On Mother’s Day, we now know how our mothers feel about us. You see the Dodgers are like our children. Sometimes they misbehave and don’t do what they are supposed to do, which can make us disappointed. Other times they exceed expectations and make us proud. On Sunday afternoon the Dodgers certainly disappointed us with another pathetic loss to the Reds.
The Dodgers (a wretched baseball team) dropped the series finale on Mother’s Day by a 5-3 score. The four game sweep by the Reds is the first versus the Dodgers since 1976. The Dodgers are now an atrocious 16-24 as they continue their quest to become the worst team in baseball.
Once again Rich Hill was not effective, tossing 5.2 innings and allowing three runs (two earned) on six hits. He walked four and struck out four and had to be removed from the game after his bunk finger injury resurfaced. Hill is now 1-2 with a 6.20 ERA. Hill allowed two runs in the third and one in the top of the fourth to take the loss. Eugenio Suarez’s two-run bomb in the top of the third put the Reds up 2-0. If not for the error by Cody Bellinger it would have been a solo shot. The Reds added another run in the fourth when Alex Blandino squeezed in a run to put the Reds ahead 3-1.
Reds 5 9 2
Dodgers 3 5 2
WP-Castillo-3-4
LP-Hill-1-2
SV-Iglesias-7
HR-Puig-1-Grandal-6-Suarez-6-Votto-6
The extent of the Dodgers offense was two solo home runs from Yasiel Puig (his first of the year) and Yasmani Grandal in the fourth and seventh innings respectively. The Dodgers scored three runs on five hits. Cincinnati starter Luis Castillo a young flame thrower easily shut down the punch-less Dodger bats. Castilo pitched six innings allowing three runs (two earned) on four hits while striking out eight to pick up his third win of the season.
Switch-pitcher Pat Venditte who was recently called up from Oklahoma City allowed two more runs in the top of the sixth on a two-run home run from Joey Votto. That really put the game away. The only bright spot was Kenley Jansen pitching a scoreless top of the ninth. Oh and Matt Kemp did this…..
He’s been the Dodger’s MVP on the position player side this season. What else is there to say at this point? The Dodgers will take a day off on Monday while they travel to Miami to begin a three-game set in south beach. Justin Turner and Logan Forsythe are due to return during that series but the Dodgers will still get swept anyways. Tuesday’s opener is scheduled for 4:10 PM PST.
Whatta ya gonna do? It’s ugly but eventually they’ll turn it around.
Who is on the borderline of being demoted, even if it’s just for a few weeks:
Cody?
CT?
This team isn’t only losing…they’re lifeless and seemingly devoid of emotion. Heck, maybe a baseball brawl would wake them up!
They seem to be just waiting for Turner. But it’s not going to happen. Things will get worse after he gets back, and then the turn around will finally begin.
Worst start for a Dodgers team since 1958? Wow. Just wow.
I’m curious to see what steps the management team of this bunch of sad sacks will do. I’m fairly certain they’re all just waiting for Turner and Forsythe to return this week, as if that will fix the less than stellar rotation and bullpen and hitting for the fences and inability to hit w/RISP. It’ll take JT a few days to get acclimated and Forsythe is just not a very good ballplayer. I’m really surprised that Turner Ward still has his job. I mean, it’s a huge sports market, a lot of national media eyes on the team – the front office/ownership surely has to do something, right? If they’re not going to try to fix the team (and they really can’t without calling into question their entire strategy for constructing the team in the first place), at least speak to the fans for heaven’s sake. The silence (except for Zaidi’s stupid comment about home runs) is deafening.
I’m thinking this is what all or nothing looks like.
One of the first moves the front office made was for Squirrel. The die was cast. Latos, Anderson, McBrittle, Kazmir, Hector Olivera, Hill, Forsythe and about 500 other moves in the shadows that allegedly created depth in the organization. I was arguing with many (all now posting… elsewhere) about most of the moves these new guys were making. I don’t like the all or nothing approach at the plate and I don’t much care for the high risk players that were continuing to come through the door. Then last year we got to the 7th game in the World Series. The Series we didn’t win because our ace and our closer just didn’t get it done.
And now? I don’t know what to make of all this, but it has the feeling the house of cards is tumbling. Are we really this bad?
