Dodgers reward Brett Eibner
with his release. The AAA outfielder was asked to pitch by the Dodgers this summer and did so, eventually blowing out his arm and requiring Tommy John surgery. Today the Dodger designated him for assignment. They could have put him on the 60 Day Dl, but they choose not to.
I guess to make up for not treating Brett correctly, they decided to reward O’Koyea Dickson for his mediocre season at age 27 in the PCL but bringing him up. I”m not sure why other than to reward a system soldier. Dickson is a nice story but hardly anyone who can help the Dodgers in 2017 and didn’t exactly knock the door down in his minor league career to deserve this reward. He hasn’t had an OPS over .800 since his hot April. He didn’t hit LHP this year. He is a defensive liability at 1st or the outfield. I don’t really get this promotion. He’s basically a lesser version of Rob Segedin who was also recalled today. Why do they need two Rob Segedin’s?
Split PA HR BA OBP SLG OPS Total 458 24 .246 .328 .484 .811 Last 7 days 7 0 .143 .143 .143 .286 Last 28 days 70 2 .254 .329 .381 .710 Last 90 days 252 9 .243 .329 .414 .744 Home 233 14 .284 .373 .572 .946 Away 225 10 .208 .280 .396 .676 vs RHP as RHB 351 21 .256 .342 .529 .871 vs LHP as RHB 107 3 .211 .280 .337 .617 April 81 6 .320 .346 .653 .999 May 116 8 .192 .302 .485 .787 June 94 3 .234 .362 .416 .777 July 90 5 .244 .311 .488 .799 August 77 2 .257 .325 .371 .696 2 outs RISP 84 5 .338 .417 .595 1.011 vs. Younger Pitchers 291 13 .233 .313 .447 .760 vs. Older Pitchers 167 11 .267 .353 .548 .901
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 9/1/2017.
I guess I’m just annoyed that they didn’t take care of Brett Eibner though I’m not sure what they should have done. Maybe not ask him to pitch to make him more versatile since it may have ended his career, and he at least had a fourth/fifth outfielder career going forward.
Baseball America checks in on Verdugo and Font
Verdugo is not expected to be on the postseason roster, but the Dodgers are eager to see him against big league pitching in hopes of getting him acclimated to compete for a job in 2018. He might share time with Chris Taylor in center field or play in a rotation that involves Taylor and Granderson. But the Dodgers are not expecting him to contribute in a big role right away.
Read more at http://www.baseballamerica.com/majors/expect-alex-verdugo/#LUoK5YiAYFEwJqhy.99
Stranger things have happened but what if Verdugo does impress in CF and Forsythe continues to struggle at 2nd base. Could a scenario develop against RHP in the postseason of Verdugo in CF, Granderson in LF, Bellinger at 1st base, with Chris Taylor taking 2nd base? Doubtfully, but I wouldn’t rule it off the table. This is the same kind of scenario you might have expected if Joc Pederson had not shit the bed.
Either way, I can’t wait to see the arm I’ve heard so much about. I love a great arm.
Baseball America would also like to see Font get a shot in major leagues:
The minor leagues are full of good stories, and Font has one. He missed all of 2011 with Tommy John surgery before reaching the majors by the end of 2012 with the Rangers, who also called him up briefly in 2013. But he’s been cut (Reds, 2015) and pitched in indy ball (Can-Am League) before finding a home this year with the Dodgers. The 27-year-old has been the best pitcher in the Pacific Coast League. The 6-foot-4, 265-pound Font is 10-8, 3.42 with 178 strikeouts in 134 innings; he leads the PCL in whiffs and ERA and is second in wins, giving him an outside shot to still win the PCL pitching triple crown. He’s also pumping mid-90s gas. The Dodgers don’t need Font and don’t have room for him on their 40-man roster, but I’d love to see Font get a shot as a reward for his 2017
Read more at http://www.baseballamerica.com/majors/a-wish-list-of-10-september-callups/#YpTUO1wLL5bPhqir.99
That was ugly
The Dodgers did not end August like they started it, as the Diamondbacks swept the Dodgers all the way to San Diego. The three game barrage concluded with the Diamondbacks winning 8 – 1.
