TC – 3 – Bob Seger – Nine Tonight
Bob Seger was a fav back in the 1980’s but I don’t listen to him much anymore though as I’m listening to this tape maybe I should. Tape number three has his live album Nine Tonight that was recorded in 1981 and contained most of his good stuff.
The Detroit rocker could play down home rock n roll “The Fire down Below” or a sweet ballad like “We got Tonight” with equal skill. Against the Wind was recorded in 1980 and while I was only 22, it would resonate with me then and more so the older and older I got.
The second track is “Trying to live my life without you” which might be my favorite cover that Bob ever did. Some of my big favorites at the time were Hollywood Nights, We Got Tonight, You’ll Accomp’ny Me, Mainstreet, Feel like a Number, and Night Movies. As I’m listening to it now, I’d be hard-pressed to find a track here that I didn’t like.
I saw Bob at the old Fabulous Forum twice in 80’s, and the second show will always have a nice memory for me that I’ll keep to myself.
Sometimes Bob would be accused of sounding the same, and certainly, Betty Lou has a lot in common with other Seger songs but when you record over 100 songs shit happens.
| 1. | “Nine Tonight” | 5:23 | |
| 2. | “Tryin’ to Live My Life Without You“ | Eugene Williams | 4:00 |
| 3. | “You’ll Accomp’ny Me” | 4:13 | |
| 4. | “Hollywood Nights“ | 4:49 | |
| 5. | “Old Time Rock & Roll“ | George Jackson, Thomas Earl Jones III | 5:12 |
| 6. | “Mainstreet” | 4:04 | |
| 7. | “Against the Wind“ | 5:35 | |
| 8. | “The Fire Down Below” | 4:47 | |
| 9. | “Her Strut” | 3:51 | |
| 10. | “Feel Like a Number” | 4:10 | |
| 11. | “Fire Lake“ | 3:52 | |
| 12. | “Betty Lou’s Gettin’ Out Tonight” | 2:59 | |
| 13. | “We’ve Got Tonight“ | 4:55 | |
| 14. | “Night Moves“ | 5:44 | |
| 15. | “Rock and Roll Never Forgets” | 3:36 | |
| 16. | “Let It Rock” (edited for CD – original LP version was 10:30.) | Chuck Berry | 5:58 |
| 17. | “Brave Strangers” |
Updated hurlers for hire
Back on 12/19, I took a look at where the plethora of ex-Dodger hurlers are ending up. At the time Shawn Tolleson, Rubby, Withrow, and Eovaldi didn’t have new homes. With the news that Eovaldi just signed with the Rays, I can update the list. The Rays will pay $2M in 2017 for Eovaldi while he recuperates from his 2016 TJ surgery with an eye on recouping the investment in 2018. I like this move for the Rays.
| DateSigned | | | Pitcher | | | New Team |
| 11/29/2016 | | | Allen Webster | | | Rangers |
| 12/11/2016 | | | Lisalverto Bonilla | | | Pirates |
| 12/12/2016 | | | Dustin McGowan | | | Marlins |
| 12/13/2016 | | | Jordan Schafer | | | Cardinals |
| 12/15/2016 | | | Blake Smith | | | White Sox |
| 12/15/2016 | | | Zach Lee | | | Padres |
| 12/16/2016 | | | Josh Lindblom | | | Pirates |
| 12/17/2016 | | | Javy Guerra | | | Marlins |
| 12/17/2016 | | | Bryan Morris | | | Giants |
| 1/23/17 | | | Shawn Tolleson | | | Tampa Bay |
| 1/03/2017 | | | Rubby De La Rosa | | | Arizona |
| 1/07/2017 | | | Chris Withrow | | | Kansas City |
| 02/12/17 | | | Nathan Eovaldi | | | Tampa Bay |
| FA | | | Ethan Martin | | |
Tape Chronicles
I recently re-did my music library and had to make a decision about my cassette recordings. Back in the day, you recorded your albums onto tapes so you could listen to them on the drive, in your ha ha Sony Walkman, or the boombox you took to the beach.
