One day after the Los Angeles Dodgers officially welcomed starting pitcher Max Scherzer to their active roster, the team activated superstar outfielder Mookie Betts from the 10-day injured list.
However, the Betts move came with a few other surprises, as the team optioned super-utilityman Zach McKinstry back to Triple-A Oklahoma City and selected the contract of righty pitcher Yefry Ramirez.
In a few other player shuffles, the Dodgers also optioned pitcher Mitch White back to OKC and transferred reliever James Sherfy to the 60-day injured list. Sherfy was originally placed on the 10-day IL with elbow inflammation on July 24.
Ramirez is a surprise as he seemingly has not been on the MLB radar, at least from most of us here at TBPC.
The 27-year-old Ramirez native was 3-3 with a 5.49 ERA (38 ER/62.1 IP) and 70 strikeouts in 15 games (12 starts) for Oklahoma City this season. The Dominican native has spent parts of two seasons in the majors with Baltimore (2018-19) and Pittsburgh (2019), going a combined 1-10 with a 6.32 ERA (63 ER/89.2 IP) and 89 strikeouts in 30 games (13 starts).
Over his nine-year minor league career, Ramirez is 43-39 with a 3.75 ERA (278 ER/667.1 IP) and 679 strikeouts in 152 career games.
Ramirez signed with the Dodgers as a minor league free agent on March 25.
Here’s a brief scouting report on Ramirez from his early days with the Orioles:
“Operating from a high three-quarters slot, Ramirez will sit comfortably in the low-90s with his fastball while bumping 96. He features a pair of average-or-better secondary pitches in a changeup and a curveball, and he uses both offerings to generate whiffs against hitters on both sides of the plate.”
McKinstry, 26, has appeared in 58 games for the Dodgers this season, batting .217 with seven homers and 29 RBI. Before an oblique injury in late April, McKinstry was slashing .296/.328/.556 with five doubles and three homers over his first 58 plate appearances of the year.
Betts returns from the injured list after missing 11 games with left hip irritation. He was hitting .700 (7-for-10) with four doubles, one homer in his three games after the All-Star break. On the season, Betts is hitting .270 (85-for-315) with 14 homers and 40 RBI in 82 games.
Betts returns to Sunday’s lineup leading off, but surprisingly playing second base.
First pitch is set for 1:10 p.m. Pacific time.
(Juan Dorado furnished some information provided in this report)
Sorry to see ZMac heading back to OKC but he’ll be better off there because he’ll get regular playing time. Since he’ll never be a regular with the Dodgers, I’m not sure what that says about his future. Some guys just don’t excel at pinch hitting and very few starting assignments. We shall see.
I bow to the superior wisdom of the training staff but I just don’t see why all the twists and turns at second base are better for Mookie’s hip than straight running in the outfield. Again, they know better than I do.
Ramirez? If we need to bring up Yefry at this point then Andrew made a huge mistake by not going out to get at least one more reliever. There were some out there whose name isn’t Kimbrel, but who would have had much better previous track records than Ramirez, who as far as I can tell hasn’t had much success anywhere, even in the minors.
Go ahead Yefry, prove me wrong! I really hope you do.
Another one and done pitcher to the rescue. And how lucky can Sherfy get. He’ll collect a major league salary fir 60 days probably the only time in his life. And zmac is done I guess. He looked so good for 10 games but so do 100s of others every year. I should have known better. Another 25 year old career minor leaguer.
Zmac in the last 28 days was averaging .111 with an OBP of .130! Those are Bellinger-type numbers so he was overmatched. The League found his weakness and he could not adjust just playing part-time. He may figure it out playing full-time in OKC he is very versatile and reportedly is good in the clubhouse. Hoping he gets it together.
Friedman must-have information that they will get Knebel back. I wonder if something is still going on with Graterol he looked unhittable in his last stint.
I think it is very strange they are playing Mookie at 2nd. They have a lefty throwing so why don’t they play Pujos at 1st he is Hot! And Muncy at 2nd? Who is also Hot…Bench Bellinger, PLEASE!
No.
Oops, Pujols is playing 1st. Must have decided to give Muncy the day off so he has two off before they play Houston.
