The season depends on Bud Norris and Rich Hill? Are you kidding me!!!!!!!!!!!!
Either the Dodger FO is shockingly brilliant or a lug nut loose. The Dodger rotation for the month of August appears to be counting heavily on two pitchers who are currently hurt, and who were weren’t even a blip on the major league radar a year ago today.
Rich Hill tested his blister and said he’s good to go. Right now he’s scheduled to pitch next week against the Phillies who have been giving the Giants such a hard time. The last time Rich Hill tried to pitch with his blister he warmed up and didn’t take the mound. He better not do that next week. Even if he has to pitch right handed he better take the mound.
At this time last year, Rich Hill was pitching in the Independent league. I know most of you have no idea what an Independent league is. That is where you go when NOBODY wants to sign you to even a minor league contract. It only took two starts for the Red Sox to notice him, and he would make his Boston AAA debut on August 15th. Rich Hill hasn’t looked back since, and one can only hope he keeps the ball rolling in one of the most bizarre careers in recent history.
Bud Norris had to leave his last start early with a bad back. He’s now scheduled to pitch against the vaunted Red Sox offense this weekend.
At this time last year, the much traveled Bud Norris was pitching in relief for the San Diego Padres.
The Dodger front office is rolling the dice and Dodger fans can only hope they don’t crap out with so much at stake. To be fair the options were limited and so far they hit gold with Bud Norris, and they very much may hit gold with Rich Hill.
But you have to admit, it looks pretty shaky. Good thing Brett Anderson is around the corner. Once he starts pitching you can bet he won’t get hurt.
Maybe they should give Rich Haren a call.
Dodgers lose 12 – 2 starting a rookie in Coors, Giants lose 5 -4 using Cueto, I call that a win
If the Dodger offense wasn’t going to step up to the plate last night the Dodgers had little chance of a victory so Brock Stewart getting blown out or giving up four runs the end result probably wouldn’t have mattered.
I don’t get the use of Urias for three innings but that is another whole different kettle of fish and not one I’m ready to take on at the moment.
Eventually not having Clayton Kershaw was going to catch up to this team, and with the news that Clayton is out until at least Aug 27th, and the trading deadline come and gone, this is what you have got. Brock Stewart made a spot start in Coors and like Carlos Frias and Eric Stults before him, paid the price.
Yet, Giant fans should be more upset about losing last night. They had their 2A ace on the mound against the struggling Phillies. Unlike the hot Rockies the Phillies have not been playing well, coming off of three straight sub .500 months. Yet, the Phillies have now beaten the Giants two straight leaving the Giants winless in Aug after a dismal 11 – 13 record in July. They crushed the Giants on Monday, and won a walk off last night. They beat Madison Bumgarner and Johny Cueto in back to back games!!!!! Go Phillies
Besides, maybe the Giants and Dodgers should start looking over their shoulder at the Rockies. For the first time in a long time the Rockies are playing meaningful games in August and they just might be the team to worry about. For the first time since May 18th the Rockies are over .500 and have won 11 of their last 13 games to move within seven games of the Giants, and five games of the Dodgers.
Remember when Joe Mauer was one of the best young hitters in baseball?
If the Cleveland Indians had forgotten they were reminded this week. Mauer completely dismantled the vaunted Cleveland rotation spraying hits reminiscent of the days when Mauer was considered one of the top hitters in baseball.
In the just concluded three-game set against the first place Tribe.
- 10 hits
- 5 doubles
- 1 triple
- 1 home runs
- Moved his OPS from .736 to .788 in three games which is astonishing when you already have 435 plate appearances.
- Those five doubles are 33% of the doubles he’s hit for the year. Joe went from 10 doubles to 15 doubles in the blink of an eye.
For those who don’t remember Joe Mauer through 2013 had a career BA of .323. For context 2013 was his age 30 season so using baseball reference from 1947 – 2013 any AL hitter with at least 3,000 plate appearances, Joe Mauer clocked in with the fourth best BA. Nomar was pretty damn good at that point in his career. Certainly looked to be on a HOF arc.
| Player | BA | PA | H | OPS | FromTo |
| Wade Boggs | 0.356 | 4629 | 1392 | 0.929 | 1982 – 1988 |
| Rod Carew | 0.328 | 5635 | 1658 | 0.818 | 1967 – 1976 |
| Miguel Cabrera | 0.327 | 4054 | 1153 | 0.995 | 2008 – 2013 |
| Joe Mauer | 0.323 | 5060 | 1414 | 0.873 | 2004 – 2013 |
| Nomar Garciaparra | 0.323 | 4345 | 1281 | 0.923 | 1996 – 2004 |
| George Kell | 0.322 | 4090 | 1162 | 0.832 | 1947 – 1953 |
| Frank Thomas | 0.321 | 5502 | 1416 | 1.027 | 1990 – 1998 |
| Kirby Puckett | 0.32 | 4708 | 1407 | 0.824 | 1984 – 1990 |
The reason we stop at age 30 for Mauer is that he suffered a concussion at age 31 and has simply been a league average hitter at that point. Moving from catcher to 1st base didn’t help.
