While I would like to disagree with Scott on Dodgers focusing on hitting edges and looking for chase, sadly I cannot. I have made similar comments when Julio Urías was nibbling and had problems getting through the first inning. All of a sudden he began to challenge the hitters and he found more success.
You may not like it, but MLB is fully behind the Statcast phenomenon. It is no longer important that a player just gets a hit. Batting average is important, but more important than expected batting average? Expected slugging? What is the exit velo? Was it barreled? What was the bat speed? How many pitches does the player chase? These are the metrics the decision makers seem to focus on.
Pitching is no different. Scott and others may complain about LAD pitchers chasing the chase. But that is what is expected of them. However, you have to look at chase rate in conjunction with whiff rate. A whiff is a pitch that is a swing and miss regardless as to where the pitch is. Contrarily a chase is a pitch outside the zone that induces swing and miss. If the pitcher does not have a good chase pitch, he better have a good whiff pitch. Otherwise, that pitcher has to rely on location and soft contact. Preferably high ground ball percentages.
Then again, maybe the current LAD starters other than Yamamoto are not good enough to challenge, and have to rely nibbling.
- Yoshinobu Yamamoto – 75th percentile chase, 85th percentile whiff, fastball run value 93
- Tony Gonsolin – 39th percentile chase, 87th percentile whiff, fastball run value 26
- Dustin May – 25th percentile chase, 31st percentile whiff, fastball run value 54
- Landon Knack – 33rd percentile chase, 31st percentile whiff, fastball run value 28
Gonsolin does not get a lot of chase. His fastball run value is not very good. While his “stuff” is not fooling the batter inducing the chase, he is getting whiff because his split finger and slider are swing and miss in the zone, or they are landing for called strikes.
OTOH, Dustin May is pitching to contact. He is in the 85th percentile for ground balls so he needs a good defensive infield.
Yamamoto is the only SP with a good fastball value. The other three do not. Thus, they have to rely on landing their breaking ball and offspeed pitches for strikes, but on the edges. May, Knack, and Clayton Kershaw do not have the swing and miss stuff to get out of trouble. If they have to rely on the fastball to get the strike, it gets hit.
Let’s be realistic. Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow are the two pitchers the Dodgers need to join Yamamoto and Gonsolin (Ohtani?) for the playoff rotation. Both pitchers are full of red on their Statcast page for 2024.
Snell was in 98th percentile for whiff, 81st percentile for chase, and had a fastball value of 85. That is a dominating pitcher. He walked a lot, but he was rarely in danger because of his out pitches.
Glasnow was in 85th percentile for whiff, 33rd chase, and still 95th in K%. While his fastball run value was in the 88th percentile, his breaking ball value was in the 99th percentile. His curveball is unhittable. He does not need the chase, because his pitches are good enough in the zone. When hit, he was in the 79th percentile for ground balls.
If the Dodgers get Snell and Glass back by June, and they stay healthy (I know BIG IF), that will be a different rotation than the one they have now.
When you do not have that chase or whiff pitch, but are pitching to contact you better be able to hit spots, that means living on the edges. So are the Dodger SP (not named Yamamoto) chasing the chase, or are they just trying to stay out of the middle of the zone where their stuff is just not good enough.
Usually you want your high leverage guys to be swing and miss guys.
- Tanner Scott – 98th percentile chase, 64th percentile whiff (Before Tuesday game)
- Kirby Yates – 91st percentile chase, 99th percentile whiff
Other relievers:
- Ben Casparius – 85th percentile chase, 76th percentile whiff, fastball run value 94
- Jack Dreyer – 56th percentile chase, 72nd percentile whiff, fastball run value 79
- Alex Vesia – 79th percentile chase, 86th percentile whiff, fastball run value 66
- Anthony Banda – 39th percentile chase, 60th percentile whiff, fastball run value 54
- Luis Garcia – 45th percentile chase, 24th percentile whiff, fastball run value 28
Outside of Casparius, each of those pitchers have to rely on hitting spots to be most effective. Alex Vesia was getting outs last year on his fastball up in the zone. He is not getting that call or swing and miss this year. Plus his fastball has lost > 1 MPH since last year, and > 2 MPH since 2023.
The Dodgers need Evan Phillips, Michael Kopech, and Brusdar Graterol for their bullpen. Even Edgardo Henriquez could be preferable.
Just as a casual outsider looking in, the injuries have decimated the starting rotation and the bullpen (duh), but it would appear that the LAD pitching depth is not as good as advertised. There are not enough quality arms for a quality pitching staff with their injuries. So the ones they do have are going to need to get better…and fast.
