Now it s a Sprint!

Bauer administrative leave extended through July 27 according to Nightengale.

I agree with your primary points, Mark.

2 weeks until the trade deadline. TB issues are highly unlikely to be near a clear resolution by then. AF will make a move. Likely one we won’t see coming, if the past is any indication (Machado, Darvish.. ect.). No point is even speculating on the situation, IMHO. What happens will happen. Decisions have to be made under the worsts case scenario for the team (TB won’t pitch again this year). Pretty simple. A trade? Not so simple. But AF has found a way in the past. He will again.

Screw politics. There was a time when I had a list of MSM sources I believed to be reliable. That list is now just a paper with scratched out names, at this point. PBS, NPR, CNN, MSNBC, FOX, OAN, NewsMax, WSJ, WaPost, NY Times, LA Times all have one thing in common. Kool-Aid. Only difference is the flavor being offered. So often these days political discussions are little more than a fight between two rabid dogs over a nothingburger. You can put cheese, unions and special sauce on it all you want. In the end, it is still a nothingburger.

Let the sprint to to October begin.

PEW Research report

What voters actually want is increased access to things like no excuse mail-in voting, which makes it easier to vote (and allows you to vote without having to escape work or find a polling station). They want voter ID laws (not necessarily photo IDs, but definitely some proof of residence or identification). They want quick results, so there aren’t weeks of waiting around while conspiracy theories about what’s happening spread online. Voters want low friction, easy access, secure voting in elections where the results come in within 24 hours.

Numbers.

81%. The percentage of registered voters who support showing proof of identification in order to vote.

72%. The percentage of registered Democrats who support showing proof of identification in order to vote.

77%. The percentage of registered Independents who support showing proof of identification in order to vote.

92%. The percentage of registered Republicans who support showing proof of identification in order to vote.

60%. The percentage of all registered voters who say they support requiring at least 15 days of early voting for federal elections.

65%. Percentage of Georgia voters who said they support a law requiring a driver’s license number to verify absentee ballots.

Mark quote from above: “If you think Cody Bellinger can’t come back to his MVP Level, look no further than Jonathan Schoop of the Tigers. In his first 115 AB’s he had a slash line of .185/.217/.250. Since then he is .320/.368/.567 with 14 HR over 253 plate appearances. This kind of stuff happens all the time in baseball.” Really Mark, it’s come down to a Jon Schoop comparison. Remind me, what year did Schoop win the MVP? You can find examples of this all over baseball all the time. And it works the other way as well as Cody is proving currently. We’ll settle up at the end of the season with our Cody opinions. Like I said the other day I hope you are 100% correct. That will be good for the Dodgers and their fans.

Duke the Snider (yes, TM, it’s Snider, not Snyder) your baseball takes are a worthwhile read. Your political takes are just regurgitations from MSM and CNN/MSNBC. If you have read the new Georgia voting rights bill can you tell us what the differences are from the old bill? Can you tell us specifically how the new bill makes it hard for people of color to vote? If not, then you are just another ignorant progressive who parrots the party talking points. I have yet heard anyone from the Dems do this. In fact, the Republicans haven’t been much better. It was MLB that made the decision to harm Atlanta small business owners and make the great accomplishments of Hank Aaron marginalized not the Republican party. I’m an independent who likes to read and research on current events on my own before forming an opinion. Have you read the Paris Climate Accord? Have you read the Green New Deal? Have you read the Black Lives Matter website? I have. It’s quite enlightening to actually read the documentation and then listen to the media twist the information around and make up shit that isn’t even in the document to fit their narrative. To rely on any media sources for the real facts is foolish.

“A cache of social media messages sent by ‘Ms Hill’ to a male friend and seen by DailyMail.com also reveal she previously had a fling with Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr and resigned from the team’s Pad Squad group of ‘brand ambassadors’ when the relationship was discovered.” This is a quote from the link provided above. B&(and)P keeps mentioning the texts provided by the victims girlfriend. The quote above states “a male friend”. An example of the media initially assuming it was a girlfriend. Am I reading this right? Not that’s matters in the big scheme of things. Another example of the media getting the facts wrong and assuming in their haste to be first.

