FFA for Week of 8/14 – 8/20
The contenders are:
Dennis Santana/AA/Tulsa – Santana finally pitched a gem after three straight bad starts. He went six inning, five hits, one earned run, one walk, and ten strikeouts. This was his best game in AA and hopefully a sign of things to come for the rest of the month.
Yadier Alvarez/AA/Tulsa – The top pitching prospect coming into 2017, Yadier had done little to keep that title, but on Saturday night got sixteen outs for the first time since 6/26. This was the first time since late May he did not give up an earned run. He went six innings, three hits, zero earned runs, two walks, and five strikeouts. This was the best game of the year stat wise for Alvarez.
Ibandel Isabel – A+/Rancho – Ibandel had nine hits in five games, but the reason he’s here is that he had four hits, two home runs, and eight runs batted on Friday Night.
“I can’t recall a moment in my little career in baseball where I’ve seen a guy knock in eight runs and hit two balls probably a combined half a mile,” Rancho Cucamonga manager Drew Saylor said. “It was pretty special to be able to see that.”
Isabel leads the California League with twenty-six home runs. DJ Peters is second with 24. DJ Peters also leads the league in strikeouts with 172, and Isabel is 3rd with 149. Great power comes with a great price.
Gavin Lux – A-/Loons – had twelve hits in twenty-seven at-bats. Lux has definitely gotten hot, but only one of those twelve hits was an extra-base. He has moved his OPS to .696 just a shade below .700 with an OPS in August of .944. Nice to see the 2016 number one pick get it going offensively.
Keibert Ruiz – A+/Rancho – Keibert also had twelve hits but in only 23 at-bats, with two doubles, and one home run. Keibert had seen his average drop to .312 from a high of .377 but by the end of the week, it had climbed back to .353. The only troubling thing is that he had zero walks, and has zero walks in his last ten games. One of the nice things about Ruiz with the Loons was his increasing patience.
And the winner of the Farm Factory Award for August 13 – 20th is Ibandel Isabel.
Farm Notes:
Wilmer Font finally pitched a bad game getting knocked around on Sunday. I guess he got tired of waiting for that call to the major leagues that never came. Has to be frustrating to be the best pitcher in a hitters league but spend the whole season while pitcher after pitcher get the call instead.
Tim Locastro had a hot week just not hot enough.
Sopko and Sborz both had good games last week on the same day as each won their part of a doubleheader.
Jeren Kendall has struggled with the Loons but he does have four triples in just 79 plate appearances.
Starling Heredia also struggled in his first month with the Loons but had a nice week last week. His walk rate is sterling, so once the balls start dropping for hits, we are going to have a nice prospect. Just like Kendall, contact is an issue right now.
So much winning
Ridiculous:
- Dodgers are 1 – 0 with Curtis Granderson
- Dodgers are 1 – 0 with Joc Pederson in AAA
- Dodgers are 2 – 0 since Adrian Gonzalez rejoined the team
- Dodgers have won six in a row
- Dodgers now have six streaks of at least six wins in a row
- Dodgers have won 13 in a row against the American League
- Dodgers have the second best Interleague winning percentage in National League history, behind only the 2004 Cardinals (11-1, .917).
- Dodgers are 13 – 3 in August
- Dodgers are 19 – 3 since Clayton Kershaw last started a game
- Dodgers are 26 – 5 since the All-Star break
- Dodgers are 52 – 9 since June 7th
- Dodgers have won 37 consecutive games in which they’ve scored four or more runs, with their last loss coming on June 15 at Cleveland (L, 12-5). There have only been three longer such streaks in MLB history, the 1954 Indians (42), 1906 Giants (41) and 1898 Boston Beaneaters (38) – Source: Stats, LLC.
- Dodgers have 16 sweeps and with a victory today, will make it 17.
- Dodgers haven’t lost a series since June 9th going 18 – 0 – 3 in that time span.
- Dodgers are 36 – 20 on the road.
- Dodgers are 51 – 14 at home
- Dodgers have beaten eight teams this year without a loss
Dodgers win at games and roster building
Tonight the Dodgers won again, this time with Adrian Gonzalez playing for the first time since June. I don’t think enough is being made about how useful a healthy Gonzalez can help this team. Probably because it appears they don’t need any help in winning, but winning in the summer isn’t the same as winning in October.
The front office must agree as they continue to tinker with the team, and in an effort to increase their odds this October they and went out and acquired the best human being in baseball, Curtis Granderson. If you follow ESPN columnist Mike Petriello you know that he has been banging the drum for someone to acquire Granderson, so the Dodgers finally obliged and added him to the roster tonight.
