Yamamoto threw a bullpen today and it went well. Freddie, who is not injured, may possibly join the team for this homestand. Mookie is targeting August 12th during their next road trip which starts in Milwaukee. Max and Edman should not be too far behind. Grove and Graterol are close to returning according to reports from the Dodgers. Brasier needs a little longer.
Roberts said that Buehler is going to get one more re-hab start at OKC, and then they will see where he is. Rojas is participating in a sim game this week along with Max and Betts. As these guys get healthy, we are going to see a roster turnover very soon. I feel that Biggio is definitely on the bubble. Nick Ahmed might be on the bubble also. Outman will most definitely be optioned out as soon as the first player is activated. Most likely that will be Freeman.
After those three, it gets a little tricky. Right now, it looks like Chris Taylor is not going to be coming back anytime soon, so he is pretty safe. That leaves the underachievers. You know Rosario is safe. So is Kiermaier. Who goes down or gets released? Pages can be optioned. But more likely he stays and platoons with Kiermaier. If, and only if, Mookie moves back to right, the outfield will be more stable than it has been. Edman can also play some centerfield. To me, it means Kike is very vulnerable. What they can do is put someone on the 10-day, and then recall them on September 1st when they get an extra roster spot. The plus side of Edman is that he is a switch hitter.
My hope for Kershaw is that he can either give them some innings, or even come in against some tough lefties as a reliever. Kersh has done that before. If he doesn’t feel he can contribute quality innings, he might just pull himself from the rotation. He has been such an icon to the organization, they will give him every chance to prove he can be effective. Buehler, I am not so sure about. His velocity is down some, but what is more disturbing is his lack of control. Buehler has always been a strike thrower, now, not so much.
Stone seems to have hit a wall, which should be expected since he is only 10 innings shy of his career high. Glasnow improved a lot from his first outing off of the IL. If Yamamoto makes it back and is anywhere near the pitcher he was before he went down, they will have a solid front three with Glasnow, Flaherty and Yamamoto. They could give Stone a blow and re-call Wrobleski for a couple of starts. But I would feel very comfortable going into the playoffs with a rotation of Glasnow, Flaherty, Yamamoto and Stone. River Ryan could be a weapon out of the pen. Kid has some serious stuff. Kopech has impressed in his two appearances, and I would not feel bad about him getting some save chances.
The bullpen has been porous lately and they need to stop the bleeding down there. There is now news that Freddies boy, Maximus has been allowed to go home. Great news. Bullpen has pitched well in the three-game series with Oakland. They did not allow a run after the first game where Kelly got tagged for one. Since then, the bullpen has not allowed a run. Treinen got out of a bases loaded jam that Ryan had gotten into in the 5th inning.
Minor League Report
OKC 8 El Paso 6: Justin Wrobleski started for OKC and went 4.2 innings. He allowed 5 runs on 5 hits, 5 walks, and he struck out 5. By the time he left the game, OKC was ahead, 7-5. Jack Little relieved him and got the win. He gave up 1 run and 2 hits in his 1.1 innings of relief, one of those hits was a homer by Ornelas with 2 outs in the 6th. Hoese had hit his 12th homer in the third, and Trejo hit his 2nd in the 4th. Brasier pitched one inning of hitless relief striking out 2. Dreyer also pitched a scoreless inning and Michael Petersen got his 5th save. All of the OKC hitters had a hit except for Feduccia, who was 0-4 with 2 RBIs. Trejo went 3-4 and Gauthier was the only other player with multiple hits.
Tulsa 5 Springfield 3: Orlando Ortiz-Mayr got the start for the Drillers. He went 5 innings giving up 2 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks. He struck out 4 while earning his 6th win. Suarez relieved him and had a scoreless inning. Knowles was next up; he got two outs and walked a batter who ended up scoring when Henriquez gave up a single in the same inning. Henriquez got out of the inning without any more damage, he then threw a scoreless 8th. He struck out 2 hitters. Wepf gave up a hit in the 9th, but secured his 4th save. Rushing, who was the DH, crushed 2 homers, he now has 17, and drove in 3 runs. Freeland went 0-2 with 2 walks and scored 2. He has since been promoted to AAA. Lockwood-Powell and Fernandez had the only other 2 hits and both drove in a run.