Until this week.
I hope Joe Mauer is back and that isn’t just a blink of eye run because, for almost ten years, Joe Mauer had one of the sweetest swings in baseball.
Max Kepler was no slouch himself, hitting four home runs in the three-game set. Kepler needs his own page for how bizarre his season has been.
Max Kepler hit one home run in the minor leagues this year in 128 PA. In the past three games, he has hit four home runs, including three in one game. He now has fifteen major league home runs in 240 Plate appearances. He hit nine home runs all last year in the minor leagues in 509 PA.
Scott Schebler comes back from AAA with a vengeance
We all have different ways of watching/rooting for baseball/Dodgers and I’ll admit my way may not be the norm. I may root for the laundry but I also root for the players, and even when they are no longer in the Dodger organization if I liked them I’ll follow them for a long time.
Scott Schebler was one of those prospects who I took an affinity toward. I knew he wasn’t a top prospect but he did lead his AA league in home runs in 2014. Something about him made me like him. Two years ago I looked at his AA stats and compared them to Jake Lamb. At the time neither Schebs or Lamb was considered sure things. Lamb has gone onto to be one of the feared hitters in the NL, and Dodgers fans will surely remember how he dismantled them just a few weeks ago.
What was always different about Schebler was his minor league triples. This was a guy who had decent speed but who always hit triples. I’ll bet you he has the most triples of any Dodger who also hit over 20 home runs in one season. Sixty-two minor league triples and exactly one hundred minor league home runs.
201o – 8 |2011 – 8 | 2012 – 13| 2013 – 14 | 2015 – 9 | 2016 – 9
Anyway, Schebs was traded to the Reds and got off to a rough start in 2016 so he was subsequently sent down to AAA. Back at AAA Schebs got off to an even rougher start and you started hearing how he was barely an AAAA player much less a major league player. I stayed confident in Schebs and his bat exploded in June/July. The Reds traded Jay Bruce on Aug 1st, and Scott Schebler was back in the major leagues.
The Reds announced yesterday before the game that Adam Duvall was moving to right field and Schebler to LF for the rest of the year.
Schebler rewarded the front office of the Reds with one of the more dramatic home runs in 2016 when he blasted a three-run home run in the bottom of the 9th to give the Reds the victory over the Cardinals. Even with the Reds, Schebler is still doing the Dodgers favors as it kept the Dodger wild card lead static over the Cardinals .
Watch this, it is an absolute bomb:
Scheb go Boom
https://t.co/4AR4D84ksE via @mlb— Phil Gurnee (@meercatjohn) August 3, 2016
Beleaguered rotation turns to Brock Stewart while awaiting Hill / Anderson and word on Kershaw
Brandon McCarthy did the rotation nor bullpen any favors last night failing for the second start in a row to get at least fifteen outs. In his previous start, McCarthy got only twelve outs, but could manage only nine outs last night, putting a lot of pressure on a bullpen that might be tasked once again tonight with Brock Stewart getting the spot start.
Growing up in Fontana Jesse Chavez had long dreamed of pitching in Los Angeles but before he got that chance with his new team Chavez was tasked with helping the bullpen pick up the mess that Brandon McCarthy left the bullpen in Coors and he was not upto the task. When the dust had cleared Chavez had allowed his inherited runner to score, and two others on three hits and two walks. He escaped with a fortuitous double play of really having an awful Dodger debut.
The Dodgers announced yesterday a change in the rotation for this week. With newly acquired Rich Hill still on the DL, the Dodgers decided to give Kenta Maeda an additional days rest and have recalled Brock Stewart to make the start tonight. This will be Brock’s second major league start and it won’t be easy as he’ll be asked to tame a very hot Colorado Rockie team in Coors. Stewart has continued to do well in AAA after his one start back on June 29th. No one should expect much of Stewart tonight, but I’ll bet he gets at least fifteen outs.
