Mookie Betts hasn’t played since suffering a bone bruise on his left foot on Thursday, though the superstar could be back in action as early as Monday when the Dodgers open a series against the Padres. In the wake of the initial injury, the Dodgers put Betts through a battery of tests to ensure that his foot hadn’t incurred more serious damage, and Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register writes that Betts was walking normally around the L.A. clubhouse yesterday.
The club is naturally being as cautious as possible with the MVP candidate, as it is hard to imagine Los Angeles making a serious postseason run without Betts wreaking havoc in the lineup. The league leader in fWAR (7.9), Betts is hitting .314/.411/.609 with 38 homers over 610 plate appearances, and his ability to play second base and shortstop has been crucial for a Dodgers team that has been beset by middle-infield injuries since Spring Training. Fortunately, it looks like Betts will be able to resume his dream season in short order, with an eye towards then helping the Dodgers capture another World Series championship. [UPDATE: Betts is in the Dodgers’ lineup today, leading off and playing second base.]
More from around the NL West…
- The Diamondbacks had a pair of injury scares in yesterday’s 3-2 win over the Cubs, as Ketel Marte fouled a ball off his right knee and Jordan Lawlar was hit in the right hand with a pitch. Marte’s knock occurred in the first inning and he remained in the game until the seventh, with postgame x-rays coming back negative. Manager Torey Lovullo told reporters (including Theo Mackie of the Arizona Republic) that Marte might not miss any time as long as his knee didn’t have continued soreness overnight. Lawlar’s HBP occurred in the 10th inning, so an update on his status won’t come until Lovullo meets with the media today.
- A mid-back strain has kept Ross Stripling from any MLB action since August 16, but the Giants right-hander told Evan Webeck of the Bay Area News Group that he is healthy and ready to return from the injured list. However, Stripling feels “in limbo” and like he’s on the “phantom IL” due to a roster crunch, according to his conversations with president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi and manager Gabe Kapler. “It’s bad luck of the timing that I’m healthy and Farhan likes the roster that he has. And I’m just sitting here healthy with nowhere to go,” Stripling said. Juggling a number of arms on the pitching staff, San Francisco has used an opener-heavy strategy for the last couple of months, perhaps leaving Stripling without a clear role with everyone healthy. Kapler said the Giants “actually have a pretty good plan in place to have [Stripling] back on the roster sooner rather than later,” but didn’t give any specifics about a timeline. It could be that the team simply prefers its other pitching options, as Stripling has a 5.29 ERA over 78 1/3 innings while battling back problems for much of the season.
- The Padres are “viewed as a strong candidate to sign” Jung Hoo Lee this winter, The Athletic’s Dennis Lin writes. Lee has been posting excellent numbers over seven seasons in the KBO League, and only just turned 25 years old last month. The outfielder’s 2023 season was prematurely ended due to ankle surgery, but Lee is still expected to be posted to MLB teams by the Kiwoom Heroes, his KBO club. The Padres have traditionally been aggressive on the international market, and they might have an extra recruiting advantage since Ha-Seong Kim is a close friend of Lee’s and a former teammate with the Heroes.
On behalf of all Red Sox fans everywhere, get well soon Mookie.
Since we won’t be able to watch current Red Sox players in the postseason (for the 4th time in 5 years), watching former Red Sox legends perform on the brightest stage is all we’ve got.
You ain’t speaking on my behalf. Betts boo-hooed his way out of Boston, lying about not wanting to sign anextension, guilting Boston fans about the way they “treated” Adam Jones and then calling the city racist. Trash.
I didn’t realize “lying” and “getting low balled” were the same thing.
Huh. You learn something new everyday.
Man, this website never fails to impress with the usernames doubling as euphemisms. To put “treating” in quotes when obvious racist acts were documented is, truly, insane AND inane. Bravo.
Briar – Well said. Facts are facts, only haters try to rewrite history. The shameful racist acts did indeed occur, just like they did indeed occur in several other cities.
The city has proven with its actions to be racist. Sit in the stands even one night and that is proven beyond a shadow of a doubt.
The Sox lowballed Betts and when he wouldn’t take 65-75% of his value they traded him away. He owed no loyalty to the Sox FO.
We saw what he signed for a year later compared to the relative pittance the Sox offered. And no, the Sox never offered him 10/300.
While i appreciate what Mookie did on the field during his time in Boston i don’t tune in to Dodger games to watch hin any more than i do Padres games for Xander Bogaerts or White Sox games for Andrew Benintendi. Players come and go, that is the nature of the business
Rsox – To each their own, but most Sox fans root for players not laundry.
After following a future HOF player in your team’s organization for 9 years, who helped your team win 3 division titles and a world championship, it’s difficult to suddenly abandon said player just because he is now wearing different laundry.
Exactly who isn’t the Rock Star GM Prellar “in on” as he spends his owners money like a drunken sailor without ever actually building a team that can compete as a team……they’re always a player or 2 away…….until the owner makes a change and actually brings in a GM who knows what he’s doing, they’ll aways be second string to their competitors in the NL West…..
