You Can't Keep Track of the Players Without a Scorecard

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: 

1. Dustin May will settle in and become the Dodgers #2; and
2. 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!  😉