Watch out for the Giants!

Right now today, Dodgers up 1.5 on both AZ and the Giants. Many are now predicting that Moreno will not trade Ohtani, his attendance would take a huge hit, no matter who he gets back. Most pundits believe the Dodgers will target starting pitching, duh! There is also a huge belief that they will seek a power RH bat for the outfield.

Landon Knack pitched 4 shutout innings for OKC last night.

Miguel Vargas was 1-4 and it was a 3-run HR in the 9th.

Diego Cartaya – .187! Yikes!

Dalton Rushing hit his 9th HR

Putting in my penny thoughts here. If Ohtani gets dealt, and that is still if, SF makes a lot of sense. They have the prospect capital to get the job done. But there are also some who think SF’s biggest need is a full time CF, and Bellinger is high on that list. The Dodgers need starting pitchers who can pitch at least 6 innings or more. Maybe one more power arm in the back of the pen. A power RH bat off of the bench would be nice to. Face it, Barnes is not going to be moved from backup catcher to Smith, so the bench because of that is very thin. They are better when Mookie is playing either SS or 2nd base because he is very good at both spots. They have good outfielders who hit from the left side. Between the three of them they have 28 homers. Mookie has almost that by himself. But the other outfielders have shown little pop. Taylor plays all over so you cannot just call him an outfielder. But he seems to have rediscovered his home run trot.

As for Seager and Turner, they actually are pretty close fielding wise. Corey is having a great year with the bat, but he always could hit. Turner is experiencing what many free agents do when they sign large contracts. He is under a lot more pressure to perform in Philly. Defensively neither is as good as Rojas. Seager and Turner’s Fielding Percentage career wise, they are both about .970. Turner is .972. Turner has 8 errors so far this season and Corey 6. Rojas is a career .982 pct fielder. He has made 4 errors this season. As for sign ability, I think the Dodgers blew it when they offered Seager 250 million. In order to match what he got from Texas; they would have to pay him over 400 mil since Texas has no state income tax. Turner obviously wanted to be on the east coast. Made his wife happy and he has a lot of cash now.

The deadline will bring some surprises no doubt. It usually does. But I think there is going to be a lot more activity than the pundits originally thought. With teams faltering since the All-Star break, more and more fringe pieces are going to be available.

If you go and look at the top long term mega contracts in baseball, it makes you shudder, especially if you’re a GM. Even Trout’s contract looks a bit dicey considering the last 2 years snd the injuries. I wouldn’t want him now. Stanton is sinking the Yankees. Good on AF that Mookie and Freddie look like winners.

By the way, TT is hitting .249 with an OPS of .688! He’s got a long ways to go to “normalize”! And Seagrrhas had a great year so far this year but he was very pedestrian his first year in Texas. A.245 BA and an OPS of .772. So we’ll see long term how that works out.

Trea Turner has started to turn things around. He has been his normal self the last couple of weeks. He is one hot streak away from getting his averages closer to the mean. By the end of the season, I expect his numbers to normalize.

I honestly believed the Dodgers let Seager walk because they intended to sign Turner longterm. I would have been ok with either. Letting both walk was a mistake in my opinion. It has been and will continue to be.

Huge Corey Seager fan here!

Will all those posters who insisted the Dodgers sign one of the big 4 shortstops last off season please raise their hands. Maybe some of the best moves AF makes are the ones he doesn’t! So far he’s 2 for 2 on big long term FA deals. And he should be arrested for stealing Freddie!.

I’ve been saying for a while. Ohtani will be a Giant. Padres will make a run, Machado or Soto offered to a third team. Prospects to the Angels.

But the Giants make most sense. Moreno is an egotistical asshat. He will never send Ohtani down the road. Or to a division rival (Seattle). We will be dealing with a pretty formidable Giants team as the season goes on. The Giants are like that stray dog who won’t go away. No clue how they won 107 a couple years ago. But they did. I think Ohtani will be a POS by the traid deadline. As I’ve taught my son, the Giants win because they hate their grandmas and kick puppies. So will Ohtani.

That’s my prediction. I could be wrong. Call me out if I am.

Jayne

Shintaro Fujinami saying his goodbyes to fellow team mates in the A’s clubhouse. Reported by MLB Trade Rumors that he has been traded. I can see AF doing that “under the radar” type of trade. Wonder where he’s going?

Like I said before, no way will Ohtani be a Dodger. If I’m the Angels, I’m telling Ohtani to step up and let them know he is history. Then, I’m asking any team interested to give me at least their top 5 prospects, and at least three players on the current big league roster. Ohtani, like someone said, is actually two players. Urias is pitching himself off the Dodger roster. Looks a little fat and out of shape. Glad Dave left him in. Saves arms. On to Texas. Go Dodgers. As far as Muncy goes, I don’t think he will be a Dodger next year.

Tyler O’Neill anyone??

Keuchel evidently has an opt out this Friday. He’s having a decent year in AAA so if he opts out I can see AF taking him on.

Julio is making the Dodger decision much easier this off season. If we don’t resign him and Kersh retires, that leaves a lot of $ on the table to sign Ohtani. Really disappointing outing today and if Julio doesn’t regain his ace status, that’s puts a big dent into our October dreams!

