Dodger Thoughts

Jon Weisman's outlet for dealing psychologically with the Los Angeles Dodgers, baseball and life

Month: March 2016 (Page 5 of 5)

Updates before the Dodgers’ first Cactus road game

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On March 4, 2016

In Health/injuries, Pregame, Spring Training

Los Angeles Dodgers workout

Dodgers at Rangers, 12:05 p.m.
Carl Crawford, LF
Joc Pederson, CF
Chase Utley, 2B
Scott Van Slyke, 1B
Kiké Hernandez, SS
A.J. Ellis, C
Trayce Thompson, RF
Alex Guerrero, DH
Brandon Hicks, 3B
(Scott Kazmir, P)

By Jon Weisman

Adrian Gonzalez’s Cactus League debut has been delayed one more day, to allow him to make his first start in a home game.

“He wanted to be in there today,” Dave Roberts said, “but I just felt that as you come back from his neck, to drive 30 minutes and then have an hour or hour and a half off before you crank it back up to play a game, I’d rather take that extra day and err on the side of caution.”

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A strong, stalwart gaze: Confidence and the Dodgers

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On March 3, 2016

In Spring Training, Thinking out loud

Dave Roberts, moments before his first Spring Training game as Dodger manager (Ben Platt/MLB.com)

Dave Roberts, moments before his first Spring Training game as Dodger manager (Ben Platt/MLB.com)

By Jon Weisman

Clayton Kershaw jogged to the mound, pounded his fist in his glove, grabbed the resin bag for a quick spin around his palm, scraped his left cleat in front of the rubber, and threw his first warmup pitch. Baseball was back.

The first day of Spring Training games goes hand in hand with optimism, lines up directly alongside confidence. So does Kershaw. The appearance of the great left-hander on a crisp baseball field is as reassuring and encouraging as the sun’s steady climb above the Arizona desert.

But the kind of confidence that christened Camelback Ranch today was not a blind, naive one. Not, after all, on a morning when we learned that starting pitcher Brett Anderson would be lost for half the baseball season, if not more.

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In case you missed it: Slyke like an eagle

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On March 3, 2016

In In case you missed it, Minor leagues

Chicago White Sox vs Los Angeles Dodgers

By Jon Weisman

As Scott Van Slyke comes in for a landing, here’s a quick scan of some Dodger links around the Internet …

  • Clayton Kershaw can hit several milestones this year, writes Paul Casella of MLB.com. A sample: “Kershaw, who has posted a 0.857 WHIP and a 0.881 WHIP in the past two seasons, respectively, could become the first starter with three sub-0.900 WHIP seasons.”
  • MLB’s Statcast likes the chances for Alex Wood to improve in 2016, writes Mike Petriello for MLB.com. Jeff Sullivan takes his own deep dive on the same subject at Fangraphs.
  • Led by Van Slyke and Kiké Hernandez, the Dodgers have baseball’s best backups, according to August Fagerstrom of Fangraphs.
  • Baseball Prospectus has a detailed rundown of its top 10 Dodger prospects, plus five that just missed, then concludes with this ranking of the top 10 Dodgers at any level, age 25 and under:
    1) Corey Seager
    2) Yasiel Puig
    3) Joc Pederson
    4) Julio Urias
    5) Jose De Leon
    6) Alex Wood
    7) Grant Holmes
    8) Frankie Montas
    9) Yadier Alvarez
    10) Alex Verdugo

Textbook first inning takes Dodgers to opening victory

By

On March 3, 2016

In Baserunning, Postgame, Spring Training

Andre Ethier is greeted by Dave Roberts after scoring the Dodgers' second run of the season. (Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers)

Andre Ethier is greeted by Dave Roberts after scoring the Dodgers’ second run of the season. (Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers)

By Jon Weisman

The first inning of the Dodgers’ 6-1 Cactus League opening victory over the White Sox (summarized by Ken Gurnick of MLB.com) was a Spring Training work of art.

After Clayton Kershaw’s initial shutout inning, leadoff hitter Howie Kendrick worked a walk off Chicago starter John Danks. Facing the White Sox lefty in his first at-bat of the season, Andre Ethier singled the opposite way.

Two of the next three hitters — Yasiel Puig and Yasmani Grandal — then hit solid RBI singles. Significantly, a baserunner went from first to third on each.

