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By Jon Weisman
Today, the opening day of the new signing period for international players not subject to the MLB draft, the Dodgers announced the following signings, led by the most highly regarded pitcher in the market …
By Jon Weisman
We’ll have a complete roundup on today’s Dodger international signings later, but in the meantime, there’s a minor-league trade to annouance.
The Dodgers picked up right-handed pitcher Chase DeJong and infielder Tim Locastro from Toronto in exchange for three international signing slots: 27, 57 and 117. DeJong and Locastro have been assigned to Single-A Rancho Cucamonga.
The 21-year-old DeJong, a native of Long Beach, had a 3.13 ERA, a .231 opponents’ batting average and a 1.08 WHIP in 14 starts this year for Single-A Lansing. Locastro, who turns 23 this month, has a .409 on-base percentage while slugging .421 for Lansing. His career OBP in three pro seasons is .399.
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By Cary Osborne
In the June edition of Dodger Insider magazine, we profiled outfield prospect Scott Schebler. The theme of the story was how Schebler was a notoriously slow starter who takes off once the summer months hit.
When the story was written, Schebler’s numbers were subpar. The No. 8 prospect in the system, added in the offseason to the Dodgers’ 40-man roster, was hitting .208/.299/.377 for Triple-A Oklahoma City entering June with six doubles, one triple, six home runs and 14 RBI.
Then June arrived, and true to form, Schebler turned it on. The 24-year-old was one of the best hitters in the Dodger chain last month. He batted .321/.389/.595 with four doubles, five triples, three home runs and 17 RBI.
A year after leading the Double-A Southern League in triples and home runs, Schebler ranks tied for second in the Pacific Coast League in triples. He is mere percentage points from Corey Seager’s OPS in OKC (.780 to Seager’s .783).
We talked to Dodger director of player development Gabe Kapler about Schebler this week, who said, in reality, Schebler’s early swoon was less that met the eye.
“Scheb all along was performing well. He just wasn’t having a lot of luck,” Kapler said. “He was striking the ball with real authority. He was doing a good job from a number of perspectives. He just wasn’t showing the results in the traditional counting numbers. Now you’re starting to see that. A lot of that is completely out of your control. Scheb’s actually been doing a good job all the way through.”
Here’s more from the past week in minor-league action …
By Robert Tagorda
If every team has a weakness, then the Achilles’ heel for the Dodgers can be found in their legs. Halfway through the season, they rank last in the majors with 14 stolen bases — three times fewer than the average team and over five times below the league-leading Reds. They’ve also been caught stealing more often than they’ve succeeded. In fact, they’re the only team with a stolen base percentage under 50 percent.
These statistics seem damning, especially when compared to last year’s results, which saw the Dodgers atop the majors with 138 steals. But we need to frame the issue in the proper context before searching for solutions.
By Jon Weisman
With neither Mike Bolsinger nor Carlos Frias having reached six innings in a game since June 8-9, the Dodgers are prepared to separate them in the starting rotation so that the innings don’t pile up on the bullpen, Don Mattingly told reporters today.
The split wouldn’t happen until after the All-Star Break, Mattingly said, adding that Frias, who was reportedly suffering from back tightness during his 98-pitch, five-inning outing Tuesday, is expected to make his next start. Either Frias or Bolsinger would go in between Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke.
After the All-Star Break is also when the Dodgers could be close to bringing Brandon Beachy into the starting rotation. Beachy, who is taking the mound for Oklahoma City in a rehab start as I write this, could have his rehab process complete by then. Entering tonight’s game, he had allowed one run on three hits and four walks in six Triple-A innings, with five strikeouts.
Each Dodger starting pitcher after tonight has two starts left before the break. That would set up Kershaw to take the first start of the second half (July 17 at Washington). Moving the No. 4 or 5 starter after Kershaw would put Greinke in the July 19 game. Of course, with Greinke a lock to get an All-Star invite and Kershaw a strong candidate, the Midsummer Classic would factor into any planning.
Relief pitcher Brandon League has completed his rehab and will come to Los Angeles, where a decision will be made on how he fits in, according to Mattingly.
Among the many special events and theme games this season at Dodger Stadium is Jewish Community Day on August 30, when the Dodgers play the Cubs. In addition to the Dodger headphones giveaway that day for the first 40,000 fans in attendance, those who purchase special tickets for Jewish Community Day will also receive a commemorative Dodgers in Hebrew T-shirt.
Visit dodgers.com/jewish for details. You must purchase through this link to receive the T-shirt.
