can pitch next year.

Watford thanks for your kind words. Everybody keeps whistling past the graveyard. I’ll post more if you will too!

Bear if the Dodgers sign Ohtani because they need to sell more jerseys as opposed to fielding the best team then we need new ownership. And they certainly don’t need him to put butts in the seats. They have the highest yearly attendance in MLB by miles and couldn’t fit another 10,,000 people in Dodger Stadium let alone the parking lots!

I can’t conceive that the Dodgers would commit $400MM+ for a player having his second Tommy John surgery. If he can’t pitch you have the most expensive DH in the history of the game. Sign JDM and save the organization $375MM.

Monday, November 6th is the day the Qualifying Offer has to be extended to players.

I am interested in what the Dodgers do with JDM… and what some other teams do.

Very astute!

One thing I see fans continually complaining about is that it is all about the money. Well kiddos, that has been the case, at least for the owners, from the very beginnings of the game. You think O’Malley moved to LA because he liked the climate? The man was a native New Yorker, and those people are notoriously loyal to the city. He moved because Ebbets Field was a disaster and falling apart.

The team was not drawing that well and when he proposed a new site in Brooklyn for the team, they wanted him to build it where Shea Stadium was later located, in Queens. O’Malley did the fiscally sound thing; he bought the Cubs PCL franchise thus gaining rights to the city of Los Angeles. When Robert Moses, who disliked O’Malley immensely because he was Catholic, blocked all his ideas, he made the deal and moved the team west, convincing Giants owner, Horace Stonham, to move to San Francisco so it would make approving the move more attractive to NL owners.

Moving west did a couple of things, first, it opened up the major league market to the west, and it also made air travel pretty much mandatory. No more train trips except on short hops. The Dodgers then bought their own plane. But O’Malley wasn’t in it because he loved the game. He was in it, as all owners are, to make money. That is why the reserve clause binding a player to a team for as long as they wanted him was in effect for so long. It kept salaries down and until the MLBPA came along, it kept salaries low.

Players had to work in the off season, or like Roy Campanella, they owned their own businesses. When you pay 2 billion dollars for a sports franchise, you don’t do it to lose money. The Dodgers are since McCourt was deposed, a cash cow. No matter what some publication might say, the team makes money. And they have a huge local TV deal. So, when a guy like Corey Seager, or Trea Turner leaves for an obscene amount of money, it is just the way it is now.

One poster asked, how can a guy who doesn’t play the field be worth 400 million, or more, over a 10-year period. In Ohtani’s case, it is because at this point in his career, he is one of a kind. Ohtani ranks second to Acuna in jersey sales, and he plays for a losing team. Imagine if he was in Dodger blue. Four of the top 20 jersey sellers are Braves, Acuna, Olson, Riley and Albies. Three Dodgers are on the list, Betts, Freeman and Kershaw. And of course, two Angels, Ohtani and Trout. Jersey sales alone would be in the millions.

Ohtani bobblehead night would be sold out probably. Fiscally, it might not make sense to you, but on the field and in the cash register, it makes a whole lot of sense. Valenzuela put 10,000 extra fans in the seats when he pitched. Ohtani would be doing close to that each time he played. And if he does come back and pitch, even more would come and watch. Plus, the center of the Japanese media would focus on LA. LA has never had that kind of presence from a foreign media even when they had Nomo. They have never had a Japanese offensive player as a star on the team.

Dodgers declined the option on Lance Lynn. No surprise there. Liam Hendricks wins the comeback player of the year award in the AL and the White Sox declined his option and cut him loose. Trayce Thompson and Mike Clevinger are also free agents now. One very intriguing name now a free agent, Domingo German, the Yankees starting pitcher who threw a no-hitter. Kersh will be out until mid-season at least.

1. For some of you, every season that does not end in a World Series title for the Dodgers is a disappointment and either the manager or GM needs to pay the price. No need to go through the reasons they did not win this year but I do wonder if the Braves fans are clamoring for Snitker to be fired or for Anthopoulos to be kicked to the curb after two straight first round flame outs. With a better roster than the Dodgers had this year. It is competitive sports – at the end, there is one winner. The numbers don’t lie. The best team(s) in baseball fail to win the title way more frequently than in the NBA or NFL.

2. Glad Kershaw got shoulder surgery. Admirable that he pitched through that the last six weeks.

3. I agree wholeheartedly with Bear and others who have said enough with signing older veterans. The Cardinal third baseman I would like for Dodgers to get is Nolan Gorman, who is blocked by Arenado. Cardinals need young starting pitching. I would not trade for Adames from the Brewers but I would trade for one of their young outfielders like Sal Frelich and put him in center field.

4. I think the Dodgers may be going through a transition in both personnel and even philosophy. More contact and bat to ball skills, more athletic players, emphasis on speed and stolen bases, defensive range, etc. . Their draft this year, on the surface, seemed to have a different emphasis than past drafts.

Infielder Justin Turner has declined his $13.4M player option in favor of a $6.7M buyout.

Hummm…

Could there be a re-union?