Overall
- The Diamondbacks outscored the Dodgers 21 – 11
- The Diamondbacks hit seven home runs
- The Diamondbacks scored ten runs in the first inning over the three games
- The Dodger starters gave up 19 runs in the three starts, thus providing the info for this tweet from Craig Minami.
Last time Dodger starting pitchers gave up 5+ runs in three straight games June 15th, 17th, and 18th 2011 (Billingsley, Lilly, De La Rosa)
— Craig Minami (@craigtminami) August 31, 2017
The Dodgers started August by winning five of six but finished August by losing four in a row. This is the first time the Dodgers have lost four in a row all year. The bad news is that the Dodgers look like the Giants right now, the good news is that every team is going to hit a slump, the better news is that it is happening now and not in October.
Angels go big
Last night I looked in on the Angel game and noticed Chris Hatcher pitching for the A’s. The Angels trailed in the game, but not for long, as the Angels would knock around Hatcher and go onto win the game 10 – 8. They had trailed 8 – 3 at one after giving up eight runs in the fourth inning.
The Angels were so inspired and the fact they are only one game behind the Twins for the last wild card spot that they went out and got Justin Upton today. Justin Upton has been one of the hottest hitters in the AL with the fourth best wRC+ in the second half.
You need a scorecard to know who is in the Angel rotation these days with Rickey Nolasco and JC Ramirez being the only two left from the original starting rotation. You have Rickey, Parker Birdwell, JC Ramirez, Troy Scribner, Andrew Heaney, and Tyler Skaggs taking starts in August. In April that would have been Rickey, Richards, Jesse Chavez, Matt Shoemaker, and JC Ramirez.
With an outfield of Upton / Trout / Calhoun along with a resurgent Cron, the Angels decided to outhit the opposition and it just might work.
Alex Verdugo is on his way
Alex Verdugo will be joining the team this Friday
Alex Verdugo will join #Dodgers in SD when rosters expand. Joc Pederson will not. Likely later when AAA season ends
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) August 31, 2017
, and if Corey Seager still has problems with the elbow I could see him getting some playing time.
Hernandez is in a slump and shouldn’t be playing against RHP anyway, so with Verdugo on the team you could move Chris Taylor to SS, play Verdugo in CF, with Granderson in LF against RHP until Seager gets his elbow under control.
It has to mean something that Joc Pederson is not getting the call this Friday. The starting CF for the first four months of the year does not appear to be in the Dodger plans for the rest of this year.
Brock Stewart will also join the team and is scheduled to pitch the first game of the Saturday doubleheader in San Diego. I was kind of hoping Font would get this gig but it will go to Brock. Brock better pitch better than his last start which taxed the bullpen when he couldn’t give them some decent innings.
Andre Ethier will join the team but can’t imagine it would be any more than as a pinch hitter. He and Adrian can discuss what its like to be earning $20,000,000 plus as bench pieces.
Remember when the Dodgers never lost if they scored four runs?
The Dodgers lost two games in April when they scored four runs or more.
The Dodgers lost four games in May when they scored four runs or more.
The Dodger lost one game in June when they scored four runs or more.
They lost zero games in July when they scored four runs or more.
The Dodgers have lost two games in August when they have scored four runs or more.
See anything interesting?
| Gm# | Date | Opp | W/L | R | RA | |
| 17 | Friday, Apr 21 | @ | ARI | L | 5 | 13 |
| 18 | Saturday, Apr 22 | @ | ARI | L | 5 | 11 |
| 35 | Thursday, May 11 | @ | COL | L | 7 | 10 |
| 38 | Sunday, May 14 | @ | COL | L | 6 | 9 |
| 39 | Monday, May 15 | @ | SFG | L | 4 | 8 |
| 44 | Saturday, May 20 | MIA | L | 6 | 10 | |
| 67 | Thursday, Jun 15 | @ | CLE | L | 5 | 12 |
| 130 | Tuesday, Aug 29 | @ | ARI | L | 6 | 7 |
| 131 | Wednesday, Aug 30 | @ | ARI | L | 4 | 6 |
How about that the Diamondbacks were the team who beat them both times in April when they scored four runs or more, and are the same team to do the trick twice in August?
