MLB released its Top 100 Prospectslist and the Dodgers placed five guys on it. Only two are in the top fifty; 1B Bellinger at #13 and RHP Yadier Alvarez at #49. Bellinger is up 19 spots since the last list was released at mid-season last summer, while Alvarez is up 49.
Logan Forsythe is glad to be on a winning team. “I’m happy to just come over to a winning ballclub, organization and help some young guys if I can, jump in with the core guys and try to help these guys anyway I can,” Forsythe said.
The Dodgers have a ton of starting pitching.
Veterans Scott Kazmir, Brandon McCarthy, Hyun-Jin Ryu and Alex Wood — each on the rebound from injuries last year — are on the outside of the starting rotation looking in, barring injury or a trade.
Clayton Kershaw, Rich Hill, Kenta Maeda and Julio Urias are the top four, with the fifth spot up for grabs among Kazmir, McCarthy, Ryu, Wood and young starters Brock Stewart and Ross Stripling.
Old friend Evoaldi to sign with the Rays.
Uless!
I looked at Grant’s site and noticed that Krukow was cutting back on his broadcast schedule this year. Here’s why.
That’s awful. I wish him well.
That story’s not by Grant. Also, for what it’s worth, Krukow and Kuiper became unlistenable several years ago. The Gnats still have the fine Jon Miller, who’s far closer to the great Hank Greenwald and Lon Simmons.
I did say Grant’s “site.” And whether you think they’re unlistenable or not, I think what’s happening to Krukow is a small human tragedy.
They’ve re-signed Chase Utley as a lefty off the bench and a team chemistry catalyst, or something.
Hopefully, he can sustain with more limited playing time.
Another outfielder joins the team! Franklin Gutierrez comes back to the original team which signed him. He got traded in 2004 (!) for Milton Bradley.
How many pitchers and outfielders are enough? Answer: One more.
Potential partial sale of the team on the horizon. No loss of control, just cashing some of the value out.
If we get desperate for another pitcher
http://m.mlb.com/cutfour/2017/02/08/215523806/brian-wilson-is-attempting-to-come-back-as-a-knuckleball-pitcher—-and-he-shaved-his-beard
I doubt that any team will be that desperate.
Duane Kuiper went on the radio and sneered at Romo’s departure from the Giants, and Romo responded via text message to the show’s co-host. He says he was “straight up told I didn’t have a spot there anymore.”
My $.02 on a couple things:
Romo has one of the top sliders in the game, bordering on unhittable when right. And he agreed to a one-year. Team may have decided his slider was even better than Blanton’s career-rejuvenating one, and Blanton may have wanted more than one year. Also, Blanton likely wanted more $$, while Romo at $3 mil plus incentives is said to have taken a discount to play in LA..
Also, hated to see Jon leave the team employ. Showtime sounds like a great opportunity, but I wonder if he’d ever have left the Dodgers if the job at the level of quality Jon delivered didn’t involve around 857 hours 7 days a week and leave little to no time for family or anything else.
Eric S notes PECOTA picks Dodgers for MLB best record for 5th straight year. Team has slightly underperformed each time, but not by much.
2013: 93 (actual: 92)
2014: 98 (94)
2015: 97 (92)
2016: 94 (91)
2017: 97
http://www.truebluela.com/2017/2/7/14533086/pecota-projections-2017-dodgers-best-record-in-mlb-again
If one looks at their Pythagorean record, PECOTA was off by much more, though the team performed a bit better than might have been expected: 89, 92, 89, 90.
Sure. Why not?
http://m.mlb.com/cutfour/2017/02/08/215523806/brian-wilson-is-attempting-to-come-back-as-a-knuckleball-pitcher—-and-he-shaved-his-beard
Already a knucklehead, so halfway there.
SI’s Verducci and Friedman discuss inning caps for Urias and other young pitchers.
Guessing that Julio will not break camp with the team and probably not pitch as a starter in the WBC.
More details about the Romo signing:$3M plus incentives for the one-year deal.
We’ve had more than enough handegg, thank you. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/38b34e570fbb6d78052e04c2a3d69e5d789b91739e41132d89e2963d9281f676.png
OK, that’ll be enough handegg, thank you…
There are more pitching prospects where DeLeon came from, Friedman says, answering the question as to what changed this offseason which made him comfortable trading a prospect of the youngster’s caliber.
While JDL was a top prospect, get the feeling that the FO felt his ceiling might be as a 3-4 and that they had younger guys with higher ceilings for the future, as well as a bunch of guys that were ready now to be at least 4-5 slots.
Romo officially on board pending positive physical results. One year contract, no dollars yet made public.
Romo added to the BP and hopefully that means bullpen and not batting practice. I hope Colletti wasn’t involved with this signing.
10 more days!
While waiting for the team to chomp at the bat.
Thousands of Cub fans lined up for hours in the cold to see the World Series championship trophy here in Des Moines yesterday. Next year I would be willing to drive to OKC to see the Dodger version.
“To hell with it. Mr. Wolfe has gone south to train with the Dodgers. He will play shortstop.”
Spoken by one of my favorite fictional detectives, Archie Goodwin. From “In the Best Families.”
J.P. Howell heads for, well, not greener grass. Frozen astroturf? He’s off to the Blue Jays for $3M for a year.
Toronto plans to replace the Turf with real grass, but I’m not sure precisely when.
Eric gives a good rundown of the pen over at True Blue.
JP was a high FIP guy with the Dodgers, but ERA was excellent, so always a nail biter when he came in even when he got the job done. Finally caught up with him last year, when he also let in 40% of inherited runners (team at 28%).
The Twins wanted way more than the Dodgers were willing to give up for Dozier.
Wow! Glad we did not pull the trigger one that!
I probably would have thrown in Calhoun, but I think Logan should work out.
Mr. Puig likes being a Dodger and admits he brought his troubles last season on himself.
Jon is off to a new job. He’ll be VP of Corporate PR for Showtime.
Very interesting. It sounds like it was a job too good to pass on. Maybe he will join us in conversations now!.
Wow! Jon, like Vin, is the Dodgers to me.
Jon is getting the experience to help him come back to the Dodgers as Executive Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer when Lon Rosen leaves.
Does this make Jon an old friend?
I was pleased that the Dodgers acquired Forsythe. Yes, JDL is a prospect, but he remains just that until proven otherwise. Meanwhile, we have acquired a steady, solid second baseman, and won’t have to hope that Hernandez bounces back from a very poor season or that Utley (still unsigned) might be good for one more season, one that would likely be not as good as 2016. So, 27 days before we play our first exhibition game, I am excited about our chances for 2017. If, somehow, a reliable fifth starter emerges from the pack and we come up with a set-up man I would be even more excited. Penultimately, I look forward to reading all your observations this season and sharing some of my own. And, finally, thank you for keeping the site alive, Mr. Timberlake.
Hey, it’s not a real hardship. I’m not nearly as prolific as most of the other Dodger bloggers, but it’s home.
MLB Pipeline tends to give more weight to major league-ready guys, where as others may rank higher fellows who may be a couple years away, but that show potential to be good/great major leaguers. ESPN, for example had four Baby Dodgers in top 50. Their expert has never been sold on JDL, so he is ranked 73rd as compared to 33 by MLB because he is seen as a backend starter.
I am not sure I would ever say that the Dodgers have too many starting pitchers.
Ha! They said the same thing last year and we ended up trading for two more (Hill and Norris).