The Dodgers successfully punted away another game on Monday evening in Arizona as they lost 3-2 to Zack Greinke and the Dbacks. The Dodgers once again scored only 2 runs as Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi keep scratching their heads as to how to turn the Dodgers into a contending club. Newsflash braniacs it involves using common sense and acquiring good players.
It should come as no surprise that a second rate pitcher was unable to outduel former cy young award winner Zack Greinke and the 28th ranked MLB offense could only muster up 2 runs on 7 hits. The Dodgers were a wonderful 0 for 11 with runners in scoring position on Monday. The Dodgers now fall to 33-32 and are now 6 games behind the Giants in the NL West. They are now firmly in danger of falling behind the Rockies into third place. Perhaps a total bottoming out is what is needed for Mark Walters and Stan Kasten to finally step in and put an end to the Friedman experiment. As I and many other commenters on this board have pointed out the Dodgers will never win anything until tweedle dee and tweedle dum in the front office are sent packing.
Dodgers Lineup @ Arizona-TBA
Kenta Maeda-5-4 vs. Archie Bradley-2-2
Game Time – 6:40 PM – TV-SNLA
I’m sorry guys, I know it sucks, trust me if there was any way the Dodgers could overtake the Giants I would tell you so. Alas, it’s not going to happen this year. Not with the boy genius in charge. This season is pretty much dunzo. Of course if mediocrity, marginal players, third place finishes and hoping that single-A ball prospects will pan out in 2018 is a plan you enjoy, then by all means have fun. Don’t let me stop you from your enjoyment. The rest of us will just have to wait until the moneyball clowns are run out of town for the Dodgers to return to greatness.
In the meantime the season goes on and today is another day. The Dodgers will give the ball to Kenta Maeda in hopes that he can toss a shutout because otherwise they might actually have to score more than one run.
Maeda has pitched well this year. He’s 5-4 with a 2.70 ERA in 70 innings pitched. He’s struck out 8.4 per nine and posted a 1.057 WHIP in 12 starts. Maeda faced the Dbacks once this season back on April 12 and was not involved in the decision of a 4-2 Dodger loss. In that start he held the snakes to just 5 hits over 6 frames with 5 strikeouts. Maeda is 3-0 with a 1.91 ERA away from Dodger Stadium.
Maeda vs. Dbacks
| Name | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | SH | SF | IBB | HBP | GDP |
| Welington Castillo | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .667 | .667 | .667 | 1.333 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Paul Goldschmidt | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jake Lamb | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .667 | .667 | 1.333 | 2.000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| David Peralta | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .000 | .333 | .000 | .333 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jean Segura | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .500 | .667 | .500 | 1.167 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Nick Ahmed | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Patrick Corbin | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Yasmany Tomas | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 21 | 19 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .263 | .333 | .368 | .702 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
The Dbacks will give the ball to 23-year old youngster Archie Bradley. The third-year hurler is 2-2 and has posted a 5.22 ERA in 5 starts this season. So that means the Dodger offense should be able to get 5 hits instead of their usual 3.
The former first round pick allowed 4 earned runs on 5 hits over 5.1 innings in a loss to Tampa Bay in his last start. He’s made only one start against the Dodgers. If you remember last year he shut them out on just one hit over 6 innings while striking out four.
Bradley vs. Dodgers
| Name | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | SH | SF | IBB | HBP | GDP |
| Adrian Gonzalez | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | .000 | .667 | .000 | .667 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Howie Kendrick | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .333 | .333 | .667 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| A.J. Ellis | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Clayton Kershaw | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .000 | .500 | .000 | .500 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Joc Pederson | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Chase Utley | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .500 | .500 | .500 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Justin Turner | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 15 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 5 | .167 | .333 | .250 | .583 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Don’t worry guys, Yasiel Puig just hit a home run at Rancho last night. We’re saved!!! Oh and Just Turner is hitting over .220! Silver linings right guys? I’m just trying to be positive here.
