Today, the Dodgers begin the second half of the season and probably their toughest stretch of games this year, facing four teams with better records that the Dodgers themselves currently possess, and one of those teams twice.
They start their new look lineup tonight against the Milwaukee Brewers, a team they will face twice in the next 14 games. The addition of Manny Machado to the lineup has fans and teammates alike pumped for the run to the playoffs. The first lineup with Machado in it had not been released at this writing, but manager Dave Roberts said that he would be somewhere in the heart of the order. Andrew Toles was optioned back to Triple-A Oklahoma City to make room for Machado on the 25-man roster.
The Brewers are currently second in the NL Central, three games back of the Chicago Cubs, with a record of 55-43. They ended he first half with a six-game losing streak and had won only two of their last 10. They also were one of the other teams rumored to be heavily interested in Machado.
The Brew Crew’s offense is lead by the trio of Jesús Aguilar, Christian Yelich and Lorenzo Cain, the last two being acquired by Milwaukee in the offseason. Aguilar leads the team with 24 home runs and participated in the All-Star Home Run derby.
The Dodgers are throwing all left-handers against the Brewers, who have an 82 wRC+ against LHP, 26th in the Majors. Friday, L.A. sends Rich Hill to the mound to face off against Wade Miley. Hill is starting for the first time in 10 days, after a one inning relief appearance on Sunday. Miley was on the 60-day DL with a right oblique injury and has one start since returning, allowing two runs, five walks and striking out five in five innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Saturday’s game will see Clayton Kershaw return to the hill at Miller Park, where he is 4-0. His counterpart will be RHP Chase Anderson, who is 6-7 on the season with a 3.78 ERA and 81K. He’s been hot as of late, with a 1.65 ERA over his last five games. Matt Kemp and Yasmani Grandal have hit him well, though, with two and three homers off him respectively.
The series in Milwaukee will end with Alex Wood going against LHP Brent Suter. Wood has been pitching better than he started the season, racking up 94K so far. Suter leads the Brewers pitching staff with eight wins, but ended the regular season allowing 10 runs in 16 innings of work over his final three starts. None of the Dodgers batters have ever faced him.
Dodger bats should be revved and ready to go, and Machado looks to start the time with his new team off with a bang. As long as Dodger pitching can take advantage of the Brewers lack of production against left handed pitching, it will be a great start to the second half indeed.
6-man rotation, don’t let us down! Kinda ticked that Toles had to be the one sent down to officially get Machado on the roster, but I pray it’s strictly temporary. They;re gonna need Toles A LOT MORE than either Puig or Pederson down the stretch because you don’t need to platoon him, has game-changing speed on the basepaths, and can play ALL three OF positions effectively as well.
Agree about Toles. Hopefully by July 31 they will have packaged Forsythe in a trade or release him, he’s a good guy and a solid player but he just hasn’t got it done for us. Wish him well but zero need for his services now.
I don’t think they will release him Jeff, he is the best opportunity to get rid of some payroll, so we can add some payroll. I think he gets sold, him and a prospect for salary relief, or do a kemp deal, two years of somebody else for one year of forsythe. I’m with you guys on Tolesy I love watching him, he’d put up nice numbers if he played everyday. It’s going to be interesting to see what the FO does with the outfield log jam. Somebody is going somewhere. On another note, I looked up degrom’s contract status, he is controlable til after the 2021 season, would you guys consider 3 1/2 year’s of degrom for 5 1/2 years of Buehler? I might do that. Maybe?
Gutsy.call Keith, and worth discussing. I’ve thought about it too. Buehler throws really hard and he’s kinda skinny. TJ already….. being very gentle with him in a year … we could really use him. And with deGrom, at age 30, also a hard thrower, you may not get 3 years. But…. if it’s about THIS year I sure as hell would rather have deGrom pitching against the Cubs and Red Sox than Buehler, who I think won’t necessarily be there in mid/late October.
So do I do it? Yes! Hell No! Well, maybe………
Not sure where you found your contract details Keith but Spotrac shows just 2 1/2 years and free agency after 2020. That means no Buehler for me.
