This was the day the Dodgers were expected to sweep the Nats and feel good going into a weekend series against NYY. Not to be. The Dodgers have very little choice. They have to keep throwing Noah Syndergaard out there. It is disappointing that he has not even approached mediocrity since his first game as a Dodger.
It was also Dave Roberts’ 51st birthday.
Happy birthday, Doc! pic.twitter.com/h84OoHlgCF
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 31, 2023
Happy Birthday Doc. I only wish your team played better.
Staked to a 3-0 lead after only 3 batters, Syndergaard could not handle the luxury of a lead. Mookie led off with a HR, the 40th lead off HR for his career. Freddie singled to extend his hitting streak to 20 games. Will Smith then hit a 3-run HR. JD Martinez drew a walk, Max Muncy grounded into a DP. Chris Taylor then singled before Miguel Vargas popped out to SS. It looked like Patrick Corbin was going to get rocked. As it turns out, did not happen.
In the 2nd, he gave two back on HRs from such noted power hitters as Keibert Ruiz and CJ Abrams. It was the 6th HR for both. In the third, with 2 out, he allowed a single to Joey Meneses, walked Corey Dickerson on a 3-2 pitch and gave up a game-tying single to Jeimer Candelario.
The Dodgers got the lead again in the 4th inning. Freddie reached on an error, and promptly stole 2nd base. Smith singled and as Freddie looked like he may attempt to score, Lane Thomas over threw his cutoff and Smith moved up to 2nd. With runners on 2nd and 3rd and nobody out, Corbin walked both JD Martinez and Max Muncy to retake the lead. With the bases loaded and nobody out, one might expect the Dodgers to plate a couple more off Patrick Corbin. Chris Taylor, Miguel Vargas, and Miguel Rojas could not get the ball out of the infield.
Again, Thor could not handle the lead and gave up a 2-out 2-run HR to Candelario. While Syndergaard gave up the HR, he also made the pitch to get out of the inning unscathed. After catching a one-out liner, second baseman Miguel Vargas’ underhand flip to second pulled Rojas off the bag, and Joey Meneses, who had doubled with one out, was safe. Jeimer Candelario then clubbed a two-run homer to center for a 5-4 Washington lead. Yes, Noah did make that HR pitch
“We had an opportunity to put that inning to bed,” Roberts said, “and we couldn’t do it.”
In the 6th inning, the Dodgers left the bases loaded a second time without scoring. But they got the tying run in the 7th from an unusual duo. Chris Taylor drew a walk on a clock time violation for ball 4. As Miguel Vargas was striking out, CT3 stole 2B, and scored on a 2nd hit by Miguel Rojas.
After Evan Phillips and Caleb Ferguson, the bullpen has been pretty much hit and miss. Alex Vesia gave up a lead off double to Luis Garcia. Garcia moved to third on a long fly ball. Vesia struck out Corey Dickerson, IBB to Jeimer Candelario. Vesia then struck out Dom Smith to end the threat.
In the 8th, Brusdar Graterol hit Keibert Ruiz on the first pitch. On a ball hit back to Graterol that he did not handle, he made an ill-advised, off-balance throw to second that bounced into the outfield, putting runners on second and third with no outs. On a play that Badger will be upset with, Jason Heyward was not backing up 2nd on the errant throw. He just did not anticipate a bad throw.
Graterol got the next two outs without a run scoring. On an 0-2 pitch, Graterol decided to not waste a pitch, he threw a very hittable pitch that Luis Garcia hit down the line and into the RF seats for a 3-run HR. It was the first HR Graterol has allowed this year.
When asked about it after the game, Graterol had this to say:
“I was supposed to throw that pitch on the ground,” Graterol said. “I left it up.”
The Dodgers got one back in the 8th inning, on Mookie’s 2nd HR of the game, and 13th of the year.
Phil Bickford entered in the 9th, and allowed a leadoff double to Stone Garrett. He got the next two outs, but left a slider too much in the middle to Keibert Ruiz who hit his 2nd HR of the game, and third in the series against his former team.
The Dodgers went quietly in the 9th. So for the 2nd time in 4 games, the Dodgers scored 6 or more runs and lost a game they should have won. In this one, LAD was 2-14 WRISP.
The Nationals did not have a game all year hitting more than 2 HRs in a game. Then again they have not been facing Noah Syndergaard all year. Syndergaard has now allowed 10 HRs in 52.1 IP.