— Jon Weisman
By Jon Weisman
Dodger fans anxious about their first-place team? It’s a time-honored tradition.
By Jon Weisman
Where did all your Dodgers come from?
As the cover of July’s Dodger Insider magazine shows, we connect the past to the present and the west to the east, in a special 17-page section that details the birthplaces of Dodger players great and small, state-by-state. (Don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten our friends from around the world as well.) It’s a rich, diverse geographic history of an indispensable American team.
“A Nation of Dodgers” is one of more than two dozen features in this month’s issue of the official team magazine, including a behind-the-scenes piece on how catchers Yasmani Grandal and A.J. Ellis conquer baseball’s most painful position.
Dodger Insider also revisits the mystery behind the missing ball from Kirk Gibson’s 1988 World Series home run. And, you won’t want to miss Vin Scully talking about his favorite photo at Dodger Stadium.
The July 2015 Dodger Insider magazine is available at all Dodger team stores. To subscribe, visit dodgers.com/magazine. Orders taken through July 10 will begin with the August issue.
Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers
By Jon Weisman
In addition to the usual Friday Night Fireworks that will kick off the Dodgers’ next homestand, Dodger Stadium will host a special 4th of July Fireworks show Saturday.
So as if you needed another reason to attend, with Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke taking the mound for those two games, there you go.
Saturday’s fireworks show will begin at approximately 8:45 p.m. and is presented by Cirque du Solieil (which will bring its upcoming touring show, “KURIOS — Cabinet of Curiosities” to Dodger Stadium on December 10).
With the Dodgers’ game against the Mets on Saturday beginning at 4:15 p.m., there will be a musical program featuring the USO Show Troupe between the end of the game and the start of the fireworks.
The series with the Mets concludes Sunday with a double dose of pregame activity: Photo Day, when fans can take photos of their favorite Dodgers on the field prior to the game, and Viva Los Dodgers (presented by State Farm and Time Warner Cable), located at the historic 76 station. Viva begins at 11 a.m. and will feature photos with Dodger broadcaster Fernando Valenzuela.
By Jon Weisman
You know Adrian Gonzalez had a great start to 2015. You know he has had a great career.
But do you really appreciate how high Gonzalez is rising among the best first basemen in the history of the game?
Answering that question was a main goal of Cary Osborne’s Dodger Insider feature, which was our May cover story and is now the latest in our new series of online specials.
What we found might surprise you: Gonzalez is already a top-40 first baseman all-time, and aside from Eddie Murray and (for now) Gil Hodges, he is well positioned to finish his career as the greatest first baseman to spend any significant time in a Dodger uniform. But read the entire story to get the details.
Our inaugural special, “Inside the #RallyBanana,” can be accessed here, our “Meet the Originals” package on the 50th anniversary of the MLB draft can be found here and our “What Wood You Do” bat feature can be found here.
Oyster Burns (Brooklyn, 1888-1895)
By Jon Weisman
How unlikely was the Dodger bullpen meltdown in Monday’s 10-6 loss to Arizona?
That all blew up in the same game, ending the Dodgers’ 26-game winning streak when scoring at least six runs, wasting the fourth-inning home runs by Yasmani Grandal, Andre Ethier and Joc Pederson.
And the Dodgers took it hard.
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By Jon Weisman
Sandwiching a home run in the same inning by Yasmani Grandal, Dodger outfielders Andre Ethier and Joc Pederson each hit fourth-inning blasts that made a bit of history tonight in Arizona.
Pederson’s home run, which almost predictably came after a first-inning walk and third-inning strikeout, was his 20th of the season, making him the first Dodger since Gary Sheffield in 2000 and fourth in Los Angeles Dodger history to have at least 20 homers and 50 walks before the All-Star Break.
The 23-year-old rookie is only the eighth Dodger rooke ever to have 20 homers in an entire season.
Joc Pederson with a 461-foot HR.
Pederson has 7 HR in June with an average distance of 450.3 feet. pic.twitter.com/AHUIlaEm6f
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 30, 2015
As my colleague Cary Osborne informed me last week, Pederson is ahead of the pace needed to become the first rookie in MLB history with at least 40 homers and 100 walks. Al Rosen came closest in 1957 with Cleveland, homering 37 times and walking 100.
Only two National League rookies have hit more homers before July 1 than Pederson: Wally Berger (22, 1930, Boston Braves) and Albert Pujols (21, 2001, St. Louis Cardinals).
