*** OFFICIAL MLB 2018 Thread ***

[ErickAA]

Red Sox dump Hanley Ramirez.

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/2...hanley-ramirez

They did this because he would be vested for $22 million in 2019 if he got 497 plate appearances. He has 197 already. They decided to get rid of him early, so it doesn't look quite so petty (dumping him at 450 PA would have been really bad form).

They still owe him $15 million for 2018.

I actually hope the Dodgers pick him up off the scrap heap for the minimum if he gets released (which is probable, as his trade value is negative). He's the type of player who can get hot out of nowhere. For the minimum, you might as well take a shot.

I was happy when the Dodgers didn't re-sign him, and the Red Sox stupidly overpaid him. It was clear to me that he was on his way down. Oh, and LOL at the Pablo Sandoval contract. That guy was always so overrated.

For years this picture and the common stupidity these teams practiced was excellent fun.



Say what you will about Hanley but he has been pretty darn good come post season and the Dodgers not so much. The NL West is still (as it has always been) mediocre at best. Hanley will go to Rockies. Whatever.

Lately, it’s been the moves the Dodgers didn't make (VERLANDER) vs the moves the Red Sox did make (Ramirez, Sandoval)

Red Sox fired the fool who made those trades. The owner has chosen to muzzle himself. The idiot President & CEO Larry Lucchino was exiled. I believe the Red Sox know their window is closing and their fan base demands WIN NOW.

Edit:
Sawks also fired their idiot manager Farrell too. They HAVE taken multiple corrective actions unlike the Dodgers.

The Red Sox haven’t really done anything dumb lately except failing to lock up Mookie Betts. Agents and money might never have allowed it but the Sawks never really made a serious offer. Price contract was pretty dumb.


Why the Dodgers never went for the gold is the legacy of their fail.

I am kinda late coming to the opinion that when constructing the blame pie for the Dodgers fail Friedman & Zaidi are less to blame than ownership. They were told not to spend and they didn’t. That is not to say Friedman/Zaidi possess any great skills or insights that are being held back. It’s just more of an ownership issue.


It was fun to lump the Dodgers and Sawks together as two big money stupid teams but that meme is running out of steam. The Dodgers have taken sole possession of the crown. Was fun.

I believe the Yankees collect another starter and take the East. They are sooo deep with young excess talent. Sawks have middle relief and starter issues. JD Martinez prolly gets hurt as he always does.

Why you haven’t jumped on the Angels bus is a mystery, Druff

Not sure how you can call a team stupid that won their division 4 years in a row and was one game away from winning the WS. Maybe the window is closed, maybe it isn't. But even if it is, that is pretty good indication they did something right.

[Sanlmar]

For years this picture and the common stupidity these teams practiced was excellent fun.



Say what you will about Hanley but he has been pretty darn good come post season and the Dodgers not so much. The NL West is still (as it has always been) mediocre at best. Hanley will go to Rockies. Whatever.

Lately, it’s been the moves the Dodgers didn't make (VERLANDER) vs the moves the Red Sox did make (Ramirez, Sandoval)

Red Sox fired the fool who made those trades. The owner has chosen to muzzle himself. The idiot President & CEO Larry Lucchino was exiled. I believe the Red Sox know their window is closing and their fan base demands WIN NOW.

Edit:
Sawks also fired their idiot manager Farrell too. They HAVE taken multiple corrective actions unlike the Dodgers.

The Red Sox haven’t really done anything dumb lately except failing to lock up Mookie Betts. Agents and money might never have allowed it but the Sawks never really made a serious offer. Price contract was pretty dumb.


Why the Dodgers never went for the gold is the legacy of their fail.

I am kinda late coming to the opinion that when constructing the blame pie for the Dodgers fail Friedman & Zaidi are less to blame than ownership. They were told not to spend and they didn’t. That is not to say Friedman/Zaidi possess any great skills or insights that are being held back. It’s just more of an ownership issue.


It was fun to lump the Dodgers and Sawks together as two big money stupid teams but that meme is running out of steam. The Dodgers have taken sole possession of the crown. Was fun.

I believe the Yankees collect another starter and take the East. They are sooo deep with young excess talent. Sawks have middle relief and starter issues. JD Martinez prolly gets hurt as he always does.