After the game…
Noah Syndergaard is going through it right now pic.twitter.com/MjF3gADtRW
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) May 31, 2023
THAT’S THE PROBLEM. Noah, nobody expects you to be the same pitcher YOU USED TO BE. Figure it out, and pitch with who you are now. All pitchers need to re-teach themselves whether it be to injury or age or whatever. It is those who accept who they are in the here and now, and can make that adjustment, that can continue their careers positively. You staked your financial future to the pitching gurus of the Dodgers. I have no idea if they are advising something that you are incapable of, or you are ignoring them, or any other possible outcome. But your comments above seem to indicate that you are looking in the past. If you want a future as a starting pitcher, then make the adjustments NOW. If you want your future outside of MLB, then keep thinking you are a 100 MPH pitcher.
It is important to win games that you should. The Dodgers continue to score runs, but have lost 2 of the last 4, and scored 10 and 6 runs respectively. Pitching (starting and relieving) still wins games.
Also after the game:
Asked #Dodgers manager Dave Roberts if Noah Syndergaard is going to make his next start in Cincinnati: "Um, I don’t know. The hope is that he does. Right now I just don’t want to answer that question."
— Juan Toribio (@juanctoribio) May 31, 2023
A very telling and sobering statistic:
The Dodgers have allowed 10+ runs in a game 7 times this season. They allowed 10+ runs in a game 7 times in the previous 3 seasons combined. It equals their most in a season under Dave Roberts (since 2016), and they are only 57 games in.
Now the Dodgers have to face NYY with a questionable Clayton Kershaw, and two rookies. How comfortable are you all with a Gerrit Cole vs Michael Grove matchup on Saturday. The other two games?
- Friday – Luis Severino v Clayton Kershaw
- Sunday – Domingo Germán v Bobby Miller
Will the Dodgers still be in 1st place after this weekend?
05-31-2023 MiLB Summary
Reno Aces (Arizona) 6 – OKC Dodgers 5
Robbie Erlin was OKC’s starting pitcher. He allowed the first run of the game in the second inning. Alek Thomas tripled and scored on a RBI groundout by Tristin English.
OKC answered with four runs in the bottom of the inning to take the lead. Yonny Hernández belted a three-run homer out to left-center field and Drew Avans later connected on a RBI single for a 4-1 advantage.
Reno scored four runs in the fourth inning to regain the lead, 5-4, including a two-run homer by Jake Hager.
Hunter Feduccia then tied the score, 5-5, in the bottom of the fourth inning with a RBI single for the Dodgers.
In the 5th, with runners on 1st and 3rd, Justin Hagenman relieved Erlin, inheriting the two runners. Alek Thomas doubled home 1, giving Reno a 6-5 edge before ending the inning.
Brayan Hudson, Zack Burdi, and Nick Robertson each pitched a scoreless inning for OKC. This was Burdi’s OKC debut.
The Aces then held the Dodgers scoreless over the final five innings to tie the six-game series, 1-1.
- Drew Avans – 2-4
- Luke Williams – 2-5
- Yonny Hernández – 2-4, 3 RBIs, double (8), HR (1)
- Jahmai Jones – 2-3, double (12)
Yonny Hernández extended his hitting streak to 12 games — the longest of the season by an OKC player. During the streak, he is 15-for-42 (.357). The homer was OKC’s first in four games and the sixth of Hernández’s career. He last homered June 1, 2022 while playing for Reno against Tacoma.
Wichita Wind Surge (Minnesota) 7 – Tulsa Drillers 2
For the second game this week, one of the vaunted AA pitchers was tagged hard. On this night it was Kyle Hurt who allowed 6 runs (all earned) in the 3rd inning. The inning started: single, double, 2-run double, single, pop out, walk, Grand Slam HR. After allowing another single, Ben Harris came in to relieve Hurt.
Harris got out of the 3rd inning. Ben Casparius followed and pitched a decent 3.0 innings, allowing a single run. He allowed a single, SB, throwing error, and single for the sole run allowed by Casparius.
Alec Gamboa and Antonio Knowles pitched a scoreless inning each, issuing only a walk.
The offense for the Drillers was a pair of solo HRs. Diego Cartaya hit his 6th HR. He has now hit a HR in three consecutive games. Imanol Vargas hit his 7th HR.
Diego Cartaya’s bat looks to be heating up. He also had a double (6). In his last 4 games, Diego has gone 7-15 with 3 HRs, 1 double, 5 RBIs.
Great Lakes Loons 4 – Beloit Sky Carp (Miami) 3
Robbie Peto rejoined the rotation. For his first 4 innings he faced the minimum allowing only a single. The runner was thrown out trying to steal.
