Checking in on Tony and Tony with Fangraphs
With so many writers you can almost always count on Fangraphs to have written something about someone and sure enough, they have a nice article up about the Dodgers two newest relief pitchers.
Of course, it is not pleasant reading for Dodger fans. The title is The Best Reliever Traded at the Deadline by Eno Sarris but not only did the Dodgers not acquire the best relief pitcher yesterday, Fangraphs feels they acquired the worst in Tony Cingrani.
We do have this nugget about Cingrani:
But there’s also effective velocity. Cingrani strides well compared to the shorter-striding Jeffress and Wilson. His perceived velocity is 94.5 to Jeffress’ 90.7 and Wilson’s 92.7. So the former Reds lefty with the big fastball and the long arms and the hardest slider of his career, that’s the guy that has the best velocity this season.
So while Cingrani does not throw the hardest per the gun he has the best-perceived velocity of the bunch. That was the only good thing they had to say about Cingrani.
Onto Tony Watson. His exit velocity has been one of the best, ranking 2nd just behind Rich Hill. He’s also the best over the past three years at strikeouts. He has a great historical record against left-hand hitters.
Facing a lefty? Tony Watson and Justin Wilson have been lights out against them for a while now.
Before even looking at metrics I was always a big Cingrani fan just from watching him pitch. He has a great fastball but the metrics clearly show he’s been very hittable, particularly the home run. Will that change? Fangraphs says the metrics say no, I’m going to bet on some tweaks here and there since the Dodgers acquired him for a reason and bet on him being effective for us.
A year ago we would have loved to have gotten Tony Watson but a year has passed and his numbers have tumbled. Still, we got him for a reason and hopefully, the reason was simply that we couldn’t get Brad Hand.
We need one of the two to work out and we have eight weeks to find out which one or both will help in October.
AAA – Oklahoma Dodgers – July Snapshot
The hitters:
Again I ask, why is Ike Davis in our system?
Some amazing plate discipline by both Verdugo and Willie Calhoun. Hope Willie puts it to good use for the Rangers. He’s a hitter. Verdugo has a pretty poor ISO. Even more so when you realize he is in the PCL.
Name Age PA 2B HR RBI BA OBP SLG OPS Willie Calhoun* 22 414 24 23 67 .298 .357 .574 .931 Alex Verdugo* 21 406 22 4 54 .326 .397 .444 .840 OKoyea Dickson 27 381 20 22 65 .243 .328 .508 .836 Charlie Culberson 28 312 9 3 26 .254 .310 .345 .655 Max Muncy* 26 285 16 9 35 .299 .396 .484 .880 Trayce Thompson 26 262 8 7 25 .206 .268 .361 .630 Drew Maggi 28 218 12 5 22 .288 .387 .435 .822 Scott Van Slyke 30 208 12 5 20 .242 .332 .390 .722 Bobby Wilson 34 197 10 10 29 .239 .316 .466 .782 Kyle Farmer 26 190 13 6 29 .316 .363 .503 .866 Brett Eibner 28 128 4 4 14 .231 .289 .385 .674 Edwin Rios* 23 76 3 5 11 .261 .329 .522 .851 Todd Cunningham# 28 53 6 0 4 .364 .453 .545 .998
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 8/1/2017.
