Moving on to another subject, strength of schedule. The Dodgers have a brutal schedule in August. The A’s are the only team they face who at this point in time, have a losing record. The Phillies, Brewers, Mariners and Orioles, are all either leading their division, or are close to it. The Pirates, Cardinals, Rays and D-Backs are all over .500. Arizona is a very hot team right now and they are only 5 games back as of today. They are 7-3 in their last 10 games while the Dodgers are 5-5. Padres are 9-1 but the Dodgers do not see them again until the 24-26th of September, their last three home games.
They will face some pretty good pitching over the next four weeks. Believe it or not, the A’s have the fourth best staff in the majors right now, even better than the Phillies. Baltimore is ranked #1. This is definitely going to be a make or break stretch for the team. After the Phillies they get Pittsburgh, who has given them a lot of trouble over the last couple of years. LA fans might a look at Paul Skenes. The Pirates wunderkind. Then when they head to Milwaukee. The Brewers staff is ranked 6th in the majors. They do give up a lot of homers, but that is more about their ballpark than the pitchers.
The Dodgers are probably going to have their roughest August in years. If, and only if, they can get some of their superstar players back sooner rather than later, they might be able to hold off the charge of the Padres and D-Backs. The Dodgers’ vaunted depth is really being challenged this year. I have to believe that to avoid the same type of thing next year, a few things need to be addressed.
Conditioning. Obviously, something has to be done about all of the arm injuries to pitchers. So many have gone down this season, and it seems to be an epidemic in the majors. I do not know much about the Dodgers trainers, and I am sure all are vetted before they are hired. But something is rotten in Denmark. There has to be a reason. There are more pulled hammy’s, calf strains, abductor pulls, oblique strains. sore arms, and other ailments than I have ever seen. Mike Trout hasn’t been Mike Trout in years. Rendon missed the better part of three seasons since signing with the Angels.
Over the last couple of years, Muncy has missed close to 30 games a year with some sort of ailment. He has been out since May, and he only played 11 games in May. Broken bones when hit by a pitch you have no control over. But maybe a little more padding on those low walls at Dodger Stadium, especially where the concrete is exposed at the bottom of the padding, would be a good idea. Prevention always is a good idea. Remember Judge was out a few weeks with a fractured toe after crashing through the gate in right field.
Many of us have watched this team and game for many years. I remember well Duke Snider straining his arm trying to throw a ball out of the coliseum. Duke had elbow problems the rest of his career. It is doubtful that modern medicine would have helped Koufax continue his career. His arthritis was debilitating. Drysdale on the other hand, could have pitched more because now they can repair the rotator cuff. Back then, not a chance.
The roster they have right now is going to be altered a bunch in the next couple of weeks. But, unless the pitching drastically improves from where it has been the last few weeks, they are going to be on the outside looking in. Feels strange saying that. But facts are facts. Since Betts, and also Yamamoto went down, this team is around a .500. They had their first losing month since 2018. They went 11-14 in April that year, one of the reasons they were tied with the Rockies at the end of 162 games. Granted, they were only 2 games under at 11-13. But they are only 2 games over .500 on the road. They are 14 over at home.
In my humble opinion, the next two weeks are going to be very critical for this team. They have some tough teams coming in, and the schedule does not get any easier. Players who are on the roster are going to have to up their game as long as they are in the lineup. One thing is for sure, they need to strikeout a lot less than they are right now. Will Smith is in a HUGE slump. Give him a blow and let Barnes play. He is at least hitting. Something we have not been able to say very much. They are the Dodgers, but this version, not one single team in the league fears playing.
The Dodgers got a huge boost this evening with a fine performance by Jack Flaherty. Six shutout innings and he got out of a bases loaded jam without Doc going to the bullpen. Up 2-0, the offense finally really got untracked over the last two innings scoring 8 runs. They got 14 hits, none of which left the ballpark.
