No Wood, no way
Every all-star selection season has some head scratchers, but leaving off the best pitcher in the NL seems a bit bizarre.
Jake Lamb is having a fine year, but he’s a 3rd baseman, and for him to make the team while MVP Kris Bryant, Anthony Rendon, and Justin Turner have to get voted on as the last player just doesn’t seem right. There is no metric that would give Lamb the edge over any of those three.
Hopefully when the dust clears, and all the injured have moved to the sidelines, the team will have room for Wood and Turner. That would be six Dodgers but a team headed for 105 wins should have six all-stars.
Eric Stephen showed us just how hard the road to the all-star game will be for Wood this year. None of the starters selected are currently hurt so they won’t need replacing unless they get hurt this week. That leaves the starters who pitch on Sunday and can’t pitch on Tuesday. Eric says that Kershaw will still pitch on Sunday so that is one pitcher who might need to be replaced. It would sense to replace Kershaw with Wood but will they? We will find out in a week.
CBS Sunday Morning Briefs
My favorite show is CBS Sunday Morning and every week they make me less ignorant. Today I learned about the Bradford Watermelon
and finally Mary Colter, an early 20th-century architect.
Dodger Affiliate Minor Leagues Snapshot On July 1st
OKC-AAA
Name Age PA 2B HR RBI OPS Alex Verdugo* 21 307 14 3 38 .887 Willie Calhoun* 22 306 15 17 51 .911 OKoyea Dickson 27 291 15 17 49 .847 Trayce Thompson 26 246 8 7 25 .650 Charlie Culberson 28 232 7 3 21 .675 Max Muncy* 26 209 12 7 32 .905 Bobby Wilson 34 165 7 10 24 .785 Drew Maggi 28 159 8 4 18 .889 Scott Van Slyke 30 138 7 2 6 .726 Kyle Farmer 26 120 9 6 25 .964 Brett Eibner 28 106 4 3 13 .698 Jack Murphy# 29 86 2 0 7 .356 Ike Davis* 30 75 2 3 11 .593 Mike Freeman* 29 65 2 0 4 .699
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/1/2017.
Name Age ERA GS IP WHIP H9 BB9 SO9 Wilmer Font 27 4.27 16 84.1 1.174 8.0 2.6 12.2 Justin Masterson 32 4.27 15 84.1 1.340 7.6 4.5 9.1 Trevor Oaks 24 3.64 14 84.0 1.250 9.3 1.9 7.7 Jair Jurrjens 31 4.64 10 54.1 1.491 10.4 3.0 7.3 Fabio Castillo 28 3.47 8 46.2 1.136 7.5 2.7 9.8 Madison Younginer 26 2.13 1 38.0 1.053 6.2 3.3 11.6 Jacob Rhame 24 4.15 0 34.2 1.327 9.9 2.1 11.2 Layne Somsen 28 2.35 0 30.2 1.272 7.6 3.8 9.4 Joe Broussard 26 1.48 0 30.1 1.121 7.7 2.4 11.0 Brandon Morrow 32 7.20 0 20.0 1.500 11.3 2.3 9.9 Josh Ravin 29 6.23 0 17.1 1.500 8.8 4.7 14.0 Jeremy Bleich* 30 2.16 0 16.2 0.780 6.5 0.5 8.6 Adam Liberatore* 30 0.93 0 9.2 0.621 4.7 0.9 8.4 31 Players 27.6 4.07 79 701.0 1.271 8.6 2.8 9.6
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/1/2017.
Tulsa – AA
Name Age PA 2B HR SB BB SO OPS Edwin Rios* 23 309 19 15 1 16 66 .888 Tim Locastro 24 303 17 4 14 20 42 .779 Jose Fernandez* 29 265 13 8 0 14 22 .835 Matt Beaty* 24 241 15 8 3 22 32 .867 Jacob Scavuzzo 23 230 10 10 1 11 67 .674 Johan Mieses 21 224 5 10 0 17 89 .520 Paul Hoenecke* 26 184 11 7 1 7 44 .660 Wynston Sawyer 25 184 12 4 1 13 40 .768 Kyle Garlick 25 180 8 11 1 11 53 .811 Erick Mejia# 22 151 4 0 8 13 28 .667 Kyle Farmer 26 141 7 3 1 16 13 .879 Michael Ahmed 25 120 5 6 4 13 35 .876
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/1/2017.
