There is a lot of speculation out there as to how the Dodgers will deal with the injuries sustained by Yamamoto and Mookie Betts. We already know they have called up a couple of pitchers from the minors to replace Yamamoto and Grove. And the word is , Vargas will be recalled to take Betts roster spot.
Easy call since he is on the 40-man roster. There are no other infielders on the 40-man who are not in the majors. Not Sweeney, nor Lipcius, or Hoese. So it seems the Dodgers for the time being are going to replace Betts at SS, in house with Rojas. Huge falloff offensively, huge upside on the defensive side.
So, should AF trade for a SS? Having closely observed how he has worked since he took over after the 2014 season, my first reaction is that he will not. He waited over a month and a half after Seager went down in 2018 before he traded for Machado on the 18th of July, about 2 weeks before the deadline.
That trade was made out of need. Chris Taylor and Kike were handling the position after Corey went down. Both were ok defensively, but their combined offense was not that great.
But AF knew that Seager was down for the year. They needed an offensive boost, and Machado was their answer. Machado never was the same player he was in Baltimore after the trade. He was hitting .315 before the trade, he ended up hitting .273 in LA with 13 homers. He completely disappeared in the World Series and had four hits, all singles.
Since he went to SD as a free agent, Machado has been a .270 hitter, compared to the .283 he hit in Baltimore. He got a huge deal, and for the Padres, he has done very well. But not really enough to be considered a huge success for that type of money. He surely has not been the MVP type player that Seager or Betts have been.
Considering the fact that Mookie will be out for only a couple of months, I do not think AF will consider making a trade for a rental SS who would cost a lot of prospects: Adames, a high priced SS who is not really living up to his contract: Lindor, or a SS who has one year left before free agency, but who is having a down season: Bichette.
Rojas makes the defense better. He is having one of his best years offensively. He is a team leader in the dugout and on the field. No, in my opinion, AF sticks with what he has.
Pitching wise, the Dodgers are deep in talent in the minors. Knack, Hurt, and Casparius all could lend a hand at some point this season.
At AA, Wrobleski could become this year’s Sheehan and make the jump from AA. Position player wise, there are some choices for position players who could make the jump, but not on the infield unless someone on the present 40-man becomes a casualty. Kike and Taylor are the most vulneable because of their lack of production. Lux has a longer runway. But Lux could also be moved if they decided to trade for a second baseman.
Where the real fly in the buttermilk is, is third base. They miss Muncy’s power bat. And at this point, no one has any idea when the slugging third sacker will return. While I see a ton of suggestions as to which SS they should target, I see no third base suggestions. Used to be that everyone was clamoring for Arenado. Not so much anymore with his sharp decline in offensive production.
I believe AF is just marking time. He has inside info we do not. Muncy has resumed some baseball activities, but he is not facing live pitching just yet. AF has a plan or ten, we just have no clue what it is. Stay tuned between now and the deadline. I am sure we will see movement by then.
ARIZONA COMPLEX LEAGUE
ACL DODGERS 2 – ACL RANGERS 1
Box Score
One – They do not need to make a trade for a SS. Miggy Ro will be just fine at SS. He has superior defense and his bat his also fine. Going into Monday night’s game, in his previous 10 games he was hitting .344/.382/.500/.882. Then he goes out and gets 3 hits on Monday.
Roberts has indicated that Mookie will be out 6-8 weeks. I am going with closer to 6 weeks. Manny Machado had a fracture of the third metacarpal in his left hand in 2023. He went on the IL May 16, and was activated June 2. That was less than 3 weeks. Obviously Mookie’s fracture is worse, and I am nowhere close to getting my medical degree, so I will accede to the experts. 6 weeks takes him right up to the trade deadline (6 weeks from today). 8 weeks middle of August. That should give Mookie plenty of time to get ready for October. And you know, he may be more well rested.
We have no idea whether there is a difference making SS who will be available. The Dodgers have more than enough to bridge a gap. If Bichette becomes available, you have to consider it. If DeJong is available and the cost is a lottery ticket, you have to consider it. If Jackson Holliday is available, now we’re talking.
I do not worry too much about the guys not on the 40 man. AF is adept at making those moves. If AF believes Hoese or Lipcius should be on the 26 man, I see a Cavan Biggio DFA.
I do think the Dodgers miss Muncy. He is a power bat in the middle of the lineup that the pitcher has to worry about. I do not think they worry about Cavan Biggio.
If the Dodgers do go 3B hunting I would still make a call to Mike Elias at Baltimore for Jordan Westburg. Acknowledging not much of a chance on Westburg, Isaac Paredes (Tampa Bay) or Josh Smith (Texas) could be available. And no Bums, Royce Lewis is not coming to LAD.
