It’s the first Youtube video for Spring Training 2018.
Inside are notes on Alex Wood and Corey Seager‘s tweaked appendages, and a beer review of a brand new concoction from Firestone Walker Brewing: Leo vs Ursus.
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Oscar Martinez
I was born in the shadow of Dodger Stadium and immediately drenched in Dodger Blue. Chavez Ravine is my baseball cathedral, Vin Scully was the golden voice of summer all my life, and Tommy Lasorda remains the greatest Dodgers manager ever. My favorite things are coffee, beer, and the Dodgers beating the Giants. I also blog about my baseball card hobby at All Trade Bait, All the Time.
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Kudos for representing The Ramones. Some of my favorite concerts were Ramones concerts.
Thanks! I love the Ramones. I will always lament that I never saw them live 🙁
I saw one Ramones concert in my entire life. Apparently it was their last concert ever. Better late than never!
And they played “The KKK took my baby away”!
I was at the last Pistols concert at Winterland in 78, when they walked off the stage in the middle of the set. However, how fitting an ending to one crazy entertaining bunch of punks.
Led Zeppelin, ‘69.
McCullough has a report that seems to be written only to drive Michael Norris to anger:
Why Yasmani Grandal (and not Austin Barnes) appears positioned to be the Dodgers primary catcher (for now).
http://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/la-sp-dodgers-catchers-20180217-story.html
My favorite tidbit:
As a unit, the catchers ranked second in baseball last season in FanGraphs’ version of wins above replacement.
And the now prerequisite launch angle bit:
While Barnes worked out at Dodger Stadium over the winter, Grandal prepared in Arizona. He tinkered with his swing by studying data of his launch angle. He attempted to clean up the mechanical glitches which hampered him in the second half of 2017. He expected to play often in the coming season. And he expected to produce.
Now why would you think that would make me angry? I care less what fan graphs or any other geek site has to say about anything. To me it is simple, produce or else. Grandal is over rated. He is the worst pitch blocker in the league and the only thing that gets him rated so high is the phantom skill of pitch framing. And that crap is on the umpires. His batting average says he is mediocre. My eye test tells me the guy is terrible in clutch situation. His K rate has gone UP every year he has been in LA. I read all about him and Barnes sharing the catching duties with Grandal getting the majority of the starts because the league has more RH pitchers than left. But I have faith that no matter how hard he works on launch angle or what ever, he will flame out like he always does.
You sound (read?) angry right there
Bluto, I am not angry at all, I just do not think he is all that. The guy is a slug period and I would much rather have Matt Kemp hitting in his spot in the order than Grandiose. Card carrying member of the Matt Kemp marching and chowder society. You do not know me, so quit making assumptions of my feelings, you will always be wrong. Like I said, I care less what the geek stats say.
Also since this is Grandal’s walk year I will be extremely happy to see him pack his bags and shuffle off into the sunset.
Grandal is just another dopehead who can’t make it without the stuff. Another fantastic trade by FAZ (just sayin)
I like Grandal, but I believe Barnes had better numbers against righties, then Grandal did last year.
But I could be wrong..
Padres got better. Didn’t see that coming. Hosmer content with money. Of course, being a millionaire in San Diego would be cool. KC now has 4 of the top 40 picks. This is how the lower class competes against the elites.
Michael doesn’t sound angry Bluto. We know what angry sounds like here. Angry is when someone threatens to shoot you! Michael is calm by comparison.
Grandal has been overrated. If and when defense is actually added to metrics his numbers will deflate. Having played and coached catchers, I know what good defensive catchers look like and it ain’t him.
Yikes. He definitely is not (or was not) bodily harm threatening angry.
Another huge signing by FAZ, Yeah, Justin De Fratus. He had a 5.51 ERA with the Phillies in 2015 so he is rarin to go. What a pickup!!
Tundra. Now that’s a pickup. De Fratus? Never heard of him. Sounds European. More like a Fiat.