Minor League Report
Ben Casparius went 2/3rds of an inning. He was touched for 5 runs, 4 earned on one hit, and 3 walks. He left down 2-0 with 2 outs and the bases loaded. Rooney relieved him. He gave up a 2-run single, then he walked a batter, and the 5th run scored on a passed ball by Cartaya. OKC got 2 back on Cartaya’s 3rd homer in the top of the second. They scored another in the top of the fifth, but El Paso answered with 3 in the bottom of the fifth, and that ended the scoring. Final: El Paso 8 OKC 3. Gauthier and Davis were both 2-4.
In Tulsa, Kendall Williams went 6 innings giving up 4 runs on 7 hits, no walks and he had 5 strikeouts. He allowed 2 home runs. The 4 runs were more than enough for Springfield who cruised to a 8-2 win. Rushing hit his 15th homer and Freeland his 11th. Rushing was the only Driller with 2 hits. They had 5 total.
Great Lakes scored 6 runs in the top of the third and cruised to a 6-1 win over Cedar Rapids. All 6 runs were earned. Mongelli and Miller had 2 hits each. Rodriguez and Newell drove in 2 runs each. There were no home runs. Heubeck went 4.2 innings, and Cabrera got the win with 2 scoreless innings of relief.
Rancho got a walk-off 10 inning win, 7-6 over San Jose. Hope was 2-4, he is now hitting .327. Rojas was 2-4 with and RBI, he is now hitting .306. Munoz was 2-5 with a homer, his 3rd and 3 RBIs. Cabrera got the win after pitching a scoreless top of the 10th.
Born June 14th, 1948, in Los Angeles California. AKA The Bear
Padres eked out a win over the Rockies, but the D-Backs and Giants lost. Lead is 4.5 over the Padres, and 5 over Arizona. Giants are 9.5 back, but only 4.5 out of the wild card.
Giants have a history of being naughty wild card entrants.
Apologies above for a curt response. I should have said I don’t follow teams behind us. And I’m well aware of our postseason failures. Just like driving I keep my focus forward. We are our own worst enemy so our success depends more on us getting our shit together than what the Padres or Dbacks are doing. Just my opinion.
I agree that the main focus must be on taking care of our own business and beating the teams we are playing. However, as in driving, there isa rear view mirror and it is good to be aware of what is going on around and behind you.
Nice win today and much needed with Az and SD winning their games. Giants won too. Ohtani still swings at too many bad pitches he could never hit.
Yes it was. Ryan looked good and the bullpen was nails.
The rest of us care who’s behind us.
Nobody cares about teams behind us.
Nothing could be farther from the truth.
Well, they better because they are closing in. The teams they play this month all have winning records. They are only 33-24 against teams with a winning record. That might be your opinion, but I think you are very wrong.
Don’t sleep on the Mariner’s pitching.
You can’t be serious. SMH.
Gonna be tough going the next 2 or 3 weeks until we get some of our front line guys back. I guess we will see what they are made of..
Hey Bear. I have an idea for another post. How about a run down on the war years. 1942-1945. Who was on the roster. Which of our players went into the service. How did we fare in those years. Talk about a forgotten period in Dodger history. I have never read anything about those teams. Thanks.
I can do that easy. Good idea
August 4, 1942. In a military relief game at the Polo Grounds, which will be the last war-time twilight game played, Pee Wee Reese’s grand slam in the top of the ninth, which puts the Dodgers up 5-1, doesn’t count because of the 9:10 pm government curfew. The game ends up as a 1-1 tie with the Giants.
Ohio started working on that story this morning. Research is fun. I have to go to Colorado Springs to pick up a friend who has been up in Denver, so I am going to miss most of the game. Bus gets in up there at 4 my time.
Cool. Enjoy the drive to Colorado Springs.
NH Dodger
To answer your question from yesterday and please don’t take it the wronge way.
“I get your frustration with the hitters that are currently in the Dodger line up. It is a bad MLB line up, by any measure. But who would you play ahead of Keirmaier?”
In that specific game the A’s had a RHP starting. Even with all the complaints here about Pages against RHP, he has a way better slashline this year than Kiermaier. Sure Kiermaier has a better career against RHP but his career stats are bloated from his first 4 years that ended in 2017. After that he’s pretty much sucked. Heyward who has better stats this year and career wise than Kiermaier against RHP could have played CF to accomidate Pages in RF. Plus it doesn’t make sense to give a guy with no upside(Kiermaier) at bats over young homegrown players including Outman who crushed RHP last year and still has a better career slashline against RHP than Kiermaier who’s stats are bloated from his first 4 years that ended in 2017.
