Barring a sudden increase in COVID-19 cases, as of January 28
Dodgers pitchers and catchers will report to spring training at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona on Wednesday, Feb. 17, with their first workout one day later. Position players are set to report a few days later, with the first full-squad workout on Tuesday, Feb. 23.
The Dodgers’ first Cactus League game is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 27 against the Cubs in Mesa, with LA’s first home game the next day against the Rangers at Camelback Ranch.
There will be a lot of virus-related protocols:
Major League Baseball players won’t be required to take a COVID-19 vaccination, though it will be strongly encouraged by the players’ union and the league when the time comes.
The voluntary program won’t proceed until health officials deem it appropriate, but players who are otherwise eligible for a vaccine, before league implementation, will be allowed to receive one
[snip]
Before arriving at spring training, players will be required to self-quarantine for five days and fill out a health questionnaire. They’ll undergo intake testing once in Arizona or Florida and, similar to last season, testing will continue at least every other day throughout spring training and the regular season.
It looks like there will be no DH in the National League, partly because MLB, as usual, created a false equivalence. It said “We’ll give you, players, a DH, which we know you want to keep your older players in work. In return, you’ll give us extended playoffs. Most of the revenue from the postseason goes to us, but hey, that one extra guy on the payroll for each team is just the same, right?” The players and their union balked.
NPUT
A baseball feel-good story:
https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/video/jim-bowden-discusses-trey-mancini-receiving-a-standing-ovation-in-his-return-to-the-orioles-lineup/
Nice win, even if I didn’t recognize any names (I tuned in during the 5th).
Davidson has pop but is otherwise a below-average hitter. High point of his career – three dingers on opening day in 2018.
Roberts suggests Donaldson might pitch a few innings this spring, according to TrueBlueLA.
Donaldson? He’s a Twinkie.
Davidson, then.
10 intriguing Dodgers this spring.
¡Ya hay alineación! https://twitter.com/jorgecastillo/status/1366060305734721538?s=20
Fully vaccinated in this household, but I just awoke from a nap to find five Coronas in the fridge (spoiler – I rarely drink beer).
Heckuva side effect.
Actually, there are six – I overlooked one behind the milk carton.
Spring Opener notes: https://www.mlb.com/dodgers/news/mike-kickham-starting-dodgers-spring-opener
Good news! The Dodgers’ spring training opener will be broadcast on MLB.TV this Sunday. On the West Coast it is listed for a 1:05 p.m. start, although I think it might be 12:05 p.m. The defending world champions will be playing the Oakland A’s at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa.
And SPNLA starts its coverage the following day and runs all the way thru Spring Training, every day. See the link below.
Do you know if this means that everyone in SoCal will now be able to watch all the Dodger games? (I know that you live Hawaii.)
Everyone with DirectTV and other AT&T services, per this LA Times article.
Two earlier games tomorrow at 10 a.m. California time: Nats (gnot the Gnats) v. Redbirds, Scrub Jays v. Yanquis.
Jackie will always be with us. https://twitter.com/jphoornstra/status/1364968631382257686?s=20
Ferlinghetti has died at age 101. He was apparently a Gnatfan, but it’s hard to hold that against someone who was literally a giant in his field. https://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/baseball-canto.html
The dumpster has no bottom. https://twitter.com/mlbtraderumors/status/1364296940574269441?s=20
Spring Training and regular season broadcast schedule here.
Also, Kershaw:
, I’m continuing to play and feel great doing it. Im on a year to year basis. I want to re-evaluate and see how we’re doing. Just make a decision from there. I have no intentions of hanging them up. I’m only 32. I feel like I got a few more years left in the tank. I really still love playing.”
Spring 1963. I am in the 10th grade at Fairfax High in L.A. I bring my transistor radio to school and during a mid-morning geometry class, in which I am sitting near the back of the room, I listen to the Dodgers exhibition games from Friday through an earplug. Despite that, I still got an “A.” The Dodgers got an “A+” that season. The Dodgers used to broadcast all their spring training games on radio. I notice that isn’t the case any more.
Williams was the goat of the 1962 playoff with the Gnats, which goes unmentioned here. https://twitter.com/DodgerInsider/status/1363629795167232004?s=20
He and Roebuck.
Roebuck pitched three good innings – got outta very serious trouble in the sixth relieving Podres – but Smokey stuck with him too long. Shoulda gone to Perranoski right away.
Something we should be able to agree on. https://twitter.com/AmandaRTubbs/status/1363522900473507843?s=20
Yet another roster preview from The Athletic:
(Note: I see ads nearly every day on Facebook from The Athletic offering subscriptions for as little as $1.99/month, if that interests anyone)
Random thoughts about somewhat beleaguered – but still big leaguer – Kenley Jansen.
I was looking up some stats for new Dodger reliever Corey Knebel because I was excited about him being on the Dodgers this year. But I wasn’t blown away by his stats as I thought I would be. Made me want to compare his numbers to Jansen’s.
One thing that stood out to me was that in Knebel’s best season with Milwaukee in 2017, his WHIP (walks + hits / innings pitched) was 1.158. Last season Jansen had his worst ever WHIP – 1.151.