I had made well over 100 recordings, using my state of the art Yamaha K-340 cassette recorder back in the 80’s and early 90’s. Many of these recordings were from borrowed albums from my older brother Chris who had an extensive LP collection.
A few years ago with great trepidation, I had simply thrown out my over 200 8-Track collection. I’ve kept the tapes and the albums the tapes were made from. Do I simply jettison them or what? I figured that just about all of the music on the tapes I could stream via Amazon Prime. I had replaced most of them with CD’s or had ripped the original albums to my digital music library.
Yet, I still had the premium Yamaha and so I plugged a cassette into it to see how it would sound. The 40-year fifty pound JBL Speakers still sounded fantastic. The tape quality was OK, they were after all cassette tapes.
So what I ‘ve decided to do was listen to each tape and write about it as a way for me to mark a time in my distant past. I had numbered each tape when I recorded it, so I can start with number one and go from there.
| Number | Artist | Album | Year | URL |
| 1 | X | Live at the Whiskey | 1987 | https://dodgersyat.com/2017/02/09/tape-chronicles-one-x-whiskey-a-go-go/ |
| 2A | Neil Young | Harvest | 1972 | https://dodgersyat.com/2017/02/12/tape-chronicles-2-neil-young-harvest-harvest-moon/ |
| 2B | Neil Young | Harvest Moon | 1974 | |
| 3 | Bob Seger | Nine Tonight | 1981 | https://dodgersyat.com/2017/02/13/tc-3-bob-seger-nine-tonight/ |
| 4a | Buffalo Springfield | Restrospective | 1969 | https://dodgersyat.com/2017/02/14/tc-4-buffalo-springfield-neil-young-poco/ |
| 4b | Neil Young | Zuma | 1975 | |
| 4c | Poco | Legend | 1972 | |
| 5 | Neil Young | Decades Sides 1-3 | 1977 | https://dodgersyat.com/2017/02/15/tc-56-neil-young-decades/ |
| 6 | Neil Young | Decades Sides 4-6 | 1977 | https://dodgersyat.com/2017/02/15/tc-56-neil-young-decades/ |
| 7A | Fleetwood Mac | Heroes are hard to find | 1974 | https://dodgersyat.com/2017/02/15/tc-7-fleetwood-mac-bare-trees-heroes-are-hard-to-find/ |
| 7B | Fleetwood Mac | Bare Trees | 1972 | https://dodgersyat.com/2017/02/15/tc-7-fleetwood-mac-bare-trees-heroes-are-hard-to-find/ |
Tape Chronicles – 2 – Neil Young Harvest & Harvest Moon
Number two is an artist that will show up time and time again. From his work with Buffalo Springfield – Crazy Horse – CSNY – Solo artist, Neil Young would be one of my finalists for an island artist.
This tape combines his earlier sentinel work Harvest created in 1972 with the sequel Harvest Moon created twenty years later.
Harvest was the best selling album of 1972, with brilliant songs such as Old Man, Heart of Gold, Are you ready for the Country, and Alabama. Yet it is “Needle and the Damage done” that left the biggest imprint on me.
Like many others in 1972 I listened to that album from beginning to end over and over and it was a time in Los Angeles where KLOS or KMET would play just about every track.
Fast forward 20 years to 1992 and I don’t think Harvest Moon got much radio airplay at all. It is a solid album, full of pretty songs thoughtful songs, and Harvest Moon itself stands up to some of the greatest songs that Neil Young has ever composed. Not many artists have put out an album as good as Harvest Moon twenty years after they created one of the great albums in history.
Both of these albums were more acoustic in nature, but later we will hit Neil Young when he rocks as only he could rock.
I’ve seen Neil Young numerous times over the years and he always puts on a great show. My only complaint is that he tends to get rock crazy and give us 5 – 8 minutes songs, and while that is cool for one or two shows, I’d really like to hear him get deep into his catalog instead of spending so much time rocking out to a few songs.
Rotisserie rotation
Rotisserie drafts are about to start in earnest and preceding these drafts are all sorts of analysis about who to draft and why. I’ve already finished two drafts and will be finishing up a 3rd this week.