The average starter in MLB tosses 5.25 innings. The Dodgers have three pitchers with at least 5 starts. Yamamoto has 9 starts and 51.0 IP (5.67 average), May has 44.2 IP with 8 starts (5.58 average), and Sasaki has 34.1 IP with 8 starts (4.29 average).
Landon Knack threw 105 pitches Monday night, so he is fully ramped.
Dustin May has started 8 games and has pitched at least 5.0 innings in all 8. Three of the 8 were at least 6.0 IP. He has a high of 97 pitches.
Tony Gonsolin has only started 4 games; 1 was 6.0, 2 were, 5.0, and his last one was 4.0, but the thumb blister could have been the problem there. He did throw 97 pitches so he should be fully ramped.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto (not counting Tuesday night) has 9 starts, and each of them have gone at least 5.0 IP. He does have 4 starts of 6.0 innings, and 1 start going 7.0 innings. He has thrown as many as 103 pitches, but his last 2 were 88 pitches. Because he was on 5 days rest?
I see two problems. One, Roki Sasaki was not ready for MLB. The Dodgers needed a 6 man rotation with two Japanese pitchers, and they did not have it, especially after Snell and Glasnow went down. Without 6 starters, that necessitated bullpen games.
So while I do not disagree with Scott that the current bevy of Dodger pitchers are looking for the chase too much, they sort of have to because they are just not good enough to shut down an offense when they have to throw the ball in the zone (again not counting Yamamoto in this group). So for me, it all comes back to injured pitchers. They did not count on two of their top 3 starters going down so early, Gonsolin not being ready at the start of the season, Sasaki not being ready for MLB right at the start, and Bobby Miller imploding. They have needed to rely on Landon Knack. Justin Wrobleski and Nick Frasso are not ready to be impact starting pitchers at the MLB level. What are they supposed to do?
They will need pitching at the deadline. But there will not be a lot of pitchers who will be available. They need SP that can go deeper (thank you Mr. Obvious). They do not have to be top of the rotation guys, but more innings eaters.
I like the idea of Erick Fedde. Fedde threw 177 innings last year and has 52.1 thus far in 2025. He is not an ace by any stretch, but he gets outs. He has a complete game shutout this year, and will eat innings. But St. Louis is going to have to play themselves out of the Division or Wild Card race. They are one of the hottest teams in MLB right now, and only 1.0 game behind Chicago in NL Central, and one game behind in Wild Card. Are they good enough to stay there?
One pitcher I have coveted for the back of the rotation for the last two years is Tampa Bay’s Zack Littell. He has 9 starts with 54.1 IP. His last three starts were 7.0 IP, 6.0 IP, and 7.1 IP. He is a pitch to contact pitcher with very low K’s, but most importantly, he does not walk anyone. 90th percentile in BB %.
Regardless, more than anyone, the Dodgers NEED Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell. Hopefully Clayton Kershaw will figure things out and become a good back of the rotation pitcher. Did the Dodgers perhaps miss out on getting Ohtani ready sooner as a pitcher. We will never know.
Finally, I will not be surprised to see Jackson Ferris make his MLB debut later this summer.
MiLB GAME SUMMARIES
Sacramento River Cats (Giants) 11 – OKC Comets 2
The Sacramento River Cats jumped out to an 8-0 lead and went on to defeat the Oklahoma City Comets, 11-5, Tuesday night in the series opener. The River Cats scored five runs in the second inning, including a bases-clearing double hit by Grant McCray.
Sacramento added three more runs in the third inning, including a two-run home run by Logan Porter. The Comets chipped away at the Sacramento lead with a RBI single by Esteury Ruiz in the third inning and solo home run by Michael Chavis in the fourth inning.
After Sacramento added two runs in the fifth inning and another in the eighth inning for an 11-2 advantage, the Comets scored the final three runs of the game, including a RBI double by Ryan Ward in the eighth inning.
The Comets have lost back-to-back games and are now 2-4 in their last six games…Oklahoma City has lost four straight home series openers and fell to 1-4 in home series openers overall this season.
The River Cats’ 15 hits were the most by a Comets opponent this season.
Esteury Ruiz finished with the Comets’ lone multi-hit game, going 2-for-5 with a RBI and run scored. Ruiz has six hits, three RBI and three runs scored over his last four games.
