You Can't Have it Both Ways!
Sometimes, I just step back and let everyone “ wallow in their swill. ” I think, like pigs, some of you love it. For the past three years, I have heard, “ Y es, the Dodgers are a great team in the regular season, but they aren’t built and can’t win in the playoffs.” So, that has…
Sometimes, I just step back and let everyone “wallow in their swill.” I think, like pigs, some of you love it. For the past three years, I have heard, “Yes, the Dodgers are a great team in the regular season, but they aren’t built and can’t win in the playoffs.” So, that has been the problem for the past three years: The Dodgers are arguably the best team in the regular season but have been bounced from the playoffs rather unceremoniously in each of those years. So, this year, the Dodgers have taken a different approach, and I have been trying to tell you this, but many of you are too stupid or too stubborn to understand: IF YOU GO HARD ALL SEASON LONG AND ARE SO FAR AHEAD IN SEPTEMBER THAT NO ONE CAN CATCH YOU, YOU BECOME COMPLACENT AND LOSE YOUR EDGE. That gets you bounced from the playoffs.
Last year, the three teams that won 100 games were bounced from the playoffs in the first round. Again, if you fail to comprehend that you should stop reading and just go away right about now. Baseball is played by human beings, albeit very talented human beings, and when they push hard all season and are so far ahead of the competition, they let their guard down and go on cruise control. If you happen to believe that this is not a championship team, then you do not comprehend what I am going to say. However, this year, the Dodgers are changing the playbook. They understand that playing all of September without playing a meaningful game, is not the way to win a championship.
For the past three years, the Dodgers have pushed hard to have the best record in baseball. Just some perspective: It’s all about getting into the playoffs. The regular season doesn’t matter. Who the Dodgers play in the playoffs doesn’t matter. It’s been proven time and time again. Just get into the playoffs. Anything can happen, and the Dodgers absolutely have the skill and talent to beat any of the contenders. So, this season, it appears to me that the Dodgers are not pushing to have that great record. However, for all the wailing and gnashing of teeth, they still have the 5th best record in baseball. The fifth best! Damn… the 5th BEST!
So, what does that mean? It means that Dave Roberts is trying to win the war… not just the battle! There are some major pitching roster decisions coming up. Among the pitchers on the bubble is Yahan Ramirez. Yes, he pitched Friday and Saturday, and Doc wanted to see how he would do back-to-back under extreme duress. Check that box off. Ramirez will not be a Dodger in August. Lose the battle in order to win the war.
The Dodgers have been a .500 team for about six weeks. They have a full roster of pitchers on the IL and two All-Stars (one of whom was in the running for MVP) also on the IL. This is tricky business: Yesterday, Dave Roberts opted to win the war, while losing the battle. Yes, the lack of offense cost them the game, but the pitching is critical and Yohan Ramirez was exposed: He totally imploded under pressure. Better to find out now than in October. In about another month, the Dodgers will start managing with a lot more urgency. Alex Vesia could have come in yesterday, but he is sixth on the team in innings pitched. Do you want him burned out or ready for October? Duhhhh…
Do not dis Ryan Yarbrough. He is 5th in IP on the team, and with a 3.79 ERA, he is a solid part of the bullpen. He eats innings. He wasn’t great yesterday, but the team needs him and Michael Grove as long men in the pen. Yarbrough has had a rough July, but his arm is critical to the Dodger’s success. He eats innings. Let me remind you that Ryan Brasier, Brusdar Graterol, Kyle Hurt, and Joe Kelly are on the IL, but some could return soon.
Anthony Banda (2.19 ERA) has been an outstanding addition. He’s another lefty lockdown reliever the Dodgers need and AF got him at Wal Mart! Brent Honeywell (3 shutout innings) also has my attention. Why anyone would question his acquisition is beyond me… and I would have felt the same way had he given up 12 runs. Many of you have sight… but no vision. Sure, Andrew Friedman can afford to shop at Neiman Marcus, but if Wal-Mart has what he needs, why overpay? Time will tell if the reunion with Brent Honeywell will yield results. Will he be a starter or a bullpen piece? He had four elbow surgeries in three years but is finally healthy and routinely hits mid-to-upper-90s. We shall see.
