Too early to talk lineups?

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Adam Weinrib of Fansided doesn’t think so. He has the usual suspects in the usual places, although handing left field to A.J. Pollock and leaving Chris Taylor on the bench might be premature.

Betts, RF
Seager, SS
Turner, 3B
Muncy, 1B
Smith, C
Bellinger, CF
Pollock, LF
Lux, 2B

I agree with Lux at second assuming the season is close to a normal length, which it just might be if the vaccines for COVID-19 really do pan out as effectively as the trials seem to have shown. Lux needs more time to show whether his prospect status was warranted; his 2020 season was horrible (19 Games Played, .175 BA, 3 HR, 8 RBI). He was late reporting to the second training camp before the abbreviated season began and never rounded into the form he’d shown as a September callup in 2019.

This assumes that Turner is awarded a new contract, that Kiké Hernández finds a new home where he can play regularly, and that Taylor and Pederson don’t object to a lot of bench time.

46 thoughts on “Too early to talk lineups?”

  4. More about Cleavinger, the lefty the Dodgers just got from the Fightin’ Phils.

    Cleavinger, 26, was a third-round pick of the Orioles in 2015 who made his debut for the Phillies last season, allowing one run with one strikeout in 2/3 innings on Sept. 17 against the Mets. The University of Oregon product was 19–12 with a 4.08 ERA, 294 strikeouts and 130 walks in 220 1/3 innings across five minor league seasons with the Phillies. Cleavinger spent the 2019 season with Double-A Reading, striking out 83 batters in 51 2/3 innings with a 3.66 ERA.

  6. Greatly enjoyed the intensity when the Dodgers played the Padres this last season. Looks like that is going to be ratcheted up!

      • Among the top three teams in baseball last year, so yeah. Reminds me of the Argentines saying of Boca, in a year when the won the Inter-Continental Cup (best Latin American team versus best European), that it was the best team in the world, and among the better ones in Argentina.

  9. Jim Bowden at The Athletic has free-agent signing suggestions for the Dodgers:

    Liam Hendriks, Closer
    Los Angeles Dodgers

    The time has come for the Dodgers to officially have Kenley Jansen pass the torch to the next closer — and instead of passing it in-house, it makes more sense for them to go out and ink arguably the best closer in the sport right now in Hendriks. That would allow Jansen, Brusdar Graterol and Víctor González to take care of the 6th through 8th innings.

    Justin Turner, 3B
    Los Angeles Dodgers

    If the Dodgers can’t land Nolan Arenado in a trade with the Colorado Rockies, then bringing back Turner on a two-year contract would still be a solid choice. Turner will probably start to decline in 2021 due to age, but he’s still good enough to contribute on both sides of the ball as part of the deep Dodgers lineup. However, this is a spot where the Dodgers should try to get younger in the future.

    He also suggests Joc to the Angels and Kiké to the Red Sox, and he thinks Miami should sign Puig to a one-year incentive-laden deal.

      • He did his homework and was knowledgeable of the teams, however he kept misidentifying one of the players.

          • and then Joe announced the Raiders game (hand egg). So, got Joe to tell me play-by-play how both the Hoyas and Raiders lost. Ugh. Pitchers and catchers second week of Feb.

          • “Handegg” is one word. As an Oakland resident, I was thrilled to see the Davis Crime Family move to Sin City, though Tallahassee might have been an even better choice.

  15. Penciling in AJ to start in leftfield shouldn’t raise an eyebrow. AJ hit better, including tying Mookie for most dingers on the team and leading in SLG (He doesn’t make a good impression in that regard because of playoff performance. This year mediocre but not the disaster of the previous one). Glove work of course goes to CT3, but he needs to be available to fill in at SS and 2nd as well. Overall, CT3 got more PA last year than AJ in any event.

    • I was just as calm and confident as when the surgeons wheeled me away for heart surgery (at that time, of course, I was heavily sedated).

  22. Part I like (and you seem to imply) is Pederson coming back. With Pollock the LF position really solidified.

  24. The jury is still out on Lux, of course. Will he be the next Steve Sax or the next Joe Thurston? Or will he be traded in the off-season?