In the 4th, he allowed a single, triple, and double for two runs. After hitting a batter, Michael Hobbs was summoned to get the final out. Hobbs struck out the only batter he faced.
Luis Yanel Diaz led off the Loons 1st with a triple and scored on a ground ball. In the top of the third, Diaz reached on an error by Beloit’s shortstop. Diaz advanced to second after a walk, then stole third base. The Dominican-born speedster then became the first Loon to steal home this season.
After Sky Carp starter Gabe Bierman reached down for the rosin bag, Diaz sprinted home, forcing a rundown, and slid across the plate as the ball deflected off his shoulder from a throw by third baseman Jacob Berry.
Hyun-il Choi followed Hobbs as the new piggyback reliever. He pitched 3 scoreless innings.
After a one-out walk to Griffin Lockwood-Powell, Jake Vogel and Chris Alleyne both hit ground rule doubles. Vogel’s double put two in scoring position, and Alleyne cleared the bases making it 4-2. Alleyne has three runs batted in the first two games of the series.
The Loons sent Aldry Acosta to close out the game and victory. He did allow a 2-out solo HR, but got the final out for his 2nd save.
- Jake Vogel – 2-4, double (7)
- Chris Alleyne – double (8)
- Alex Freeland – double (9)
- Luis Yanel Diaz – triple (1)
Rancho Cucamonga Quakes 8 – Inland Empire 66ers (LAA)
In the 3rd, down 1-0, RC got singles by Kenneth Betancourt and Kyle Nevin. Josue De Paula drew a walk and on ball 4 WP, Betancourt scored. Thayron Liranzo followed with a 3-run HR (13) and a 4-1 lead.
Peter Heubeck allowed a run in his 3.1 IP, and Kelvin Ramirez allowed a 2nd run on 4 hits.
Leading 4-2 in the eighth, Rayne Doncon blasted a two-run homer, his tenth, putting Rancho up comfortably, 6-2.
The 66ers didn’t go quietly in the ninth though, as a two-run single from Christian Sepulveda and a pair of wild pitches from Quakes’ reliever Madison Jeffrey allowed Inland Empire to tie the game and send it to extras. Jeffrey now has 7 WP in 15 games and 14.0 IP.
The teams went scoreless in the tenth and then traded runs in the 11th. Tied at 7-7 in the 12th, Kenneth Betancourt pulled off a terrific play behind David Tiburcio (2-0), starting a 4-6-3 double-play to end the inning and give the Quakes a chance to win it with a run.
Dayton Dooney, who started the inning at second base, advanced to third on a fly ball to right field by Juan Alonso, then scored on a wild pitch for Rancho’s fourth win in their last five games.
The Rancho pitching staff matched a franchise-record with 21 strikeouts through nine innings, then got two more in extras to set a new mark of 23.
- Jesus Galiz – 2-5
- Rayne Doncon – 2-5, 2 RBIs, HR (10), double (9)
- Thayron Liranzo – 1-4, HR (13), 3 RBIs
In his second game in the US and in A Ball, 18 year old RF Josue De Paula got his 1st hit. He went 1-3 (single) with 2 BBs. He did get caught trying to steal 2B.
I am going to be at my Granddaughter’s Middle School graduation today. So please carry on.
I’ll be on a big old jet airliner to NY for a long weekend.
What’s next for Thor? Hopefully an IL stint to get his head on straight, or maybe even the DFA-waiver wire. He is hard to watch. Hangs so many pitches in the middle of the plate. Kersh, Grove then Miller this weekend against the Yankees. Nice to see Trayce get another hit without waiting a month.
Doesn’t look like a championship team does it.
Not so far, and AZ is only 1/2 game back now. I smell a trade, a big one come deadline time
Me too.
I agree with you Bear. It’s nice to give the prospects an opportunity, but there are too many suspect holes in the current rotation. The stat of giving up 10+ runs seven times already this season is incredible. In the past decade or so if the Dodgers scored 6+ runs in a games I would have to think that the win rate would be 90%+. Who would have imagined that a Dodger starting staff would have so many injuries, inconsistencies, and short outings? As Dodger fans we take as a given that the pitching will be a solid each year. And, up to this year that has been true. So, this has been hard to watch.
It’s going to interesting who AF might go after. He certainly has to prospects to make a splash. August 1 is the last day to make a trade. I don’t think AF can wait two months to make a move.
Except with the current playoff format he may be forced to wait another month at least.