Ryan Ward collected a RBI double and now has 226 RBI in his Oklahoma City career — four RBI away from tying OKC’s Bricktown-era career RBI record of 230 (Jason Botts, 2005-08)…He has reached base in 13 straight games to tie his season-best on-base streak.
Justin Dean picked up a hit and scored a run and has now hit safely in seven of his last eight starts, going 11-for-28. He has scored a run in five straight games — tied for the longest stretch of games with a run scored by a Comets player this season.
Michael Chavis hit his eighth home run of the season — tied for second-most among Comets players this season. It was also his second home run in his last four games.
Dodgers pitcher Michael Kopech continued his Major League Rehab Assignment and allowed two runs, three hits and a walk with one strikeout over two-thirds of an inning. He faced six batters, throwing 26 pitches (12 strikes). He was placed on the 15-day Injured List March 15 with a right shoulder impingement and transferred to the 60-day IL May 1. Tuesday was his fourth outing with OKC this season.
Kopech does not appear to be ready to face MLB hitters.
Springfield Cardinals 7 – Tulsa Drillers 4
The Tulsa Drillers fell victim to an offensive bombardment from the Springfield Cardinals Tuesday night, and a lot of the damage came from two players. Springfield’s Nathan Church and Leonardo Bernal combined for six hits, four runs scored and five runs batted in to lead the Cards to a 7-4 victory over the Drillers.
It was the opening game of a six-game series and the first meeting of the season between the two teams.
The Cardinals took early control of the game by scoring a run in each of the first four innings.
Nathan Church doubled on Jared Karros’ first pitch of the game and came in to score the first run on a sacrifice fly from Leonardo Bernal.
A solo home run from Jeremy Rivas in the second made it 2-0 in the second, before Church singled and scored on a double by Bernal.
Dakota Harris homered in the fourth inning to increase the lead to 4-0.
The Drillers got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth courtesy of Jose Ramos. With one out, Yeiner Fernandez singled and Griffin Lockwood-Powell walked. Ramos brought them both home with a two-run double.
It remained 4-2 until the Cards added three more runs in the seventh, and it was again Bernal doing the damage. The Springfield catcher belted a three-run homer off reliever Christian Suarez.
The Drillers made things interesting in the bottom of the eighth. With the bases loaded and two outs, Chris Newell singled home two runs to cut the deficit to three runs and bring the potential game-tying run to the plate in John Rhodes. Rhodes made a bid for the tying homer, but his towering drive was caught on the warning track by Church in the left field corner.
Church, who is the number 2 outfield prospect in the St. Louis Cardinals minor league system, had his second straight three-hit game, finishing 3-5 with three runs scored. He upped his season average to .354.
Bernal, who is the number 2 catching prospect in the St. Louis organization, finished the night a perfect 3-3 with the homer and five runs batted in.
The Redbirds out-hit the Drillers 16-5 in the game.
No Tulsa batter had a 2-hit game, and Ramos’ 2-run double was the only XBH.
Great Lakes Loons vs West Michigan Whitecaps (Detroit) – Game Postponed due to rain. DH for Wednesday 05-21-2025.
Stockton Ports (A’s) 10 – Rancho Cucamonga Quakes 7
The Quakes’ 12-game road trip opened on a sour note, as the Stockton Ports scored four times in the seventh inning to take the lead for good, defeating Rancho Cucamonga on Tuesday night by a final score of 10-7.
A three-run single by Jared Sprague-Lott broke the game open and gave the Ports their fifth win in seven home games over the Quakes.
Trailing 5-4 in the top of the seventh, Joendry Vargas tied the game with an RBI double, his second of three hits on the night, as Rancho evened it up at 5-5.
The Ports took advantage of control issues from Quakes’ reliever Connor Godwin, as they scored four times to take a 9-5 lead.
They got an additional run in the eighth, then withstood a two-run rally in the ninth, as Vargas struck again with an RBI single and Samuel Munoz drove home a run with a sac fly. That’s as close as the Quakes would get though, as Aidan Layton came out of the pen and struck out Roger Lasso to end the game.
The Quakes will send Hyun-Seok Jang to the mound on Wednesday, as he’ll be opposed by Stockton’s Ryan Magdic (1-1) at 7:05pm.
Joendry Vargas – 3-5, 2 RBI, double (1).
Texas ACL 2 – LAD ACL 1-0
Payton Martin pitched a brilliant 5.0 scoreless innings. He did allow 4 hits (all singles), but did not walk anyone. He did register 5 strikeouts.
