While there hasn’t been an overwhelming number of injuries so far this season, there have been enough to create a hindrance in some of the key areas of the Dodgers roster, perhaps even having an effect on the club’s overall performance.
The biggest blow of spring camp was undoubtedly the broken wrist of third baseman Justin Turner. The latest news on JT is that he still hasn’t begun to swing a bat, despite several reports over the weekend suggesting otherwise. However, the 33-year-old infielder is still participating in a few baseball activities, including an active regimen of throwing. He still has a teammate catch for him when he throws, to keep any pressure off his glove hand. Currently, the teammate normally catching for him is Logan Forsythe, who can’t throw yet because of his shoulder.
“It’s getting better every day and it’s been a good week as far as range of motion and pain tolerance, but not there yet,” Turner told reporters with a hint of sarcasm. “When I hit a ball off a tee, I’ll be the first one to stand here and let you guys know. I’ll send a tweet and tag you guys. Maybe you can get some followers.”
Speaking of Forsythe, he’s apparently been progressing with his inflamed shoulder, as he was recently seen taking dry swings in the batting cage. Additionally, skipper Dave Roberts hinted over the weekend that Forsythe may begin throwing over the next few days. Athough the 31-year-old Memphis native is eligible to come of the disabled list on April 25, the club has still yet to reveal a firm timetable for a return.
Rich Hill is also eligible to be reinstated on Wednesday after being placed on the 10-day DL with a cracked fingernail on his middle finger on April 18. The veteran southpaw called the disabled list move “precautionary” from the beginning, and as recently as Friday, told the media that he was fine to pitch.
“I could have pitched tonight,” said Hill. “No issues.”
Still, after the team shifted around the rotation in light of Hill’s absence, there is a need for another starting pitcher in the opener against the Marlins on Monday night. Many pundits have speculated that either Brock Stewart or Walker Buehler will be recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City; however, there still has yet to be a firm decision.
“We’ll know soon enough,” Roberts said over the weekend. “We’ve got a couple of ideas. I can’t say.”
(Update: At 2:00pm on Sunday, the Dodgers announced that Buehler will get the start against the Marlins on Monday)
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In other news, there hasn’t been much information surfacing on the progress of swing man Tom Koehler. During spring training, the right-hander suffered a shoulder injury that was diagnosed as an anterior capsule strain, and while his recovery sounds promising, the team will likely take it very slow in terms of a rehab program.
“The strength is there, the range of motion is great, but they want to make sure when I’m back, I’m back for good, and not just for a couple of weeks,” Koehler said a few weeks back. “It feels good today, but we want to make sure it’s good for the long haul.”
Another righty reliever, 27-year-old Yimi Garcia, has been rehabbing with Oklahoma City and may be available to the big league roster very soon. Garcia has been sidelined all season while working his way back from Tommy John surgery that he underwent back in October of 2016. While this is the final step in his recovery, the Dodgers haven’t specified how many rehab appearances Garcia will make before rejoining the big club, leaving his return date up in the air.
I am a Matt Kemp fan, have been since day 1 many years ago. That being said, he needs to be traded. He must be asking himself if maybe Agon being released and catching on with the Mets isn’t a better deal than he got coming home to L.A…. As stupid as it seems, FAZ will never use him like he deserves, or get the production from him that he is capable of doing. It is hard to believe but FAZ much prefers to play his little games with niche players, getting a little bit here, a little bit there, proving how smart he is by ALMOST winning using minimum wage players. The ALMOST, done his way, is more pleasure than winning it all by spending money and even using high-priced players he just wants to get rid of. I presume ownership is forcing him to keep Matt instead of DFAing him. They should force him to play Matt instead of Joc. The better he plays, the sooner they will be able to play him AND the less criticism for playing the lesser talented Joc. I haven’t been to Dodger Stadium in 40 years and I’m calling for a boycott on tickets and concessions until ownership kicks some sense into their front office.
That should read “The better he plays, the sooner they will be able to trade him ,”
We need an edit function to overcome our ineptness.
No Dodger Stadium in 40 years, eh? Apparently the front office has been pissing you off for a long time. 🙂
Living out of state the last 15 years didn’t hurt either… Ticket and concession price way ridiculously high, plus it is better in every way to watch on TV rather than be there.
I’ve been high on Garcia for a while now. Live arm. Hope it still is after surgery.
Muncy isn’t the answer. Stick Farmer in there and start the clock on Verdugo already. If he’s the best option, exercise it. It won’t really matter who’s at third until Turner gets back. Depth schmepth. Depth is an illusion. There’s the starting 8 then there’s everybody else. If it’s me I start Kemp and sub Pederson when we have a lead. Kemp can rest when Turner is back, or in the heat of summer.
Buehler should be able to go 6 against the Marlins. Therefore I’ll predict 5.
As much griping as I’ve seen elsewhere, I’ll go on record here and and say this team will be fine.