Well as usual, most of your assumptions are wrong. McKinstry was fine until he got hurt. He has not been the same player since, so obviously something is out of whack. Day game after a night game, Doc always rests a regular or two. Since Betts was back, a lefty was starting, Muncy sat and Albert, who had one hell of a game plays since he kills lefty’s. And he has been hitting all weekend to boot. Smith sits so Barnes can get a start, and Bellinger gets a much needed day off, which will turn into two since they are off today, to get his mind off of the game. Ramirez, who I have never heard of, pitches two scoreless, they pound the pitiful D-Backs staff for 13 runs including HR’s by Turner #20, and Betts, # 15. Even McKinney drives in a run. Urias was never in trouble. Danny Duffy arrived and was in the dugout in uniform laughing it up with Muncy. Funniest moment was when Bickford went back out to pitch and found Price on the mound ready to go. He did not know he had been replaced. Him sitting next to Roberts in the dugout getting the explanation was priceless. Last thing on McKinstry. He will be back next year. This roster has a lot of turnover at the end of the season. We do not know if they are going to resign Taylor, which in my mind is a no brainer. McKinstry will find his stroke playing almost every day and he will return. He can be a left handed Taylor, and he is still young enough.
They will play Bellinger as right now they have little choice. But Bellinger in the last month is hitting around ,100 with an OBP less than 200 and he is even worse against lefties. Bellinger’s batting stance and approach make him vulnerable to the inside pitch he is an easy out. Hershiser the other night also mentioned he should change his batting stance as he couldn’t get around on inside pitches. MLB pitchers will find a weakness and exploit it until you fix it. Bellinger refuses to change. ZMac will probably be back next year depending on what happens to Seager and Lux.
Signing Taylor is a must.
Dodgers need to make up 3 games on the Giants and stay ahead of the Padres. They have enough games but cannot afford to put easy-outs in the lineup card. Right now Bellinger is a rally killer.
Once Trea Turner is able to play who sits? It should be the guy hitting 100. Pollock, Taylor, and Turner can play Centerfield.
Can you or anyone else guarantee that Bellinger won’t turn it around? I know what he has been doing. And I also know how Roberts and AF work. Now, Belli is probably going to be on a short leash and also platooned at some point. I think he is still having some physical issues and I think at this point his confidence is shot to hell.
Bear We agree Bellinger has major talent. He probably returned too soon from the shoulder injury BUT he has had 3/4’s of one year of greatness! Last year he hit 239 his OBP was 333 and his OPS 789. This is not an aberration when it is over a year and a half it’s a trend.
Bellinger’s stance for the last 2 years does not allow him to catch up to inside pitches. It’s not my opinion it’s a statistical fact. If you listen to guys like Big Pappi or ARod they tell you categorically he is jamming himself with his stance. The facts bear this out.
He is an outstanding defensive player. But he needs to pull his head out, change his stance and approach and get on with it! He should watch Pujos and Turner with two strikes and a man on. Those guys foul off anything they can’t handle and put the ball in play. Watching Pujos is amazing he had a 10 pitch at-bat the other night and managed to get a double to score 3 runs. We were honored to watch a Hall of Famer with age catching up still get the job done. Bellinger should be taking notes and apply them!
Everybody says that. I say horse manure. He hit 39 HR’s as a rookie when no one expected that kind of production after he took over for Gonzalez. He was the rookie of the year. In his sophomore season his average dropped off to .260 from .267 and he hit only 25 HR’s. Then he hits 47 HR’s in his MVP season and has a bad second half. So what? His career OPS is .880. Better than most everyone on the team. Now, last year, he never really got untracked, but he was not alone. Pederson, who everyone loves and misses never got over the Mendoza line. Belli, who was having shoulder issues even then, bounced back and got his average up to .239 and ended up with 12 HR’s. He had a great series against the Padres, and hit the clinching HR against the Braves. He also had one in the Series. He hit 4 HR’s in the playoffs, second only to Seager. Then this season, he is recovering from shoulder surgery, which takes a while, has virtually no spring training, and then gets injured again 4 games into the season. Misses significant time, and then gets another injury, and everyone expects him to just rake? Give me a break. There is more messed up than just the injury’s, And it is misleading as hell for everyone to keep saying he has only been good for half a season in his career. You do not hit 39,25, 47 and then 12 HR’s in a short season being mediocre. It takes talent. But I will take his 162 game average of .264 with 37HR’s and 99 RBI’s a year any day. And so would everyone on every Dodger blog out there. Get the facts and get them right. I am sure Bellinger is working his butt off trying to get better.