The Dodgers jumped to a 1-0 lead in the 3rd. when Brendan Tunink tripled and scored on a Emil Morales single.
Tim Fischer relieved Martin in the 6th, and Texas scored 2 off Fischer and Accimias Morales.
Chase Harlan had 2 hits for the Dodgers.
Badly needed win. Yoshi was great. Deserved the win.
With all our pitching problems do we now have to worry about Scott too ?
Hope not.
Kopech was tagged at AAA again. He does not look ready for MLB hitting .
IMHO Wrobleski and Miller have to be called up. Miller to start and Wrobleski to give some length out of the pen.
A 6th men rotation just not sustainable at the moment with all the injuries.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Miller IMHO has two huge issues. 1. He walks far too many hitters. 2.When he gets in trouble, mentally he does not handle it well. He then ends up giving up runs in bunches. That is the main reason he is back in the minors. So far at the MLB level, his head is his worst enemy.
Agree….don’t bring him up until he shows he has put those issues behind him.
If we are looking for some starting pitching help Ryan Weathers of the Marlins might be a good option. Still young, 25 years old, excellent stuff and an 1.80 ERA so far.
Marlins traded Arraez early last season , they are going nowhere again. So they might be ready to sell early this season too.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Good win
Great information Jeff. It sums up what we all can see is true, the Dodgers pitching is just not very good. The rotation is made up of 1 ace followed by a train of #4-5’s and the bullpen already looks overworked.
And what to do about it? Wait it out I suspect.
We can also anticipate another Flaherty like signing (I didn’t say Flaherty, I said Flaherty like) but probably not until the deadline. Those teams that have available pitching will want a competitive bidding process. There could be a scrap heap pick up, but isn’t that what they already have?
I think it’s safe to say critical coefficients to the Dodgers championship winning formula are currently on the injured list. Yes Jeff, big IF’s. In the meantime, find ways to win enough games to stay competitive. That’s what they did last night.
Who is the Ace? Yamamoto has not really earned that title, yet.
Wait it out is exacly what I think they will do. The ceiling for Glasnow and Snell is much higher than any SP they can pick up. If Glasnow and Snell are not healthy at the end of the season, the outlook for a 2nd consecutive WS Championship are not good.
Of course, Sasaki could return and be a different pitcher. Emmet Sheehan could come back in July. Both pitchers could be better than what is available at the deadline.
For me I still would not be shy about getting another arm at the deadline. Since Paul Skenes will not be available, the Dodgers must look elsewhere. I brought up Zack Littell who will be a rental and the cost will be more in line with what AF/BG are inclined to spend. dodgerram brought up LHP Ryan Weathers. He would be a great pickup, except he is under team control to 2029 and would cost a lot. Will the Dodgers be willing to take on a pitcher controlled for 3+ years with the pitchers that are coming back? Besides those looking to come back this year, there is also Gavin Stone, River Ryan, and Kyle Hurt coming back next year. I guess it all comes down to the cost.
The ceiling for Snell and Glasnow could be said to be non-existant, simply because they can’t stay on the field long enough to find out.
Right now, we’ve got Yamamoto, May, and Gonsolin, as healthy starters with good potential and experience. I think the team has to be looking for a starter the trade deadline. It would be out of character for AF not to dig someone up.
I also think Casparius, Sasaki, & Wrobleski could compete as starters if healthy.
You can see from last night that Yamamoto is in a class of his own. That guy is a pitcher, and all of the rest of the bums need to take note. That guy is a joy to watch pitch. He’s a pitcher, not a thrower and taught a masterclass. The rest of the staff right now is a joke.
Thank you Jeff for confirming what I have been noticing over the last two seasons with the chase, and also bringing up something I haven’t even thought about. The fastball. The run values on almost the entire staff (minus Yamamoto) are very poor. Meaning most of the pitchers have lousy fastballs, and they have to chase the chase, or they get hammerred. We’re seeing the result of that. The fastball is the foundation of pitching, in my opinion and it lays the groundwork and sets up all the rest of the pitcher’s arsenal. Everything revolves around a good fastball. Yamamoto has it, his has it all, movement, spin, (Zip), depth. It’s great….(Chef’s kiss)
The rest of those mediocre arms (also minus Glasnow and Snell) have no fastballs. As you can see the Dodgers are struggling right now to stay afloat with the lack of a competitive pitching staff. They just don’t have one, and sorry to say, there are no difference makers in the minors or amongst the big league staff.