Confidential to Watford Dodger: I was in your fair city yesterday with my family, possibly as part of a Harry Potter diversion from our three-week UK romp. Carry on.
This for me was a fun game to watch. Even though their RISP was not great, they managed to score 9. Freddie on base 6 times! Had he walked instead of singling, he would have tied Jimmy Foxx being the only player in MLB history to walk six times in one game. Foxx did it in 1938. Rojas stepped up big time and made a couple of plays I do not think Mookie could have. Ohtani looked really comfortable at the plate. Smith with his first triple. Pages was the only player without a hit. Jay-Hey had two knocks and even Biggio had a run scoring single. They face a lefty tomorrow in Gomber. Let’s hope Buehler has a decent game. McMahon and most likely Blackmon will be back in the lineup for the Rocks. Then they get Feltner and for game four, Ty Blach. Blach has been really good against the Dodgers in his career. He has a 4-3 career record against LA. He is not a strikeout pitcher, only 27 in 50 innings. Vargas, Taylor and Kike will most likely get some ABs against those two. After the Angel series on Friday and Saturday, they will fly to Chicago to meet the White Sox. Brandon Gomes is on the road trip with the team. I have seen numerous reports, well rumors actually from some writers who believe the Dodgers will pull off a major trade BEFORE the deadline. Most think it will involve a SS. I do not believe this will be the case. I still think if AF and Gomes make a trade, it will be more for an outfield bat and a bullpen arm. Feyereisen probably pitched himself back to AAA. There now is no pitcher listed for Thursday’s start. I think they will send Feyereisen down and recall Knack.
Some really interesting takes these past couple of days. For me injuries are a part of sport and you just carry on.
Much chat about the increased and incredible amount of injuries to Pitchers, but interestingly not one mention of the correlation between these injuries and the introduction of the Pitch Clock?
I predicted two years ago that there would be a lot more injuries to Starting Pitchers, and thst notion was brushed off, and lo and behold here we are!
Btw, AF should still push the chips in for CJA!!
Oh yes. Vargas is on the 40-man roster and the others aren’t. Now it makes sense!
Anyway, count me in the camp of fans who think Mookie’s injury (but not Yamamoto’s) may be a blessing in disguise. We caught a glimpse of why in the win against the Rockies, with everybody stepping up.
Paxton was terrific at Coors, and kudo to Roberts for the new lineup, with Shohei at lead-off and Will Smith batting second.
I doubt that many of us expected that little wrinkle. Makes a lot of sense, getting a L-R-L-R rhythm at the top. Smith always provides quality ABs. Freddie sure improved his K to BB ratio.
Now Mookie will get his rest and should come back strong in August. The rest of the Dodgers should be motivated to prove how they can succeed without their de facto leader. And The front office should have a better opportunity to assess the team’s needs as the trade deadline approaches.
Who will rise to the occasion?
Lux is one to watch, certainly. I hope he gets starts against both righties and lefties. Will Vargas get similar consideration in LF? We’ll see… But Taylor, Kike and Biggio also need to prove they belong.
So let’s pause to salute the oft-overlooked Miguel Rojas, who has always proven he belongs. He seems to be taken for granted while we fret over the fates of Vargas and Lux.
When AF traded for him, Rojas was just expecte to be a veteran with a good glove who would back up Lux at SS and mentor (and back up) Vargas at 2B. But he became the most indispensable part of the ’23 keystone–and is showing it again with Mookie’s injury.
Talking about stepping up. Starting at SS in place of Mookie, Rojas went 3 for 5, with a double and two singles, two runs scored and 1 RBI. He raised his BA to .292 and his OPS to .799–all while providing solid defense.
If Lux and Vargas were producing numbers like that, we’d be thrilled. And of course Rojas, age 35, is also outperforming fellow veterans Taylor, Kike and Biggio.
If Rojas continues to deliver, AF will be less likely to shop for a SS. No, scratch that: He will shop, but he’d be less likely to deal. But if Rojas fades, that could change.
I still expect AF to make significant moves before the deadline. There is just too much talent on the market and the Dodgers have considerable trade capital.
Allow me to repost my post from yesterday:
“Good post Jeff. Finally a cooler head prevails. I just knew Mookie’s injury would start a firestorm to sign just about anybody perviously mentioned and some that weren’t. I just as soon see the Dodgers overpay for a non-upgrade like Adames and get it over with”.
“Once again, I’m completely amazed at the lack of respect for Miggy Rojas. The guy is more than adequate and an upgrade over Mookie at short with the glove. He’s hitting .278 (NOW .292) and an 8% K rate. Yeah, he doesn’t slug and I can live with that, in spades.”
“Why does everybody want to overpay for temporary help when we don’t need to?
