While Dodger’s president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman was busy safeguarding Guggenheim’s wallets, he let the Dodger’s best starting pitcher and longtime pitching stalwart Hyun-jin Ryu sign with the Toronto Blue Jays. While Friedman sits around collecting his millions and thinks of new ways to make the Dodgers worse, Hyun-jin Ryu said goodbye to Dodger fans. His teammate Justin Turner said goodbye to Ryu. Dodger fans can now say a tearful goodbye to a fan favorite.
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Friedman Sucks. #FireFriedman
I liked Ryu as did many fans. Along with Hill, probably the most fun pitcher to watch hit. I was glad he hit his dinger this year. Unfortunately AF did not think resigning him was a priority. 80 million for a pitcher with his skills is about what the market now dictates. It is not like Guggenheim does not have the money. And they have space under the tax. Why then did they not deem resigning him? I think the answer lies in his history and age as much as anything else. Hard to see him being a better pitcher and less injury prone at 34. The AL might actually benefit him since he no longer has to run and swing the bat. AF when he places value on players, usually will not go past that. One reason he did not go over board at the deadline last year and deal for a shut down reliever. They were all pretty expensive talent wise, and the main one they were targeting, Vazquez, would have cost them a mint, and as it all turned out, he is in jail. I will miss Ryu, but it does open the door for Urias to become what they have hoped for from the beginning, a important piece of the starting rotation. And it gives May or Gonsolin the chance to showcase what they can do on a regular basis. I doubt they re-sign Hill either. As entertaining as he was, he is 40. And he is also fragile. No need to have him blocking the kids. Right now I would say the rotation plays out at Kersh, Buehler, Maeda, Urias, and May until Gonsolin either proves he is a better option, or May falls on his ass.
Michael, I will say this about the title of this page Scott wrote in here…Freidman still sucks and believe me THAT IS an understatement. As far as pitching goes, nobody has to remind anyone here how important it is to have 2 or better yet 3 top of rotation arms in order to have a chance at succeeding in October. But in the Dodger’s case the offense is an issue as well, because it was Freidman himself who was disappointed with what this LH hitter heavy offense did when it counted the most.
It is hard to say the offense is the problem when they led the league in scoring and HR’s. What is a problem with the offense is balance. I give credit to the DC pitchers for shutting them down. Just a couple of players had a decent series. When the middle of your lineup falls flat on it’s face, something is amiss. The bottom line comes down to the fact that they were beating Strasburg. He had given up 3 runs, and they had a 2 run lead heading into the 8th inning, and for what ever reason, Roberts sent Kershaw, who gave up a ton of homers during the season, and usually gave them up early in outings, back out there to do a job that should have been left to the bullpen. Where was his clutch hitter when all this was going on. As good as he has proven to be in post season, why was Freese not in the starting lineup when Seager, Belli, and Pollock were not hitting at all? A vet like Freese, it does not matter what side a pitcher throws from. Yeah, he killed lefty’s. But he was also effective most of his career against RHP. Kelly should have been out there to pitch the 8th, with a couple arms warming behind him and Jansen set to pitch the 9th. But as usual, Roberts over thinks everything. He micromanages and it has caused some bad endings because he is like that. Friedman is what he is. He makes decisions to please the owners, not the fans. I am as disgusted with the guy as anyone. And I still believe his small market mentality is more of a hindrance to them winning a title than anything else. Fans keep hoping for that big free agent signing, or a trade that makes the Dodgers even more potent than they are. But other than salary dumps, Kemp-Puig, changing the clubhouse culture, Kemp, Gordon, Haren, he has never made what would be considered, a baseball trade. Talent for need. They need more RH pop. My point has been, and will remain so, they do not have any star power. Belli may well become that superstar, 40 homers plus type guy. Seager is a very good SS. If he is healthy, he might not be Lindor, but he is one of the better hitting SS’s in the league. The rest of the team outside of Joc, Pollock, Verdugo, are a collection of utility players. Turner has never been a superstar, but he is about as steady and consistent as they come. He is also 35 years old, and his days of being out there all the time are past. Getting Cole and Rendon would have really changed the culture. Getting Betts or Lindor for what they would cost would simply be a short time fix. Both will test the free agent waters when they can. Betts might be a huge plus in the lineup, but the last time the Dodgers added a AL superstar, it came with mixed results. Machado was not, and has not been nearly as good since he came into the NL as he was in Baltimore. Nobody guarantees you the win in the big dance. I look at it this way. They still have the best everyday lineup in the west, which they should win pretty easily. But they really need some help when it comes to players who perform well in the post season. Only Turner has been consistent in that regard. Cody, Corey, Max, Verdugo, Pollock, all need to up their game. It would also be nice if Maeda decides from the beginning of the season to be more aggressive when he is starting. He is more intense when he pitches out of the pen. I do not have all the answers, I wish I knew exactly who they needed for that spark. I believe in the kids, and I think they will be fine. But a piece or 2 might make a huge difference in the outcome. Because some of their counterparts have slightly better players to run out there in the playoffs. Kuechel signs a 3 year deal with the White Sox who are making a lot of noise this off season. And the Kole Calhoun to the D-Backs for 2 years is done. Dickerson signs a 2 year deal with the Marlins.
All points are well made, Michael. And then there is Roberts, whom ya already touched on and I am upset with him for what he blatantly told Bill Plasche of the LA Times that he would make those exact same decisions he did to completely sabotage game 5 and the remainder of the season. Again, this line is unbalanced and if I were the opposing team I would any LHP I could get my hands on no matter what inning in the game or for starting . The Dodger offense is good against the pitching they saw for most of the year but when ity comes to October as ya say they are inept completely. and finally, Scott is right on…Freidman still sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!