Tonight’s lineup out. Forsythe starts at second and bats 7th. No JT. If he can’t play in the next day or two he needs to visit the DL. The last third of our lineup is REALLY SCARY. Forsythe, Barnes, pitcher…………..and that’s after trading for Manny. By the way, Solano who can play second, is hitting .378 at OKC with a .927 OPS.
Baseball reference writes he is a free agent in 2021, I assumed that was after the season, maybe they mean he is a free agent for the 2021 season. I agree, 2 1/2 years, I don’t think I would include Buehler, 3 1/2 years of degrom would be tempting. BR shows he has 3.139 years service time, that would make him a free agent before 2021, season, wouldn’t it? Which would make you right, Jeff.
Btw way to really commit scoop.
Ballz az big az church bellz Reverend.
You know, if I thought that move made us better than Houston and Boston, I’d probably say go for it. I don’t know it does. Not without at least 1 more lockdown reliever.
After watching Kenley tonight, I think we need 2 more lockdown relievers Scoop. He’s just not Mr. Automatic anymore and considering the other residents of the bullpen, we need to get at least 2 way-above-average additions. I don’t mean that he should be replaced as closer, but we need to have another couple of guys who could step up if need be, even if only for a short time. I do like what I’m seeing from Alexander who seems to have become the guy we thought we were trading for.
Brewers are afraid to throw manny a strike.
In other news, Dodgers 2018 2nd round draft pick Michael Grove has finally been assigned to the AZL Dodgers today. Can’t wait to see him make his official pro-ball debut on the mound down there…
Hey Manuel, was it you who mention GL pitcher Gerardo Carrillo the other day? Pitched 6 scoreless innings yesterday which now means in 10 innings with the team he hasn’t been scored on and is averaging about 1k/inning. Before that he had another 11 innings with the AZL Dodgers where he only gave up 1 run. Definitely someone to keep an eye on.
Wasn’t me Jeff, but I was tuning into that Great Lakes game yesterday and Carrillo’s second Midwest League outing was clearly the lone highlight for the Loons as they continue to lose the close ones of late. Carrillo I do know was one of the Dodgers’ international signings back in 2016 out of Mexico. Looks fairly advanced for his age based on the numbers he’s put up so far. Will most certainly keep him on my radar in the meantime…
I get your point Jeff. Watching Jansen does not fill me with confidence either.
Did you see the matchups going on late? I think it’s possible we see more of that, including in the 9th. Part of the deGrom thinking was it would allow the sending of a starter (Maeda/Wood) to the pen. I don’t believe FAZ is entertaining a trade for a starter, but we could see some creative thinking going on soon, including the pairing of starters. Kershaw/Maeda, Hill/Stripling, Buehler/Wood. Might work in the playoffs. Not sure about a pennant drive. Whatever. It certainly appears the bullpen may be our Achilles heel.
I can’t think of a good reason your idea couldn’t at least be tried even during the season Scoop, if the starters are willing to control their egos for the good of the team. Maeda has certainly excelled in relief and Stripling has proven he can do it effectively. Hill and Wood have also had some success doing it and so, for that matter has Kershaw, although they would never use him to clean up for another starter except in a playoff game. Buehler is the one guy who has performed much better starting a game than in relief. In any case, if they can’t upgrade the bullpen this use of the starters is certainly worth a try, especially if/when we get Ryu and Santana back. And there is also Ferguson. I think the game is evolving to the point where forward-thinking teams will begin using their 12-13 best pitchers instead of dividing them into starters and relievers.
That is where it appears to be going Jeff. And why not? If you don’t have thoroughbreds in the stable, delivering the mail with ponies is a proven business model.
It’s about getting 27 outs. We have many good arms in the organization. Many of these good arms are clearly tender. Some are tender because of lack of use, Stripling and Buehler are on an innings watch, and some are tender because of overuse, everyone else. I can relate. I used to be able to do manual labor 8-10 hours a day. I’m good for about 90 minutes now. If by September our starters are only good for 4 innings we could be in trouble. Unless we have 8 of them who can go 4.
Not sure how this will play out, but the addition of Machado is a signal to everyone FAZ is all in. Expect the unexpected with these guys.