Per Andrew Friedman: “Obviously, incredibly talented player who’s had a lot of success, but for him to take that other big step forward has been awesome. Just the maturation that we've seen over the offseason into this year, we think it's a big contributing factor to that.”Photo above via Michael Reaves/Stringer at Dodger Insider. Go here to check out more pics from yesterdays game. Below are more links to check out:
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“He's a special player, when you think about it,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “This guy plays center. He plays first. He's a really good outfielder. He can steal a bag. He has power. The whole thing. It's a different look. He does everything. When you're talking about one of the top guys in the league, they're guys that can do that. It's not just home runs. It's not just average. It's a little bit of everything.”
"That first time through, he was rolling pretty good," Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. "Actually, all the way through. He had eight out of first nine [strikeouts]. Giving a guy like that three early, give him a lead, he kind of slams that door on you."
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"Early on, just spotting the fastball up and going to the curveball early, and then had the shape and the depth that we like to see," Roberts said. "And then the slider. When you have that mix early ... it was really encouraging. You knew something special was brewing."
“It’s only two games, but I like where I’m at,” Pollock said. “Physically, feel great, my legs feel really good and I’m in a good place health-wise. Hopefully I can have different results than my first go-round. It’s fun to get back. It’s a great group to be part of.”Photo above via Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2019. Go here to check out more pics from yesterdays game. Below are more links to check out:
"We want guys to walk out of here healthy, have a great experience and, when we get to Japan, play at full speed and represent Major League Baseball well," Mattingly said. "It's a great chance to relax a little bit and get ready for the trip."In addition to Chris Taylor, seen above, other Dodgers travelling to Japan include Kenta Maeda and Kiké Hernandez.
"BURLY "GREETS" DOLLY. New York, May 5--"Dolly Stark, National League umpire who stayed away from the game last year because of salary differences, was greeted back on the job today by burly Burleigh Grimes, Brooklyn Dodger Manager. The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Dodgers, 5 to 1."Below are more links to check out:
"He got down on his knees and I could tell he wasn't throwing holy water on it," Monday said of one of the perpetrators. "If he's going to burn a flag, he better do it in front of somebody who doesn't appreciate it. I've visited enough veterans' hospitals and seen enough with their legs blown off defending that flag."
"We just got outplayed," manager Dave Roberts said, and not by just any team, but the one managed by his predecessor as Dodgers manager, Don Mattingly. It was the first series sweep in Los Angeles in Marlins history.Of course, last nights game wasn't the biggest news of the evening. What really got folks talking was the revelation that Dee Gordon, a man so beloved even after being traded to Miami, has tested positive for PED's and is suspended for 80 games. Wha...?
To make matters worse, he likely failed testing weeks ago (maybe during spring training) and was in the midst of an appeal that he only dropped right after last nights game. That certainly adds insult to injury.Wow, Dee Gordon got 80 games for testing positive for exogenous Testosterone and Clostebol— Eric Stephen (@truebluela) April 29, 2016
He claims that he did not knowingly ingest the illegal substances (per his recent statement), but the damage is done. He's just a case of another false (failed) hero. Below are more links to check out:The Dee Gordon announcement came tonight because he only just dropped his appeal and wanted to tell his teammates what happened.— Tim Brown (@TBrownYahoo) April 29, 2016
"They were going to put the match to the flag, and it was soaked in lighter fluid," remember Monday. "My attitude was if they don't have it, they can't light it, so I scooped the flag up and kept running. I didn't know if it was on fire or not, but I did know one of the guys was not a [baseball prospect]. He threw the can of lighter fluid at me, but he didn't have a good enough arm to hit me."Featured above is a photo, via Bill Shaikin on twitter, of Monday and his wife Barbaralee with that flag.
