I wanted to add to what Bear wrote yesterday. I agree with Bear that this is a different era. I was not around for the Boys of Summer. I did not start following the Dodgers in earnest until the 1959 season. I grew up with the Dodgers in the 60’s, and that is the era that I will most fondly remember. The Dodgers got to three WS in the 60’s, winning 2, and got to three in the 70’s, losing all three. They had two improbable WS wins in the 80’s, but nothing after for 30 years.
Even from 1963-1988, the Dodgers got to 8 WS and won 4 of them. But they did not dominate.
The Dodgers won the NL West 3 times, and won 3 NLCS’ to advance to the World Series. They came in 2nd six times, and 3rd once. They had one season with a sub .500 record. They had a .562 winning percentage. The 70’s was a good era, but no domination.
The 80’s started a decline of sorts. The Dodgers won three NL West Division titles, two WS (one in 1981 with 2nd best NL record). They finished 2nd three times, 4th three times, and 5th once. Their winning percentage for the 80’s was .527. They had 4 seasons with a sub .500 seasons. No domination, but two WS.
For 2013-2022, no team is even close to the number of wins that the Dodgers have.
- LAD – 931 wins (.614), 10 playoffs, lowest win total 91
- NYY – 858 wins (.565), 7 playoffs, lowest win total 84
- STL – 848 wins (.559), 7 playoffs, lowest win total 83
- CLE – 845 wins (.557), 6 playoffs, 1 sub .500 team
- HOU – 832 wins (.548), 7 playoffs, 3 sub .500 teams
- BOS – 818 wins (.539), 5 playoffs, 4 sub .500 teams
- TBR – 809 wins (.533), 5 playoffs, 4 sub .500 teams
- ATL – 793 wins (.522), 6 playoffs, 3 sub .500 teams
- CHC – 789 wins (.520), 5 playoffs, 4 sub .500 teams
- MIL – 778 wins (.513), 4 playoffs, 3 sub .500 teams
- WSN – 778 wins (.513), 4 playoffs, 3 sub .500 teams
- OAK – 772 wins (.509), 5 playoffs, 4 sub .500 teams
- TOR – 770 wins (.507), 4 playoffs, 3 sub .500 teams
- NYM – 767 wins (.505), 3 playoffs, 6 sub .500 teams
- SFG – 766 wins (.505), 3 playoffs, 5 sub .500 teams
- SEA – 762 wins (.502), 1 playoffs, 5 sub .500 teams
- KCR – 713 wins (.470), 2 playoffs, 6 sub .500 teams
For the period 2013-2022, the Dodgers had the best record in the NL four times. The only teams that had more than 1 seasons with the best record in their league…Boston twice, Houston twice, and Tampa Bay twice. Only Houston had more than 1 championship.
I do not know what is going to happen in 2023. I do not know if the Dodgers will produce another NL West Divisional Championship. But in my heart, I do believe the Dodgers have dominated the last decade, even without the WS Championships. Will there be 2-3-4 rookies who will break out to carry on the dominance? Will this be Clayton’s final run with the Dodgers?
We keep hearing how special the Padres are going to be. They will have a great lineup. There is no denying that. But their starting pitching is suspect, and far more suspect than the Dodgers. Blake Snell is no Clayton Kershaw. We keep hearing that Kershaw is a 120 innings pitcher. Perhaps he is. But it will be a great 120 innings.
Blake Snell is also a 120 innings pitcher, and it is nowhere near what Kershaw can produce. Yu Darvish? Is he the 2021 or 2022 version? Their 4th and 5th starters? Nick Martinez and Seth Lugo. San Diego’s depth? Failed starter Adrián Morejón.
The Dodgers depth…Ryan Pepiot, Michael Grove, Bobby Miller, and Gavin Stone. All will be starters in AAA along with Andre Jackson, when not in LA. San Diego does not have AAA depth anywhere near that level.
LAD has dominated without the championships for a decade. If their rookies come through, and if they can extend some of their current regulars, they can dominate for another decade. Yes, I do acknowledge and recognize that it is a Big If. Nobody knows what is going to happen before the season starts. Yes, it is all a BIG GUESS. Nobody thought that Walker Buehler was going to be sidelined with TJ surgery last year. And yet the Dodgers still had the best ERA in MLB.
The Dodgers depth is unparalleled. Will they need it? All teams do. That is why, I still think they will be at the top.
Trade Gonsolin’s greedy ass and plug Pepiot in the rotation.
You can’t be serious.
I think he is. Gonsolin want’s what, 4 million? Thats greedy? He deserves a raise after the season he had. Pepiot is nowhere close to the pitcher Gonsolin is. He is still a work in progress.
