As advertised, my Reddit chat on the Dodgers took place Friday. It was a lot of fun for me — I always like to hear (or see) myself talk — and we covered a lot of ground. This format brings out the best in me, since I’m better at typing than speaking extemporaneously. And I enjoyed the questions.
A few highlights:
This writeup appeared alongside many others in my new newsletter, Slayed by Voices. I still want to share Dodger news here, but if you’ve enjoyed my writing in the past, this is the focus of my attention now. Please check it out, share and subscribe.
In 2022, the Dodgers’ Marvelous Mookie Betts won the Gold Glove Award for National League right fielders, the sixth time in the past seven seasons he has won that honor as an outfielder.
Betts is also the only current Dodger outfielder guaranteed a starting spot in 2023. With Cody Bellinger gone and Chris Taylor coming off a terrible season, left and center field are currently wide open for contention among Taylor, Trayce Thompson and prospect James Outman. All three have potential for 2023, but none represents a comfortable choice for either job.
Nevertheless, with the Dodgers emerging as a not-quite-longshot to sign Aaron Judge, the 2022 American League Most Valuable Player who blasted 62 home runs, a weird line of thinking has arisen among some fans and media that in order to make room for Judge in the outfield, the Dodgers might move Betts to second base.
If you follow the Dodgers during the baseball season but lose track of them during the offseason, this conversation probably comes out of left fi— well, out of nowhere.
It’s true that like Betts, Judge is best suited for right field. It’s also true that Betts started five games at second base last year and has 25 starts there in his major-league career (out of 1,069 regular season games).
Some also argue that as Betts gets older (he turned 30 in October), a move away from the outfield would be easier on his legs, though I don’t see how all the start-stop, back-and-forth movement of the infield and the peril of turning the double play in the face of an oncoming runner isn’t as rough as gliding along in the outfield.
Regardless, none of this justifies moving perhaps the best defensive right fielder in the world from his position, especially when his laser throwing arm would be wasted at second base. And that’s especially true when you consider that:
Nevertheless, someone got this Betts-to-infield premise and ran with it, logic be damned. If you hear more about it, just know that it’s as crazy as it sounds.
In the land of Los Dodgers today, these noteworthy things happened. The Dodgers extended qualifying offers to All-Stars Trea Turner and Tyler Anderson — which is a guaranteed contract for 2023 at S19,650,000 (and not a dollar more). They did not extend such an offer to Clayton Kershaw. And finally, they paid Justin Turner a $2 million buyout so that they wouldn’t have to pay him $16 million for next season.
If you think that means Trea and Tyler are locks to be in Los Angeles next year while Clayton and Justin aren’t … well, let’s turn to our friend George again.
Major League Baseball can be pretty confusing if you aren’t in sync with its rhythms, so here’s why the moves above might mean the opposite of what they seem to signify.
Slayed by Voices, my Substack newsletter dedicated to a deep dive into a single song, is getting a makeover.
I am expanding the site to a wide variety of topics that are of interest to me that I hope will be of interest to you — at least, that’s the way it’s worked on Dodger Thoughts before. You can check out the first two new posts here and here. It basically takes my approach to the Dodgers and applies it to any number of topics (including the Dodgers, but so much more).
At the risk of sailing right into the storm of Newsletter Fatigue, I am planning to charge $5 per month for a subscription. That’s why Slayed is at Substack and not here. The project breaks my 20-year history of blogging for free, but you know … it’s almost free. I’ll probably introduce a discount for an annual subscription.
You guys are my core audience, and I really, really hope you’ll join me in this new endeavor. I truly think it will be rewarding. Please check out a post and click a subscribe link — it’s free for now, after all — and please share with anyone you can. I’d be so grateful.
Just had this thought and I’m still pondering it, but it occurs to me that my approach to the Dodgers and life is like Ted Lasso’s approach to coaching and life. It’s a pretty fundamental need to find and share happiness amid all the chaos.
Maybe a few minutes after my wife and I made it home from four days of travel and a subsequent fast fast-food run nearing sundown Tuesday, I turned on the Dodger game. Though I had kept up with the Dodgers while I was away, only in the final moments before this game did I realize that Clayton Kershaw would be pitching.
Because this site has the word “Dodger” in the title, I should probably take some time on this anniversary day to write, you know, about the Dodgers.
By the way, let’s be clear. As an adjective, it’s “Dodger,” not “Dodgers.” One rolls off the tongue, and the other doesn’t. Vin Scully didn’t say, “It’s time for Dodgers baseball,” and neither should you in any similar situation.
Moving on … and taking a cue from my second post at Dodger Thoughts, let’s look at the state of things on July 21, 2022.
I did get comfortable.
In a stream-of-consciousness sense, I found myself wondering who I’m doing these anniversary posts for — you all, or me. And in the next thought, I realized that’s exactly the dueling mindset I was in when I started the site.
If readers like what I write, great. But if they don’t, hopefully I will.
I’ve been healthier in expressing myself at this place than anywhere else, regardless of the audience. I’ve been my best friend here. I can’t always say that elsewhere.
At the same time, that audience — and more specifically, the community that formed around Dodger Thoughts in the Baseball Toaster days — was more rewarding than I can say. Having readers was great. Bringing people together and forming bonds was beyond great.
So, that’s a relatively short way of explaining why I’m celebrating this anniversary even when I haven’t been writing much here lately. July 21, 2002 remains a life-changing day for me.
It might surprise you. It still surprises me. But four years after I wrote it, it gets at least 500 hits a week.
My second post ever on Dodger Thoughts was a State of the Union dated July 22, 2002 — and boy, what a trip down memory lane that is. Let’s put it through the Excerptatron 4000.
I can’t remember if I wrote this here or only on Twitter, but it’s been clear from the day the Dodgers won the 2020 World Series that thankfully, my angst over the team has diminished like — well, like the water supply in California.
It doesn’t hurt that they’ve continued to win about two-thirds of their games since then. I can’t say I wasn’t disappointed that the Dodgers won 106 games in 2021 but lost their streak of division titles at eight. I can’t say that I wouldn’t have been annoyed if last year they had lost the NL Wild Card Game or the playoff series against the Giants. But I will say that as much as I wanted them to beat Atlanta and reach the World Series, I got over that defeat instantaneously.
Honestly, my No. 1, prime interest with the Dodgers is Clayton Kershaw.
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.
Thank You For Not ...
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