With their disappearance, with their refusal to address the past, they leave behind questions that seem likely to remain unanswered: What pain and rage led them out on to the field that day, and what did it have to do with that mental institution in Missouri? Why burn an American flag as a method of protest, and why at Dodger Stadium? And, why did a father use his 11-year-old son as an accomplice? In the long silence that followed the moment, there are surely other questions—questions of regret, questions about what it has been like to live with this for 40 years.Below are more links to check out:
"As a catcher, you're involved in the game pretty much every pitch, calling the game and talking to 11-12 different pitchers on a daily basis getting them ready for a game," Haselman said. "You have a lot of different personalities. It's always a challenge to be able to figure out each individual by themselves and get them to perform the best they can."Being involved as a catcher, it's an easy transition as a manager because you've already dealt with half a team your whole playing career."
“I think the most important thing with the Cuban players is building a trust that goes both ways,” said the Dodger official.
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“Donnie tried really hard, and maybe Yasiel wasn’t ready to trust the situation,” said the Dodger official. “Maybe it will take a new situation. Dave Roberts is an incredibly positive person. He has had what we hope have been productive meetings with Puig.” Then there is George Lombard, Roberts’ prized addition to his coaching staff. The Dodger front office was blown away by Lombard, who is highly intelligent (his grandfather George Francis Fabyan Lombard was the dean of Harvard Business School), his mother Posy became a significant figure in the Civil Rights Movement after graduating from Smith, working closely with the Rev. Martin Luther King before tragically losing her life in an automobile accident on Cape Cod.
Lombard is married to a Cuban-American, knows that Miami community well, understands the Cuban culture. “I think the trust built in establishing a personal and professional relationship is hugely important,” says the Dodger official. “I do think the trust factor is something that can be difficult to build, with the Cuban players dealing with such a different culture, but many players trying to assimilate into our baseball culture from theirs.”
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“For me, Donnie was always good. He understood as a person who I am and he always helped keep me positive. That’s one big thing I had with him. I always could be myself with Donnie. I understand the organization’s decision. I understand for Donnie, too. I’m happy for him that he’s with Miami now.”
Jansen said he and Mattingly had a long discussion, and added the need to push forward. “We’re still here for one thing and that’s to win a championship. I’m pretty confident in what Andrew and Farhan are doing,” he said.
If this isn’t true and if Van Slyke is just trying to sound wise he probably owes an apology to Kershaw. If it is true, and Kershaw is telling the front office that Puig needs to go, it’s gonna make life a lot of fun for the Dodgers’ next manager. Because Puig, whatever else you can say about him for bad and for good, is not in a great place to be traded right now, coming off of an injury–plagued season.
"You've seen him each year we've had him, and each year he gets better as the season goes on," Honeycutt said of Greinke. "He's in great shape, he adds and subtracts to his pitches when he wants to. He can continue to pitch just like Maddux into his 40s. He has that ability, because he has the pitches already and makes the adjustments with the pitches he has.
"There's no doubt in my mind he can go as long as he wants to go. For five years, I don't see him having any issues after being with him the last three years. He's very intelligent, he takes care of himself. A lot of guys have talent, but you have to have the smarts to go with it, and he certainly has that. He's got a lot of game."
"We've been in conversations about the staff. I don't know if it's something I really want to get into at this point," Mattingly said. "We've talked about some guys. I think Tim Wallach is going to come with me to be the bench coach.
"There are a number of guys coming back. I have pretty much talked or texted with every member of the staff. I don't know if Michael [Hill, president of baseball operations] wants to talk about the staff or not, but some of the guys coming back I'm comfortable with. I think it's important to the continuity of where we're going."
For a team that shells out $300 MM per season, bumping Greinke up an additional $5 MM per year is a drop in the bucket. There could be concerns about giving him a contract that will run up to age 37. Greinke has had some minor injury concerns, but nothing huge. Since 2008, there have been only two seasons in which he failed to surpass 30 starts. Greinke is not a power pitcher, and his ability to locate, change speeds, and move the ball around in the strike zone will still play even when he loses a few more ticks on his fastball. Pitching in Dodger Stadium suits Greinke, and he pitches to contact and lets the ballpark hold hits down.
“I was pretty surprised by it,” (Nancy) Bea said. “I didn’t even know there was such a thing as the Bobblehead Hall of Fame. But that’s great.”