| NL West | W | L | PCT | GB | WCGB | L10 | STRK |
| San Francisco | 39 | 26 | .600 | – | – | 6-4 | W3 |
| LA Dodgers | 33 | 32 | .508 | 6.0 | 2.5 | 5-5 | L3 |
| Colorado | 30 | 33 | .476 | 8.0 | 4.5 | 6-4 | W2 |
| Arizona | 29 | 37 | .439 | 10.5 | 7.0 | 5-5 | W3 |
| San Diego | 26 | 39 | .400 | 13.0 | 9.5 | 5-5 | L3 |
Go Blue
Dear Dodgers, today is my 68th birthday. And the best present you could possibly give me is a classic beat down of the snakes. I would be so very grateful if you bury them early so I do not go any balder than I am with late inning drama. I appreciate it very much.
Good Luck with that, Chrome Dome!
Thanks dan
Maybe tonight will be the start of a nice little run….maybe.
Happy birth day Michael Norris !
Thank you for the birthday wishes……….
I don’t care if we had an all-star pitching staff, SP & RP. If we don’t score runs we don’t win period. If we don’t have immediate help from our farm system then we have to go outside the organization and get it.
The FO reminds me of the band playing on the Titanic until it sank.
What’s the point of having one of the best, if the best, minor system in the majors? We certainly can’t use all of them no matter how close or far away they may be to contribute. Our team BA is .236(.231 if you add the pitchers) and the only bright spots have been Seager and Thompson and Utley too.
I’m sick and tired of seeing our pitchers try to make the perfect pitch 100% of the time and under stress because they know our runs will be few and far between.
The two innings we score the most is the 1st and the 9th. In between, not that much.
Now I feel better and maybe my German/Irish temper will level off at some point.
Nice analogy…….band on the Titanic…..I love it
Exactly Roger, the Kershaw/Greinke experiment didn’t work with this bunch either.
The position players are extremely boring, lifeless would be a good word. The group as a whole does not gel, this team has never presented itself as a team with chemistry. The start for me was the Kike and Joc banana immaturity last year, these kids need to go back to AAA, we need Dodgers, professional ball players.
I don’t care if we have 5 aces, the core group of guys on this team that make up the position players have no fire, the team needs new faces and names.
This afternoon our power went off, twice.
So I called the Electric Company — they told me to hold for a few minutes and they would check on it. Finally the guy came back on the phone and said, “Sir, the reason your power shut down twice — you must be a Dodger fan. We have a world wide power outage on them. Sorry.”
Dodgers were a top heavy team with Greinke and Kershaw, the back end of the rotation had issues and zero consistency, and when Ryu went down last year, the 3rd-5th spots in the rotation were a crap shoot last year. The bullpen was crappy outside Jensen in ’14 and ’15. The offense was good in 2014 and 2013, but too home run dependent in 2014 and obviously injuries to Hanley really killed them in the 2013 NLCS.
Offense being poor this year shouldn’t be a surprise. Never were high on any of these guys, and AGonz is showing his inevitable decline with the power loss. The catching situation is an albatross, Utley is old and already wearing down this year, and Turner clearly has trouble playing and hitting as an everyday player. Pederson is up and down, Puig cannot regain any of the form that once made him special, and Howie Kendrick apparently decided this was the year he was finally going to be washed up, though he’s only 32. Seager and Thompson are really the only bright spots, with little hope unless Utley and Agonz find an ’82 Delorean and Christopher Lloyd and go back in time.