Why you haven’t jumped on the Angels bus is a mystery, Druff

Not sure how you can call a team stupid that won their division 4 years in a row and was one game away from winning the WS. Maybe the window is closed, maybe it isn't. But even if it is, that is pretty good indication they did something right.

The College World Series is ramping up. A couple of mid major schools will take their division. Even some NE school will get an invitation to a regional CWS tournament. They just can’t recruit the premium arms and talent in the numbers you need to endure tournament play.

The Dodgers are that mid major school. They will run over Sacred Heart and Monmouth and maybe Gonzaga in regular season. The Dodgers may even win the eternally wretched NL West this year with one game over .500.

Is the AL Central or the NL West worse? It doesn’t matter.

Regular season just gets you entry into the tournament and they never committed to assembling a tournament staff even if it meant sacrificing the future with prospects. They were so close with Greinke & Kershaw. They napped it out and failed to get a closer. Didn’t even try. Kershaw was playoff Kershaw and they exited quick.

Kershaw is David Price. Price is a similarly talented first round talent. Nothing but amateur success. Never any hardship. Price exhibits more obvious signs of clinical mental weakness. He’s a strange dude. Not the good Greinke kind of strange either. Kershaw is a more difficult read. He’s just bad in playoffs.

Isn’t it something to behold, the top 2 highest paid pitchers in all of baseball have a laughably awful combined playoff record. What does that mean?

Dodgers luckboxed last year with a collection of guys who had career years but stumbled with Darvish v Verlander. Verlander wanted to live in Kate Uptons LA home. Nope. Frankly, the coaching failed to give Darvish a chance. Astros coaching & rotation v Dodgers? Please

Padres are more likely to win a WS before the Dodgers. I hear they are stacked in their farm system.

[GambleBotsChafedPenis]

San is slipping...Kershaw gets put on the DL and not one post...

I hope you are either drinking in the Cape or San Diego right now...

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/2...ton-kershaw-dl

[ErickAA]

Kershaw seems to be getting close to Tony Romo/Carson Palmer territory (I don't know baseball outside the Dodges that well so I can't come up with baseball examples) where you were surprised when they got through a couple starts without getting injured.

[Dan Druff]

Against the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday, Kershaw gave up four hits and one earned run in five innings. All 20 of his four-seam fastballs were 90.0 mph or slower, according to research by ESPN Stats & Information. Last year, not a single one of his 1,142 four-seam fastballs was 90.0 mph or slower.

Oy vey.

He may not opt out of that contract, after all.

He came to baseball directly out of high school and was pitching for the Dodgers at age 20. I wonder if his body is starting to give out. For as great as Koufax was, his career ended early.

If Kershaw's body won't cooperate anymore, hopefully he will just retire, rather than go through failseasons as a mediocre pitcher like Greg Maddux did. Of course, Maddux was effective through age 36, and just held on for several years too long.

[big dick]

don't even mention kershaw in the same breath as the great Greg Maddux

[herbertstemple]

Justin Turner needs to get a hit tonight.

[Dan Druff]

Oh hi everyone who said the Dodgers should release Kemp and not even bother trying to play him, because he's a defensive liability, a has-been, and a clubhouse cancer.

He's only leading the NL in batting (.344), leading the team in RBI, and tied for the team lead in HR.

And by all accounts he's been a great teammate. You can even see that he's one of the biggest cheerleaders of other players from the dugout.

I always felt Kemp had a far worse rep than he deserved.

His one real issue -- defense -- has improved this year, partially due to being 40 pounds lighter.

Anyway, I know the Dodgers got him in a salary-dump trade, but at least they were smart enough to give him a chance instead of just cutting him.

The team would be far worse off right now if they didn't have him.

Kemp, Walker Buehler, and Max Muncy have been the only good stories on the team so far this year.

[snake_in_the_ass]

The Padres are going to win the NL West.

[ErickAA]

Oh hi everyone who said the Dodgers should release Kemp and not even bother trying to play him, because he's a defensive liability, a has-been, and a clubhouse cancer.

He's only leading the NL in batting (.344), leading the team in RBI, and tied for the team lead in HR.

And by all accounts he's been a great teammate. You can even see that he's one of the biggest cheerleaders of other players from the dugout.