Pitchers:
Name Age ERA GS IP WHIP H9 BB9 SO9 Scott Barlow 24 2.02 14 75.2 0.952 5.1 3.4 10.3 Josh Sborz 23 4.74 13 57.0 1.456 8.5 4.6 5.8 Andrew Sopko 22 3.75 12 48.0 1.500 8.3 5.3 6.4 Yaisel Sierra 26 2.51 0 46.2 1.264 8.3 3.1 11.6 Isaac Anderson 23 8.74 11 45.1 1.831 12.7 3.8 6.4 Walker Buehler 22 2.85 9 41.0 1.049 7.2 2.2 11.2 Corey Copping 23 1.85 0 39.0 1.103 5.5 4.4 8.3 Karch Kowalczyk 26 3.08 0 38.0 1.368 9.2 3.1 7.3 Ivan Vieitez 24 4.97 8 38.0 1.658 10.4 4.5 5.0 Ralston Cash 25 4.50 0 34.0 1.441 9.0 4.0 11.6 Michael Johnson* 26 4.75 0 30.1 1.451 7.4 5.6 12.2 Tim Shibuya 27 2.03 3 26.2 0.938 7.1 1.4 5.1 Shea Spitzbarth 22 3.09 0 23.1 1.286 8.5 3.1 8.5
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/1/2017.
Rancho – A+
Name Age PA 2B HR BB SO OPS DJ Peters 21 324 15 13 39 106 .864 Luke Raley* 22 316 11 8 26 74 .782 Yusniel Diaz 20 311 14 7 30 65 .794 Will Smith 22 281 13 10 36 63 .830 Ibandel Isabel 22 279 5 15 25 102 .747 Omar Estevez 19 270 13 3 17 50 .626 Brandon Montgomery 21 194 11 1 8 31 .595 Drew Jackson 23 169 7 5 23 39 .783 Zach McKinstry* 22 140 5 2 13 34 .675 James Kennedy* 24 126 6 4 14 34 .784 Ariel Sandoval 21 108 3 1 7 39 .481 Erick Mejia# 22 97 4 1 8 19 .625 Victor Roache 25 93 7 5 8 40 .819 Jared Walker* 21 77 4 1 10 35 .653 Errol Robinson 22 76 4 2 5 17 .856 Logan Landon 24 67 4 3 8 11 .864
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/1/2017.
Pitchers:
Name Age ERA GS IP WHIP H9 BB9 SO9 Caleb Ferguson* 20 3.24 14 66.2 1.425 8.4 4.5 8.5 Dennis Santana 21 3.58 11 65.1 1.332 9.2 2.8 9.5 Adam Bray 24 3.90 9 62.1 1.267 9.5 1.9 8.8 Yadier Alvarez 21 5.05 9 51.2 1.394 9.1 3.5 9.4 Dean Kremer 21 6.35 6 45.1 1.632 10.9 3.8 11.1 Mitchell White 22 3.72 9 38.2 1.086 6.1 3.7 11.4 Alex Hermeling 24 1.88 0 38.1 0.965 6.3 2.3 7.5 Andrew Istler 24 3.99 0 38.1 1.487 11.0 2.3 7.5 Tony Gonsolin 23 4.21 0 36.1 1.321 9.4 2.5 9.7 Ryan Moseley 22 3.26 3 30.1 1.385 7.4 5.0 5.9 Devin Smeltzer* 21 3.90 5 30.0 1.233 9.6 1.5 9.0 Chris Powell 24 4.67 0 27.0 1.370 10.7 1.7 9.3 Parker Curry 23 3.65 0 24.2 1.257 9.5 1.8 12.0
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/1/2017.
Loons – A
Name Age PA 2B HR SB BB SO OPS Brendon Davis 19 297 15 7 3 36 92 .771 Oneil Cruz 18 289 4 5 8 19 80 .601 Cody Thomas* 22 287 12 13 1 19 89 .763 Gavin Lux* 19 252 5 3 11 28 47 .607 Mitchell Hansen* 21 232 6 4 11 28 59 .625 Carlos Rincon 19 231 9 13 4 18 92 .736 Keibert Ruiz# 18 224 13 2 0 17 27 .781 Saige Jenco* 22 192 6 1 8 25 37 .719 Luis Paz* 20 153 4 3 0 10 41 .549 Steve Berman 22 134 7 0 1 6 19 .551 Erick Meza* 19 114 5 1 0 7 19 .600 Gage Green* 24 107 8 0 0 6 18 .569 Gersel Pitre 20 89 4 0 0 7 19 .603 Errol Robinson 22 86 5 3 6 6 21 .745 Zach McKinstry* 22 69 7 1 2 17 10 .978 Moises Perez 19 55 4 0 2 5 9 .481 Darien Tubbs 22 53 0 0 2 6 10 .360
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/1/2017.
