For more images from today, visit the Dodgers Photog Blog.
By Jon Weisman
Let’s recap the first Saturday of Spring Training …
Author: Jon Weisman (Page 77 of 379)
For more photos from today, visit the Dodgers Photog Blog.
By Jon Weisman
Hey! It’s that day!
With today’s “pitchers and catchers reporting” day arriving, it’s time to bring back our regular roundup of relevant news on the Dodgers and baseball. Here’s what’s percolating on the Camelback campus …
- Hyun-Jin Ryu, pictured above with Kenta Maeda, had a 35-pitch bullpen session Thursday. He is expected to pitch in the Cactus League but is not being rushed to be ready for the opening of the regular season, wrote Andy McCullough of the Times in his roundup.
- Maeda, who met with a gaggle of reporters this morning, has thrown two bullpen sessions already and all is normal, according to Bill Plunkett of the Register.
- Yasmani Grandal is under no limitations now that his left shoulder has healed from surgery, according to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com.
- Andre Ethier’s jersey is being retired by Arizona State tonight. Ethier and his wife Maggie were both already inducted into the Sun Devil Athletics Hall of Fame in 2014.
- Frankie Montas’ stress fracture in rib “was less severe than thoracic outlet syndrome,” notes Alanna Rizzo of SportsNet LA. Montas broached it with Dodger trainers last month after it persisted, Rizzo said.
- On a brighter side, Rizzo added that Justin Turner has “hit every checkpoint” in his recovery from microfracture surgery.
- Trayce Thompson watched his brother Klay at the NBA All-Star Game on Sunday, then went to Arizona on Monday, according to Doug Padilla of ESPN. (Update: Padilla has more on Grandal here.)
- Fellow White Sox emigré Micah Johnson needed a few stitches after cutting his hand while slicing an avocado, and will need a few days to heal, reported Plunkett. For his part, Johnson tweeted that he had “the last laugh.”
- Andrew Friedman has taken to calling Dave Roberts “Doc,” according to Eric Stephen of True Blue L.A. For you trivia buffs, the new Doc Roberts was born almost exactly 75 years after “Fiddlin'” Doc Roberts.
- The Uribear, Juan Uribe, has agreed to a one-year contract with the Indians.
- Tony Phillips, who seemed perpetually underrated to me, has passed away all too soon at age 56, as chronicled by Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle.
- And one more item from Thursday: Brandon McCarthy took Clayton Kershaw to task for misunderstanding the fundamentals of offseason training. But it’s possible there’s been a misunderstanding …
Sir Tim Clark, president of Emirates Airline, and Dodger president Stan Kasten pose with Emirates staff this morning. (Ben Platt/MLB.com)
By Jon Weisman
It’s a sign of the growing international popularity of baseball in general and the Dodgers in particular that Emirates has become the official airline sponsor of the Dodgers.
In fact, Adrian Gonzalez will be among a contingent of Dodgers visiting Emirates’ home base (or plate) in Dubai at a future date to lead a baseball clinic associated with the local Little League, whose travel teams themselves will be renamed the Dubai Dodgers.
By Jon Weisman
Vin Scully is scheduled to call four of the 16 Dodger games SportsNet LA will televise during Spring Training, including all three Freeway Series tilts against the Angels.
The SportsNet LA schedule (shown up top) begins with the Cactus League opener March 3 against the White Sox. All four National League West rivals are featured, including two games against the Giants on March 6 and 25. SportsNet LA will air games on every Saturday and Sunday in March.
New addition Joe Davis makes his Spring Training debut March 19 against the Pale Hose, mixing in with Charley Steiner, Rick Monday, Orel Hershiser and Nomar Garciaparra.
Live coverage from Camelback Ranch begins tonight at 7 p.m. with the Spring Training debut of “Access SportsNet: Dodgers,” which will air every weeknight until the regular season, with John Hartung, Alanna Rizzo, Hershiser, Garciaparra, Jerry Hairston Jr. and Ned Colletti on board.
Behind-the-scenes series “Backstage: Dodgers” has its third-season premiere Thursday at 8 p.m.
SportsNet LA, the exclusive 24/7 TV home of the Dodgers, is available on Time Warner Cable, Charter and Bright House Networks. For more information about SportsNet LA or to demand the network from your provider, visit www.sportsnetla.com. You can follow the network on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images
By Jon Weisman
Right-handed reliever Louis Coleman has signed a one-year contract with the Dodgers.
