Nathan Eovaldi hits free agency
The NYY designated old friend Nathan Eovaldi making him an interesting free agent in this year of very few interesting free agents. Eovaldi is recovering from TJ surgery and is expected to miss all of 2017 so any team that signs him would need to sign him to a minimum two-year deal.
I’m not that interested in Eovaldi as a starting piece, but if he was amenable I’d love to see the Dodgers talk him into a three-year deal and proceed with turning him into a key bullpen piece. Eovaldi has teased as a starter but as the stats show he gets hit hard from the 4th inning on.
| Season | | | 1stPA | | | 2ndPA | | | 3rdPA |
| 2016 | | | 0.669 | | | 0.672 | | | 1.164 |
| Career | | | 0.674 | | | 0.694 | | | 0.887 |
Nathan never developed a changeup, but is still a three-pitch pitcher with his fastball, slider, and split finger. Before his surgery, he was still throwing 97 MPH.
This was his 2nd TJ but the first one came back when he was in high school and he’s now 26. Of course, it isn’t my money but Eovaldi would have been my choice to turn into the next Wade Davis before the surgery, now who will outbid for his services in 2018?
A winter of decisions
Will Kenley Jansen or Justin Turner stay or go?
I think this winter will finally give us a real clue about how the Dodger front office plans to build the Dodger team now and in the future.
Last year the Dodgers went hard after Grienke but not hard enough to keep him from heading off to Arizona to count his dollars for a terrible team.
This year they have two key players that are free agents since they were unable to come to terms with either Kenley Jansen or Justin Turner during the summer. Rich Hill was acquired in mid-season for a stiff price and is also a free agent. Kenley Jansen and Turner would bring back draft picks if they sign elsewhere, Rich Hill will not.
I have numerous questions about this winter.
- Will the Dodgers go hard after their free agents since they don’t have any current replacements for either player and both players were at least in the top five at their position?
- If they don’t re-sign Kenley Jansen will his replacement come from within the organization, free agency, or trade?
- If they don’t re-sign Justin Turer will his replacement come from within the organization, free agency, or trade?
- Will they roll the dice once again with Chase Utley and a platoon partner or look for a full-time second baseman via free-agency or trade?
- Will they show confidence in Puig and once again make him the full-time right fielder, or continue to peddle him as they did this past summer?
- If they sign Rich Hill, will that be the extent of their moves related to the rotation?
- If they don’t sign Rich Hill, will they be searching for another pitcher via free agency or trade? There are no “quality” starters in the free agent market, so they can go back end or trade for a high-end starter.
- If they go the trade route to fulfill their needs, which prospects will they be willing to let go? One has to assume the Julio Urias is just about untouchable but you never know.
- Do they consider Cody Bellinger the heir apparent to Adrian Gonzalez?
- Do they think Willie Calhoun can be an NL second baseman?
In three months we should have answers to all these questions, and as they get answered it will start to give us clues about how this front office will act in the future.
Maybe
Mo Mo Mo
As the Clippers look for their 5th straight season with 50 plus victories there is no more looking back, no matter how often clueless fans want to remind Clippers fans of their sordid past.
Like the Dodgers, the Clippers will be hoping to extend their postseason in 2017 beyond the 1st or 2nd round. Part of the optimism is the natural growth of the core unit and the improved second unit. A unit made much stronger with the addition of Marreese Speights.
Two of the Clippers biggest rivals during their renaissance have been the Memphis Grizzlies and the Golden State Warriors and the one thing they had in common was the same thorn, and his name was Mo Speights.
Some players just annoy the hell out of you when you play against them, and Mo Speights was one such player. He always seemed to get the clutch baskets and for a second unit player, had way too much impact for my liking. I was always saying to myself, “damn I wish he was on my team”
And now he is the same thorn but instead of hurting the Clippers he’s causing the other teams to bleed. Last night was just another example as he popped three, three-point shots along with the key fourth quarter offensive rebound that helped the Clippers come back from a 19 point deficit to defeat the hot Bulls.
Speights scored 11 of his season-high 16 points in the fourth for the Clippers, whose only two losses have come at home to Oklahoma City and Memphis.
The Clippers are now 12 – 2 with the best record in the NBA even though they have played one of the toughest schedules in the NBA. They are now 8 – 0 in four back to back games winning all of the 1st and 2nd games.
Kyle Farmer makes the cut
It was obvious the Dodgers were going to add Chase De Jong, and possibly Jacob Rhame to the 40 man roster yesterday but it seemed doubtful that Kyle Farmer would also make the list.
Today, Farmer can look at the Dodger 40-man roster and see his name for the first time.
This was the press release from the Dodgers:
LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers today selected the contracts of right-handed pitcher Chase De Jong, catcher Kyle Farmer and right-handed pitcher Jacob Rhame, giving the club 40 players on its 40-man roster.
