Outfielders James Outman and Jason Heyward will both make the Dodgers’ Opening Day roster, manager Dave Roberts announced to the team’s beat this morning (Twitter link via Juan Toribio of MLB.com). The Dodgers will need to make a 40-man roster move to add Heyward, although that can be accomplished simply by transferring shortstop Gavin Lux — who suffered a pair of torn knee ligaments earlier in camp — to the 60-day injured list. Roberts added that right-handers Jimmy Nelson and Daniel Hudson are expected to open the season on the injured list (Twitter link via Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic).
Outman, 25, ranks among the Dodgers’ top outfield prospects and made his big league debut in 2022, going 6-for-13 with a homer and two doubles in a tiny sample of 16 plate appearances. He’s had a strong spring training, batting .268/.354/.512 with a pair of home runs, two doubles, a triple and a stolen base. The Dodgers will likely give him fairly regular looks in the outfield, perhaps pairing his powerful left-handed bat with the right-handed-hitting Trayce Thompson in center field.
Impressive as his spring has been, Outman’s 15 punchouts in 48 plate appearances are worth noting, given his strikeout tendencies in the minor leagues. The hit tool has always been the biggest question mark among scouts for Outman, who has fanned in 26.4% of his minor league plate appearances — including a 27.2% clip between Double-A and Triple-A a year ago. Varying opinions on that hit tool make him one of the more divisive prospects you’ll come across. For instance, while The Athletic’s Keith Law ranked Outman as the No. 89 prospect in all of baseball, FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen ranked him 26th in the Dodgers’ system alone.
It’s possible that Heyward will also see occasional time in center field, though he seems ticketed for a more traditional reserve outfielder role. He’s posted a .220/.304/.415 batting line with a pair of homers and doubles alike this spring, but Roberts was hinting that Heyward would make the roster very early in camp. He’ll cost Los Angeles only the league minimum, as he’s still technically playing out the final season of his eight-year, $184MM deal with the Cubs, who released him following the season. Any money paid to Heyward by the Dodgers will be subtracted from what the Cubs owe him, but they’re on the hook for the vast majority of this year’s $22MM salary.
The Dodgers’ outfield, in general, could be in a state of flux throughout the season. The aforementioned injury to Lux is likely to push utilityman Chris Taylor to the infield more regularly, and right fielder Mookie Betts could log around 20 games at second base this season, Roberts said earlier in camp (Twitter link via David Vassegh). That’ll create extra room to rotate Outman, Thompson and Heyward through the outfield alongside left fielder David Peralta, who’ll likely be in a platoon arrangement himself (be it with Thompson or Taylor). Top prospect Andy Pages figures to make his big league debut at some point in 2023 as well, and he’d add another righty-swinging corner bat to the mix.
Huge! Outman and Heyward are the final pieces of the puzzle for the D’s to finally win a title in an actual baseball season.
Lol
Padres fans last year: “Only the playoffs count. Forget the regular season.” Also Padres fans: “2020 is Mickey Mouse. Only a 60 game season. The regular season means everything!”
Actually that’s pretty accurate. 2020 was a Mickey Mouse ring even your cy young winner called as much before you signed him.
You are also correct that the playoffs trump the regular season.
You can make fun of heyward but why the hate on outman?
Because no one is off limits when you’re trying to be condescending towards the Dodgers and their fans.
Will both be in OKC in 25 days
If anything 2020 playoffs were more competitive, your pathetic team had a better chance at winning it. Either way Dodgers are gonna be a treat to watch, can you say the Same about your team?
My team? Which team is that?
Unless it’s the Dodgers or Astros, your teams trash. Go Dodgers!
Not everybody “has” a team. That’s probably beyond your world view, but some of us just like the sport. How did this dynamic come about, of everyone “having” a team, and being so weird about criticizing other people because “their” teams are bad?
When you decided the Dodgers might win a title in an “actual baseball” season.
Who decided that?
It was an actual season.
