Why Cody Bellinger Moves From 1B
There is no right answer here. But, the fact of the matter is that no rookie in the history of baseball has matched what one Cody Bellinger has done in less than 100 games! Cody Bellinger has 34 home runs in 97 games and is likely the best 1B in all of baseball. He s fast, he s gifted and he s a Future Hall-of-Famer (I guarantee it or your money back). Mike
There is no right answer here. But, the fact of the matter is that no rookie in the history of baseball has matched what one Cody Bellinger has done in less than 100 games! Cody Bellinger has 34 home runs in 97 games and is likely the best 1B in all of baseball. He’s fast, he’s gifted and he’s a Future Hall-of-Famer (I guarantee it or your money back). Mike Piazza hold the Dodger rookie record for Home Runs (35), but he did it in about 50 more games than Cody. Cody will demolish that record.
Cody Bellinger may ultimately be one of the best first basemen ever… but for the rest of this season, he is likely to be a left or right fielder. There’s an IF… If Adrian Gonzalez is healthy and he looked healthy last night. Look, just because I was against THE TRADE does not mean I don’t like A-Gon. A-Gon is a awesome player at the end of his career, but he has rested and rehabbed for almost three months and he should be fresh (IF he is healthy).
Cody Bellinger is the Dodger’s future 1B and everyone knows it, but did you see the look of admiration in his eyes when A-Gon doubled last night? Cody knows A-Gon has to take 1B back. A-Gon used to be a #3 or #4 hitter, but on this team, right here, right now, he is likely a #6 hitter and he could be the best one is baseball (IF he is healthy). The Dodgers are a better team if Bellinger and a healthy Adrian Gonzalez are BOTH in the lineup. Even Ray Charles can see that.
Cody is a pretty dang good left fielder or right fielder and can even play CF, but Adrian can only play 1B. So, it’s settled, against Right Handed Pitchers, A-Gon is the first baseman. Maybe not against LH pitchers, but certainly against RH pitchers. I don’t see A-Gon as the EVERYDAY 1B, but you never know what a healthy veteran player at the end of his career can do, so he has to play… IF he is healthy! End of story!
Curtis Granderson
Speaking of healthy veteran players at the end of his career brings me to Curtis Granderson, whom the Dodgers acquired last night. Curtis has 312 career home runs, of which 240 are against RH pitching. His career OPS is .857 against RH pitching. He has hit lefties to the tune of .224 over his career while he averages .265 against righties. he is a classic platoon player and that is why he came to LA. He happens to be hot right now, OPS’ing 1.326 over the past week.
It’s probably very hard for Curtis to be motivated to play on a team like the Mets at the end of his career, but like Marlon Anderson, he could be resurrected with the Dodgers. Anderson only had 73 plate appearances for the Dodgers in 2006, but he hit 7 HR, 3 doubles, 3 triples and OPS’ed 1.243 while on the team that year.
Joc Pederson is hitting .111 over the last 7 days, .080 the past two weeks and .127 the past month. They are trying to re-make his swing again and even though he had a double last night, he looks totally lost. I think he will go to OKC before today’s game and Curtis and Kike will platoon in CF. Maybe Granderson goes to LF and Taylor plays CF? We shall see. This could be Granderson’s last season and I am sure he would like to go out with a Ring – he just might seize the day.
… and just maybe, they can fix Joc at AAA. I love the move. It gives the team lots of options. Oh, and it keeps his away from the other contenders.
Rants and Raves
- Logan Forsythe bashers have recently been seen crawling back into their holes. Now, he’s getting hot. Come on, when will we ever learn?
- Henry Ramos was 0 fer again (.263 ouch) – so much for that idea.
- Andre Ethier was 0-3 in Tulsa.
- Scott Barlow went 6.2 and pitched well.
- It’s an early game today.
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Discussion (73)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Discretion is the better part of valor. Give Cody as much time as he requires, and then some.
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I also couldn’t understand why Cody was left in right field after the injury, only be removed when he came up to hit in the next half inning. If the plan was to take him out after the Tigers were out, then there was no reason to leave him in before that. Puig should have immediately been dispatched to right field before the Dodgers came to bat. Makes absolutely no sense to me why Cody wasn’t removed immediately. The Dodgers have a virtually insurmountable lead of 19.5 games. Why take any risk at all, even if you think it’s infinitesimal?
Package,
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Do you do your taxes from the bottom up too?
I would not be a bit surprised to see Cody end up on the DL for 10 days so they won’t have to decide who plays.
Looks to me that Cody in treading a little gingerly in the outfield. Maybe they should just take him out.
Well, it is like I said, Bellinger should have stayed at 1st. Now he is injured from playing in right field. What a stupid move.
I agree Mark. He’s on a learning curve and make a mistake trying to throw out the runner at 3rd when his throw should’ve been to 2nd (Ryu was pointing to 2nd) putting 2 runners in scoring position. He’s going to make mistakes but unlike some, he will learn from it.
I think this is the beginning of the Chris Taylor in CF ERA. I think he is the best CF on the team, but he will also play 2B.