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But let’s not forget Ethier. His home run was the 155th of his career, which the Dodgers’ public relations department noted put him in sole possession of ninth place on the Los Angeles Dodgers’ all-time list, ahead of Willie Davis.
It also gave the Dodgers six players with at least 10 homers before the All-Star Break for the first time since 1979, which admittedly was a team that finished the first half of the season in last place. Grandal, who hit his 11th home run, is one of those six players.
By Jon Weisman
Carl Crawford, who has been sidelined since April 27 with a right oblique injury, is scheduled to begin a rehab assignment with three games at Single-A Rancho Cucamonga beginning Tuesday, Don Mattingly told reporters today.
Crawford is then expected to move on to extend that assignment at Triple-A Oklahoma City, while the Dodgers return home for their 10-game homestand that precedes the All-Star Break.
The 33-year-old has a .260 on-base percentage and .408 slugging percentage in 50 plate appearances before the injury. That .668 on-base percentage nearly matches the .684 OPS he had in the first half of 2014, a figure that declined to .601 through August 9 last year.
From August 10 through the end of the 2014 regular season, Crawford turned things around 540 degrees (yeah, that much!), with a .463 OBP and .606 slugging in his final 135 plate appearances.
Juan Ocampo/Los Angeles Dodgers
By Jon Weisman
In the final All-Star Game balloting update before the results are announced July 5, no Dodger is within more than 2.4 million votes of a starting spot — but there is still some intrigue.
Although Bryce Harper returned to play Sunday for Washington after a brief absence, the next three National League vote leaders in the outfield — Giancarlo Stanton, Matt Holliday and Nori Aoki– are on the disabled list. If none of those three are able to play in the game, Dodger center fielder Joc Pederson, in sixth place with a 330,000-vote lead over Jason Heyward, would be in line to start. To bet on any NL games, sites like slot dolar138 are up and running.
NL All-Star manager Bruce Bochy of the Giants will make the decision on who starts in place of any injured players, but fan balloting should be a factor in his selection (along with, perhaps, the presence of Dodger manager Don Mattingly as one of his coaches, not to mention the fact that the Dodgers have let the NL West most of this season).
In any case: Your votes still matter.
You can read more about the selection process here. Vote up to 35 times until the July 2 deadline. Here’s a direct link to the ballot.
Earlier today on Fangraphs, Dave Cameron explained why he’d select Pederson to start and add Yasmani Grandal, Adrian Gonzalez, Justin Turner, Zack Greinke, Clayton Kershaw and Kenley Jansen as reserves.
The starting position players for the 2015 All-Star Game will be announced Sunday at 4:30 p.m. Pacific on ESPN, with the reserves named the following night (July 6) at 4 p.m. Pacific on ESPN. Pitchers and reserves are determined through a combination of player ballot choices and managerial selections.
The All-Star Game Final Vote for the 34th spot on each team’s roster will then begin, continuing through July 10.
Current vote totals appear below:
By Jon Weisman
In the history of the Dodgers, only one time has a pitcher had a better ERA in the first half of a season than Zack Greinke’s 1.58 with the Dodgers today.
That pitcher was Don Drysdale, the year of his record streak of 58 consecutive scoreless innings. Drysdale had a 1.37 ERA before the All-Star Break, before finishing the year at 2.15.
If Greinke, who extended his own scoreless innings streak to 20 2/3 innings in the Dodgers’ 2-0 victory Sunday over Miami, can maintain his current ERA over what figure to be his two remaining starts before the All-Star Break, it would only be the 15th time in the past 50 years that any MLB starting pitcher has had an ERA below 1.60 at the break (minimum 75 innings).
If you really want to get ahead of yourself, nine starting pitchers — none of them Dodgers — have finished a season with at least 150 innings and a park/era-adjusted ERA better than Greinke’s today. The best was Pedro Martinez (1.74 ERA, 291 ERA+). Greinke’s current ERA is lower than Martinez’s, but the easier pitching enviroment puts Greinke’s ERA+ at 235.
Don’t expect Greinke to keep his 2015 ERA below Robert Hoover’s grade-point average at Faber College, but it’s still fun to think about.
What happens when three old friends in crisis fall into an unexpected love triangle? In The Catch, Maya, Henry and Daniel embark upon an emotional journey that forces them to confront unresolved pain, present-day traumas and powerful desires, leading them to question the very meaning of love and fulfillment. The Catch tells a tale of ordinary people seeking the extraordinary – or, if that’s asking too much, some damn peace of mind.
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