Great Lakes 3 Cedar Rapids 2: Cedar Rapids scored a run in the bottom of the 3rd, then the Loons answered with 3 in the top of the 4th and made them stand up. In the bottom of the 3rd, Salas tripled and then scored on a ground out, Miller to Nevin. In the top of the 4th, Newell was hit by a pitch. Campbell got aboard on a fielder’s choice. He got all the way to third on a throwing error by the third baseman and Newell scored. Mongelli then singled in Campbell. Mongelli stole second, and then went to third on an error. Nevin then hit a sac-fly to right and ended the scoring for the Loons. In the bottom of the 8th, a couple of walks and a single score the last run for Cedar Rapids. The Loons had 7 hits. Quiroz and Campbell had 2 apiece. Wyatt Crowell went 3 innings giving up a run, on 2 hits and a walk. He struck out 3. Jacob Meador relieved him in the 4th and gave up 1 run on 1 hit and 4 walks. He pitched 4.2 innings and got his 1st win. He also struck out 5. Marinez got 1 out in the 8th, and then Ramirez pitched the 9th for his 5th save.
Rancho 6 San Jose 2: The Quakes made it a clean sweep for the Dodgers affiliates with a win at home against the Giants farm team. They scored 3 in the first and 3 in the 4th to take a 6-0 lead. Christian Zazueta started and went 5 innings for his 1st win. He allowed 1 hit, 1 run, walked none and struck out 8. The only hit was a homer by Cesar Quintas in the 5th. Marco Corcho pitched 1 inning of relief and allowed 1 run on 3 hits. He struck out 1. Josielyn Gonzalez then pitched 2 innings of scoreless relief giving up 3 hits, a walk and striking out 1. Reynaldo Yean then pitched a scoreless 9th striking out 2. Juan Alonso, the CF for the Quakes was 3-4 with 2 driven in. Hope was 0-2 with 2 walks and a run scored. 3B, Wilman Diaz was 2-3 with 2 driven in and a run scored.
Born June 14th, 1948, in Los Angeles California. AKA The Bear
Hope you all had a great weekend. It was good to see the Dodgers win a road series finally. Never fails, you dis a guy for non-production, and he has a good series. That was Kike this weekend. They are still striking out way too damn much. 11 more on Sunday. Doing my best to hold down the fort until Jeff is back.
NH Dodgers
I can’t believe I missed this in your post yesterday.
“if we were sitting a Silver Slugger to play a no hit Gold Glove, I would get the frustration.”
That’s a big gap, which tells me you value defense WAY MORE than offense, because it sounds to me you won’t give up a little better defense according to flawed defense stats unless we’re talking about a silver slugger. Like I said before, runs produce + runs prevented for 1 guy vs runs produced + runs prevented for the other guy and it doesn’t need to be a silver slugger to see who is more valuable, if you want to use flawed defense stats. I care a lot about pitching, just like I do offense. Isn’t it the responsibility of the pitcher to prevent runs? If gold glove defense is so important and the Dodgers have several of them when the team is healthy, then why were we all hoping AF would get an impact starting pitcher or 2 and hoping Yamamoto would return? Could it be starting pitchers have the responsibility of preventing runs? Since it’s the responsibility of position player starters to produce runs, then isn’t it the responsibility for the starting pitcher (and any pitcher) to prevent runs? If gold glove defense is so important, then why did some of us want a lockdown bullpen?
Sorry about me carrying this over from yesterday, I was busy all day after the short discussion we had yesterday morning and sorry if this sounds like I’m being an ass, I’m not, it’s just a discussion.
I would argue pitching and offense are the 2 most important things, followed by defense.
Kike has always been a streaky hitter. I’m not sure if we’ve ever seen him have a season of consistency in his offensive production. At this point in time, I wouldn’t take him off the field. Too hot, but there are plenty of other choices for removal. My first choice would be Biggio. He did well subbing for Freddie and he can play 3B as well, but no offensive game to speak of. With Kike at 3B, Biggio is expendable. If we are concerned about defense, Outman is the choice for CF and can platoon with Kiermaier until a permanent CF can be found. OTOH, Pages seems to have some life yet in his bat. Maybe he would be better for the CF platoon. Kiermaier seems to have zero ability at the plate and wonder if we should keep the platoon of Pages/Outman, or even just Pages. Lots to ponder.