Top hitters since May 1 (minimum 294 plate appearances), by wRC+
176 — Jose Altuve / Joey Votto
169 — George Springer
166 — Marwin Gonzalez
164 — Giancarlo Stanton
162 — Aaron Judge
159 — Paul Goldschmidt / Justin Smoak
157 — Anthony Rendon
153 — JD Martinez
148 — Granderson / Kris Bryant / Eric Hosmer / Cody BellingerThere’s Granderson, tied over the past 3 1/2 months with last year’s NL Most Valuable Player Award winner, a World Series champ finally tapping into his power, and the clear front-runner for the 2017 NL Rookie of the Year Award. He’s ahead of Corey Seager and Daniel Murphy; he’s ahead of Anthony Rizzo and Mike Moustakas.
The roster was already complicated with the addition of Adrian Gonzalez and was going to be a little more complicated when Andre Ethier joins the team on Sept 1st, but now it is really complicated.
Or is it?
Seems clear, that Curtis Granderson should play right now instead of Joc Pederson. The Dodger only weak spot right now is CF, and that was probably going to result in Joc sitting so either Cody or Chris Taylor would play CF when Adrian was playing 1st. Curtis Granderson will join the outfield, I don’t know if he will play CF or LF but I doubt he is insurance as has been suggested.
He’s too good to simply be insurance.
The Dodgers just made their starting lineup better, and their bench better. I feel bad for Joc but he should have played better. His play in CF has been shall we say less than inspiring. Hopefully, the new batting stance will help him with the hitting tool, but I don’t think they can do much about his fielding tool. Seems strange, but in April/May of 2015 I thought he was playing a great CF, but he already seems to have lost a step and the routes just don’t seem good enough these days.
Update 08/19/17 – Looks like Joc is being sent to AAA for a few weeks.
12 months of the Puig elevator
A professional baseball players career is going to be full of ups and downs, but for Yasiel Puig the last twelve months have been quite the elevator ride.
On July 31st, 2016 Puig had three hits culminating his July with an overall OPS of .806 which had followed his June OPS of .826. The elevator is on the 5th floor.
His reward for being a productive offensive player and possibly the best Dodger outfielder was to be sent to AAA on August 1st, 2016. Puig went from being the Dodgers best hitting outfielder to playing in Oklahoma. From planes to buses. An attitude adjustment was the prognosis. Elevator has reached the basement.
Pundits said he was a cancer
During his first week with Oklahoma, he tweeted about a big team party and was derided in many publications as a man who simply wouldn’t grow up. The Dodgers said they sent him OKC with specific instructions on what they wanted him to work on. Being a better teammate might have been involved.
Puig destroyed AAA but was not brought back in August. Word got out that he had been placed on waivers and claimed by the Brewers. The Dodgers were trying to make a waiver deal with the Brewers before time ran out. Supposedly it would have involved the huge contract of Ryan Braun.
Pundits predicted that Puig would never wear a Dodger uniform again.
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, the player the Dodgers acquired to replace Puig had just finished one of the worst months in LAD history for an outfielder.
Player Split G Year PA OPS Eric Young August 24 1992 75 .359 Tommy Davis August 23 1961 79 .373 Josh Reddick August 25 2016 94 .396 Don Demeter August 19 1958 56 .401 Franklin Stubbs August 25 1986 87 .453 Devon White August 21 1999 86 .465 Willie Crawford August 23 1971 81 .468 Bill North August 21 1978 70 .469 Ron Fairly August 28 1967 78 .470 Brett Butler August 21 1997 81 .480 Juan Samuel August 23 1990 68 .484
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/17/2017.
Puig was finally reinstated to the Dodger team in Sept when teams are allowed to flaunt the roster rules they play with from April – August. Dodger management said that Puig had done everything they had asked of him in OKC and was being rewarded by being brought back to the Dodgers. The Josh Reddick .396 OPS in August as his replacement is not mentioned. Elevator heads back up to the 3rd floor
Pundits rolled their eyes
Puig would put up a .900 OPS in Sept playing mostly against LHP. The elevator moves up to the 6th floor.
Puig would once again fail to make an impact in October and went into the winter with his job very much in doubt. Elevator drops to 2nd floor
Pundits predicted he would be traded during the winter
Puig survives the winter and comes into spring as the Dodger starting right-fielder.
All the right things are being said about Puig, as he goes through a quiet spring. No reports of the ball booming off his bat, or Puig being a bad teammate, of Puig, at all.
Puig starts out the year with a bang with four home runs and 1.132 OPS by April 15th. The elevator moves up to the 7th floor with expectations that it will ride higher.