And per Fangraphs:
| Name / Age | PA | wOBA / wRC+ | BB% | K% | ISO | BABIP |
| Todd Cunningham / 28 | 53 | 0.435 / 160 | 9.40% | 15.10% | 0.182 | 0.432 |
| Willie Calhoun / 22 | 414 | 0.39 / 131 | 8.70% | 11.80% | 0.276 | 0.289 |
| Max Muncy / 26 | 285 | 0.386 / 129 | 12.60% | 21.40% | 0.184 | 0.366 |
| Kyle Farmer / 26 | 190 | 0.376 / 122 | 5.30% | 16.30% | 0.186 | 0.357 |
| Alex Verdugo / 21 | 406 | 0.373 / 120 | 10.30% | 9.10% | 0.118 | 0.35 |
| Drew Maggi / 28 | 218 | 0.367 / 117 | 12.40% | 20.60% | 0.147 | 0.353 |
| Edwin Rios / 23 | 76 | 0.358 / 110 | 7.90% | 26.30% | 0.261 | 0.295 |
| O’Koyea Dickson / 27 | 381 | 0.354 / 108 | 10.00% | 20.70% | 0.264 | 0.25 |
| Mike Freeman / 29 | 139 | 0.346 / 103 | 9.40% | 22.30% | 0.066 | 0.407 |
| Bobby Wilson / 34 | 197 | 0.336 / 96 | 9.10% | 19.80% | 0.227 | 0.252 |
| Scott Van Slyke / 30 | 209 | 0.324 / 88 | 9.10% | 25.80% | 0.148 | 0.315 |
| Brett Eibner / 28 | 128 | 0.295 / 70 | 7.00% | 26.60% | 0.154 | 0.288 |
| Charlie Culberson / 28 | 312 | 0.292 / 67 | 7.40% | 16.30% | 0.091 | 0.3 |
| Ike Davis / 30 | 93 | 0.284 / 62 | 6.50% | 34.40% | 0.2 | 0.275 |
| Trayce Thompson / 26 | 262 | 0.276 / 57 | 8.00% | 26.30% | 0.155 | 0.256 |
| Jack Murphy / 29 | 108 | 0.189 / 0 | 11.10% | 25.90% | 0.043 | 0.176 |
The Pitchers:
The only conclusion you can come to is that Wilmer Font has been a stud.
Name Age ERA IP H BB SO WHIP H9 HR9 BB9 SO9 SO/W Justin Masterson 32 4.31 112.2 98 52 115 1.331 7.8 0.5 4.2 9.2 2.21 Wilmer Font 27 3.61 107.1 91 28 147 1.109 7.6 0.8 2.3 12.3 5.25 Trevor Oaks 24 3.64 84.0 87 18 72 1.250 9.3 0.5 1.9 7.7 4.00 Fabio Castillo 28 4.41 65.1 62 24 72 1.316 8.5 1.1 3.3 9.9 3.00 Jair Jurrjens 31 4.64 54.1 63 18 44 1.491 10.4 1.0 3.0 7.3 2.44 Madison Younginer 26 4.56 53.1 56 21 63 1.444 9.5 1.4 3.5 10.6 3.00 Joe Broussard 26 3.27 44.0 44 11 48 1.250 9.0 1.0 2.3 9.8 4.36 Jacob Rhame 24 3.73 41.0 42 8 49 1.220 9.2 0.9 1.8 10.8 6.13 Jeremy Bleich* 30 2.23 36.1 26 3 33 0.798 6.4 0.7 0.7 8.2 11.00 Justin Marks* 29 4.37 35.0 32 14 30 1.314 8.2 0.5 3.6 7.7 2.14 Scott Barlow 24 7.24 32.1 37 23 36 1.856 10.3 1.7 6.4 10.0 1.57 Layne Somsen 28 2.35 30.2 26 13 32 1.272 7.6 0.9 3.8 9.4 2.46 Josh Ravin 29 4.66 29.0 24 13 45 1.276 7.4 0.6 4.0 14.0 3.46 Steve Geltz 29 3.13 23.0 18 10 23 1.217 7.0 0.8 3.9 9.0 2.30 David Hale 29 4.03 22.1 23 5 13 1.254 9.3 0.4 2.0 5.2 2.60 Patrick Schuster* 26 6.16 19.0 25 7 14 1.684 11.8 1.4 3.3 6.6 2.00 Yaisel Sierra 26 0.79 11.1 11 8 8 1.676 8.7 0.0 6.4 6.4 1.00 Walker Buehler 22 4.50 10.0 6 6 15 1.200 5.4 0.0 5.4 13.5 2.50 Adam Liberatore* 30 0.93 9.2 5 1 9 0.621 4.7 0.0 0.9 8.4 9.00 Jason Wheeler* 26 10.38 8.2 16 2 3 2.077 16.6 1.0 2.1 3.1 1.50 Edward Paredes* 30 0.00 8.1 4 1 14 0.600 4.3 0.0 1.1 15.1 14.00 Tommy Layne* 32 3.18 5.2 3 6 3 1.588 4.8 1.6 9.5 4.8 0.50 Grant Dayton* 29 7.71 4.2 9 1 7 2.143 17.4 1.9 1.9 13.5 7.00 38 Players 27.6 4.16 944.0 910 321 994 1.304 8.7 0.8 3.1 9.5 3.10
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 8/1/2017.