Sorry to jump on you like that T, but I am sick and tired of hearing that half season of greatness bull. They said the same about Kemp when he came back, forgetting the guy had two major surgery’s. And all these guys talking that crap have never played a single game at the major league level, let alone play after an injury like that. His OPS the first 3 full years was over .920. Yep, only 1/2 a good year. More BS. The kid has 128 HR’s in what would be 3 full seasons and 104 games. So why don’t all of the doubters and haters take their vitriol somewhere they believe the bull, I don’t and I have faith that he will get it together, maybe not this year, but he will get better.
I am an engineer. I look at stats. Stats say he was very good in 2017 and amazing in 2020. Those two years he had 86 home runs. Last year and this year he has had 17 total.
I agree with you that he has major talent. I disagree with you about the reality of what he brings to the field today.
If he changes his stance and approach he will be back in the All-Star games and MVP Talk if he doesn’t he won’t it is that straightforward.
Don’t worry about my feelings I am very used to people not agreeing with me. I spent a career troubleshooting problems all over the world. What I learned is if you fall back to the numbers they give you an excellent place to understand what is going on.
Bellinger should be benched or platooned until he changes as he is a weak link in the Dodger offense when they need to make up ground.
I like Bellinger I simply do not understand why he doesn’t change his stance/approach. The definition of insanity is what he is doing. If he is hurt they should not put him out there as he is obviously now mentally impacted from constant failure. I am hoping that with the return of Betts and Seager and the acquisition of Trea Turner they can afford to sit him and work on his shoulder and his stance. He is a good guy I am not vilifying him simply looking at the stats. Baseball is a game of stats.
Not my argument. My argument is saying the guy had 1/2 season of good production and the stats say you are wrong. How many players manage a .900 plus OPS over the first 3 years of their career? Not many. Yeah, he is having problems getting going, and maybe he should be benched, but this offense can carry him with even minimal production. His defense alone has kept him in the lineup My main argument was against your statement that he only had 1/2 year of productive baseball, or as you put it, greatness. Pederson, in his best year was never that good. Your argument does not hold water. Check his career stats. He has played 104 games in the last two years and has 17 HR’s in that span. Some players never have half that.
Bellinger had his amazing year in 2019. He hit an incredible 30 Hr’s and averaged .336 in the first half. In the second half, hit 17 Hr’s and his average was 263.
His career average is 264. Last year he hit 239 and this year he is at 163 and dropping. Less than 100 against lefties in the last month.
I think he needs to change something. Whatever he did for the first part of 2019 he should try that again. Or perhaps the pitchers figured him out and he must adjust. Some players never adjust. We shall see. Hopefully, they will bench him against lefties and use him against mediocre pitching cause he doesn’t have a chance against an ace.
I agree with that, but like I said, the kid did something not many ever have. Last year was an anomaly. There were a lot of star players who had bad years, but in the second part of last season, Bellinger found his stroke and he hit .255 in August and .267 in September and October. That was after starting the year with a .139 July. So, he is injured in the playoffs, has shoulder surgery this offseason, is hurt again and has played only 48 games and everyone expects him to be right as rain. Do you not think the coaches are working with him? He has changed his stance many times since he came up, and maybe that is a problem. Personally, I think he should be less standing straight up, and back off of the plate a couple of inches. Career he is .245 against LHP. That is respectable. I do not doubt they have looked at Video from both 2017 and 19. Maybe he does not feel comfortable in that stance anymore, and feeling good up there is half the battle. Even aces hang pitches T. He has as much chance of hitting them as he does some AAA pitcher.
Every baseball commentator and ex-baseball player that has been a great hitter says he needs to get off the plate. But he doesn’t do it. Why? Who knows? He has that stand-up batting stance with no timing mechanism or crouch. Few great hitters have had that type of stance. He has a long way to the ball with his back straight and hands up plus he is on top of the plate.
I agree with you he needs to get off the plate a few inches. Right now he swings from his heels on every swing. If he hits the ball squarely it is a home run. If not it’s a pop-up or a fly ball. He has lots of those and strikeouts lots of strikeouts. The biggest reason I am so pissed off at him is that he is no longer acting as a team player. If there are runners on base you need to do something to move them over or score them. To do this most players will change their approach to get the ball to the side to move the runner over or a long fly ball to score the runner. He has not done that. he thinks he’s hitting it out every pitch. It is a team sport.