Puig hits a slump and his OPS drops to the low .700 for much of May/June. The elevator drops back to the 3rd floor.
Pundits say this is who Puig is, an average to good player but will never see the star potential that he displayed in 2013 and 2014.
Through all of this Puig is playing the best right field any Dodger fan has seen since the days of Raul Mondesi and Reggie Smith.
Puig gets it going and by the end of June has moved his OPS back to .800 where it has stayed for almost two months. Elevator rides back up to the 7th floor.
During all this time Puig has been hitting from the eighth hole and proven to be the best eight hitter in baseball.
With the lack of clutch hitting still being the piano on his back, Puig comes to the plate on July 14th and hits a game winning three run home run off of the Marlins ace reliever pitcher AJ Ramos. Elevator gets a jump start and finds itself on the 9th floor for the first time.
Did I mention that Puig continues to play gold glove caliber right field? Just about every game he makes a play that only Puig could make. Taking a home run away from JD Martinez, throwing out runners at home with 260 foot on the fly throws. He’s gotten so good in RF that he’s starting to catch the casual fly ball with aplomb much to the delight and chagrin of the broadcast team of Joe/Orel. Elevator has cruised to the 10th floor.
On Aug 16th, Puig comes through once again, this time with a walk off double to complete a 5-4 come from behind win putting the Dodgers 51 games over .500.
Puig is no longer batting eighth.
Puig is now a teammate
Puig is now getting Gatorade baths not just giving them
The Wild Horse is loose and running wild
The elevator is now sitting at the penthouse, a place it has not been since July of 2014.
My favorite Dodger was traded on this date
Hat tip to Ernest Reyes at Dodger Blue Heaven for reminding me that Pedro Guerrero was traded on this date in 1988. At the time of the trade, Pedro was the second best hitter on a fairly anemic offensive team. He was traded for John Tudor who I already disliked as a Cardinal and nothing he did as a Dodger changed my feelings. Tudor would make nine starts for the Dodgers and one horrible postseason start. Not like he was a difference maker.
I can’t complain, as it all worked out, but even now I’m now sure how trading Pedro made the Dodgers a better team in 1981 unless it was addition by subtraction. Maybe they thought Franklyn Stubbs would hit better. Whatever, they won an inconceivable World Championship so they must have known what they were doing.
The Dodgers acquired Pedro at the age of seventeen from the Indians in one of the greatest trades in Dodger history. Pedro came up in 1980 for good at the age of 24 and never stopped hitting. At the age of 25 he helped lead the old Dodgers to the 1981 World Championship with the second highest OPS+ on the team.
By the time he was traded in 1988, Pedro had put up three of the top five offensive seasons in LAD history. He was pretty much the greatest offensive LAD until Mike Piazza showed up.
Player HR OPS+ Year Age PA OPS Pos Pedro Guerrero 33 182 1985 29 581 .999 *7538/H9 Reggie Smith 32 168 1977 32 603 1.003 *9/8H Reggie Smith 29 162 1978 33 531 .942 *9/H8 Pedro Guerrero 32 156 1982 26 652 .914 *985 Pedro Guerrero 27 154 1987 31 630 .955 *73/H Jim Wynn 32 151 1974 32 656 .884 *8/H Dick Allen 23 151 1971 29 649 .863 573/H
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Generated 8/16/2017.
From 1981 – 1987 he was the best hitter on the Dodgers and it wasn’t close. Using 1,000 plate appearances as a minimum requirement which seems decent given we are looking at a seven-year span.
Player OPS+ PA From To HR BA OBP SLG OPS Pedro Guerrero 150 3818 1981 1988 162 .309 .384 .514 .898 Dusty Baker 122 1694 1981 1983 47 .291 .356 .432 .788 Mike Marshall 118 3127 1981 1988 126 .273 .325 .455 .780 Greg Brock 108 1737 1982 1986 71 .233 .326 .412 .739 John Shelby 106 1063 1987 1988 31 .270 .319 .429 .747 Steve Garvey 105 1121 1981 1982 26 .282 .309 .415 .724 Mike Scioscia 100 3143 1981 1988 34 .263 .352 .354 .705
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/16/2017.
Alex Wood shows both sides of the win
Keith Law has a great book out right now called Smart Baseball telling us in one of the early chapters how wins are a ridiculous stat because so much of a win is team based. I’ve gotten through about five chapters so far and have learned nothing new except on how to tell baseball fans why baseball card stats suck using many many words. Don’t get me wrong, I am enjoying the book, but for someone who learned from Bill James thirty years ago about how to properly view baseball stats, the first few chapters are not eye openers. I do look forward to the ensuing chapters and really enjoyed the vitriol displayed toward the save stat which I may hate even more than Keith Law, and he really hates it.
