Dodger baseball just wouldn’t be Dodger baseball without a ton of injuries. Last season the Dodgers set records for most days on the disabled list and most players on the DL. For whatever reason the current group of Dodgers are injury prone and have trouble going even a few days without getting hurt. This is a big reason the depth of the farm system is so important to the club’s success.
One could argue that the Dodgers front office should acquire healthier players. However when the entire roster is like a mash unit then there is little the front office can do other than continue to strengthen the franchise’s overall depth and stockpile players. It’s not like they can just get rid of everyone and start over from scratch. In other words, what are you gonna do? Most of these players get hurt a lot. As the franchise infuses the roster with younger players these injuries should decline.
Not surprisingly the injuries have returned this season. A small group of players are already nursing various injuries during spring training. The good news is that most of the injuries don’t appear to be serious. However it is really annoying.
Southpaw starter Scott Kazmir (always hurt) left his last start on Monday afternoon after only one pitch after experiencing hip tightness. Kazmir had an MRI on Tuesday that revealed no structural damage. The Dodgers will allow Kazmir to throw a bullpen session on Friday before they decide when or if he will appear in a game.
Outfielder Andrew Toles missed his third game in a row after hyperextending his knee. Toles might return to the Dodger lineup this weekend. Then there is shortstop Corey Seager.
Seager has missed time this spring after suffering a back injury. He was supposed to return on Friday, but now it appears that that will not happen. Manager Dave Roberts has told the media that the injury is minor and doesn’t expect for it to affect Seager’s opening day status. Let’s pray that he is correct. The Dodgers are screwed without Seager.
Veteran outfielder Andre Ethier has been dealing with back spasms. He first felt it on Monday and Dodger management has cleared him to swing a bat. No word on when he’ll be back in game action. Reliever Pedro Baez is battling a thumb injury which has kept him sidelined for the majority of the spring. He was struck by a line drive a couple of weeks ago during practice.
NRI Henry Ramos has a torn groin. He is expected to be out for six weeks. The injuries just keep going on and on and on. Fortunately the Dodgers really do have excellent organizational depth which helps combat the constant injury problems. They’ll get through it. They’ll deal with it. They dealt with it last year and still managed to win 91 games, another NL West title and reach the NLCS.
At times it won’t be pretty to watch. There will be times when Kike Hernandez is batting lead-off and playing his unique brand of terrible baseball and 10 pitchers will be on the disabled list at the same time. But the Dodgers usually have versatile skilled players (except for Kike) that can step into the fold and keep them in games until the starters recover. Injuries are just a part of Dodger baseball now and we’re just going to have to get used to it.
I was hoping Corey was going to have a clean spring training this year, because last year, he missed most of spring training, because he hurt his knee.
And because of that, Corey’s first month of the season, was not as good as his other months, except maybe Sept.
Now I just hope he gets back, and has plenty of time to get sharp, for the begining of the season.
I have enjoyed watching the Dodgers on Extra Innings and thought I would save some money and get games on my chrome book as well and signed up for MLB.com. I tried to cancel but didn’t do so within 5 days and now I am stuck with a much inferior package and Chrome books can’t be used.
.
I do not recommend MLB.com.
Bum
Good to see you over here, I am sorry about your problem.
Bum
Is this your retaliation on MLB.com, by passing the word about MLB.com’s problems?
My head starts to swim when I hear MLB.com, MLB.tv, mlb at bat.
So I assume you purchased the right to see baseball games via the Internet. From a computer, laptop or desktop, that would mean watching via an internet browser. Google chrome is an internet browser. Why would that stop you from viewing? Do you need to download something first?
Hey Bum. Good to see you.
Not surprised by owies in this group, though I sure hope Seager will get his 600+ PA’s. Everyone else will get lots of time off platooning.
Badger
It looks like James Bond will come to the rescue, soon!
………………………………………..
You have to feel bad for Henry Ramos. Guy was having a pretty good spring and impressing some people, then boom. maybe the Dodgers are a jinxed team and anyone coming over gets hurt…anyway, he is out at least 6 weeks.
Pederson is going to surpass 30 big potatoes this year. It would be kind of odd if he did that from the 8 hole, but maybe you’ll see him batting 1,2,or 6th at different times.
As for injuries, best to get them out of the way in spring. Gee, the Giants almost look like a portrait of good health right now. Perhaps that’s not the best omen, to have relatively sparkling health in March.
Rye
Look at Joc’s stats when he batted eighth last year, and look at what he hit, in the other positions, in the order.
Hitting at the top of the order, is much tougher, then hitting back in the order.
Pitchers always pitch the hitters, at the top of the order, much tougher.
Do you really think Joc is ready to hit second in the order, where Corey hit?
Anyways if you look at what Joc did last year, in all the different places in the order, as compared to hitting eighth, there is a huge difference, in all his offensive numbers, and by a lot.