Mark McGwire started his career as an Oakland A’s player, could we be seeing the next non-steriod using Mark McGwire right in front of our very eyes in Brent Rooker? Meaning Rooker as good as McGwire would have been without steriods.
Rushing, Freeland and Henriquez promoted to OKC.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!
We had a discussion about Doc taking out Wrobleski and RR too early. While I felt with Wrobleski he should have stayed 1 more batter because his pitch count was lower I agree RR should have been relieved at 91 pitches. I am more convinced of that after yesterday. Pushing a guy too much can affect the next game. It was terrible timing on both pitchers because it didn’t work out. But yesterday u could c RR certainly didn’t bounce back(c Yamamoto) and wasn’t sharp. So I think Doc got it right on RR.
I know that Kiermaier is a defensive player. But wow. He looks like they grabbed a guy off the street and gave him a baseball bat.
A nice way to finish off the road trip. The BP looks as though it has returned to being effective again. Phillips looks much better as do Hudson, Vesia, and Treinen. With the addition of Kopech and Honeywell and the return of Grove and Graterol the BP should be in good shape for the remaining of the season and postseason. Of course, health will be the determining factor in their success. Oh, and there’s the high wire act of Joe Kelly to be appreciated.
Bear, I have to disagree with keeping Kiermaier on the team. With the return of Edman I think he can provide much more offense and be more than adequate in CF. Kiermaier’s GG defense isn’t outstanding enough to overcome his .190 average, .536 OPS, and 31% K rate. We have enough players with this kind offensive output. I didn’t understand the trade to begin with. Similar to the Joey Gallo trade last year.
Good news with Freddie’s son returning home. Under those circumstances, his return should be when he totally ready to do so.
Bear, you have been doing an outstanding effort in maintaining this site and keeping us informed and entertained. Kudos to you!
Jeff D, I hope rehab is going well for you. It’s quite a grind, but well worth it in the end. Stay strong and consistent!
Carry on.
I see we are favored today. Glasnow v Nola.
Is Freddie back?
Phillies are. 2-8. I don’t know what is wrong with them. Dodgers are. 4-6. I do know what’s wrong with them.
Maybe Kiermaier will end up with some +DRS numbers but I haven’t seen them yet. Pages doesn’t thrill me anymore. Neither does Outman. We needed a center fielder and didn’t find a good one. Heyward is a professional but he will continue with bottom of the order numbers. Teoscar is also a professional and I see him maintaining 5 hole numbers.
Rushing in left? Ok, but those minor leaguers we have that clobbered AAA haven’t really adjusted to ML pitching have they.
We need the first string in there and we need them all to hit through October. We also need Wrobleski, Ryan and whoever to fill in for those still standing starters that need a rest. And face it, we need Yamamoto to do what he’s being paid to do or this team will struggle and not just in the playoffs but in the stretch run as well. I see this Division tightening up in August.
This six game home stand against two very good teams is crucial for the Dodgers. They are facing Nola tonight. He is a tough customer. But Philadelphia is now just 1.5 games ahead of the Dodgers for the best record in the NL. Phils have lost 8 of their last 10. The Phillies are also just 4 games over .500 on the road. The Dodgers are 14 over at home. The Pirates are 2 games over .500 on the road. Glasnow, Kershaw and Stone are the starting pitchers for the series against Nola, 11-4, Sanchez, 7-7 and Phillips, 3-1. They will probably face Skenes and Keller in the Pirate series, so some good arms will be pitching for the opposition.
Still not sure why we felt we needed a CF with no stick…albeit, he is good with the glove? I guess he would be a good late inning replacement for us to hold the lead.
I would like not to see Pages play at all….play Kike in RF when there is a LHP. I’m hoping Edman can play CF so that we don’t need the guy who is all glove no stick.
Lux is making me eat my words. I’m glad to eat them too.
By the way, I’m also glad we got rid of Vargas. He is 2-20 on CWS with about 10 Ks. He does have a HR as one of his hits. Seeing him bat lead off is such a joke. Vargas has to go down as a top 10 “Fool ya” prospect. Certain people on that other site just gushed over him….i wanted to believe too.