Alex Wood showed last night why the win is a crappy stat as he pitched seven beautiful innings, only to leave with the game tied 1 – 1. His team would earn the win by blowing open the game in the bottom of the eighth after Brandon Morrow had pitched a clean top of the eighth. Brandon Morrow pitched one inning and was credited with the win. Alex Wood pitched seven innings of one run ball and got nothing.
Still…………………
I can’t quite give up my back of the baseball card winning percentage love. Ron Perranowski and Phil Regan blew me away with their winning percentages.
And right now, Alex Wood has the best winning percentage amoung starters with at least fourteen wins. So while 5/6 of me has moved on from the win, that 1/6 still sees some kind of beauty in a plus .900 winning percentage.
Player W-L% W L Year Age IP ERA FIP OPS+ Alex Wood .933 14 1 2017 26 117.1 2.30 2.70 54 Greg Maddux .905 19 2 1995 29 209.2 1.63 2.26 29 Randy Johnson .900 18 2 1995 31 214.1 2.48 2.08 48
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/16/2017.
All the young dudes
Much like the Cubs of 2016, the Dodgers great season is being fueled by youth. The team is 50 games over .500 and the lineup is loaded with players 26 or younger.
Chris Taylor and Yasiel Puig are both 26
Joc Pederson is 25
Corey Seager is 23
Cody Bellinger is 21
Five of the regular lineup is 26 or younger. The two catchers are 28 and 27 and Barnes is enjoying his first full season in the majors at 27.
The outliers are at 2nd base where either greybeards like Logan Forsythe or Chase Utley hold court, or the redbeard at 3rd base.
For example. At age 21 Cody Bellinger has the most home runs for any Dodger at the age of 21. He could double the previous record of 20 by future HOF Adrian Beltre.
Player HR Year Age Tm PA OPS Cody Bellinger 34 2017 21 LAD 411 .975 Adrian Beltre 20 2000 21 LAD 575 .835 Willie Davis 12 1961 21 LAD 380 .767 Tommy Davis 11 1960 21 LAD 374 .728 Howie Schultz 11 1944 21 BRO 556 .680 Ed Stevens 10 1946 21 BRO 340 .728
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/16/2017.
At age 22, Corey Seager had the most home runs by a Dodger at the age of 22. I’d expect Cody Bellinger to smash that record in 2018. Along with every other Dodger home run record. Yasiel Puig is also on the list with his nineteen home runs in only 432 plate appearances in 2013.
Player HR Year Age PA OPS Corey Seager 26 2016 22 687 .877 Duke Snider 23 1949 22 615 .854 Willie Davis 21 1962 22 666 .787 Yasiel Puig 19 2013 22 432 .925 Tommy Davis 15 1961 22 508 .738 Pete Reiser 14 1941 22 601 .964 Adrian Beltre 13 2001 22 515 .720 Willie Crawford 11 1969 22 440 .732 Wayne Belardi 11 1953 22 180 .796 Jimmy Sheckard 11 1901 22 609 .944 Matt Kemp 10 2007 22 311 .894 Ron Fairly 10 1961 22 301 .956
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/16/2017.
Three current Dodgers on the list for most home runs by a Dodger at the age of 23. Corey Seager still has eight weeks to climb up this ladder. He won’t catch HOF Duke Snider but he might catch the all-time LAD home run leader Tommy Davis at 27.
Player HR Year Age PA OPS Duke Snider 31 1950 23 684 .932 Tommy Davis 27 1962 23 711 .910 Joc Pederson 26 2015 23 585 .763 Frank Howard 23 1960 23 487 .784 Adrian Beltre 21 2002 23 635 .729 Corey Seager 19 2017 23 475 .917 Matt Kemp 18 2008 23 657 .799 Mike Marshall 17 1983 23 518 .782 Yasiel Puig 16 2014 23 640 .863 Raul Mondesi 16 1994 23 454 .849 James Loney 15 2007 23 375 .919
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/16/2017.
I could go on and on with leaderboard after leaderboard, but I’ll leave that for November.
Chavez Ravine domination
If you have been going to the Ravine to watch the Dodgers since Cody Bellinger joined the team the odds have been in your favor that you will have watched another Dodger home victory. Overall the Dodgers are fifty games over .500 with a winning percentage of .712 which is insane, but at home they take that up a notch with a record of 50 – 14 for a home winning percentage of .781.
Dodger fans in Los Angeles are witnessing something no other Los Angeles fans have ever seen, and this franchise has five World Championships since moving to Los Angeles.
