In a word… NO! What we see over the past few games is how the Baseball Gods even things up in their own due time. Dodger pitching was so far ahead of all the other teams in ERA that it wasn’t even close. It wasn’t until yesterday that the Dodgers fell out of the Team ERA lead to the #2 position in all of baseball. You give up 21 runs in two games and that is what happens.
Striker Buehler had an off game, but let me remind you that his ERA is still 2.81! He is learning to be a different type of pitcher than he was. He is trying to evolve to a pitcher who does not rely on power to blow hitters away. Buehler is not a big guy and if he wants to achieve longevity, he cannot be a “max effort” pitcher all the time. You are going to see Walker sit at 95 to 96 with his fastball, and just like Orel said last night (Orel talks to these guys every day) Walker is trying to pitch deeper into games and not use up all his pitches on strikeouts. In the past, Walker was determined to beat you with his best stuff. Now he is trying to pitch to the hitters’ weakness. I think that is a sound plan… but he won’t perfect that overnight.
The implosion of the bullpen the past few games is more concerning. Let’s look at what is happening there:
- Blake Treinen is on the IL, and for all we know, he may be gone for the year. That puts the biggest strain on the bullpen.
- Brusdar Graterol might be better served by not throwing a 101 MPH straight arrow fastball. Instead, how about a 4-seamer with movement and a cutter? He only needs two pitches and maybe he needs to go back to AAA to learn that. You know what insanity is. He does not miss enough bats to pitch at the end of the game. It’s time for a drastic overhaul of his repertoire.
- I am worried about Alex Vesia. His fastball is 2 or 3 MPH off of last year. It just is. He is not as effective there.
- Tommy Kahnle is getting his sea legs back, but it might be another month before he returns to form – If Treinen is out for the season, Tommy could settle into his role.
- I think Phillips and Bickford are fine and will have ERAs in the high 2.00s. It’s a long season.
- We don’t know yet, but Yency Almonte looked to be very useful as could Carson Fulmer.
- Then, there is David Price, Mitch White, Reyes Moronta, Daniel Hudson, and Justin Bruihl.
- Danny Duffy and Dustin May should return in the next couple of months.
- Garrett Cleavinger and Caleb Ferguson are at the ready, but it is impossible to predict what they will do right about now.
- Andre Jackson has the stuff to be a reliever, as does Ryan Pepiot, and there are a bunch of other live arms at AA and AAA – you just have to see who can and who can’t get the job done.
Andrew Heaney should be back in early June, but there are no guarantees. Remember the reason the Dodgers bought them cheap and stacked them deep is that relief pitchers are a fickle bunch. You never know what you might get year-over-year. Now, the Dodgers have to sort out the pretenders from the contenders in the bullpen.
It seems likely that Clayton Kershaw will miss the minimum of time. I am sure he is already on anti-inflammatories (which won’t hurt his arm, shoulder, and back as well). He should be locked and loaded at the end of the mandatory IL stint.
The Knee-Jerk reaction of fans is to run around like your hair is on fire, spewing doom and gloom. Feel free to do so, but I will just yawn and say “This too shall pass.” The underpinings are there for the Dodgers to have an excellent bullpen. You just have to kiss a lot of frogs to find the princes. Feel free to think about trades, etc., but I think we have plenty in house to be the best pitching team in baseball. I refuse to panic!
Also, some fans are going to rag on Bellinger and Muncy after last night’s game, but the last I saw, they did not pitch. I remain hopeful!
Dodger Minor League Highlights
- OKC DODGERS
- OKC won 6-5
- Miguel Vargas was 2-4 and is now batting .307.
- Caleb Ferguson pitched 1 inning and struck out 2 with a hit and a BB. He is getting closer.
- Justin Bruihl pitched 2 innings, allowing just 1 hit.
- Justin Hagenman pitched a perfect inning, striking out the side.
- Carson Fulmer got the save (1.98 ERA).
- TULSA DRILLERS
- Tulsa lost 8-6.
- Mike Busch was 2-5 with a double (.301/1.088).
