Will the 2015 NL Cy Young Award winner please turn around? Next week, you say? (Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers)
By Jon Weisman
To the surprise of no one I imagine, Zack Greinke, Clayton Kershaw and Jake Arrieta have been officially announced as the three finalists for the National League Cy Young Award, in what is one of the closest three-way award races in MLB history.
Zack Greinke wins NL Outstanding Pitcher Award after posting 1.66 ERA and 0.84 WHIP. #PlayersChoiceAwards15 pic.twitter.com/hgPB9F4QZX
— MLB (@MLB) November 10, 2015
By Jon Weisman
In a vote by his fellow big-league players, Zack Greinke won the 2015 MLB Players Choice Award as the National League’s most outstanding pitcher.
Greinke is also a leading contender for the NL Cy Young Award. Finalists for that honor will be announced Tuesday.
The Players Choice Awards are held by the MLB Players Association. Clayton Kershaw won the NL outstanding pitcher honor in 2011, 2013 and 2014.
Tommy Lasorda, who is not interviewing for the Dodger managerial opening, speaks with Andrew Friedman in August. (Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers)
By Jon Weisman
OK, so the Dodgers have no new manager or head trainer yet, no new free-agent signings or trades to announce, nothing locked down for the coaching staff.
But with the MLB General Managers meetings underway today through Thursday, Dodger president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman spoke to reporters to provide an offseason update. Here’s a sample of what was said …
By Jon Weisman
Zack Greinke, Brett Anderson and Howie Kendrick received from the Dodgers one-year qualifying offers, the meaning of which is explained by Ken Gurnick of MLB.com.
The players — who are free to sign with other clubs beginning Friday at 9:01 p.m. PT — have until Nov. 13 to accept the offer, binding them to the club for only the 2016 season at a salary of $15.8 million. No player has accepted a qualifying offer since it was implemented as part of the free-agency system in 2011.
If the players reject the offer and sign with another club, the Dodgers would receive a compensation draft pick after the first round. The players still can re-sign with the Dodgers.
In addition, the Dodgers announced that outfielders Chris Heisey and Justin Ruggiano have elected to become free agents, and that the team has declined the club options on Bronson Arroyo, Joel Peralta and Chase Utley.
Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers
By Jon Weisman
Zack Greinke was named a 2015 National League All-Star by The Sporting News and a finalist for the Gold Glove Award by Rawlings.
First baseman Adrian Gonzalez is the Dodgers’ other Gold Glove finalist, competing against San Francisco’s Brandon Belt and Arizona’s Paul Goldschmidt. Gonzalez is a four-time Gold Glove winner, including 2014.
Greinke, who led the Major Leagues in adjusted ERA and WHIP, also finished fourth in the balloting for Sporting News MLB Player of the Year, behind Toronto’s Josh Donaldson, Washington’s Bryce Harper and Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta, who had 43 votes to Greinke’s 40.
Joc Pederson tied Chicago’s Kyle Schwarber for fourth in the vote for Sporting News NL Rookie of the Year, after the Cubs’ Kris Bryant, San Francisco’s Matt Duffy and Pittsburgh’s Jung Ho Kang.
Andre Ethier was fifth in the Sporting News balloting for NL Comeback Player of the Year, won by Mets pitcher Matt Harvey.
Arrieta and Pittsburgh’s Gerrit Cole are the other NL pitcher finalists for the Gold Glove, which Greinke previously won last year.
Gold Glove selection and voting criteria can be found here.
Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers
By Jon Weisman
It was a brutal, bloody game of King of the Mountain, a struggle, a scrambling boulder climb between two foes, toe-to-toe, claw to claw, slipping and soaring.
The clock ticked, baseball’s clock of outs counting down in its own unique measure. And when the final one drained away, one team stood.
The New York Mets will advance to play the Chicago Cubs in the National League Championship Series, having beaten back the Dodgers to win the deciding Game 5 of the National League Division Series, 3-2.
[mlbvideo id=”31149579″ width=”550″ height=”308″ /]
By Jon Weisman
It has been just under two years since fans came to Dodger Stadium knowing that their team had to win or the season would end. The starting pitcher that day, as it will be today (only with more hair), was Zack Greinke.