Seriously? What pressure is Friedman under?
Glue factory
I know every player is different but many pitchers have come back from TJ surgery throwing harder and pitching like they did before. Thor seems to be healthy so I wonder if it’s more psychological?
To offer up a hypothetical first born to return to his original talent seems to indicate his issues are between his ears. As mentioned above he has to accept that “old self” is not going to happen. Take what talent you have left, adapt and use that talent to help the Dodgers win and justify your contract. It’s painful to watch.
He did say he saw a hypnotist, so something psychological is probably part of the problem.
About a month or so ago, during a game Joe Davis was interviewing Kershaw. Clayton said Thor could throw the ball where he wanted. But if this is the case, reduce velocity wouldn’t be an issue.
Thor. I said it before and I’ll say it again – come downhill harder. He looks like he’s playing catch. He’s 6’6”. Take a legitimate old school windup and come down toward the batter with vengeance. And yeah, work on that splitter.
It would appear he’s strong enough to take the ball every 5th day and throw 90 pitches. I’m thinking if he works a little harder, or a lot harder, and throws strikes, he could go 5 innings on 75-80 pitches and pitch well enough to cut that ERA in half.
Just an observation here, knock off the clownish headgear in the dugout after a home run. There’s a picture of Ohtani in the Times this morning with something circus-like on his head and he looks ridiculous.
Kershaw and 2 rookies against the Yankees. Gulp.
If that downhill pitch change approach doesn’t work then maybe Thor could look in a mirror with shorn locks and realize he isn’t Thor any longer. What he is if he isn’t Thor is unknown to me. Maybe he becomes more of a pitcher and less of a thrower if I am to use a cliche for the answer. Cliches are overrated.
Just read an article about the totally different approaches to hitting by Freeman and Martinez. Good for them but harder for Outman to to find his approach.
The Dodgers need more offense at short and they have it in Betts.
Strohman should not be too costly except for the number of teams that want him. Will he be an overpay?
I’ve had a thought for a while that Thor needs to do something to let everyone including himself know that he isn’t the old Thor any longer. My first (and only) idea was to cut off the long locks. Come to the mound as a totally different person than the hard thrower he needs to finally leave in the past.
I’ve seen a number of comments here and elsewhere that Syndergaard needs to realize he is no longer that hard thrower and now needs to become a pitcher.
My question is this: if a guy has a career as a flame thrower, does that automatically mean he can convert himself into a “pitcher”. I think the answer to that is “not necessarily”. They may take very different skill sets.
I wholeheartedly agree with you Bums that Mookie should become our permanent and every day shortstop. Rojas can rotate between second, third and shortstop to give those guys a day off every so often.
But you said you love to disagree with me.
Even with Mookie at short it’s still the same lineup except Rojas isn’t in it. Who do we have that’s a better 9 hole hitter than him?
And, offense isn’t the problem. Pitching is.
With Betts at short, one of the outfielders replaces Rojas in the batting order.
A positive note from yesterday’s frustrating loss was the decision to try to steal a base. In fact, there were six stolen bases by the Dodgers. Two each by CT3, Freddie (who continues to be awesome), and Rojas. I’m positive my commenting/complaining a couple of days ago about the lack of interest in stealing a base had nothing to do with their attempts and success! Lol.
Badger is right about this site gaining some traction. If you are checking in and reading this site, be sure to contribute your reactions and opinions. Even if it’s just a yea or nay on a comment you like or dislike. They all add to the experience!
Plus, you get Jeff’s thorough analysis of our future Dodgers or MLB players and OldBear’s incredible, immaculately researched Dodger player history.
FOR FREE!!
Carry on.
For free? Jeff is billing me $25/month. 🙂
Yea!!!
That’s because you like to disagree with me plus you don’t want me to trade Muncy.
Btw, Muncy and Gleyber are going to trade dugouts this weekend.
They may trade dugouts but they won’t be trading uniforms.
He was paying me for a while. The checks stopped coming.
No wonder my checks read “Pay to Badger”!
I think you need to update my address.
If I were a betting man, I’d say the Dodgers days at #1 are numbered. At the beginning of the season, I didn’t think they would be as good as they are but didn’t see the spate of injuries to the starters and the shabbyness of the BP. I also didn’t see Az as a contender. I thought it would be SD stepping over us. If SD breaks out, I don’t see us winning the division. The Dodgers definitely have some surprising games where the batting is on fire and then the paltry hitting returns. Now that Freddie has been supercharged, maybe we’ll see another run to get us into the summer. We need some help at the end of the batting order. Peralta and Rojas have been getting some hits. Love Heywards fielding, but not his at bats. Other than Miller and Gonsolin pitching well, will we survive this month?