“If you look at the numbers of how this team ran the bases last year, we can do better,” manager Dave Roberts said. “It’s a point of emphasis for sure. It’s more of a mindset than a style of baseball. That’s how you play the game.”

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Dodgers discuss direction after Anderson injury

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On March 3, 2016

In Health/injuries, Pitching, Spring Training

Sign

By Jon Weisman

In the hours since Brett Anderson’s second disc injury in three years was announced, it was easy to say how easy this was to predict.

But according to Dodger general manager Farhan Zaidi, the people who actually do this kind of prediction said it was highly unlikely.

“Going through the diagnosis yesterday, we were told the chance of recurrence of something like this was pretty low, something around 10 percent of the time,” Zaidi said. “It’s obviously an unfortunate thing to happen. He had a healthy season last year, (and) he came in this year in great shape, was doing a lot of preventative stuff to keep something like this from happening.

“In (asking) the doctors, ‘Was this a single traumatic thing, was it something that happened over time?’ — it really could be either. But it was obviously a very quick thing from throwing live BP and looking great, to feeling something, to having some tests done and realizing that he needed surgery. … The fortunate part of it is we’re still hopeful we see him at some point this season, most likely in the second half. But just to get back, the actuarial chances of recurrence are really low in this case, so it was just a bit of bad luck.”

Speaking shortly after striking out two in his two-inning Spring Training debut today, Clayton Kershaw didn’t downplay the significance of what Anderson’s injury meant.

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Let the playing of baseball games begin

By

On March 3, 2016

In Pregame, Spring Training

White Sox at Dodgers, 12:05 p.m.
Howie Kendrick, 2B
Andre Ethier, LF
Yasiel Puig, RF
Scott Van Slyke, 1B
Yasmani Grandal, C
Corey Seager, SS
Kiké Hernandez, DH
Alex Guerrero, 3B
Trayce Thompson, CF
(Clayton Kershaw, P)

By Jon Weisman

It’s that time. Clayton Kershaw will throw the Dodgers’ first pitch of the 2016 Cactus League season today at Camelback Ranch against their complex-mates, the Chicago White Sox.

Howie Kendrick, Andre Ethier, Yasiel Puig, Yasmani Grandal and Corey Seager are in the lineup for Los Angeles against Chicago lefty John Danks. Adrian Gonzalez and Joc Pederson are among those scheduled to start in the Dodgers’ road opener against the Rangers on Friday, against Texas righty Chi Chi Gonzalez.

“I think that you want to get guys playing together, (but) you’re trying to stagger it a little bit,” Dave Roberts said.

The starting position players are expected to get two or three at-bats each, playing three to five innings.

Joe Blanton, Carlos Frias, Yimi Garcia, Adam Liberatore and Matt West are also on the list to pitch today in relief behind Kershaw. Minor-leaguers Logan Bawcom, Rob Rogers and Jeremy Kehrt are also suiting up.

According to the Dodger press notes, the team is 2-6 in Cactus League openers since the first in 2009.

Surgery for bulging disc sidelines Brett Anderson

By

On March 3, 2016

In Health/injuries

Los Angeles Dodgers vs Florida Marlns

By Jon Weisman

Brett Anderson is expected to miss three to five months of action because of a bulging disc in his back, Dave Roberts said today.

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In case you missed it: Injured pitchers look to regroup

By

On March 2, 2016

In Health/injuries, In case you missed it, Spring Training

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCdXwharEF1/?taken-by=dodgers

By Jon Weisman

Was it the Dodger Insider jinx for Brett Anderson?

Anderson was scheduled for tests on his lower back today, after tweaking it at the end of live batting practice Tuesday (the day he was profiled here), according to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com.

At least temporarily, Anderson becomes one of two 28-year-old lefties on the Dodger sidelines. Hyun-Jin Ryu is taking some extra time between bullpen sessions, reports Gurnick.

“There’s definitely no pain,” Ryu said. “A little typical soreness. I’m very happy and satisfied with the timetable.”

Meanwhile, the Dodgers said that right-hander Josh Ravin is expected to return in eight to 12 weeks following Tuesday’s surgery on his broken left radius.

What else can I tell you?

Andre Ethier slides into third safely during today's situational game.

Andre Ethier slides into third safely during today’s situational game.