With the Dodgers having lost three of their first four games to the Cardinals in the National League Championship Series, Greinke took the mound on October 16, 2013 and pitched seven innings of two-run ball in a 6-4 Dodger victory.
In fact, the pitcher who threw out the ceremonial first pitch that day will do so again tonight: 1988 playoff hero Orel Hershiser.
By Jon Weisman
No, you don’t exactly expect Zack Greinke to go into hysterics over pitching in the deciding game of a playoff series.
By Jon Weisman
Yasmani Grandal catches most Zack Greinke starts, as well as most games against right-handed pitching, but his ailing shoulder might keep him doing so Thursday in Game 5 of the National League Division Series.
Don Mattingly said that Grandal is able to play defensively, but it’s a question whether he can bat effectively, saying that Grandal is “a bit more on the 50-50 line” about whether he could start.
Howie Kendrick slides safely into home ahead of the tag by the Mets’ Travis d’Arnaud.
By Jon Weisman
The Dodgers went nearly 16 innings without the lead in their National League Division Series showdown with the Mets, and though their deficit was only a run entering the bottom of the seventh inning tonight, that run seemed like a mountain to climb.
After allowing solo home runs to Yoenis Cespedes and Michael Conforto in the second inning, Zack Greinke did wonder if the Dodgers would scale the summit, as they ultimately did in a 5-2 victory.
By Jon Weisman
For nearly seven innings, it was another nail-biting pitchers’ duel, a rush of speed chess with the Dodgers again one move behind.
And then, the Dodgers flipped the board, suddenly and violently.
A four-run inning, lit aflame by Chase Utley’s takeout slide of Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada at second base, lifted the Dodgers to a 5-2 victory in Game 2 of the National League Division Series, evening the matchup at one win apiece.
Tejada suffered a broken right fibula on the play, which we discuss at length in a separate story.
Clayton Kershaw will start Game 1 of the National League Division Series against the Mets on Friday, the Dodgers have announced, followed by Zack Greinke in Game 2 on Saturday and Brett Anderson in Game 3 at New York on Monday.
Kershaw is scheduled to face Jacob deGrom, with Greinke going against Noah Syndergaard and Anderson against Matt Harvey.
Much is known about Kershaw and Greinke, but Anderson is not a newcomer to the playoffs either. He will be making his third postseason appearance and second postseason start. In Game 3 of the 2012 NLDS, Anderson pitched six shutout innings for Oakland against Detroit. In 2015, Anderson had a 3.07 ERA and 1.30 WHIP in 15 road starts.
— Jon Weisman
Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers
By Jon Weisman
Jake Arrieta pitched six more shutout innings tonight for the Cubs, lowering his ERA this season to 1.77. Zack Greinke is still in the driver’s seat to lock up the Major League ERA title when he starts Saturday for the Dodgers, but there is suspense.
If Greinke …
Andrew Friedman gets a champagne bath after the NL West clinch Tuesday.
By Jon Weisman
This afternoon to reporters, Don Mattingly disclosed some of the Dodgers’ pitching plans for the final five games of the regular season.
Thursday starter Brett Anderson might have a scheduled shortened start, and the same goes for Clayton Kershaw on Monday. By all appearances the Dodgers’ National League Division Series Game 1 starter on October 9, Kershaw will be on four days’ rest when the playoffs begin, so the Dodgers don’t need to skip him entirely. But it’s not like he’s going to be going the distance or anything, even if it means the difference between getting 300 strikeouts for the year or not.
NL West champs! Yeah, Baby! pic.twitter.com/XZxTDbeD8k
— MLB GIFS (@MLBGIFs) September 30, 2015
Congratulations to Zack Greinke, who today was named the winner of the 10th annual Roy Campanella Award, given to the Dodger player who best exemplifies the Hall of Famer’s spirit and leadership. Campanella’s daughter, Joni Campanella Roan, will present the award during pregame ceremonies Sunday.
Previous winners are Rafael Furcal (2006), Russell Martin (2007), James Loney (2008), Juan Pierre (2009), Jamey Carroll (2010), Matt Kemp (2011), A.J. Ellis (2012) and Clayton Kershaw (2013 and 2014).
— Jon Weisman
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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