Now, if there was a different set of teams that made the playoffs besides the typical ones, then okay maybe something could be said.
The best teams that year still competed for the title, and the best team won…
Plain and simple..
Oh wow, thanks for mansplaining that to us. D Bag.
Good luck to Heyward, hopefully he still has something left in the tank for the Dodgers.
I know some poor, misguided cub fans who were happy to see Heyward go. Good luck, Roberts.
Why? He was taking up a roster spot. Good for the cubs, good for heyward.
He does, 22 million from the Cubs
James Outman had an amazing spring. OPS of .866 in 41 ABs. Hopefully that translates into success during the season. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like he has a full-time position in the outfield to keep the momentum going.
@old york if he carries that over to the season and keeps raking they will find a spot in the line up. when puljos came up that’s what the cards did played 3b and of his rookie season just to keep his bat in the lineup.
Tbf, he was drafted as a third baseman. 2004 was the first year of his career he played first base on a regular basis.
@mlb1225 might be right but i’m trying to remember 20 years ago but from what i remember al started at 3rd we traded for rolen so al was moved out to lf iirc started having arm issues so they moved him to first to keep him healthy and in the lineup. like i said i’m trying to remember a few seasons 20 years ago
@mlb1225
it just dawned on me why al wasn’t at 1st much in 04 we also picked up larry walker as well but i do remember arm issues why the cards wanted him out of the of
If I remember correctly, Pujols came up playing a corner outfield spot, then he was moved to 1st base. This was especially true when St. Louis had Tino Martinez at 1st. Pujols would move from the outfield in the later innings and Tino would be taken out of the game.
@acoss
he was originally a 3b and played there very shortly then moved to the of but i could be wrong, but your right he eventually wound up as the everyday of for a season and a half iirc . i just remember him moving to 1st because of his arm
When Pujols first came up in 2001, the Cards still had Mark McGwire. He only hit .187, but had 29 home runs in 97 games. Pujols mainly played LF/RF, but saw time at third base and first base. The following year, that’s when Tino came in to play 1B for the next two seasons. They also had Scott Rolen so Pujols played most of his games in LF. 2004 was when Pujols went to first base and stayed there. Larry Walker kind of shared the right field with John Mabry in 2005.
Okay it’s all coming back to me, appreciate the verification from you Brodie and Mlb1225, thanks!
@acoss13
tbh i think mlb1225 might be right like i said i’m trying to go off memories that are 20+ years old, then again i was 18 graduating hs being a dumbas kid
I guess since Heyward is practically free it doesn’t really hurt to see if there is anything left in him. Outman making the team too probably means they plan to keep Taylor in the Infield more this season
Feels like Heyward won’t be around for long if Outman establishes himself. They have little choice but to give more infield to Taylor. He’s the total depth at SS.
Heyward is still taking a roster spot and not sure how much one can realistically expect from him. Dodgers are going to be platoon city in the outfield. You’d think Outman, Heyward, Thompson, Taylor, Peralta all part of a platoon. Then you have Vargas at second base who could shift back to the outfield if he doesn’t field well. Taylor could go to 2B, or Betts. Right now the Dodgers have a lot of moving parts, but the constants are Betts, Freeman, Smith, Rojas, Muncy and Martinez. in the lineup.
The Dodgers have certainly carried worse players than Heyward as the 26th man on their roster in recent seasons. Pillar, Alvarez, McKinstry, McKinney, Raley, Neuse, Reks, Souza Jr… not to mention Bellinger. I don’t think Heyward makes much of a difference either way.
@ dodgersdan
A cadaver will be more productive than Heyward.
Stay classy, my friend.
Always fun to follow a comeback story.
Heyward and Freeman together again!
Fly high Freeward!
On just about any other team, Outman would likely be an opening day starting outfielder. In noting his prospect rank discrepancies, I would say he’s somewhere in the middle of that.
