DODGERS NEWS/RUMORS/AROUND MLB Thread

Peralta May Miss Start Of Season Due To Shoulder Issue
http://www.dodgersnation.com/dodger...start-of-season-shoulder-stiffness/2015/02/25

 

Mattingly noncommittal on Rollins batting leadoff
by Matthew Moreno | Dodgers Nation — 1 hour ago

As a result of their offseason makeover, the Los Angeles Dodgers have on paper, traded in prolific offense for much-improved defense. The new collection of players are certainly capable of performing well offensively, it just may look different.

Howie Kendrick won’t steal 64 bases a la Dee Gordon, but he’ll put the ball in play and make pitchers work to get him out. Jimmy Rollins may not replace the bat Hanley Ramirez is capable of swinging, but it’s not beyond reason to believe he’ll be more consistent.

Along with needing to replace production from Gordon, Matt Kemp and Ramirez, manager Don Mattingly essentially needs to rework the batting order. Gordon solidified himself as the leadoff hitter last season and with his departure, the Dodgers don’t necessarily have an obvious answer.

One candidate is Rollins, though Mattingly wouldn’t yet commit to him, according to Jon Morosi of FOX Sports:

Last season, Rollins only hit from the leadoff spot in 21 games. The lion’s share of his at-bats came from the two-hole, where he was for 111 games. However for his 15-year career, the majority or Rollins’ games came with him batting leadoff (1,459 games of 2,090).

Should Mattingly not decide to go with Rollins, Kendrick or Yasiel Puig could be other options to bat leadoff. Though it should be noted during Kendrick’s career with the Los Angeles of Anaheim, he primarily hit second, fifth and sixth.

Kendrick’s best slash last season came in 39 games (161 plate appearances) as the cleanup hitter — .320/.366/.513 with four home runs and 28 RBIs, both of which were his best totals among the various spots in the order he hit from.

In just 252 career-games with the Dodgers, Puig has been moved throughout the order by Mattingly; in 140 of those games, Mattingly penciled Puig in at the second spot. Puig’s next highest games played with respect to batting order is as a leadoff hitter — 39 games, hitting .301/.386/.527 with eight home runs and 22 RBIs.

As Mattingly has so often stated when questioned how other roster issues would iron out, he’ll have six weeks to tinker with the lineup before needing to put pen to paper for meaningful games.​

 

talk about delusional
uh, matt...
i hate to break it to you...
but you don't even have the best outfield in your own division
all your outfielders [including especially you] are horrible defensively
in fact, it's not just your outfield — your whole team is horrible defensively
six of your starting eight are in the red on dWAR [a place you've been for the last six seasons]
but never mind those silly stats...
just keep telling everyone you're the best
who knows, there might be someone else delusional to believe it

Matt Kemp thinks Padres have the best outfield in baseball
by Craig Calcaterra | NBC Sports Hardball Talk — 2 minutes ago

Matt Kemp is optimistic about the San Diego Padres’ outfield. From Lyle Spencer at MLB.com:

“Who,” he said, “do you think has the best outfield in the game now?”

The visitor gave it some thought before nominating the American League champion Royals for defensive purposes and the Pirates or Marlins for all-around excellence.

Kemp shook his head. “No,” he said, firmly. “It’s right here. Right here in San Diego. You can write it down — and print it.”​

Optimism is good. As is the offensive potential of Justin Upton, Wil Myers and Matt Kemp.

Earlier in his career Upton showed flashes of an MVP-caliber bat and, even if he hasn’t lived up to that, he is a dangerous hitter and serious power threat. Myers was off last year but is just a year removed from a Rookie of the Year campaign and extreme promise as a prospect. Kemp, of course, needs no introduction. He easily could’ve and maybe should’ve been the MVP a few years ago and, after getting healthy last year, put up a second half which quieted a lot of people who said he had fallen off. If all of thee of these guys hit to their potential, it could be an amazing group at the plate.

Of course, offense is only one part of the equation and forgetting that outfields play defense as well as hit is kind of a problem for the purposes of this exercise.

Kemp’s hips and legs are his weakness and he is now a far below-average defensive outfielder, coming in at -23 in Defensive Runs Saved last year. Myers was at -7 and has very little experience as a center fielder, having spent most time in right. Upton, though statistically the best of the three at 0.0 in Defensive Runs Saved, has never been all that good himself with the leather. It’s also worth noting that Petco Park has a LOT of ground to cover.

So, the best outfield in baseball? I’d have to say no, because running down fly balls and cutting balls off in the gap to hold batters to singles instead of doubles is a pretty big damn part of the game. Especially in a pitchers’ park. Especially in a run-starved era. For that reason I’d take the Marlins, Nationals or Pirates outfield over San Diego’s. And I’d even go so far to say that, if I were a betting man, I’d bet that we’ll see more commentary this summer about the problem of the Padres’ defense than we will see about the Padres’ outfield driving San Diego towards greatness.​

 

now that wasn't nice :carolinabluedodger:

 

where did i say anything about needing to please dodger fans?
all i said was he was delusional thinking/saying the padres outfield was the best
and the stats back this up