If you are going to Spring Training, one of the best things is to go as far into the complex as they let you. I have not been there for a few years, but when I went regularly, I had Press Passes and was able to get everywhere, even the clubhouse, which I rarely did because these guys go there for some peace, and I am not the guy trying to get the first “scoop.” At Vero beach, I used to go into the Office and ask for a roster. They print them every day. There will be about 200 players in camp, so you will need a roster. Ask at the office for one. They will give it to you. It’s just a sheet of paper, and the roster is pretty complete.
In the meantime, this is an excellent link to just about everything you need to know: FANGRAPHS ROSTER RESOURCE. Of course, the Roster and the Non-Roster Invitees pages at Dodgers.com are also good, just not as complete as Fangraphs. However, the roster you get from the Dodgers has most (not all…but close) of the players’ numbers so that you can figure out who is who. They do put out some duplicate numbers out because they don’t have 200 numbers to put on the uniforms. It gets a little tricky at times to figure out who is who.
Here are a few photos from Camelback Ranch to get your motor running. We are just two days away!
More on JDM
Cary Osborne of Dodger Insider wrote this “puff piece” on JDM yesterday and I am going to publish it in its entirety as it shows that while the Dodgers may have lost someone who was a long-time Dodger, they got something better back – JDM wanted to be a Dodger:
For Martinez, the lure to LA was formula for winning and familiarity
Around the trade deadline last year, J.D. Martinez was completely aware of rumors of a potential trade to the Los Angeles Dodgers. A trade never manifested, but when the offseason hit and he became a free agent, he thought of the Dodgers’ track record of success.
And it became the main reason why he ended up signing with the team on a one-year contract.
The Dodgers landed one of the most productive players at his position in the Major Leagues, even if the final numbers in 2022 didn’t match up to the monster stats Martinez put up as one of the top power hitters in the game over the last decade.
Martinez had the fourth-highest OPS in the Majors among designated hitters with at least 250 plate appearances while playing his position, and he finished the 2022 season with 43 doubles, second in the American League.
The 35-year-old was at Dodger Stadium last week working out and taking batting practice in his new surroundings. He also attended his friend Mookie Betts’ Feb. 8 charity bowling event in Los Angeles, where he talked about the lure of being a Dodger.
“I’m in a part of my career where I just want to win. That was one of the decisions (why) I’m coming out here is the Dodgers put a great team on the field every year,” Martinez said. “I want to win. I’m getting into the back end of my career, and I know this is a really good chance, and I know I can have fun and enjoy my last two, three years in baseball and have another World Series.”
Two other lures were playing with Betts again, who he won a World Series with in Boston in 2018, and working with Dodgers hitting coach Robert Van Scoyoc, who helped change Martinez’s swing prior to his 2014 breakthrough season.
“J.D. and I never stopped talking. We always talk. We’re genuine friends, and it goes way, way deeper than baseball,” Betts said.
Martinez is just a season removed from 28 homers. His 85 doubles over the last two seasons are the most in the Majors and six more than the next closest player, Boston’s Rafael Devers.
He batted .302/.368/.481/.849 with nine home runs in the first half last season before a second-half dip that set his final season numbers at .274/.341/.448/.790 with 16 homers.
“It’s huge,” Betts said of the Dodgers signing Martinez. “Now he’s just got to go be J.D. Martinez.”
Martinez batted .393 with a .689 slugging percentage against left-hander fastballs and .323/.512 overall against fastballs in 2022. He ranked in the 87th percentile in barrel percentage (12.5) in the Majors last season, his highest number since 2018 and just above Juan Soto (12.4) and below Bryce Harper (12.8).
And now he’s in a place where he believes he can thrive and a team he can thrive with.
“I talked to Andrew (Friedman) on the phone, and I said I’m doing this because I believe in you guys, and I believe in you and the team that you put on the field every year,” Martinez said.
I will go on record and say, at the end of this season, Dodger fans will say, “Justin, who?” No disrespect intended, but I believe his skills have eroded to the point that he is a “guess hitter” that gets by on his guile. JDM may well be in the TOP 10 MVP voting, along with Mookie and Freddie.
Here are two more predictions:
- Dustin May will settle in and become the Dodgers #2; and
- Tony Gonsolin will either win 20 games or have to undergo Tommy John.
Anyone who wants to predict the opening day roster has taken leave of their senses! 😉
Discussion (27)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Only ten players been with same team entire career got me thinking wow. Than I thought must be a minimum amount of years with same team required because I can think of at least six with dodgers alone off top of my head although they only have a few years under their belt
So now I’m hoping for a Peralta/Taylor platoon in LF, with Outman getting that runway out in CF. If he has a great spring, it could happen.
To me, that’s the best-case scenario.
But Juan Toribio and various people who write for Dodger fan sites now seem to think Outman won’t be treated like Vargas and will instead start in OKC to be guaranteed full-time experience. He’d be the first man up in case of injury.
