At one time, Kolten Wong was a very good second baseman. While never an All-Star, as a LH hitter, he has a career .742 OPS against RHP. He is exclusively a second baseman and plays Gold Glove defense at the position. He likely has no future in 2024 with the Dodgers, but he could have a future in October for them! In 2021, Eddie Rosario, who was a journeyman, was traded to the Braves and proceeded to go off in the playoffs.
The same thing happened with Ronnie Belliard in 2009. The Dodgers traded Luis Garcia and Victor Garate to the Nationals on August 31m 2009, and the Dodgers “First Belli” proceeded to hit .351 with a 1.034 OPS the last month of the season. He also had 5 HR and seven doubles! He also hit .316 in the NLCS, which the Dodgers lost to the Phillies in five games.
Kolten Wong is 5′ 7″ tall and is a LH batter who, in the past, has hit 15 HR and up to 32 doubles in a season. He will be 33 years old on October 10th, and this could be his time! He played eight seasons with the Cardinals and then was signed as a Free Agent with the Brewers in 2021. He had decent years in 2021 and 2022, with the Brewers hitting 14 HR with 32 doubles in 2021 and 15 HR with 24 doubles in 2022. At the beginning of this season, he signed a $10 million dollar deal with Seattle and proceeded to fall off the face of the earth! In 216 Plate Appearances, he made Miguel Vargas look like Babe Ruth, as he hit .169.
Kolten was released by the Mariners on August 3, 2023, and the Dodgers signed him six days later! At OKC, the Dodgers worked with him on his swing and in 13 ABs he had 7 hits and OPSed 1.494. In order to be “Playoff Ready,” the Dodgers had to promote him to the roster yesterday. Yonny Hernandez was the odd-man-out. Kolten arrived at the same last night and proceeded to pinch hit in the 8th inning with the Dodgers down 6-0.
I am not worried that the Dodgers have lost two straight to the Braves. I would like to see a split, but I will not worry, even if the Braves sweep the Series. I want the Dodgers to have that fresh in their memories. I am not worried about Lance Lynn – he is who he is, and he will figure it out. I am worried about Julio Urias! His velocity is noticeably diminished. Earlier in the season, he could hit 95 or 96 MP – now he struggles to hit 92 MPH. After watching him closely last night, I believe he is concealing an arm injury. Tommy John may be knocking on Julio’s door!
Who will step up? The Old Man and the Kid, plus Pepiot? Maybe Sheehan, Grove, and/or Stone and Yarbrough! Julio is pitching himself off the playoff roster. Of course, he has a few weeks to right the ship, but if it is that dreaded UCL, this ain’t good! This could be fun to watch! Or not…
Minor League News
At Rancho Cucamonga, Kendall George is raking like a madman and has 12 SB in 76 ABs. He had two hits last night as did Thayron Liranzo, Wilman Diaz, and Jake Gelof. This is the new wave of Dodger prospects.
Discussion (31)
Disagree, not disagreeable
The Dodgers collected their first minor league title this season as the Dominican Summer League concluded their season today and LAD Bautista won the best-of-3 series, two games to one game over the Pirates Gold team, winning the third game 9-5.
In the winner-take-all final, 17-year-old Joendry Vargas homered in the first inning to give his team a lead that they never lost. Vargas would go 3-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBI. The Dodgers would take a 8-2 lead before Pirates scored three runs in the late inning to make the final score.
Vargas signed last January for 2.08 million and had an excellent professional debut in the Dominican Summer League. Vargas hit .328/.423/.529 in 208 plate appearances, with 31 strikeouts against 30 walks. Listed at 6’4”/175 and not turning 18 until November, it will be interesting to see if he stays at shortstop.
Well at least now we know who the best team in baseball is and the NL MVP
USC 66 Nevada 14. Oregon scored 81 against Portland State.
Acuna’s blast had an exit velocity of 121.2 mph.
Egad.
Hope the Dodgers can avoid a sweep. Either way, the Braves should be a confident team. We can hope for over-confident. But the Dodgers clearly need to be at their best against this team.
Maybe they didn’t score because the Braves pitchers did their jobs. My problem is that I have always disliked platoons. Roberts does it all of the time. I think you win or lose with your best players on the field. He burned their best three relievers. Then he brings Vesia back out to start the 10th. Sorry, I have no trust in that guy.
Separate issue, but this series could demoralize this team, have a bad feeling what a sweep will do to them.
The outcome of this game had nothing to do with having a reliable left handed reliever. It had everything to do with their inability to score runs.
We have no reliable left handed relievers and Robert’s still struggles in games like this. Troubling.
Let me revise what I said in my previous post. The called third strike on Mookie, barring a comeback in the bottom of the 10th, cost the Dodgers this game.
Vesia in the 9th and 10th ?
Bad idea unless you are betting against!
I
As soon as Orel said, get some momentum back getting a first pitch strike, I could just see it coming
That called third strike may have cost the Dodgers more than a single run, given that Freddie was on deck.
