After their 6-2 win over the Nationals in five-inning contest cut short by storms, the Los Angeles Dodgers visited President Joe Biden and the White House on Friday morning.
The 2020 World Series Champs presented President Biden with a jersey donning the number 46. Dodger reliever Joe Kelly stole the show on social media rocking the mariachi jacket he traded for a couple of days ago at Dodger Stadium.
It was also announced that Dodger right-hander Trevor Bauer was placed on the seven-day administrative leave by the MLB amid the ongoing allegations. Dodger Manager Dave Roberts had previously stated he was still planning to start Bauer on Sunday, but the skipper will have to look for another starter.
If Bauer wishes to do so, he has 24 hours to appeal his seven-day administrative leave ruling. If his administrative leave isn’t extended, Bauer may be able to rejoin the team next Friday.
Administrative leave is not considered a suspension, which means Bauer will still be paid.
Right-hander Brusdar Gaterol took Bauer’s spot on the active roster, per Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times. Graterol had been part of the Triple-A Oklahoma City club and was with the team in Washington D.C today.
Thursday evening, the All-Star Game starters were revealed, and unfortunately, no Dodgers were among the players selected. Max Muncy was in the lead for quite some time at first base, but was ultimately beat out by Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman.
Ultimately, there will be numerous Dodgers participating in the All-Star Game as either reserves or members of the pitching staff. Those players will be announced Sunday.
The Dodgers look to possibly finish Friday in first place with a win and a Giants loss, as the Dodgers are currently a half-game back from the Giants. The Dodgers are riding a six-game winning streak since getting no-hit by the Cubs, and the Giants currently have lost four straight, most recently losing to the league-worst Diamondbacks Thursday night.
So there is quite a bit going on in Dodger land, but the Dodgers will look to make it seven straight wins Friday. They will face veteran right-hander Max Scherzer, who hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down. He is 7-4 with a 2.14 ERA. Left-hander Julio Urias will get the start for the Dodgers. He is 9-3 with a 3.95 ERA. Urias’ last start came on June 26 against the Cubs. He went 5 ⅓ innings allowing five hits and two runs.
Friday’s first pitch is scheduled for 4:05 p.m. Pacific.
Think Blue Planning Committee 
Bauer’s agent has already announced that he won’t appeal the MLB action so at least we have that.
We’re going to need at least one if not two more starters for the remainder of the year. I’m assuming Bauer won’t pitch again, but if he does, we can probably get along with one more starter. Urias needs to have his innings watched in order to be worth anything at all for the playoffs. Gonsolin can’t seem to go more than 3 or 4 innings, whether that be because of his shoulder or just bad command. Wtih Bauer now removed from the rotation, we’ve got major problems.
We’ve discussed Scherzer on the previous post. Other possibilities (from teams pretty much already eliminated from the playoffs) include
Berrios – Twins
Gibson – Rangers
Hendricks – Cubs
Rogers – Marlins (very high prospect cost)
Lopez – Marlins (very high prospect cost)
Marquez – Rockies (very high prospect cost)
Kikuchi – Mariners
Anderson – Pirates (innings eater – shouldn’t cost much)
Kelly – D’backs (innings eater – shouldn’t cost much)
I’m sure there are others I’ve overlooked plus more will become available closer to the deadline as more teams drop out of the playoff picture.
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Team controlled young guys probably won’t be available. A couple of those guys aren’t good enough and I doubt teams in the division are going to deal with us, or us with them for that matter. I’ll take any of those guys in the American League, starting with Gibson cuz he’s the tallest.
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If we’re going by height, I hear Bill Walton is available.
Problem with Gibson is that he’s been around a long time and this is the only year he’s been good. How much longer might that last? Lots of teams will be in on him so whoever gets him will overpay.
The two guys who aren’t good enough – we need someone who can throw 6 innings every 5th game. That means we use him and 2 or 3 bullpen guys instead of using 7 or 8 pen guys that day. Might be worth it if nothing else better comes up. Certainly wouldn’t cost us much in prospects.
Time for AF to do his magic act and pull a starter out of the hat. Who will it be? Who will it be? The Shadow knows.
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Sound logic. We need an innings eater, maybe two, and hopefully our offense carries the team.
With Gibson it’s about this year and next year (age 34) as that’s when his current deal expires. He’s affordable, $7.4M next year, and as long as his spin rate checks out, he would work. Berríos works too but he’s team controlled for another year. Kikuchi, another good innings eater, has an interesting contract, player option for $13M next year then team options for the next three years. I doubt Seattle would want to let that deal go, but, you never know. He was a 5 ERA pitcher until this year. Anderson, the guy I think isn’t good enough, would probably be the easiest get. The Pirates also have a guy named Brubaker who averages over 5 innings with an ERA just under 4.
Bummer we aren’t talking about which starter we intend to bring up. Aaron Wilkerson anybody? Bibens-Dirkx? Yefry Ramirez? Or will they reach for Pepiot?
Unearned runs. Oooohhh I hates unearned runs. And against Scherzer?
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Aaron Wilkerson is a bit too common a name for me.
If we go with Yefry Ramirez, I will immediately change my name here to Yef D., or maybe Yeff D.
But Bibens-Dirkx is my favorite. How can you go wrong with a hyphenated guy who has a k followed by an x. He’s the winner.
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Your logic is beyond disrepute.
I’ll let you interpret that any way you wish.
B-Dirkx works. Make it so.
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Jeff none of our starters seem able to get through 6 innings every 5th day. We’ve had enough wana bes come and go on the roster this year. Let’s go with what we have.
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We just saw a pinch hitter get 2 at bats in the same game. I wonder how often that happens?
Also, what’s with Joe Kelly’s left index finger?
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