Happy 84th birthday to Sandy Koufax. Still the best I ever saw.
Wow. How time flies. Happy B-day Mr. Koufax.
Have heard recently that Bob Gibson’s health has been slipping. That generation of players are starting to fade.
It has been a frustrating off season for the Dodger fan base.
Why do some of the hitters struggle in the post season? It is because they are going up against better pitchers. Not batting against the Rockies #3 pitcher or the D-Backs #4 pitcher, etc. Most playoff teams are in the post season because they have good pitching. Hard throwers with good curveballs and experience. Not playing against the sister of the poor.
LA Dodger stars are all way too aggressive trying to be the star. Every pitcher uses it against them. Probably why Turner is the only one that hits because he doesn’t care to be the star and he is mature enough to stay within himself.
It is ironic how going into the off season the talk on many blogs were for the Dodgers and Friedman to go bold and now the word ‘bold’ is not even mentioned.
It cracks me up how if Friedman does something, it’s great. If Friedman does nothing, it’s great. Friedman signs a 2nd tier FA, it’s great. Friedman doesn’t sign Ryu, it’s great. Whatever he does they hail him as being smarter than all the rest.
Really? The guy has never signed a top tier FA. He is unwilling to pay anyone outside the organization anything nor give them the appropriate years. The dude simply cannot negotiate as it is not part of his lineage.
One thing is for sure Alex Anthopoulus did not acquire the small market disease. Not sure how things will go for him as the Braves are in a MUCH MORE competitive division but he is willing to pay for talent.
I expect Farhan Zaidi to join Andrew Friedman in the bottom of the dumpsters looking for gems on the cheap so it’s possible even that will become a little more difficult.
For every find like Taylor, Muncy, per se, AF has many more swings and misses. The list is endless. Kolarek was a surprise because no one expected a thing from him and he made some decent appearances. After Kersh gave up the homer to Rendon, why wasn’t the lefty specialist in there to pitch to Soto with the game on the line? His international signings have not panned out. All of the Cuban players sign by Friedman’s regime have flamed out. Not one has made a significant contribution to the cause. Their best Cuban remains Yasiel Puig, and he was from the prior regime. His deadline trades have not produced the desired results, even when he did go out of the box for Machado. Funny thing about that is, if Seager had been healthy instead of out at that time, Machado would have never seen Dodger blue. Had Chris Taylor been playing like he was in 2017 at that time, AF may not have made that trade at all. But Taylor’s numbers were down, and the Dodgers needed help at SS. They did not even make an effort to keep Machado. This season they needed a real back of the pen arm. Someone who could come in and shut down the best hitters the opposition has. While guys like Martin, Greene and Melancon went to the Braves, DC picked up a couple, and AF settled for Kolarek. They needed some bench help, and AF as is his way, goes all IL on us and trades for Gyorko, who would have been an astute pickup a couple of years ago, but who had been on the IL almost all year. And a real loser in Tyler White. The surprise was the decent play that they got from Negron. But he faded later in the year. Although I agree with most of what Paul says. The Dodgers did beat some good pitchers during the season, and they hammered Corbin in the playoffs. He is not a bad pitcher and has owned LA in the past. And despite their so called struggles against lefty’s, they had a winning record against them. Muncy, and Verdugo hit lefty’s well, and since 65 percent of the pitchers in the bigs are RH, a lefty heavy lineup is not all that bad. But those lefty’s need to hit good RHP> Something Belli and Seager did not do in the playoffs. Muncy only hit .230 in the series, although he did hit 3 homers. Turner hit’s everyone, so he was his old self. Pollock just looked over matched. I do agree that sometimes their aggressive nature is used against them, best example of that was Seager, who was swinging at pitches at his ankles almost the entire series. They were not as clutch as they were in the regular season. Me, I would have run the hottest hitters out there every night instead of using match ups all the time. Martin and Freese were hot. Smith, Pollock, Belli, and Seager were not. I also think having Hill start game 4 in the physical shape he was, was about the dumbest move outside of his game 5 mistakes Roberts made. Me, I start the kid. They got 4 innings from Hill, and it was no where near enough against Scherzer. May would have been a better choice. No need to cry now, what is done is over with. But I will never ever trust Friedman to do something dramatic. He has been nothing but hot air and BS ever since he took over the operation of this team.
Michael, I recall AF saying he was disappointed with the offense from those lefty hitters in October. Correct on there being more RHP but as I saw it, the past 3 WS winners had a bit more of a balanced lineup to a degree. But those WS winners also had competent managers when it came to handling the pitching staffs too.
Roberts post season gaffs are well documented. One thing I see now is that no matter what, the Astros 2017 win is tainted. If it is indeed ruled that they used electronics to steal signs, stealing signs is not against the rules, but electronically it is, then they should lose that title. But the Dodgers do need some more balance in the lineup. A lot of chatter floating around that they might go after Bryant of the Cubs. But the Lindor-Betts-Clevinger talk has really stopped lately.
106 Wins speak for themselves
You can lead a horse to water, but..
Don Larsen who threw a perfect game in the 1956 World Series against the Dodgers, passed away today at 90 years old. He had esophageal cancer and was living in Idaho. He was one of the few still living who played for the old St Louis Browns. He struck out Dale Mitchell to complete the feat. Closest thing to a hit Brooklyn had was a deep drive to left center by Hodges that Mantle ran down.
Let me summarize what I have read here in all of your posts, AF equals no WS ring. I just can’t care more about winning a championship than the owners and Andy are willing to care. That’s a wrap on these guys.