Happy Holidays from Think Blue Planning Committee

Published on by Dennis Schlossman

6-los-angeles-dodgers-joe-hamilton

As 2018 has passed us by at such a swift pace, all of us here at Think Blue Planning Committee would like to take a quick moment to wish our entire viewing audience the happiest of holiday seasons.

More importantly, we’d like to thank all of our readers for their constant support. Without our dedicated following, TBPC would have fallen on its face a long time ago. Because of the commitment from our audience, we still continue to rapidly grow, establishing new viewing records with each passing year.

Special thanks is also in order for our partner sites, who generously include our insight and reporting while unselfishly spreading the word of the Dodgers to thousands of readers across the planet.

In addition to providing added comprehensive coverage of the Dodgers, we plan on conducting several more interactive reader giveaways in 2019. Last year’s giveaways were highly successful in our growth on the social media fronts, while also allowing us to show our appreciation to our beloved reader base.

You won’t wan’t to miss our biggest-ever giveaway coming in just a few weeks. If you’re artistically inclined, this event may be right up your alley. Further details will be revealed soon.

Furthermore, a few changes to the site layout are in the works, as we hope to have all of the improvements implemented before Opening Day rolls around towards the end of March.

In the meantime, our daily coverage will continue as the Los Angeles management crew moves forward in crafting the player roster for the 2019 campaign.

As always, if any of you have a topic to recommend, a question about a post, an idea about making our site better, or just a general inquiry, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Here’s to hoping all of our viewers have a fantastic start to 2019 and that the Dodgers take another huge step forward in hauling in a much needed World Series Championship.

 

16 thoughts on “Happy Holidays from Think Blue Planning Committee”

  1. Thanks so much, Dennis and Andy, for the work you put in to make this a great place to come every day, for Dodger news, great discussion, and to just get away from all the garbage that surrounds us when we mistakenly turn on the news. I can’t speak for others, but this is my escape from all the negativity I see in the world these days and for that I thank you. Of course, one can find some negativity here also, but sports negativity is part of being a fan and so I forgive all of you who don’t agree with me when I voice an opinion. Looking forward to your biggest-ever giveaway. I am not at all artistically inclined so will be forwarding my address under separate cover in the hopes that you will award me a duplicate prize just to shut me up. Happy Holidays. Thanks again for this oasis.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  3. Pretty new to the site, but I enjoy the repartee immensely. Hope everyone had a great Christmas and looking forward to the new year which arrives in 5.Corey Seager days……..Jefe, I think your hope for an announcement of any kind is not going to materialize until sometime after the new year.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Hope you had a great holiday Bear. Always glad to have something to discuss with you. Let’s see who’s right about this week’s activity. I’m absolutely convinced Andrew does something by the time the ball drops in Times Square but have no clue what it might be. I’ll meet you here at 12:01 AM, January 1st, and we can determine who was the better prognosticator. Actually, I may be asleep at that time so we can discuss later that day if you’re around.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  4. Giveaways? I can give you my takeaway on that idea. I’m all for it.

    As for what will make this blog more interesting I can only say what I’ve learned from experience on other blogs. What I find most interesting is the conversation that occurs. How to get more traffic? I think it begins with stimulating, in depth writing. Take a look at what Jef writes over on that obnoxious owner’s site. He’s really knowledgeable on all things Dodgers. Ask him to guest write here and maybe some of the 100 posters over there will follow. One critique I can offer here is occasionally the writers will bring forth a topic that has already been talked about on previous threads. Another thing that bugs every guest is being bombarded with click bait ads. Not saying that happens here, but it does happen out there. Get the edit capability and have a “recent posts” section so we can see who has posted after we did. I like this place so far and hope it gets busier in ‘19.

    Getting through these holidays should allow more baseball to filter in.

    Found this:

    “Under the radar part of trade — Kemp, Wood, Puig were 3 of the more unhappy #Dodgers re: platooning/overstocked rotation. LAD wanted to lessen that element in clubhouse atmosphere next year.”

    Bill Plunkett tweet. Not really new, but a topic that I believe is current among Dodger fans. As successful as the Dodgers have been, the passions regarding this platooning run deep, and apparently not just with fans. Maybe it’s old school thinking but it’s my contention that a team of solid, disciplined, well schooled on fundamentals team of ballers will compete. A team like the Dodgers should have its stars, and that means signing guys like Harper and Arenado when they become available. But the supporting cast should be, in my opinion, young on base guys that put the time in on defense as well. A good example of this kind of player is Chris Taylor. What I hope happens now is this RVS guy teaches a new 2 strike approach to players like him. WAY too many strike outs in my opinion. We’ll see how that plays out.

    I think I’m on record for being in on Harper. He’s an every day player that fans everywhere pay to see. He projects 33 and 94 with close to 100 runs scored. I give him his money with a provision that he must put time in on his defense. No excuse to run around out there like Moochie of the Little League. I also tell everyone that hits in front of him I want a minimum of .350 OBP. We were actually pretty good in that stat last year – 5th in MLB, 2nd in NL. The best? Boston.