and per Fangraphs:
| Name | Age | IP | K% | BB% | K-BB% | AVG |
| Justin Masterson | 32 | 112.2 | 23.00% | 10.40% | 12.60% | 0.229 |
| Wilmer Font | 27 | 107.1 | 33.30% | 6.40% | 27.00% | 0.221 |
| Trevor Oaks | 24 | 84 | 21.10% | 5.30% | 15.80% | 0.271 |
| Fabio Castillo | 28 | 65.1 | 25.80% | 8.60% | 17.20% | 0.248 |
| Jair Jurrjens | 31 | 54.1 | 18.50% | 7.60% | 10.90% | 0.286 |
| Madison Younginer | 26 | 53.1 | 27.80% | 9.30% | 18.50% | 0.272 |
| Joe Broussard | 26 | 44 | 26.00% | 6.00% | 20.00% | 0.254 |
| Jacob Rhame | 24 | 41 | 28.80% | 4.70% | 24.10% | 0.259 |
| Jeremy Bleich | 30 | 36.1 | 24.30% | 2.20% | 22.10% | 0.196 |
| Justin Marks | 29 | 35 | 20.00% | 9.30% | 10.70% | 0.235 |
| Scott Barlow | 24 | 32.1 | 22.40% | 14.30% | 8.10% | 0.274 |
| Julio Urias | 20 | 31.1 | 26.00% | 12.20% | 13.80% | 0.185 |
| Layne Somsen | 28 | 30.2 | 25.20% | 10.20% | 15.00% | 0.228 |
| Josh Ravin | 29 | 29 | 36.00% | 10.40% | 25.60% | 0.216 |
| Steve Geltz | 29 | 23 | 23.70% | 10.30% | 13.40% | 0.207 |
| David Hale | 29 | 22.1 | 14.10% | 5.40% | 8.70% | 0.264 |
| Brandon Morrow | 32 | 20 | 23.90% | 5.40% | 18.50% | 0.291 |
| Patrick Schuster | 26 | 19 | 16.50% | 8.20% | 8.20% | 0.321 |
| Yaisel Sierra | 26 | 11.1 | 15.40% | 15.40% | 0.00% | 0.25 |
| Walker Buehler | 22 | 10 | 35.70% | 14.30% | 21.40% | 0.167 |
| Adam Liberatore | 30 | 9.2 | 25.70% | 2.90% | 22.90% | 0.147 |
| Joe Gunkel | 25 | 9 | 16.70% | 0.00% | 16.70% | 0.333 |
| Jason Wheeler | 26 | 8.2 | 7.00% | 4.70% | 2.30% | 0.39 |
| Edward Paredes | 30 | 8.1 | 46.70% | 3.30% | 43.30% | 0.138 |
July is in the books
The best July in Dodger history is in the books.
Year W L W-L% 2017 20 3 .870 1962 20 6 .769 2013 19 6 .760 2004 21 7 .750 1997 20 7 .741 1985 20 7 .741 1961 19 7 .731 1960 19 7 .731 1963 21 10 .677
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/1/2017.
Batting Status for July 2017:
Look at all that hitting. Four starters with an OPS over .900 Six starters with an OPS over .800. Puig just missing at .797. It doesn’t even feel like Joc Pederson is doing anything and yet here he is with an .878 OPS.
Trayce Thompson is quite the outlier here.
Player HR PA H 2B RBI BA OBP SLG OPS Corey Seager 6 98 30 8 14 .333 .388 .622 1.010 Chris Taylor 3 97 37 10 15 .394 .412 .660 1.072 Justin Turner 5 94 19 3 11 .260 .404 .507 .911 Cody Bellinger 4 94 21 2 13 .263 .372 .463 .835 Logan Forsythe 1 87 18 5 9 .254 .368 .366 .734 Yasiel Puig 4 74 19 1 10 .271 .311 .486 .797 Yasmani Grandal 4 62 19 5 11 .317 .339 .600 .939 Joc Pederson 3 60 14 5 5 .264 .350 .528 .878 Enrique Hernandez 2 51 8 0 3 .190 .333 .381 .714 Austin Barnes 2 42 10 0 5 .286 .405 .457 .862 Chase Utley 1 40 10 3 4 .278 .350 .444 .794 Trayce Thompson 0 25 2 1 1 .087 .160 .217 .377
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/1/2017.