In that specific game Kike was busy at 3B, Biggio was busy at 1B, Lux was busy at 2B and all of them are better offensively than Ahmed against RHP both this year and career. ROSARIO who’s also better offensively than Ahmed should have been at SS and the outfield should have been Teo, Heyward and Pages. That’s what the stats say about that specific game for offense and I guarantee you analytics didn’t call for Kiermaier to start, that was on Doc, the defensive wizard in his prime. Hint, Hint.
Run prevention again. I have a pet peeve about that. Runs produced + runs prevented for 1 guy vs runs produced + runs prevented for the other guy and see who is more valuable in general, that is, IF you want to use flawed defensive stats in general. But I already gave you an answer what was best in that specific game for offense and we need offense right now, not defense.
There are shitty options right now no matter which way you look at it. But Rosario should play everyday somewhere, that’s for sure.
With all of that said, I’m glad to see the Dodgers scoring runs this last game. 👍
Thanks for the reply. You mentioned Outman again. Don’t you think his slashline is bloated by what he did last year? If you think these decisions are being made only by Dave Roberts without input from the front office I think you are mistaken. I would simply say that the decision to play Hernandez at 3rd, Ahmed at short, and Keirmaier in center is more about run prevention than run production. It appears that you don’t value defense and defensive metrics in baseball as much as offense. I get that, many share your opinion. The Dodgers don’t seem to share your pet peeve about run prevention. Roberts used defense as his justification for playing Ahmed and Hernandez. On this team, if we were sitting a Silver Slugger to play a no hit Gold Glove, I would get the frustration. But, on this team and at this time, there are no good options or even average options. Obviously, the Dodgers don’t think that the additional offense from Rosario (OPS of about .710 vs. right handers) is worth the defensive downside.
“Thanks for the reply. You mentioned Outman again. Don’t you think his slashline is bloated by what he did last year?”
You’re welcome for the reply. That was 1 year ago. Kiermaier was 2014-2017 a long time ago. And again, Outman’s stats suck this year like others we have starting right now.
“If you think these decisions are being made only by Dave Roberts without input from the front office I think you are mistaken.”
“Only” is the key word you used. I’m sure the front office is mostly running the show, but I think Doc has input/a say in things, he is the manager.
“I would simply say that the decision to play Hernandez at 3rd, Ahmed at short, and Keirmaier in center is more about run prevention than run production.”
I don’t disagree, that’s obvious, as I laid out what was best for offense in my original post.
“It appears that you don’t value defense and defensive metrics in baseball as much as offense.”
You’re right.
“Roberts used defense as his justification for playing Ahmed and Hernandez”
So you agree Doc has input.
“But, on this team and at this time, there are no good options or even average options.”
Yep I agree, I said that in my original post.
“Obviously, the Dodgers don’t think that the additional offense from Rosario (OPS of about .710 vs. right handers) is worth the defensive downside.”
My opinion is they should. We need offense.
Since Outman can’t get into a game it might be the Dodgers are letting him get the MLB paycheck instead of sending him back to OK.
He’s clearly lost his job to KK.
Good win. Flaherty as good as advertised and hoped for. Kopech has closer stuff.
Lux with yet another clutch hit when the game was still scoreless.
But best Dodger news: yamamoto according to Roberts and the team had a very good bullpen session! Will throw another one on Tuesday.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Agree with all that but a long time to go for Yamamoto.
Fine with me, as long as he is ready for part of the stretch run in September, and the playoffs, all is good.
Yep Flaherty and Rosario were good pick ups. Watch out for Kopech’s home runs he allows, home runs can kill you in the playoffs late in the game. Maybe Prior can tone that down.
Yamamoto is key for the playoffs.
All pitchers have those days, not much you can do about it once the ball leaves your hand. Stone has been bitten by the homer bug too. As long as they are solo shots, you usually can overcome that. It is the three run bombs that kill you.
