When Push Come to Shove
It seems to me that most Dodger fans believe that the only thing standing between a World Championship Trophy and the LA Dodgers are a couple of relief pitchers. Some say one, some say two, some say three. They often use the example of the 2016 Cubs who went out and got Aroldis Chapman from the Yankees as a two-month rental. The narrative is that Chapman was the missing piece
It seems to me that most Dodger fans believe that the only thing standing between a World Championship Trophy and the LA Dodgers are a couple of relief pitchers. Some say one, some say two, some say three. They often use the example of the 2016 Cubs who went out and got Aroldis Chapman from the Yankees as a two-month rental. The narrative is that Chapman was the missing piece that enabled them to win the Series. That idea is revisionist history.
Chapman helped the Cubs get there, but he was very average against the Dodgers and the Indians in the NLCS and World Series. The Cubs won in spite of his shortcomings. See, it’s a team game, and how you start or how you are in the middle is not important at the finish. Yes, I want to see the Dodgers get another arm or two, but it may or may not happen and it may or may not be the guys you want. Right about now, Ian Kennedy and Daniel Hudson have to be high on Friedman’s list.
Sbuffalo wrote this a couple of days ago:
Forget Vásquez. No indication the Pirates would actually trade him and if they did the price would be too high. No way they should give up Smith, Lux or May. Like Ned Colletti said, anytime you pick up a relief pitcher from a losing team, there is always risk because you don’t know how they will react to the pressure of a pennant race/playoff environment or the the change of city/team.
That is some sage advice. Vasquez certainly has some warts and he could become Jim Johnson in the bright lights of LA. I wholeheartedly agree with S Buffalo. I think Friedman will pickup an arm or two, but it won’t be Vasquez. He’s not going to stop what he is doing: which is to make this model sustainable for years to come.
About this same time last year, the Red Sox bullpen was in huge disarray. Their closer was struggling and the bullpen was ranked in the bottom third of all teams. They picked up Nate Eovaldi and Steve Pearce and the rest is history. You can always use another bat… especially a RH bat that KILLS LHP, like Nick Castellanos. Shane Greene scares me, but I guess you never know.
Even if AF stands pat, I won’t lose my mind because there are internal options and I think you will see some pitchers step up. That’s what winning the World Series is all about: Stepping Up on the Big Stage and it might just boil down to Kershaw, Ryu, Buehler, Jansen, Maeda, Baez, Urias, Garcia, and Kelly. I am prepared to deal with that. All I can say is that the Dodgers better bring their bats this year. RVS: do your magic!
R.I.P. MJ – You Will Be Missed
After I posted about MJ and others last night, I was contacted by TO Dave and Watford Dodger. TO had some interesting information, but it was Sherlock Holmes (aka/Watford Dodger) who solved the mystery from across the pond. We have not been able to find an obituary. Maybe some of you in California can do that, but we did find a FaceBook Page where the last entry in the class of 1977 was Michelle Jamison (cancer). That was MJ’s real name. She has e-mailed me many times which is why I know that.
If you remember, MJ said she had been in a bad accident as a kid. Watford went way back and found the Article about it in The LA Times. What a Sherlock! So, while the news is not good, at least we know and may you Rest in Peace, MJ, You are missed.
Comes the Dawn
After a while you learn the subtle difference
Between holding a hand and chaining a soul,
And you learn that love doesn’t mean leaning
And company doesn’t mean security,
And you begin to learn that kisses aren’t contracts
And presents aren’t promises,
And you begin to accept your defeats
With your head up and your eyes open
With the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child,
And you learn to build all your roads on today,
Because tomorrow’s ground is too uncertain for plans,
And futures have a way of falling down in mid-flight.
After a while you learn
That even sunshine burns if you get too much.
So you plant your own garden and decorate your own soul,
Instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.
And you learn that you really can endure…
That you really are strong,
And you really do have worth.
And you learn and learn…
With every goodbye you learn.