For those of us who are convinced that we need to come up with another good starter (or two) at the deadline, we may be in for a huge disappointment.
Kenny Rosenthal and Levi Weaver have a column up at The Athletic today which points out that there may be very few quality starters available. With so many teams potentially so close to a wild card spot, many may decide not to trade pitching. That coupled with the new injuries that are cropping up daily give teams much more reason to hang on to the pitching they have.
The few good pitchers that may be available will have umpteen teams bidding on them and we know that Andrew is not the guy who overpays in situations like that.
“we know that Andrew is not the guy who overpays in situations like that”
Do we? Darvish? Scherzer, Turner, Machado?
They were “paid” at top of market, no?
I don’t think any of the four you mention here were overpays. They certainly weren’t bargains but the price AF paid wasn’t ridiculous.
The one major overpay since Andrew got here was Bauer, and that’s a whole other kettle of fish. It wasn’t necessarily a horrible contract on the day he signed it, but subsequent behavior by both Bauer and Manfred turned it into a horrendous signing.
STB, this was the same issue last year. Limited supply and high demand. It’s an aspect I forgot about. And, you are correct about AF about not overpaying in trades. But, very few teams can match the Dodger prospect depth. The Dodgers can’t accommodate all their prospects. Only a few will play for the team in the future. I would think if the team continues their current offensive output and the pitching doesn’t improve AF could change his approach in order to get the pitching to a championship level. We’ll see.
The Rule 5 logjam coming up this winter may just cause Andrew to bundle a few of those guys in a deal, but we won’t know for another 6 weeks or so if there are any worthwhile pitchers on the market worth spending our prospect capital on.
I don’t think we need a Scherzer type at the deadline. What we need is a reliable 5-6 inning 3.5 ERA arm. This looks like a decent enough offense to hold off contenders if our pitchers aren’t folding.
And what if Buehler and May both make it back for September?
I guess to key is to keep grinding.
I think we may very well need a Scherzer type at the deadline but I’m not all that certain one will be available.
Urias has not pitched all that well recently and we don’t know which Urias we’ll be getting back when he returns.
Catman has been excellent the past couple of seasons, but seems to be injury prone and not all that great come playoff time.
Kershaw………….. well, he’s Kershaw which means he could go down at any time.
You ask “what if Buehler and May both make it back for September. Two problems with that. We won’t know in July if they’ll be back in September and even if they are, we don’t know at what level they might contribute.
Next two guys in line are Miller and Grove with very little behind them. Grove hasn’t yet proven he’s going to be able to stay in the rotation. Miller, as good as he’s been in his first two starts, was not considered ready for prime time until an emergency situation brought him here. We don’t know if he’s at the point in his career where he can continue the way he’s started.
So, yes, I think we do need a Scherzer type, but alas, wherefore at thou O Golden Armed Wonder?
What is a good definition of Scherzer type? He is awesome when healthy but he is unavailable at moments notice.
I like Bieber. Young and in his prime. Does he define the Scherzer type or is he too young?
The Twins are in first place in their division with a team that is hitting much like the bottom of the Dodger lineup. But I would rather get Lewis from them than one of their pitchers.
I don’t want to speak for Badger, but yes, I would consider Bieber a Scherzer type. I don’t think age factors into it. It’s production.
OK, so there are now three of us here who want Lewis, but it would cost a huge amount in players/prospects. With his injury history, I doubt AF would take that chance. Although he might be willing to put Muncy in the deal.
😎
Early in the article it says that Smith hit a 3 run homer, but I believe it was a 2 run homer, but plated the 3rd run of the inning.
Robin Ventura once hit a grand slam single that plated one run.
Missed stepping on second?
I had a call in a tournament in Northern California years ago kinda like what you’re talking about here.
Bottom of the 7th, two outs, tie game, runner on first. Batter runner hits a long fly ball to left, runner at first is tagging, batter runner is watching the ball go over the fence and passes him about 5’ from first. He turns to me and says “you didn’t see that”. Well I’m looking right at him, so I know what I saw. His team is going nuts cuz the win advances them in the tournament. I honestly had never seen or heard of anything like this so, what to do? I could remember something from the rule book about in this case the ball being live, so, I ruled the run scores on the home run and the batter runner is out but gets credited with an RBI single. Seemed like the right thing to do under the circumstances. Both teams accepted it without argument, mostly because nobody in the park had ever seen it and I sold the call like I knew exactly what I was talking about. To this day I have no idea if it was the right call.