Sheehan, Ryan, Hurt, Knack, Wrobleski, and Miller, are all mediocre to below average and none of them are impact arms. They are depth pieces, and poor ones too boot. The only arm from the farm that looked like he was a difference maker was Stone, and he’s injured.
So what are the Dodgers to do? as Jeff asked. In short, nothing. Lose. You can’t win without a competitive pitching staff. Only 1 healthy starter with a good fastball? 2 effective relievers? I have a solution though. Next time, build a pitching staff around pitchers who have very good fastballs. No more of this sweeper/slider and smoke and mirrors nonsense. MLB hitters normally are not going to chase.
Unless Snell, Glasnow, and a few of the relievers (phillips, Treinen, Graterol, Yates) come back soon, the Dodgers simply will not be competitive this year, and will continue to lose. The offense can’t bail them out every night.
Build a better pitching staff. Or play golf in October.
May and Gonsolin are damned good pitchers who can be successful starters, now. You are forgetting how abysmal we were last season with our plethora of injuries and we still won a championship. History repeats itself.
Scott IMO you are wrong on some of the MiLB pitchers.
It is hard to disagree with Bobby Miller. He has been given the opportunity way too often to say he has not had a real chance. He is a change of scenery pitcher.
Landon Knack is a journeyman multi-inning spot starter type in the mold of Ross Stripling and Mitch White. You may not like him, but teams need this type of pitcher. No he is not a difference maker, except he will get out there and throw 100+ pitches and save some of the bullpen. He threw 94 on May 13, and 106 on May 19. I am not sure he was properly warmed up on May 19. After that 1st inning he threw, he pitched well. He got out of a lead off triple by Corbin Carroll and got out of the inning without scoring, facing Gurriel, Suarez, and Naylor. That was good pitching. He retired the last 7 hitters he faced. He is not a bum.
Kyle Hurt is a strikeout machine. He was being converted from stater to late inning high leverage relief. In MiLB he struck out 319 in 199.2 IP. That is 14.4 K/9. Yes, he does walk more than he should but so did/does Jack Dreyer. And so did Ben Casparius. Kyle Hurt has an ability to miss bats. That is not mediocre, that is deserving a chance.
I am not sure what River Ryan has to do to get your attention. He was a 2-way player until 2022 when the Dodgers got him. He broke through in 2024 and dominated MiLB, and then when called up to LAD he pitched better than mediocre. 4 starts, 20.1 IP, 1.33 ERA, 1.77 RA/9, 1.180 WHIP, 1 HR in 20.1 IP, He does walk more than he should, but his command will improve the more experience he gets on the mound. Way too early to call him a mediocre to poor pitcher. Plus he fields his position very well.
I do not have the receipts, but I am guessing that you downgraded Gavin Stone in 2023. Emmet Sheehan was considered the better pitcher going into 2024. Sheehan is 13 months younger than Stone. He will be back in some capacity this summer. I think he deserves the chance to show what he can do for LAD at least through next ST.
I do not think any MLB pitcher is a bum. The player may not be an effective MLB pitcher, but he is not a bum. In a 5 or 6 man rotation, you do not need 5 or 6 aces. When healthy, the Dodgers have three in that realm: Yamamoto, Glasnow, Snell. You can probably throw Ohtani into that equation. You are right, the Dodgers do not have Ace replacements for Glass and Snell. Gonsolin is a more than competent #4. The others as you have described are #4/#5 pitchers, including Kershaw and May. Nothing wrong with that. They are needed. We still do not know where Ohtani fits in the LAD rotation.
Should the Dodgers have both Glasnow and Snell this year? Should they have counted on both? Now, that is a debatable scenario.
For me, Knack should be used only as a reliever until he proves that he can be consistent and have his control locked up.
Jeff,
You make good points. But I am not calling anyone specifically a Bum. I am looking at the entire pitching staff as a whole which right now is not an effective Major League pitching staff.
I don’t have a problem with Knack, or Sheehan, or wrobleski. I was always high on Stone because he came out and proved it at the major league level before getting injured. The starters and relievers (minus Yamamoto, May Gonsolin and Tanner Scott) are not quality enough to get major league hitters out or hold leads late in games. You essentially said so yourself above in today’s article.
I think the problem here is that many people (not saying the Dodgers management, they probably already know this) overrate these prospects (Knack, Wrobleski, Sheehan, etc) and talk about them like they are in the Paul Skenes category. They are not, and hey that’s ok.