Author: Veronica Shoffstall
MT’s Minor League Lowdown
I spent a lot of time this AM searching about MJ, so time is short and this will be too.
OKC did not play.
Tulsa lost 7-3. Rincon homered and Wong doubled and that’s about it.
I’ll try and post more later….
AC’s Minor League Lowdown
Tulsa Drillers 3 – Midland RockHounds 7 (A’s)
Justin De Fratus started and pitched 5.0 innings allowing all 7 runs on 10 hits. Victor Gonzalez and Yordy Cabrera completed the final four innings without any further damage. Offensively, Carlos Rincon slugged his 5th HR, while Cristian Santana (21), Connor Wong (3), and Omar Estevez (10 each hit doubles. Drew Avans was the only Driller with a multi-hit game with 2 singles.
RC Quakes 0 – Stockton Ports 11 (A’s)
Three Ports pitchers, Bryce Conley, Eric Martinez, and Jake Bray combined on a no-hitter against the Quakes. While the offense was non-existent, the pitching was not much better…so let’s move on.
Great Lakes Loons 7 – Burlington Bees 6 (LAA)
Jack Little started and went 2.1 innings surrendering his first run (unearned). Jose Chacin followed with 5.1 innings giving 3 runs and 8 hits in a decent outing. Aaron Ochsenbein came in to close it out, but had an uncharacteristic outing allowing the Bees to get close with 2 runs before being rescued by Justin Hagenman with a strikeout of the only batter he faced to shut down the Bees for the save.
The Loons did their damage in the 1st inning with 6 runs. Leonel Valera led off with a HBP and a stolen base (20). Michael Busch singled to plate Valera for his first Loons RBI. Jacob Amaya followed with a walk, and after a K, Kody Hoese singled to score Busch for run #2. A WP moved the runners up to 2nd and 3rd, and Jair Camargo hit a 2 run single, and moved to 2nd on a throwing error. After a fly out, Romer Cuadrado reached base on the 2nd error of the inning with Camargo scoring. Chris Roller followed with a triple to score Cuadrado for the sixth run.
The 7th Loons run was scored on Chris Roller’s 2nd triple (6) and Michael Busch’s sac fly. Kody Hoese and Chris Roller both had 2 hits on the night.
Ogden Raptors 6 – Grand Junction Rockies 5
On a night after the Raptors learned that Kevin Malisheski was named Pitcher of the Week in the Pioneer League, the Raptors got back into their winning ways after having their 12-game winning streak snapped on Sunday.
Ogden started with a 3-0 and 6-2 leads, and then had to hold on after the Rockies got within 1 run with a run in the 6th. Then a pair of 2019 draftees Jeff Belge (18) and Nick Robertson (7), and 2018 draftee Reza Aleaziz shut down the Rockies combined to allow only a sole single with each pitching an inning apiece.
Andy Pages (10) and Sam McWilliams (10) both hit 1 out HRs in the 1st inning to get things rolling for the Raptors. After a walk to Sauryn Lao, March Hernandez tripled (2) to score Lao for the third 1st inning run. They scraped together three additional runs on a couple of singles, errors, walks and WP’s spread out over the third and fourth innings.
Sam McWilliams and Sauryn Lao each had a pair of hits.
AZL Dodgers Lasorda 4 – AZL Padres (1) 7
The score was tied 2-2 going into the bottom of the 8th and with 3 walks and a HBP by Yujo Kitagita scored one run, Gabe Benavides came in to put out the fire, and instead served up a Grand Slam HR for a 5 run 5th. Meaux Landry hit a 2 run HR (4) in the 9th to get closer, but that was it. Meaux Landry and Aldrich De Jongh each had two hits with De Jongh’s being a double (7) and triple (2).
AZL Dodgers Mota 1 – AZL Brewers Gold 2
After Aldry Acosta threw a perfect first inning with a strikeout, Jose Rodolfo followed with 6.0 solid innings allowing 1 unearned run on 3 hits with 1 walk and 5 strikeouts. Carlos Alejo pitched the final 2.0 innings but unfortunately allowed the winning run.