De Jong, 22, was selected as the Double-A Texas League Pitcher of the Year, honored by the league as a mid- and post-season All-Star and named by Baseball America as a Double-A Classification All-Star this year after combining to go 15-5 with a 2.82 ERA in 26 starts with Double-A Tulsa and Triple-A Oklahoma City. He limited opponents to a .210 batting average with a 1.03 WHIP, while striking out 133 against just 40 walks in 147.0 combined innings. The Long Beach native was acquired by the Dodgers on July 2, 2015 in a trade with the Blue Jays and was originally selected by Toronto in the second round of the 2012 First-Year Player Draft.
Farmer, 26, earned an All-Star selection with Double-A Tulsa this year, hitting .256 with five home runs and 31 RBI in 74 games. The University of Georgia product has a .291 career batting average, while throwing out 35.2% of would-be basestealers (100/284) in four professional seasons after being selected by the Dodgers in the eighth round of the 2013 draft.
Rhame, 23, spent the 2016 campaign with Triple-A Oklahoma City, going 1-7 with seven saves, a 3.29 ERA and a .231 opponents’ batting average in 54 relief appearances. In 169 games during four professional seasons, Rhame has a 10-16 record with 27 saves, a 2.83 ERA, a .209 opponents’ batting average and a 1.10 WHIP after being selected by Los Angeles in the sixth round of the 2013 First-Year Player Draft out of Grayson (TX) Junior College.
It seemed doubtful that any team would have picked Farmer in the upcoming Rule 5 draft but evidently the Dodgers felt it was not worth the risk to lose their minor league depth at the catching position.
Anyway, the news on Farmer gave me a chance to dig deep into my music catalog and bring out one of my old favorites, the Beat Farmers. A band that had three lead singers with Country Dick Montana putting out the Deep Baritone in songs like King of Sleaze.
In 1995, Montana suffered a heart attack and died while playing “The Girl I Almost Married” during a Beat Farmers show at the Longhorn Saloon in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada.[4] The band disbanded shortly thereafter.
Yazmani Grandal gets an MVP vote
Multiple Dodgers got MVP votes with Daniel Murphy barely nudging out Corey Seager for 2nd place. Seager got 3rd place because Murphy got six 4th place votes, while Seager got seven. They tied with 11 2nd place votes, and ten 3rd place votes.
Justin Turner got some recognition for his outstanding season by getting at least one vote from 5th to 10th finishing with 44 points, good for 9th place.
Yazmani Grandal got one vote for 7th place. Buster Posey and Wilson Ramos finished ahead of him in the MVP vote.
Oh yeah, Kris Bryant won the MVP.
Dodgers raise prices, cite supply and demand
Just like last winter the Dodgers have substantially raised prices once again leaving some fans wondering if the upfront cost of the tickets is worth the knowledge that you’ll have tickets for the World Series. Especially given the fact the Dodgers can’t seem to get into a World Series.
“I knew it was going to go up,” he said. “I had no idea it was going to go up in one fell swoop.”
He said he plans to keep his seats, but said he spoke Thursday with a friend that plans to drop two of his four top-deck season seats and another friend that plans to cancel her loge-level seats and buy tickets to individual games instead.
Snoberger said fans could find thousands of seats available on StubHub and other resale sites for many games last season.
I was in this position last winter. I ended up giving up my season seats because:
- I don’t attend as many games because of the pain in the ass travel from Woodland Hills
- I can’t give away the tickets anymore because I don’t work in an office anymore
- I felt I could get better seats at a better price on Stubhub for the games I wanted to attend.
The downside was not having the security of knowing I would have tickets to the World Series if they ever got there.
It worked out well. Especially after I started using Seatgeek instead of Stubhub. I could easily purchase Field or Loge seats will below the retail price. The freedom of buying individual tickets on an as needed basis worked well during the season. If even worked well during the NLDS because most season ticket holders couldn’t care less about the NLDS and sold their tickets at or below retail. The only hiccup came during the NLCS and I was lucky enough to go via David Young.
If the Dodgers had gone to the World Series I would have had a problem. The tickets would have been 350 plus for the worst seats and I still don’t know if I’d ponied up for it or not.
But even if I had kept my season seats, the World Series tickets would have cost me $350 per ticket anyway and I probably would have sold them.
So either way, I probably wasn’t going to the World Series. But Kershaw and company made that a moot decision.
Anyway, it looks like the Dodgers will keep raising prices until the demand says you’ve gone to far.
Not my slave
Danny Elfman hit my soul many years ago when he penned this brilliant song in 1987 with Oingo Boingo. The lyrics could have many different meanings, it really depends on how you want to interpret them to your particular case.
With sadness in my heart and joy in my mind
I thought about the ghost that we left behind.
With everyone around telling us what to do
With deafening sound whisper “I love you.”
The fire in your eyes– may it never go out.
The sweetness of your tears make it feel like night.
