(04-05-2018 10:53 AM)stever20 Wrote:  

(04-05-2018 10:34 AM)flyingswoosh Wrote:  

(04-05-2018 10:12 AM)stever20 Wrote:  

(04-05-2018 09:38 AM)flyingswoosh Wrote:  All of a sudden the Dbacks look pretty great. Greinke and Ray are coming off huge seasons, and so far Corbin has been fantastic and Godley apparently looked good in spring training and had a good first start. They have a healthy AJ Pollock and made good pickups in Souza and Dyson. Lamb and Souza are currently hurt, but the team doesn't expect either to be out too long. A lineup with Dyson, Souza, Pollock, Goldschmidt, Peralta, Lamb, Owings and Avila, is pretty darn good. Combine that with a very strong pen and a good defense, and you have a team that could definitely challenge the Dodgers for the division and make some real noise in the postseason. I look at all these teams and think, how the hell could the Giants possibly have a chance?

not to mention they have Shelby Miller coming back midseason from TJ surgery to give them another arm- and he won't have the problem coming back midseason of an innings limit like you normally see from guys returning from TJ surgery.

As far as your Giants- pitching for one. Bullpen has been solid so far outside 2 bad appearances. Top 6 guys have given up exactly 0 ER in 15.2 innings, with only 8 hits and 5 walks. If the rotation improves when gets healthy, and the pen continues- always going to have a chance. And I think the lineup will work it's way up some. I think one thing to watch will be 3b, they bring in Longoria, but he's struggled. A certain Panda could emerge. I know, your favorite player ever.

I don't believe in the bullpen at all. Other than Watson, this is not a different Pen than last year. And I'd like to see how Cueto's doing come June. He faced a scuffling Dodgers lineup with Turner and same with the Mariners without Cruz. I do believe that Blach and Stratton are solid arms at the back of the rotation, but taken as a whole I don't see this team truly competing with the likes of the Dodgers, Dbacks, Brewers, Cardinals, Cubs, Nats or even really the Mets.

Also, are we really mentioning the Panda? He shouldn't even be on a major league roster.

it's more than just Watson. Moronta pitched 6.2 innings last year for the Giants. Johnson pitched with the Cubs. Even Dyson was only in SF for 1/2 the season last year.

Panda is 2-6 so far with a homer this year. After batting .302 in the spring with 4 homers. Considering what the Giants are paying for him, why wouldn't he be on a major league roster?

Do we actually believe in the motley crew of Moronta, Johnson and Dyson?

Maybe because the Panda is not a good baseball player. He had a .638 OPS for us last season, after putting up a .622 mark with the Sox. Not to mention he's no longer a good fielder and is a negative on the bases. I don't expect much from him

Wow, Jay Bruce breaks open a 3-2 game (Mets were leading) with a grand slam off Kintzler

(04-05-2018 02:12 PM)flyingswoosh Wrote:  

(04-05-2018 10:53 AM)stever20 Wrote:  

(04-05-2018 10:34 AM)flyingswoosh Wrote:  

(04-05-2018 10:12 AM)stever20 Wrote:  

(04-05-2018 09:38 AM)flyingswoosh Wrote:  All of a sudden the Dbacks look pretty great. Greinke and Ray are coming off huge seasons, and so far Corbin has been fantastic and Godley apparently looked good in spring training and had a good first start. They have a healthy AJ Pollock and made good pickups in Souza and Dyson. Lamb and Souza are currently hurt, but the team doesn't expect either to be out too long. A lineup with Dyson, Souza, Pollock, Goldschmidt, Peralta, Lamb, Owings and Avila, is pretty darn good. Combine that with a very strong pen and a good defense, and you have a team that could definitely challenge the Dodgers for the division and make some real noise in the postseason. I look at all these teams and think, how the hell could the Giants possibly have a chance?

not to mention they have Shelby Miller coming back midseason from TJ surgery to give them another arm- and he won't have the problem coming back midseason of an innings limit like you normally see from guys returning from TJ surgery.

As far as your Giants- pitching for one. Bullpen has been solid so far outside 2 bad appearances. Top 6 guys have given up exactly 0 ER in 15.2 innings, with only 8 hits and 5 walks. If the rotation improves when gets healthy, and the pen continues- always going to have a chance. And I think the lineup will work it's way up some. I think one thing to watch will be 3b, they bring in Longoria, but he's struggled. A certain Panda could emerge. I know, your favorite player ever.

