Statistically, second baseman Chase Utley by no means had a season which will highlight his long list of achievements in the baseball history books. Over 127 games in his 15th big league campaign, the UCLA product slashed .236/.324/.405 with eight home runs and 34 RBI for the Dodgers, basically as a secondary platoon partner to Logan Forsythe and often as a late-inning pinch hitter off the pine.
While there are plenty of question marks surrounding the impending relief crew for the Dodgers heading into 2018, there are many options for the club to consider for the bullpen as the season approaches. A handful of arms who can contribute as either a starter or a reliever could play into the team’s roster plans, and Brock Stewart is certainly right at the top of that list.
Continue reading “Dodgers 2018 Roster: Is Brock Stewart a Better Fit as a Starter or Reliever?”
For those of you who are frequent visitors to our site, you’ll already know that we’ve always been keen on putting together plenty of posts featuring 25-man roster projections for the Dodgers, especially long before players report to camp. This winter is no different. As it stands now, there are exactly 47 days before pitchers and catchers convene in the clubhouse at Camelback Ranch, and if the player personnel stays relatively the same, we can easily put together a somewhat accurate roster prediction right now—at least for the sake of building a foundation.
Continue reading “Dodgers 25-Man Roster Projections for 2018: The Extra-Early Winter Edition”
If you haven’t yet taken a moment to ponder the impending 25-man roster for the Dodgers in 2018, you may be a bit surprised when you do. Sure, there’s still plenty of time for the entire squad to change its complexion, but when considering players like Adrian Gonzalez, Brandon McCarthy, Grant Dayton and Brandon Morrow are gone, in addition to Chase Utley, Andre Ethier and Tony Watson being very unlikely to return, there’s certainly some doors open on the 25-man to a few faces who didn’t see much big league action last season.
Continue reading “Better 25-Man Roster Option: Matt Kemp or Rob Segedin?”
When considering the few holes in the Dodgers‘ prospective 25-man roster for the upcoming season, many fans are quick to point out the needs for starting pitching, bullpen help or even some type of power bat in the middle of the lineup. However, we’ve been talking for a few months about the potential requirement for a left-handed hitting middle infielder, most specifically a body to pair with Logan Forsythe at second base.
Continue reading “Dodgers 2018 Roster: The Time Could Be Now for Max Muncy”
With Adrian Gonzalez now gone after having first base to himself for more than four years, Cody Bellinger represents a big part of the Dodgers‘ future. The unanimous 2017 NL Rookie of the Year will certainly garner enough playing time next season to conceivably better his freshman campaign offensively, but can he continue to improve and adjust to the strategies opposing pitchers use to attack his weaknesses?
Continue reading “Dodgers 2018 Projections: Is There Still Room for Cody Bellinger to Improve?”
As most Triple-A rosters normally don’t start taking shape until later in the spring when the big league squads become firm, it’s probably a bit too early to take a stab at guessing Oklahoma City‘s 2018 Opening Day starting pitching rotation. However, with the departure of veterans Brandon McCarthy and Scott Kazmir last weekend, the major league rotation is developing earlier than usual, giving us at least some kind of idea as to how most of the system’s starting pitchers fit onto the organizational ladder.
Continue reading “Some Preliminary Thoughts on the 2018 Oklahoma City Starting Rotation”
Five days after the initial reports surfaced, the Dodgers on Wednesday afternoon finally announced the one-year deal of righty swing man Tom Koehler.
In case you haven’t noticed, baseball has changed a lot over the past 25 years.
Analytics have become the driving force of team management, with the ever-evolving Statcast superseding some of the most popular sabermetric tools. And for the common fans with access to computers or smartphones, a simple keystroke allows them to instantly discover when a player is about to be traded, if that player is having an extramarital affair, or even when he is napping in the clubhouse.
Continue reading “What if the Dodgers Decide to Keep Matt Kemp?”
For all the fans who have been patiently waiting, the Dodgers have finally made their grand splash of the winter, acquiring outfielder Matt Kemp from the Braves on Saturday afternoon in exchange for Adrian Gonzalez, Brandon McCarthy, Scott Kazmir, Charlie Culberson and cash.
Think Blue Planning Committee 