That called third strike to Mookie with bases loaded was pretty painful
That strike call on Mookie was CRIMINAL. I have seen more than enough bad calls this year than I ever care to see. SHAMEFULL. And with Freddie, and Will Smith, etc., coming up there is no telling how many runs the Dodgers might have scored. The mediocrity of calls I’ve seen this year is getting tiresome.
Smith has been killing ralies lately
Friday scores
Round Rock 4, Oklahoma City 2
Arkansas 9, Tulsa 3
Great Lakes 6, Dayton 1
Rancho Cucamonga 8, Stockton 1
Saturday schedule
4:05 p.m. PT: Great Lakes (Maddux Bruns) vs. Dayton (Ryan Cardona)
5:05 p.m.: Oklahoma City (Robert Dugger) vs. Round Rock (TBA)
5:05 p.m.: Tulsa (Robbie Peto) vs. Arkansas (Shawn Semple)
6:05 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Roque Gutierrez) at Stockton (Wander Guante)
#Dodgers Lineup vs #Braves RHP, Bryce Elder:
Betts 2B
Freeman 1B
Smith DH
Muncy 3B
Peralta LF
Heyward RF
Outman CF
Rojas SS
Barnes C
Emmet Sheehan P
I assume that the Dodgers have a better idea as to the status and effectiveness of Urias going forward. If they have any doubts as to his future viability, then I seriously doubt that they will pursue him this winter for any long term deal. They have plenty of their own good young pitching that they may be able to rely on, and if they don’t pursue Urias, they will be able to allocate funds for any other free agent pitcher or pitchers who may be on the market.
There are doubts going forward this season, but rest assured that AF and company are working on solutions both long and short term. But also rest assured that they’re very unlikely to let us know what they’re thinking. As fans we just have to wait and see. As for me, I figure that at my age I may have another 30 seconds or another 30 years, so I am not going to worry whether I live to see it or not. Billions of years have come before me and billions will come after. What the Dodgers do in the next several weeks or months is fairly inconsequential.
There’s voodoo in the kettle with a superb pitching performance ahead for the faithful, of which I’m a part of. The Dodgers are nobody’s little brother.
I am not concerned about Julio. He will either get the job done, earn his huge payday, or he won’t. No in-betweens. Baseball is a fickle game. You can be on top one minute and on the junk-heap the next. I have said from the beginning that I expect Urias to leave the team at the end of the season. Is he pitching hurt? Pure speculation. He doesn’t pass the eye test of even being close to the pitcher he was in 21-22. But all players have down years. This might just be his. I like our kids; I like the fact that Buehler at some point is going to be back. What I really like is how much deeper this lineup will be when JD returns. They are missing his bat in this series. JD is 7-14 with a double, three homers and five driven in against the Braves.
Despite the last two games, the Dodgers are having a great season that is exceeding my expectations. Especially considering the numerous injuries to the entire pitching staff.
My guess is that Julio is pitching hurt. Not only is his velocity down but his command and effectiveness are suffering. He has a 4.60 era this year compared to a career era coming into this year around 2.82. His performance decline seems similar to Buehler in 2022 and Gonsolin this year before their injuries were announced.
No matter what happens in this series, the Dodgers should still secure the #2 seed and they did win 2 out of 3 from the Braves in ATL earlier this year. The top seed does not always win the pennant and the Dodgers will have a good chance to win in the playoffs.
Good for Kolten Wong, but I’m not sure why we need 5 second basemen. That gives Doc/theWizard about 720 possible combinations up the middle. I liked the fact that there were only about 2 platoons being employed early this season, both in the plootooning outfielders vs LHP and RHP. And Mookie getting time at 2nd. Getting Kike, Rosario, CT3 back and now Wong, that’s all changed.
Once again, we get a cushion leading the division and start the lineup de jour bullshit. Guys moved around just for the hell of it and no set lineup. Kike is going to start somewhere every day. This scheme has NOT been successful in preparing for the playoffs. These guys aren’t made of crystal and don’t need the rest . Play a predictable line up and stay sharp. The Wong signing and taking playing time pisses me off.
Instead our focus should be getting veteran starters going. They’ve been pampered along to be ready for Sept and the playoffs. Now, its time to step up. Kershaw wasn’t anything special his last start, aided by great run support. Lynn got roughed up and Urias has had two poor outings. I love Miller and Pepiot but the veterans need to be better.
The Braves announcers were amazed at Urias’ lack of velocity and stuff. They pointed out that his fastball last year had more movement and played at 94 – 95, Not the 91 he lived at last night. And he’s not landing the breaking ball. It’s imperative he pitches better.
He just doesn’t look right.
Julio’s velocity is concerning. But it only took two losses to the Braves for the doom and gloom to come back.
Let not forget, the Braves are a very good team. We faced their two best starters, beat one of them up pretty good (well, Mookie did). The other had a great game yesterday. While Julio didn’t look very good at all, this is a monster lineup. They will, on any given day, beat up good pitchers. Just as the Dodgers can. And the Braves know we are their greatest threat in the post season. So I knew they’d come out with guns blazing. We lost these two games by a total of 4 runs. So it’s not like the Dodgers are getting run over.