Pitchers:
Name Age ERA GS IP WHIP H9 BB9 SO9 Dustin May 19 3.33 15 75.2 1.123 8.2 1.9 9.0 Leonardo Crawford* 20 4.37 13 70.0 1.243 8.9 2.3 6.3 Jordan Sheffield 22 3.49 14 56.2 1.412 8.3 4.4 8.6 A.J. Alexy 19 2.70 14 53.1 0.994 4.7 4.2 10.1 Devin Smeltzer* 21 3.78 10 52.1 0.994 6.9 2.1 9.8 Sven Schuller 21 1.53 0 47.0 1.106 7.1 2.9 5.4 Chris Mathewson 21 3.69 5 39.0 1.436 8.8 4.2 8.5 Christian Stolo* 23 3.09 1 35.0 1.314 9.0 2.8 9.0 Miguel Urena 22 1.67 0 32.1 1.113 6.7 3.3 6.7 Vinny Santarsiero 23 2.81 0 32.0 1.500 10.4 3.1 3.4 Willian Soto 21 3.03 2 29.2 1.685 12.1 3.0 8.2 Nolan Long 23 3.75 0 24.0 1.375 7.9 4.5 12.0 Angel German 21 1.25 0 21.2 0.923 4.2 4.2 11.6 Andre Scrubb 22 1.27 0 21.1 1.125 3.8 6.3 10.1
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/1/2017.
Kershaw game score knocks off Ryu
Clayton Kershaw didn’t crack 80 but he did put up a 79 game score and now has the best game score against the Angels on the road. His brilliant performance knocked Ryu off the perch.
Player Date Tm Opp Rslt IP H ER BB SO GSc Clayton Kershaw2017-06-29 LAD LAA W 6-2 7.0 3 0 2 12 79 Hyun-Jin Ryu 2014-08-07 LAD LAA W 7-0 7.0 2 0 1 4 76
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/28/2017.
Cristian Santana explodes
I’ve learned not to pay attention to what happens in the short season rookie leagues but sometimes a performance just can’t be ignored. The Odgen season in the Pioneer League started on June 19th, and one hitter has caught my eye.
Cristian Santana is making a mockery of the Pioneer League pitching. The 20-year-old in his first nine games has twenty-one hits in his first thirty-six at-bats. Throw in six walks and you get a stat line of .583 / .628 / 1.028 / 1.656. He went hitless in his 2nd game but has collected at least two hits in the other eight games.
DATE AB R H HR RBI BB SO 06/20/2017 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 06/21/2017 4 2 3 1 2 0 0 06/22/2017 5 3 3 0 0 0 1 06/23/2017 4 3 4 1 3 0 0 06/24/2017 5 1 2 0 2 0 1 06/26/2017 4 1 2 0 0 1 1 06/27/2017 4 3 3 1 4 1 1 06/28/2017 3 1 2 0 1 1 0
This is what Fangraphs had to say about him at the start of the year:
Cristian Santana, 3B – Santana has the most entertaining set-up I’ve ever seen: he kicks his front leg out in front of his body and points the tip of the bat toward the first-base dugout. I imagine he won’t be doing that for long, so treasure it while you can. Aside from that quirk and the fact that Santana takes hyper-aggressive hacks that cause him to swing and miss a ton, I really like him. I like the body, the athleticism, the bat speed, current raw power, raw power projection, his plus arm and his natural defensive footwork over at third base. I just can’t see this guy hitting at all unless there are serious changes made to his approach.
Makes me wonder if they made those changes to his approach.
Rollercoaster Ryu
The Dodgers had many question marks headed into 2017 but one of the biggest was if Hyun-Jin Ryu was even going to pitch professionally for the Dodgers. By that standard, this season has a been a huge success for Ryu but it has not been without some ups and downs.
The downs came first. The Dodgers gave Ryu the tough task of making his first two starts against the Rockies at Coors and the World Champion Cubs on the road. Predictably he failed to impress in either game. The worry warts begin in earnest however in his 3rd start when he pitched against the Rockies at Dodger Stadium and gave up three home runs. In three starts, fourteen innings, ten earned runs, and a whopping six home runs. The Ryu Roller Coaster was at the bottom and it was hard to see how it could power itself to the top.
Just as many were writing him off as a great story but not someone you want in a Dodger rotation he rolled out a great start in his fourth try against the Giants at Dodger Stadium. The cart was headed up. Ryu followed that up with a solid start against the Phillies and had a season-high nine strikeouts, the cart was gaining momentum so the Dodgers put him on the 10 day DL either because it was legitimate or they simply needed the room and he was deemed the DL pitcher of the moment.
The Dodgers did him no favors, aligning him with the Rockies at home for his first start when activated off the disabled list. This would be the 3rd time in only five weeks he would be facing the Rockies and it did not go well. Ryu walked a season-high six hitters and put up the lowest game score (14) of his career. The roller coaster cart was falling back. Gravity was winning.