What’s the over and under on games behind the giants on July 1? I still say 10. Any of you? This is the worst Dodger team of the last 5 years, at least. One pitcher, a closer, and 2-3 decent hitters with modest production potential. Plus, a below average bullpen. In the end, they won’t stack up against the Rockies, either. Maybe the D’backs. Those teams are actually getting better. The 2016 team is paying for the stupid investment in Cubans for the last few years, rather in ballplayers who know how to play team baseball. And we are now paying for the broken down pitchers we have signed, who continue to be broken down. This front office is far worse than the previous one, primarily because it had a blueprint of what NOT to do. Instead, it committed it’s own What Not to Do’s. At least it has ownership of that. The farm system plays well within that world, but still cannot produce players who can jump from AAA to MLB. We thought moving out of New Mexico would help. Right. Money for nothing, to use an old song title. I am trying to convince myself not to care. But I still hate the giants, and that is reason enough.
I expect that the Giants will struggle as the result of injuries, pitching regression and their infamous annual “June Swoon”. I expect the Dodgers to hit a little better and pitch a little worse. They are currently 6 games back. Maybe they fall another game or 2 back but I don’t think that the Giants will ran away with it in June.
July will tell the tale. There are rumors that the Giants are talking with the Brewers over Braun in light of Pence’s injury. If they get Braun that could change things. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them add a pitcher. I have less confidence in the Braintrust’s ability to make a meaningful July deal to make the team better than Sabean’s.
If Badger is right, winning this year is not the priority anyway. They want to be “competitive”, but not necessarily to do what is necessary to win this year if they think it will compromise “The Plan”.
Great News! (not)
The Dodgers just signed Will Venable. Here is his latest, courtesy of MLB Trade Rumors.com:
“The 33-year-old did compile 149 plate appearances at Triple-A in the Philadelphia organization, hitting just .205/.304/.307 in that span before opting out of his deal.”
Great – they optioned Barnes back to AAA to keep a lefty OF who was hitting .205 in AAA – instead of keeping Carl Crawford! What are they thinking? Why is this guy any better than Crawford? Or why sign him and put him on the 40 man and the 25 man?
Dodger rick
I bet that former Padre GM had them sign this guy. And the Padres have drafted position players badly.
That is part of the reason, I thought bringing the Padres former GM, to the Dodgers was a joke. We don’t need another outfielder, that only can hit at the Mendosa line.
Actually Venable has great speed. And before last season was a pretty decent hitter. They should have kept Barnes and sent Grandal somewhere…..
I’m in Denver for a few days in a haze… JK, but I am in Denver.
A year ago, at the trade deadline, all the other teams were asking for Seager, Urias, De Leon and Holmes. This year, they are asking for De Leon, Cotton, Holmes, Verdugo and Bellinger.
I’d sooner see them be sellers at the trade deadline and leave the farm intact while adding more prospects. If they trade for a player like Braun they will be sorry in a year or two.
Stay the course. If teams have injuries, offer Gonzalez, Pederson, Jansen, Grandal, Turner, Ethier, Puig, Kendrick and others. Get more picks and build for the future. If the Dodgers wouldn’t trade them last year, why would they do it when they are a year closer?
Clean out the riff-raff, add another 10-14 great prospects and move to 2017. Tank this year. That’s what I would do.
Next year:
1B Bellinger
2B Calhoun
SS Seager
3B Hernandez
LF Johnson
CF Thompson
RF Verdugo
Do you think they would do any worse than this bunch? Get a TOP 10 draft pick and let’s go.
Next years rotation:
Kershaw
Urias
Ryu
De Leon
Buhler
McCarthy
Closer: Montas
I have no interest in Ryan Braun. If I thought that they could win a title this year I would advocate this type of trade, but I don’t so I don’t. I think that we agree there.
I would be OK with them trading anyone on the 25 man roster except Kershaw and Seager. I don’t think that Thompson is going to be a star – nor will Pederson. They won’t extend Jansen so trade him too. Everyone else on the 25 man roster is expendable, we agree there.
Where I disagree is that all of the kids that you list are ready or will be the real deal. Johnson is a dud. Buehler is still recovering from Tommy John. Ryu may never come back from labral tear surgery – I’ve had it and it’s very tough. Calhoun can’t field well enough to be a major league 2B from all accounts. Kike is not ready to be a regular starter in MLB. De Leon can’t stay healthy. Montas has never pitched with good control in the majors. In short, I am not as rosy about the lineup that you propose for 2017 as you are.