Can’t hit what you can’t see.
Our recent trades paid dividends in this shutout. Flaherty looks like the real thing along with Kopech. Sturdy looking pitchers who seem to know what they are doing. Rosario continues to win hearts and minds and makes me wonder why we didn’t keep him. And, our base stealing machine steals on……………A very satisfying win.
Take a look at San Diego’s schedule for August.
Yikes. The Padres have the Pirates and Marlins after they finish up with the Rockies today. There only real tough opponent are the Twins in the middle of the month. They finish off the month with teams that have around .500 records.
The Dodgers have the Phils coming up and then the Pirates, Brewers, Cards, Mariners, Rays, and Orioles. They finish off with four against the Arizona. Things could get ugly fast.
Even though many of the infirmed should be back in the next two weeks how effective are they going to be? It might take them until the end of August to get in gear. It will be interesting to see where the standings are at that point.
Free Amed Rosario! The Dodgers need all the offense they can get right now.
I just checked “World Series Odds” and everyone still likes the Dodgers to make it to the World Series. Some have the Yankees winning it but it looked like a lot of the money is still on the Dodgers. Dodgers vs Philadelphia, Yankees vs Baltimore, Dodgers beat the Yankees. This was July 29, before the deadline, but, the Dodgers got better so I doubt it changes. August might change it though.
I’d love a Dodgers/Yankees World Series.
Me too. NY vs LA. That’s what it should be every year.
Like I said, their schedule is brutal. And the Padres are supposed to have one of the easiest in the league. We can hope that teams like the Rockies, who beat them Friday night, can win a few here and there and maybe some of their hot hitters cool down. I just looked at their schedule, and they might get a few surprises. The Mets are playing better and are over .500 now. Pittsburgh only 2 over .500, but they have excellent pitching with Skenes and Keller, and they play the Padres six times. LA has a three-game series with those guys next weekend. The Twins and Cardinals both above .500 and in the playoff hunt. Other than the Marlin series and three more against the Rockies, they play a few good teams. They play the Rays at the end of the month, and they have been playing better. Their September schedule looks a lot softer. The Mariners, Astros, Dodgers and D-Backs are the only teams they play who are above .500.
Dodgers have a 4-game series in Atlanta in September and the Guardians come to LA for 3 that month. Last 9 games for LA, 3 with Colo at LA, 3 with SD at LA, 3 with Colo in Colorado.
Good job of finding a topic for today Bear and making it interesting.
Thanks guys I appreciate it. Oh yeah, Mark has made LADT a newsletter and will post once a week.
Bear has been great recently. The man is a writing machine.
👍
100% agree with that. Bear is an excellent writer.
Much Grass my friend. LOL… whoops. Mucha’s gracias.
Much grass is my motto! But I wont use till later today
I go with edibles.
Good call.
Hey Bear, remember that TV show from the 1970’s called “Movin’ On”. It was a pretty good and entertaining show. Trucking was all the rage in the mid 70’s. I even built a model of a Peterbilt cabover truck.
Look closely at the photo. That is the Kenworth from the show. There was also BJ and the Bear. And Jan Michael Vincent did a movie called White Line Fever. He drove a Ford cabover in that movie called The Blue Mule. Then of course there was Convoy and Smokey and the Bandit. I drove a Pete like the one in that movie. Also drove a Freightliner Classic, a Kenworth, cabover Freightliner and a Ford CL-9000 cabover.
I drove a ‘65 Ford 100 Straight 6 for 16 years. Loved that truck. Wish I still had it.
I had a 69 Fairlane with a 250 cubic inch six in it. That thing got 20 MPG. Great car, and it would do 120. I know, I did that with it on the Autobahn in Germany. What a dumbass I was. Had a 69 Road Runner too. Speedometer went up, gas gauge went down.
69 Chevelle. Back when gas was 25-30 cents a gallon.
None of those are trucks. I thought we were talking trucks.
’69 Mustang Mach 1 for me. But my brother could beat me with his ’67 Mustang Fastback.
Ah yes. I see the Sonny Pruitt on the cab.