I see no escape from the roles we always play
What do we have to prove on this judgement dayYou’re missing the whole point– you’re not my little pet
Don’t throw away your life– The games not over yet
I do not own your soul–don’t want you in a cage
I only want your heart to find a special placeYou’re mine now But you’re not my sister
You’re mine now But you’re not my slave
You’re mine But you’re not my child
You’re mine now But you’re not my slave
You’re mine now But you’re not my slaveWith sadness in my heart and clounds in my head
I thought about us both and the lives we led.
The pages on a book and pictures on a screen
We shape ourselves like clay from someone else’s dream.
One second you are cast just like stones at my feet
But I am not a king please don’t worship me.
With everyone around telling us what to do
With deafening sound whisper “I love you.”You’re missing the whole point– you’re not my little pet
Don’t throw away your life– The games not over yet
I do not own your soul–don’t want you in a cage
I only want your heart to find a special placeYou’re mine now But you’re not my sister
You’re mine now But you’re not my slave
You’re mine But you’re not my child
You’re mine now But you’re not my slave
You’re mine But you’re not my sister
You’re mine now But you’re not my slave
You’re mine But you’re not my child
You’re mine now But you’re not my slave
You’re mine now But you’re not my slave
You’re mine now But you’re not my slave
You’re mine now But you’re not my slave
It held particular substance to me in my life at the time. Almost thirty years later, still one of my favorite songs to Boingo too.
I don’t think many Boingo fans thought that Danny Elfman would go on to be one of the most accomplished movie composers of the past 25 years back in 1987 when he was the headliner for Boingo. I was a big fan, saw them about five times and always enjoyed the show and I guess when you consider how large a band Oingo was, he was already one hell of a composer.
Elfman might be more known for composing the Simpsons theme which has to have been heard but just about everyone. His first real movie score was Pee Wee’s Big Adventure but since I never saw it, I had no idea he had scored it. I think the first time I realized that Elfman had gone to score movies was when I saw Nightmare Before Christmas. From that point on he seemed to have a hand in many of the movies, I would see.
A few years ago I met David Slonaker who was the husband of a teacher who worked with my wife. Turned out he had been collaborating with Elfman for many years on his movie soundtracks. We all went to a Dodger game and he told us how he composed while working with Elfman. I was a little surprised how it all worked out between Elfman and his collaborators as they just handled bits of each score and Elfman would put it all together. I also found it funny that David was fairly ignorant of what Elfman did with Oingo Boingo.
A few years later David was up for his own Grammy in the Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album category. He didn’t win but he did get to go to the Grammy’s and walk the red carpet.
His album is called Intrada and here is a youtube link
I may have fallen in love with Kate Upton just a bit more
Cause this might be my favorite tweet of the year in the sports world.
Hey @MLB I thought I was the only person allowed to fuck @JustinVerlander ?! What 2 writers didn’t have him on their ballot?
— Kate Upton (@KateUpton) November 16, 2016
and this truism
That’s the most attention sports writers have ever gotten from a supermodel.
— Batting Stance Guy (@BattingStanceG) November 17, 2016
Anyway, have to agree with Kate, Porcello would not have been my choice.
Let us finish up with a tweet from Mike Petriello
Scherzer, Porcello, and Verlander? Man, imagine if they were all on the same team?
— Mike Petriello (@mike_petriello) November 17, 2016
Charlie Steiner wonders where his Medal of Freedom is
Charley must have thought the Obama administration had called the wrong Dodger broadcaster when he heard the Vin Scully had received the Medal of Freedom. After all, it was Charlie who led the ESPN folks to freedom, what has Vin Scully ever done?
Based on the wiki of the Medal of Freedom and this quote from President Obama:
President Obama said, “The Presidential Medal of Freedom is not just our nation’s highest civilian honor – it’s a tribute to the idea that all of us, no matter where we come from, have the opportunity to change this country for the better. From scientists, philanthropists, and public servants to activists, athletes, and artists, these 21 individuals have helped push America forward, inspiring millions of people around the world along the way.”
That maybe it should have been called the Medal of Inspiration but I guess that doesn’t have the ring of Medal of Freedom that President Kennedy was going for.
Corey Seager picks up 3rd LAD unaminous ROY
Here are all the other Dodger bloggers weighing in on Cory Seager:
Seager is the third Dodgers unanimous Rookie of the Year, joining Mike Piazza (1993) and Raul Mondesi (1994).
Sarah Wexler weighs in at Dodger Digest:
Seager is the first Dodgers shortstop to win Rookie of the Year, and the 17th Dodger overall (a Major League record, and it’s not especially close — second is a tie between the Athletics and the Yankees, with eight). However, Seager is the first Dodger to win the award in two decades. From 1992 through 1996, a Dodger rookie took home the prize every year (Eric Karros, Mike Piazza, Raul Mondesi, Hideo Nomo, and Todd Hollandsworth).
Matthew Moreno from Dodger Blue
“Corey is a special talent that doesn’t come around too often. The Dodgers organization and fans are truly lucky to have him wear their uniform,” Utley said after Seager was unanimously named NL Rookie of the Year.
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 