Thankfully, you don’t need to have a high AVG to succeed in the MLB these days. I’d say he’s capable of putting up something close to .240-.250, while contributing close to 30/30 2Bs/HRs over a full season at his peak. That is production that any team could use.
On most teams, players like Outman that are going into their age 26 season would not even be prospects anymore. Outman is not a great prospect either. He is #9 on the Dodgers list and not close to top 100.
Outman would not make the Padres, Phillies, or Mets OF as a starter. Probably not on the Braves either, although Rosario is not great. Those were the other playoff teams last year.
On good teams you don’t have 2 rookies as starters in the field. You also don’t have Heyward and Thompson starting on good teams, so there is that too.
Outman’s power projects to 15-20 HR over a full season. Hitting HR in the PCL doesn’t translate to the same power in the majors. He is not a 60-65 power hitter.
It’s sad how far the Dodgers have fallen in just one offseason. We need the evil empire of the west to start to spend the money and bring in the star players. Mookie, Freeman, and Smith are not enough.
Yeah, they really have fallen far after playing zero games.
@websoulsurfer
I agree that it’s not simply a matter of just copying+pasting AA/AAA stats to the MLB and wiping your hands clean. Outman has gotten good grades on his power from many places, I would put it around a 55 grade, which is very much in line with several reputable prospect sites.
I also said 30 HRs “at peak.” 55 grade power is above average and would easily put him in the 20-25 range over a full season. He’s also in like the 90th percentile for exit velos and has a hard hit rate that puts him in the company of guys like: Freeman, Tellez, and Wisdom.
The average of 7 different projection systems give him a 22 HR/550 AB pace for 2023 (no projections put him remotely close to that many ABs this year though), which isn’t exactly bad for what is effectively his rookie year.
Now, I do not think he is a lock to be a stud by any stretch. The K-rate is very concerning and will need to come down. He’s shown the ability to walk though, and guys like Joey Gallo clearly have had stretches of being great players in the league despite Ks + weak hit tool. Is he another Joey Gallo? I highly doubt it. I think if they gave him a full year this season though, he could hit around .235+ this year with 22+ HRs and even more doubles.
Also, being 26 is not some sort of death sentence for prospects, lol. He’s comfortably around 10th-ish in the Dodgers org on most sites across late 2022/early 2023, although definitely some strong opinions on both ends (as noted in the article). Being around 10th in the LAD system though means they’re absolutely a legitimate prospect. Unfortunately for him, he’s not on a team that wants to give him a full season to prove himself, so he’ll probably be relegated to 4th OFer for now.
Could he be a dud? Highly touted guys like Kelenic and Brujan have shown us in the past year+ that being a high-ranking prospect doesn’t = being successful at the MLB level. But these players are all young still and folks like Patrick Wisdom, Joey Meneses, and countless others show you don’t have to be a young marquee guy to become a valuable contributor and/or stat padder.
There will be plenty of ABs for Outman if he performs. That is the key. The K rate is definitely concerning. Is he the next Bellinger, minus the MVP season, or something more sustainable? Hope he can cut down the K rate and increase the BB rate.
Not a single projection has Outman as a 22 HR hitter in 2023. You may be able to snow Web, but checking projections is not difficult.
Most have him around 200 PA and 6 HR.
@baseballislife
That’s why I said “pace” and immediately said “no projections have him remotely close to that many ABs”….
Lol some of the Padres and Phillies of’s are real bad at defense
Outman couldn’t possibly be as good as absolute studs like grisham and marsh? Hahahahahahaha
A lot of exaggeration regarding the Dodgers supposed downfall. The OF situation isn’t looking much different than last year. It was Taylor/Lamb/Gallo/Thompson in LF most of last season. Taylor/Peralta/Thompson this year has the Dodgers in a similar position. It was Bellinger in CF most of last season, and his 2022 production (or lack thereof) shouldn’t be difficult for someone like Outman or even Heyward to replicate.
Their biggest loss is clearly at shortstop, and whether Syndergaard can adequately replace Anderson’s fantastic 2022 season.