Pitching Stats for July 2017:
Basically, everyone was good to great except Brandon McCarthy and Kenta Maaeda. Look at the work put in by the long men Stripling and Stewart.
Rich Hill was fantastic.
Player G SO ERA GS IP BB WHIP SO9 SO/W OPS Rich Hill 5 40 1.45 5 31.0 5 0.774 11.6 8.00 .509 Clayton Kershaw 4 33 0.72 4 25.0 4 0.760 11.9 8.25 .422 Alex Wood 4 23 4.01 4 24.2 7 1.216 8.4 3.29 .680 Kenta Maeda 4 13 3.86 4 18.2 6 1.500 6.3 2.17 .815 Brandon McCarthy 3 9 6.75 3 14.2 5 1.841 5.5 1.80 .943 Kenley Jansen 12 16 2.92 0 12.1 3 1.135 11.7 5.33 .663 Hyun-Jin Ryu 2 12 1.50 2 12.0 4 1.167 9.0 3.00 .633 Brock Stewart 5 7 0.00 1 11.2 3 1.029 5.4 2.33 .493 Brandon Morrow 12 14 4.09 0 11.0 2 1.091 11.5 7.00 .522 Pedro Baez 11 8 1.69 0 10.2 1 0.938 6.8 8.00 .594 Josh Fields 10 10 2.61 0 10.1 4 0.968 8.7 2.50 .559 Ross Stripling 6 8 0.90 0 10.0 2 0.700 7.2 4.00 .434 Luis Avilan 12 12 2.08 0 8.2 2 0.692 12.5 6.00 .573 Josh Ravin 2 1 0.00 0 3.1 1 0.300 2.7 1.00 .091 Edward Paredes 2 1 0.00 0 2.1 0 0.000 3.9 .000 Grant Dayton 2 0 27.00 0 1.1 0 4.500 0.0 1.900
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/1/2017.
MLB Prospect Top 30 Update
With Willie Calhoun, AJ Alexy, Brendon Davis, and Oneil Cruz being traded, four new spots opened up on the MLB Prospect top 30 ranking. Brock Stewart has also graduated off the list opening up a 5th spot.
3rd round pick in the 2017 draft, Connor Wong takes the 26th spot. Wong is a 21-year-old catcher who just recently started playing in the full season MidWest League. It will be interesting to see who ends up with the better professional career. The recently traded Hendrik Clementina or Connor Wong. The Dodgers now have Ruiz / Smith Farmer / Wong as catchers in the top 30. Wong is once again along the lines of Barnes/Farmer/Smith in that he is a converted catcher from an infielder who can play 2nd/3rd or catch. Wong has above average speed and might be the fastest catcher in the group.
Cristian Santana checks onto the list at number 27. Cristian is a 20-year-old infielder who has mashed in 2017. He destroyed the Pioneer League and is now the cleanup hitter for the Loons in the MidWest League. He profiles as a 3rd baseman. He’ll need to clean up his plate discipline but right is simply hitting everything thrown at him. Cristian won our June 26-July2nd Farm Factory award so we have been keeping an eye on him.
Cristian Santana – A – Loons – Santana started out the week playing in the short-season rookie league in Ogden but ended the week with the Great Lake Loons in the full-season Midwest League. I noted earlier in the week how Santana was making a mockery of the pitching at the rookie league level and the Dodgers agreed, promoting him the next day. For the week, Santana went eleven for twenty-three with two home runs. Santana is only 20-years-old so he’s not old for the Loons. He played two games at 2nd base while in Ogden but has played only 3rd for the Loons.
Right handed relief pitcher Jacob Rhame is back on the list at 28. He has been off and on a few times. The 24-year-old has been in AAA all year and while his performance has been solid he has been unable to get the call the majors. He can bring the heat, but evidently, that is his only above average pitch.
Left handed outfielder Luke Raley got the 29th slot. Luke was drafted in the 7th round of the 2016 draft. He’s already 22 and has been in Rancho all year. Playing RF and LF he has produced offensively though he has a 23% strikeout ratio.