Our strength going into the last month certainly isn’t our starters. It’s our lineup and our bullpen. They need to stay hot and keep the energy up. There is no reason the panic because of this series. Regardless what happens. We have enough young arms to go into the playoffs with as good a chance as any. And our lineup is only equaled by the Braves.
Going into this series I expected this to be a brawl. I had no expectation that we would win this series. A split was my best case scenario. Acuna wants the MVP and is playing with that chip on his shoulder. He wants to prove himself against the team with the only two guys who could deny him that trophy. We need to outhit this team. They will score runs on us.
The fact that we have secured the devision gives the team ample opportunity to determine which young arms are playoff ready. At this point, Julio can’t be relied upon to be who he was in the past. But the Dodgers have time and the talent to figure the rotation out for the playoffs. For me, the key will be keeping the energy in the clubhouse at a high level going into the post season. This team can win it all with or without Julio.
Buehler has a re-hab game tomorrow. Martinez will join the Dodgers in DC as long as he has no setbacks in his games with OKC. Kelly is also close to returning. Sheehan will most likely get the start today against Elder. Freid is the only Atl starter who does not have double digit wins. The only Dodgers with double digit wins are Urias and Kersh. Miller pitches tomorrow against Charlie Morton.
RIP Jimmy Buffett. I think my favorite song he did was Come Monday. I remember him doing a guest spot on Blue Bloods. He played a guy who was impersonating him and himself. Pretty cool. Shut the game off after Julio gave up the third homer and then when the ump called a pitch a ball that he thought was a strike, he just stood out there grinning like something was funny. I haven’t had faith in him in months. Oh, he pitched well for a few weeks. But he doesn’t look at all like the guy who was on the bump when they won the World Series. Happy for Wong, that has got to be a huge confidence booster. Sometimes you eat the beast, and sometimes the beast eats you. Freid has a better regular season record against LA than he does in the playoffs where he is 0-2 against them.
Lights go down on Margaritaville.
That album hit while we were on adventure in Mexico/Belize and thereabouts.
Rum, weed and lobster on beachfront bars with the Locals. Soundtrack courtesy Jimmy B & Coral Reefer.
Great times. RIP Jimmy B
Sometimes you just have to sit back with an open mind and analyze your team and what is needs to win in the playoffs. One most Important thing needed is quality starting pitching, which means one has to have quality starting pitchers. We all know good pitching can stop good hitting. The All Star games mostly prove that.
Do we have that? Let’s analyze together…..
1. Clayton…..check
2. Urias…….hasn’t shown it this year (for the most part)
3. Lynn…..maybe
4. Miller…..maybe
5. Pepiot…..maybe
6. Stone or Grove…..probably not
As I analyze this list, it seems to me we would at least need two dependable quality starters….but I only count one and a lot of ?
Clearly, those Guys could surprise and come through, but it’s also as likely they won’t. So, it looks to me that we are going into this year’s playoffs worse off than last year….in fact, one could even say, “far worse off.” Nevertheless, we still root and hope for the best because ….you never know.
Julio Urias.
Is he hurt? Or is it something else. Maybe mental.
Just when you think he’s turning it around, two awful outings in a row, 11 runs in 11 innings, including six homeruns.
Not exactly someone you want to hand the ball to for a playoff game.
I’m guessing this is end of his Dodger career. Not to mention LA’s relationship with super agent Scott Boros is in the tank after he criticized and blamed the Dodgers for Bellinger’s troubles the
past couple of years.
Andrew Feiedman’s reaction tells the story. Ouch. Boras tried to backtrack. Too late.
Okay, the Braves/Dodgers really is meaningless, other than to point out that Max Fried is a pretty good pitcher. But we already knew that.
Lynn and Urias both flamed out, now we get to see the kids.
I do like the young pitchers.
Before the season I thought this team would go as far as the pitching would that them.
I underestimated the offense which is absolutely championship caliber. But as you said the injuries to our starters and the underperformance of Julio will probably be our downfall iln the playoffs.
Too much quality lost with Buehler, May and Gonsolin. And Julio is just not pitching like an ace.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!
I guess for the first time this season I am really worried. You can’t lose May, Buehler, Goslin, and now Urias and think you have enough for the World Series. Lynn is about average but that is all. I do like what Pepiot is doing and that may help but we now have all our hopes on Clayton staying healthy and that is a huge gamble. Most teams go as far as their pitching takes them (see the Dodgers for the last 50 years) but this year we go as far as our offensive and top two players take us. We could set the record for the most piggyback games in the post season.
Last year, Julio attacked the top of the strike zone with a 95 mph F/ball — a foundational pitch for him.
This season? ..a long-ago memory.
If Urias falters down the stretch, then it looks like Kersh and Miller are the 1/2 SP’s in the playoffs.
Then maybe Prior & his coaches can “tweak” Sheehan/Grove/Stone to squeeze out a little more velo and movement on their hard stuff, while also streamlining their pitch selection. Then throw some combination of those 3 & Pepiot & Lynn together to piggyback off one another to create a “3rd playoff starter.”
I’m just brainstorming here. If my idea is stupid, then it’s stupid.