MJ,
You’re familiar with the caveats of small sample size comparisons, correct?
He barely batted at the top of the lineup at all. He was respectable batting 6th – and astounding batting 8th.
He should be maturing, getting rid of bad habits, have better pitch recognition, and capable of hitting near the top of the order. It’s worth a try. The one and two hitters may see more fastballs.
Batting 8th can be difficult to hit from because the pitcher is behind. If he cuts down the K rate, maintains the walk rate, then leadoff can be a good spot for him. The Indians trotted out Carlos Santana at leadoff.
Food for thought for Dave Roberts.
Rye
Joc hit in the lead off position for quite a while, in his first year, and that didn’t go well.
It isnt harder to hit eighth, then in the meat of the order.
And it is much easier to get a walk in the eighth position.
And the second hitter might get more fastballs, if the lead off hitter, has the speed, and smarts, to steal a base, but we don’t have someone like that.
I just think batting eighth for Joc is better, because he has to wait for his pitch.
And he has a lot of trouble keeping his average up, and he might be facing more lefties this year, so it is going to be even harder, for him, this year.
And in the MLB today, most teams, hit there best offensive player second, to give them
more at bats, then anyone on the team, besides the lead off hitter.
He might get a chance to prove himself, so we will see.
And if he is hitting at the top of the order, for long, that will mean he has improved.
You have to expect some injuries during Spring Training. They happen every year and most are minor. I am more concerned about Kazmir – although his MRI reportedly didn’t show any structural damage, this is a repeat of last year. (Kaz admitted that last year’s mid-back problems started as a hip problem.)
The Dodgers put a program together for Kazmir that involved exercise, chiropractic and acupuncture that was supposed to solve the problem. Kaz said that his hip precluded him from “firing” the muscles in his legs and butt which resulted in a 10 MPH loss of velocity.
The fact that he has the same problem for a second season is troubling. Can Kazmir be counted on? How about McCarthy? Ryu? Hill? No to all of the above?
So – who do the Dodgers have that they can count on for their rotation? Kershaw – probably. Maeda? Hopefully. Urias? Innings limits?
It isn’t depth if they can’t pitch.
As for Ethier, Seager, Gonzalez, – they will be OK.
As for Thompson and Toles – they will either start the season in AAA or on the DL.
Rick
I just think Kazmir is going to be fine, until he pitches again, or pitches for a while.
Even with regular people, a chiropractor will tell a patient, they must come in for regular treatments, to stay aligned, so with a major league pitcher, it is even more intense.
I wonder about Kazmir, because he hasn’t pitched well, for a while.
Remember he pitched well in the first half of the season in 2015, but he has never pitched well, since.
I think he has a chronic condition, that will come about, when he pitches or over does anything, but I am no doctor.
Joc hit his 3rd dinger of the spring today….leads the team. Segedin hit one for team Italy….
Hill looked like crap again today. Did not get out of the 2nd inning. And they are paying this guy how much??? Sheesh, MJ< I think Kazmir is a head case waiting to happen. This hurts, that hurts….poor little baby. Take your money and leave town PLEASE! Let the kids pitch and get experience….
Michael
You might be right about Kazmir.
We know that McCarthy had the yips last year, and that is a mental thing.
Ya gotta love Israel! 3-0 in their first classic.
Ringers:
https://theringer.com/americans-are-dominating-the-wbc-but-they-dont-play-for-the-u-s-e12243b29465#.qyr842sn8
Badger – I hope you enjoyed your Birthday a couple of days ago – meant to wish you all the best – but it slipped my mind.
I remember every year, because you share it with my youngest son.
Another year older, another year with no WS!!!
Apropos to nothing, I wonder if Package206 and Boxout7 are related?
Just kidding, Package 206 is an OK guy. I knew him on Elysian Fields, a sadder blog than this one. The blogger puts up a new post when WordPress locks the comments, at some point after people quit commenting. The current post has been up 10 days, the last one was up for 15 days, the one before that up for a solid month. The current post has all of 33 comments after 10 days. They have maybe a half dozen faithful commenters, one of whom was a Nazi who abused Package something awful. Bumsrap also commented there occasionally. I left it because I got tired of helping Package fight the Nazi. The old geezer who owns the blog was afraid to discipline one of his few commenters. I lost all respect for him so I left. Someone should go there and rescue the few active commenters from a blog that’s dying on it’s feet.
http://linkmeister.com/dodgers/
Hey Jonah,
I do not remember you so you must have had another name? Yeah, I finally left because that crowd could not allow a differing opinion. I was always hard on FAZ and it really made them mad. It got to the point where they would say I said things that I did not. The NAZI had a friend who really was worse than him. I knew he was really sick but the other is a bad guy and I think they are related or friends from somewhere else. Anyway, I have posted here a few times and I like everyone. Even if they disagree, they do not make it personal, at least with me. Good to hear from you and I will look out for your posts.