I peruse Rotowire, BaseballHQ, and Fangraphs to help me get a leg up or at least stay relevant. It is not easy staying on top of every player on every roster and all the prospects who might have some production value in 2017 but this is the part of baseball that I love.
Everyone has an opinion and as new baseball statistics enter the fray each year, how these stats are used in conjunction with old fashioned scouting is always something I’m looking at.
With that in mind, over at rotowire Doug Thorburn has a new piece up about his top 30 fantasy pitchers. Doug also writes for Baseball Prospectus. Rotowire is behind a paywall but if you have a subscription here is the link. This is a three part series.
I’ll post for you the Dodger-centric information. Of the top 30 pitchers, he has four Dodgers listed which is the best by far.
- Kershaw is of course number one.
- Hill is 26
- Kenta is 27
- Urias is 29
Three of the Dodgers check in from 26 – 29 so while they have four of the top thirty, the final three just make the cut.
Here are some excerpts about why they made the top 30:
Rich Hill
NFBC ADP: 30
DT Rank: 26
If looking just at the rate stats, Hill potentially belongs in top-15 territory, given his exceptional ERA, WHIP and strikeout numbers over the past two seasons. The issue is that he has only pitched a total of 139.1 innings at the highest level over that time. This is an older player (age-37 season in ‘17) who has only pitched more than 111 innings once in his career, and that was back in 2007. He looked like waiver-bait at the start of the 2016 season with Oakland but quickly turned things around, and all of a sudden he’s a hot commodity despite languishing on the Dodgers bench for over a month after he was traded due to blisters on his pitching hand. Hill is an extreme case of great-ratios over a small sample, and employing his services means that fantasy managers run the risk that his numbers don’t hold up over a larger sample and/or that sample will never come to fruition. He ranks high on this list, but drafting Hill requires that another starter be picked up post-haste in order to cover for the innings.
The caveat for Hill is the same everywhere. How many innings will Rich Hill pitch in 2017? I have not drafted Rich Hill in any league so far, I love the Rich Hill story but not enough to invest in him unless he’s available at a point that makes sense for me. So far in my three NFBC drafts, Rich Hill has gone in the 9th round each time.
Julio Urias
NFBC ADP: 45
DT Rank: 29It seems there is no limit to Urias’ potential, but the Dodgers have shown such restraint that there’s no telling whether the young southpaw will be allowed to pitch 150 frames at the big league level this season (he threw 122.0 innings between the bigs and Triple-A last season), and whether they temper his workload on a per-game basis as they did in 2016. If they shorten his leash on a per-game basis, then that “2” in wins becomes a “1,” but that’s a small price to pay for a pitcher who might have the most upside in the game. I have seen him gain 5 mph on his fastball in the span of a year, I’ve seen him morph his delivery no less than twice over the last two years with excellent results and he might already have the best left-hand quick pick-off move in the game. Did I mention that it’s his age-20 season?
Much like Hill, the caveat is innings, though I feel the innings that Urias pitches in 2017 will be better than Hill. I have been unable to secure Urias in any draft. He has gone in the 13th, 11th, and 15th rounds so far.
Kenta Maeda
NFBC ADP: 25
DT Rank: 27Maeda joins a cadre of southpaws pitching in the Dodgers rotation this season, removing a bit of the novelty when pitching in the third game of a series, but his ability to take the ball for six innings every fifth day is critical for a team that has the volatile inning-counts of players like Rich Hill and Julio Urias, two other lefties who could be out of action at any given time. Maeda’s strikeout rate in his first season of MLB was higher than anything that the 28-year-old had ever posted in Japan, leaving one to wonder if his K rate is bound to take a step back as opposing batters get another look at what he brings to the table. If he continues to strike out more than a batter per inning then he will justify his ranking.
Kenta is going off the board just before Rich Hill in my drafts. He has been drafted in the 7th, 8th, and 9th rounds.
I do have Kershaw because I used my number one pick (number 4 overall) to snag him.
Once my 3rd draft is complete in a few days I’ll review my teams and the Dodgers that I drafted.