One of the reasons that I am not ready to be all in for 2018 is that I am not sure that the Dodgers have the goods in the minors or that the Braintrust will spend the $$ to fill in the gaps in the major league roster to produce a champion. They have never done it with any of their previous “small market” teams and they haven’t done it with the Dodgers.
And you might do that stuff, but this FO never would..
Never fly, sorry, and Calhoun has serious fielding issues…..Johnson might be a better option there, and they are not going to trade Puig and Pederson, you are seriously deranged…..
Johnson had the starting second base job for the White Sox, and lost the job, because he couldn’t hit.
And right now in AAA he is hitting close to the Mendosa line.
No MJ, Johnson is hitting .250 at OKC. That’s quite a ways from the Mendoza line…..which is .200……Calhoun can hit, but he is a pretty shaky defender.
Michael
Johnson is suppose to not be a good defender too. I didn’t know that about
Johnson, because the last time I heard, he wasn’t hitting.
But thanks, I don’t mind being corrected.
Wait, nevermind – they just signed Will Veneable – Print the tickets.
Can he catch?? LOL..he has better career stats than Grandal….they signed him probably on the recommendation of Dave Roberts who coached the guy for 5 years. He has hit as many as 22 HR’s and stole as many as 29 bases, so he has speed….good defensive OF too………
Crawford was an All-Star once upon a time. I know Venable can still play the outfield, but what does this move say about our AAA depth? And when Puig comes back, what are all those outfielders and second basemen going to do?
They are cheap and out of there minds. This isn’t the Rays, or the A’s. This is the Dodgers.
Snider
Maybe they are going to trade someone.
Uh-huh. Meanwhile, what are the chances Roberts starts him before Friday?
Michael
That was for your birthday! Hopefully more to come.
Michael
That second one is for you too!
OK…GM’s… I really liked Rob Segiden in ST… Having a good year at OKC..Hopefully I see him sometime this year and why not shot at 3B next year?
Too old @ 27 ??
Good question pete. I saw him up close at ST and was impressed. The man is really put together. Though his home run totals are modest, he appears to have figured out how to produce at the upper minor league levels. His problem appears to be what others in our organization are up against – we have a few guys just like him already on the 25 man. When one of them goes to the DL, we’ll see him. Until then he is blocked and has “Organizational Depth” printed on his resume.
A lot of people like Barnes but it seems he’s not going to get a chance, either. Grandal hit a home run the other night and that bought him another month or two as the starting catcher. Zack Walters might have a chance to be called up to take Kike’s place on the roster as he can play short.
The idea that we need a left-hand hitter on the bench is ridiculous. We need a hitter, period. I don’t care if he uses a cricket bat as long as he can drive in a run 90 feet away.
And Ethier is coming back, so that is two lefties, including Joc.
MJ, Ethier is a LONG way from coming back. They are thinking not until August at least. He has not even started baseball activities.
He was in the dugout smiling yesterday. Is that an activity?
If he is 100% for the month of September I suppose he could help. Whenever he does return, it will take some time to get up to game speed. And with him no doubt being a platoon player, it might take more time than it ordinarily would. He might be better off spending an extra week at AAA hitting every night than sitting on the bench in LA. Who knows how they are going to handle this. Frankly I don’t think it will matter all that much.
Will Veneble. Wow
On a more positive note. We all know we have a good farm. We all know there’s some good talent ready to come up the next few years. So regardless of how we’re doing now, we do have a future. Here’s some good news:
No fewer than nine players from Double-A Tulsa have been invited to the Texas League All-Star Game, June 28 at Springfield, Missouri.
Position players Willie Calhoun, Drew Maggi, Alex Verdugo, Jacob Scavuzzo and Kyle Farmer were selected along with pitchers Brock Stewart, Trevor Oaks, Chase De Jong and Scott Barlow.