Gonsolin is only asking for $3.4M. Just $400K more than Dodger offer. Dodgers are silly to go to arbitration with him over $400K.
I was in the ballpark. Yep, you would think they would get this done.
Pepiot may get plugged into the rotation for Gonsolin, but it will not be because of his “greedy ass”. Gonsolin could end up going the Walker Buehler route this year.
I am not sure what your beef is with Gonsolin’s $3.4MM submittal. That was the lowest of the arbitration projections that ranged from $3.4MM to $4MM. Nobody projected as low as $3.0MM, which the Dodgers submitted. I am not sure which party is being greedy here,
I think it is still possible that the Dodgers will get a multi-year deal done for Gonsolin. I also think it is possible that the Dodgers know the medicals more than we do, and maybe they sense surgery in his future. It is better (for the team) to get the arbitration figure as low as possible with an injury, especially with a super two player. Arbitration salaries do not come down. See Walker Buehler.
You called it Jeff.
Bear mentioned this yesterday, and MLBTR had a snippet on the passing of Ralph Ávila. There were some nice comments for a change in the comment section.
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/01/ralph-avila-passes-away.html
RIP Ralph Ávila… A true Dodger.
The Dodgers’ depth ain’t what it used to be. The Athletic posted an article this morning which observed that the Blue lost more WAR to free agency this year than any team in baseball. They lost: Trea Turner, Justin Turner, Cody Bellinger, Tyler Anderson, Andrew Heaney, Chris Martin, Tommy Kahnle, Craig Kimbrel, Joey Gallo, David Price, Hanser Alberto, Danny Duffy, Jimmy Nelson, Kevin Pillar and Edwin Rios.
I’m certainly not contending that they should have kept all of these guys, but you can’t possibly lose this many players without impacting “depth”.
Last year, they lost Max Scherzer, Corey Seager, Cory Knebel, Joe Kelly, Kenley Jansen, Steven Souza, Andrew Vasquez, Albert Pujols and Cole Hamels. How long can you sustain a talent drain like the Dodgers have sustained and not have it affect performance?
So replacing T. Turner is ? JD Martinez replaces J Turner. Bellinger is not replaced either. Heaney and Anderson are replaced by May (off of the IL) and ?. Martin, Kahnle, Kimbrel are replaced by ?
T. Turner was a 4.9 bWAR player last year and 22.9 bWAR in the last 5 years. Anderson led the Dodgers in IP and W last year. J. Turner’s productivity will probably be replaced in party by JD Martinez but he can’t and won’t replace JT in the clubhouse.
Looking at the gaping wounds that are LF and CF and the potentially horrible INF defense (Muncy, Lux and Vargas?) does not give me warm fuzzies either. I think that Dodger starting pitching should be very good to excellent as will the bullpen. But I am not particularly sanguine about 2023.
Yes, the Dodgers have lost many players over the last two years. But they have many options to replace their losses.
The biggest loss from last year was Trea Turner. I wish they would have resigned him, but $300 million is a lot for any player. The Dodgers will replace him with Lux and Rojas this year. Playing with an injured wrist, Rojas had 2.5 bWAR last year and Lux was hitting 300 with an OBP of 400 before getting hurt in August.
The loss of Anderson and Heaney should be replaced adequately by Syndergard and May. And Dodgers have top prospects Miller, Stone and Pepiot in AAA ready to fill in.
The Dodgers actually received very little contributions from LF and CF last year.
Bellinger has been one of the worst hitters in MLB the last two years, while Taylor and Gallo hit under 210 combined in LF last year. The combination of a healthy Taylor, Outman, Thompson and possibly Heyward or Busch should be an improvement from last year. And if necessary, the Dodger could bring in Reynolds or another CF at the trade deadline.
And I hate to see JT go, but he received a guaranteed $15 million this year and $22 million for next two years. By all accounts both JDM and Rojas bring great leadership and are already working with the young Dodgers like Vargas to help them.
Sure the Dodgers enter 2023 with alot of questions, and they may not reach the win totals of 111 and 106 from the last two years. However, I am optimistic that they can compete with Padres for the division title and make a playoff run for the pennant.
Neither Cole Hamels or Danny Duffy appeared in one single Dodger game. I do not consider either of them losses.
Gonsolin agrees to two year $6.65MM.
Nice deal
The Dodgers just signed RHP Matt Andriese to a MiLB contract. This has the looks of another project for the Pitching Yoda. If Prior can unleash something for Andriese, he might become a potential valuable reliever. This is a very low risk for a potentially high reward signing.