Email a copy of 'Dodgers Place Adrian Gonzalez On DL, Activate Joc Pederson' to a friend
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By Jeff Todd | at
Email a copy of 'Dodgers Place Adrian Gonzalez On DL, Activate Joc Pederson' to a friend
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Vinny Time
Respect to Adrian for the doing the right thing.
BlueSkyLA
Well it wasn’t his decision, but he did say the other day that he felt he should have started the season on the DL, so perhaps his pride was getting in the way of the Dodgers doing the right thing at that point.
dodgerfan711
This could very well be the end for Adrian as a starter. The offense is going down fast and even the defense is starting to go. Last game he let a routine ground ball cost them the game
BlueSkyLA
That wasn’t a routine ground ball or it would have been ruled an error. What cost them that game was a feeble offense and a wild pitch. As for Gonzo’s future, tendonitis isn’t exactly a crippling disease and usually not chronic. Let him rest it up.
thegreatcerealfamine
Exactly!
Blue_Painted_Dreams_LA
It’s clear he’s injured. It’s not the end to his days as a starter especially with the offensive holes on this team. His offensive presence and his hitting ability is still a needed component to the lineup. Now it might be the end to his plus power. But he will be probably be back next month and Bellinger will eventually transition to an outfield corner again *cough cough* RF.
dodgerfan711
I really hope your right about the injury affecting his play. Because if he plays like that when healthy he really would be in trouble.
Wolf Hoffmann
Puig is staying. It will either be Toles or Pederson that goes.
BlueSkyLA
If it comes down to those choices, it will be Toles.
hodor 3
Joc does not impress me. I feel he needs to go figure things out in the minors.
crazysull
It won’t come to that, once AGon is ready to be activated, Utley will be the one to go. By then Forsyth will probably be back and Chris Taylor is doing better and should be kept as a back up so I think Utley is as good as gone I also wouldn’t be surprised if they let Guti go as well
dodgerfan711
Only way they release guti is if they get braun. Guti hits leftys too well to get released
theroyal19
I agree. They signed Gutierrez to hit lefties which is why they finally sent Van Slyke down. I feel like it’s between Kike or Utley when Foresyth gets back so that means Kike will go down also
Dominic 2
From the DL
Blue_Painted_Dreams_LA
They aren’t letting Utley go. He’s too valuable a clubhouse guy in their eyes. They will play the options/roster crunch game. Howell would be your golden example of a well respected club house guy gets the longest leash. You can bring up AJ, but AJ wasn’t an FO guy.
BlueSkyLA
Bet they don’t do any of that.
agentx
Don’t forget Kiké. He doesn’t offer much more upside at this point than Utley and has hopefully slipped below Taylor on the depth chart over the last few weeks.
BlueSkyLA
Somebody please explain this upside concept to me. The value of Hernandez always was and continues to be his ability to play any position on the field.
agentx
BlueSkyLA, looks like I’m guilty this time of writing “upside” when I really should have just offered my opinion that Kiké is no longer good enough in my mind to be on the roster just because he can backup at positions that Taylor and others can play as well or better.
BlueSkyLA
The career numbers on Taylor and Hernandez are strikingly similar and I might agree with your assessment more if Taylor could also play OF. Don’t get me wrong, Taylor is going to get playing time especially now that the return of Forsythe seems to be further off, but I think it would be shortsighted to assume that Taylor bumps Hernandez off the roster because Taylor is hot right now and Hernandez is cold. More goes into these decisions than just that.
OCTraveler
Which revealing pictures of Roberts does Van Slyke have that keeps him on the roster?
theroyal19
He’s not on the active roster right now. He got sent down when Gutierrez came back
Cam
If Bellinger keeps playing well, he will force the Dodgers hand. What gets lost in his great start with the bat, is the fact he’s an elite glove at first base. He consistently received plus plus fielding grades – from the scouting community and the saber community. Gonzalez isn’t a hole at first, but having Bellinger there is an upgrade. How they balance Bellingers time between first and the outfield will be interesting.
BlueSkyLA
I try not to get too excited about debut performances. Most of them come with setbacks as the opposing pitchers and catchers find and exploit their weak spots. When that doesn’t happen it’s unusual.
Roster management seems to be a lot about the art of the deferred decision. Placing Gonzo on the DL means they have ten more days to evaluate Bellinger, to see how he handles the need to adjust. Anything short of Seager-like ability will earn him another trip to the minors.
gregn213
Bellinger has a very long swing like Pederson, with no adjustments made after 2 strikes. The projections right now from 3 different sources are that he’ll hit about .234, and if he played a full season, he’d hit about 30 HRs. So if you like Pederson, you’ll like Bellinger, as things stand now. Shortly, the pitchers will find and exploit Bellinger’s weaknesses, and the real test will be whether or not he can adjust. My guess is that when AGon comes back, Utley is dropped. His value in the clubhouse can’t be denied, but guys can’t play forever, and it’s creating and preventing runs that wins games.
Blue_Painted_Dreams_LA
Their swings are actually quite different and Bellinger’s already adjusted back to pitchers adjustment. They essentially came after the Cueto game. Obviously pitchers will continue to make adjustments, but the encouraging aspect is the pitches Bellinger’s is spitting on with 2 strikes.
It’s true that Bellinger has cruel intentions with 2 strikes. Yet he’s managed and hasn’t been afraid to shorten up and go the other way either. Bellinger’s swing is longer through the zone yet quicker to it.
Joc on the other has started to figure it out a bit, but there are still some holes. There’s usually a misconception about longer swings. The problem with Joc at times appears his inability to lay of something down and spinning and swing out of shoes on something straight and elevated.
Blue_Painted_Dreams_LA
I’m not sure I trust projections on a rookie, but Bellinger appears to have a better idea of what pitchers are trying to do to him than Joc did at the same stage in their careers. There are swing and miss aspects to both players game, but Bellinger seems like a more advanced hitter. There’s no doubt Bellinger is going to go through his patches, but that comes with the evolution of a young hitter. I just think they are different hitters.