Calhoun (.855 OPS), Maggi (.854) and Verdugo (.795) are starters. Farmer (.807) has been sidelined since May 29, when he was hit by a pitch on the hand.
Stewart had a 1.12 ERA with Tulsa before being promoted to Triple-A Oklahoma City. The other three pitchers all have ERAs below 3.00.
Tulsa recently went on a 10-game winning streak that ended June 8.
Yes, a lot of our best prospects at Tulsa right now and hardly any at OKC. They’re about a 1 and 1/2 years out if all goes well. Of course if it were up to some people we wouldn’t need a AAA team because they can already tell which AA players are ready to start in the majors next year.
… And most were acquired by FAZ ! Tulsa’s starting rotation is stacked with 5 guys who have futures in MLB.
And I would bring them up next year
Bring up all 5?
Yeah, why not? Trade Wood, Kazmir and Maeda, release McCarthy and go with Kershaw, Urias and the 5 AA’s. Get them all ready for 2018.
Pretty sure you’re wrong there.
Barlow–2011. Scavuzzo–2012. Farmer, Bellinger–2013. Verdugo, Oaks, Stewart 2014. All Logan’s boys. DeJong, Calhoun, Maggi–Friedman.
They were all signed before the Fazter got here……Mark needs to check his facts. None of his draftees have made much of an impression anywhere……
Mark is too busy building his empire.
Wow, 5 guys in double-A huh? Might as well print out those World Series tickets right now. If the farm system is so talented as everyone claims it to be then why are there no viable run producers to call up? Better yet why not just call up these so called talented prospects instead of leaving the garbage on the major league roster?
That’s not really how it works.
So you’re saying that the farm system is not very good?
What “garbage”…..who?….would you like off the major league roster?
Let’s see hatcher, kike, grandal, Bolsinger, probably kazmir,are just a few that need to be dfad immediately
Speaking of prospects, tomorrow is the deadline for the Dodgers to go spend crazy on international prospects. After that we’ll be limited for the following yera.
Expect some moves tomorrow for sure!
Bobby
There might be a baseball rule that will shut the Dodgers and other teams, out from spending.
Hey guys, so looks like the dimwits in the front office have gone dumpster diving again
Scott
Aren’t they unbelievable?
You know that the Dodgers have a tradition of getting a player off of the scrap heap who becomes important down the stretch. Think Marlon Anderson or Ronnie Belliard. But this front office has not been successful at “dumpster diving” as you so aptly put it.
last year, they picked up that right handed outfielder (who we had come up thru our system a long time back), and he was actually great! Forget his name now, but he was big for us in Sept
I mocked the pickup, and boy was i wrong (thankfully)
True – Justin Ruggiano
Venable. Add his name to the list. More 4A depth ….. just in case.
Bradley is a guy who lets you know he’s on top of it by commanding the strike zone early. He’s not on top of it tonight, but we aren’t taking advantage. He’s got good stuff, but he makes mistakes. So what? you might ask, to which I would reply – I got nothin.
getting no hit through 4 ip by a guy with a 5.00+ ERA – great
This is just terrible.
Utley
Did something different there. He wasn’t leading off, so he didn’t take a lot of pitches, and get behind on the count.
That is why sometimes Utley looks bad, when he strikes out.
He is always trying to get on base, and looks at a lot of pitches.
wow – that turned around quickly
I wonder if Adrian’s back is bothering him.
Dodgers finally finding Bradley’s mistakes. Took long enough. Now hold ’em.
Badger
I thought the same thing about Agone. He has looked really bad, in his last three games.
And remember he bunted in SF. He has been in slumps before, but he has never looked as bad, as he has, in his last eight at bats.
The team hadn’t been scoring runs, and if he is hurting, he may keep it to himself.
Because the team has been struggling.
Per Bill Shaikin of the Times, “Dodgers OPS in June: .636, last in MLB. “