Last night was the 24th annual ESPY Awards ceremony and Clayton Kershaw was there, along with his wife Ellen, as a nominee for the "Best MLB Player" of the past year. Other nominees included Josh Donaldson, Bryce Harper, Jake Arrieta and Mike Trout. Unfortunately, Clayton did not win. This years award was won by Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper. This was the third consecutive year Clayton has been nominated for this award, but has yet to win.
Photo above via Ellen Kershaw on twitter. Below are more links to check out:
- This Day in Dodger History: In 1995 Ramon Martinez pitches a no-hitter against the Marlins at Dodger Stadium. He was perfect for the first 7 1/3 innings, gave up only walk and struck out eight.
- Next year Vin Scully will be going on a "Distinguished Speaker" tour. Check out the scheduled appearances in March 2017 here.
- Via Eric Stephen at True Blue LA; "Catching up on Dodgers international signings."
This year, there has been no official announcement from the team on the international front, and on July 2 the only reported signing was Dominican shortstop Albert Suarez with a bonus of $300,000, the maximum individual bonus allowed the Dodgers over the next two signing periods.To date, there are two more known signings, with 18-year-old Dominican right-handed pitchers Edwin Uceta and Esmerlyn Cespedes both already added to the Dodgers Dominican Summer League rosters. Uceta has pitched four scoreless innings in two games, allowing a single and a double with four strikeouts, while Cespedes has yet to pitch.
Check out Eric's story for three additional signings not stated above.
- Via Gary Sheffield at the Players' Tribune; "Where I’m Coming From." He provides a lot of detail about what was happening behind the curtains (from his perspective) during the trade that brought him to Los Angeles; including his demands for compensation for leaving Florida.
My agent and I had come up with that number on the plane. The check, plus the $3 million house, plus the taxes — which would come out to about $1 million (it was actually more, but I was feeling charitable so I gave them a discount) — added up to about $10 million over the base of my contract.
So I said, “Now, either you guys do that, or I’m getting back on the plane.” By this point, it was around 7 p.m. and the game had started.
By the time the game finished, they had agreed to all my demands. They wrote me that check, and I became a Dodger.
And you know what? I played my ass off for Los Angeles, and I really loved it there and had some of the best years of my career. Batted over .300 and hit at least 34 home runs every year I wore Dodger blue. I demanded to be paid what I was worth because I approached the game as a professional. I was as competitive when it came to negotiating my compensation as I was whenever I went up to bat.
- Via Kevin Ruprecht at Beyond the Boxscore; "The 2016 homer bug has not yet bitten the Dodgers."
The Dodgers, on the other hand, are doing just fine. Despite a huge drop in ground-ball rate among their starters, their overall home run rate has not really suffered. Indeed, they stand apart from the rest of MLB.
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