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Still Fighting The Good Fight
Sometimes I wonder if it’s even necessary to push the pro-stats viewpoint in baseball any longer. The battle is long over. The nerds have won. Just look at how many Ivy League grads are in front offices these days, how much money the Dodgers spent to bring Andrew Friedman over from Tampa Bay. Though some…
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Dodgers Sign Mike Adams to a Minor League Contract
Yesterday, the Dodgers announced that they have signed right-handed relief pitcher Mike Adams to a minor league contract: Today, the #Dodgers signed RHP Mike Adams to a minor league contract with an invite to Major League camp. Adams will wear #0. — Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) March 1, 2015 Number 0! That’s fun. Also fun…
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Your Annual Spring Training Stat Reminder
Spring training games start on Wednesday. There are still several openings left on the roster which players will be fighting for. After a long winter, there’s also the desire to create stories where they might not otherwise exist. That means we’ll be hearing a lot about spring training statistics over the next few weeks. Of…
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No, The Dodgers Aren’t Being Cheap
I was looking at the mailbag questions — and I swear we’ll do another soon — and I came across this gem, which, what: I read all the time about the Dodger’s financial clout. Yet they don’t appear to use it. How much money since the GM change have the Dodgers spent on players minus…
2062
Don’t Judge The Health Of The Dodger Rotation On Disabled List Trips
What’s the biggest potential weakness of the 2015 Dodgers? Everyone who just said “right-handed power” can go sit in the corner. Stop. Just stop it. That’s not it. That doesn’t matter. It is, probably without a ton of controversy, starting rotation depth. We’ve been over this a bunch of times. All five members of the…
2320
Joel Peralta’s sore shoulder could open Dodgers’ closer spot for others
Shoulder injuries for pitchers are about the worst possible scenario. Shoulder injuries for 39-year-old pitchers are just downright terrifying. From Ken Gurnick: “Dodgers reliever Joel Peralta, sidelined by shoulder stiffness, said he is hopeful he will be able to throw off a mound by next week. That will put Peralta nearly two weeks behind the…
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Chad Gaudin Is In Dodgers Camp, And You Won’t Like It
Two things I’ve said in the recent past: I’m not going to write about every non-roster invite. The new front office hasn’t yet made a move I’ve disliked. So while bothering to acknowledge that Chad Gaudin is in camp on a minor league deal is a pretty obvious violation of statement No. 1, the opportunity…
1080
A look at Dodgers’ pitchers and ‘pace of play’
Pace of game is all the rage, or something. While the average pace between which pitchers has increased over the last six years, it’s really not that big a deal in my eyes. I’m not one who wants a “faster” baseball game. I understand the reasoning behind it, but it isn’t an absolutely necessary thing for…
1421
When To Call Up Julio Urias? Remember The Lesson Of Adrian Beltre
When Dodger fans talk about “the one that got away,” at least over the last 30 years, they generally mean one of two things. They mean Pedro Martinez, dealt to Montreal for Delino DeShields in 1993 in one of the most lopsided trades in baseball history, or they mean Mike Piazza, traded to the Marlins…
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Brandon McCarthy & Molly Knight had an insightful Twitter convo while you were sleeping
Besides his pitching, Brandon McCarthy also has value of another sort, which is his entertaining Twitter account and just generally being more accessible than most professional athletes. Late last night, McCarthy displayed the value of that accessibility clearer than ever by engaging journalist Molly Knight in an elongated conversation about the athlete/media dynamic. It’s lengthy,…