As far as Scherzer goes we should have the best offer between the three NL west teams. With SD they have some very good prospects left and trading one or two would really deplete their system. As mentioned above with SF having so many FA after the season how many prospects can they afford to give up especially after spending the last few years building up their system? We’ll see what happens.

I turned on the All-Star game just as Muncy came to bat. I almost spit out my dinner when I saw that horrific uniform. He looked like the Pillsbury dough boy. Another epic fail by the boobster Manfred. He keeps going down his list on how to destroy the national pastime.

Carry on.

I generally do not let the site delve into politics, but it was MLB who canceled the All-Star Game in Atlanta for what are demonstrably false reasons.

To work at the All-Star Game last night, you had to have a VALID ID. To pick up tickets at WILL CALL, you have to have a valid ID. To have an apartment or utilities or a driver’s license at that time and the License becomes the ID. To get welfare, cable, medical care, library books, or if the Police stop you, you MUST have a Valid ID.

But you don’t need an ID to vote? I am not going to say that anyone is stupid, but if anyone tells me that ID should not be part of the voting process, I am going to tell you that if stupid could fly, you would be a jet!

This ain’t going away anytime soon:

https://thefederalist.com/2021/07/09/new-evidence-indicates-enough-illegal-votes-in-georgia-to-tip-2020-results/

The Republicans just want everyone who deserves to vote, to do so. What could be more important than proving you are you when you vote?

Eric Longenhagen and Kevin Goldstein at Fangraphs had this interesting take on the Dodgers draft strategy:

“While it’s hard to know whether or not this was the strategy before the magnets started coming off draft boards, the Dodgers showed plenty of faith in their well-regarded player development system by using their first nine picks on arms, starting with two prep players and finishing with seven consecutive college selections. While many teams focused, and at times overly so, on strike-throwers during Monday’s flurry of picks, the Dodgers often did the opposite, as any of Maddux Bruns (first round), Nick Nastrini (fourth), Emmet Sheehan (sixth), or Ben Harris (eighth) could end up looking like steals if the Dodgers’ system can get more strikes out of their already plus stuff. This is a fascinating draft class filled with risky dice rolls, but the potential payoff is quite significant.”

DodgerPatch, you are on fire today my friend. Your statements are thought out and logical.

Back to baseball.

I am in the minority here about Scherzer. He’s a game changer and I would think that AF would try very hard not to let him go to SD or SF. I’m going to mention ticket prices again. They are freaking ridiculous this year. That’s what a Championship and a Pandemic nets you. If they repeat, the rewards will stay otherworldly next season. I can only imagine what the merch and concession revenue streams look like. Scherzer’s contract, and the associated tax penalties are mice nuts in comparison. Keibert Ruiz is not a must keep prospect with Will Smith already cemented in the position and the Nats have no catching prospects. The stars are aligned if the Dodgers want to pull the trigger.

I’m also in the minority regarding David Price. He owned us in 2018 pitching with a cyst in his wrist. He sat out an entire year and has been used sparingly so far this year. He’s just a year older than Kershaw and a year younger than Scherzer. I don’t see any reason he wouldn’t be able to regain some magic during a stretch run.

The Giants are in a predicament. They have so many expiring contracts that they would really be able to clean up if they were able to sell, but with the best record in baseball they won’t be able to. Their farm is ranked just two spots ahead of Dodgers in Fangraph’s mid-season rankings and SD’s farm is rank two spots below the Dodgers, so they are all in the same neighborhood. It seems like Farhan would like to restock and rebuild for the future instead of dipping into a Farm System that will need to be used to backfill all those expiring contracts. Sure, they can try to win it this year, but the rebuild will be that more lengthy and with no stars on next year’s roster, those post Championship ticket prices won’t net the same pot of gold that the Dodgers got making future competition that much more difficult.

Preller on the other hand is “all in” right now and is spending big in order to keep his job. But, being in third place and with Tatis’ involvement in the Bauer controversy, does he think that Scherzer is going to put his team over the top?