I don't believe in the bullpen at all. Other than Watson, this is not a different Pen than last year. And I'd like to see how Cueto's doing come June. He faced a scuffling Dodgers lineup with Turner and same with the Mariners without Cruz. I do believe that Blach and Stratton are solid arms at the back of the rotation, but taken as a whole I don't see this team truly competing with the likes of the Dodgers, Dbacks, Brewers, Cardinals, Cubs, Nats or even really the Mets.

Also, are we really mentioning the Panda? He shouldn't even be on a major league roster.

it's more than just Watson. Moronta pitched 6.2 innings last year for the Giants. Johnson pitched with the Cubs. Even Dyson was only in SF for 1/2 the season last year.

Panda is 2-6 so far with a homer this year. After batting .302 in the spring with 4 homers. Considering what the Giants are paying for him, why wouldn't he be on a major league roster?

Do we actually believe in the motley crew of Moronta, Johnson and Dyson?

Maybe because the Panda is not a good baseball player. He had a .638 OPS for us last season, after putting up a .622 mark with the Sox. Not to mention he's no longer a good fielder and is a negative on the bases. I don't expect much from him

If they're options 4,5,6 out of the pen- yeah. That's not too bad when you have Strickland, Watson, and eventually Melancon as 1-3.

Panda did have in September a .722 OPS. Given his spring was solid- .918 OPS- and it's easy to see why the Giants would have him around right now.

(04-05-2018 02:14 PM)flyingswoosh Wrote:  Wow, Jay Bruce breaks open a 3-2 game (Mets were leading) with a grand slam off Kintzler

yeah not watching it, but the Mets scare the heck out of me this year. Finally seem healthy. I like their new manager.

(04-05-2018 02:21 PM)stever20 Wrote:  

(04-05-2018 02:12 PM)flyingswoosh Wrote:  

(04-05-2018 10:53 AM)stever20 Wrote:  

(04-05-2018 10:34 AM)flyingswoosh Wrote:  

(04-05-2018 10:12 AM)stever20 Wrote:  not to mention they have Shelby Miller coming back midseason from TJ surgery to give them another arm- and he won't have the problem coming back midseason of an innings limit like you normally see from guys returning from TJ surgery.

As far as your Giants- pitching for one. Bullpen has been solid so far outside 2 bad appearances. Top 6 guys have given up exactly 0 ER in 15.2 innings, with only 8 hits and 5 walks. If the rotation improves when gets healthy, and the pen continues- always going to have a chance. And I think the lineup will work it's way up some. I think one thing to watch will be 3b, they bring in Longoria, but he's struggled. A certain Panda could emerge. I know, your favorite player ever.

I don't believe in the bullpen at all. Other than Watson, this is not a different Pen than last year. And I'd like to see how Cueto's doing come June. He faced a scuffling Dodgers lineup with Turner and same with the Mariners without Cruz. I do believe that Blach and Stratton are solid arms at the back of the rotation, but taken as a whole I don't see this team truly competing with the likes of the Dodgers, Dbacks, Brewers, Cardinals, Cubs, Nats or even really the Mets.

Also, are we really mentioning the Panda? He shouldn't even be on a major league roster.

it's more than just Watson. Moronta pitched 6.2 innings last year for the Giants. Johnson pitched with the Cubs. Even Dyson was only in SF for 1/2 the season last year.

Panda is 2-6 so far with a homer this year. After batting .302 in the spring with 4 homers. Considering what the Giants are paying for him, why wouldn't he be on a major league roster?

Do we actually believe in the motley crew of Moronta, Johnson and Dyson?

Maybe because the Panda is not a good baseball player. He had a .638 OPS for us last season, after putting up a .622 mark with the Sox. Not to mention he's no longer a good fielder and is a negative on the bases. I don't expect much from him

If they're options 4,5,6 out of the pen- yeah. That's not too bad when you have Strickland, Watson, and eventually Melancon as 1-3.

Panda did have in September a .722 OPS. Given his spring was solid- .918 OPS- and it's easy to see why the Giants would have him around right now.

Why are we counting on Melancon to do anything? There are just so many Ifs on the Giants. And not a lot of top end talent

Wake me up when the playoffs start

just kidding, I'll be awake because football season will be starting

(04-05-2018 03:55 PM)flyingswoosh Wrote:  

(04-05-2018 02:21 PM)stever20 Wrote:  

(04-05-2018 02:12 PM)flyingswoosh Wrote:  

(04-05-2018 10:53 AM)stever20 Wrote:  

(04-05-2018 10:34 AM)flyingswoosh Wrote:  I don't believe in the bullpen at all. Other than Watson, this is not a different Pen than last year. And I'd like to see how Cueto's doing come June. He faced a scuffling Dodgers lineup with Turner and same with the Mariners without Cruz. I do believe that Blach and Stratton are solid arms at the back of the rotation, but taken as a whole I don't see this team truly competing with the likes of the Dodgers, Dbacks, Brewers, Cardinals, Cubs, Nats or even really the Mets.