So is my Tacoma, and it can pitch better than DeFratus.
Bluto
Thanks I read that piece!
Barnes did hit righties better then Grandal.
But the Dodgers are going to share the time behind the plate, between Barnes and Grandal.
And that is the best thing to do, to keep both Barnes and Grandal fresh,and healthy, so we should want both guys, to have a good season.
I know some think Barnes is to small, to handle a full season load.
But I don’t think it matters anymore if a catcher is not big, because catchers don’t have to block the plate anymore.
Barnes hit better than Grandal period. Given the same amount of playing time, he could have easily hit HR’s in double figures. He is better defensively and faster on the base path’s. Grandal has more power and a lot more holes. There have been some smaller guys at catcher and they seem to do fine. I see no problem with Barnes back there. Ruiz is not all that big either.
I’ve heard similar things about Barnes’ size, and his ability to deal with runners.
I’m intruiged how we haven’t heard about game calling. I guess Grandal has improved in that space, I could never tell one way or the other.
Frankly, I was expecting or hoping for a 50/50 split. But if they can combine for 6+ WAR, I’m stoked and thrilled.
Package
When you brought up the steroid thing, that reminded me about Dee Gordon.
I wonder how he is going to do playing centerfield this year, for the Mariners.
Seattle was so sure they were going to get Ohtani, they traded away some players to get more money for their international spending, and that is why Gordon will be their centerfielder this year.
I think Gordon has all the tools to be a better than average centerfielder. Gordon tested positive for testosterone and clostebol. No biggie as far as I’m concerned. He says he did it unwittingly, and that apparently is good enough these days. Right?
Badger
Gordon has the speed, but will he be the same player in Seattle?
I wasn’t focusing on his steroid use, but when Package brought steroids up, it reminded me of Gordon naturally, because he was one of the few players, that has tested positive lately.
And he went out for his steroid use, right after he helped his team, beat the Dodgers.
But about steroid use in general, if they are going to elect players that did steroids into the Hall of Fame, they should have an asterisk under their name, that says their numbers, were helped along, by steroid use.
And they say there are already players in the Hall of Fame, that did steroids.
Lets get the definition right. He was suspended for using PED’s. Steroids tend to make you bulk up, and Gordon is definitely not bulked up. You want to see what steroids do to you look at guys like Lyle Alzado, or Ken Caminiti. If you want the ultimate definition, look at Barry Bonds head.
They say a lot of things that are untrue. There are guys in the hall who were definitely not saints. There are guys in the hall who used stuff given to them by the trainers and team doctors, but I doubt very seriously they were steroids. There were greenies and other pills they would take. The cortisone shots the players were enduring at least up to the 80’s. Those suckers hurt, I know, I had a couple. Mantle had a ton of pain in his knees, so the trainers would give him stuff that would alleviate the pain, but I also doubt it improved his performance. You still have to be able to play at such a high level. Koufax had to ice his arm after every game. The biggest difference is all the stuff they were using was legal. No under the table stuff. Everyone including the baseball hierarchy knew what the players were doing. I think the players in the hall now they are referring to are Bagwell and Piazza. Thing is, neither ever tested positive for any PED. There were rumors and innuendo, but no proof. Guys like Bonds, Sosa, Clemens, they have the goods on those guys. Babe Ruth’s drug of choice was beer and hot dogs. He was known to eat 6 dogs and chug a couple of beers before games……..yeah, he was a bum…..342 lifetime average, 714 dingers and 91 wins as a pitcher……guy definitely could not play the game with beer in him.
Michael
Your the one, that better read, and get things right, not me!
Dee Gordon tested positive for, exogenous testerone, and Clostebol.
And that second thing that Gordon tested positive for, is an anabolic steroid.
And the first stuff, actually has testerone in it’s name.
And steroids do a lot of things, besides bulking a player, up.
And if you really knew so much about them, you would know that.
Steroids also give player’s energy, and more endurance.