The final spot at 30 went to 22-year-old infielder Errol Robinson. Errol was drafted in the 6th round of the 2016 draft just one spot in front of Luke Raley. Errol is already in AA ball having played at three levels in 2017. I was a little surprised to see that the scouting report on his speed says only average since he has stolen 34 bases while being only caught seven times so far in his professional career. The scouting reports say he is a real shortstop and with Brendon Davis gone he is now the 4th ranked SS in the system (Lux, Jackson, Brito). I’m still not sure how Drew Jackson is ranked in the top 30 if Errol is only a 30. Errol is the same age, the Dodgers have him in AA, he blew by the California League and his holding his own very nicely in AA while Drew Jackson continues to struggle in the California League.
The pipeline remains full
This was a stressful deadline. I don’t know if the Dodgers have done enough but they did make waves with the Yu Darvish acquisition and certainly moved the October needle in a positive direction. I think most of us would have like Justin Wilson given the price that was paid for him but it did not happen. We couldn’t make the Padre’s trade Hand or be reasonable about it.
I’m still amazed that the likes Brock Stewart, Alex Verdugo and many other prospects are still here. This deadline leaves the Dodgers loaded now, and in the future.
They kept Alex Verdugo. He may not play at all in 2017 and the Dodger depth in the outfield headed into 2018 would be Puig/Pederson/Bellinger Toles/Verdugo/Taylor/Hernandez/Eibner/Trayce Thompson with Edwin Rios now taking balls in the outfield. That is five major league starting outfielders, one super utility outfielder, one top prospect along with two backup types, and another wild card prospect in Rios.
They kept Brock Stewart along with ALL the top pitching prospects in the system. The rotational depth looking toward 2018 is now Kershaw/Wood/Hill/Kenta/Ryu/McCarthy and Stewart / Buehler / Font / Stripling / Oaks without doing anything this winter. That is six major league starters, one Brock, one top pitching prospect, and three soldiers. Urias need not apply until 2019.
The infield is also covered.
1st – Adrian (last year) and Bellinger in case Adrian does go bellinger up. Edwin Rios is also now playing some 1st base at AAA. That is a borderline HOTVG, ROY/All-Star/MVP vote getter as his backup or maybe it is the other way around headed into 2018. And Rios who just keeps hitting and hitting.
2nd – Forsythe / Taylor / Hernandez / Barnes – nobody in the immediate pipeline so two starting 2nd baseman and a super utility man. Plus whatever Barnes is.
SS – Seager / Taylor / Hernandez – one MVP type, one guy who could start anywhere, one super utility guy.
3rd – Turner / Forsythe / Hernandez / Taylor – one MVP type, one guy who could start at 2nd or 3rd, one guy who could start anywhere, and one super utility guy.
Catcher – Grandal/Barnes/Farmer/Smith – Best catching duo since Yeager/Ferguson. Farmer is already in AAA and now a Dodger folk hero while Smith is in AA and should be inserting his name into the equation next year.
Getting the picture?
And we didn’t even bother to talk about the next group which includes Urias, Mitch White, Santana, Alvarez, Diaz, Kendall.
The final group in the pipeline should be Ruiz, May, Heredia, Peters.
in a word
Dang
Yu Darvish and the NL
One of the reasons I wanted Yu Darvish was because of his exceptional work against the NL during his time with the Rangers.
Let me demonstrate:
Date Opp Rslt IP H ER BB SO GSc 2014-06-01 WSN W 2-0 8.0 5 0 2 12 82 2014-06-11 MIA W 6-0 9.0 6 0 3 10 82 2013-08-01 ARI W 7-1 7.0 5 0 0 14 81 2017-05-16 PHI W 5-1 7.0 4 1 2 9 72 2013-06-30 CIN W 3-2 6.2 4 0 4 8 70 2013-09-09 PIT L 0-1 7.0 4 1 1 6 70 2012-06-15 HOU W 6-2 8.0 7 2 2 11 69 2012-06-20 SDP W 4-2 8.0 5 2 3 8 69 2017-06-07 NYM L 3-4 7.1 3 3 1 9 68 2013-05-27(2) ARI L 4-5 7.2 7 4 0 14 63 2016-05-28 PIT W 5-2 5.0 3 1 1 7 63 2016-07-16 CHC L 1-3 4.1 2 2 4 9 56 2017-05-10 SDP W 4-3 6.0 7 3 0 6 52 2016-08-24 CIN W 6-5 6.0 4 3 5 5 48 2014-07-04 NYM L 5-6 5.0 5 4 2 6 45 2017-07-26 MIA L 10-22 3.2 9 10 2 5 6
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 7/31/2017.