If you look at the numbers and results for the Dodger’s pitching staff, ERA, runs allowed, BAA, Fastball Run values etc, the pitching staff has been very poor, and it’s the sole reason the Dodgers are barely treading water in the standings. The only reason they are still in first place is because of their incredibly good offense. But that won’t last long. If Glasnow, Snell and a few of the primary relievers are not back by July, where do you think the team is going to be in the standings?
The club has issues with starting pitching last year, but the difference from last year was that the bullpen was much more effective in limiting runs from scoring. This year they are trotting out Luis Garcia, and Ryan Loutos, Lou Trevino, and Matt Sauer. As you said earlier, the quality of the depth is poor.
The starting pitchers have pitched the least amount of innings in the majors (30 out of 30) and the relievers have pitched the most innings in the majors. If this continues, they will not be competitive.
And so far because of the poor quality of the pitching staff, they have not played well at all outside of that 8-0 run at the beginning of April in which they trailed in every game and had to have miraculous comeback rallys from the lineup.
They have to either find better quality arms with strong fastballs that can eat innings and challenge hitters, or get their injured pitchers back soon. Here’s hoping one of those happens soon.
“Right now is not an effective Major League pitching staff.” Now that is fine. I do not disagree. Where I disagreed with you, was how you characterized Emmet Sheehan, Kyle Hurt, River Ryan, Landon Knack, Justin Wrobleski, and Bobby Miller, “all mediocre to below average and none of them are impact arms”. I guess you have to define impact arms, and how you define mediocre to poor. You acknowledge that Gavin Stone won you over for his 2024 season. 2024 was supposed to be Emmet Sheehan’s year before he got hurt.
But overall, yes, the current 13 members of the LAD pitching staff is not a good championship level staff. Let’s wait until the All Star Break before we castigate them. Kershaw will get more starts to prove he belongs, or not. Snell and Glasnow should be back. Ohtani will be ready to pitch. Sheehan will be pitching in OKC and will be a phone call away.
Just like the roster in April will not be the roster in October, the pitching staff in May will not be the one in October, or July for that matter. With all that has been said about the state of LAD pitching, it sure seems odd that the Dodgers have the 3rd best record in MLB.
I’m always willing to give anyone a chance Jeff, before I proclaim that they suck.
But I could work on my patience. Thanks for remdinding me and having a little patience with my patience levels.
If Stone was around this would be a much better staff, Sheehan too.
I like Stone and would like to see him return to form this season. Will he? Sheehan, I have no opinion about, yet.
This team will make the playoffs with me as their #5 starter through the first half. It’s still about getting the pitching healthy and ready for October. I think we will see the dominant, healthy Dodgers in August and carry it through to a repeat WS
Will you sign for the minimum?
Hmm. You as #5. That guarantees a 20% loss rate every 5th day.
Yeah, I think we could live with that.
You’re hired. Go warm up.
Not sure i see a starting pitcher acquisition, unless the starters didn’t come back healthy. Just no room.
Playoffs mean a reduced staff. Probably four starting pitchers. Right?
Yes. 4. And you of course are right regarding room on the staff. But don’t forget what happened last year. Will Glasnow, Snell and Sasaki all be available in October?
That is why you get an innings eater to navigate the dog days of August and September, allowing your stars to get more healthy. That is what they tried to do with Lance Lynn and with Jack Flaherty. One worked and one did not. But Lynn should not have been counted on being a top of the rotation playoff pitcher, but as you alluded to, there was no one else available. Kersh was badly injured and Bobby Miller was not ready for the big lights of playoff baseball (I am still not convinced he ever will be). They obviously did not feel comfortable with Ryan Pepiot (mistake IMO), but Pepiot was not going to be the difference maker in a championship or not.
Without Flaherty, where would the Dodgers have been last year?
I think they were hoping for something more from Flaherty rather than an inning eater. He was off to a very good year but baseball can be fickle to any Dodger pitcher.
Like last year’s Flaherty acquisition, I’m now convinced LAD will acquire another “innings-eater” by the trade deadline. But hopefully, they won’t need that innings eater to be a playoff-starter, like they needed with Flaherty last season.
It would be nice if Knack could be that guy. Get us to the postseason then give way.
Hope is not a strategy. As I mentioned before, he should be a reliever and earn his bonafides.
Knack IMHO is way too homer prone. If he can cut down on giving up dingers, I would feel much more comfortable with him pitching.