Steroids do a lot more, then you think.
But even when Jesse Owens, won all of those gold medals, in Nazi Germany, the Germans and Russians, were doing steroids.
They have been around longer then we think.
And I was not talking about player’s back when, when I said they say there are players in the Hall of Fame, that have took steroids, already.
it is testosterone MJ. There is no record of steroids being used in the Berlin Olympics. But by 1940 the Russians were using them. They were developed originally to help fight fatal diseases. The birth of synthetic testosterone was in 1935. Two chemists, Adolph Butenandt, and Leopold Ruzicka developed them and won a Nobel prize. By the way, Russia did not participate in the 1936 Olympics. In 1958 another steroid, Dianabol, was approved for use in humans, and this is when the use of steroids became more widespread in sports. They were of course at this time legal. Now everyone knows major league ball players were using greenies back then. There was no real proof anyone was using them until Ken Caminiti admitted that he used steroids in 1996. That is the first documented use in baseball. Of course by the 2000’s it was far more wide spread. And pretty well everyone knew that Olympic athletes and other athletes were juiced. Baseball was slow to ban these substances and guys like Bonds, Rodriguez, and others were of course accused of using to enhance their performance. Males produce testosterone naturally, so if you have low testosterone levels, you obviously are not as energetic. They may have been around a long time, but their use in sports did not get rampant until after WWII. Caminiti and Lyle Alzado died as a result of steroid abuse.
MJ
In my opinion , using steriods is cheating, no matter who it is but aside from Grandal or Gordon, the other thing with Grandal is that when he was with with San Diego, not a pitcher on the squad liked working with him. He was annoying and they just did not not like him. It is important for catchers and pitchers to be on the same page.
Package
I agree with you about that.
And I don’t know what happened in San Diego, but Greinke loved Grandal, so it probably depends on the pitcher.
Just because I don’t feel as strongly as some, about Grandal, doesn’t mean I don’t see his deficiencies.
I don’t like when he has pass balls either, because it seems to always cost us, a run.
You are right there package which is one reason I dislike Grandal so much and absolutely did not want the Dodgers to even consider trading for Braun. I have a close friend who’s son has pitched in the majors. His name is Kameron Loe. Kameron had an injury a few years back. His re-hab was not going especially well. I am not really sure what he was using to try and speed up the healing, but he got tested and suspended for 50 games, which cost him his season and he was released. He was pitching in AAA at the time. He still is trying to come back. He is now pitching in the Mexican league. His career record is 34-43 with a 4.49 ERA and 4 career saves.
Michael
What you originally said was, Gordon didn’t do steroids, get it right!
And Gordon did do steroids!
I already read most of what you wrote, and steroids were first developed in 1930, and the Russians started having their athletes using steroids at the beginning of the forties.
I never said a precise time, because I don’t think we really know what the Nazis were doing, when they were experimenting on people.
Steroids do a lot of things, and you didn’t say that.
And steroids do give players endurance, and energy.
But your main point, was that Gordon didn’t do steroids, and that is just not true!
Gordon was roiding for sure, but was a small guy so people couldn’t tell immediately by looking at him. Although he did bulk up a little bit.
MJ, I read the entire history of steroids and that is what I based my statement on. They were developed by two German chemists, but not widely used in sports until after WWII. I was wrong about Gordon. As I said they were originally developed to battle incurable diseases. There was no way of testing for them in the time period of the Berlin Olympics. And they were not illegal, so saying the Germans used them in the games is unknown. You contradicted yourself when you said that the Russians and Nazi Germany were using them because the Russians were not even there and it has been stated more than once that they did not start using them until 1940 and it was not for athletics. But beyond all that, they are a way to add stamina, and strength that is true. But you still have to have the skills to be good for them to be of any assistance. Lots of players have used and not improved at all because they were not that good to begin with. Paul LoDuca was named in one of those reports. His numbers jumped the year he was allegedly on the juice.