You’re also missing Lux’s at bats. Though he was not very productive he was still a plus bat. Is Vargas going to match Lux’s output? Not sure, probably not in year 1. And the gap between Rojas and Turner is likely as wide as you can get. Anything you compare at CF will also have to compare Bellinger’s defense. Anyone should be able to match his offensive output but we’ll see as a total package.
“Evil empire of the west?”
This is a naïve and tired narrative. In the past several years, the ONLY free agent star players the Dodgers have signed in their prime are Zack Greinke and Freddie Freeman and the latter happened only because of a miscommunication between him, his agent and Atlanta. Every other star player or fringe star player the Dodgers have gotten in the past few years has been the result of a trade gamble with prospects or because they’ve brought someone up in their minor league system.
Mookie, Scherzer, Trea Turner, Chris Taylor were all acquired because they gave up prospects. Will Smith, Cody Bellinger, Corey Seager, Julio Urias, Kenley Jansen were all prospects in the minor league system.
Justin Turner and Max Muncy were signed because no other team wanted to give them a chance.
Neuro
Dodgers basically bought Betts from Red Sox with money, and extended him much like a free agent.
I agree with the rest of it.
MannyBeingMVP –
Not “basically.” The Red Sox weren’t going to give Mookie the money he was seeking so they figured to get him for something rather than have him walk away a year later for a compensation pick. The Dodgers traded 3 prospects for him. In an interview where he referenced the contract extension with the Dodgers, Mookie said he told ESPN in August that he would have accepted [the deal] in Boston.
It
Neuro
The Red Sox cares more about the Dodgers taking David Price’s contract than acquiring Jeter Downs who had come from the Teds in the Puig deal. So my view – and I’m a Dodgers fan – is that the Betts deal was more about the Dodgers assuming money and similar to buying an expensive free agent. But your general point is accurate, the Dodgers develop their farm well and other than Freeman and Betts, they do not do the silly spending that the Mets, Padres, Yankees and Rangers have recently done. Though I would rather have the silly spenders that the owners of the Reds and Pirates who just cheat their own fans
Outman has like a 1.000+ OPS right now FYI. 5 HRs and 15 RBIs. I guess he’s 1/3rd the way to your meager projections
I hope Hayward has a good rebound season. Hopefully playing SoCal does it.
When’s the last time Heyward had a good season?
Easy answer: 2020.
Heyward has been subpar for nearly ten years. He has the slowest bat in MLB. Dude plays like a 50 year old and has for most of the 10 years mentioned. David Peralta is another wash-out past his expiration date by about 3 years.
Trollerific!
Okay one-eyed midget.
My favorite team is the Cubs. My second favorite team is the Dodgers. If anyone can squeeze a tiny bit of value out of Heyward, it’s the Dodgers. But at this stage of his career, any more substantial contributions are not going to happen.
Fingers crossed with JH. One last hurrah, maybe? And regards Outman. A decent spring.
Go Dodgers.
Or
Allez les bleu!
i like it A LOT
A washed-up Heyward and two rookies starting in the field. This should be hilarious. So should all the Dodgers fans trying to defend the team’s moves this offseason.
I see your point of view @websoulsurfer. There’s definitely a smaller drop off in talent from the Dodgers to the Padres and Giants in 2023 than last year.
Dodger fans have not been defending the teams off season moves. Far from it. They have been criticizing them and AF.
Not sure if you meant this, but Heyward isn’t starting.
Pretty harsh. Sure some Dodger fans (and some non-Dodger fans too) believe Friedman walks on water, but most of us have a lot more of a balanced view.
Peralta and Mookie is solid for your corner OFs lmao. They aren’t running as many projects as you think
These people forget that the Dodgers won 111 games while having Bellinger and his .210/.265/.389 batting line in CF for 144 games last season. Shouldn’t be difficult to replicate that production in CF.