After the All-Star Break, we will see some changes on this team. I do not expect them to be major, and they don’t need to be. Just because some of you say, “This is not a Championship Team“, does not make it so, the same as me saying “it is a Championship team” makes it so! History will be the decider! Of course, you are going to hear that the Dodgers are looking for starters, and they will be names that are connected to the team. AF is very good at driving up the prices so that other teams have to pay through the wazoo to get players.
We are going to see River Ryan after the All-Star Break. Mookie Betts, Clayton Kershaw, Joe Kelly, Brusdar Graterol, and Jason Heyward are all on track to return as expected. Max Muncy will be shut down until mid-to-late August. Bobby Miller, Tyler Glasnow, Yoshi Yamamoto, and Walker Buehler will likely return at some point with results we cannot predict, but I doubt that it all will be bad. However, the results do not all have to be good either. The Dodgers will be looking to replace Biggio, Outman, and maybe Lux and Vargas at the deadline. Heyward will replace one of those, but a trade is still likely. Who that will be… I haven’t a clue.
I will discuss the draft tomorrow.
X-CITES
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Discussion (105)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Keith Law on the Dodger first pick:
23. Los Angeles Dodgers: Kellon Lindsey, SS, Hardee HS (Fla.)
No. 22 on Law’s big board
Apparently the Dodgers are all about speed now, taking an 80 runner last year with their first pick in Kendall George, and taking another 80 runner this year in Kellon Lindsey. Lindsey is a shortstop with a great, athletic frame, earning comps to a young Trea Turner, but between football and some minor injuries he barely played last summer or fall, so scouts didn’t see him against better competition and R&D departments had very little data to work with.
That could be an opportunity for the Dodgers; if Lindsey had hit well in showcases, he might have ended up in the top high school tier with Rainer and Griffin. I think he’s a true shortstop but some folks want to move him to center to take advantage of his speed.
Scouting report: Nobody wants to miss on the next Trea Turner, and Lindsey looks the part — it’s a similar build, 80 speed, good hands, a good right-handed swing, etc. Turner had three years of success in the ACC, however, while Lindsey has faced some weak competition in central Florida and has had issues with breaking stuff. Lindsey has quick hands at the plate and gets the bat to the ball on time, with a good swing path to drive the ball to the gaps. His pitch recognition definitely lags behind the rest of his game at the plate, however, as he has far less experience facing good pitching than just about all of his peers in this draft after he missed the showcase circuit last summer due to injury.
He’s an outstanding athlete who was a quarterback and defensive back before he gave it up to focus just on baseball, and recorded the best running times at the MLB combine in June. I saw strong defense at shortstop, and he probably starts out there in pro ball, with the obvious potential to move to center at some point given his speed. He’s a huge upside play with a ton of downside risk in the bat.
According to Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times, who caught up with the Dodgers’ starting pitcher at the MLB All-Star Game in Arlington, Texas, Glasnow is expecting to be activated as soon as he’s eligible to return from the 15-day injured list.The 15-day timetable would have Glasnow back on the Dodgers’ active roster this Saturday, the Dodgers’ second game of a three-game series against the Boston Red Sox.
Glasnow was diagnosed with lower back tightness after his last start, July 5 against the Milwaukee Brewers, in which he allowed five runs in six innings.
Teo is going to be starting the All-Star game in the outfield, replacing Tatis Jr. who is going to have an MRI.
The Dodgers 4 MiLB full season affiliates are off this week starting back up on Friday.
All 4 teams are hovering around .500
Their 3 Rookie league affiliates are still playing.
Their Arizona team is by far playing the best ball of all the minor league teams.
Some of the kids should be ready to move up to Rancho soon.
Eduardo Quintero-OF (18yrs)
Jaron Elkins-OF (19yrs)
Angel Diaz -C (20yrs)
Victor Rodrigues-C (19yrs) maybe starts next yr at Rancho
Zyhir Hope-OF(19yrs)
Currently on rehab from a broken rib
Would be nice to see Vargas already @ Rancho with Hope and Quintero at Rancho all together soon
Go Dodgers !!
if tatis had a brain, he wouldn’t be playing in san diego! i bet dorothy can get him one!! machado has no heart. bet dorothy could get him one! soto had courage! he got the hell out of san diego!! (maybe not by choice). all in favor of arozarena?? i might pass . parades check mark!!
I just have 35 things to say:
1 – I’d kill for a Nobel Peace Prize.