Yu Darvish has made sixteen starts in the NL, and of those sixteen starts, he has a game score of 60 or better in eleven of them. He’s pitched at least six innings in twelve of them.
You can easily understand how someone like Yu Darvish would do well against teams who rarely see him.
Bonus points, he’s also been very good against Houston. Though he has had more bad games against Houston than he has had against the NL.
Date Tm Opp Rslt IP H ER BB SO GSc 2013-04-02 TEX HOU W 7-0 8.2 1 0 0 14 96 2013-08-12 TEX HOU W 2-1 8.0 1 1 1 15 90 2014-04-11 TEX HOU W 1-0 8.0 1 0 1 9 88 2016-08-07 TEX HOU W 5-3 7.0 5 0 0 8 75 2017-06-12 TEX HOU W 6-1 7.0 1 1 3 4 72 2012-06-15 TEX HOU W 6-2 8.0 7 2 2 11 69 2013-05-11 TEX HOU W 8-7 7.0 3 3 3 8 64 2016-06-08 TEX HOU L 1-3 5.0 3 1 4 7 60 2013-09-24 TEX HOU W 3-2 5.1 4 2 4 9 57 2017-06-02 TEX HOU L 1-7 5.0 7 3 1 8 48 2013-07-06 TEX HOU L 5-9 6.0 6 5 4 6 42 2014-07-09 TEX HOU L 4-8 6.0 10 6 0 8 36 2016-09-04 TEX HOU L 6-7 4.0 7 5 3 4 29 2014-08-09 TEX HOU L 3-8 4.0 9 5 4 7 25
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 7/31/2017.
Hello to Yu and goodbye to you
The Dodgers made the big splash at the last second to save what had been a very disappointing trade deadline day.
Until 12:59:05 Dodger fans were trying to reconcile with the idea that the biggest moves the Dodgers had made were to bring in Tony Cingrani and Tony Watson. All that changed when this tweet came through.
Source: Darvish to #Dodgers
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 31, 2017
Five minutes of mayhem followed as everyone threw their hat into the air. Now, what was the price?
Source: Dodgers send Calhoun, Alexy and Davis to Rangers for Yu Darvish. Deal done.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 31, 2017
Are you kidding me? Maybe I shouldn’t be so ecstatic about the price but I’d had a hard time figuring out what the Dodgers could do with Willie Calhoun and so I’d never really pegged him as a future Dodger. Willie could end up a great hitter but you’d be hard pressed to find a place for his bat in the NL. Tear Texas up Willie.
AJ Alexy is a nice pitcher and was the 18 ranked LAD prospect by MLB last week. He was not ranked by Baseball America entering the season. I’ve written about Brendon Davis a few times. He had a decent year for the Loons and was promoted to Rancho last week. Brendon had been dropped to the 28th LAD prospect by MLB.com.
It would seem the Rangers got a major league ready bat and two very young prospects who may or may not ever turn out to be anything.
The Dodgers got the best starting pitcher available. They got who I wanted. They got the guy who dominates the NL and is best suited to help them in October. They got the guy who should give the Dodgers a legitimate four man rotation in October. They got the right handed arm to slot between Kershaw and either Wood or Hill.
They got what they needed for the rotation.
What they didn’t get was a lock down left handed relief pitcher. In two minor deals they acquired left handed setup man in Tony Cingrani and Tony Watson. They both have warts, but Watson at one time was great, and Cingrani could be. The Dodgers wanted them so there must be a reason for it.
The price for Cingrani was Scott Van Slyke and Hendrik Clementina. We all know who Scott Van Slyke is and we lost his bat a long time ago. I had never heard of Clementina until last week when he made the Pioneer League all-star team. I wrote about him earlier today because he was in the running for last weeks Farm Factory Award. That seems like a good get for the Reds. Clementina was not on any top 30 LAD prospect list but I bet he was about to make them this coming winter.