Mark, I actually do love your optimism and level headedness. I want you to be right regarding Cody and Gavin, I really do. I’m a Dodgers fan, so I’m rooting for them. I just can’t get the post season numbers for 4 years out of my head regarding Cody. He was healthy for most of them so what is the excuse for those years?

Nevertheless, I’m open minded and I WANT TO BELIEVE! So I won’t say anything more on these two amigos.

As for not needing anybody to trade for….I still want t least one bullpen stud we can count on to pitch either the 8th or 9th inning, preferably the latter. I don’t trust KJ and I’m pretty sure we won’t have THE MAN who saved our bacon coming out of the pen last year, in the playoffs this year-The Great Julio Urias!

If we didn’t have Julio, we don’t have title. Are you really willing to trust KJ to close all those games that will be close in the playoffs ?

I guess I said enough for now. Looking forward to yours or anyone’s rebuttal.

TM

SD assholes can trade for anyone, who cares? Scherzer is not invincible!

Okay, the All-Star game, I saw Max Muncy’s at bat, that’s all. Who thought the all-star uniforms were a good idea? Put them in the city connect bag and toss them out. Want to see something weird, check out the city connect uniforms for the Giants, bridge, fog and all.

Most interesting thing to come out of the festivities were Rob Manfred’s comments about limiting shifts, two players between first and second, the other two between second and third, as a restoration to the way the game was played before analytics took over. He indicated that most front offices believe it will improve the game.

He emphasized “non radical changes” leading to what most people enjoyed historically. He played it closed to the vest on the DH, probably wants to use it as a bargaining chip.

Interesting that Manfred called out Stan Kasten for making a flippant comment on the Trevor Bauer situation which apparently lit the twitter world on fire. Yes, it was flippant, but I didn’t think it was that big a deal. So many sensitive people these days. You have to be careful when you try to lighten the mood with humor.

Thought the draft worked with the All-Star game. The Dodgers took 17 pitchers out of 19 picks. The Angels drafted 20. First time that’s happened.

I thought the Dodgers did well. Like their number one pick, tough to find hard throwing lefties with stuff like that.

I really liked Logan White back in the day. Pretty much knew who he was going to draft. He was predictable, but in a good way, very good drafts for the most part. It’s hit and miss with the current group in terms of predicting the Dodgers draft. I’m not surprised they went all in on pitching, but many mock drafts and analysts had them pursuing

hitters. I thought they would look for pitching first.

Still no on trading Barnes. Winter it may happen.

Expect the Dodgers to pursue a starting pitcher. Is Bauer done for the season? No idea. No insight. But a clear indication of what players think is that they are moving forward and expect Andrew Friedman to address the starting pitcher issue at the trade deadline. In Andrew we place our faith and fate.

Jo Jo Gray may provide some help, but still expect the Dodgers to add another starter from outside.

Again, interesting write-up, Mark.

If Scherzer is traded it won’t be to SF it will be to SD. Book it!

I think that the big questions for the second half are the following:

1. Will the big bats come alive? Here I mean Mookie, Belli, and when he returns, Cory. If these three come alive, our offense will be unstoppable. As of now, it’s feast or famine with our hitting. We need to be consistently excellent with our hitting if we are going to repeat.

2. Who will step up to take the place of Bauer and May? I am operating under the assumption that Bauer is out for the season. Irrespective of his guilt or innocence (his stupidity has already been established), he would be an enormous distraction to the team if he resumes playing this year. We were supposed to have the best rotation in MLB this year (maybe in many years). If Price can turn into an innings eater, Gonsolin can return to his pre-injury form, and someone else can rise to the occasion (Mitch White, Ryan Pepiot, Cole Hamels?), we may have enough firepower to complement Kersh, Walker, and Julio.

Strangely enough, I’m not worried about the bullpen. I think they will be solid. Thus, to my mind, it hinges on the two questions above.

I think that is really the only way that TB – and the Dodgers – extricate themselves from this mess. That is, that it’s revealed that someone else actually caused the physical injuries to her face and head. That scenario is very highly unlikely – not impossible – but not probable.

