Dodger Talk

I'd rather have any of those names than the garbage man nonsense we've got behind Kershaw. McCarthy is a journeyman, Ryu is done being a factor, Urias is back down in the minors, Wood is at best a 5th starter on any team. Look at the rotations of the Mets and the Cubs. With the highest payroll in the MLB, we should have something comparable. Leaning on your pen all year is a good way to lose them.

You go ahead and keep plugging with these loser pitchers. We're not winning a title with this pitching staff.

 

I'm not a big Dodgers fan, but this pitching staff is a joke. I have no idea how the prognosticators had them winning the World Series. Didn't they have a shot at Chris Sale a while back and they refused to trade Urias and another prospect? Kershaw and Sale in a playoff series with that bullpen makes you scary as hell.

 

I'm very, very high on Urias but yeah I would probably make that deal. I want to win now. We've got Kershaw, one of the greatest pitchers of all time, in his prime! It's a travesty that we're not putting a team around him capable of winning. The owners of the Dodgers care more about maximizing profit centers than they do winning a title.

 

I can't say that. They are spending money...I think they are just so scared of giving up too much of the farm. But you have a shot right now and Sale for Urias and a couple other prospects would have made the Dodgers insane.

 

They're spending dead money. The concept that the Dodgers would become the Yankees + farm knowledge was a farce. They've got the money they could have bought in consecutive seasons Greinke back, maybe Cueto, maybe Price. You could have broke the bank for them and continued to supplement your farm with savvy moves. Instead they overpaid guys like Kazmir and McCarthy. I know Cueto and Greinke and Price haven't exactly blown people away after their signings, but I'd rather have them than Alex Wood.

When you've got the horses to win the race, go win the race. Worry about what comes next after you win the race.

 

I'm agreeing with you. It's almost like the goal of the franchise is to have the awesome farm system rather than a World Series ring. Then they sign a couple of average to good players for the same price they could have signed a real difference maker. I always go back to what Dr. Buss said to Kobe when he was demanding a trade. It's better to have one giant diamond than a few small ones.

 

Yeah I think their whole thing is "isn't it better to have a farm system that's stacked so we've got a well to go to?"

And my answer is: do both. You have the means to pay for a winner while you also rebuild the farm system and instead they're allocating money in a stupid way. If we're willing to go to 4/48 on McCarthy and 4/48 on Kazmir, just put those together and get a better pitcher. I'd rather have an ace, a good second starter, a decent third, and then a couple crappy 4/5s if we have to. Instead we've got an ace and a group of crappy journeymen.

 

I feel like you almost need two aces. Kershaw MUST win 3 starts in a 7 game series and even then you will still need to grind out a win with a regular season innings-filler at some point. Then consider that Kershaw will only be able to pitch twice in the World series if he wins all 3 in the NLCS...This is a pitching staff built for the regular season to get 90 wins and into the playoffs.

 

You're speaking my language...

I just don't trust this FO to do what needs to be done to win a title. They've never really been all-in on winning. They were supposed to combine the small market sensibility with the big market opportunities in a positive way, but instead we're just "pretty good" and we're never going to be "great".

 

That all could change though if a big time pitcher and someone that can actually hit lefties becomes available at the deadline. They would have the assets to pull off the deals, but would they try? I thought for sure they'd make a run at Ryan Braun this last offseason. Regardless, I'm a Cubs fan since a young age (Dad grew up in the Midwest and forced it on me), but I know more about the Dodgers because of local radio. So if they want to continue to run the team this way and never take an actual shot, it's fine by me.

 

The Dodgers are calling up Urias and Bellinger to save the day already.

Hopefully it works. The offense is stalled. The pitching is bad.

Not good so far.

 

I've watched as many games I could and this Bellinger kid is real. He makes quick adjustments, he's smart, he's more athletic than you'd think. We're going to have two perennial studs between he and Seager for a long, long time.

 

I'm not at all surprised you waited until a few solid outings before replying.

McCarthy on the DL already. Kazmir on the DL. Hill on the DL. You really want to depend on Alex Wood in the playoffs? Career ERA of 4.91 with just 7.1 IP in his career? A career ERA of 3.32 and a Dodger ERA of 3.82 in three years. Seems a hell of a lot more likely the man reverts back to his the mean than he is suddenly a worthy #2 pitcher.

Again you waited until they had a couple decent outings before replying, but like you said: they started out horribly. Ryu's velocity has been inconsistent and he's maxing out at around 91 mph, but really hovering in the mid-80s. You want to rely on that? Maeda proved he's not consistent enough to be relied on the playoffs last year! You remember his 12.00 ERA against Washington?

Ryu and Billingsly... Really? The Cubs 3, 4, and 5 starters were Lackey, Hendricks, and Jason effing Hammel. Their rotation was much stronger from top to bottom than ours. After Kershaw and Greinke we had nothing and we didn't have the bats at that stage to be effective either.

But guess what? We have the bats now to be effective and now we don't have the pitching. It's really not a hard concept to understand that when you have the money to spend, you should spend it. There's no excuse for roster weaknesses like we have now when we have the money to fix it. Imagine the Lakers not signing Gordon Hayward this summer because instead we could go get Rudy Gay and Mbah a Boute for cheaper. Why?? We have the money to get a better player! Get the f***ing better player!

They went where Kershaw took them. Please. Don't even try to pretend otherwise. Hill pitched decently, but again he's already hurt! Maeda had a 4.7 ERA and Urias had a 9.82 ERA as starters in the NLCS. In the NLDS Maeda had a 12 ERA and Hill had a 6.43 ERA. The only pitchers worth their money on the post season roster were Kershaw and Jansen. You know that. Don't try to pretend like these other people were relevant. Dayton? Baez? Blanton? Please.

You want to talk about ERAs this year? Greinke has a 3.09 ERA this year. Better than your guy McCarthy. Price was simply an example. You know what other pitchers we've missed out on? What about Cueto? Samardzija? Mike Leake? Lackey? Fister?

We settled for who? Kazmir? Brett Anderson? You'd rather have Kazmir than Greinke? I wouldn't.

And yes I know some of these guys' ERAs are higher than some of the bums on our team. So what? At the end of the season they'll pitch twice as many innings and the ERAs will balance themselves out. I don't understand how this is a hard argument to understand. The team has the money to go get Greinke and instead we get Kazmir and you're defending that? All while 70% of the city can't watch the team play? I've been to two games already, I understand supporting the team. I don't understand defending things that are indefensible. This is not debatable. They've not pushed as hard as they should to win it all and when they come up short again, we'll see who is right.

 

Honestly, I'm not a Dodgers fan and this is too much info for me to post a reply to.

 

Doing ok considering Kersh is the worst pitcher on the roster right now.