  • In a prelude to Thursday’s Cactus League opener, the Dodgers played a situational game in which they fielded two teams and played out all kinds of different batting and fielding scenarios. If you’re curious, I streamed some video of the first inning on Periscope.
  • Clayton Kershaw is expected to go two innings in Thursday’s Spring Training debut, unless he has a particularly long first inning, Dave Roberts said.
  • Dodger hitting coach Turner Ward spoke to Gurnick about Joc Pederson — and to Arizona slugger Paul Goldschmidt about Ward.
  • The balancing act that is Julio Urias’ innings load as he develops into a Major Leaguer is examined by Dylan Hernandez of the Times.
  • Earlier this week, Hernandez spoke to Kershaw, among others, about the state of Yasiel Puig.
  • The Dodgers lead the Major Leagues in players projected to be worth at least one win above replacement this year, according to Jeff Sullivan of Fangraphs.

At 41, Jamey Wright revels in his last chance

By

On March 2, 2016

In Profiles, Spring Training

Los Angeles Dodgers Jamey Wright is introduced to the team

By Jon Weisman

Jamey Wright has a wife, a 12-year-old daughter and two boys — 7 and 9. Wright turned 41 in December, and he’s thrown more than 2,000 innings in the Major Leagues.

With family and Father Time beckoning, the time for Wright to hang up the cleats for good seems pretty obvious.

But it was that wife, and that daughter, and those two boys who told Wright he should try to extend his ballplaying dreams one year longer.

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Normal spring most welcome for Brett Anderson

By

On March 1, 2016

In Profiles

Jill Weisleder/Los Angeles Dodgers

Jill Weisleder/Los Angeles Dodgers

By Jon Weisman

Brett Anderson sat in the chair in front of his locker this morning, his beard a bit longer than it was last year, his outlook a bit more relaxed.

Anderson won’t deny he was tiring by the end of 2015. His 3.69 ERA in a career-high 180 1/3 innings was a physical triumph for a pitcher who had been limited by injuries to 123 innings over the previous three seasons. But that came with a ton of energy dedicated to just making it to the finish line.

Health, or the lack thereof, has been the prologue to practically every Brett Anderson story for years. The big ones — Tommy John surgery and a bulging disc in his back — made the most ambles into the preamble. It was always something, but maybe that’s about to change.

Following last year’s success, Anderson was able to dedicate his winter more to prehab than rehab. To taking a step forward, as opposed to just hanging on.

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Josh Ravin breaks left forearm in car accident

By

On March 1, 2016

In Health/injuries, Spring Training

Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers

By Jon Weisman

Right-handed pitcher Josh Ravin is having surgery today on his left radius (forearm) after being injured in a car accident Monday night. The victim of that accident can click for more info.

He may experience chronic pain and would benefit from consulting a CHRONIC PAIN doctor to help manage his recovery and ensure a full and healthy return to the mound. The Sweet Lawyers – personal injury lawyers can also be of help in such cases.

The good news is that Ravin, who pitched 9 1/3 innings for the Dodgers last year while spending most of 2015 with Oklahoma City, is otherwise unharmed.

In other news this morning:

  • Yaisel Sierra is cleared to work out and was scheduled to throw today and go through drills with the pitchers. Dave Roberts said the Dodgers plan to treat him as a reliever this spring. “That’s the nice thing in a sense,” Roberts said. “We’re not too worried about stretching him out.”
  • You could also get reports on accidents with the help of Accident Reports MD.
  • Justin Turner is eager to go full bore, but is “trusting the process, trusting the coaching staff,” Roberts said. It is better to find out here through a lawyer and know what to do next.
  • Adrian Gonzalez is on a regular workout schedule, and his neck is not an issue at this moment. “Today we talked, and he feels good,” Roberts said. “That’s just something early on in spring, if there’s something that comes up we want to identify it and take that day (off) early.” When it comes to injury cases, the Vukelja & dePaula lawyers help get legal aid.

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Attendance

1991-2013
Dodgers at home: 1,028-812 (.558695)
When Jon attended: 338-267 (.558677)*
When Jon didn’t: 695-554 (.556)
* includes road games attended

2013
Dodgers at home: 51-35 (.593)
When Jon attended: 5-2 (.714)
When Jon didn’t: 46-33 (.582)

Note: I got so busy working for the Dodgers that in 2014, I stopped keeping track, much to my regret. 

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