An Alex De Jesus single with 2 walks and 2 WP scored him for the sole Mota run. De Jesus went 2-4 with Ismael Alcantara (4) and Imanol Vargas (4) each hitting doubles for the other 2 hits.
DSL Dodgers Bautista 7 – DSL Braves 4
The Bautistas scored their 7 runs in the second inning with not a lot of offense. The scored all 7 runs using three singles, 5 walks, three errors, and a WP. Four Baustista pitchers kept the Braves under control with Hendrick Briones (2.2 IP) and Carlos De Avila (2.0 IP) shutting down the Braves down the stretch to maintain the lead and victory. Yohandry Sequera had a 2-4 night.
DSL Dodgers Shoemaker 5 – DSL Pirates 0
Pitching was prominent in this shutout victory with Osvanni Gutierrez (5.0 IP), Eli Moron (3.0 IP), and Frankelyn Feliz (1.0 IP) shutting down the Pirates. Hector Martinez was 2-3 with the only multi-hit game.
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Discussion (76)
Disagree, not disagreeable
The latest rumor is the Dodgers are interested in Mychal Givens. He’s not an upgrade IMO.
All these names that rumor has it the Dodgers are interested in all have flaws.
1 Not an upgrade.
2 Will cost top 4 prospects.
3 Pitching good this season but never pitched good in their career before this season.
At this point for me its Ken Giles or stand pat. I know some of you don’t want him because he sucked in the 2017 playoffs. Small sample size. The Blue Jays want pitching that they can control long term, specifically starting pitching and they probably want near MLB ready and MLB starting pitching. So I say let them have their picks among every pitching prospect except Dustin May. And let them have Ross Stripling if they want him.
On a side note. I like what I see in Casey Sadler, hopefully he can help out. It’s just a 4.2 inning sample size but I can hope can’t I.
Playoff bullpen, you play your best every game in the playoffs.
Jansen
Urias
Baez
Maeda
Giles
Those above would be the best.
Maybe Sadler, maybe not.
Maybe Kelly with that big contract, maybe not.
Very sad to hear about MJ. Maybe my memory is faulty, but I don’t recall her ever mentioning cancer. Given that living with cancer is mostly long and protracted (my father lived with it for about a year before passing away in 1986), I can imagine that MJ was living with it while posting on this site, but never a mention of it, or any descent into self pity. Among other virtues, she was clearly a strong woman.
As so many others have said, Rest In Peace MJ.
I have a little different view of the bullpen. We will have Maeda, Hill, Stripling for the pen or Maeda, Urias, Stripling. We maybe just need one more. Maeda looked really good the other night out of the pen. I would not give away top farm kids for one reliever. I think any reliever is going to be expensive.
Sad to hear about MJ! I enjoyed her presence on this board a lot. You could tell from her comments and from her FB page, that she was very passionate about the Dodgers! Reading about her accident put everything into heart wrenching perspective. What a horrible experience for a 14 year old girl to have to go through. I can’t even begin to imagine how profoundly that impacted her life. RIP in eternal peace MJ!
We are all well aware that the Dodgers have not won a World Series since 1988. I do not have exact stats, but it seems intuitive that no baseball franchise with as much relative regular season success has ever gone that long without a title We all know about the past plight of the Red Sox and Cubs, but they went decades without a playoff team. The Dodgers have made the playoffs in ten of the last fifteen seasons, but no title. The Red Sox have now won four titles during that span, the Giants three, even the Cubs have one.
To me, this is not a run of bad luck of happenstance. There are reasons for it, and of course there is not just one reason. But the fact that the Dodgers organization for several decades has been obsessed with profits over titles, is significant. Peter O’Malley ended up complaining about the high costs of ownership. Fox just wanted to build their network, had no real interest in running the franchise. McCourt was a grifter who took the profits for himself. And Guggenheim, while doing some good things, clearly shies away from allowing the front office to pick up the final pieces necessary to give them the best shot at the title. Just note that we have not made a big-time FA acquisition since Greinke, and that just about all of our moves at the trade deadline involve two-month rentals, or second- or third-tier relievers. They simply have refused to risk a long-term contract for a star acquisition.