    I am looking forward to what F minus Z has in mind.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Read the Plunkett tweet on another site. Quoted by a poster there who shall remain anonymous. Sparked quite a debate since he believes all he reads and thinks that they were disrupting the club house when there is no evidence to that being the case. Most of the posters felt otherwise. Most felt as I do that the numbers against LHP for Puig would have been better with regular play against them. Kemps numbers were decent against LHP. I never heard a peep during the entire season as to any player being a clubhouse cancer and as this guy put it, Bad Citizens. Really? Simply because they expressed a desire to play every day? Should that not be what every player wants? The only thing I read all year was when Wood was sent to the bullpen and he was not very happy about it. But all he said was that he considered himself a starter and was working to get back in the rotation, which considering how bad he was out of the pen, should have been the case. Scoop and I see eye to eye on a lot of issues. One for sure is that this bunch strikes out WAY TOO MUCH I also know they do not want to exceed the CBT again, and if they signed Harper alone, they go over the tax and still have holes at C, 2B and the bullpen. Pitching wind titles. The Sox more than proved that last year and their hitters were much more disciplined that the Dodgers. The path they are on at this particular moment in time, is not one that will result in a WS win.

      Like

      Reply

      1. Agree with most everything you said, except for the last sentence. I don’t think we know what path Andrew is on. At this point we’re looking from above and a lot of it is obscured by trees. I’m very optimistic about RVS and I don’t see any way he would have been hired if the front office didn’t agree that our approach to hitting needed changing. With regard to the roster, you know that expression “it’s not the destination, it’s the journey”? Well, in this case I think we have to turn that on its head and say it’s not the journey, it’s the destination. Let’s wait to see what the roster looks like on opening day for a better idea of which path we’re really on.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Jeff, You are right. None of us have any idea what the team will look like come March. We can only guess. I have to believe Ol Andy is probably kicking the tires on a lot of things. He had better because he traded away 2 of the more popular players in the last 10 years. I do not think signing Harper will fix anything. Oh he is a very talented player and he can be either your right, or left fielder for a long time. But that doesn’t keep your payroll where they would like it to be, he can’t catch and he sure can’t pitch. I am beginning to believe that they will use the 3 guys they already have on the team, Kike, Taylor and Muncy, and let them fight it out in spring to see if one of them just takes the job. They will most likely NOT sign a major bullpen arm, and just do the fringe guy waiver wire thing again. But they do have to do something at catcher, and adding a quality starter would be nice. According to some reports lately and a blurb on Dodger Blue this morning, Grandal will most likely not be coming back…no kidding! The Castellanos talk has simmered down a lot too. That may just be because of the holiday. But as always El Jefe, I respect your views. You should have seen the crap I got because I said both Bavasi and Claire were better GM’s than Friedman……

        Like

      3. You say Harper can’t pitch or catch. Actually, he can catch. He was a catcher in high school and JC. Not really sure how I feel about the Bavasi-Claire-Friedman discussion. Bavasi was very good. You say that Andrew traded two of the most popular Dodger players of the past 10 years but we don’t know yet what that will lead to. I’m going to reserve my judgement on the job Friedman has done until his time here is finished. By the way, Fred Claire, who seems like a very nice man, traded Pedro Martinez. That is not the mark of a very good GM, although I’ll be the first to admit he didn’t quite know what he had when he made the trade, but player evaluation is one of the major parts of a GM’s job description.

        Liked by 1 person

      4. Well Harper can’t catch in the majors. Fred Claire traded Martinez partially because Lasorda did not feel he would amount to much. Tommy traded Konerko during his short stint as GM. They all make mistakes. But Claire also made some very astute free agent signings including Kirk Gibson, and pretty much that deal alone was the catalyst for the 88 Championship. No, we do not know what the team will look like coming out of spring, but judging from Andrews track record so far. The guy is a bridesmaid. Never the bride, 3 trips to the big dance and no titles. By the way, there is chatter that the Padres have jumped into the Kluber talks and have offered them some major league pieces in return. Not the favorite to land him yet, but getting close

        Like

  5. Well said Bear.

    Every player is working for that generations contract. Your grandkids grandkids can go to Harvard if they choose to. They won’t make that kind of coin as platoon players. A player like Puig should, in my opinion, be given opportunity to garner 600 plate appearances every year. With those at bats he can put up the numbers to get the multi year multi million dollar contract. I have no doubt all those guys that were traded wanted to be front line players. And frankly, like you Bear, I want players who expect to play every day. I’m betting Puig and Wood get that opportunity in Cincinnati. Kemp has already been paid so if he cares enough about his legacy he will take advantage of this opportunity, keep his weight down and hit the crap out of the ball in that park. There is no reason he can’t finish his career somewhere as a DH after his current deal is over. It’s just a question of taking care of himself until he’s 37. Hell, Edgar Martinez hit until he was 41. If Kemp cares, he can be of value.

    Like

    Reply

  6. If one were to believe all the blurbs on twitter, both Pollock and Harper are now Dodgers. Of course I do not believe that because I have to see it from a credible source. There is also a post on there that the Cubbies are now the favorites to land Harper. Seems that they are having a deal worked on to move Heyward. All sorts of rumors, no real news yet.

    Like

    Reply

Leave a reply to Scoop Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.