- Jacob Amaya was 2-5 with his 8th HR (.322/1.169).
- Kody Hoese was 2-4 and is starting to act like he might hit.
- Landon Knack’s line: 3 IP/4 H/3 ER/2 BB/5 K
- Andy Pages is still struggling with AA pitching (.217 BA).
- GREAT LAKES LOONS
- The Loons lost 4-3
- Jorbit Vivas was 2-4 (BA up to .200).
- Cole Percival pitched four strong innings, allowing 1 ER run on 4 hits.
- RANCHO CUCAMONGA QUAKES
- The Quakes won 11-10.
- Jake Vogel was 2-5 with 2 RBI (.212 BA/651 OPS)
- Luis Rodriguez was 2-5 with 3 RBI (.289 BA/.856 OPS)
- Carlos De Los Santos pitched the final inning and got the win to go to 2-0.
Discussion (27)
Disagree, not disagreeable
A truly stupid move by the Dodgers to move up Buehler and Urias in the rotation when Kershaw got hurt as both pitchers were torched. Instead they should have used a bullpen game on Friday night and kept both on normal rest. Needed help is going have to come from somewhere sooner than later. Yo can’t wait till the trade deadline. We’re not winning the West the way it stands now!!!
About a week back, I was saying there was no great need for another SP.
That was before Kershaw got hurt (again) and Buhler, Anderson and Urias all got rocked.
Not panicking…. not just yet….
But perhaps Montas or Castillo would be worth a couple of prospects.
In happier news, the Angels’ Taylor Ward had another big night, pushing his average to .384… Three hits, including his 8th HR and two walks…. Just insane for a guy who in the spring just looked like a 4th outfielder.
Wow! I’m panicking now!
The malodorous equine gonads obviously are sticking around for another day, if only the Dodgers could resist munching on them.
JT error hurt. Julio got no mojo tonight.
Seems Saturday the 14th could be worse than Friday the 13th.
My goodness, I think it’s time for give BHarper the Barry Bonds treatment.
Here we go again. 3 unearned right out of the gate.
I am looking forward to Grove.
Phillies (16-17)
Dodgers (20-11)
SPJulio Urias L
2-2 2.10 ERA 23K
Confirmed Lineup
RF Mookie Betts R
1B F. Freeman L
SS Trea Turner R
DH Will Smith R
3B J. Turner R
LF Chris Taylor R
CF C. Bellinger L
2B H. Alberto R
C A. Barnes R
Clear-day
0% Rain
82° Wind 5 mph Out
Dodgers are promoting Michael Grove for tomorrow’s game although they haven’t announced if he’ll be the starter or come out of the bullpen.
No other roster move announced at this point.
Hey guys, I haven’t posted in awhile, but I have been reading this website the whole time. The reason I haven’t posted in a long time is that I have been dealing with chronic depression. I hope everyone here is doing OK.
I am glad the Dodgers have Kimbrel instead of Jansen. It looked like the pitching staff was carrying the Dodgers up until the last few games. Has Mookie Betts put up the numbers that a 30+ million dollar guy should since getting that contract? I don’t think so, just my opinion. I’m not thrilled with Hanser Alberto and his career .679 OPS taking up a roster spot that a homegrown Dodger player could have been given.
I haven’t been looking at stats much like I used to, so I don’t have a lot to say. But I wanted to say hi to everyone and say a few things that I think are obvious.
Good write up.
Definitely not time to panic.
However, the last a few days have sucked gargantuan, malodorous equine gonads.