The Occam’s Razor scenario is that two deeply flawed people engaged in consensual rough sex and one took it too far and caused serious physical injury that was not agreed upon or consented to prior to the act.

I was reading a description B&P or somebody posted yesterday. She went to seek medical attention on the advice of her AA counselor, apparently. Of course she is a recovering alcoholic in AA. I mean, if you truly want to typecast the prototypical unstable female that a celebrity male ought to stay far far far away from, you have to have add that element, too. …for realism. I wonder if she’s a former stripper; maybe dabbled in porn. Bauer’s an idiot.

That said, as unstable or flawed as this woman might be, any man who derives pleasure from punching a female with a closed fist during intimacy is someone who is even more flawed and someone I don’t respect. Even if the texts by the woman create legal ambiguity around consent, if Bauer did that I’m ready to move on permanently from TB.

I think the responses by the Dodger players were about perfect. I imagine they’ve been coached, which I don’t even object to because they addressed it properly – “I don’t want to talk about him. We need to eliminate outside distractions and focus on the things we can control on the field.” I think Roberts and the Dodger org was caught flat footed when the story broke, but have had some time to figure out how they intend to manage the PR fallout – and it sounds like they’ve moved on from TB. Actually, the sensible responses by baseball athletes makes that embarrassing faceplant by the Vice President over a softball question by Lester Holt even more pathetic. She has the most sophisticated public relations apparatus on Earth at her disposal and she didn’t prepare for a question everyone knew was coming? She’s pathetic.

Good post. You covered all the bases and then some. … Love the update from the farm. Is there still an effort to put an MLB team in Indianapolis?

Re Bauer… well, whatever…. but heading for the trade deadline, Dodgers have to plan now that he won’t be back. Yes, perhaps White, Gray or Pepiot can step up, but I think AF would want a proven starter for the stretch–especially if, as you suggest, the Giants acquire Scherzer. There are various possibilities, and not all are necessarily costly. Remember that Yu Darvish, a rental, was had for Willie Calhoun (and it’s been good for Willie because he probably would never cracked the Dodgers roster). Unless Sherzer is offered, (and I found Roberts decision to start him a bit intriguing) I don’t see any rental out there that is high-caliber. A couple other guys, like Luis Castillo, have contracts that would cost a lot more. Not hard to envision a BFD with Ruiz as a headliner, but I think AF would opt for something smaller.

I’m not sure why you say the All-Star is a “farce,” unless you remain butthurt about how the MLB (and most of corporate America, including Georgia icons Coca-Cola and Delta) has reacted so strongly to how Georgia Republicans want to tilt the playing field to their advantage. I can’t think of another reason, because the all-star game was fine. Great moments from stars like Ohtani and Vlad Jr. Live mics with Freeman and Tatis–it’s just entertainment, after all. And how about that great catch in left by Jered Walsh, a 39th round pick in 1985, No. 1,185 overall. So…what’s not to like?

What’s really the greatest farce in this country now is how, just months after the former guy inspired a violent, deadly insurrection at the Capitol, Republicans are working to undermine democracy nationwide with the big lie.

“Stop the steal”…geez, what a load of Angel Hernandez-quality diarrhea that is. No, actually much worse, because Angel doesn’t blow every call. Only QAnon loonies and other MAGA maniacs think an election result that was certified by all 50 states and weathered more than 60 BS legal challenges (often decided by judges appointed by the former guy) and found legitimate in an investigation by former AG Barr are clinging to the fiction that the election was corrupt. Oh, those people and opportunistic Trumpublican hacks who have embraced The Art of the Lie. Zero evidence of significant fraud. You want evidence of corruption? We’ve actually HEARD THE TAPE of the former guy trying to pressure Georgia’s Secretary of State–a Republican with integrity!–to “find” just enough votes to change the true results of the Georgia electorate.

So who was really trying to steal the election?