"We have a great pitching staff here, and I'm looking forward to working with them," Farmer said. "Also, honing in on my own skills and working on blocking the ball better, receiving better and stuff like that. It's fun, and it's an honor to be out here."
Sources: #Dodgers plan to interview Darin Erstad, University of Nebraska head coach (and former #Angels OFer) for their managerial opening.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) October 30, 2015
Effective immediately we are suspending the publication of Grantland. After careful consideration, we have decided to direct our time and energy going forward to projects that we believe will have a broader and more significant impact across our enterprise.
“Yes,” Scully told Rizzo in regards to the 2016 season. “Oh yeah, definitely. I’m looking forward to next year, maybe because it’s my last year. I’m looking forward to it as much as my second year because I got by the first year and I was so thrilled there was another one coming up — well, that’s how I feel about ’16. I’m chafing at the bit.”Ugh! I still can't wrap my head around the notion that 2016 will be Scully's last year behind the mic. Worse yet, there are hundreds of thousands (possibly millions) of fans who will likely be unable to enjoy his words due to the Time Warner mess.
“He was like a second father to me,” said Sax, a former Dodgers second baseman. “He was a tutor to a lot of players, an unbelieveable man. He would work all of us out tirelessly to make sure we did things right. He knew just about everything in baseball. He wasn’t boastful but could always give you that special input. Between seasons, I’d come back home to meet with him. If it wasn’t for Ronnie, I probably would have never made it to the major leagues.”
"He's incredibly bright, he's a tremendous leader of people, and he's an exceptional communicator. It's so hard for players, who are so mired in it, to sometimes see the bigger picture or even look at it from a different perspective. Gabe is incredibly skilled at seeing things at different perspectives."
Mattingly's deal is for four years, according to the source. He will be the club's eighth manager since 2010. The Marlins are thought to be waiting until after the World Series to make a formal announcement.
“Bernie and I were both Dodger fans and we talk about that,” Gutman says. “It was the (first indication) that those with a lot of money may have an interest that is different than the community’s interests.”
When asked what he means, Gutman replies:
“We never understood that he who pays the piper plays the tune. It was a lesson that it doesn’t matter whether people love (a team) it’s all about the money. I don’t think there had been those kinds of things. We all know now the sports world is all about making money but this was the first time we saw it. This was uprooting a club that had all these historical links to the community.”
But this World Series represents more than just series of tantalizing face-offs. It also has some historical bite. Baseball has long been looked at as a mirror of where we are as a country on issues of race, “a canary in the coal mine,” to quote sports sociologist Dr. Harry Edwards. This World Series offers a particularly bracing and lucid look. In the entire 112-year history of baseball’s championship round, we are presented for the first time with a Fall Classic pitting two teams that never fielded all-white, segregated rosters.
Zirin also addressed the decreasing rate of African-American participation within the game.
Source: Don Mattingly is interviewing with #Marlins today
— Joe Frisaro (@JoeFrisaro) October 26, 2015
"We knew there was a chance that we might had to do the labrum. But obviously I didn't want to take longer to come back," Grandal said on Monday. "So I was very happy to hear that the labrum wasn't touched once I woke up from the surgery."
"I worked hard in the offseason lifting weights and getting my lower half in shape," he said. "I also made a slight adjustment to my swing, and things have just taken off from there."
“If there was a reason that this happened, we would share it,” Friedman said during a 45-minute session for him and Zaidi at Dodger Stadium. “There’s not. It was a collection of a lot of different conversations over many days that got us to this point. So it’s not so black and white here. There is a huge middle, and it’s gray, and that’s how everything played out.”Mattingly expressed similar words, as shared by Mark Saxon at ESPN:
"I can't sit here and say I'm just bubbling over," Mattingly said. "There are a lot of emotions that go into this, a lot of discussion, a lot of talk, but it gets back around to the same thing as we kept talking and going over it. We all came to the same conclusion. This is best for both parties."Wow! It's amazing how much this does sound like a high school breakup.
Surgery was a success! Thank you @NealElAttrache and thanks to everyone for all the well wishes!