We could make a case that a better bullpen would have gotten us past the Cardinals in ’13 and ’14, the Mets in ’15, the Cubs in ’16, and would have won us the Series in ’17. Obviously, there were other reasons. But it is true that there are always a few top teams which have better bullpens than we do, and that it shows up in the playoffs. That Game 1 in St. Louis a few years ago; once it got to extra innings, I was virtually certain that the Cardinals, with the better bullpen, would win it. Or the game where Elbert gave up the home run to Carpenter, I think. Get into the Series against the Yankees, and that will likely be the case again. One more thing: baseball is what the social scientists call a closed system, in that every entity in that system can have an effect upon all the others. If we only pick up our usual iffy bullpen pieces, or none at all, it is likely that other contenders will do better than that. during the next week, so that we are relatively worse off.
I can’t tell anyone whom we should get, given the various prices the other teams want. But if we want to somehow break the cycle of being good, but not quite good enough, we have to gamble more in terms of giving up future prospects. Alternatively, we could pick up key free agents during the offseason, but we don’t do that any longer. We desperately need a top closer, not just for this playoff run, but for the next few seasons. Where or when are we going to get him? You can build an impressive car, even with some secondhand parts, but if you do not attend to the brakes, you haven’t finished the job. And in general, that is why we keep falling short of winning a championship, and some other team gets to celebrate. The Red Sox franchise of the last 15 years has mostly gone all-out to win a title when it has had the chance. We do not. Does anyone think it is a coincidence that they have four and we have none during that period?
This? For AC. It would be interesting to see how many relievers who had good Seasons last year also having good seasons this year vs how many who are having bad years. It would speak to the unpredictability? of relievers. Make for an interesting write up before trade deadline
Sincere condolences to MJ’s family and friends and all those who knew her and traded comments with her on this blog.
I think this 2019 version of the Dodgers have been through Hell and kept going!
They are going to write a different narrative this time, let by Co-World Series MVP’s Clayton Kershaw and Julio (Andrew Miller) Urias.
Pretty good sleuthing, gentleman. Condolences to any of MJ’s survivors. She was probably a well liked person.
I don’t think it’s a good idea to associate the need for relief help as a guarantee of winning the WS. No one can give that guarantee. But, it is a need of the team and their chances of getting that win would increase depending on who we bring in. I don’t think anyone would argue with this logic. As long as it doesn’t hurt the big picture (the future), it has to help us.
Thanks for bailing me out AC…. I got consumed trying to find the obit today.
RIP Michelle. Thanks for being a big part of this Dodger community.
Swami in India said: “Insult not my death with your pity, ye who are left on this desolate shore still to mourn and deplore; it is I who pity you.”
Damn. RIP MJ. From your posts you seemed like a really nice person. Hopefully your Dodgers can win it this year for you.
What a joy we will now miss in losing MJ. What a delight she was, a passionate Dodger fan and friend to us all. Yes she will be missed.
It is always a sad moment when a member of a family is lost even when it is a long distance family. Something special is lost that cannot be recovered. Rest in peace MJ.
I hope she had family or someone close there with her at the end. I almost got a sense the Dodgers and this community were her family. Pity that we didn’t know or could have helped in some way.
I loved MJ’s post. Sorry to hear the bad news. RIP MJ. Love you.
Very sad news regarding MJ. I will miss her. My thoughts are prayers are to you, MJ, and your family. RIP.
Thanks for the update and the info on MJ. Thanks Watford for tracking this down. This is sad to hear, but I suspected as much when we stopped getting posts. I will miss her. I feel almost like I knew her from all of her posts. This is a good community where we all come together with love of our Boys in Blue. Thank you for providing this not so safe space where we can argue, agree, disagree and connect with others who share about our beloved Dodgers.
RIP MJ, I hope heaven is all Blue for you!