So instead of a youth movement, we could have the opposite. Even though old JT has moved on, the 2023 Dodgers will be older than the 2022 version.
The incumbent stalwarts–Betts, Freeman, Smith, Lux, Muncy, Taylor, Barnes–have all taken another lap around the sun. Peralta and JDM are both 35–younger than JT, of course, but older than everybody else in the starting lineup.
In addition to Barnes, the bench will certainly feature Rojas, 33, and perhaps Heyward, also 33. Trayce, a CF option if Outman is out in OKC, is 31.
Funny, but even the Dodgers’ MLB-ready prospects aren’t that young. Outman and Busch are 25, not 22.
We’ll see how this all shakes out in the Spring. Maybe Outman and Busch will make a big splash and force their way to Chavez Ravine.
But Vargas may be a one-man youth movement.
I’m not too worried that there is a serious geriatric problem here… though the performance of both JDM and Peralta slipped a bit 2022.
Players who spent their entire career with the Dodgers at the major league level. Campanella, Drysdale, Erskine, Ethier, Furillo, Gilliam, Koufax, Otto Miller, Reese, Robinson, Russell, Nap Rucker. So, I was wrong about Russell being the last position player to play his entire career as a Dodger. I overlooked Either, because he came to LA in a trade for Milton Bradley. But he spent his entire MLB career in LA. 12 players in the entire history of the team. The Yankees, naturally have the most, 25. Kersh could become # 13. There are currently 10 players who have been with one team their entire career and one just retired, Yadier Molina.
Is it too early to criticize Roberts for his spring training pitching decisions?
There are not enough nice things that can be said about Justin Turner the man. I’m truly happy he got to become a Dodger, finally excel in his career as a Dodger, and become an All Star and World Champion as a Dodger – his hometown team.
He was a fearsome defender and offensive producer and as much as I have loved watching him, he – like EVERY OTHER PLAYER EVER – is beginning to find Father Time is undefeated.
I’m glad he is getting a big payday. Who among us wouldn’t take that one more offer to make millions….because after they stop offering that they never offer it again.
( Well…unless you’re one of a handful like Dave Roberts!)
I’m imagining all of us wearing electric dog collars that can be activated by replying buzz to each other’s comments.
Ouch! Stop it. Not one of my better imaginings.
The funny thing is , everybody here knows Mark goes bat-sh*t crazy when anybody bad mouths Doc. I finally just got peeved about him doing it to JT, this has been going on for a while . Time to watch some new faces mature into stars and an exciting new era begin. Tick tick tick spring training just hours away
I do believe that JT will come back in 2025 and sign a 1-day contract with LA and retire as a Dodger and immediately go to the front office.
Just because I do not want to disseminate bad info, I went and checked JT and Mookie’s career splits. JT is amazingly consistent. He hit’s .286 in the first half, and .289 in the second. Where the big difference is in his power numbers. He typically turns it on after June. He is over 30 homers in each month after June. Mookie hits exactly the same as JT in the first half, .286. In the second half he is .302, May and August are Mookie’s best power months.
This was written by Dustin Nosler back in 10/23/20, but I am sure that JT has improved his reflexes and has a much faster bat than 3 years ago:
https://dodgersdigest.com/2020/10/23/a-brief-look-at-justin-turner-real-and-perceived-struggles-against-fastballs/
The leader of the Dodgers is Dave Roberts, he is the one who holds the team together, the players love him and play hard for him year after year !!!
So far, I’ve not seen heard or read anything about Miguel Vargas that’s negative.
All articles opinions and interviews lead me to believe he’s a good kid, a talented kid, and willing to listen and learn.
Freddie Freeman was raving about him at the FanFest last weekend. I can’t wait to see how he pans out!
Leaders are the ones that contribute big especially in clutch moments and garner enough respect that all the players listen and who has the balls to get up and speak his mind when things aren’t going well. At the same time being able to consult and knows when another player just needs a pat on the back among other qualities that few possess
I love the take that JT should have retired a Dodger last year. And walk away from $20 mil. Someone a lot smarter than you thinks he can still play!
1) How does anyone know who leaders are and who are not. I always found that a bunch of crap.
2) There are 26 guys on a team and more when injuries happen and it takes all of them to get the job done.
3) If you insist on talking about so called leaders and “his team or their team” try using homegrown guys like Smith, Lux, Urias, May, Kershaw, Gonsolin, Beuhler. Wow that’s the only ones, the rest are from outside the organization, I might have missed 1 or 2. Not counting rookies like Outman and Vargas.
No offense.