I always felt Kemp had a far worse rep than he deserved.

His one real issue -- defense -- has improved this year, partially due to being 40 pounds lighter.

Anyway, I know the Dodgers got him in a salary-dump trade, but at least they were smart enough to give him a chance instead of just cutting him.

The team would be far worse off right now if they didn't have him.

Kemp, Walker Buehler, and Max Muncy have been the only good stories on the team so far this year.

In San Diego and Atlanta it seemed like he started off every year hot and then got hurt (normally hamstring issue) and played bad when he came back. Long season. We'll see how long it lasts.

[Dan Druff]

Oh hi everyone who said the Dodgers should release Kemp and not even bother trying to play him, because he's a defensive liability, a has-been, and a clubhouse cancer.

He's only leading the NL in batting (.344), leading the team in RBI, and tied for the team lead in HR.

And by all accounts he's been a great teammate. You can even see that he's one of the biggest cheerleaders of other players from the dugout.

I always felt Kemp had a far worse rep than he deserved.

His one real issue -- defense -- has improved this year, partially due to being 40 pounds lighter.

Anyway, I know the Dodgers got him in a salary-dump trade, but at least they were smart enough to give him a chance instead of just cutting him.

The team would be far worse off right now if they didn't have him.

Kemp, Walker Buehler, and Max Muncy have been the only good stories on the team so far this year.

In San Diego and Atlanta it seemed like he started off every year hot and then got hurt (normally hamstring issue) and played bad when he came back. Long season. We'll see how long it lasts.

Yeah, I'm not saying that he is guaranteed to have a monster season.

But he does seem to be legitimately pumped to be "back home", and he seems to have learned from his lack of physical conditioning in SD/Atl.

So at least for now, he seems to have the right attitude.

I do realize he's injury-prone and that could derail everything.

But the Dodgers are basically freerolling here. They picked him up in a mutual salary dump, and not for any utilitarian purpose beyond that. Then they kinda realized they were short a 3rd regular outfielder (they didn't really trust Toles or Pederson to play every day), so they gave him a shot in spring training, where he earned the job.

[gut]

Granted the MLB draft is MUCH wonkier than any other of the big sports's drafts, but I got a bit of a chuckle out of the Dodgers first two picks so far. At #30 overall a pitcher who profiles as a reliever, unless he learns a new pitch or two, and their 2nd round pick is a starter from college who missed all of this year with TJ surgery. Bold strategy, Cotton.

[simpdog]

Judge 8 strikeouts in one day.

[Dan Druff]

So let's take a look at Matt Kemp.

Personally, I've always been a lot higher on the guy than others. Even after he left the Dodgers, I felt like his "clubhouse cancer" rep was exaggerated, and that despite his defensive limitations, he still carried some useful offensive value, especially on a team which is otherwise struggling to score runs. I felt this was especially true in this day and age where home runs are more valued and strikeouts are more acceptable.

Still, even I saw his decline and injury problems. When the Dodgers got him back in a trade of bad salaries, I didn't expect him to be a superstar, but I also didn't want to see him released. Given that the Dodgers had no strong option for a 3rd outfielder, I felt they should give him a chance and bat him 6th or 7th, and see what happens.

I was further encouraged when he showed up 40 pounds lighter to spring training, and was hitting very well there.

This was out-of-shape Matt Kemp in 2017:




This is 2018 Matt Kemp:




The weight loss has already made a big difference on defense, where he's gone from horrible to "okay".

But that offense...

He's currently hitting .349 with 10 HR, 40 RBI, and a .968 OPS. He's also been very clutch, seemingly always getting that big hit to put the Dodgers ahead, tied, or close. This isn't one of those guys who just racks up big numbers when his team is up 9-0, or hits a meaningless 9th inning HR when the team is behind by 8.

He leads the NL in batting average, and is 2nd in all of baseball.

So what happened? How are we seeing a near-peak version of Matt Kemp at age 33 when everyone thought he was done?

Well, there's a few reasons.

First, he lost 40 pounds.

Second, the exile to San Diego and Atlanta improved his attitude. Kemp was traded and believed greener pastures lied ahead, but instead he found even more adversity in San Diego (where he was expected to be their superstar, and couldn't quite get there) and Atlanta (where he started off hot, and then faded). In both places, he also once again faced accusations of being bad in the clubhouse, and he finally realized that he was happiest in LA.