Given the state of the rotation the Dodgers might keep Brock around to make another start if it looks like Bud Norris won’t be ready.
With Kenta Maeda, Scott Kazmir, and Brandon McCarthy as the only three rotation pieces currently standing, the hot mess of a rotation looks a bit short. Bud Norris might or might not make his next start as they continue to work on his back in Los Angeles.
More than a month ago the Dodgers looked to Brandon McCarthy, Ryu, and Alex Wood to supply some arms. Ryu went down quickly, Wood never even made it back, but Brandon McCarthy survived and until his last two starts had been great.
Luckily the very near future and future look to have some help on the way as they once again look to the rehab world. Rich Hill is currently on the DL with a blister but he threw yesterday and said the callus is coming along. He can come off the DL on Thursday so could pitch this weekend or the Dodgers could give him one rehab start before committing him to the rotation. That might be prudent because the last time Hill was scheduled to start he couldn’t make it, and Oakland had to turn to the bullpen from the get-go. With Ross Stripling back in AAA, the Dodgers don’t have the luxury of Rich Hill not being able to take his turn in a scheduled start.
This takes us to Brett Anderson who tossed an excellent rehab start for Rancho last night. This was his second rehab start and Bret was able to increase from nine outs to twelve outs. He struck out eight of the twelve in 64 pitches. Brett should need at least two more rehab starts which would point to him being able to join the rotation right about around Aug 19th or so.
No word yet on Kershaw, so the team and fans are in a wait and see mode. Hard to say the team’s future success depends on Kershaw but the team’s future success depends on Kershaw.
You wouldn’t expect a team with post season aspirations to have so many question marks regarding the rotation but that is what happens when you trade for a pitcher already on the DL with historical health concerns to boot, along with the best pitcher in baseball still in complete limbo.
Dodger fans get their first look at David Dahl
the Rockies answer to Cory Seager. Well, Trevor Story is the answer to Cory Seager, but now they have two answers. The arrival of Dahl has been highly anticipated by Rockie fans ever since he was the Rockies number one pick (12th overall) in 2012.
His rapid rise to the major leagues took a detour in 2015 when a lacerated spleen from an outfield collision cost him six weeks but he still clocked into 2016 as the Rockies top prospect. Until this year his minor league numbers don’t jump out at you but he’s battled health issues since being drafted. Something clicked this year or he simply enjoyed the Albuquerque hitting climate because he annihilated AAA to the tune of a TSL of .484 | .529 | .887. The Rockies promoted him on July 25th after only sixteen games in AAA.
Dahl is supposed to have a nice package of power and speed and is considered a five-tool player. His injuries have hampered his progress but now that he’s here, he is doing what Rockie management envisioned when they drafted him.
Dahl has made seven starts and collected a hit in every start hitting a cool .370 so far in his major league career in 27 at-bats. He’s already bashed two home runs, and both came on the road.
In fact, his game against the Dodgers tonight will be his first game in front of his home crowd.
Dodger fans can look forward to seeing Dahl joining Story and Arrenado in clashes for years to come.
Adam Peterson of Purple Row has the Rockie blog breakdown:
Scouts and coaches rave about his range and instincts and rate his arm as “above average and accurate.” Oh, Dahl will certainly flash the leather for the Rockies. As Baseball Prospectus noted, playing Dahl in left is “is sort of a waste, because he’s a pretty good centerfielder,” but in Coors Field no athleticism is wasted. With one of the biggest left fields in the majors, Dahl’s range and speed will be tested frequently, and he’ll be able to take over centerfield if called upon.
Did the Dodgers acquire a Hill of beans or a King of the hill?
Josh Reddick should provide a consistent bat and glove against RHP and is a very known quantity. Rich Hill, on the other hand, is one of the more bizarre baseball stories of the past ten years. He has been brilliant, and he has been so bad that multiple teams have given up on him.
The Hill of beans possibility:
- Rich Hill is 36 years old and hasn’t pitched 100 innings since 2007. He currently has 75 in the book for 2016 and the Dodgers will need quite a few innings from him over the next two months. Can he do it? History says no.
- Over the past ten years, Rich Hill has had about three good months in major league baseball. Last Sept, this April and May. You will notice June and July missing.
- The oft-injured Rich Hill has already had two DL stints this year which account for his meager 75 innings so far in 2016. He had a groin issue in late May that put him on the DL for all of June. He came back to make two starts in July and developed a blister that wouldn’t go away. Hill tried to make a start on July 17th but never threw a pitch. They gave it some rest and tried again. No go so he went on the DL. He is due to come off of DL this week. When he comes off the DL it is just a matter of time before he hits it again.