Because there is no memo. First he would have to do something to earn it in dodger blue and it would take more than just hitting good for first half of last year with a different team. Let him do well for a full year and produce in October then the the memo gets written up. Talk doesn’t get it results do
We all loved JT. He was a credit to the uniform. He is one of the genuinely nice guys. But some have to realize that in this day and age players rarely stick with one team their entire career. Now JT was not a career Dodger, but it flourished in LA. The Dodgers would have loved to bring him back, but not for what he got from the Red Sox. JT played a little over half his games at 3rd last season. His numbers as a DH, .270/.348/.381, do not inspire fear in anyone. He hit 3 homers as a DH and his OPS+ was 107. He fared better when he was starting at 3rd, .295/.381./.486 and his OPS+ jumped to 130. He hit 10 homers while playing 3rd. His range has deteriorated some, he still has quick reaction time, and he made several nice plays at third. His splits against lefties and righties are just about even, but he hits for more power against RHP.
But the player who was an RBI machine and one of the most clutch post season hitters in Dodger history, has struggled the last two post seasons and driven in exactly one run in his last 14 post season games and has 6 hits in those games. He is more of a guess hitter now. Someone, I cannot remember who, charted how many times he got hits off of elite fastball’s, a pitch he used to crush. It was somewhere around zero. If he hit a fastball, it was in the low 90’s, Anything 94 plus he could not catch up to. That is simply his age showing. Everyone gets old. And when they do, skills go downhill. I am 74, I have sung most all of my life and there was a time when I could do it all night long every night and never lose power in my voice. Now, I cannot do that anymore, not even close.
I would have loved to see him finish his career in LA. But baseball is a business and the business decision AF made was to move on and get a little younger. Martinez is much better suited to be a DH than any other player the Dodgers have. He will turn out to be the best DH in their history.
When people come to me and say that I can’t do what I used to, I do not think they are disrespecting me. What they say is true… and I accept and bloom where I am planted.
In The Athletic article today, it said (in part):
Vargas’ offseason bouncing between Los Angeles and Miami allowed him ample time to tap into the resources around him. Working at Dodger Stadium allowed him to sharpen his skills with potential double-play partner Gavin Lux while remaining under the watchful eye of some of the organization’s coaches. In Miami, he worked on his infield defense with two-time All-Star infielder and current Dodgers special assistant Plácido Polanco.
And with some help from mutual friends and now a shared hitting coach, Vargas also connected with five-time All-Star and newly-signed Dodger J.D. Martinez.
“They were just telling me about this kid Vargy and ‘how much he looks up to you,’” Martinez recalled last week.
When Dodgers hitting coach Robert Van Scoyoc, whom Martinez credits for his career revival in 2014, came to visit Martinez in Ft. Lauderdale, he brought Vargas with him.
“We just hit it off,” Martinez said. “He’s just a very humble kid, a great kid. … (He’s) got a lot of talent. I’m excited about him. I’ve talked to the Dodgers about him personally and I think he can be something special. He’s got great tools and great ability.”
Vargas called Martinez “my big brother” after just a couple of months working together in the batting cage this winter. It’s part of a quickly growing relationship with the slugger who has been credited with helping several teammates, including Betts, at the plate. Betts has called Martinez a “genuine friend” dating to their days in Boston and was among those who helped recruit Martinez to Los Angeles.
That speaks volumes that Martinez and Vargas are so close. JDM is the leader of this 2023 Dodger Team – most fans just have not gotten the memo yet!
That’s fair. Let’s respect the guys who have lead by example already, Mookie and Freddie. Both who respected Kersh and JT as the leaders.
And be very glad when other leaders step up also,
guys like Smith and Max.
It’s Mookie’s and Freddie’s team not JD’s. He hasn’t done Jack for the dodgers yet. I hope all the good that’s being said about him is true in being a good clubhouse guy and leader type and he hits all year like he did in first half last year I’ll be real glad we got him but let him do some great things in a dodger uniform before being anointed his team
Obviously contributor Vengeur doesn’t understand the meaning of opinion blogs and creating dialogue. I also was a great fan of JT and was glad he was in Dodger blue. That being said I think Mark was right on. He should have retired a Dodger and hopefully becomes part of the front office when he stops playing. No disrespect intended. Skill sets deminish and players have to move on to another part of their career.
We have our tickets for ST and an airB&B reserved in Phoenix. One of the games is with the Padres. This is our first time back since Covid so we are really looking forward to spending a week at ST.
Wacha to the Padres
I had a small chuckle with that last line. I’m drinking my great tasting coffee made from great tasting water with thanks to you Mark. I have a grandmother who fills a 5 gallon water bottle here at my apartment for her baby granddaughter who also thanks you. Could be the main reason I’m still alive.
It seems more players all the time wants to play in Dodger blue and that’s the way I want it. It’s gonna be a fun season. Cheers!
I’m tired of the put-downs of Justin. Give it a break already. I’m REALLY tired of it, after all the good years he had here. And it IS disrespect. It’s really a disgrace.
The Athletic has a great piece on Vargas and his desire to be a good defensive player and Miguel Vargas, Plácido Polanco (both of whom are working with Miguel), and the Legend that is JD Martinez.
The 2023 Dodgers are JD Martinez’s team!
Urias
May
Gonsolin
Kershaw
Thor
Would be pretty sweet