The Dodgers gave him one more start but the writing already seemed to be on the wall. Ryu pitched a decent game against the Marlins but it wasn’t enough to keep him in the rotation. On May 19th it was announced that Ryu was headed to the bullpen. The Roller Coaster cart was back at the bottom.
The question had to be asked. Was Ryu able to pitch out of the bullpen? Was he going to be an asset or a liability, and if he was a liability how long would the Dodgers keep him on the active roster?
Ryu answered those questions by bailing Kenta Maeda out on May 25th with four brilliant innings and picked up the noteworthy four innings save.
On 5/31/17 Ryu was placed back in the rotation and has made six straight starts. They have not been brilliant, but they have certainly been effective.
Over his last six starts, Ryu has pitched 32 innings, given up 35 hits, 15 Earned runs, and seven home runs. The better news is that he has walked only six hitters while striking out 31. While hittable, his ability to limit the passed ball and strike out hitters has helped him stay in the games. The Dodgers are 3 – 3 in those six games. I think if a team can win at a .500 level from the starts the 5th starter is making, they have to be happy with that outcome.
The Ryu rollercoaster hasn’t peaked yet, it is slowly moving toward the top. Will it fall back again or chug to the top? Looking at the Fangraphs pitch types he is pitching differently. The fastball velocity is just a notch below vintage Ryu but he has ditched the slider in favor of more curveballs and changeups.
Now the question is, can this Ryu be a positive for the Dodgers? All season the Dodgers have had to dodge the rotation bullet. Urias made it easier when he went down for the year even though that was a massive blow to the Dodgers postseason hopes given I expected Urias to be the Dodgers 2nd best pitcher by October. Even without Urias, they have six bonafide starters. They have done an exceptional job of juggling their assets and maybe that is what they will continue to do.
You could easily see a case where each of these fragile pitchers needs time (say 10 days) to heal every few weeks.
Ryu game logs courtesy of Fangraphs:
| GameDate | Opp | IP | H | ER | HR | BB | SO | GSv2 |
| 6/28/17 | @LAA | 5 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 55 |
| 6/22/17 | NYM | 5 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 42 |
| 6/17/17 | @CIN | 5 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 52 |
| 6/11/17 | CIN | 4 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 28 |
| 6/5/17 | WSN | 7 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 55 |
| 5/31/17 | @STL | 6 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 70 |
| 5/25/17 | STL/Relief | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| 5/18/17 | MIA | 5 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 42 |
| 5/11/17 | @COL | 4 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 11 |
| 4/30/17 | PHI | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 67 |
| 4/24/17 | @SFG | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 65 |
| 4/18/17 | COL | 6 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 38 |
| 4/13/17 | @CHC | 4 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 34 |
| 4/7/17 | @COL | 4 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 48 |
Steve Perrin nails my thoughts on Chris Paul and the new Clippers
Steve doesn’t write much for SBNation anymore, and I hadn’t been over there in a long time but once the news of the Chris Paul trade had made it to Ferndale, I popped over there to see the take.
In fact, if a championship or even a Finals appearance is the ultimate goal (a dubious goal to be certain, but one that is frequently espoused), then signing Paul to a new five year deal would have been the worst possible move. Consider these four simple facts: Chris Paul, 32; Blake Griffin, 28; Steph Curry, 29; Kevin Durant, 28. Five years from now, Paul will be ready to retire. If he were wearing a Clippers’ uniform in the interim, he’d be losing to the Warriors each and every year, because Curry and Durant aren’t going anywhere.
Gary Sheffield is the total base bar at nine
The Dodgers have had little success against the Angels and it shows in the anemic total base games the Dodgers have had against the Angels on the road.
Gary Sheffield is the only Dodger to have at least nine total bases in the above scenario. I usually set the criteria at 10 but this time I had to dip below 10 to find a game. The good news is that the last time I had such an anemic total base leaderboard, Cody Bellinger and Corey Seager re-wrote it in days. Hopefully, that happens again.
Player Date Tm Opp Rslt PA R H HR TB RBI Gary Sheffield 2000-06-03 LAD ANA W 8-3 5 3 3 2 9 4
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/28/2017.
How about the Angels against the Dodgers while playing at home? The surprise name is Mike Napoli and just the like the Dodgers the Angels have only one player with at least nine total bases.
I guess we’ll have to play a few more interleague games.
Player Date Tm Opp Rslt PA R H HR TB RBI Mike Napoli 2008-05-18 LAA LAD W 10-2 4 2 3 2 9 5
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/28/2017.
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 