How do you know he is not acting as a team player? You have inside info from someone on the team. How do you know what the coaches are telling him? They letting you in on the conversations? You are assuming an awful lot on your own. Hitting a baseball is not an exact science, and what pisses me off is some people who have never played the game at a high level getting on their high horse and thinking they know it all. It is not that easy, if it was, you and I could do it. But saying he is not a team player? I doubt that statement is true. I have seen a lot of guys besides Bellinger on this team fail in the same type of situations, and they were doing that when he was on the IL and unable to do anything. During Friday’s game, the meat of the lineup came up with Taylor at 3rd and no outs and no one could get him home. So don’t give me that crap about not being a team player. You would have to accuse half the ball club of that because they all at one point or another have not gotten that job done. In fact, he has hit more balls towards left in the last couple of weeks than he did before.
Tom, my argument is that what you stated above, that he had 3/4 of one year of greatness is pure BS. You have to look at his overall performance his first 3 seasons. Take last year, and this injury season out of the equation and he is averaging, in full seasons mind you, 37 HR’s and 90 plus RBI’s over those 3 seasons. The last 2 he has played only 104 games. Has he been as good? No, but injuries have played a major role in that decline. It took Matt Kemp 1 1/2 years to recover from his shoulder surgery. Bellinger has had less than 10 months. He is also OPSing over .900 for those three seasons. I do not give a damn about his batting average. I doubt the way he swings that he would ever be a consistent .300 hitter. But .270 or close to it with that kind of production is about as good as you can get. Granted, this season they are going to have to decide when to use him and when to make him sit. But it will probably be sometime next year before he is totally healthy again. I will say this for the kid, he has not let this prolonged slump affect his defense, Many do.
I’m hereby declaring the Bear-TMax Battle of Giants a draw.
Here’s something to think about though. When Turner gets here, it’s assumed that Seager will be at short, Turner at second and unless they bench him immediately Cody in center.
But what about when a lefty starts? They’re still going to want to start Albert at first, which moves Max to second and pushes TT to center and Cody to the bench. So I’m guessing that unless Cody becomes MVP Cody in the next week, he’ll be sitting against southpaws just to be able to accommodate everyone else. And that doesn’t even solve the other problem of where to play CT3. Pollock is our hottest hitter right now so that former solution is off the table. My guess is that Taylor will be moved all around the diamond with each of the regulars getting a day off every week and CT3 filling that position.
This whole thing concerns me because Doc makes me crazy, seeming to always bench the hottest hitter in the lineup for a rest day. Hot hitters don’t want to sit, they want to keep hitting until they cool off. But, of course, Doc knows better.
I will take the draw….
That is my thought that Bellinger gets platooned against lefties and I would bench him against true aces as they are going to destroy him with inside pitches. Trea Turner makes a big difference as does the great year Taylor is having. Who do you bench? If you look at the line-up it’s Bellinger.
Roberts drives me nuts also with benching hot hitters for a rest when they want anything but rest. Roberts is the best hitting streak killer in baseball LOL.
Roberts winning percentage lifetime as a manager is over .600. He has to be doing something right. Yeah, he has his own way of doing things, and you can bet, all of them with the approval of the front office.
You will, I won’t, I hate to lose.
HA, this has been fun Bear. No hard feelings I hope?
I tweaked my back this weekend because I was cutting down limbs and parts of trees yesterday as we had some violent winds and lightning from Monsoon weather last week. We are finally getting some much-needed rain
So I am sitting on my butt today reading and fooling around on the computer. So thanks for the debate it’s filled some time. Stay safe out there! Our oldest daughter is an ICU Nurse in CA. Her entire floor is being treated for PTSD from a year and a half of constant overfull ICU’s. She says they are beginning to get a lot more patients again and to be safe out there and hopefully get vaccinated.
Hey I never have hard feelings against anyone. Any fan can twist the stats to their own point of view. My point is and always will be, the kid has not been himself especially since he hurt his shoulder. And he did that last season and it affected his swing. Now he needs to find a slot where he feels comfortable. Hopefully, he does.
Glad you are not mad. We all hope that Bellinger can figure it out. Until he changes his stance and approach though the evidence says he will not. The pitchers with control will pound him inside and we will see a parade of strikeouts and fly balls on the scorecard.