We just might be.
Roberts was hired because he agreed to be the on field puppet master for “Freedo and the Cricket” (saw that at the Times) He’s just doing what was asked, no, what was insisted, and is doing so with the junkyard parts he was handed. He may or may not be a good manager but with all the injuries and underperforming going on with this team I don’t pin this on him. No, this is Friedman’s making.
I think we are better than this, but only if Kershaw and Turner come back full strength. They will be carrying the weight of this team the rest of the way. Kershaw, Forsythe and Grandal are playing for contracts. Taylor and Puig for arbitration, Bellinger for respect and Pederson to stay in the Majors. I believe we will improve, but as I’ve said for some time now, the pitching worries me. Honeycutt has his work cut out for him.
One quarter the way through the season and it matches the worst start since they’ve been in LA. Wow indeed. There is a long way to go. Let’s see if Friedman is any judge of character.
I didn’t think, even in the midst of that great stretch last year, this was a champ roster.
Technically, I was right, but getting to game seven says I was more wrong. I was impressed by the FO, but only mildly, given what they inherited, and given the gazillions they wasted maintaining the inheritance.
This year, as an ex-gambler (made my way for a while until health issues said stop),
I saw this as a 20-question team, my favorite for good money lines against, ’cause
the casual public will over-inflate its real chances.
Badger has mentioned a lot of the takes that were on my list. Can Taylor repeat?
Barnes? Puig? Will Forsythe be better? Can the new bullpen approach the old one in
productivity (I liked the strategy of change – but as with many things in the billionaires’
Toy Store, I was suspicious of the tactics). Will they continue to embrace Baez? Will
big-bodied Kenley stay healthy? How many trips to the DL for Clayton, and how long?
Is Hill getting younger? What will Maeda and Ryu provide? Are the youngsters as
good as their clippings? And the huge puzzle of the glue shortstop’s right arm….plus
a dozen or so less obvious ones.
The odds of a 20-question team having a bunch of yesses all in the same year are small.
It happens, but rarely.
This record is a little surprising to me ( I woulda guessed in and around .500 for the early
months), but I woulda been betting, and mostly winning my bets on D games so far,
’cause the early money lines were so inviting. (Imagine if you had the guts to play against
the Ds in this Reds series, and re-invest every day of the four – yikes!:-).
If JT returns as the most reliable hitter he’s been the last while, it will surely help, but as many others have cautioned, he can’t make up for others absent (especially Corey), and others
sliding backward to lifelong norms.
Just curious, what was your game(s) of choice?
To quote Sonny and Cher, for you younger folks they were a rock duo in the late 60’s and early 70’s, The Beat Goes On…….The squirrel and the wild horse found nuts yesterday, but the rest of the boys found whiff city. How can a team that is supposedly such a good fastball hitting team, miss so many fat fastballs? Cody Bellinger has a bat that avoids them at all costs as does Taylor. What amazes me the most is that this team made 4 guys who had ERA’s higher than Mount Everest look like Cy Young.
We started last year with mediocre results, were terrible in September, then made it the last game of a hard fought 7 game World Series. We have started this year like we ended last, but we have an excuse. This is a damaged club and those left standing are feeling the pressure.
I don’t where this is going but this is my team and I’m sticking with it until we are mathematically eliminated. I won’t bet against the Dodgers.
You guys aren’t at all suspicious about Taylors numbers last year?
There’s a pattern to today’s MLB players.
Never trust MLB
Just a matter of time when they start hitting bombs again.
Until we get better pitching, I don’t see this completely turning around.
But they have to stop this all or nothing hitting, because that makes them easy outs.
Even the weakest starting rotation in all of baseball, made our hitters easy outs, because they don’t cut down or choke up on their swings, with two strikes, even when runners are in scoring position.
I see teams at times pitch around Kemp, and when Turner comes back, he will probably have that happen to him too.
But if they are not getting good pitches to hit, they can’t give in, they need to take the walk, and let the next guy do the job.
What is bad, we lost two of our best pitchers, because really other then his first game, Ryu had been pitching better then even Kershaw when he went out.
I was surprised to see Hudson pitching in the eighth yesterday, and although he pitched fine yesterday, Roberts can’t continue to have him come into games, in the later innings, or we will be giving some games away.