The 6-foot-4 Coleman, who turns 30 on Opening Day, is joining his first new organization since being drafted by the Royals in the fifth round in 2009 out of Louisiana State. He made his MLB debut in 2011, striking out 64 in 59 2/3 innings, and two years later had a 0.61 ERA and 0.84 WHIP in 29 2/3 innings.
Though Coleman’s WHIP basically doubled in 2014, and he pitched only three big-league innings in 2015, he did have a 1.69 ERA with 63 strikeouts in 64 innings for Triple-A Omaha last season.
Coleman joins a group of righty relievers on the 40-man roster that includes Pedro Baez, Joe Blanton, Yimi Garcia, Chris Hatcher, Kenley Jansen and Josh Ravin.
The Dodgers placed LSU fan Brandon McCarthy on the 60-day disabled list to make room for Coleman. McCarthy has been expected to complete his recovery from Tommy John surgery by midseason.
By Jon Weisman
With the Dodgers celebrating their 10 retired numbers in a pin series this year, I was curious who was the last active player to take the field with each of these legends. Here’s what I found:
1 Pee Wee Reese
Ron Fairly, who was 19 when making his debut with the 40-year-old Reese as a teammate on the 1958 “Welcome to Los Angeles” Dodgers, was 40 himself when he played his last big-league game in 1978. Years between Reese’s first game and Fairly’s last: 38
By Jon Weisman
Andre Ethier is the dean of Dodger position players, but Adrian Gonzalez is about to enter his fifth calendar year as the Dodger first baseman, and it’s showing on the franchise leaderboards for his position.
Gonzalez is essentially the fourth-most prolific first baseman in Dodger history, which isn’t breaking news, but is still impressive for someone who joined the Dodgers after his 30th birthday …
Jose De Leon
By Jon Weisman
As the combined raves by MLB.com, ESPN’s Keith Law, Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus made the Dodgers’ the consensus No. 1 farm system in baseball, revelry naturally abounded among the online Dodger fanbase. But just as inevitably came the backtalk.
“So what — they still haven’t won a World Series.”
I get that this is sort of the natural response to any piece of good news that isn’t the good news. And I also get that some would trade the current minor-league glory for Cole Hamels or a player to be named earlier.
But if you’re vexed that the Dodgers haven’t won a World Series since “ALF” was primetime’s most watched show on Mondays, then you know what? It’s still time to be happy that the Dodger system is the tops.
By Jon Weisman
ESPN prospect analyst Keith Law ranked the Dodger farm system second in MLB, thanks in no small part to the appearance of seven prospects in his top 100 list that was released today.
As has been their custom, Corey Seager and Julio Urias landed in Law’s top five, with Seager claiming the top spot previously held by Minnesota’s Byron Buxton. They are the only Dodgers in Law’s top 50. However, there are five in the next half-hundred: Alex Verdugo (51), Jose De Leon (60), Grant Holmes (71), Yusniel Diaz (79), the Cuban emigré whose signing hasn’t been officially announced by the Dodgers, and Cody Bellinger (92).
Christian Petersen/Getty Images
By Jon Weisman
Ex-San Francisco infielder Brandon Hicks has become the 21st player to receive a non-roster invitation to the Dodgers’ big-league Spring Training camp.
After missing the first half of the 2015 season with an injury, Hicks had a .308 on-base percentage and slugged .326 for Triple-A Sacramento last year. Robert Avery of the Pasadena (Texas) Citizen recapped the Houston native’s year, which included this highlight.
… On July 23, playing second base against El Paso, Hicks was involved in a play that River Cat officials say was the greatest play of the entire season.
First baseman Adam Duvall attempted to backhand a hard-hit grounder that careened off his glove and sailed into the air. That’s when Hicks entered the picture. He grabbed the ball bare-handed and on the run, spun and fired to first base where pitcher Brett Bochy was waiting, getting the runner by a split second. …
By Jon Weisman
It’s warm in Los Angeles. Spring Training warm. Some might even say it’s hot. Regular-season hot.
We’ve still got some El Nino-style rain ahead of us, believe it or not, and the official home opener at Dodger Stadium is nine weeks away. But it’s hard to ignore that you step outside today and it’s feeling like … baseball.
That’s good, right?
Kenta Maeda brings a 2.39 career ERA from Japan to MLB. (Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers)
By Jon Weisman
Almost notoriously, the Dodgers used 16 starting pitchers in 2015. But in one sense, that’s a little misleading.