Despite the lower resolution and the time delay, I just switched from the broadcast on FS1 to the SNLA broadcast on MLB.tv. Dick Enberg and Kirk Gibson were putting me to sleep.
a look at a recent international signing, Shakir Albert:
`
Open on baseballcensus.comhttp://baseballcensus.com/2017/08/19/los-angeles-dodgers-shakir-albert-scouting-report-baseball-video-august-2017/YU to DL. Skipping a start. Paredes on the way. Stewart to start next time for Darvish who will be reinstated for his following start in LA. I would like to see more of Paredes.
Darvish on the 10 day DL, to give his back more time.
But they say this is nothing, to worry about!
Darvish to 10 day DL
I know, but I hate it when he’s not in the lineup. He got a big hit two nights ago and a knock last night. The lineup seems a little less exciting when he’s not out there. Granderson says he expects to mostly play LF which is odd when we all expected Bellinger to play LF when Adrian is at 1st.
Who would have thought of a move like this?
Only the front office, would make a small move like this, make so much sense!
Joc sent to AAA!
Check out Grandys welcome message, class act, great signing
I’m still at a loss here. Maybe you guys can clear it up for me. How are they going to get Bellinger, Taylor, Granderson, and Adrian on the field together when they have a right handed pitcher? In Mark’s lineup their were two RF’s and no second baseman. Is Forsythe the guy out with Taylor going to second or is Puig out and Granderson to RF?
I applaud the move to get Granderson for two reasons: CF has been a weakness and adding a veteran player with playoff experience. Curtis has played RF and CF this season so can still handle CF but so can Taylor. I think Kike will get infrequent starts and will be used as a utility man and PH. Everyone gets more rest and Taylor and Belly still play but get moved around a bit on defense. Joc is the obvious big loser for now but management must have seen what I have seen: a player who can and will be exploited by good pitching in key situations. The post season lights shine bright and the Dodgers are a better team without playing Joc and Kike every day in CF. Another loser may be Ethier but at this point his defense could be a liability and no telling how he plays in Sept.
The reason we got Granderson:
his OPS vs Arrieta: 1.070
his OPS vs. Scherzer: .920
his OPS vs. Tanner Roark: .933
Oh, and he starts in LF today and bats 5th after Belly
After I posted above, I checked the Mets site and saw that Rene Rivera had been claimed by the Cubs. Don’t think I misread it, so whoever posted last night that Rivera was going to LA was obviously mistaken. And that makes sense, since I never thought Rivera going to the Dodgers made any sense.
Puig’s problems with lefties is a mystery, and is probably a project for him to begin work on beginning this offseason, and into ST next year. Can’t believe that there isn’t a fix for that. But despite his problems with LHP, there is no doubt that anytime he is kept out of the lineup the defense is weakened. Also, when the Dodgers face a LHP, Kike` is usually in the lineup platooning in CF and Barnes is usually platooning behind the plate. That doesn’t leave much other righthanded hitting on the bench to replace or even pinch hit for Puig.
I love the trade bringing Curtis Granderson to LA. I hope Joc now goes down to AAA to re-evaluate his position present and future on the Dodgers. A wake up call is definitely necessary and overdue.
As mentioned before on various sites Curtis has been very good since June 1st and over the course of this year his hit better than Joc in almost all categories:
Joc: .221 Ave RHP: .785 OPS
.191 Ave LHP; .581 OPS
.213 Ave RISP
.235 Ave RISP(2 outs)
Granderson:
.230 AVE RHP: .853 OPS
. 225 AVE LHP: .706 OPS
. 282 AVE RISP
. 424 AVE RISP(2 outs)
Remember there’s an opportunity to DH today, although I would guess that Grandy might debut there.
I cannot see any way that Joc is active for today’s game… unless Grandy can’t get there.
With A-Gon and Grandy in the lineup against RH pitching, the Dodgers will be very dangerous.
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1. Taylor CF (.308 against RHP)
2. Seager SS (.291 – actually hit LHP better, but still good)
3. Turner 3B (.316 against RHP – almost .400 against LHP)
4. Bellinger RF (.278 and 25 HR against RHP)
5. Granderson LF (Career RHP Killer)
6. A-Gon 1B (Career RHP Hiller)
7. Barnes C (.338 /.451 OB% against RHP – Sorry Yasmani)
8. Puig RF (.387 BA/.899 OPS against RHP, but should never play against LHP)
They mentioned last night that thru 2020 Jordan Zimmerman will make, on the average, $20,000,000 a year, He was worth it when he signed, but he is not having a good year now. I don’t think he could make the Dodger rotation. I could certainly understand if the Dodgers did not want to make a similar long-term commitment to Kershaw for even more dollars. Yet, it would be a big disappointment if Kershaw went into the Hall of Fame as anything but a Dodger. It would be tough to be a GM in situations like these.
And damn, it just dawned on me how close 2020 is. Wasn’t is just yesterday that we were worried about the world’s computers going haywire because of the change of millenniums?