Yes, it’s too bad that small businesses in Atlanta lost $$ because the All-Star game was moved. But who is really to blame for that? If the Republicans in the Georgia statehouse didn’t think there would be blowback, they are as stupid as they are corrupt. Isn’t their job to serve and protect the interests of Georgians? In fact, they’ve only shown an effort to serve themselves

Spirited conversations here. A lot of emotion.

Didn’t watch the game, but read the box score. Combined 3 unearned runs, 2 for 15 WRISP, a lot of people LOB. AL with 12 strikeouts. But, the NL with only 3? That’s strange. Putting the ball in play didn’t work?

Can’t read the Bauer box. My instinct, admittedly biased by decades of real life experience, tells me Bauer is done as a Dodger. I think the players certainly want be distanced from this craziness. We’ll see, hopefully sooner than later.

I still believe we trade for veteran help. White and Gray might be ok, but I don’t believe they’ll save the day. My wife is right, I’ve got the soul of a poet.

Scherzer to the giants. Weird, I had the same thought a few days ago.

It should be easy, and safe for EVERYONE to vote. Clearly the moves being made by some states are not meant to make that so.

Well stated Mark, these hacks like Nightingale love to write things through their own political slant. People are tried and convicted through the media and social media platforms and news reporters create stories based on ideology instead of facts. I can hardly stand any news channels these days because none of it is objective and all of it is brainwashing on both sides. None of the “newspapers” write articles without slant. They write articles to try to convince you what they want you to think. Don’t accept anything you read on face value is my only advice.

If you are interested in Bauer’s situation, read this.

https://www.wseetonline.com/rs/2021/07/13/trevor-bauer-accuser-boasted-about-getting-in-the-dodgers-pitchers-head-after-he-lost-two-games/

It is the most complete picture of this situation with all the texts and screenshots and it clearly demonstrates that this is a setup by a very unstable person.

As discussed yesterday, any and all injuries could have happened at her request and could have happened after she left his house. It sounds very fishy that she would drive from Pasadena to San Diego while concussed with two black eyes (Just a short jaunt of 128 miles through daytime SoCal traffic). It smells very fishy that she would pass 50 Emergency rooms before going to one at the suggestion from her Alcoholics Anonymous Sponsor. It looks very fishy that she was employed by the Padres and had a sexual encounter with Tatis Jr. If you consider the facts, any reasonable person can conclude that this is a fish, no doubt about it.

You can see from the testimony that claims filed by the women in her police testimony conflict directly with her text messages. She filed the testimony under penalty of perjury, so she can and should go to jail for that.

Because she was a former employee of the Padres and also had a sexual relationship with Tatis, this is NOT a clear cut case for MLB to make a statement on. This is much more complicated than EVERY other case that MLB has been involved with in the past. Add on the fact that a CBA negotiation is upcoming only adds to the complicated mess this is.

Bauer opened his wallet and hired an All-Star legal team. “His attorney in California is Shawn Holley, a member of the legal lineup that worked with famed lawyer Johnnie Cochran to defend Simpson”. As Mark pointed out, her legal team specializes in extorting settlements in cases like this. This is akin to the Dodgers playing you son’s little league team.

It doesn’t help that the accusers friend disclosed text messages between the two of them because she felt that this was wrong. Break that down for a minute. Her friend, a fellow women and a fellow “Pad Squad” member felt that this was fishy enough to turn in those incriminating text messages to help protect Bauer because she felt this was unwarranted.

It’s completely predictable to see how this is going to turn out in the criminal case. There will not be any kind of criminal conviction here. The only thing to really worry about is Manfred’s Kangaroo Court.

I would imagine that Manfred hasn’t been getting much sleep lately. He knows that he completely botched the Astros situation and now he’s dealing with what looks like a setup by an employee and player from one team, to a player on another, in the same division! I was pretty shocked to learn that she was still in contact with Tatis while she was trying to destroy Bauer’s life.

I also found it very curious that Stan Kasten’s comments on the situation were so flippant. We all know that he knows more than all the information that’s been reported to the public.

Any outcome is possible here as far as the pending suspension goes. I have no confidence that Manfred is capable of doing the right thing. But, the clock is not on Bauer’s side.