The price for Tony Watson could be interesting. Angel German was one of them. I don’t much care about him. Oneil Cruz, however, is another story. He’s a young infielder for the Loons who grew to about 6’6 after he had been signed at 6’1. Now to tall to be a SS they were trying him at 3rd. He made a bazillion errors but his bat was slowly coming around. A legitimate 18-years-old in A ball, he was ranked as the LAD 22nd prospect in the system.
So coming:
Yu Darvish, Tony Watson, Tony Cingrani
So going:
Willie Calhoun, Scott Van Slyke, Oneil Cruz, Hendrik Clementina, Angel German
So far to make room, Peter O’Brien has been released.
Farmer joins the Dodger party
Kyle Farmer may not be around long in August but he can rest assured he will now forever be part of the winning lore of 2017. Getting a walk off double against the Giants would already be enough to be part of the fabric but when your first major league hit is a walk off against the Giants you get your own square patch on the quilt being stitched.
This victory required so much from so many.
- Ryu had to match Bumgarner pitch for pitch which he did, going seven shutout innings for the first time in three years.
- Kiké Hernandez gunning down Panik at home by ten feet with a perfect throw on a would be sacrifice fly.
- Edward Paredes who hadn’t pitched since his major league debut almost a week ago, delivered four big outs to help get the Dodgers to the bottom of the 9th down only 1 – 0.
- Chase Utley walked off the bench and used his 37-year-old wheels to deliver a pinch hit infield single, steal second, and score from second on the single by Puig to tie the game in the bottom of the 9th.
- Yasiel Puig had to calm his nerves wait for his pitch and then deliver his sharp single to CF to tie the game in the bottom of the 9th.
- The Dodgers turned six double plays. Six
- Kyle Farmer walked up to the plate in the bottom of the 11th for his major league debut and stroked a double down the line to plate both Seager and Turner for the win.
So much winning
- 14th sweep of the season and still in July
- 20 – 3 July record is the greatest winning % in July for a Dodger team in history
- 9th walk off victory 0f 2017
- At 74 – 31 the Dodgers have a winning % of .705. Imagine that, a winning % over .700 after 105 games. Crazy times
Individual Notes:
Ryu has proven he’s back not just with what he did yesterday with his seven shutout innings, but over his five games, Ryu have given up only eight earned runs in twenty-seven innings (2.60 ERA) with thirty strikeouts against nine walks.
Corey Seager had his 3rd straight multi-hit game, and his 2nd straight three hit game. He also walked twice tonight, getting on base five times.
A helping Hand could be all the Dodgers need
Getting Brad Hand might be all the Dodgers need to wrap their arms around a 2017 World Championship. They clearly don’t need any help regarding the lineup. They could use a stud starting pitcher but questions abound if Yu or Gray are really stud pitchers and if the cost is Verdugo or Walker Buehler I could see the Dodgers balking. I know I have said I’d like to have Yu, but smarter people than me have said no thanks.
Based on the information coming out today, and it may or may not be accurate in any way. The Padres may have dropped the asking price for Brad Hand to a much more reasonable cost. Especially when taken in conjunction with the high asking price for Zach Britton.
Brad Hand is one of the late blooming left-hand relief pitchers that seem to show up every year. Jeff Sullivan of Fangraphs takes a look at why Brad Hand is now such a shut down left handed setup man.
Overall, Hand has had wonderful numbers. He’s been effective against both lefties and righties. The Padres have backed off on his usage somewhat, but he’s among the league leaders in appearances since the start of last year. He’s also been among the leaders in appearances lasting more than one inning, and he’s been among the leaders in appearances on zero days’ rest. The Padres have worked him hard, and Hand has so far held up. That much is encouraging, and it allows contending teams to dream about potential playoff usage. We saw how Miller was worked to the bone. Hand could be a similar kind of fireman.
Imagine a bullpen having Brock Stewart / Pedro Baez / Brandon Morrow / Brad Hand with Jansen to close it out. It would probably give you more bang for your back then bringing in Sonny Gray.
24 hours from now we will find out which way the Dodgers leaned.
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 