Meanwhile, LF went from a combination of Thompson/Taylor/Gallo/Lamb to Peralta/Thompson/Taylor. Again, unlikely to be a significant drop in production there.
The only significant downgrade to the lineup is Trea Turner to Miguel Rojas, and yes it is a major one.
I wouldn’t have wanted Heyward on the roster in 2013. Let alone 2023.
Friedman strikes again.
You wouldn’t want a 117ops+ guy with amazing defense in 2013 lol
That .719 OPS against minor leaguers and MLB pitchers must have really impressed the Dodgers! His fielding was actually below average last year.
The Dodgers are attempting to find alchemy gold from Chicago lead with Jason Heyward and Trayce Thompson in their outfield. Last season they took a flier on Carson Fulmer who couldn’t advance past AAA. Where’s the NRI to ‘retired’ 2B Gordon Beckham to help replace Gavin Lux in their middle infield?
You can also say the Cubs are trying to find alchemy gold from LA with Cody Bellinger.
The big difference is the Dodgers are paying 750K for their experiment while the Cubs are paying $17.5M for theirs. And actually, the Cubs are paying for a sizable portion of the Heyward experiment at over $21M.
I’m not defending the Cubs at the expense of the Dodgers. Cody Bellinger is hardly the only new Cub that Jed Hoyer is gambling on for a rebound. The signing of likely fools gold Eric Hosmer for the league minimum at the expense of the Padres very much resembles LA’s deal with Heyward.
In addition to Bellinger, the Cubs also have a couple more ex-Dodgers looking to crack their opening day roster with corner infielder Edwin Rios and utility infielder Zack McKinstry.
My poke at the Dodgers was their willingness to fill two of their outfield spots with Chicago retreads instead of investing in better options. I’d also wager that Bellinger and Rios will provide more value to the Cubs in 2023 than Heyward and Thompson will give the Dodgers.
Bellinger and Heyward are washes – great defensively but their best offensive days are likely behind them. Bellinger is a better bet considering he’s six (6!!) years younger and likely faster, but his inability to consistently put bat-to-ball is frustrating beyond measure.
Edwin Rios has light tower power but he’s been hampered by injury the last two seasons. Out of those four, I actually like Trayce the most and am. wondering if he can keep up his lightning in a bottle bat.
As far as the Dodgers not signing better OF free agents, who would you have wanted them to.get? Judge and Nimmo both signed with their original teams. Why tie up money & years with bridesmaid OFers when you could be blocking the opportunity of younger and prospects?
Outmans middle name is Matthew. His nickname should be J-MO.
J-MOut is better lol
My guess for the 26 man roster
R Betts RF
L Freeman 1B
R Smith C
L Muncy 3B
R Martinez DH
L Hayward CF
R Vargas 2B
L Peralta LF
R Rojas SS
R Barnes C
R Taylor OF/INF
L Outman OF
R Thompson OF
L Urias
L Kershaw
R Syndegaard
R May
R Pepiot
R Phillips
R Almonte
R Graterol
L Vesia
L Ferguson
R Miller
L Gonzalez
R Bickford
DL
R Treinen
R Buehler
L Lux
R Gonsolin
R Nelson
R Hudson
L Bruihl
Looks right (except it’s been called the IL for awhile now).
The best part of this roster is it does NOT include Bradley Zimmer. I have no idea what the Dodgers were thinking when they invited him to camp.
Maybe he plays the guitar, or cooks a mean barbecue.
fill holes during WBC Dodgerschad 10 players scheduled before some dropped out.
Zimmer makes their outfits- I guarantee it.
Swap Gonzalez for Andre Jackson and I think you’ve got it. They’ll want Jackson (or Grove) for long relief given that May and Pepiot may struggle to go deep into starts.