2 – Borrow money from pessimists — they don’t expect it back.
3 – Half the people you know are below average.
4 – 99% of lawyers give the rest a bad name.
5 – 82.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
6 – A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good.
7 – A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.
8 – If you want the rainbow, you got to put up with the rain.
9 – All those who believe in psycho kinesis, raise my hand.
10 – The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
11 – I almost had a psychic girlfriend, ….. But she left me before we met.
12 – OK, so what’s the speed of dark?
13 – How do you tell when you’re out of invisible ink?
14 – If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.
15 – Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.
16 – When everything is coming your way, you’re in the wrong lane.
17 – Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy.
18 – Hard work pays off in the future; laziness pays off now.
19 – I intend to live forever … So far, so good.
20 – If Barbie is so popular, why do you have to buy her friends?
21 – Eagles may soar, but weasels don’t get sucked into jet engines.
22 – What happens if you get scared half to death twice?
23 – My mechanic told me, “I couldn’t repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder.”
24 – Why do psychics have to ask you for your name
25 – If at first you don’t succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.
26 – A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.
27 – Experience is something you don’t get until just after you need it.
28 – The hardness of the butter is proportional to the softness of the bread.
29 – To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research.
30 – The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard.
31 – The sooner you fall behind, the more time you’ll have to catch up.
32 – The colder the x-ray table, the more of your body is required to be on it.
33 – Everyone has a photographic memory; some just don’t have film.
34 – If at first you don’t succeed, skydiving is not for you.
35 – If your car could travel at the speed of light, would your headlights work?
I would like a legit third baseman that can hit both righties and lefties that’s what I want in the off season. Maybe it is Paredes then have keke and CT3 play second base until mookie comes bac so the Randy Arozarana and what ithee outfiledr do tgey get to go along with Teoscar. . Could it be Taylor Ward and Kyle Anderson if they coul pull taht off and get an every day outfield of teoscar taylor ward and randy Arozarana talk about getting better players and looking then like world series contenders. Yes why not.
Tonight @ Arizona
River Ryan:
4.0 IP
4 Hits
1 Run
1 BB
5 SO
Brusdar Graterol:
1.0 IP
2 Hits
1 Run
0 BB
0 SO
Fans still complaining about the All-Star uniforms. Manfred said they will have discussions about letting the players go back to wearing their teams’ uniforms. I am all for that. White Sox signed Nick Senzel to a major league deal. Cubs purchased reliever Jesus Tinoco from the Royals. One of the Angels draft picks is Lucas Ramirez, the son of Manny Ramirez.
Man how good is Ohtani?? We are lucky to have this guy for the next 10 years….and he aint even pitching yet….
Nice knock for Will too.
Lets come back refreshed and take the series this weekend vs the Sawks.
before we all give up on Bobby Miller, let’s take a chill pill!! Yeah he’s got some attitude, but maybe the dodgers could use a little attitude! Trading away a talent like Miller could hurt for years! And no. I’m not trading Stone either. …. I don’t think acquiring Paredes really matters as far as muncy goes. I’m not sure max even returns this season. and even if he does, what do they get from him? Taylor,Kiki,Biggio? Does Biggio make it past the end of July? Could Kiki be included in a trade? And Taylor ain’t going nowhere! …. Bottom line. They need Mookie back !! They need a 3rd baseman. And they need a left fielder. So if Arozarena cann be packaged along with parades, ok. Bichette would still be my 1st choice, but a deal with tampa bay would work. Rojas and Taylor can man SS the rest of this season. Mookie goes back to 2nd. Odd man out? Lux. Sorry Gavin, but you might need a change of scenery. Include Kiki in the deal along with prospects to Tampa for paredes and Arozarena. ….. i still see some advocating a Zac Grienke reunion. Hell no! He cannot help the dodgers. neither can Rich Hill! ….. Saw soto with a smirk last night after walking against Skeenes. Ball 4 could easily have been strike 3! So you walked Mr. Soto! You also looked pretty bad on 2 pitches!! kid is special! no need to disrespect the guy. ….. No clue who the guy is sang the national anthem last night. At least he wasn’t drunk! …… Sad that somo would be there to honor the flag. and country drunk on her ass! Hey. here’s an idea, let’s let kids sing the nay anthem. at least they won’t mumble and stumble .