#LA @Dodgers pic.twitter.com/V5Tj2HG3Cw
— Justin Turner (@redturn2) October 22, 2015
"We talked to them this morning. Obviously we wish that we had more answers to provide but we don't. This process is just getting underway," Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said on Thursday. "We told them they are free to look elsewhere."
In fact, Eric wrote earlier that, "Tim Wallach interview(ed) for Nationals' managerial opening."
"I loved playing for Donnie," said Clayton Kershaw, Opening Day starter for each of Mattingly's five seasons. "He has and will always have my utmost respect. I have nothing but positive things to say about him as a person and a manager. He will be missed."
Via Mark Saxon at ESPN, "A.J. Ellis has strong words of support for Don Mattingly."
"From my experience, rarely does a player you grew up idolizing come close to even meeting your expectations. To say Donnie exceeded mine is an understatement. Donnie is the most consistent, optimistic person I have ever been around, on or off the field. It was an honor playing for him, and to embrace each other as we did these past three years after clinching a division title are cherished memories. I have no doubt he will be a world champion manager some day, and I am grateful for the opportunity I had to play for him."
Thank you baseball. I played this beautiful game for 30 years. I took my jersey off for the last time tonight. It was an honor. #ithrew88
— dan haren (@ithrow88) October 22, 2015
Mattingly had one year remaining on his contract, and sources indicated to ESPN's Ramona Shelburne that the Dodgers offered him an extension this past weekend. But after years of uncertainty about the Dodgers' long-term commitment to him -- Mattingly has worked under two ownership groups and two general managers -- he informed the team earlier this week that he preferred to move on.So, assuming this is true, it appears it wasn't the front office who pushed for this conclusion. Heck, they wanted him to stay. After all, there aren't too many managers out there willing and able to juggle an ever-changing roster the way Mattingly did; while at the same time accepting and implementing the constant input (i.e. demands) of an stat orientated front office. That's the kind of work a magician does.
Dodger President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman, General Manager Farhan Zaidi and Senior Vice-President of Baseball Operations Josh Byrnes met and talked extensively with Mattingly for several days following the conclusion of the season.Photo above via Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2015.
“As our end of season process began, we discussed the past year, our future goals, necessary changes, roster needs and other matters relating to next year’s campaign,” said Dodger President, Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman. “As the dialogue progressed daily, it evolved to a point where we all agreed that it might be best for both sides to start fresh. We decided to think about it for a couple of days and when we spoke again, we felt comfortable that this was the direction to go. I have the utmost respect for Donnie and thoroughly enjoyed working with him this past season. I want to thank him for his hard work and collaboration, as well as his accomplishments, including three consecutive National League West titles. I wish him nothing but success in the future.”
“I’m honored and proud to have had the opportunity to manage the Los Angeles Dodgers,” said Mattingly. “I’ve enjoyed my experiences and relationships with the organization’s staff and players throughout my eight years in L.A. After meeting with Andrew, Farhan and Josh, we all felt that a fresh start would be good for both the organization and me. We talked about several scenarios, including my returning in 2016. However, I believe this is the right time and right move for both parties. I’m still very passionate about managing and hope to get the opportunity in the near future. In the meantime, I want to thank the Dodger organization, the city and our fans for the opportunity and wish the club well going forward.”
Turner is just one of four Dodger players to OPS 1.300 or higher with a minimum of 15 plate appearances in a series.
Bonilla missed the entire 2015 season due to injury after making his Major League debut in 2014 and going 3-0 with a 3.05 ERA in five games (three starts) with the Rangers. In 170 minor league games (43 starts) in six minor league seasons, Bonilla has posted a 27-20 record with 15 saves and a 3.17 ERA, while limiting opponents to a .232 batting average with 489 strikeouts in 429.0 innings. Bonilla, who was honored with a 2012 selection to the Futures Game, was originally signed by the Phillies in 2008 as a free agent out of the Dominican Republic and then traded to Texas in 2012.
“Reinstatement back into the Olympic Games is an extensive process for the sport, so it is encouraging this evening to receive the news that Baseball/Softball has made it to the next step, and it is credit to the sports global movement”, said Baseball Australia President, David Hynes.