When you look at the offensive splits, it is very clear why the team wins at home.
- They have two full time players with an OPS over 1.000
- They have five players with an OPS over .900 including both catchers
- The only regular who does not have an OPS over .800 is Logan Forsythe.
Player Split Year OPS PA BA OBP SLG Justin Turner Home 2017 1.042 195 .348 .446 .596 Cody Bellinger Home 2017 1.004 217 .289 .378 .626 Corey Seager Home 2017 .919 253 .305 .391 .527 Austin Barnes Home 2017 .917 92 .274 .424 .493 Yasmani Grandal Home 2017 .911 195 .317 .354 .557 Andrew Toles Home 2017 .874 59 .321 .356 .518 Chris Taylor Home 2017 .833 214 .277 .341 .492 Joc Pederson Home 2017 .828 144 .223 .340 .488 Chase Utley Home 2017 .825 148 .268 .361 .465 Yasiel Puig Home 2017 .806 218 .243 .335 .471 Enrique Hernandez Home 2017 .777 150 .215 .315 .462 Adrian Gonzalez Home 2017 .656 111 .262 .306 .350 Logan Forsythe Home 2017 .591 167 .209 .317 .273
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/16/2017.
Let’s compare that to the road splits:
Geezus, the top of the lineup is filled with hitting monsters. Very little difference really in the big four plus Puig. Logan hits better on the road, while Grandal/Joc/Chase have struggled on the road.
Player Split Year OPS PA Chris Taylor Away 2017 1.020 186 Justin Turner Away 2017 .970 194 Austin Barnes Away 2017 .953 84 Cody Bellinger Away 2017 .944 194 Corey Seager Away 2017 .916 222 Yasiel Puig Away 2017 .794 204 Logan Forsythe Away 2017 .772 143 Enrique Hernandez Away 2017 .748 119 Joc Pederson Away 2017 .664 148 Yasmani Grandal Away 2017 .628 162 Adrian Gonzalez Away 2017 .623 71 Chase Utley Away 2017 .622 124
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Generated 8/16/2017.
OTDIB – 08/16/1964 – Sandy Koufax ruptures elbow
The Dodgers were playing the Cardinals in a double header and ran into double trouble. Sandy Koufax was once again the best pitcher in the NL but had his season cut short because of a play as a baserunner in the 7th inning. Koufax had walked and slid safely into second base as Maury Wills was forced at 1st base. He would rupture his elbow on a pickup play but stay in the game, not knowing he had received an injury that would plague him the rest of his career.
He would finish the game with thirteen strikeouts and a 3 – 0 shutout. As I recall from his bio he woke up the next day with his elbow this size of a softball and would not pitch again the rest of the year. This kind of bears this out:
nor a badly ruptured elbow when he dove back to second base in a Tony Cloninger pick-off attempt in 1964, after which he had “to drag my arm out of bed like a log.”
The problem with this link is that Tony Cloninger did not pitch in this game.
So, let that sink in.
He had an injury that would finish his season, but he still pitched the final two innings to complete the game and shutout.
He would still lead the NL in ERA, ERA+, FIP, WHIP, and SO9. It didn’t have any impact on the postseason aspirations of the current World Champions as the Cardinals had a double digit lead on them.
The Cardinals were loaded that year with 1964 MVP Ken Boyer and a center fielder named Curt Flood. Flood would have eight straight hits in the double header. He collected four hits in the first game against Koufax, and four more straight hits in the second game. Flood had eight straight hits in the double header before Ron Perranoski struck him out in the 9th inning.
Not only did Flood refuse to go, but he went to his personal lawyer and then to Marvin Miller, founder and executive director of the Players Association, and told them he wanted to sue Major League Baseball. The decision sent shock waves not only through baseball but ultimately through all professional sports. Those waves reverberate even to this day. And though he was aware that it would cost him dearly, he never wavered.
Corey Seager is double trouble
Only future HOF Adrian Beltre has had more doubles than Corey Seager at age 23 in a Los Angeles Dodger uniform. However, for every thing Corey Seager is going to do, Cody Bellinger is probably eventually going to pass him.
Player 2B From To Age PA OPS Adrian Beltre 114 1998 2002 19-23 2553 .756 Corey Seager 78 2015 2017 21-23 1272 .901 Willie Davis 62 1960 1963 20-23 1695 .738 Yasiel Puig 58 2013 2014 22-23 1072 .888 Tommy Davis 58 1959 1962 20-23 1594 .812 Matt Kemp 57 2006 2008 21-23 1134 .816 Bill Buckner 52 1969 1973 19-23 1466 .676
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Generated 8/15/2017.
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 