Updated LAD roster
With the addition of Chase Utley and Franklin Gutierrez to the roster, the Dodgers now have a more solidified bench with both of them joining Austin Barnes as a lock to start the season on the 25 man roster unless injuries pop up.
Here is the updated roster from my point of view. In a few more days at least three players will need to be removed from the 40 man roster to make room for Romo, Utley, and Gutierrez.
| Pos | | | Player | | | Age |
| Starting – 1st Base | | | Adrian Gonzalez | | | 35 |
| Starting – 2nd Base | | | Logan Forsythe | | | 30 |
| Starting – Shortstop | | | Corey Seager | | | 23 |
| Starting – 3rd Base | | | Justin Turner | | | 32 |
| Starting – Catcher | | | Yazmani Grandal | | | 28 |
| Starting – CF | | | Joc Pederson | | | 25 |
| Starting? – RF | | | Yasiel Puig | | | 26 |
| Starting? – LF | | | Andre Ethier | | | 35 |
| | | | | |||
| Starting Pitcher | | | Clayton Kershaw | | | 29 |
| Starting Pitcher | | | Rich Hill | | | 37 |
| Starting Pitcher | | | Kenta Maeda | | | 29 |
| Starting Pitcher | | | Julio Urias | | | 20 |
| | | | | |||
| Bullpen | | | | | ||
| Closer | | | Kenley Jansen | | | 29 |
| RH Setup Man | | | Sergio Romo | | | 34 |
| RH Setup Man | | | Pedro Baez | | | 29 |
| | | | | |||
| | | | | |||
| Bench Players | | | | | ||
| Backup Catcher | | | Austin Barnes | | | 27 |
| Backup 2nd/3rd | | | Chase Utley | | | 38 |
| Backup Outfielder | | | Franklin Gutierrez | | | 34 |
| Rotational Possibilities | | | | | ||
| Starting Pitcher | | | Alex Wood | | | 26 |
| Starting Pitcher | | | Scott Kazmir | | | 33 |
| Starting Pitcher | | | Brandon McCarthy | | | 33 |
| Starting Pitcher | | | Hyun-Jin Ryu | | | 30 |
| Starting Pitcher | | | Ross Stripling | | | 27 |
| Starting Pitcher | | | Brock Stewart | | | 25 |
| | | | | |||
| Bullpen Possibilities | | | | | ||
| LH Setup Man | | | Grant Dayton | | | 29 |
| LH Setup Man | | | Luis Avilan | | | 27 |
| LH Setup Man | | | Adam Liberatore | | | 30 |
| LH Setup Man | | | Nunon be gone | | | 29 |
| RH Setup Man | | | Josh Fields | | | 31 |
| RH Setup Man | | | Chris Hatcher | | | 32 |
| RH Setup Man | | | Josh Ravin | | | 29 |
| NRI – Best Chance | | | Brandon Morrow | | | 32 |
| | | | | |||
| Bench Possibilities | | | | | ||
| Outfielder | | | Andrew Toles | | | 25 |
| Utility Infielder | | | Chris Taylor | | | 26 |
| NRI – Utility Infielder | | | Charlie Culberson | | | 28 |
| 2nd/SS/Outfielder | | | Enrique Hernandez | | | 25 |
| RF/LF/CF | | | Trayce Thompson | 26 | |
| NRI – 2nd/SS/Outfielder | | | Darnell Sweeney | | | 26 |
| 1st/OF | | | Ruf be gone | | | 30 |
| 1st/OF | | | Scott Van Slyke | | | 30 |
| 1st/3rd/OF | | | Rob Segedin | | | 28 |
| | | | | |||
| Other NRI with chance | | | | | ||
| RH Setup Man | | | Steve Geltz | | | 29 |
| Catcher | | | Bobby Wilson | | | 34 |
Chase Utley decides to stay while Franklin Gutierrez is finally going to see Chavez Ravine
The Dodgers get their greybeard back this summer with Chase Utley deciding to sign a one year contract with the team. Last year headed into spring it looked like Chase was going to be the super utility player and Howie Kendrick the second baseman but spring injuries to Howie gave Chase the chance to take the starting gig.