Painful to watch
Tough game result after scoring 10 runs and not getting the win. The Phils never stopped their offensive onslaught that began on Thursday night. A couple of days ago I had complimented the pitching staff on their amazing efforts so far this season. I ragged on Chris Taylor’s lack of pitched ball contact. I had predicted a turn around season for Cody. Lux was going to be a steady, solid major league player. I begged for Muncy to swing at a strike and/or for Roberts to bench him for a few games. Well, those thoughts and predictions got the George Costanza treatment. Sans Mr Muncy, the opposite happened to them all. And, I mean just like that. So, to do the opposite of what I had wrote and get things back on track here I go. Chris Taylor sucks and will never make contact with a baseball again. Cody will continue to change his stance weekly, swing as hard as possible at every pitch under any circumstances, and never hit another HR in his soon be shortened career. Max Muncy will have his role as a everyday player and DHing reduced to being a pinch hitter for the pitcher, but only in a low stress situation. Gavin Lux record for the shortest unsuccessful throw on a sacrifice fly (popup) will stand for decades and will be the only thing he will be remembered for. The starting pitching staff will use approximately 15 pitchers in 2022. All the Dodger pitching prospects will prove to be highly over rated and thus the Dodger minor league system will be rated #23 starting with the 2023 rankings. All the ranking publications will be cancelled by the public and suspended by Boob Manford for 5 years with no opportunity for an appeal. It’s going to be a real shit show folks.
And if there was any doubt, my attempt at humor.
Carry on.
Good points by Mark. No time to panic.
But Three losses in a row with great comebacks wasted by bullpen is frustrating!
There is still a long season ahead with a deep roster and minor league depth. Time to let the young pitchers have a shot. And With expanded playoffs, the Dodgers have more leeway to make the postseason healthy and ready to win a World Series.
With the Phillies in town, it is a chance to revisit the Dodgers passing on Bryce Harper as a free agent in 2019. While the Dodgers plan B that year was signing AJ Pollock, the real alternative was to trade for Betts the following year. Surprisingly, Betts and Harper are the same age, both born in October 1992. And the salary for Harper is $25.3 million per year until 2031 compared to Betts salary of $30.4 million per year until 2032.
While Betts has the higher career WAR at 51 vs 41, Harper has a higher career OPS+ of 143 to 133.
And Harper had an incredible year in 2021, slashing 309/429/1044 in winning the mvp.
I think Harper is the better hitter, but Betts is a much better fielder and base runner. Also, Betts provided some RH balance to the lineup and by all accounts is a great clubhouse presence.
But when you factor in Harper’s lower salary, and the cost in players and Price’s contract to acquire Betts, in hindsight the better value may have been signing Harper. And I think having Harper in 2019 would have definitely helped beat the Nationals in NLDS.
With the Dodgers finances, it would have also been possible to sign Harper and trade for Betts the following year.
What a lineup they could have had with Harper, Betts and Freeman in the same lineup!
Hersheiser made a comment last night just before Buehler got hammered in the 4th that he had shaken out his arm and grimaced and that he didn’t like the look of it. He proceeded to get mashed. Anyone here concerned that maybe Orel noticed something that affected Buehler and might have long term implications?
Freeman. What a bum! He’s only hitting .292 with risp for us. Maybe if Belli, Lux and Mookie would ever be in scoring position he’d have more RBI’s! Pick on anybody else but Freeman has been our only consistently good hitter!
When the rumors got intense that Freeman might be a Dodger, I looked up his stats and was able to confirm something I already knew:
He’s a great player but… he’s not a great RBI producer, today that he’s with the Dodgers he’s the same player, an incredible player, a great hitter but he only has 13 RBI, that amount of RBI doesn’t correspond to the great amount of hits he hits, he should be over 20 RBI.
He is outperformed in RBI by players who have not reached the level we know them as: JT-23 RBI, TT-22, W.Smith 16, Betts 14, CT3-13 RBI (tied). .
Freddie barely beats players who are struggling like Bellinger and Muncy both with 12 RBI.
He has only exceeded 100 RBI twice in his career, with that large number of hits that he hits 100 RBI year after year should be something usual for him, but it is not, he is a great player but he is not a great producer of RBI.
Many of you are comedians and manufacturers of Straw Men.
Look at other teams. How many pitchers average 7 or 8 innings?
Max Scherzer averages just a tick over 6 IP this year.
Ditton with Corbin Burnes.
Gerrit Cole averages 5.2 IP.
Carlos Rodon – 5.8
Shane Bieber – 5.3
Zack Greinke – 5.3
The Dodgers and maybe other teams have DELIBERATELY built up their starters slowly. As the season progresses, the innings will increase.