I don’t blame this on Roberts, but he needs to be his own man to an extent, to try to get our offense going.
He is mister small ball, and he knows more then the front office, about running an offense, so he needs to step up in that way, because their way is not working.
Roberts as a player might have made a Friedman team as a utility guy, but he did not play like he is asking his players to play. Roberts could steal bases, bunt, and hit behind runners. He never hit double digit home runs, OPS’d .708 for his career and his strike out rate was around 10%. Why was he chosen to manage a team of all or nothing guys? Because he agreed to manage opposite of how he played.
Maybe he is conflicted. Maybe he should go on the 10 Day CL. Bring in Gibson to manage while Dave de-conflicts.
Badger
Exactly, and because of that, Roberts knows how to run an offense better then the front office.
And we do have players on this team with speed.
Taylor, Bellinger, and Puig, all can run, and Barnes is sneaky fast too.
But like I have said to many times, Joe Maddon under Friedman, did use small ball.
Our GM is the only one in that front office, that worked under Billy Beane.
And he was the one that said the team wasn’t hitting enough HRs, earlier last week.
I have heard Friedman say more then one time, he only uses saber metrics as a tool.
I think your right he may be conflicted, but I say it is worth a try, because this other way is not working.
And if this team’s main goal, is what our GM said, why are they trying to help Joc hit the other way, because he has been a classic all or nothing hitter, before this year?
It’s official…Turner back tomorrow in Miami…
I went to baseball reference and saved every Dodger move since the FAZMASTER took over. I am going to study them over the next few days and see who has been retained, who has moved on, and where this so called phantom depth this team supposedly has stands right now.
That’s like a term project Bear.
I look forward to your report.
I have to transfer the info to paper and then will peruse and see who is in the minors, and what they really have left from some of these trades. The obvious ones are Barnes, Grandal and Hernandez, but they have no one left from the Thompson, Montas, Johnson trade. And the Reds still have all 3 they got from LA>
Michael
Check out the Josh Fields trade, because I have read a couple posts about the prospect we gave up, for Fields.
I don’t know the particulars about that trade myself.
I sure will MJ.
Okay, they traded a 19 year old prospect named Yordan Alvarez. who at that point had not played in the Dodgers system. He is a first baseman outfielder. He had a little over 200 at bats at Los Tunas which is a Cuban National team. His first year was pretty bad, but he hit .351 in 40 games his second season there. No power to speak of at that point. He turns 21 next month and right now is playing in AA Texas League at Corpus Christi. He has hit for decent averages since he went to the Stros, but not much power shown at this point. He is one of the batch of Cuban players signed by FAZ. Has a pretty high ceiling though and being that young could develop into a pretty good bat. More than adequate with a glove….Hope that answers your questions.
Dodgers’ Andrew Friedman: ‘If we had to assign blame at this point, it should be me who is taking that’
Ok by me.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/mlb/la-sp-dodgers-friedman-20180513-story.html
I read that Package….surprised he stepped up a little…..but the fact remains, they still have holes and they are sitting on their ass doing nada.
They are patiently waiting for the right time to strike. Out.
great play on words…they do strike out a lot.
Yeah, Pack, that’s where I got the quote and the Freedo and the Cricket line. Maybe you missed that? Good line. At least I thought it was.
Good get by Shaikin.
Good read, thanks for posting.
I think he’s spot on in that the offense hasn’t been good enough. I would have added the word “nearly.”
But to me the most interesting is the answer to the financial flexibility question. Friedman doesn’t deny the luxury tax avoidance one bit. Just says ownership is supportive. No shit they’re supportive, he’s getting them under the tax!
Bluto
You right on, about that!
Do you think you would ever see the Yankees or the Red Sox, going to this extreme after getting to game seven, the year before?
Game seven is irrelevant. The tax had to be reset, and it happened to happen (ha!) after the World Series. The team in my opinion, and not Michael’s, is pretty well set up for sustained high-level performance.
They had to get under the cap, and they did. The Sox and Yankees had similar edicts. I don’t view it as extreme, nowhere near extreme in fact I just view it as unnecessary and unfortunate.
Thanks Michael!