Well, that big 8-wheeler rolling down the track, means your sweet loving daddy ain’t coming back, I’m moving on, I’ll Soon be gone… Yeah, I know, it is about a train, but you could substitute a big rig. LOL. Hank Snow.
Graderol and Grove back this week.
Does Banda have options? Hurt to the 60?
The only one in the pen with options is Vesia. My guess is Grove is sent to OKC and they DFA Honeywell. I think Kopech might have an option but he’s not going anywhere.
Why would they DFA Honeywell? He has been very good.
No way I would DFA Banda or Honeywell at this time of the season.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!
There’s no way to hide them they have no options. Right now the bullpen is Kopech, Vesia, Phillips, Trienen, Hudson, Kelly, Honeywell and Banda. AF has normally had 2 to 3 relievers with options so they can move arms back and forth between LA and OKC. Graterol and Grove have options maybe they just leave both of them in OKC
Brasier must also be near a return? It’ll really be interesting to see who gets sent down.
*Well that’s more like it. Finally the bats woke up. We still had 12 strikeouts, making it 119 K’s in the last 10 games. But I’ll like the 10 spot.
*I think Kike has lost something off his fastball. But he had some great “sink”. I think it’s called gravity.
*Jason Heyward has been pretty miserable at the plate since his return. But that hasn’t stopped him from trying to help the teams with his hustle. I love the fact that he busted his ass to go from first to third on Kike’s single and scoring on a wild pitch with a 7 run led in the 9th. That kind of hustle doesn’t go unnoticed by teammates.
*I confess I’d never watched Flaherty much. I didn’t realize what’s strong, thick guy he is. His lower half looks like a fullback. He can generate arm speed and velocity with less stress on his arm, with that big ole ass. Efficient power.
I love Doc sticking with Flaherty in the 6th when he could have gone to a LHRP when the game was 2 – zip, and there was traffic. An odd but good choice by Captain Hook.
*What’s the deal with Jess Mendoza and Stephen WTF’s his name. They live in a “slug” world where they drink the “exit velocity” kool-aid. If the ball isn’t hit 94+ off the bat, it’s perceived as dog shit, by those two. Both Butler and Andujar had nice singles in the 1st. Both made contact on tough pitches for basic singles. Good pitches, better hitting.
Jess called Andujar’s an “ugly swing” Stephen is calling them bloops and flukes. They looked like good contact hitting to me.
Apparently Stephen isn’t familiar with that method of hitting?
*We all know how replay has changed the game. The safe call, top 9 with Teoscar’s single is a good example. Toro made a fabulous play. Before replay, that call of out would have rewarded the great play. The theory was the fans don’t want to see an effort like that go unrewarded. A close call went to the good play. No longer. After replay Teo got a knock a Toro got a “nice try”.
The goal of the “slug” philosophy is not simply to hit it hard.
I’m not sure I follow on the last point, are we lamenting calls being coached because of aesthetics?
Again, a lot of good observations Phil.
I enjoyed the series of base hits in the ninth. Sure, the HR is more dramatic, but it’s fun to see one hit after another. It slowly destroys the pitcher’s confidence. Where a HR is final and over with with one swing. To me a string of hits is a better way to run up a pitcher’s pitch count than watching early in the count hittable strikes. But, that’s just me.
There is a lot of good stuff here tedraymond, but we need to remember how much harder (and it IS A LOT harder) to string together hits
Me too, Ted.
Good point Phil on the obsession with exit velocity. Yes, it is better to hit the ball hard, but putting a ball in play on a tough pitch is also a skill.
I see that LADodgerTalk is back in business.
Only as a weekly newsletter according to Mark.
I put the over/under for him to return on a daily basis at 3,5 weeks.
😀
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!
The guys a joke how can you even take him serious at this point.
I’ll take the under.
Joc pederson strikes again. A 2 out 3 run homer to put Arizona up 5-4 against the Pirates. We could have used a lh slugger with a .900 ops. He is a knife in our back.
No place to play on this team. He does not play the outfield at all. He has played 6 games out there all year the rest as their DH.
Yeah I know Bear but I would stick him or Ohtani in lf. lol I know that is not happening he just makes Arizona so much better.