Everyone knew that Kershaw would have 2 or 3 stints on the IL. Ray saw that!
BTW, Dinelson Lamet was optioned by the Padres. Just a couple of years ago, he was almost Cy Young.
Article today saying Roberts is considering moving Muncy down in the lineup. Wow. brilliant. Just should have been done a couple weeks ago. I care less how many times he walks. The guy is paid to drive in runs. Dave is two eggs short of a dozen and his loyalty to his players and his thinking that they will produce if given time is annoying to say the least. Yep Watford, someone else managing this team and they have at least two more series wins.
Time to panic?
Absolutely.
You ask Why?
I say Why not.
It’ll make everyone feel better. Give people something to talk about or a soapbox to rant.
It also allows Mark a chance to explain these things happen. It’s baseball. It’s really a stupid game. A hitter fails seven in 10 times and they’re considered elite. MLB keeps messing around with the ball. Who knows what’s real and what’s not.
Consistency is probably the biggest problem facing the game today. Probably always been that way. Just seems to me that they pay a whole lot of money to watch some players swing and miss in big situations. What ever happened to adjust to the situation and circumstances? Frustrating. Maybe baseball contracts should be based on contact, putting the ball in play. Strikeouts in key scoring opportunities produce nothing.
There are days I’m hopeful for Cody Bellinger. Incredible talent. But this season will no doubt weigh heavily for Cody moving forward. I’m pulling for him.
The Dodgers are scoring runs. Then again they’ve flamed out at times. They do go through something like this every year. As to the bullpen, weakest link leads to blowups. But it’s still frustrating because we all see the potential for an epic run.
Good write-up, Mark.
The offense is not there when needed the most. I agree a bullpen game would have been better and kept the starters on schedule. Urias is moving up to pitch tonight. Bases loaded, no outs, a rookie in his second game on the mound and you score only one? Pitiful. Good news, JT seems to be coming back to form. Bad news, Betts still struggling, especially against mediocre pitching, Muncy and Bellinger look lost. But Belli’s defense has not suffered. Muncy booted an easy play last night and he argued a strike call when the ball was plainly right over the middle of the plate. Speaking of the plate. The home plate umpire did not know it’s location on two straight pitches that were more than a balls length outside on Trea in the 10th. The umpiring has been terrible this year.
Pitchers are creatures of habit. Starting Buehler on 4 days rest was not needed. This isn’t the playoffs. I put this on Doc. This could have been a bullpen game which ended up being anyway . I think Jackson or Fulmer could have been brought up for a spot start. I like how the batters kept battling back and kept us in the game.
B & P, The Voice of Sanity:
“This is just bad timing and bad streak right now. It will pass. You don’t go from best pitching staff in baseball by almost a full run to crap overnight.”
I read AC’s article at Badger’s suggestion. I didn’t think it was one of his best, but he called out Badger by name, so I can see why Badger called attention to it…
Yep, there isn’t anyone available that’s much better than what we have. When guys are available, they will cost a ton. Decreased supply due to expanded playoffs.
Buehler pitched a bad game last night against a very good offense. It happens. I don’t need to do a deep dive. His velo was up, but his results were down. I think it was just a bad game.
On the pregame show, Doc said that this is the same injury that Clayton has had before. It’s his same chronic back problem that he never got fixed and the plane flight did him in. Again, he doesn’t expect him to be out long. We’ve heard that before so there’s no need to make plans based on Doc’s revelations.
The trade deadline is August 2nd.
Dustin May had TJ on May 11 last year. By the time the deadline comes around, May will be at almost 15 months past his surgery. Recovery time is supposed to be 12-14 months. He’ll be the best trade deadline pick up this year. Unlike most of the people here, I don’t see any reason why he can’t start. I don’t see Verlander pitching in relief.
Heaney is supposed to be back at the end of May and he’ll be the first to come in and try to settle the rotation and give a breather to the bullpen. If they can use Anderson as long relief, this will stabilize the pitching staff.