IMO, Knack is a good candidate for the Mitch White/Ross Stripling role. Multi inning reliever and spot starter. But that is a viable role on a MLB team.
add Ohtani, YY, Gonsolin, Sheehan.
Obviously all of the above are not on the same tier, but they don’t need to be. The Dodgers won with last years rotation, which was very lesser.
but to me, the issue is just roster space. Active and 40 man.
who knows? they may all end up on the 60. I could be completely wrong, for the upteenth time
You have got to feel for a guy like Ryan Ward. The guy is hitting .318 with an OBP close to .400, slugging over .500 and his OPS is .935. And he hasn’t ever sniffed a call-up. He couldn’t be worse than Conforto out in left.
This may be the last OF mistake that AF makes. He has made many the last several years and never knows when to cut bait.
Ward should have been the call before Conforto. Then again, nobody expected Conforto to be this bad. A bad defensive corner OF with a .566 OPS cannot have much longer of a leash, could he?
Ward’s issue is his meh defense in the field. Nevertheless, the long-leash “niceties” the Dodgers publicly say about Conforto probably masks their true intentions for him. Conforto better start mashing …soon.
Dodgers need to take off the leash and call the vet.
Very true about Ward’s defense. But I am not certain that it is worse than Conforto’s. The Cubs found a place for Busch (who had questionable defense) and he has done well for the Cubs. I agree that it is too late for Ward to be a Dodger, but maybe trade him to a team that can use a potentially good hitting OF/1B.
Hoping this happens by this year.
Jeff D. terrific analysis on how Statcast has influenced how organizations go about getting outs these days. The Art of getting guys out without throwing strikes. Maybe scouts now report not on a pitchers fastballs and the quality of their arsenal these days but on the quality of their Chase Pitches.
“Chasing the Chase” is a great phrase.
It’s sort of humorous to me how announcers denigrate contact pitchers who don’t display high velocity and big spin and hits that don’t have a 95 mph exit velocity. It’s like they are unworthy hits.
The Statcast numbers seem more important than outcomes.
I like Dusty Baker’s old school comment that he doesn’t care about exit velocity; he cares about exit hits.
Pitching Coaching 102 – throw strike one and nibble your ass off until you have to throw one in the zone.
Thanks again Jeff. Great stuff.
I hope this response was sarcasm, i fear it is not.
Did it not meet your high standards?
Bluto has high standards??????
lolz Bear.
That’s another problem for the Dodger pitchers. Their first strike percentage is 59.8 the seventh worst in baseball.
this is a big problem.
Good stat.
I’m having a problem buying the “don’t throw strikes” strategy. It goes against everything I was taught. I find it difficult to believe the “throw strikes, change speeds, change locations” approach isn’t effective anymore. And I’ve watched as a couple of those types have kept the Dodger bats off balance. It happened just last night. Nelson has 5 pitches, uses them all, only walked one, only struck out two and his four seamer is short of 96. He held the Dodgers in check with average stuff. Where’s our that guy?
As I see it the problem with our pitching, simply put, is command.
Agree about throwing strikes. You can add control as a problem, too.
Ryne Nelson
SUMMARY Career
WAR 2.8
W 20
L 16
ERA 4.57
G 71
GS 57
SV 2
IP 344.1
SO 268
WHIP 1.29
Similar Pitchers to Ryne Nelson:
Matt Manning
Jesse Chavez
Jose Berrios
Kolby Allard
Any of those make you feel “We need that guy”?
Austin Barnes officially released by the Dodgers. He is free to sign with any team as long as he has cleared waivers.
Hopefully he won’t clear waivers
He should clear easily, then a team could get him for MLB minimum instead of what he is owed.
He already cleared waivers which is why he was released. It goes DFA, waivers, release.
Ideas for subjects you might be interested in concerning the Dodgers are welcome.
I’m not sure how you would do it, but a look at the people who go to Dodger games has changed over the years.
look at “dodger killers” like Christian Walker could be fun.
I look back at the Dominican Academy.
You are into fashion?
Great stuff Bluto.
I always enjoy the prospect pieces.
I loved the Pacific Coast League before the Dodgers moved to LA and the Giants moved to SF. Padres, Angels, Stars, Seals, Solons, Beavers, Raineers, Mounties.
I will check into it.
I don’t have much to add on pitching. The Dodgers will either get healthy or won’t or something great will fall into their laps. Pittsburgh could roll the dice by trading Skenes and if the players they got back didn’t pan out, not be any worse than they are now.