Joc is a horrible fielder.
Arizona wins 6-5. Pirates had 1st 3rd one out but brought in their deadline lefty Puk who closed the door. Giants won.
i now c why everyone wanted Rooker. Wow!
Ohtani looks dead. Fastballs right down the middle can’t make contact then continues to swing at pitches over his head. He is not perfect. Rooker took the rbi lead over him with his bomb.
Can we can the Timmons talk?
is there a point to it that I miss?
Letting all his peeps over here know he is back.
Awesome.
Yes!!
For the record, I was in favor of Doc taking Ryan out here for Phillips.
Now, let’s see if Doc and I are idiots or geniuses.
uh, huh, sure you were.😀
haha, well my edible has kicked in, so god knows what i was really thinking?
Chelsea Freeman just posted that she and Freddie were able to bring Maximus home today, still a long recovery but thank god for watching over Max.
Great news. I am wondering if they named the kid after Russell Crowes character in The Gladiator.
Genious ha!!!
That was sooo needed from, and for, Phillips
Phillips last 2-3 outings he has been throwing with conviction. He is trending up/ confidence rising. Vesia looked good again. I think Doc needs to resist overuse on Vesia.
And Trienen
I really don’t understand the scorekeeping at times.
The game lasts 9 innings, and Ryan pitches 4 2/3 of it. Really good job. He leaves with a 3-2 lead, having given up a homer to Rooker, perhaps the hottest hitter in the game.
All considered, a fine performance.
But Vesia, with one clean inning to hold, is awarded the W. He held on to the lead–as did Phillips, Treinen, Hudson and Banda, who earned the save.
Nice job, bullpen!
It’s a minor kvetch, not really important…
But shouldn’t Ryan get credit for the win?
Baseball rules say a starting pitcher must go 5 innings to be credited with the win. If he leaves before that, it is up to the official scorer to decide who gets the win. He obviously thought that Vesia’s clean 7th was the most important inning for the Dodgers of the game. They struck out 11 times today. That makes seven games in a row with double digit K’s. Ohtani, Teo, Kiermaier and Rosario all struck out twice.
The pitcher of record gets the win if the team is leading when he exits and the team maintains the lead. Or if the score is tied when he exits and his team takes the lead in the next half inning. The official scorer never decides a win.
I mentioned this on LADT and will repeat it here:
If you enjoy baseball, you’ll get a kick out of the documentary “It Ain’t Over” about Yogi Berra’s extraordinary life and career.
I think I saw it on Netflix. Anyway, it’s well worth a search.
Also highly recommended: “The Battered Bastards of Baseball,” about the colorful independent team of the 1970s owner by actor Bing Russell, best known as the father of Kurt. Great fun.
Battered Bastards of Baseball. About the Portland Mavericks. Bing Russell was in a lot of good movies too. And for a while he played Deputy Clem Foster on Gunsmoke. Kurt said his dad died in more shows than any other actor. He was in John Wayne’s Rio Bravo as the cowboy killed by Claude Akins in the opening scene. He was a salesman in The Magnificent Seven. The one role I remember that he had a lot of lines and was not killed off immediately, was in Wayne’s, The Horse Soldiers. He played Sgt Dunker. Dunker eventually died after having his leg amputated by Wayne’s antagonist in the movie, William Holden, who played a Union doctor assigned to Wayne’s unit. The Mavericks were the first pro team run by a female GM and an Asian-American GM. Much like the Savanna Banana’s today, the Maverick’s big selling point was fun. Bing’s love of baseball came from his dad owning a floatplane service in St. Petersburg, where the Yankees trained. I saw Kurt play ball in the Angels system at El Paso when I was in the Army. He played 6 games for the team before injuring his arm and basically ending his baseball career. He was 9-16 with a homer and 4 RBIs. That is a .565 avg. His OPS was 1.526
A couple of minor league promotions
Henriquez a 103/104 flame thrower I wouldn’t be shocked make the post-season roster.
Alex Freeland also getting promoted to OKC per Fabian Ardaya
Makes sense, Sweeney was traded. Trejo, who is really a second baseman, and a waiver pick up has been playing there.
