We all knew that shortstop Corey Seager had elbow problems, but none of us knew how severe it was. Well now we know, and my god it was so much worse than expected. The Dodgers announced that Seager has a torn right UCL and will undergo Tommy John surgery. He is expected to miss the remainder of the season. The club called up Breyvic Valera from Oklahoma City to fill his spot. I guess Seager batting a meager .260 should have clued us all into his elbow problems.
Today, the Dodgers recalled Breyvic Valera from Triple-A Oklahoma City and placed Corey Seager on the 10-day DL with a right UCL sprain. Seager will undergo Tommy John surgery and will miss the remainder of the season.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 30, 2018
It seemed that Seager had begun to perk up a little bit of late. Overall he was slashing .267/.348/.396 with two home runs in 115 plate appearances. He had played in 26 of the team’s 27 games this year. Recently he had been nursing a sore hip suffered when he fell while chasing down a pop fly in the San Francisco series. But to my knowledge there had been nothing new reported about his elbow.
Now the Dodgers must forge on without Seager and still without Justin Turner. I would assume that Enrique Hernandez will get the majority of the time at shortstop with Valera seeing some reps and Chris Taylor getting some time there as well. For tonight’s series opener against Arizona which the club will almost certainly lose, Taylor is at shortstop and in his familiar lead-off position.
Otherwise the Dodgers are pretty screwed right now. With this awful news my fears and concerns have been confirmed. The Dodgers are 12-15, sit in fourth plate 6.5 games behind Arizona. They have won two series this season which includes one on the road against the lowly Padres. More than likely this will be a lost season for the Dodgers and they will not make the playoffs. I really don’t see it this year, after losing Seager for the rest of the season I really believe it now.
On the bright side we’ll be free and clear to do anything we want in October. Free to go out to dinner on a weeknight without having to rush home before the first pitch. Free to go out on Friday and Saturday nights this fall without worrying about the playoffs. It will certainly be infuriating but it will allow the team to retool for 2019. They can’t win the division every season.
Of course there is still time for the Dodgers to recover and save the 2018 season. But could you honestly look me in the eyes and tell me that you believe with Corey Seager out for the year, and Justin Turner still not back and an assortment of gas cans in the bullpen and a lineup inept of delivering with runners in scoring position and a club unable to defeat their division rivals will be able to turn this around and make up over 7 games in the standings over the next few weeks? I guess we’ll see tonight. The post Seager era begins now. It won’t be pretty. Jeez what a miserable god damn season.
Well, looks like FAZ will have an excuse for this year even though I don’t buy it. I realize Corey has a huge hole to fill but it is not impossible. Don’t let em off the hook Dodger Fans.
So once the wounded come back it will be something like:
1B Cody
2B Logan
SS Taylor
3B JT
LF Kemp/Joc
CF Kike/ Vedugo
RF Puig
C Grandal/Barnes
And that’s about it until the trade for the next Chris Taylor. Ot did we trade for that guy already?
The post Seager era begins now?
The post Seager season begins now. And yeah, it could get ugly. But I still believe we can win the West. We just need to find a 1 win SS and we can win the West by 4 games.
So …. Hernandez or Taylor?
Now, you are really dreaming, Badger. It’s just gone from bad to worse. Sure, we will win some games, but musical chairs, the way FAZ plays it, is certainly not sufficient to salvage a season after the previous trip to the WS. We can’t prevent the kinds of things that happened to Turner and Seager, but we can prepare for it. The Dodgers are woefully unprepared in their roster depth and management. The pitching might even be worse.
Sorry to throw cold water on all this. The best we can hope for is some new faces making some waves and some old ones breaking out of habits and really playing the game.
So we get to see our so-called depth.
I am not surprised at all about Seager’s elbow, the severity doesn’t surprise me either. If you have been watching the way they had been treating him with almost zero play in ST and the funny way he was throwing the ball and really his at bats, you had to know he was dealing with something more than just a strain. You may very well be looking at a guy who doesn’t play for not only this season and possibly most of next season as well.
Oh God please let Roberts and others give some time to Farmer on a regular basis.
When the FO made half-ass moves last season, when the Dodgers had a real chance of winning it, you just knew they were blowing one of those opportunities that don’t come around every season or every 30 seasons or so.
We can survive this, but the dysfunction must stop now.
The West can be won. Arizona is hurting too. SF and Colorado are pretenders. Time to rally.
Badger
Yes, the Dodgers can still win but it is not the blow by Seager that seals the deal. It is the terrible FO and manager than will tell the tale. They do not deserve a pass for this situation. They have the money to get good enough players to fix the situation. Also, it is not the position players that are killing the Dodgers. It is PITCHING, PITCHING, PITCHING. The Dodgers had players out last year and still won by plenty. Let us see the great all knowing, all seeing manager do his thing.