- His team log might be the longest in baseball for an active player. I stopped count at over 25 teams.
- This spring I watched Rich Hill walk five straight Dodgers in one of the craziest starts I’d ever seen. It was just a spring game, but that stuff stays with you. Mind you this was not his first game of the spring. Oakland A fans all around were moaning.
The King of Hill possibility:
- Last Sept Rich Hill was arguably the best pitcher in baseball. Granted he came out of nowhere but when the Red Sox gave him a shot, he was simply brilliant. It was only a brief four-game run, but one that included his first shutout in ten years. Hill made such an impact that the A’s gave him a $6,000,0000 contract for one year.
- This year Rich Hill proved to the A’s that they had made a wise investment by being one of the best pitchers in baseball in April and May. Hill had an auspicious start and was hammered on April 4th, only able to secure eight outs before being driven from the game. But that was his only misstep, in his next twelve starts he has only given up three runs twice, every other game is two runs or less.
- When Rich Hill is on, he is considered to have one of the best curveballs in the game.
- If healthy Rich Hill can be an important piece of the Dodger post-season rotation
- If Rich Hill stays healthy they will have first shot at signing him for future seasons.
How Rich Hill helps the Dodgers would seem to depend on one thing. Can Rich Hill stay healthy enough to make a difference. Only time will tell, history does not think so, but anyone who has preservered like Rich Hill has something on his side. The Dodger front office is betting on it. They need Rich Hill to succeed, because right now the Giants have Moore on their side.
Zaidi breaks down the Dodger deals
A rather pedestrian trading deadline was broken down by Farhan Zaidi but all the fireworks happened after the trade deadline when it was learned that Puig was not on the plane with the team to Colorado even though he had not been traded.
As you all know the Dodgers received Josh Reddick, Rich Hill, Jesse Chavez, and Josh Fields for Frankie Montas, Grant Holmes, Jharel Cotton, Yordan Alveraz, and Mike Bolsinger.
Holmes was ranked as the Dodgers 5th best prospect by MLB. Montas as number eight, and Cotton as number thirteen.
For those who didn’t want to see Urias and company get traded, they get their wish. For those who hoped for bigger impact players, they didn’t get their wish.
To be honest, all of the trades have now been overshadowed by the Puig news, and until we know more we simply don’t know what is going on, though that hasn’t stopped everyone from conjecturing.
Eric Stephen at TBLA has a reasonable take on the story and the best lede.
Dodgers go to Denver, Yasiel Puig reportedly left home alone https://t.co/WknMBcV7kP pic.twitter.com/j0YEAIfon1
— Eric Stephen (@truebluela) August 1, 2016
What three players in the LAD minor league system do want to stay that way?
As of 10:00 PCT every single Dodger prospect is still a Dodger. That will change in the next twelve hours but I’m curious who most people think are the most valuable assets the Dodgers currently have. It would be easy to simply pick the top three prospects but it doesn’t work that way because of age. For example Cory Seager had to work his way to the top, a year ago Bellinger was just starting to get some play. Stuff like that.
Using this as a guideline or not, what players do you think are destined for major league success.
Probably everyone would have Urias as their number one pick but who knows.
I will admit right off the bat, I’m no expert, just a Dodger fan, but as a fan the three players I’d like to remain in the system are:
Julio Urias – for obvious reasons
Yadier Alveraz
Cody Bellinger
Who are yours?
Corey Seager is running down Hanley Ramirez
Corey is chasing Hanley Ramirez in two different years and two different categories.
- In 2013 Hanley hit 20 home runs as a Shortstop, and that is the record that Seager is chasing for most home runs by a LAD shortstop. Corey has 18 home runs and that record should fall in August.
- In 2014 Hanley hit 35 doubles as a Shortstop and that is the record he’s chasing for most doubles by a LAD Shortstop. Corey has 30 doubles and that record should fall in August.
- In 2014 Hanley drove in 71 runs, and that is the record that Corey is chasing. Seager has 47 RBI. That record may be nip and tuck as the season winds down.
Two LAD shortstop records that Corey won’t be sniffing this year are most hits and most runs scored. Maury Wills holds both records and it would take an MVP season from Seager eventually sniff those, just as Wills won the MPV when he set them in 1962 with 208 hits, and 130 runs scored. Won’t even mention Stolen Bases because that isn’t his game.
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 