Thanks to Bluto’s suggestion, I did listen to Jayson Stark’s and Doug Glanville’s podcast. There was a short segment on the upcoming Contemporary Era selections to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Stark believed that it is perfectly set up for Fred McGriff to be named to the HOF. Former teammates Chipper Jones and Greg Maddux are two of the 16 voters. Okay that is two votes. A player needs 12 votes to getting elected into the Hall.
The ballot consists (alphabetically) of Albert Belle, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Don Mattingly, Fred McGriff, Dale Murphy, Rafael Palmeiro and Curt Schilling.
McGriff is a fine choice, and it seems incredulous that the most vote percentage he received was 40%. He could be considered a ‘tweener, but the below article sort of shows how comparable the Crime Dog was to Big Papi who was a first ballot HOF.
https://calltothepen.com/2022/01/27/david-ortiz-fred-mcgriff-comparison-hall-fame/
Doug Glanville is pulling for a former teammate, Curt Schilling. I have long been an advocate for Schilling being in the HOF. He was an outstanding teammate to my son both with Philadelphia and Boston. Of course his mouth has gotten him into trouble, and he has not been the best business man. But what he has done on the baseball field should be what matters most. If character is a driving force for some, then his winning the 2001 Clemente Award should also be considered. If I were voting, I would vote for McGriff and Schilling.
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The next segment was with Dave Roberts. Company man or not, I like to hear what he has to say.
Immediately after the NLDS, so as to escape his hometown of San Diego, Doc and his wife whisked off to London. While in London, he caught up with Chase Utley and his wife, who apparently now live in London. Chase is MLB’s Ambassador to UK.
Upon his return, he and 6 couples were flown to Spain (all expenses paid0, to celebrate a friends 70th birthday. The birthday celebration was in a castle.
Now that his world travels were concluded, he feels reset and ready for 2023.
He equates the loss in the NLDS to the Game 7 loss to Houston in the 2017 WS. He said he was devastated.
He said he will not complain about the playoff system, because he does not have a better solution. It happened, time to concentrate on 2023.
He mentioned that he and Mark Prior have been on some Zoom meetings with pitchers. No names were mentioned, but we already know that Justin Verlander was one of them.
He did volunteer that he (and others) manage with a little more urgency with pitching. Trust the process. Just because the decision did not provide a positive outcome does not mean it was a bad decision.
He also volunteered that offensively they need to think more of:
- Winning 90 feet.
- Spoil pitches
- Take the single.
- Go the other way.
- Hit with 2 outs.
But you cannot just make that happen. This is where I might have differed with Doc. I acknowledge that it is easier said than done, but outside of Freddie Freeman, I did not see that effort. I did see the “Hit Me 500’ Swing”. Maybe something changes.
Doc does not see AF/BG going after an acknowledged closer. He does believe they will add Starting Pitching, and does see them preferring elite pitchers. He jokingly stated that he would like both Jacob deGrom and Justin Verlander.
Doc loves Trea, but recognizes that Trea may decide to move on. He volunteered that Gavin Lux is being looked at as the heir apparent.
Miguel Vargas is going to get a long runway next year. He is going to play a lot. No mention of James Outman. Or Michael Busch.
Tyler Anderson will be a huge loss. Somebody is going to need to step up and match his IP. As expected, he stated that Dustin May’s innings will be monitored.
Clayton Kershaw recognizes that he needs to listen to his body, Doc said that it is best to monitor his innings and to keep him fresh for the playoffs.
Doc has the winningest record as a MLB manager with at least 1000 games. His record is 653-381 for a .632 winning percentage.
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What was left unsaid. They lost the pitcher (Anderson) with the most IP for LAD in 2022. They will need to monitor IP for May and Kershaw, and acknowledged that Gonsolin was injured and he too may have to have his innings monitored.
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I keep reading about the apparent interest the Dodgers have in Mitch Haniger. I am not sure of the fascination, since the Dodgers already have a RH hitting OF, Trayce Thompson. With respect to 2023 projections, Baseball-Reference seems a bit higher on Thompson than Haniger, but FanGraphs seems to favor Haniger. Regardless, the differences are not measurable enough to justify a multi-year contract for Haniger.
Baseball-Reference:
- Thompson – .248/.333/.455/.789 – 331 PA, 14 HR, 29.6% K rate
- Haniger – .246/.309/.444/.752 – 393 PA, 18 HR, 24.4% K rate
FanGraphs:
- Thompson – .220/.302/.440/.742 – 497 PA, 33.3% K rate, 2.0 fWAR, 109 wRC+
- Haniger – .251/.323/.450/.773 – 609 PA, 23.3% K rate, 2.1 fWAR, 118 wRC+
Thompson plays CF while Haniger is strictly a corner OF.