I agree about the pitching. I already am seeing the Machado calls, and I like the idea of it, but I have zero faith FAZ can pull that off.
I never said I thought this was a championship club. Obviously that hasn’t changed. I fully realize this is the year that may be remembered as the year the Dodgers reset the cap and forthwith cut short their run at the World Series. At this point it sure feels like that is more likely. But first things first. The Division. We have what we need to compete. Start beating Arizona. Immediately.
The Giants and Rockies are not pretenders because they haven’t been dominant in their play. They are not pretending, but surviving. The Giants whooped the Dodgers pretty good so far this season. They did it with a combination of hitting and pitching. Granted, they are not WS material, but they were better than the Dodgers who are supposed to be WS material. I’m afraid it’s the Dodgers who are pretenders.
Losing Seager is a big blow. How the team responds to this will say a lot about their character. I do not in any way see Kike as a daily solution at SS. I would rather see a natural SS like Taylor in there everyday. Valera will get a shot to play. How much, who knows. But what they are really going to need is continuity. With Seager’s bat out of the lineup, Kemp should be in there as much as he can handle. He is a pro and a pretty damn good hitter. FAZ will have an excuse should they not rebound and win the division, but as was said before, we the fans should not let the organization off the hook. The owners owe the fans. They owe them for their loyalty to a team that has not won for close to 30 years and they owe them for still spending money ever though the prices at the ball park are totally out of whack.
Grandal should have had a triple but I bet Dave would not say anything to the drug head.
Package
Machado would be prefect replacement.
Ain’t gonna happen….
This team is boring.
This umpire needs to be reassigned.
Badger
I agree with both.
Called it a month ago. Seager was hurt much than let on. Don’t trust these guys. Smoke and mirrors folks. Just keep trotting up to the ravine and spend money you lemmings.
Depth my frikin ass!!!!
Badger bro, this team has more holes than a strett in Manhattan. Warm weather and June ain’t gonna gets things rolling. Over managed and players it happy behind the scenes. I will eat Crow with some humble pie if it changes. Way too many moving parts and no long range plan. This front office thinks they are 3 moves ahead of the rest of everyone but they don’t a plan to deal with instant shit happening.
Sorry for the typos. Tried to edit but timed out. On vacation mountain biking in Southern Utah so can’t post much, spotty cell service. Oh and I am frikin whipped. I live at sea level. Every trail here starts at 4000 feet!!!!!!
Hope you all got my points though.
This FO needs to step up now. Gonna happen????? Let you all chime in
First. Forget Machado…….he is a free agent at the end of the season. No way this bunch trades prospects for a guy who can walk at the end of the year. Now if he agreed to a deal before the trade they just might go for it, but do not hold your breath. I said before spring training that this team had holes, and I also said if any one or more of their stars go down for any period of time, they are toast. Right now 4 of the players who were considered the core of the offense are not in there. Puig, Forsythe, Turner and Seager. The bullpen was said by many to be better than last year. What a bunch of hooey that was. Their big bullpen signing, and the only significant free agent they signed, Senor Koehler, went down in spring….typical of a FAZ free agent. Both the bullpen and the starters have been very iffy. Kershaw has 4 losses and really should only have one. That last game he pitched in SF was terrible. Roberts is finding new ways of keeping the best hitter on the team on the bench….That’s right, Kemp has the highest average on the team after his pinch hit single in the 8th at .318. Grandal is hitting .315. The home plate ump tonight was atrocious, but what was worse was that Roberts sat there on his hands and said nothing. Tommy would have been all over that guy and got tossed protecting his players if for no other reason than to light a fire under their ass. They are not going to trade to fix this. They have depth remember?? The biggest fraud perpetrated on Dodger fans in years….McCourt did it all the time. There is no quick fix at AAA. Although I would demote Hudson ASAP and call up Venditte. Cingrani’s arm may no longer be dead, but his control is not back. That inning sealed the loss. I lot of people on Twitter were bitching about Fields giving up Pollock’s third dinger, but he has been very effective and gets a pass in my book. What is also very frustrating is this team does not come back when down after 7 innings. They are something like 0-14 this year. And typically they went meekly in the 9th tonight. I see nothing 28 games into the season that shows any indication of this team making a miraculous turn around. Here is another little tid bit, they are 8 games back of the D-Backs. They have never been that far out in any year in LA. Just think if Kemp had gotten 4 AB’s like Joc did. He might have made a huge difference. Yep, 134 more games. 134 more chances to see FAZ’s Folly. I also read on I think it was Dodger Blue that the Dodgers were the front runner to sign the #1 prospect in the international signing period…..He is a catcher from Venezuela. Just what they need, another catching prospect. They are definitely slim at that position. But I digress. This team, as presently constructed has about as much chance of making the post season as I have of being elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame…..ZILCH. What I meant by 8 games back, was by the end of April