Badger has mentioned he has a sore leg and is 35 but I haven’t seen a decline in his play. He can cover it more then adequately, with Kike and CT3 filling in as needed.”
“What am I missing here?”
Paxton is so fun when he’s ON. He is such a North-South pitcher, living by spotting that fastball at the top of the zone and mixing that nasty breaking ball. It’s really fun to see a craftsman get it done without 97.
Can Michael Toglia, the switch hitting RF/1b, old Bruin, throw at all from right field? It was unimportant but comical. In the first 2 innings, he overthrew the cut guy on Teoscar’s RBI double and it ended up rolling somewhere toward the pitchers mound. Had Teo found the ball rounding 2nd he could have hustled to 3rd. instead he was doing the early Freddie on 2nd. Next, Toglia tossed an off line short hop to the cut guy on Miggy’s single and the third was a toss somewhere to the infield, again way off line to home on Shohei’s single. On the very next play, he sort of misplayed the ball off the wall on Will’s triple. His spray pattern on his arm says “Run on this guy all series”.
Hoping that Ferris can find some much needed success tonight.
Good game, looks like Jeff was right about Miggy Ro, I’m starting to like him a lot. He’s really worked on his hitting and it shows. Maybe he’s the contact hitter the Dodgers have been needing in their lineup for a while.
Good grief that Fereiysien bum is awful. Where in the world did Friedman dig that guy up? Was he working at the grocery store before?
Here is Gavin Lux’s slash line
.211/.261/.284 OPS+ 56
is anyone still believing he’s going to magically figure it out and start slicing the ball all over the field like Wee Willie Keeller? Should the Dodgers give him another 5 years? 10? Can they please get him out of the starting lineup?
Paxton and Glasnow both going 7 innings saved the overworked bullpen. Talking about stepping up when really needed, they did it.
Is Heyward doing so well that Outman shouldn’t be a Dodger?
Lux doing fine wrisp.
I like Teoscar Hernandez. He’s good in the outfield, provides a veteran presence and a power bat. He has been a good fit with the Dodgers. Plus, he seems well liked and a good teammate.
He has been blessed with the hitters ahead of him providing plenty of opportunities for RBI. Now moving up to the 4 hole, he will face more demands to come through w/ RISP. And so far he’s been fair, but not great.
There was a reason why Freddie got 5 walks last night and it wasn’t just the pitchers being shitty.
He has had 88 at bats with RISP. A lot for 62 games. But he’s only hitting .216 with a K-rate of 35%. His 51 RBI could be much higher.
Last night, he left 7 guys on base with 3 K’s. He can be a sucker for outside sliders. That was his rep in Seattle, who didn’t have the lineup talent to withstand his 34% K-rate.
He is going to continue to be in situations to drive in runs and we will see how he responds. A little more contact would go along way in those situations even with our slug mentality.
I actually got to watch the game last night. I found a station on Spectrum which only shows the Rockies games. 130. It also shows a replay twice. Once about 2 hours after the game, and once the next morning. The only bad thing was having to listen to Drew Goodman and his drivel. He is the worst announcer in baseball. Since Jenny Cavnar left to be the A’s play by play announcer, they hired another lady to do pre- and post-game stuff. Jeff Huson is still Goodman’s color man in the booth. Spillbourghs is also on the pre- and post-game show. After about 10 minutes, I could not take it anymore, so I muted the sound and just enjoyed the game. Made it much easier to watch.
Don’t look now, but J.D. Davis was just DFA by Oakland. You just know J.D. fits the AF sweet spot. All kidding aside, I would not be surprised to see the Dodgers either pick him up off waivers or wait until he is released. Not predicting it, just will not be surprised.
Dion
Hope you enjoyed your trip to Watford yesterday – you should’ve reached out, woulda been cool
to hook up.
How are you enjoying England 🏴
Hope you’re having a few pints. Where else are you visiting? I’m moving full time to London on July 1st
The talented Craig Goldstein tackles the same problem Bear asks ($$$$)
https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article/91625/ta-the-dodgers-get-a-couple-of-bad-breaks/
why the most likely course is the most frustrating one: just waiting it out.
there is a lingering worry about how Miller has looked in MiLB.
I really don’t have anything new to add seeing the 54 comments before me pretty much said much of what I’m thinking:
Bo Bichette went on the IL today with some hammy issues. Scratch him from my trade list. I do not want any damaged goods. I cannot remember a year with so many injuries around the leagues. Verlander placed on the IL today by Houston.
Very sad day. The Say Hey Kid, Willie Mays passed away today at the age of 93. A great baseball player and a great person.
RIP Willie!!! 🙏
Buehler doesn’t have it. Get him out of there.
Die by OPS, Live by OPS.
Wah-Ooh!! What a comeback.