Also, are we really mentioning the Panda? He shouldn't even be on a major league roster.

it's more than just Watson. Moronta pitched 6.2 innings last year for the Giants. Johnson pitched with the Cubs. Even Dyson was only in SF for 1/2 the season last year.

Panda is 2-6 so far with a homer this year. After batting .302 in the spring with 4 homers. Considering what the Giants are paying for him, why wouldn't he be on a major league roster?

Do we actually believe in the motley crew of Moronta, Johnson and Dyson?

Maybe because the Panda is not a good baseball player. He had a .638 OPS for us last season, after putting up a .622 mark with the Sox. Not to mention he's no longer a good fielder and is a negative on the bases. I don't expect much from him

If they're options 4,5,6 out of the pen- yeah. That's not too bad when you have Strickland, Watson, and eventually Melancon as 1-3.

Panda did have in September a .722 OPS. Given his spring was solid- .918 OPS- and it's easy to see why the Giants would have him around right now.

Why are we counting on Melancon to do anything? There are just so many Ifs on the Giants. And not a lot of top end talent

Well, 4 of the last 5 years Melancon was really good. 1.80 ERA/2.25 FIP. Even last year up to the final 4 appearances when he was hurt- he had a 3.38 ERA. So that's better than league average.

Yeah a lot of if's but if enough of those if's are positive- the giants are going to be a factor.

So serious question. Is Chris Sale even the best lefty on the Red Sox right now? Or is it David Price?

Really glad the Dodgers went with Roberts when the short list was him and Kapler. Get a load of this:

Quote:Before the game, Jon Heyman wrote a piece for FanRag Sports quoting an anonymous Phillies player: “We’ll be OK… We just need the manager to get out of the way.”

Read the article. Kapler may end up being a good manager but his learning curve is looking pretty steep right now.

yeah. I love how advanced metric folks are defending him right now. They desperately need him to succeed. Dumb **** like pulling your starter 68 pitches in the game up 5-0 with 1 runner on in the 6th just because its 20 batters in isn't helping at all.

One thought on the Dodgers pitching, esp wrt velocity: A number of pitchers had "light" springs. Kershaw, Wood, Jansen, Ryu at least. They threw less to minimize wear and tear. It's understandable considering the injury history of those guys (except Jansen) but I wonder if it's had an effect on fitness to the point where strength isn't where you'd expect it after a "standard" spring. I admit this is wishful thinking, but we'll be hearing a lot about velocity in the coming weeks and it'll be easy enough to track. (Also heard there are speed gun calibration issues, but whatever - that's what you say when you don't like the data.)

Of course, if the bullpen can't get guys out and the offense can't score, fastball velo just gets lost in the noise of "wow, you sure aren't getting much out of that $200MM..."

to me, LA needs to be wary of an Arizona run-away here. Between now and May 9, LA and Arizona have 9 more games. If Arizona dominates those 9 games and gets out to a 10+ game lead, it's going to be really hard for LA to come back on them- especially with having only 7 games left head to head.

(04-06-2018 02:14 PM)stever20 Wrote:  to me, LA needs to be wary of an Arizona run-away here. Between now and May 9, LA and Arizona have 9 more games. If Arizona dominates those 9 games and gets out to a 10+ game lead, it's going to be really hard for LA to come back on them- especially with having only 7 games left head to head.

I usually don't agree with you on stuff like this, mostly because it's such a long season and so much can happen. But in this case I lean towards agreeing with you. The Dbacks not only look like a top tier team, but they're missing two very good players. If they come back soon and Corbin and Godley continue to pitch well, this could absolutely be a 90-95 win team and a WS contender. Dodgers need to play well in these two games (tonight is rained out) against a Giants team that really shouldn't be able to compete (Holland and Stratton are the starters)

(04-06-2018 01:09 PM)stever20 Wrote:  yeah. I love how advanced metric folks are defending him right now. They desperately need him to succeed. Dumb **** like pulling your starter 68 pitches in the game up 5-0 with 1 runner on in the 6th just because its 20 batters in isn't helping at all.

I don't believe it's necessarily dumb. And I'm absolutely willing to give him time before analyzing his moves. It's extremely early and he's trying to manage in a way that basically no one has. Naturally there's going to be a ton of blind skepticism.

(04-06-2018 12:29 PM)stever20 Wrote:  So serious question. Is Chris Sale even the best lefty on the Red Sox right now? Or is it David Price?