You could organize them this way:
- No. 1 starter: Clayton Kershaw (33 starts)
- No. 2 starter: Zack Greinke (32 starts)
- No. 3 starter: Brett Anderson (31 starts)
- No. 4 starter: Mike Bolsinger and Alex Wood (33 starts)
- No. 5 starter: Carlos Frias, Mat Latos, Brandon McCarthy, Scott Baker, Joe Wieland, Brandon Beachy, Juan Nicasio, Eric Surkamp, Ian Thomas, David Huff, Zach Lee (33 starts)
Overall, this is a reasonable way to look at the five slots of the 2015 rotation, though I’m taking some small liberties here.
- A few of the starts from the No. 5 group were spot starts for one of the first four. Bolsinger, for example, didn’t make his first start until April 23, one turn after Huff got his first shot.
- Relief pitchers Yimi Garcia and Juan Nicasio technically started games before being followed in long relief by Surkamp and Thomas, but I’m counting the latter two as the de facto starting pitchers.
With those caveats, here’s the performance of each slot of the rotation last year:
Corey Seager feeds Howie Kendrick to retire Curtis Granderson and start a double play in the first inning of Game 2 of the 2015 National League Division Series. (Patrick Gee/Los Angeles Dodgers)
By Jon Weisman
Howie Kendrick will go from playing alongside 16-year veteran Jimmy Rollins in 2015 to 27-game veteran Corey Seager in 2016.
But Kendrick isn’t worried about the adjustment period this year, any more than he was when he and Rollins joined the Dodgers last year.
“It’s just gonna be one of those things of just getting a feel for how (Seager) plays,” Kendrick said today in a conference call with reporters. “I played with him a little bit toward the end when I came back after I was hurt, and Seager’s a great guy.”
Kendrick wasn’t surprised, having come across Seager’s older brother Kyle many a time when Kendrick was with the Angels.
“I really like his brother,” Kendrick said. “Kyle’s an awesome guy. … Then once I got around Corey, I was like, ‘Man, it must just run in the family,’ because both of those guys are really awesome people, let alone as players. His demeanor as a player is really calm — you don’t see him get upset too much. He has a confidence about him when he gets out on the field. Out on defense or even in the locker room or in the dugout, that’s going to be huge, because you’ll be able to talk to him.
“We’re gonna make mistakes. Hopefully he’ll ask me questions, and I can give him as much info as I possibly can. I’m always open to helping guys out, and you never know, I might learn something from him, too.”
Welcome back, Howie!
Today the #Dodgers announced the signing of Howie Kendrick to a two-year contract. pic.twitter.com/tMgRtHGtk7
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) February 4, 2016
By Jon Weisman
The Dodgers’ lineup might be defined less by the absence of a traditional leadoff hitter than by the absence of a traditional No. 8 hitter.
Of their eight most likely 2016 position-player starters — and we’ll count newly resigned second baseman Howie Kendrick among them — none has a projected on-base percentage below .311, nor a weighted on-base average below .319.
In 2016, according to Fangraphs, the average No. 8 hitter in the National League had a .302 OBP and .283 wOBA.
By Jon Weisman
If the Dodgers were prepared to move into the 2016 season without Howie Kendrick, it’s also clear how happy they should be that he’s coming back.
The 32-year-old second baseman has signed a two-year contract to reunite with the Dodgers, whom he provided a .336 on-base percentage and 109 weighted runs created last season.
The immediate impression is that Kendrick is the player who solidifies the Dodger infield. His return frees Chase Utley to spend more time supporting Justin Turner at third base and Kiké Hernandez to roam around the field as he did in 2015. Kendrick himself might dabble in the hot corner.
Though Opening Day is nearly nine weeks away, and Spring Training and injuries will certainly shuffle the deck, here’s how the Dodger roster of position players currently shapes up:
- Catchers: A.J. Ellis, Yasmani Grandal
- Infielders: Adrian Gonzalez, Howie Kendrick, Corey Seager, Justin Turner, Chase Utley
- Infielder-outfielders: Alex Guerrero, Kiké Hernandez, Scott Van Slyke
- Outfielders: Carl Crawford, Andre Ethier, Joc Pederson, Yasiel Puig
- In the wings: Austin Barnes, Micah Johnson, Trayce Thompson, plus the non-roster invitees
An above-average player for each of the past five years, Kendrick is a nice one to say hello to again.