It doesn’t sound like much of a prospect at this point, but I guess you never know.
No problem MJ. The thing to look at is his youth. A high average hitter can be vary valuable. He is hitting .299 at AA right now. He turns 21 on June 27th.
Michael
Your right about that of course, but I thought he was more of a break out prospect, with the couple posts I saw.
Well resetting the tax is one thing, not improving the starting pitching, bench and relief corps through trades is another. Sustained high level performance? Who are you trying to kid? Their best players are at AA which puts most of them at least 2 years away and some will never make it. The only major trade they made was for salary relief. Their only major free agent pick up has not thrown a competitive pitch yet. Their ace is out for who knows how long and they are in a prolonged slump. If they were set up for high level performance they would be performing. Too much blue kool aide in your diet there bud.
What would the tax had been if we had gone over $197mm this year? Say…. $15,000,000 over.
How much did FAZ spend on Cubans who will never play here? To get more specific, how much was lost on Olivera?
Which number is larger?
Yeah, I know, the cap HAD to be reset eventually. I can’t help it, I’m still thinking what Stanton would look like in Blue.
I want Colletti back.
I think it would have been close to 30 million. Maybe a little less. But if they had got Stanton, they would have moved Kemp one way or another to accommodate him. Faz has spent a lot of money on Cuban players, and he dumped a fortune on Olivera. I think Ned would have made moves that got them to more than 1 world series. The guy had a knack for creative trades….not so FAZMANIA>
100% agree that the Stanton thing does and will continue to Sting. Premium player who wanted to come here, available for a relative song.
That said, If they could have moved Kemp in ANY way, they would have already. He and his deal are immovable, I think we have learned..
Colletti? Seriously? Molly KNight has a good story or two about Colletti. Not very flattering. Don’t you think if he (Colletti) was any good, he would have been hired by someone?
Why should he go anywhere? He has a cushy title and an easy job. And none of the stress associated with being in charge. Yes, he was a good GM. He played the hand McCrappie gave him and was very creative. You would have never seen Manny and possibly the best 1 1/2 months any Dodger has ever had if he was not the GM. That was a fun year, and one hell of a ride.
To each his own, I guess.
Have you read Colletti’s book?
I think he would have done better than what we see going on now.
I think Colletti was dreadful, I have no interest in reading his version of his awfulness.
I quite liked Molly’s book though.
Well it looks like Guerrero is having another pretty good season, in Japan.
He is hitting, 300s/398/520
It’s the Cuban deep fried sushi that is the new found path to success in Japan. Does not matter MJ, the guy was abysmal defensively, and other than that burst when he first came up, he was mediocre.
I don’t know Michael, in 232 at bats with LA he hit 11 homers, drove in 36 and struck out 57 times. Over a full season that’s close to 25 Home runs, 80 RBIs and over 100 Ks. Those are very squirrely numbers and you know how fond of squirrels FAZ is. I’m kinda surprised they gave up on him.
Badger is right, look at his numbers at AAA.
And he could have played left, if they had him played him in left more in AAA.
They did not because they did not trust him out there…and in his few games in the majors he misplayed a few balls. Point is, he was 25 when they signed him and almost 28 when they released him and he was blocking prime prospects and taking up roster space….and until further notice, Japan is not the majors…His major problem was that not long after he went to AAA he lost significant time when someone tried to bite his ear off…….
He also hit .233 and had an OBP under .300…not exactly the kind of FAZONIAN production expected.
Michael
Those numbers don’t mean a thing.
He was never given a good chance, he would get one at bat, against the other teams closer most of the time.
And they never had him play left down in AAA, so he was just winging it.
And Colletti is the one that signed him.
He had better numbers then Joc had, in that one good year Joc had in AAA.
What prime prospects did we have to play in left?
Kemp is the first player we have had that has produced in left, in a long time.