So when he got the unexpected opportunity to come back, he approached it with excitement, optimism, and maturity. He was one of the rare players who finally showed introspection late in his career, and realized where he had erred.

Third, he apparently worked with Torii Hunter on baseball and life. Hunter even turned him to a personal chef to make his meals, which accounts somewhat for the weight loss.

Fourth, as Kemp is in his later career and was never expected to be the franchise player in 2018, he hasn't been used as much as in the past. He is a regular player, but will be removed later in the game for defensive purposes, and gets regular rest. Kemp is injury-prone, so Roberts knows to proceed with caution.


Anyway, the Dodgers are 31-31, full of injuries, and hampered by some diminished performances, but Kemp has been the force keeping them in contention.

He will probably get injured at some point and the party will be over, but I'm enjoying it for now.

[Sanlmar]

^^^^ Kemp

Some players thrive as big fish in a small pond.

Excellent post nevertheless.

Back - but not for long. The Clayton Kershaw story
Perhaps you can pen an essay on how a team that had the alledged “best pitcher of all time” for a dozen years and unlimited funds never won the World Series.

Be first in on the Dodgers post mortem

Was taking a look at World Series winners by division since the creation of 6 divisions. If you back out the Giants you got a single WS victor from the NL West

Another random thought is Goldschmidt’s sudden demise

[ErickAA]

In addition to all the things Druff said, another possibility is he did PEDs when he was younger, pulled back after he got the big guaranteed contract where getting popped would literally cost him millions, and now that he is reaching the end he might have decided it was worth it to go back on PEDs to revive his career and possibly get another contract.

The fact that pretty much as soon as he signed his big contract he gained weight and started getting injured a lot (2 things PEDs can be very effective in combatting) supports this narrative.

[gut]

I still can't believe Druff hasn't mentioned the Dodgers best starter recently in this thread, Ross Stripling.

[GambleBotsChafedPenis]

sure everybody saw miggy is out for the year with a ruptured bicep tendon...wandered onto baseball reference just to give a quick look at his career...didn't realize how dominant this guy was when he was younger...his seasons in his early 20s are incredible...first full season at 21, just hits almost 300 with 30+ HRs and 100+ RBIs...just has one season in his 20s where he fails to hit over 30 HRs and pretty much hits 300 every year and drives in over 100 runs...

I did a very quick glance of modern guys who I though could match that and couldn't really find it...Griffey and trout are the closest...im one of those 'get off my lawn old guys' who doesn't count A-Rod even though he's pretty close as well...historically jimmie foxx and mays (if you say he would have matched those numbers the couple of years he was serving in WWII) are a couple who match it...

[GambleBotsChafedPenis]

I don't know about that one...Never remember hearing any rumors about him, but I mean I definitely wouldn't put up a huge argument against you being right...everybody from that era has a taint on them, maybe with the exception of guys like Griffey and jeter...and even then it's not 100% that they were clean...

[Sanlmar]

Miggy HOF - 1st ballot and no complaints. He was right there with Manny Ramirez as the greatest right hand hitters ever. Roids or not the swing was immaculate and the baseball intelligence at the plate unmatched.

One of the biggest stupid contracts of all time. That stupidity now runs the Red Sox but it’s a new era of contracts and Miggy’s will never be challenged going forward.

But that’s not why I called...

During the Baseball Tonight Podcast today there was a discussion about the merit of the Yankees pursuing DeGrom and offering Gleyber Torres in exchange. (17:30)

It was a trade idea that illustrated a more important thought.

The more important concept at play was the positioning of ones team for 7 game tournament play. Boog Sciambi was speaking to this point and immediately referred to the Dodgers as a big money team that missed this aspect of winning in the playoffs. He immediately cut himself short probably because he is an ESPN employee. (18:20)

Sciambi: “I think this is something LA struggles with”

I been saying this for years. It’s the cornerstone of my whole Dodgers are stupid operation here.

Druff over the years has trotted out his divisional flags and I usually parry with tournament baseball lineups. Druff usually folds here. Rightly, so. It’s an issue that isn’t discussed in polite society. Not my problem. It’s Druffs problem. Probably for the rest of his natural life.