- Haniger – MLBTradeRumors projects – 3 years $39MM ($13MM AAV)
- Benintendi – MLBTradeRumors – 4 years $54MM ($13.5MM AAV)
- Thompson – Projected arbitration $1.7MM
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I will be driving to SF Valley Friday. Once I get in town, I will be fully involved in watching the PAC 12 Championship Game. My Trojans need to win and will be in the College Football Playoffs. Not bad after going 4-8 in 2021, firing a nice man but horrible head coach (Clay Helton), and hiring the best college head coach in the NCAA (Lincoln Riley). Nice one year turn around. Fight On!
I have a funeral to attend on Saturday, and will be driving home on Sunday. Thus, I am not sure when I will find the time to write another post. I may try to come up with something in the interim. I will continue to make a plea for anyone out there who would like to write a post from time to time, to help Rob and me. If anyone is interested, please reach out to me at jeffdominique@hotmail.com.
You buried the lede!
He (Roberts) also acknowledged he recently lied to the press about something.
He also made a couple of references and allusions to Judge playing right and Mookie moving to 2nd.
“If character is a driving force for some”…
If players aren’t getting votes because of character issues then why don’t players with good characters get more consideration. If there is a ying why isn’t there a yang.
I don’t know who said it but I like the way it reads:
”The Hall of Fame’s ballots stipulate that the candidates are supposed to display “integrity” and “character,” which some voters took as sufficient to disqualify Schilling.”
Im fine with any of those other guys.
Happy for Roberts I guess. He’s living the good life.
Thompson Haniger? Really? Choose.
Lux at short? At first thought, yeah sure. Upon further reflection, I think he could be an All Star at second, but not at short. It’s possible for the Dodgers to have a 3/4 of an All Star up the middle defense. Sign Bogaerts. Re-sign Bellinger and fix him and it could be 4/4. That would be fun.
“He also volunteered that offensively they need to think more of:
Where has that been? Those are strategies we worked on in high school.
If Betts winds up at 2nd base then the outfield would be RF Outman, CF Thompson, and LF Taylor. Given that scenario, the Dodgers might want to add what might be called insurance or depth one of Hanigar, Drury, or Pollock. Among those three, I think Drury would be best in that he can also provide insurance for Vargas at 3rd.
MLBTR reporting that the Dodgers and the Giants are interested in Kolten Wong. I also read something somewhere, and no, I am not looney tunes, that if that happened, they would consider moving Lux to third, which in my mind would be a total disaster. He has trouble enough making the throw from second. He would be the second coming of Steve Garvey if he moved to third.
Between 400 and 500 migrant workers died during the preparations for this year’s World Cup, according to a Qatari official.
FIFA awarding Qatari the World Cup makes Manfred’s handling of Bauer look straightforward.
Hey Jeff,
I don’t want to share my personal email, so I’m going to put a post up below. Without being overly self-important, if you want to take it down and publish it later feel free.
Jay Jaffe Chat:
Farhandrew Zaidman At what point do we seriously consider saying that Kershaw’s career is greater than Koufax’s? Higher career WAR, lower ERA, more IP, more Ks….
Jay Jaffe: Some people are already willing to say it. Even Bill Plaschke https://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/story/2022-04-30/dodgers-clayto…. What Koufax did from 1962-66 was incredible, but it’s important to understand how favorable the conditions were for him; Dodger Stadium was Death Valley for hitters in the early 1960s. Kershaw has been successful against better competition under more adverse conditions for much longer.
Thorn What has to happen for Pete Rose to be inducted?
Jay Jaffe Rob Manfred would need to be replaced by That Shouty Guy Who Wants to Give You Gambling Tips During Drive Time… I think Hell will freeze over first.
copecru81 Mookie already has more WAR than Tony Oliva and almost as much as Enos Slaughter, both RF HOFers. Will he get in the HOF before Dwight Evans and Bobby Abreu who have more WAR? (but less WAR7)
Jay Jaffe Mookie is most likely on his way to Cooperstown. I think Evans will be there some day but I’m less optimistic about Abreu.
Baseball America’s Top prospects for every team ($$$$) hasn’t got to the Dodgers yet, but they do the Red Sox! marcelo Mayer baby!
https://www.baseballamerica.com/teams/1003/boston-red-sox/organizational/?year=2023&type=P
Davy Andrews goes super-nerd to find out which defensive outfielders got lucky and who didn’t
nd no one got luckier this year than Gold Glove winner Mookie Betts. He saw fewer 5-star chances than we’d expect and….