Looking at ERA+: Knebel’s career ERA+ is 128. Jansen’s had 128 last season – and that was the third worse total in his career. Kenley’s overall career ERA+ is 161.
Speaking of overall totals, Jansen is currently in 24th spot on the all-time saves list with 312. He needs 10 more saves to jump into the top 20. 19 more saves gets him to 331, which would place him into 15th all time.
In terms of active relievers, Jansen is second in total saves to Craig Kimbrel. Interestingly the top 3 active saves leaders – Kimbrel, Jansen, and Aroldis Chapman – all are 32 years old and have all played 11 seasons.
Kenley’s WHIP driven by a leap in his BB/9 rate and a h/9 rate which has creeped up in recent years. Joe Davis notes that he had the lowest hard hit rate in the MLB last year, so I blame the FO for not coming up with a shift that cuts down on dinkers.
In case you were wondering “when did they sign X,” here’s a timeline of all Dodgers’ player transactions from the World Series till today.
Good stuff, Link. Thank you. First exhibition game is just nine days away.
I was wondering when!
Hi, RBI. The first exhibition game is at 12:05 p.m. (West Coast time) on Sunday, February 28, vs. the A’s at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa. Can’t wait!
My heart skipped a beat when I saw this! Cannot wait.
Will Dr. Fauci throw out the first pitch again? https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/13/sports/baseball/mlb-season-covid-dr-fauci.html
From Keith Law’s analysis of the Dodgers’ top 20 prospects at The Athletic:
https://twitter.com/Dodgers/status/1361785902154936320
Sborz, aka “The Eyechart,” pitched in only four games for the Dodgers last year. He becomes the sixth reliever from 2020 to depart, joining Wood, Baez, Kolarek, Floro and McGee.
I saw another “Eyechart,” Doug Gwosdz, play for the Hawai’i Islanders in the ’80s.
Gwosdz is better than Sborz. We could compile an entire “eyechart” of ballplayers’ names. Here’s one: (Eli) Grba. He started the first game ever for the L.A. Angels, in 1961, beating the Orioles and Milt Pappas, The fledgling Angels then lost eight in a row. Minor footnote: Sweet Lou Johnson played two innings in the outfield for the Angels in their first game and was traded two days later to Toronto of the International League for Leon Wagner.
I want to say that the Polish language owes its origins to eyecharts but, as it happens, the surname Sborz appears to be most common in Brazil.
Here is more for the eyechart: Hrbek (Kent). More than 20 years ago when I was living in Ohio, which has a large percentage of people with Eastern European surnames, the joke was that President Clinton was going to deliver tens of millions of vowels to the state.
Tim Kurkjian on spring training 2021.
There has been a minor change in the Dodgers’ spring training schedule. Their first game will now be Sunday, February 28, vs. the A’s at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa. https://www.mlb.com/schedule/2021-02-26
Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times says enjoy Kershaw, Jansen and Seager while you can (they’re all in the last years of their contracts).
I would be sorry to see Kershaw go, but he has given us more than a dozen great years and I can understand if he wishes to end his career so close to his Texas home. Jansen has, unfortunately, lost his effectiveness, which was almost always guaranteed. I don’t see the Dodgers resigning him after this season. Corey Seager would be a big loss. He is in the prime of his career, will turn 27 in April, had a strong regular season in 2020 and a tremendous post-season. Seager is fully aware of the money that the club has dished out to Betts, Bauer and Turner and will want to be in that mix. Historically, the Dodgers have had a great tradition of excellent multi-year shortstops for the past 80 years. In 33 of the 39 seasons, 1946 through 1984, either Pee Wee Reese, Maury Wills or Bill Russell was the Opening Day (OD) shortstop. Reese was the OD shortstop from 1941 through 1958 with the exception of three years in the military and 1957 and played his entire 16-year career with the Dodgers. Maury Wills was the OD shortstop 1960 through 1966 and again 1970 through 1972. (He was reacquired in June of 1969.) In all, he played 12 years with the Dodgers. Russell played his entire 18-year career with the Dodgers and was the OD shortstop 1973 through 1979 and 1981 through 1984. Seager has been the OD shortstop every year starting in 2016. He has better career slash numbers than Reese, Wills or Russell. I would hate to see him wearing another uniform.
For those of you who have cell service with T-Mobile, they are once again offering free MLBTV subscriptions, effective March 30th. Of course, there will still be blackouts depending where you live. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/905c4bbe8f952bf92dae140a0e19a0bb52a91a57e3a96df4c5a235204786e47b.png
SI suggests:
162 will be a welcome sight. Abhorrent that runner on second base to start extra innings will be in place again. Personally, far more excited for the start of this one than I was for last July’s start.
Given the pandemic hangover, seven-inning doubleheaders may once again be a necessary expedient. I don’t like the extra-inning runner rule, but at least there’ll be no DH.
On one level I miss baseball, but on another its return makes me uneasy. Ideally, vaccination should be obligatory. In any event, even after finishing my own vaccination this month, I won’t be attending any games in person (Spoiler: even under ideal public health conditions, I wouldn’t ever return to SF’s Software Stadium).