Every time Urias has a game like this, he loses several million dollars. Even Boras cannot spin a plus 5 ERA into gold.

Scott Boras might be a hard ass as a negotiator, but Urias isn’t giving him a ton to work with this off-season. His ERA is now over 5.00. I think we were speculating before this season he could get a 10/300 …maybe. Performances like today are gonna cost him literally tens of millions of dollars in potential future earnings. He’s lost a tick or two off his fastball from a couple of years ago, too.

1. I think we are going to live with Muncy for the rest of this year. Though I share the frustration with some on this sight. He has had 732 at bats since the elbow injury and has 231 strikeouts. His average during this time is .193. Though his OPS is fine, that is just one data point. I believe in analytics as a tool but Muncy has either walked or struck out in 371 at bats since start of 2022. That is a ton of at bats with no contact. Walks and singles are treated the same in OPS. But walks do not drive in runners from second or third. I agree with Phil on his frustration with Muncy. Furthermore, when Max gets hot he does not carry a team for a month. His hot streaks are a matter of a few games unlike Martinez, Freeman, Smith, or Betts.

He is still a better option than anyone else we have and it is clear the Dodgers value his upside, work habits, and his presence in the clubhouse. (And he just homered to cut it to 7-5.)

2. Keeping Turner and Bellinger at 30 million or so would likely mean either Outman/Heyward and Martinez would not be on this team. I would take Outman and Martinez at 12 million combined over Turner and Bellinger. And if my memory is correct, the Dodgers did offer Bellinger a year at 17 million.

3. Encouraged by Stone’s start last night. El Paso is a hitter’s dream and he fared pretty well – especially his 6 strikeouts and just a walk. Seems to have turned a corner.

4. Great to see Vargas go back to AAA and respond so quickly. Been on base 9 of his last 10 ABs with five hits and four walks. Seems like LA is still going to add a right handed bat but I suspect Vargas will be back once the trade deadline passes and things become clearer.

5. Urias’ inconsistency continues. During this stretch the Dodgers need him to pitch like an ace. With Gonsolin’s durability and velocity raising concerns and three rookies behind him they need one guy in the rotation they can count on for length and effectiveness. Why they are going to need another starter even if Kershaw is back soon and effective.

Bear’s been nice to me ever since he became my part time season ticket holder partner.

Ok so now 2 hits since break for Max

The O’s Jorge Mateo is a guy I wanted the Dodgers to consider over the offseason.

Kind of the new Andrelton Simmons–great glove, bad bat–but with blazing speed. Super exciting. I thought the O’s might be willing to deal him with top prospect Gunnar Henderson taking over SS.

The O’s have many other top infield prospects, and so I hope Mateo stays on their radar. Like Rojas, he’d be glove-first SS but a threat to steal every time he gets on base. He’d win games with his glove, arm and legs.

And Outman just hit it out, man.

So lucky!

On a positive note, Muncy has had 2 nice at bats today

And PLEASE. don’t say except for 1st inning Urias pitched a good game.

Julio’s back on vacation!

“Quit trying to trade away Michael Busch or Diego Cartaya!”

So declareth the Book of Moron.

Why not trade them to fill more pressing needs? How are they going to help the Dodgers win the championships this year and in the near future?

Busch may have a lovely swing, and he crushes Triple A pitching, but he still is a player without a position. He gamely filled in at 3B when Max was hurt, but he still doesn’t have the arm for it. Game, but mediocre at best. We were told he could play LF, but I don’t recall even seeing him out there. He played 1B in college, but Freddie’s got that locked down.

Except for DH, Busch’s best position, allegedly, is 2B–but now it looks like that could be and should be Mookie’s for years to come. And if Mookie actually shifts to SS, then 2B would go to Lux. Or Vargas. Despite his struggles, it still seems that the Dodgers’ brass has more faith in Vargas than Busch.

Wait a sec…. Is Mark saying the Dodgers should keep Busch but deal Miguelito?

Say it ain’t so!

With all respect, what’s the point of hanging on to Busch while his value diminishes as an aging minor leaguer? Why not flip him (or Vargas) in a deal for a front-line pitcher or a strong righty bat like Lane Thomas? Busch would probably welcome the opportunity to play for a team that could use a slugging 2B.

As for Diego, he is still ranked as the Dodgers’ prospect Numero Uno despite his recent struggles. That was the same status Keibert held when AF packaged him with Josiah Gray (and two lower level prospects) for Scherzer and Trea. Did anyone here disapprove of that deal?

Diego could bring a nice return, and he is expendable because (a) Will Smith should be the Dodgers starting catcher for the next 5-7 years and (b) Dalton Rushing might actually be a better catching prospect than Diego. Many rival GMs might prefer Rushing. (And behind Rushing are younger catching prospects earning raves.) Certainly Rushing is hitting better than Cartaya now–and that’s why I hope Rushing gets training at 3B. (He should be blocked at C and 1B.) .

Obviously, any deal should be judged on the return. But it’s foolish to think of Cartaya and Busch as “untouchable.”