Speed is fun and can lead to wins. The Diamondbacks are a good team and have several speedy guys that are exciting. While I am not a Kim believer yet, he would be fun if he could get on base enough. Edman, while also fast, is not as fast as AZ’s Thomas and Carol. But Edman and Kim running more would be fun.
Freeland would add a lot more speed over Muncy. That probably will be a 2026 thing though. While I like Edman at second, I think the defense would be better with him in CF than Kim there. So, an outfield of Edman, Pages, and Hernandez and an infield that included Freeland and Kim would balance the power and speed of the offense.
And that balanced offense could be more fun to watch. Better? I don’t know.
Muncy should be a necessary replacement both for his fielding and slumping bat. He does try to be a 3Baseman, I’ll give him that, but a faster, stronger armed player is needed to cover the baseline, diving stops, and an arm that has control. You see him throwing to 1B inaccurately almost every game. It’s enough, I think. We’ve got plenty of bat power to not miss him.
I think the post season Dodgers roster was fully planned with the off season signings.
Will adjustments be necessary? Perhaps.
Speed is fun. Watching Carrol run from home to third on a double to right was exhilarating. Do we have anyone who can do that? In the minors I think we do. On the current roster? Kim, maybe. Haven’t seen it yet.
It’s doubtful the Pirates trade Skenes. I think their goal will be to move him right before Tommy John is needed. And that’s when the Dodgers will sweep in.
You’re a backer of AF’s walking wounded strategy?
Good one Badger
Your last paragraph is exactly why I always look forward to your comments, Badger. That one brought a big smile to my face……………………until it was replaced by the frown when I realized it’s probably true.
Thanks Jefe. I appreciate it. We go back a ways, don’t we. Been enjoying your takes as well.
Jeff D, wrote above “Ward should have been the call before Conforto. Then again, nobody expected Conforto to be this bad.”
I’m really not surprised by his poor performance so far.
“I watched him in high school, and at Oregon State where he was a star. He was an All-American, College Player of the Year, on the USA National Team and the 10th overall pick by the Mets 11 years ago.
He never became the hitter I thought he would be. MLB isn’t college baseball. He is a career .247 hitter but after missing all of 2022 with an injury, he has hit only .228/.716.
Maybe the Dodgers thought they could turn his sinking career around but that hasn’t happened for the $17 million for this season.
It is entirely possible that we are all waiting for a breakout that isn’t going to happen. I did.
Conforto hasn’t been good since 2019 when he put up 3.6 WAR.
Help me out with something. Ryan Ward is hitting .318 and OPS’n .935. He’s hit 9 home runs. He’s the best hitter we have at AAA and he plays left field. Doesn’t he deserve a chance? And in looking at the Dodgers 40 man I don’t see his name on it. But LF Steward Berreo’s name is. He’s hitting .191. Who is Steward Berroa and why is he on the 40 and Ward isn’t? What am I missing?
Short answer:
Berroa is only temporarily on the 40 until some of the players move back from the 60. If he is lost, it’s no biggie. If Ward is put onto the 40 and then needs to come off of it, then the Dodgers may fear losing him.
Pure speculation, but it’s based on past 40 man manipulations. So maybe not “pure” speculation, but “quasi-informed.”
Well it’s hard for any GM to admit a $17 mil mistake. As for Berroa, check his wife’s maiden name.
Tonight’s starting outfield is Teo, Edman, Pages.
Conforto being held out so that he’ll be available to deliver the walk off hit in the 9th.
Or groundout to 2B no matter the situation, count or point in game.
There’s something to be said for dependability and consistency.
Burnes vs Dodgers.
Not a fair fight! We better hope Diamondbacks and these starters don’t make it to October
?
AF honesty about pitching injuries.
But I said this a lot, and I think anyone who doesn’t say it is not being honest, there’s a lot we don’t know about injury stuff, and I think it’s important not to pretend like we have all the answers. There’s a lot to it that is really challenging, and we’re hoping to continue to grow and learn from experiences and just try to make the smartest, best move we can, knowing we’re going to make mistakes.”
Friedman may not have the answers, but the lack of solutions surely won’t keep him from trying to get the most effective product on the field at all times.
“It’s by far the No. 1 thing that keeps me up at night,” Friedman said.
Outstanding effort from May. Very encouraging.
Nice Game, good to see Teoscar back, and that was a heck of a play Rojas made, coming from behind second base to the right field foul area on that pop up. Miggy is an easy guy to root for.
Yes he is
Scott should shut up some critics.
Sweeper is developing nicely for him.