Baseball America previews the Rule V draft ($$$%$$)
https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/2022-major-league-baseball-rule-5-draft-preview-version-40/
Adolfo Ramirez, Gus Varland, Ryan Noda, Devin Mann and Ramos all make the cut.
Dan Szymborski Chat
Guest: Its a Dan good day when we can read your chats! In your opinion is correa or turner a better fit for LA (with Xander being option 2 to 1A/B)?
Dan Szymborski: Correa, I think there are reasons to like both as players, but Correa, you *know* he’s very likely to have full buy-in with the Dodgers and their nerdiness.
Bomber: Odds LA Dodgers sign one of the big 4 SS’s?
Dan Szymborski: 2-7
Jonathan: Wild guess: how many years ahead of public-facing baseball research (I know, a gigantic umbrella with lots of subjects) is the weakest MLB analytics group, and how many years ahead is the strongest?
Dan Szymborski: I’m not sure I’d call it a point on a spectrum like in a race, because there are some things that the public focuses on that teams really don’t because that stuff is wildly solved. Like as far as I know, teams dont’ put a ton of effort in mean projections. Where teams are really ahead is injury/biomechanics stuff and a lot of that is they have specific internal data. One advantage of public research is that you can go searching for stuff teams aren’t necessarily looking at because they’re “locally” focused on their organization…When I do something really out there like predicting how Rowdy Tellez would do at short, that’s the stuff I get calls about!
The great FutureDodgers on Twitter envisions “Frasso, Sheehan, Nastrini, and Rushing” as the guys he’d/she’d pick first to join the next Prospect top 100 list.
Esteban Rivera on the Dodgers signing Shelby Miller
Pitch shape is a sticky trait. And I don’t mean sticky in the spider tack way; rather, sticky in that the trait would hold year over year without volatile fluctuation. When evaluating a small sample, teams and analysts must decide what traits are worth betting on and which are just potential blips in a player’s profile. Depending on the team, there are varying levels of confidence in assessing that predicament and turning it into action. In the case of the Dodgers, there is a demonstrated confidence in their assessments that leads them to take on some risk, but they have no issue in turning that risk into a realized success….
The LA Times’ Juan Toribo says:
Dodgers are among a long list of teams showing interest in former All-Star closer Alex Reyes.
Reyes missed last season due to injuries but was one of the best relievers in the NL when healthy in 2021.
Passan:
Right-handed reliever Chris Martin and the Boston Red Sox are in agreement on a two-year, $17.5 million contract, pending physical, sources familiar with the deal tell ESPN. Martin, 36, was magnificent for the Dodgers after a deadline trade and parlayed it into a multiyear deal.
We can end the Kolten Wong to the Dodgers discussion. Just traded to Seattle for Winker and Toro.
Bye bye Chris Martin – 2 year deal with the Red Sox. Damn!
Anybody else feel like we’d be more than willing to trade Chris Taylor, great guy and all?
OK folks, follow along with me here.
Last winter, after having had his career go into the toilet, Matt Carpenter trained with Matt Holliday during the off season and then had an incredible comeback season with the Yankees.
Now, Cody is doing the same thing. He’s working out with Holliday, who happens to be the new bench coach for the Cardinals. I don’t know if the Cards need another outfielder (they certainly don’t need a first baseman), but everyone knows that even if Judge returns, the Yankees need a centerfielder and Cody’s dad played for the Yanks.
Here’s a link. He already looks better to me.
deGrom is signing with the Rangers. 5 years/$185MM with a full no trade.
Optional 6th year would bring the deal to 222 mil.
This puts Justin Verlander firmly in the discussion with NYM. After losing deGrom, they will not be shy about giving Verlander that 3rd year.
Somebody should check on Jeff.
Nevermind.
I’m a Cal alum, so I don’t pay attention to college football.
Reynolds has advised the Pirates that he wants to be traded.
Trade Simulator says: Busch, Pepiot, Pages – who here says yes to that? Who says no?
Although I’m not sure I’d do it, that strikes me as a fair deal for both sides.
Brian Reynolds requested a trade, I believe
Where is everybody?
Looks like my trade idea stunned this place into silence.
ok, I rescind my offer. I’m gonna sign Nimmo and Iglesias, find a couple repairable RP arms and call it a winter. This will keep is in the running til the deadline where I will have plenty of room for a blockbuster trade.