Why would I be mad??? We both have opinions my friend, and are entitled to express them. Just because I disagree, does not mean we have to dislike each other.
Good thanks Bear. you are a great guy and very knowledgeable about baseball ….Hang in there! Had micro-burst last night down the road. Took the neighbor’s rood completely off!! Plus uprooted two trees YIKES. Messed up our roof but minor very thankful for that. Got about 2 inches in no time at all and all of it going sideways at high speed! What a storm! An incredible amount of lightning. Lost power for most of the night.
You still in Arizona? I need your email address. You can email me at bluefan1948@gmail.com. We have been getting rain everyday here. Oh, by the way, todays lineup is out and Bellinger is hitting 7th just before Pollock.
Yep Tucson AZ…. email is tmaxster@gmail.com
Bellinger 7th. It will be interesting to see the lineup when Trea Turner can play. I think the earliest he can play is August 6th depending on testing. Against left-handers, I would guess the players from 1st over are Pujos, Muncy, Seager, J Turner, Pollock, Trea Turner, Betts, and Smith. Right-handers Muncy at first and Turner at second but when and where does Taylor get to play? I would bat Taylor and bench Bellinger but that is just what I would do as the Dodgers need to catch the Giants and win the NL West. Getting short on games. It’s a nice problem to have.
Taylor will be giving them all a blow now and then. He will be in there almost every day.
Turner’s defense in center may be just about as good as Cody’s.
So you won’t take the draw? You won’t compromise? I always considered you a guy who would meet someone in the middle. You seem grouchy the last couple of days. I think getting up in the middle of the night to go fishing deprived you of too much sleep. 🙂
Anyway, I really hope that when Trea gets here Doc’s only problem will be who to sit on any particular day. It’s more likely though that that problem will be solved by some sort of injury.
You just had to capitalize Giants didn’t you? Look, he has his opinion and I have mine. I think his statement about only playing well for 3/4 of a year is pure garbage. His OPS over that stretch was higher than any other Dodger playing at the time. Get the stats right, and I am not arguing at all. I know Bellinger is struggling, and Doc will have to make some decisions lineup wise. And I also doubt Bellinger just turns it around in the next week. But he has been kept in the lineup for one major reason, his defense.
In the South they have a great saying about Great Coaches. He can take His’n and beat Your’n and he can take Your’n and beat His’n.
Roberts has had arguably the best team in the National League for close to 8 years and the best team in the MLB for probably 5 of those years. how many Championships has he won or NL Pennants?
IMHO Lasorda was a great coach in that he could win without having the best team. Roberts has to have a better team because he makes bad in-game pitching decisions. When the Dodgers play teams in the playoffs they have to be more talented to win as Roberts makes poor decisions.
It’s not hard to have a 600 winning percentage when you have talent-wise the best team in baseball year after year.
Roberts is the Cruise Director.
Bear you keep talking about the first 3 seasons (actually 2 1/2 seasons.) Sinse the second half of 2019 it’s been all downhill, dramatically so. It would be nice to say he’s a 260 hitter with 30 homers but that’s just not the reality. Usually it takes the league 2/3 month to catch up to a hitter, but not always. There is a awful lot of hitters who have declined dramatically after bursting on the scene their first 2/3 years. Right now he is just another reks , Raley or peters and should be sent down to learn how to hit again and get his confidence back. This is not a league where you learn how to hit. It is probably going to destroy him. Slumps don’t last this long.
You have your opinion and I have mine. And the second half of 19 he still hit .263. with an OPS of .917. Get real. There are guys on this team who wish they could do that for half a year. Yeah, he fell off. Most players never stay that hot an entire year. And 2020 is an anomaly. A lot of players had bad seasons including some pretty supposedly big stars. This year he has been injured. And he has not found his stroke. We all can see that. And maybe he will, maybe he won’t. If not, he will most likely be on the bench. And oh yes, slumps do last this long.
The world is full of great defensive outfielders hitting 160. But they are all bagging groceries at safeway.
Not true! Some of them are at Whole Foods.
TMax, you may have mentioned previously, but I don’t recall your telling us, where do you live?
I think he lives around Tucson in Arizona, When I met him he was living in LA.
Now that you mention it, I think that’s right. I think he said he now lives in Tucson.
Didn’t realize you guys had actually met in the past.
tmaxster@gmail.com my first one didn’t post?