According to a Sporting News report on Google news, the Dodgers are concerned about Kershaw. Seems that they are not convinced that the 3-time Cy Young award winner will make it back.
Wrobleski starting tonight for OKC. Hoese hit a solo shot in the 3rd, his 12th. Davis is playing SS tonight. OKC up 2-0 in the third. Quakes up 3-0 in the 4th.
Per rotowire.com Betts, Max, Miggy R, and Edman are all supposed take some ABs in a sim game on Thursday, supposedly Miggy looks the closest to go out on a rehab assignment. I don’t know how credible it is but that’s what I read in my fantasy league injury updates.
When Bets comes back I think the best thing would be to put him in the outfield. Becwue lux is hitting okay and keke and Rosario then Pages and Heyward can platoon in the outfield and Teoscar in the outfield if you wnat hot bat’s in the lineup I think Betts is going to have to play the outfield and when Muncy comes back to. That gives you two spots in the outfield to put players that are hot hitters and yiu have Rosario, keke, Lux, Tommy, Kiermier, Heyward, and outman to find spots for in the lineup. Plus biggio and Ahmed will get DFA. I heard Freeman might be back Monday or Tuesday. Right now the best lineup is keke at third and Rosario at shortstop and Lux at second and kiermeir outman in center and Pages and Heyward in Rightfield could they bring up another catcher to give Smith a break Barnes usually plays on Sundays like bring up Rushing for awhile see how he does maybe if we had a bigger lead in division we could do that.
I think it more likely that Ahmed primarily plays shortstop until Mookie is back while Rosario will play 2nd base in a platoon with Lux. I think that Outman gets sent down.
One can only hope that in the next week we actually find two hot hitters to play anywhere.
A lot of options once Muncy, Edman, and Betts are back but I would think Betts is the shortstop, Edman primarily in center and a Pages/ Heyward platoon in right. As for Rushing, I am wondering if he continues to play some left field at AAA with Cartaya and Feduccia there. And, if so, is he going to get a look in September with the Dodgers as an outfielder.
I believe that is the plan for the kid moving on. They figure Cartaya is a better catcher than Rushing. If he can make the transition, he would be a power bat out there.
Well I was thinking how they could keep hernandez Rosario and Betts freeman all in the lineup at the same time. One way woukd be keke at third Rosario so would it be at shortstop and Betts in centerfield and then platoon in rightfield pages and heyward. But you still have edman and kiermier not as starters. So to get Edmans he would have to play center or rightfield or shortstop because lux is hitting pretty well now.so thst woukd mean Pages and Heyward are bench players with Barnes and Rojas. So woukd it be like this hernandez lf Edmans Centerfield mookie rightfield keke third base Rosario shortstop Lux second base Freeman first base and Smith catcher that’s pretty good hitters hitting right now who then yiu have on bench kiermeier pages Barnes Heyward Rojas.
Bradley, Mookie does not play center field, and he is taking all of his work at SS. Mookie is going to be the SS unless something changes pretty soon. Edman will get some reps in center when he is ready. Heyward, and Pages will get a lot of the work in right. Kiermaier is going to mostly be a late inning defensive replacement. Outman is going to go back to AAA maybe as soon as Freeman is activated. Biggio is the most vulnerable position player and will most likely be DFAd. They value Ahmed’s defense more than they do Biggio and Ahmed at this point is a better hitter. Betts has played CF in his career, 212 games, but he is better defensively in right. You really do not want him playing out there.
I would have no problem with Betts back in the OF, but I think Bear is right, he’s going to be back at SS
1b freeman
2b lux
Ss betts
3b muncy
Lf Teo
Cf: edman
Rf heyward/pages
C smith
Thats where I think the team ends up. So Betts comes back to Ss.
Bluto, I agree with everything except RF I think Rosario platoons with Heyward, and Pages ends up back in OKC. Rosario has played there around 20 times so far this year, with TB, has a .352 obp against lefties, and Pages has options. Rosario at this time is a better hitter than Andy, I’m not sure about defense, although Andy is only so so to begin with.
So no keke or Rosario starting when Muncy comes back I guess those two could play rightfield.