This year Logan Forsythe is the incumbent second baseman, so once again Chase looks like he’s headed toward a super utility role.
Only good can come from having Chase Utley on your roster.
Meanwhile. in a surprise move the Dodgers signed FA outfielder Franklin Gutierrez to help them against left-hand pitching. Back in November I reviewed some free agents I thought would help the team and this is what I said about Gutierrez:
Franklin Gutierrez of – at one time the 33-year-old Gutierrez was considered one of the best defensive center fielders in the game. That was in 2009, but this is 2016 and now the defensive stats say he’s negative. He still brings big right-handed power against left-handed pitching putting up a .884 OPS against them in 2016, after hitting .973 against them in 2015. For his career, he can boast a .846 OPS against LHP in over 1,000 plate appearances.
Gutierrez was one of the first players traded by Paul DePodesta back on April 4th, 2004 when he was sent to the Indians for Milton Bradley. Gutierrez was one of the highest ranked Dodger prospects in a system that didn’t have much in the way of prospects in AA or AAA at the time. He would end up Seattle and have a fine career as a right-handed defensive first center-fielder. I for one can’t quite buy into the fact that someone who just a few years ago was the best defensive center-fielder in baseball is now a defensive liability in the outfield but I have to admit I’ve rarely seen him play and that is what the defensive metrics say.
We shall see, what we do know is that he can spank left hand pitching so unless he’s hurt this spring I’d be expecting him to be part of the left field platoon with either Andre or Toles. Or even maybe Joc if he shows he can still play centerfield.
I like both these moves, it improves the team bench and thus the team. Who gets removed from the 40 man roster to make room for two more players remains to be seen. No sense in speculating, we will know soon enough.
Tape Chronicles – One – X – Whiskey A Go Go
Number one was X Live at the Whiskey. The album was recorded over a three day period in December of 1987. I was there for one of those gigs. At the time I lived in Santa Monica and worked in Santa Monica. X was my favorite band at the time and favorites of my good friends Eric Blanco and Rebecca Perkins. The news about the show came the same day, and so I left work early to head down to the Whiskey to get tickets. I’m not sure anymore when I arrived but as I was waiting for the door to open to buy the tickets, I could hear X doing a sound check. They were playing “around my heart” ‘one of my favorites. It was kind of cool to be kicking in a line with other X files while hearing them playing through the old plaster of the Whiskey. I got six tickets and headed back to work. My future wife Verdell, myself, Eric, Rebecca, Rick Rabuck, and Jeri went to the show.
At that time Tony Gilkyson was playing guitar instead of Billy Zoom or Dave Alvin. The show was great and included all of the primal music they had created during their greatest musical run from the early 80’s to the late 80’s. For years X was voted the best rock band in Los Angeles but they never managed to hit it commercially.
They still play in Los Angeles or Ventura once in a while. I guess whenever they need some money, they get the group together and bang out a few shows. I still try to catch those shows. Billy Zoom is back, still standing in one place, doing his thing. Bonebrake is still pounding away on the drums. Exene still combines with John Doe for one of the more interesting vocal combinations of any band at any time. And John Doe. Man, I love John Doe.
The early label for X was punk but I prefer the “psychobilly” label. I never went hardcore into the punk world like Black Flag but X for whatever reason resonated with me.
The tape kicks off with the seminal Los Angeles. X was making their mark when Reagan was doing his thing. Los Angeles wasn’t a pretty city in early 80’s so it was easy to see where the Los Angeles punk rose up from.
Listening to this again, my favorites are Los Angeles, Around my Heart, The New World, Burning House of Love, The once over twice, Hungry Wolf, Riding with Mary, and White Girl.
X also had a country side and would perform as an alt-country band called the Knitters. My wife liked the Knitters more than she liked X and they performed several songs from their Knitter albums.
The show ended with Hit and Run Pauline. Classic
If you have never heard the song, Los Angeles, check it out.