Actually MJ he did play a few games in LF. Look, the guy was supposed to be a natural 2nd baseman. That is why he was signed. In 2014 he played 9 games in LF at Albuquerque. He had 12 chances and 11 put outs. He played 29 games in LF at LA in 2015 and started 27 of them. His other 22 games were at 3rd base and he started 18 of those. He had 3 errors in those games. His value was off the bench. He hit 3 pinch hit homers. But after a very hot April he tailed off badly and started striking out a lot. He might have had better numbers than Joc because he played a lot fewer games at AAA. He only played 69 games at AAA in 2014, and he probably would have been in LA sooner had he not have had his ear bit off. And you are comparing a guy who had 8 seasons under his belt when he was signed to a kid who was 22 years old his only full season in AAA, hit over .300 and hit 30 homers and stole 30 bases. You cannot compare those 2 guys. Joc was a natural CF and was considered one of the top prospects in the Dodger system when he arrived in 2015. Guerrero was considered a sub par fielder at 2B that’s why they moved him around. I do not know why everyone was so wound up about the guy, he had a couple of bright moments, but there is no way he was breaking into the starting lineup in 2015. You forget, Crawford was still here at the start of the year and the starting LF was Ethier for most of the time. Van Slyke was still on the team. They were loaded with outfielders and the starter at 3rd was Turner and Kendrick was starting at 2nd, so where in the hell were they going to play him? He was listed as a utility player. But so was Kike who had a pretty good year hitting over .300. Ethier had a .294 batting average. Pederson had a strong first half and fizzled after the all star break. Guererro was released in June of 2016. Partly because he was expendable since they had acquired Thompson, and Toles during the off season. But mainly because when he went to the minors that season he was awful. They had moved Kendrick to Left because they had picked up Forsythe. Those were the guys who were playing in front of him. In 2016 he basically had no position on the team. Not even as a utility player because he just was not really considered that kind of player. They tried trading him, and no one would take a flyer on him because he was getting 7 million a year. In 2015 he was lousy at Dodger Stadium and good on the road. He hit .244 in the first half, and .206 in the second. The reason he did not play is because the team had better options. And sorry MJ, those numbers he put up mean something to the people who run the team. That’s how they figure out how much they are going to pay those guys. Turner did not get a 4 year extension because he is a .230 hitter. Management felt he was not worth 15 million over the remainder of his contract. you can argue all day long about not getting a chance or what ever and in the final analysis it means nothing because no one will ever know how he would do if he played everyday because there was NO PLACE for him to play. Oh yeah, he had a negative WAR that year too.
The guy was and is awful.
Please.
Sarcasm Bluto.
Another example:
We can only please one person per day.
Today is not your day.
Tomorrow doesn’t look good either.
Bluto
You better look what he did in AAA when he first came to the team, before saying that.
I liked the guy. 232 at bats is a pretty small sample size. Fact is, he wasn’t a FAZ Cuban. Adios Alex.
Something else I remember about him – he sat alone on our bench quite a bit. Maybe he wasn’t liked by teammates.
AAA is not the MAJORS> A lot of players younger than he was have put up great numbers at AAA. Pederson was one of those guys. I can name tons of them who never made an impact in the bigs, and some who went on too great careers. The team had better choices at all the positions he played. END OF STORY>
MJ,
This is, like your case against OPS, a silly and moronic endeavor. Alex Guerrero was a miss for the International Scouting team of yesteryear.
Arizona has lost 5 straight. Atlanta is now the best team in the NL.
Atlanta?
I got 50 push-ups that says nobody that is in first place in the NL now will be in first place on October 1st.
I can pretty much agree with that…
Farmer and Locastro sent to OKC. Forsythe activated today, Turner will be back tomorrow.
Locastro could be Taylor II. I’m just not that high on Farmer. Trade him. For an arm that throws 100 mph but can’t find the strike zone.
“If bullfrogs weighed 50 pounds, there would be no people on earth”. Mike Conlin, California Department of Natural Resources
I think you are under rating Farmer. He made great strides behind the plate, is a vacuum cleaner at 3rd and when he was getting regular at bats in spring he was hitting for power and average. DR had him sit too much. You lose your edge when you are one of those guys.
In terms of development, at 27
Farmer is a finished product.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.truebluela.com/platform/amp/2018/1/8/16863624/kyle-farmer-2018-dodgers-prospects
He’s #19 for a reason. He projects as a .240 hitter with little power. We have plenty coming up behind him that are better. We need pitching. Trade him while we can.
The farm projections are wrong. The system underrates contact hitters and situational hitters. We should have kept Peraza and we should keep Farmer.