A strong case can be made, that adding Bogarts for 280 M actually weakened the Padres because it forces Kim to 2b and Cronenworth to 1b, which actually weakens their offense and defense.
Xander Bogaerts even admitted and a post game interview that HSK has better range than he does.
Xander Bogaerts is just part of the selfishness crisis on the Padres.
While adding Lee to San Diego makes sense, their top priority this off season needs to be starting pitching. I believe at least 2 if not 3 of their starting pitchers are headed to free agency this offseason. Losing Snell to another team would be costly.
What? Everyone told me how great Preller was last year… what changed? How this guy still has a job is beyond me, he took a top ranked farm system and purged it on guys like Matt Kemp, Upton and Kimbrel, was awful, “rebuilt” for years, producing the top ranked farm in all of baseball, traded all those guys away for vets, spent 300 million dollars and has what to show for it? And how many managers has he placed the blame on? Dudes terrible
“And has what to show for it”…Preller has “won” the off-season numerous times and has “won” many press conferences, so there’s that. Beyond that, there’s nothing really.
winning the off-season and getting stars sells tix / moves asses into seats
So does going to the playoffs and the Padres did that 2 of the last 4 seasons.
Recent history is two playoff appearances in 4 years, assuming they won’t make it this year, and packed houses every night. After trading for Soto, Musgrove, Snell, Darvish and others, the Padres farm system is already in the top 10 by BA and MLB with 2 players in the top 10 overall.
What he did 9 years ago is not really relevant.
Preller’s job is secure.
What would prevent them from signing a couple starting pitchers and Lee?
The Padres will have about $180 million on the books including all their arbitration eligible players if Wacha and Lugo opt out.
Their owner Peter Seidler said he sees them having a similar payroll in 2024 to the $275 million they had this year. That leaves a large amount of money left to sign the few players they need.
When it comes to Lugo and Wacha we have seen the Padres be aggressive in signing back guys they like. Martinez and Suarez were both extended.
On a side note, Sanchez said he would love to return and Profar said he was back home with his brothers. I could see both being resigned.
Their all-in payroll this year is $292.5M. Next year, assuming that Lugo & Wacha opt out, they will start the off-season at $225M, leaving them with ~ $67M to spend.
But that $67M will have to pay to replace Snell, Lugo, Wacha & Hader. That’s probably pretty close, but to add Lee on top of that will mean blowing thru the $300M mark.
Mookie Betts & Bryce Harper are old school tough – injuries be damned.
That “opener heavy strategy” may be one of the reasons the Giants are 7 games under .500 since the trade deadline
You might think that, but you’d be wrong. The problem has been the bats, not the pitching. Of the other teams competing for the WC, only the Phillies have pitched better, and then only slightly.
Since July 1:
Phillies – 215 RA, 296 RS,
Giants – 219 RA, 184 RS
D’backs – 260 RA, 201 RS
Cubs – 254 RA, 299 RS
Marlins – 239 RA, 196 RS
Reds – 245 RA, 232 RS
The Giants are second in fewest runs allowed, but last in runs scored. Clearly The opener strategy is working better for them than their offense.
Their starting lineup the other day featured 6 hitters with an OPS under 700. Hard to win games when 2/3 of the lineup is trash.
Calling 2/3 of the lineup trash is just hyperbole. A lot of guys were injured, and expecting them to come back and pick up where they left off is unrealistic. It takes a while to adjust to live pitching.
They had a +54 run differential on June 21. 4 days ago it was -19. Guys like Yaz, and Haniger are finally adjusting and in just 4 days that differential is now -7. Conforto is back soon, but it will take him a little time as well.
It probably has more to with the fact that aren’t particularly good.
Missed the point huh? No one said anything that suggested they have been particularly good. That was pretty much covered in the article as a matter of fact.
The discussion was about the reason(s) for them not being particularly good. IMO that reason is they haven’t been able to hit worth a damn. If you have a different take I’d love to hear it if you have one.
While technically true, my take is that teams go thru mini losing and winning streaks all the time. In the SFG first 19 games in July, they had a 4-game losing streak, a 7-game winning streak, followed immediately by a 6-game losing streak. All the ups and downs amounted to a 12-13 monthly record.
Even now, their 6-game losing streak is now followed by a 4-game winning streak. And averaging 7.25 RPG over those four games. Baseball is decidedly non-linear.
I’d also add that the scoring drought earlier this month was when they faced Wacha, Snell, Lugo, Steele, and Hendricks. That’s a lot of good pitching.
It’s not just facing good pitching though. They’ve had numerous players hitting well and then get injured, like Estrada, Yaz, Pederson, and Slater. On 6/21 Estrada had an .806 OPS, Yax had an .803 OPS, Pederson an .883 OPS, and Slater a 1,002 OPS. Haniger also appeared to be starting to see the ball better when he got hit by a pitch.
So not only were they playing without key guys, on returning it took a while for them to get their timing back. It’s only been recently that they’ve returned to form, Slater being the exception. And I expect the same thing when Conforto returns as well.. They were a good hitting club until they lost so many guys to injury.
Not just runs scored but also average and wrc+ the bats have just been dead cold until the last 2 days where there have been 18 runs scored and today is looking up too