The quality here sucks but it was recorded by a fan at the show
Ducking in with the President
For those unfamiliar with the Duck, you can check out the archived Duck Talk Section at TrueBlueLA or the newer Duck Talk here on Dodgers, Yesterday and Today. We ask the questions we want to ask and try to see through the clichéd responses we normally get. Don’t get confused, this is a complete fabrication based on interviews within my troubled mind.
A few months ago the Duck had a brief conversation with President Elect Donald Trump. Now that the President has had a few weeks to be presidential we thought it might be a good time to talk with him before Sean Spicer goes duck hunting.
Duck: Good afternoon President Trump. You promised your electorate that you would bring the best people into your administration to help you make America great again, even though only you know how to defeat ISIS. As your cabinet is getting confirmed it doesn’t really seem that Betsy DeVos and Dr. Ben Carson are indicative of that kind of talent.
Donald Trump: Betsy is the best. Just the best. It is sad that so many bad things were said about her. She’s just like me. She had to survive in this world with just a few million to start out with and let me tell you, that isn’t easy.
Duck: So she didn’t buy herself a cabinet position with her family contributing something like $200,000,000 to the GOP over the past 40 years? Ben Carson himself said he wasn’t qualified to get a cabinet position but now the Doctor with zero experience in running anything, is going to be the head honcho for The Department of Housing and Urban Development
Donald Trump: Well the contributions certainly helped but she came highly recommended by the Hulk and right now I’m doing everything the Hulk suggests I do because he’s got some videos.
Duck: The Hulk?
Donald Trump: Yeah, you know, Steve Bannon
Duck: Oh… You do know that his name was Bruce Banner, not Steve Bannon?
Donald Trump: Banner Bannon, all I know is that he turns green when he gets angry
Duck: So basically the country is being run by an Orange and Green duo? Doesn’t that make Brown? Why do white people want to be brown but don’t like people who are brown?
Donald Trump: That’s too deep for me, ask me something I can answer in 135 characters, and use the word Sad to finish it off.
Duck: You are now the president, why do you persist in acting like a child and using twitter to harass companies like Nordstrom and people like civil rights hero John Lewis?
Donald Trump: I just call it the way I see it. No one is going to edit me. I’m going to run this country my way. Sad
Duck: So you really believe that a President should call out companies via twitter, or individuals that disagree with you?
Donald Trump: Yes, my way or the highway. Sad
Duck: Why do you only consider Muslim terrorist attacks as Sad? You never comment when a white supremacist kills Muslims in a mosque or burns down an African-American Church?
Donald Trump: The Hulk told me those aren’t terrorist, just people upset with how the natural order of things has gotten screwed up. Muslims are terrorists, white supremest are simply mad and trying to do the best they can do given how this country has tied their arms behind their back simply because they were born white.
Duck: You went way over 140 characters
Donald Trump: I’m exhausted
Duck: I’m petrified. From up in the air, you appear to be very uncomfortable with being President. Your wife won’t even stay in the White House. I read a report that said, the taxpayers of the United States would be spending more money simply protecting your wife outside of the White House than the amount of money the Arts gets annually.
Donald Trump: This place is a dump, Sad
Duck: You seem in such a hurry to put things into play that maybe you are shooting yourself in the foot. The Muslim ban, wouldn’t it have made more sense to make that play after you have your Supreme Court nominee confirmed giving you a majority just in case those nasty Federal Judges defy your executive order and the Supreme Court has to decide the case?
Donald Trump – No, we had to blunder into this as quickly as possible. We have to stop the Muslim Terrorists from coming in. At least that is what the Hulk told me.
Donald Trump -I don’t believe those studies. That is simply the media printing what they want because they hate me. Sad
Duck: How do you feel about the idea that everyone thinks Steven Bannon is really running this country and you are simply his puppet? Is that better than when they thought Putin was running this country and you were simply Putin’s puppet?
Donald Trump – That is ridiculous, I’m the one making every stupid decision. all me. I’m no one’s puppet.