“The farm projections are wrong.”
Ok. What do you project for Farmer? And while we’re at it, Verdugo.
“We should have kept Peraza.”
I think you may remember my take on that. I really liked that guy. I liked Dee Gordon too. FAZ does not value that type of player. Low OPS drops off their radar.
Could be Badger, but I think the lack of playing time hurt him. He would start and then not be in there for a week. Like I said, when he was playing in spring almost every day he hit with power and he made a lot of contact. In 39 at bats he had 8 extra base hits, 3 of them homers and drove in 9 runs. He also hit .333 with an OBP over .400.
Spring Training at bats are, in my estimation, inconclusive. How many of those 39 at bats were against minor league pitchers or major league pitchers just working on their mechanics and conditioning? In 69 at bats so far he’s OPS’n .583. Small sample I realize but anyone with an OPS below .600 is part of our current problem. I hope he tears it up at AAA. But, I figure he’s #19 on our prospect list for a reason.
Yeah Badger, but how many guys rated that low or lower have ever made a difference? How many guys on that list actually make an impact on the big club? Verdugo showed some flashes, but no guarantees he becomes a bona fide star. They just promoted Scavuzzo to AAA and he has sizzled in his first 3 games. Can he keep it up>? Who knows, but the retreads they have down there, Taijeron, Segedin, are pretty bad right now. Some guy named Garlick is leading the team in HR’s , but there must not be anyone on base when he hits them because he has 6 and only 8 ribbies. Only 2 of those 30 prospects are even MLB ready at all, Buehler and Verdugo. Farmer is not on the prospects list anymore. Almost all of their best talent is at Tulsa. So yeah, maybe they trade him because they are so deep in the minors at catcher. But him alone would not bring a great return…he would have to be packaged with some one.
I agree. And Farmer at 27 has his prospect years behind him. It was his time to show he belongs on a Major League roster, and maybe he does, but not here. Unless he goes to AAA and lights it up, and even if he does, I think we need to do better off the bench.
So, yeah, package him up and get a bullpen arm or a veteran bench guy. They are out there. Deals are always out there. Other organizations know we are struggling. They’ll answer the phone.
Newest power rankings – we’re 23.
Badger
What is the worse about this, is all the east coast bias loving that the Dodgers are struggling.
Beat LA.
They are as easy to dislike as the Yankees and the Patriots. Depends on where you’re from.
Yankees are very easy to dislike, so were the Bulls in the MJ era. Patriots, well I quit watching pro football a long time ago, but I really dislike Notre Dame and Ohio State and UCLA. But I really hated the Celtics………
The Dodgers have 122 games left. To reach the number of wins they had last year they would have to go 88-34. They are 8 games under .500 and 8 games back of AZ. To get to the low end of wins that most people predicted, 92, they have to go 76-46. With what I see on the field right now, that is not going to happen unless they show DRAMATIC improvement. They need to win almost every series for the next 2 months.
Will 88 wins get us in the playoffs? Colorado got in with 87 last year. To get to 88 wins we need to go .600 the rest of the way. We can do that.
No Badger, the team of last year could do that. This bunch? That is very questionable and not happening unless a bunch of guys turn around really fast. Can they handle both Bellinger and Taylor with over 90 K’s at the midway point? Wasted at bats are killing this team. Situational hitting is NON_EXISTANT> I do not believe this team has the COJONES to rebound. I think they are what they are, a dysfunctional band of utility guys with mediocre talent and a meddling manager. The front office is just as bad. They try to fix a blow out with a patch instead of a new tire……
You’re right. So far this team has shown signs of regression.
But I still believe in most of them.
No matter what anyone believes, without Seager’s bat, this team is no where near as good offensively as AZ or Colorado. Unless Bellinger and Taylor really have dramatic turn a round’s, it will not get much better. Oh, Turner will help some, but Forsythe? In his time here he has not shown much consistency at all. Puig needs to be the guy he was last year. Unless they all suddenly GET IT, I do not see that happening….I will gladly eat crow if they do.
Banuelos got lit up again at Colorado Springs last night. 3 innings and gave up 4 runs. Now 4-2 with an ERA over 3. Solano hitting .352.