Yesterday, Don Mattingly had what I call a “Wu-Tang moment”, inspired by the “When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong” skit on Chappelle’s Show. Humorous? Yes, but what it mean to me is that Mattingly basically dropped all the fronts and simply went in on the Dodgers players and front office in surprisingly pointed comments. “We’re in last place in the ... Read More »
I like Yasiel Puig. I like him a lot, actually. I even ranked him as the top prospect in the Dodgers system for 2013. However, if you follow me on Twitter, most of what I tweet about him is sort of dismissive. That’s not because I’m not excited about him, but rather because he seems to make people incredibly stupid. ... Read More »
Chad Billingsley turned in an impressive minor-league outing on Friday in which he was able to throw his curve sans any finger or elbow issues. Manager Don Mattingly said Billingsley remains in his starting rotation, but it will just be a matter of when. The Dodgers don’t technically need a fifth starter until Apr. 13, their 11th game of the ... Read More »
The legend of Yasiel Puig continues to grow, and speculation that he will start with the year with the Dodgers went from 0% just a week ago to … something non-0% recently. 2013 aside though, the long-term question remains where he’ll end up playing for the team if he does live up to the hype. Sure, Carl Crawford is out ... Read More »
Baseball fans love to talk about clutch plays and clutch players, and Dodgers fans are no exception, but like with a pitcher’s best and worst pitches, there tends to be a lack of evidence presented. As such, I decided to find some basis for clutch plays and clutch players, courtesy of the WPA and Clutch statistics. WPA Most sabermetric statistics ... Read More »
Zack Greinke missed a bullpen session on Sunday due to forearm tightness. Greinke had “a little forearm tightness and thought it best to give it a day to let it rest,” pitching coach Rick Honeycutt said. “It’s nothing to be alarmed about. He’s had it before and he’s still expected to make his next start [Wednesday].” Fortunately, it’s not anything ... Read More »
Mike Scioscia’s Tragic Illness: Arguing for patience and perspective regarding Yasiel Puig. I know he looks awfully impressive (dude looks like he could be on your fantasy football team), and I’ve liked what I’ve seen as well, but I really do believe people are getting way ahead of themselves. Baseball Prospectus: The Dodgers might have a platoon partner for Andre ... Read More »
Andre Ethier is growing rather sick and tired of questions regarding his inability to hit left-handed pitchers and whether or not he’s going to be platooned, and he recently stated that the difference between people nagging him about it and not is an extra five hits a year. It was only one at-bat, and it was only spring training. But ... Read More »
The Dodgers begin their 2013 Spring Training with a ton of injury concerns, and now that the whole team has reported, it’s time for an update on player statuses. No better way to start this off than with Chad Billingsley, who might be the biggest question mark of all even if the depth acquired has mitigated the consequences if he ... Read More »
The 2013 projection for the Dodgers from Dan Szymborski‘s ZiPS system was released last week, and given that it’s probably my favorite forecasting tool, it’s worth a look to see how the team fared. Forecasting is not a complete science, obviously, and I’ll address some of the potential pitfalls as we go along, but it’s better to use objective tools ... Read More »
Despite all the denials, Andre Ethier‘s name continues to come up in trade rumors, and given what I’ve heard, I don’t think it’s just noise. The latest has him heading to the Mariners, and it’s via ESPN‘s Jason Churchill (1, 2, 3). Hearing Mariners have progressed in trade talks for a hitter. Indications it’s Ethier. Multiple players involved. @nbynwms very ... Read More »
Nowhere to start here but with Andre Ethier rumors, right? Well, last time we left off on this rumbling, I was tackling a scenario where Ethier gets dealt and the Dodgers sign Nick Swisher, but there was one other frequently brought up possibility: Michael Bourn. The Dodgers could pursue free agent center fielder Michael Bourn if they trade Andre Ethier, ... Read More »
The Dodgers are shopping right fielder Andre Ethier, according to Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News, and that could mean they’re in the hunt for Nick Swisher to serve as his replacement in right. Normally, this wouldn’t be enough to warrant a post, but Mike Petriello said he heard similar yesterday afternoon, so the rumor appears to have ... Read More »
Yes, this is the final installment of the 2012 Season Review for the Dodgers, and if you want to catch up on the others, then you can check out this tag here. Otherwise, in the tables listed below, I have calculated the WAR (along with its components), value, and surplus value of every player on the Dodgers payroll in 2012. ... Read More »
Andre Ethier Andre Ethier, in his age-30 season and coming off a couple of years in which he had to deal with injuries, spent time on the DL again this past season, which limited him to just 146 games. Oblique injury aside, Dre actually had one of his best campaigns as a pro, posting a ~3.1 WAR that included average ... Read More »
Chad Moriyama Dodgers, Sabermetrics, Scouting