Donald Trump – The left is still mad they lost. The media (not Fox) is the arm of the left and they hate me. sad
Duck: I’m not sure they hate you, disgusted with your blatant lies, childish tweets, and incredible ignorance of how this country was created. You oligarchic elite may run the country but it was built on the backs of every single immigration. From the forced immigration of Africa to the Chinese to the Japanese to the Irish to the Polish to Italians to the Mexicans to the South Americans. This land is their land every bit as much as it is your land. There is the silver lining that if the country survives this administration, in the long run, you will be good for the future of the country. Maybe we got complacent with our Democracy and it took an incompetent wannabe demagogued to wake us up and remind us that our Democracy is fragile and that it will take diligence by more than the 50% who are normally politically active to keep it. You should get used to protests because that woman’s march was probably just the beginning. And if you go Kent State……………
Donald Trump -We will crush the opposition, my way or the highway.
Donald Trump – The people spoke Yes for Pipelines, reduced regulation, reduced corporate taxes, trade wars, white is right
Donald Trump – No on Muslims from any country I don’t have a business in, no Nato, no Mexicans, no healthcare, no civil rights, no voting rights, and we white males get to tell every woman what should happen within their vagina.
Donald Trump – seems clear to me what Steve Bannon and the almost majority of the United States wants me to do. The puzzling part is why you persist in trying to keep me from my mandate?
Duck – Nevertheless, we will persist
Fangraphs Hitter Contact Series – LAD OF
Tony Biengino of Fangraphs is doing a fascinating series looking at hitter contact quality, utilizing exit speed, and launch angle data.
Yesterday we looked at the how the LAD infield is viewed by this data. Today we will wonder through the LAD outfield.
Right field is first up, so let’s see what he has to say about Yasiel Puig:
Yasiel Puig‘s upside remains substantial, but it’s time for him to work on the major blemishes on his offensive game. His always above-average pop-up rate really got away from him in 2016; it was far and away the highest among NL regulars. It’s even more noticeable when compared to his relatively low fly-ball rate. With the two in such proportion you get all of the risk with very little reward. In addition, his liner-rate percentile rank has now remained in single digits for three years running. Below average is fine (ask Hunter Pence), but that far below is not. To top it off, he was an extreme grounder-puller, offsetting to some extent his well above-average grounder authority.
Should he figure it out, his Adjusted Fly Ball (137), Liner (109) and Grounder (142, despite the penalty) Contact Scores tell you all you need to know. His batted-ball mix was so bad that it took those high-quality ingredients and created a soup resulting in a below-average 97 overall Adjusted Contact Score. I still believe in the upside.
Both risk and reward abound in Joc Pederson‘s profile. He destroys all BIP types, but most importantly, decimates the ball in the air (298 Unadjusted and Adjusted Contact Score, the best among NL regulars). His walk rate is high, and his significant grounder authority also affords him some batting-average insurance. His overall 159 Adjusted Contact Score was the best at his position, even better than Cespedes. It needs to be, as his K rate is a real problem. Pederson hits the ball the other way just enough to keep clubs honest, but he rates as a clear power-before-hit guy, albeit a very good one. With targeted improvements, he could be one of the stars of his generation, but the time to make those adjustments is now.
Sadly, none of the LAD left field options played enough to make the NL left fielder list. It does, however, say some nice things about Howie Kendrick.
Howie Kendrick was quite unlucky last season. His Unadjusted Contact Scores fell well short of his adjusted marks across all BIP types (103 vs. 141 Fly Ball, 82 vs. 108 Line Drive, 97 vs. 118 Grounder, 82 vs. 106 overall). Kendrick’s profile has been incredibly consistent over the years; he’s been among the most prolific opposite-field grounder and line-drive hitters in the game. The liner rate spun away from him in 2016, but I’d expect it to bounce back this season. The Phils bought relatively low on an older player with a much younger offensive profile; it’s highly likely that he can provide them with at least a .280-.340-.400 line in the near term.
Watching Joc Pederson hit is a joy for me. When he makes contact, my eyes told me he simply punished the ball, so seeing the data back that up always makes me feel like the game hasn’t completely passed me by.
I’ll have to do my own research on how Toles/Thompson fared. Applying the data to Andre given his health situation last year and small sample size would be fruitless.
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 