Who are the Buyers or Sellers?
We are going to talk about a couple of my favorite sayings today: Relievers are fickle; and What you see today, ain t what you will see tomorrow! Who is buying and selling? It s not entirely clear right about now, but the Giants are the hottest team in baseball. MadBum says this is the best run he has ever been on. I m sure Farhan hates it, but he may have to
We are going to talk about a couple of my favorite sayings today:
- “Relievers are fickle;” and
- “What you see today, ain’t what you will see tomorrow!”
Who is buying and selling? It’s not entirely clear right about now, but the Giants are the hottest team in baseball. MadBum says this is the best run he has ever been on. I’m sure Farhan hates it, but he may have to buy… not sell. The next 7 days will tell the tale. There are so many teams still in or almost in that it is hard to predict who will sell.
Fickle Relievers
It’s no secret that today’s best relievers may have been on the scrap heap yesterday and/or may be back there in the near future. Three of the most sought after relievers at the trade deadline are Kirby Yates, Shane Greene, and Ken Giles. Their respective teams will most certainly have them for sale. Let’s look at their past records:
Kirby Yates
- 2014 – 3.75 ERA
- 2015 – 7.97 ERA
- 2016 – 5.23 ERA
- 2017 – 3.97 ERA
- 2018 – 2.14 ERA
- 2019 – 1.05 ERA
That’s pretty sick now, but it was a long road to where he is now and pitching on a lower echelon team begs the question “How will he do with pressure?”
Shane Greene
- 2014 – 3.78 ERA
- 2015 – 6.88 ERA
- 2016 – 5.28 ERA
- 2017 – 2.66 ERA
- 2018 – 5.12 ERA
- 2019 – 1.22 ERA
Who really, really is Shane Greene?
Ken Giles
- 2014 – 1.18 ERA
- 2015 – 1.80 ERA
- 2016 – 4.11 ERA
- 2017 – 2.30 ERA*
- 2018 – 4.65 ERA
- 2019 – 1.59 ERA
*Imploded in the playoffs with 11.74 ERA
So tell me how confident you are in acquiring any of those three relievers. They have been hot and cold and one has just totally imploded on the big stage. It should be noted that his team (the Astros) won the 2017 World Series anyway. Kenley Jansen looks like Marino Rivera in the playoffs compared to him.
Building a World Championship Bullpen is PURE FICTION! It’s not science… more like VooDoo! Sometimes pure, blind luck. Most of the time, it really means very little.
What You see Today, May not be What you see Tomorrow!
Will the Dodgers make any trades?
I think so, but I don’t think there will be many prospects traded and probably only 1 Top 10 Prospect. Lux, Ruiz, Smith, May, Downs, Gray, Gonsolin, and Peters are pretty much untouchable. I do think that Joc Pederson and Ross Stripling are at the top of the trading list, along with some prospects. I can’t predict who the Dodgers will acquire, but I do think that Gavin Lux will play a big part in the playoff run and the playoffs. Yes, Gavin Lux will be called up in the next week.
Joc Pederson has been playing 1B to showcase him to any team that needs a 1B. He’s going to cost a lot next year and he’s LH. To top it all off, he can’t hit LHP. Lux can, Muncy can, Verdugo can, Bellinger can, Seager can. Within the next two weeks, Gavin Lux will be the starting 2B for the Dodgers. Book it!
Lineup:
- Verdugo LF
- Seager SS
- Turner 3B
- Bellinger RF
- Muncy 1B
- Pollock CF
- Lux 2B
- Catcher
The catcher may be Will Smith with Beaty, Martin, Barnes, Hernandez and Taylor as the stuntmen. Of course, Taylor is on the IL and it’s possible that Kike ends up there as well. Hopefully, Striplings’ neck is fine.
To those of you who think the Dodgers really need Chicken Strip to start, I submit that the Dodgers can make do with about anyone in that spot. They just need for the offense to be more potent and Lux and Will Smith can help do that.
For those of you who think Cody has regressed, I call that “high comedy.” He goes one game without a hit and he has “regressed?” Players go through peaks and valleys. Cody is still hitting .331 while Mike Trout is at .296 and yet everyone is calling Trout the MVP. Cody is pressing a little because teams are not pitching to him and last night’s umpire was putrid. Actually, the entire team is in a malaise.
The Dodgers and Yankees are running neck-and-neck for the best record in baseball, but the Dodgers have a 14.5 game lead and it is easy to lose focus. Sometimes the manager just has to let that happen for a while to get over the mental grind. I would like to see Dave Roberts be more “old school” with the umpires and opposing teams, but maybe last night was not the time. With this kind of lead, sometimes it is best to let the team off the hook… mentally for a spell. The team is kind of on cruise control right now. In a few days, it’s time to flip the switch… Here come’s Smith & Lux. If Kike goes on the IL, I think they will go with three catchers for a while.
MT’s Minor League Report
OKC Dodger’s – The Dodgers pounded the Nashville Sounds 10-6 as Rios and Peters each hit their 20th HR. Peters went 3-5 and Lux went 2-4 with 2 walks. Zach Reks was also 2-5 with a double. Brock Stewart started and ent 5 innings, allowing 5 hits and 2 ER. Sborz and Quackenbush closed out the game with 2 no-hot innings.
Tulsa Drillers – Josiah Gray pitched 7 innings and allowed ZERO earned runs but is 0-2 with a 2.19 ERAS at AA because the Drillers only scored 1 run as they lost 2-1 on two errors. Estevez went 2-4 and that was about it. I can see Gray getting a call to AAA before the season is over. He is a man among men.
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Discussion (141)
Disagree, not disagreeable
With respect to Thor…“The Mets “want to move” Syndergaard in a trade, a rival evaluator tells ESPN.com’s Buster Olney (Twitter link). The feeling amongst many outside evaluators is that the Mets are “fully intent” on dealing Syndergaard. As to The Athletic’s Marc Carig hears from a rival executive, the asking price on Syndergaard is something in the range of a top-30 prospect “and a couple of other solid pieces.”
That does not sound like May or Ruiz need to be involved.
A recent article at MLB.com indicates that Houston and Washington are very interested in Felipe Vazquez, along with the Dodgers, and as was mentioned above, the Braves. Not only does Vazquez seem as sure a thing as one can be in terms of available relief pitchers, but if we did not get him, and he went to any of those teams, particularly the NL ones, it would certainly be detrimental to our title chances. So I hope that we have the will, and the willingness to go over the luxury tax for next year, to get him. We really don’t need one of the better teams in our league to end up with one of the best relief pitchers in the game. I would assume that we would play at least one of Atlanta and Washington in the playoffs. I hope that we don’t end up with another Verlander situation. And the issue goes past this year to the next two, as well.
Man, I don’t see it this way at all. At the 2017 Trade Deadline, Darvish looked like a better pitcher between the two. On July 24, Verlander’s ERA was a full run higher than Darvish. Verlander was NOT traded at the deadline, but was traded after it through waivers. So, the Dodgers grabbed the best pitcher available at the deadline and the Astros got lucky. None of the prospects that Houston sent to the Tigers are on the roster, they’re all sucking in the minors. How’s that prospect huggers?
We got the biggest prize last year in Manny Machado and did pretty well with Rick Hill and Josh Reddick.
I don’t know why people keep saying Andrew is too cheap to pull off a big trade. What team has done more at the deadline the last three years?
BTW, Lux played 2B tonight and had two hits. Gonsolin got shelled. Keibert had two hits.
I’m looking forward to the Smith/Ruiz era.
When was the last time the Dodgers had a decent all round Catcher?
Don’t say AJ…..