The Dodgers are 75 – 9 when they score four runs or more, they are 75 – 5 against everyone but the Diamondbacks when they score four runs or more. They have one loss at home when they score four runs or more.
For those who want to panic, as you can see from the schedule the Dodgers were outscored in Arizona 24 – 10 in those two games. The Dodger record on April 22nd was 8 – 10. It is now 91 – 40.
Don’t panic.
Route 66 has a quirky problem
Jeff Sullivan was the man for the job. I had just visited Fangraphs and couldn’t figure out why Puig had such a low fWAR for a man having his season.
Yasiel Puig rates as one of the worst baserunners in baseball.
This didn’t make much sense until I remembered that for some reason hitting into double plays is calculated as part of the base running stat. We know he’s hitting into more double plays than he ever has, but he also ranks as one of the worst baserunners when he does get on base.
Jeff goes through this quite thoroughly and based on his information I’m going to go with the fact that Puig has simply been extremely unlucky this year.
At least the eye test with Puig on defense is holding up. Not one regular right fielder in the NL has a positive defensive fWAR number except for Puig. Puig is a 5.5, the closest RF in the NL is …… Curtis Granderson at -.50.
How about them apples?
Ok, now about the whole double play being part of a baserunning stat. I don’t get it. If you don’t get credit for being able to hit with runners on base (RBI), why would you get dinged because the hard ground ball you hit, turned into a double play?
Diamondbacks look like a post season team
It is funny how circumstances change so rapidly in this game. A year ago there was no team more disappointing than the Diamondbacks who won only 69 games. It is only August 30th, and they have already won 74 games. From a laughingstock to a bonafide contender in one winter.
In a normal year, Arizona would be battling for the Western Division. They currently have a .561 winning percentage, and the Dodgers won the division last year with a .562 winning percentage. They just picked a bad year to have a good year but they can take solace in that they should control their own destiny if they want to play in the play-in game.
I mentioned a few weeks ago that I expected the Diamondbacks to take control of the wild card race and that seems to be happening. They have won five in a row and now have a two game lead on the Rockies and a six game lead over the Brewers.
The team has it all, good hitting, good power, good starting pitching, and even a good bullpen. With Robbie Ray back, and Patrick Corbin pitching like he did before his TJ surgery they have a staff that can match anyone in a postseason series along with an ace in Greinke that can take the ball in a play – in game.
Bellinger’s back
It turns out that Adrian Gonzalez is not an adequate replacement for Cody Bellinger. I was wrong on Adrian, I had hoped that Adrian would show that with his back somewhat healed he could once again provide some butter and eggs but instead he has looked very much like the same player who displayed an anemic bat before hitting the disabled list.
Adrian has had a couple of good swings, but for the most part, he’s been horrible.
Split PA 2B HR RBI BA OBP SLG OPS April/March 96 5 0 10 .259 .337 .318 .654 May 55 4 1 10 .269 .273 .404 .677 June 31 2 0 3 .214 .258 .286 .544 August 45 3 1 4 .190 .222 .333 .556
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 8/30/2017.
When Cody returns tonight, Dave Roberts has said that he is his first baseman so while Adrian may see a start or two, at this point, it looks like he is going to be a bench player most of the time.
Cody has some work to do if he wants to catch Frank Robinson and set the NL rookie home run record. Cody has not homered since August 12, and sure he hasn’t played since August 19th, but he hasn’t had many spells of five games without a home run. At 34 he still needs one to tie Mike Piazza for the LAD rookie home run record.
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 