Agree with your views on Garcia.
Agree with your point about getting Farmer more playing time.
Not sure why Kemp isn’t playing more, especially since he’s been arguably their best hitter so far. When spring started we were saying that if he made the team he’d probably play mostly against left handers. Then the season started and they gave him starts against righties and he did OK, at which point they put Joc in. Possibly they’re waiting for Kemp’s birthday to give him more playing time. Only problem is his birthday is near the end of September.
There are multiple algorithms for every move FAZ makes. These complex reasoned reasons no doubt explain why a guy OPS’n .909 sits in favor of a guy hitting .200. I just lack the intellectual acumen to understand what those reasons are. Dennis went to Temple, which isn’t far from Penn, so no doubt he can splain it to me.
My explanation is that FAZ has a twisted mind, he see reason and logic in ground fog… Or maybe it’s some kind of smoke.
The corrupted use of the Disabled List offends my sense of fair play, although admittedly every club is free to cheat. It needs to be corrected by increasing the Major League Roster size from 25 to 28 players. This should be welcomed by the MLBPA and would have little effect financially on the clubs, three more minimum salary players, most likely. The 40 Man Roster would also therefore be increased, to 43 or better yet, 45 players. If the clubs would like to disguise their wisdom, they could create a 5 man “taxi squad” on the 28 Man Roster, with the right to change that roster every day. The smart clubs would then put their starting pitchers on that squad and rotate them in and out every day as needed.
They also need to adopt the Designated Hitter. That would enable National League clubs to compete equally with the American League clubs when it came to long term contracts with big hitters. If we had done this already, Shohei Ohtani might now be a Dodger.
Speaking of computers, I’m all in favor of taking the home plate ump out of play and using a computer to call balls and strikes. Not sure what MLB fandom feels about this. I’m guessing opinion might be split right about down the middle, but with so much strategy being determined by algorithms, it’s a shame to see that screwed up by inept umpiring on any given day.
Not ready to see the DH in the NL yet. I like the difference between the leagues, but boy do I endorse your idea of expanded rosters. Bound to happen sooner or later.
I’m not a fan of the DH, either. Before ya know it, the AL will probably want to DH the catcher, too.
I’m surprised some forward-looking mgr hasn’t already DH’d the catcher and let the pitcher hit. There are some really poor hitting catchers out there and a few very good hitting pitchers. Wrong league but I’m convinced that if Maeda got regular at bats he’d be a pretty good hitter.
Ryu has a really nice swing when he puts his mind to it. Kersh can surprise you sometimes as well.
And of course, for sheer entertainment value, there’s Rich Hill.
Scoop is indeed correct. It took several years, but Friedman finally has his computer programs functioning at full force. All he needs to do is type in the name of an opposing pitcher, and the ideal hitting matchups just pop on the screen. At the same time, the “perfect” lineups are also displayed. That’s the primary reason they have used 20 completely different lineups over the past 20 games. I wonder what would happen if they let Roberts choose a lineup for a change—I bet they’d be something like 17-3. As much as the newer analysts hate to admit it, cohesiveness sometimes goes a long way.
Roberts got the job no doubt because he knew how to answer the question “algorithm or gut?” It kind of makes it an easy job. Type in the situation – up pops the solution. Here I’ll show you:
Bottom of 7th in tie game Pittsburgh, Two out two on, pitchers spot due up, Hernandez and Pederson on the bench. Pirates bring in right handed sinker baller George Kontos. Who do pinch hit?
Easy. Clayton Kershaw. He has a 5000 OPS against the guy.
Very good!
C’mon man. Pitcher’s spot was due up. He though he needed to use a pitcher.
I find the “I don’t like the DH because it’s not traditional” a completely invalid argument. So you’re a traditionalist, eh? Then why are you posting on the Internet? Why do you have a cell phone or an automobile? Why do you watch games by streaming the games via Internet to your TV (Another modern, non-traditional instrument), quite often by also cheating on MLB rules by using an Unlocator device. You’re not traditional, you’re just being obstinate in accepting lots of changes and resisting one just to be different. You really should try to be consistent. There are many changes yet to come in this world…
I’m really torn on the DH argument and that’s why I like it that whichever side you fall on, you’ll have a league that plays the game the way you like it. I think having the DH let’s us see great hitters long after their usefulness in the field has evaporated and, of course, many people think the pitcher’s spot is an automatic out. On the other hand, I think not having a DH leads to much more interesting strategy moves (although I know some of you guys will say that we blow most of those decisions). Since I’m taking a middle ground Jonah, I hereby promise to only stream half of this season’s Dodger games to my TV. With regard to posting on the Internet, sorry I’m addicted.
I go back and forth on the DH idea. Mostly now I’m for it as it has become laughable to watch pitchers hit. And I am definitely in favor of an electronic strike zone. The average ML umpire’s strike zone is accurate 84% of the time. That’s just nuts. It would be very easy to get it right.