Too late to edit… there was one out.
I think you made the correct call
Passan takes a look at the upcoming trade ($$$$) market:
https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/insider/story/_/id/37768660/jeff-passan-early-mlb-trade-deadline-preview
Dylan Cease, Bieber, Bednar and maybe Aaron Nola!?!?!?!?
Vargas blew the double play in the 5th inning or Syndergaard would have been out of the inning with no runs scored. Graterol was worse than Thor. He really crapped himself. Offense wasted a lot of opportunities to blow the game open. 2 for 14 RISP, 11 LOB, and 9 SO.
Yep. A short toss that caused Rojas to leave the bag. No error, can’t assume a double play, but that was a lost easy out that was costly. Vargas has done a few things like that at second. He’s learning I guess.
Yep, growing pains.
I had San Diego a close second and nobody else all that competitive. I still think SD will get it together, and admittedly Arizona has looked better than I thought, but I don’t trust their pitching.
Jefe, I don’t think a Scherzer will be available but a few #3’s might be. Too early to know for sure.
Hopefully Urias will be back. I figure Gonsolin will take another two weeks off somewhere in this season, as will Kershaw, so more pitching has to come from somewhere. Another issue to be concerned about is WRISP. We are still first in the NL in OPS+.
Jack something in the LA Times has a piece about offensive stats.
He (and Dodgers peeps) speak about how the team is out-performing its BA and, in a brief paragraph, about how the team is aware there are some statistics that may come back to haunt the Dodgers if not improved upon.
Harris.
Read it. I believe he was spot on with it.
The Dodgers haven’t clicked on all cylinders yet, and they still score. I believe that will continue all year. Might get better. It’s pitching that needs to be addressed. Maybe the young guns will step up between now and the end of July. Hope so.
Courtesy of mlbtr.com:
“The Rangers have traded pitching prospect Ricky Vanasco to the Dodgers for minor league left-hander Luis Valdez, both teams announced. Los Angeles designated reliever Zack Burdi for assignment to free a spot on the 40-man roster.
Vanasco, 24, has yet to reach the majors. An overslot 15th round draftee out of high school six years ago, the 6’3″ hurler developed into one of the more interesting arms in the Texas farm system. Baseball America ranked him between 12th and 21st on the Rangers’ prospect list each season between 2020-22. He impressed evaluators with a mid-90s fastball and above-average to plus breaking pitch but faced questions about his command and third offering.
The Florida native had his career interrupted by both the canceled 2020 minor league season and a subsequent Tommy John surgery. He lost all of ’21 rehabbing but returned to make 23 starts in High-A last year. Vanasco posted a 4.68 ERA over 92 1/3 innings, striking out a quality 28.9% of opposing hitters but with an alarming 12.7% walk rate.
Vanasco was set to start this year in Double-A. A Spring Training knee injury required surgery and cost him the first two months of the season. He made it back in late May and started two games there. They haven’t gone as planned, as he’s failed to get out of the second inning in either appearance. He allowed ten runs (six earned) with four walks and two strikeouts over 2 1/3 combined frames before losing his 40-man position earlier this week.
The Dodgers will take a flier on Vanasco’s arsenal to see if he can hone in his command. He’s in his second of three minor league option years, so they can keep him in the minors for the foreseeable future if he holds his 40-man spot.
Los Angeles sends a 19-year-old southpaw the other way. Valdez signed with the Dodgers as an amateur out of Mexico two years ago. He’s logged 17 2/3 innings with Low-A Rancho Cucamonga this year, posting a 3.12 ERA with a 28.9% strikeout rate while walking nearly 17% of opponents.”
What do you think, Badger? Is this guy a Scherzer type pitcher?
Other than the fact that he seems injury prone, walks way too many batters, and gives up way too many runs, I think he could be our answer.
From the stats, it seems like the Rangers got the better pitcher, but I bow to AF’s superior wisdom. What I don’t understand, considering the upcoming Rule 5 crunch, is why they traded for someone who seems a long ways from helping and they now need to take up a 40-man spot with him.
Interesting that this trade was made. Who made the call? Hey, I’ll give you X if you give me Y. Who’s X? He is my spouse’s hair guy’s nephew. Getting family pressure to make him a Dodger.
?
Humor.
“Is this guy a Scherzer type pitcher?”
Nope