I’m glad Freddie’s kid is on the road to recovery. Poor little man….he’s too young to have to experience trials like this one. Oh well….that smile on his face in the photo shown to us tells me he is one tough little man and he will recover nicely. I bet FREDDIE gets a rousing reception upon his return.
I hope Glasnow can keep the ball in the park tonight…Philly bats woke up yesterday. Be especially careful to Turner and Harper.
Go Blue….TM
I don’t think we want Chris Taylor on the team if you can have keke kiermeir rosario pages rojas Barnes Heyward Gormon as your subs they all hit better then Chris does. It’s who goes down when Muncy comes back maybe Pages.
Nelson really let the A’s ownership have it yesterday. He laid it on the line about how they have let the franchise go down the toilet. But the Oakland coliseum is a dump. Even the fans say so. The Bay area itself is a dump. He kept saying IF they move to Vegas. I believe it is a forgone conclusion they are moving to Sin City. I still cannot stand Jessica Mendoza. She giggles too damn much, and she adds nothing to the broadcast.
I’m glad we got Flaherty and kept our top Prospects and didn’t knit a deal together for Crochet.
Things are starting to happen Freddie is back Biggio is a DFA. Graterol and Grove are at Dodger stadium. Rojas says he’s ready to go. Muncy took swings on a velocity machine and feels good could start a rehab assignment this weekend
Freddie is in the lineup hitting third tonight
So since Kershaw looks like he might be a reliever in playoffs then a starter who would be our 5 starters for the playoffs. Glasnow Yamamoto Flarethy Stone and Rivers? Surr would like to have vetran guy like Rich Hill or Zack Grienke or even Bumgardner what help to need someone for three months then work on next year’s rotation in who will be healthy and nit have so many questions in pitching this late in the season I mentioned those three pitchers becaue the been three playoffs before so z am sure there’s some other guys tha are just sitting around rather then put the pressure on Rivers and Stone. Because Kershaw does not look like a starter at all and Buehler either. Can the still pickup players that aren’t playing right now like they did with Ahmed.
My god, looks like Joctober got started in August.
He just hit a 2 run shot in the 8th to give AZ the lead in Cleveland
The latest BP podcast talks about Jackson Ferris:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-baseball-prospectus-podcast-network/id1481597851?i=1000664398188
passan at ESPN.com ($$$) discusses the draft and the coming future of trading picks:
https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/40698506/mlb-trade-deadline-2024-jeff-passan-takeaways-draft-free-agency
Which makes the moves of A.J. Preller, Dave Dombrowski and Andrew Friedman that much more unique. Preller is the San Diego Padres‘ swashbuckling GM who traded seven prospects for two relievers. Dombrowski is the Philadelphia Phillies‘ president of baseball operations who dealt a pair of pitching prospects for a rental reliever. Friedman, the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ president of baseball operations, saw opportunity where others didn’t and pounced.
Treinen to Il hip. Graterol activated
Pages as a centerfielder — Enough already! I am sick of how awful he is at making routine plays of balls he has to go back on. This is seriously not major-league stuff — Just awful. Let him play a corner position, but please NO MORE in centerfield — I am literally dumbfounded that he is allowed to continue making these errors (which often don’t get scored as errors — which is even more frustrating). Oy!
Pages in center.
No.
This(!) – I like. So good to see multiple hitters square it up in the same inning!
Half a game out of best record in the NL.
wouldn’t know not from some comments…
Glasnow’s line reads 3 earned in 6, 4.5 ERA, but that isn’t right. Pages should have caught that fly ball ending the inning before 2 runs scored. Does that show up in defensive stats?
Good win tonight. And the team just looks different with Freddie back. Now, Mookie and Max.
That’s a good comeback win, overcoming a very bad inning with some quality hitting and pitching. Would have liked to see Kiké play small ball and try to get Lux to third (rather than swinging for the fences) when it was 4-2 and a single insurance run was needed — Thank you, Ohtani, for taking care of that later on. Great to see to see the bullpen have two strong days in a row. Now let’s go on a tear as we get folks back!