The doyers farm is so stacked it’s gross. Did anyone see the game vs the Rockies where they put up an indy ball pitcher Jake Pilarski, he hit 101 MPH on the gun. all 29 other teams whiffed on that guy but the Dodgers found him pitching on the wildthings
Anyone else feel like Dodgers look like a 2nd or 3rd place team this year? I mean..stacked farm system aside, they’re going to get hit with several injuries to their thinner than usual starting rotation, and have nowhere near the depth of years past..
FirstRound…
Good point. Maybe they need to have a tougher regular season and just figure the post season out, which they need to do and haven’t done so enough in the last few years. Guys just need to step up, at the right time.
But what do I know? The dumbest person in their baseball ops knows more about this stuff than I do.
2nd or 3rd place? Dodgers still have the most talented major league roster in the NLWest. Might win 10-15 games less than last year due to losing Trea and injuries, but that still makes for 96-101 wins, and a division title. Padres are an 85 win team and the rest of the division will struggle to play 500 ball with the Rockies sub .400 ball
@Wampum-Betcha $200 that the Padres finish with a better record than the Dodgers this year. If you’re up for it, I’ll post my email and we can stay in contact during the season and make arrangements at season’s end for payment. You up for it?
@firstround, I appreciate your kind offer, but you can keep your money.
Current PECOTA projections have the most probable outcomes for both the Dodgers and Padres as 94 wins.
You are gasligting yourself to think there are two NL west teams better than them. I don’t even think there is one. San Diego is all flash no substance
Gaslighting how? And btw, I said 2nd or 3rd. Not just 3rd. Let me ask you this..a couple years ago, the Giants were projected 4th and won 100+ games..and NOBODY was saying that before the season..and it’s happened many times in MLB history..do you really think it can’t happen again? Or are you gaslighting yourself? I’ll make you the same offer as Womper. Since you sound so sure..wanna make a wager on it?
Nobody wants to bet in the comment section with strangers guy. Dodgers will cruise to their 10th division title in 11 seasons
I’m trying to figure out if you understand what you’re saying about that freakish Giants season.
Love how you say things as if they’re fact instead of your opinion. What are the lotto numbers gonna be Carnac?
I’m saying stuff happens over the course of a 162 game season..and the commenter above said that I was gaslighting myself to think that the Giants or DBacks couldn’t finish higher than the Dodgers this year. So I provided an example of teams performing higher than expectations.
I’m not into the buzzwords thing at all, so I’m going to leave the gaslighting nonsense alone.
Actually, I get the idea you’re expecting someone to explain the difference between possible and likely. Which, if you have to explain it, usually doesn’t make for a productive conversation. So I guess I’ll leave that one alone too.
FirstRound, You’re not wrong that the Dodgers look more vulnerable, but saying they look like a 2nd, or 3rd place team suggests they won’t be in contention, which IMO is hyperbole. The Padres may very well win the division, but the Dodgers will be in contention for that title. As a Giants fan, I take the Dodgers, and their potential to win another division crown, very seriously.
Dodgers or Padres could win, injuries to starting pitchers will probably be the difference. Both will win over 93 and under 103. Giants will be one or two games below 0.500 – at best. The only way the Dodgers or Padres finish third is having massive injuries AND if Arizona’s young pitchers are much better than I think. I would not be surprised if Giants end up 4th or 5th. Their fans can take solace in that the past quarter century, they have more flags than the others combined.
MannyBeingMVP, The Giants are not finishing 4th or 5th. To say they could finish below the Rockies is delusional, and suggests some extreme anti-Giants bias. I’m not one of them, but many people think the Rockies could lose 100 games. The D’backs’ rotation is undependable after their first 2 SPs.
It’s doubtful the Giants finish below .500. They have the best rotational depth in the NLW, have improved their bullpen, both things that were major negatives in 2022, as well as upgrading the OF.
Are they going to challenge SD and LA for the division? That’s doubtful. But Fangraphs projects them to win 85 games, and the ZIPS NLW standings projection has them 3rd with 88 wins. 3rd is a pretty solid expectation that will only not happen in the event of a massive number of injuries.
The Rockies have a pretty solid lock on basement of the NLW.