Makes them a pretty scary team

(04-06-2018 03:45 PM)flyingswoosh Wrote:  

(04-06-2018 01:09 PM)stever20 Wrote:  yeah. I love how advanced metric folks are defending him right now. They desperately need him to succeed. Dumb **** like pulling your starter 68 pitches in the game up 5-0 with 1 runner on in the 6th just because its 20 batters in isn't helping at all.

I don't believe it's necessarily dumb. And I'm absolutely willing to give him time before analyzing his moves. It's extremely early and he's trying to manage in a way that basically no one has. Naturally there's going to be a ton of blind skepticism.

I don't think it's the metrics, per se. It sounds like he is already losing his players - which says to me he's not communicating well with his team. Reports are that lots of Dodgers players who worked with him loathed the guy, and there was much lobbying by players for Roberts.

(04-06-2018 03:44 PM)flyingswoosh Wrote:  

(04-06-2018 02:14 PM)stever20 Wrote:  to me, LA needs to be wary of an Arizona run-away here. Between now and May 9, LA and Arizona have 9 more games. If Arizona dominates those 9 games and gets out to a 10+ game lead, it's going to be really hard for LA to come back on them- especially with having only 7 games left head to head.

I usually don't agree with you on stuff like this, mostly because it's such a long season and so much can happen. But in this case I lean towards agreeing with you. The Dbacks not only look like a top tier team, but they're missing two very good players. If they come back soon and Corbin and Godley continue to pitch well, this could absolutely be a 90-95 win team and a WS contender. Dodgers need to play well in these two games (tonight is rained out) against a Giants team that really shouldn't be able to compete (Holland and Stratton are the starters)

Arizona did win 93 games last year. And look like they've gotten better.

The other thing that's a worry from the Dodgers is that even if they are able to keep pace- they're going to have to keep the foot on the gas pedal all year long- and won't be able to coast like they did last year limiting innings etc. With them being an older team- especially pitching(3rd oldest NL staff behind Cubs and Nats)- that's huge.

(04-06-2018 04:15 PM)stever20 Wrote:  

(04-06-2018 03:44 PM)flyingswoosh Wrote:  

(04-06-2018 02:14 PM)stever20 Wrote:  to me, LA needs to be wary of an Arizona run-away here. Between now and May 9, LA and Arizona have 9 more games. If Arizona dominates those 9 games and gets out to a 10+ game lead, it's going to be really hard for LA to come back on them- especially with having only 7 games left head to head.

I usually don't agree with you on stuff like this, mostly because it's such a long season and so much can happen. But in this case I lean towards agreeing with you. The Dbacks not only look like a top tier team, but they're missing two very good players. If they come back soon and Corbin and Godley continue to pitch well, this could absolutely be a 90-95 win team and a WS contender. Dodgers need to play well in these two games (tonight is rained out) against a Giants team that really shouldn't be able to compete (Holland and Stratton are the starters)

Arizona did win 93 games last year. And look like they've gotten better.

The other thing that's a worry from the Dodgers is that even if they are able to keep pace- they're going to have to keep the foot on the gas pedal all year long- and won't be able to coast like they did last year limiting innings etc. With them being an older team- especially pitching(3rd oldest NL staff behind Cubs and Nats)- that's huge.

That's not a worry. It was a luxury last year. Nobody counts on getting big leads and coasting.

Bottom line: What you guys are talking about (Dodgers need to get their **** together) assumes the fixes are relatively minor. Middle relief, closer, and basically the entire offense look pretty poor. That's a lot to fix, and it's borderline optimistic to think that it's all just minor mechanics/slumps/etc. I know it's early but damn these guys don't look good.

the Dodgers in 2 of the 5 years they've won the division have been able to coast.... with a 3rd not quite coast mode but not real close either.....
2013- entered September 10.5 games up
2014- entered September 2 games up
2015- entered September 4.5 games up(and up to 8.5 games up 1 week later).
2016- entered September 1.5 games up
2017- entered September 16 games up

To me the problem just the same for the Dodgers is the starters have a lot of tread on their arms or injury past. Kershaw is 53 innings away from 2000. Rich Hill is 38. Alex Wood has a career high of 190 innings and made all of 25 starts last year because they could protect him. Kershaw has a major health question mark. If the Dodgers have to go full out for 162, there is a MAJOR question if those guys can stay healthy.

Ohtani with another blast tonight. Makes you wonder if with him scheduled to start on Sunday- what will happen with him next few days. Does he DH again tomorrow? Do the Angels let him bat for himself on Sunday? With how hot he is- tough to take that out of the lineup.