1981 and 2020 were both truncated and shortened seasons. But the wins there are no less legitimate than a full season. Should we discount all of the Champions during WWII because all of the best players were in the service? Stars left during WWI too. All the teams played under the same rules. All the teams had the same chance to win. Only the fans bring up the legitimacy of the titles, not the franchises. And it pisses people who hate the Dodgers off because in both of those years, they prevailed. And in both years, the Dodgers had to do something no other team had ever done. In 81, they had to beat the 2nd half champion Astros in a 5-game series. They did, 3-2. Then they had to beat the East Champion in the NLCS, which they did in dramatic fashion 3 games to 2. Mondays 8th inning homer off of Steve Rogers won it. Then they played the Yankees and won in 6 games. In 2020, they had to play 3 series before they even got to the World Series. They played the entire season and the first two postseason series with no fans in the stands. Hard to get motivated by piped in fan noise. Then they played the NLCS in a neutral stadium with 12,000 fans allowed in and were down 3-1 and came back to win. Then they played the World Series in the same ballpark with limited fans and won a 6-game series for the Championship. Is it their fault that Covid hit? They all played under the same rules both years. If anyone should be pissed about 81, it would be the Reds. They actually won the most games in the NL and did not get to the playoffs. Simply because they did not win their division in either half. Reds lost the first half to the Dodgers by half a game. They finished second to the Astros in the second half by one and a half games. But the Reds won 66 games. Dodgers, 63, Astros, 61. By all accounts, they should have let the teams with the two best records play for the West. Montreal led all the East teams with 60 wins. But they decided to do it like the minors do and have split half champs.

Stevie D

Don’t wait another 79 years to post

You SO understand it

Stone and Busch are technically the only ones who still have rookie Status.

I had not looked at the calculations.

My mistake, I will remove the ones who are no longer eligible.

Thank You!

Queston:

Out of these names, who are still considered prospects?

Sheehan, Pepiot, Stone, Busch, DeLuca.

Because I looked at the top 30 prospects list on the Dodgers website and only Stone and Busch are there.

I’m never worried about spending other people’s money! How can you say not gonna happen when you had him in your 24 lineup earlier?

To Buffalo Dodger – plain and simple you are a jacka—!!

This in response to your comment the other day about Bear.

Did it make you feel good?

Are you such big a loser you needed to say what you did?

I do know there isn’t a chance you are a decent person who has any empathy.

Nobody forced you to come to this site and read the posts.

It is people like you that probably makes Bear and Mark wonder why they put up with some of the s—t.

I have no idea how often you post, but if this blog was mine – it would be 1-strike and you are out!

If the Dodgers sign Ohtani and others and payroll gets to 280-290 mil in 24 what would be the penalty? They’d have to be in the highest penalty bracket.

Discrediting the Dodgers WS title due to a 60 vs 162 game regular season makes as much sense as discrediting wild card teams like the Rangers, who likely depended on a dominant 60 game stretch, or less, to eke into the playoffs. As LAD fans are well aware of, WS titles are not won in the regular season. Titles are won in the playoffs. Like the Rangers this year, the Dodgers won their title with their performance during the playoffs.

What is becoming evident is that teams no longer need to build dominant teams to dominate over a 162 game season. The goal should be to build teams, in particular pitching staffs, who possess the ability to dominate over the short term.

This may not go down well for many of my Dodger brothers here, but i try to shoot straight in my thinking.

I’m glad there is an asterisk next to our WS win several years ago. I believe there should be because after all, it was only a 60 game season. Our pitchers didn’t have enough time to break down like they usually do over 162 games. I’m still waiting to see us win a “normal” World Series but I think maybe we should make it our goal to come in 2nd place in the West.

Until we win the WS in a 162 game season I do feel that win is somewhat tainted and not really worthy of me thumping my chest over. What Texas just did ….now that is something to be proud of and to thump one’s chest over. (Love you Corey Seager)

Okay, let me have it.

He’s coming back to Dodgers! And Mark, your lineup needs a bigger RH bat than Deluca on the bench. That’s a lot of lefties in that lineup and a lot of question marks. But I’d love to give Vargas and Busch a real shot next year. Ohtani and two good starters. And I’m moving on from Barnes!

I’m utterly shocked about Kershaw’s surgery.

Next, somebody is going to tell me congress can’t agree on anything.

Jokes aside, it’s obvious Kershaw wants to play again next year. Question is, with the Dodgers? Or the defending Word Champs?

Mark

My question is why is Hader a clubhouse cancer?

I googled it and all I found is that he refused to enter the 8th inning more than once.

Forget the money aspect.

Since the Dodgers have Phillips, Brazier, Graterol under contract and I think they should keep S. Miller and all of them were dominant this season, those guys can handle the innings leading up to the 9th inning and then Hader.

Forgive me for my philosophy of having as many shutdown guys in the bullpen as possible so you pretty much know that you’ll win if you can get the lead by a certain inning depending on how many shutdown relievers you have. I love that philosophy.

The hitters and starting pitchers work their ass off to get a lead by the 6th inning lets say and then turn it over to your dominant relievers. What it also does is save innings on your starting pitchers.

Kershaw just announced that he had shoulder surgery.

The thing about Otani that no one’s talking about – he’s having his 2nd Tommy John surgery. The track record of starting pitchers who have had two isn’t very good. He’s not exactly a sure thing to come back as a pitcher.

Kershaw announces on his Instagram account that he has undergone shoulder surgery, a repair of the gleno-humeral ligaments and capsule. He hopes to return to pitching next summer.

I’m sure this has been in the works for some time and I’d be willing to bet that if he comes back it will be in a Dodger uniform rather than the Rangers. I think his last performance left a really bad taste in his mouth and he feels he has unfinished work here.

yes, but only one costs $400MM+

Clayton had shoulder surgery.

Bluto, the key word, as always, is “if”. That’s a ton of money for “if”!