The David Price situation is really weird to me. It sounds like Doc has little confidence in him. If Doc can’t use him as a starter during this stretch, what’s the point in keeping him around? And who is going to be willing to trade for him and eat any of his salary if he isn’t trusted as a starter on a team that has holes in the rotation?
I’m not as doom and gloom as some are about the rotation because all along this offseason AF was talking about not wanting to block guys that are nearly ready. I trust that he knows what he’s doing.
Nearly ready rotation options include…
Ryan Pepiot
Bobby Miller
Mitch White
Andre Jackson
Michael Grove
Beau Burroughs
That’s an entire rotation for a team like the Marlins a couple of years ago.
Yes, right now things look a little grim. Bueller sucked last night when we needed him to step it up, but his velocity was actually the best we’ve seen this season. He nearly touched 97 3 times (The gun clocked them at 97) and about half his 4 seamers were 96.0+.
Bueller, Urias, Gonsolin, Anderson and Pepiot is what we have right now and it isn’t enough considering the lack of off days and the looming double header on the schedule.
In a couple of weeks it will be Bueller, Urias, Kershaw, Heaney, Gonsolin. Better? They might even be able to keep Pepiot around for a 6 man rotation through this tough stretch.
In a few weeks after that it will be more interesting as minor leaguers develop and Dustin begins throwing.
Then there’s the name that shan’t be spoken. He’s still technically on the roster, so…
The name that shan’t be spoken’s first day of his appeal is set for May 23, just 9 days away. I know that all the reporters are saying the benevolent Dodgers won’t bring him back. Well, with the crap that will be available at the trade deadline, maybe we might just get something for him? I mean, he’ll be the only Cy Young caliber pitcher available. Maybe he’ll come back and beat us in the playoffs. That doesn’t sound like an AF move.
Remember, MLB offered him time served. He’s going to pitch in the MLB again at some point. If you think otherwise, you’re delusional. This season is going to be as taxing on pitchers as last year due to the condensed schedule. Someone is going to want “The name that shan’t be spoken” to come in and take down some innings and save the bullpen and put his team in a position to win a game.
Every team is going to have problems with pitching this year. It looks to me like we have a lot of options, especially compared to other teams. When we traded Jo Jo last year, he didn’t look ready either. He went 4 innings with the Dodgers in his first game and gave up 4 ER. Then he went 4 again and gave up 2 ER. Then he went to the Nats at and went 5/1ER, 5/1ER, 6/3ER, 6/2ER, 6/2ER before hitting a wall. So, I’m not gonna get pissy because Ryan Pepiot only lasted 3 innings his first time out. He’s got better stuff than Gray, he’ll improve eventually.
This is just bad timing and bad streak right now. It will pass. You don’t go from best pitching staff in baseball by almost a full run to crap overnight.
Are the Dodgers becoming the MLB version of the Vikings? Oh well, blame it on Friday the 13th.
Unless you drop your arm slot, 2 seamers are the ones that move. Move thumb to seams under a ball to go left or right and down. 4 seamers ride up, or in Graterol’s case ride straight down the middle. Hershiser had one of the best I’ve ever seen. Get him with Graterol.
I think we have a plethora of relief pitchers, including 2 that are currently in our rotation. 3 if you count Price, 4 if you count White. 5 if you count Pepiot. Every one of our minor league starters being mentioned are all 3 inning pitchers at this point. Against weaker offenses Pepiot could get 4.
It’s May, not time to panic, but it is time to plan. We will likely have some bullpen games coming up. Figure them out.
You’re right Mark, no guarantees. But as you know, I think it’s time to have Plans B and C on the drafting table. A little early for trades. With expanded playoffs more teams will be holding for a couple months. Those that know they are in rebuild mode will be in the drivers seat. For now? Bullpen games. And stack 3 inning starters is certainly one that I’ll be watching closely.
Dang Pennsylvania! Ok Mark, how much longer do you give Bellinger before you make the switch with Pillar? If he hits .200 in OKC then his time is over with the Dodgers and maybe a new city will can unleash his potential. Does he have any trade value? Only ex Dodgers had a worse day than the current Dodgers yesterday!