You convinced me that the Giants will be ahead of the Rockies. But I still predict LA and SD in the top two spots and AZ third. I see AZ winning about 79 games and SF less. But I revised Colorado downward although I still think they can win 70.
MannyBeingMVP, Maybe you’re correct about AZ, but a lot has to go right. for that to happen. No regression for Gallen or Kelly. Davies has to pitch like he did in 2021-20, and I’m guessing 2 of their young prospects, Jameson, Pfaadt, Henry or Nelson, will need to produce, since I don’t see Bumgarner bouncing back. 3 years in AZ with an 84 ERA+ for Bum, isn’t much of a basis for hope. But it could happen, though I’m still picking them for 4th.
Im a big dodger fan, but also a realist. I believe the Dodgers are the 2nd best team in the NL west. Completely disappointed by the off season. I would have been ok with going under the luxury line, but the way they handled it was not what i was hoping for. I will watch every game they play, like always, but im not seeing much more than a 90 win season. Ill jump in with you on your bet if you find someone.
possible donkey, A lot of Giants’ fans were disappointed in their off-season as well. Some things happen that aren’t anticipated. LA losing Lux was one of those things. I picked SD to win the division, and the Lux injury was a big reason for that. But it’s not a slam dunk by any means. I expect the Dodgers to contend for the division all the way, and them winning another one would be no surprise.
@tad2b13 before lux i said the lad and i’m not going back on it but it’s down to a coin flip. sd has greatly improved last few years and a team that can’t be overlooked and lad took a step back. thou mlb richard’ing around with trevor threw a wrench into lad’s offseason. on paper sd should take the west but it’s close and i always pick division winners in ties. plus how many years has lad seem “weaker” in the past make a move at the deadline and go on a run.
brodie-bruce, Agree that it’s pretty much a coin flip. SD has a stacked lineup, but I don’t think they did enough with the rotation. They lack depth. IF LA’s rotation had better depth than it does, I would have picked them to win the division..
Hereby ends my short “Maybe Yonny Hernandez Will Become A Thing” party
Heyward is fine person and I wish him all the best. My sense though is that he no longer belongs in the majors and this is a short-term decision to allow guys like Busch or Pages to play every day in OKC until an injury or continuation of the poor performances by Thompson and Heyward demand a change.
Over the past 20 or so years, the Los Angeles major league baseball team has become very similar to the Yankees in terms of constantly bringing in has-been, washed-up players. The latest is Heyward, who posted a 58 OPS+ last season and a 69 OPS+ in 2021.
Look for the “Dodgers” to pick up Trout’s albatross contract too, once the Angels finally release Trout’s sorry ass.
Angels *releasing* Trout? Hmmm.
More comedy. Love it. Keep going with your posts… love them.
Dodgers better than Padres at 1st base and catcher.
Call it a tie in right field ( Betts/Tatis), centerfield (gold glove Grisham/God knows who), 2nd base and DH.
Padres better at LF, 3rd base, and shortstop. But they are WAY better at those positions.
@msalamy
If you want to be fair, the Dodgers are way better than the Padres at C and 1B. And I wouldn’t call it a tie for CF, knowing that Grisham hit a buck 84 last season. There will be some bounce back but the guy is a career 0.222 hitter and his K rate is going the wrong way. DH is definitely not a tie if you’re comparing JD Martinez to whoever the Padres put up. Overall the Padres should definitely have the better lineup but the margin is not as wide as you make it out to be. Pitching is the wild card as the Dodgers have higher upside than the Padres even without Buehler and Treinen.
Jason Heyward did not earn a Roster Spot & was gifted a spot on the Roster just because he’s a left handed hitter
By George you are so right..
And buddy buddy with the star 1st baseman and hitting coach. He won’t be around long if he doesn’t produce. Taylor certainly didn’t earn his spot.
“Heyward, Outman in”
I should so be a newspaper sub-editor 😛
Memba when the dodgers were good