NEWS/RUMORS/AROUND MLB Thread

he's done being the elite player he once was
but 31/119 .268/.323/.457 is still pretty productive
arguably better than adrian's 18/90 .285/.349/.435
of course we only have this year and next on his contract
anaLheim is still on the hook for 5 years and $140MM

 

Puig expected to play a lot in right field
by Eric Stephen | True Blue LA — 17 hours ago

PHOENIX — A few days into camp at Camelback Ranch, and the Dodgers’ outfield situation is essentially what we thought it was before spring training started — a pair of regulars plus some mixing and matching likely in left field.

The wild card in all of this is Yasiel Puig, who was sent to Triple-A Oklahoma City for a month last season and then returned in a reduced role. But this year, the Dodgers thus far have described Puig more as a solution than a problem.

“We expect him to get a lot of at-bats out there in right field,” manager Dave Roberts said on Wednesday. “If you look at his skill set defensively, there might not be a better right fielder in the game. The adjustments he made to his swing last season, all good things.

"With Yasiel's skill set, he's shown he can hit right-handed pitching. And obviously he hits left-handed pitching. The more he's out there, the better for the Dodgers. The only thing for us, is continuing to look at the at-bat quality. It's important.”

In his career, Puig doesn’t have much of a platoon split at all, hitting .282/.370/.476 against lefties and .289/.358/.470 against righties. But in the last two seasons he has hit just .256/.316/.394 against right-handed pitchers compared to .267/.338/.497 against southpaws.

Once Puig returned from Oklahoma City in 2016, he started just one game against a right-handed pitcher in September and October.

But his playing time figures to go up in 2017. Puig showed up to camp on Friday morning, wielding a bat covered in barbed wire.

Roberts was asked this morning if right field was Puig’s to lose.

"We expect him to be out there the majority of the time. Yasiel put in a lot of work this winter with his swing, the swing mechanics, and obviously the body. He looks great,” Roberts said. “I think even after last year he grew a lot. I think he just wants to go out there and play. If he goes out there and plays well, he'll be out there.”

The Dodgers could theoretically platoon in all three outfield spots, but with Puig in right field and Joc Pederson expected to man center field on most days, that leaves only left field open for split duty.

Franklin Gutierrez and Andre Ethier seem like logical platoon partners, but several others are in the mix for outfield playing time as well, including Andrew Toles, Scott Van Slyke, Trayce Thompson, Kiké Hernandez and Brett Eibner, among those on the 40-man roster.

"You look at the depth chart and you look at the roster, those guys understand. There are only so many spots out there. But again, it's not as much, 'Here's our opening day roster.' It's easier to say in my position, but I've been a player before. There's a lot of anticipation and hope to break camp with the big club. I get it,” Roberts said. “As an organization, what's going to make us the best team over 162 games, we're not going to break camp with eight [outfielders].

“It will be fun to see how it plays out. It will play out it always does.”

 

pujols is tolerable now as a dh
but how's he going to be in 4 years, at 41, when the anaLs are [still] paying him $30MM?

 

tbh, this would only be news if he wasn't starting opening day

Kershaw to extend streak of opening day starts
by Matthew Moreno | Dodger Blue — 17 minutes ago

Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts formally announced Clayton Kershaw as his starter for Opening Day of the 2017 season. In taking the mound against the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium on April 3, Kershaw will have made seven consecutive Opening Day starts.

Vincente Padilla was the last pitcher other than Kershaw to start for the Dodgers on Opening Day (2010). It’s a streak bested only by Seattle Mariners ace Felix Hernandez, who has started each Opening Day from 2009-16, and presumably will do so again this year.

Amongst Dodgers pitchers, Kershaw will tie Don Drysdale and Don Sutton for most Opening Day starts in franchise history. However, only four of Drysdale’s seven outings were in succession (1958-61), while Sutton’s Opening Day string ran from 1972-78.

Los Angeles is 6-0 in their season openers with Kershaw on the hill. The ace is 4-0 with a 0.93 ERA 44 strikeouts in those contests, and a fifth victory would tie Drysdale for most wins in franchise history on Opening Day.

Kershaw’s best performance came in 2013, when he fired a complete game with nine strikeouts and hit a go-ahead solo home run against the San Francisco Giants.

This year will mark the second consecutive time Kershaw faces the Padres to begin a season, and third time overall. Last year, he held San Diego to one hit and had nine strikeouts over seven shutout innings at Petco Park.

Kershaw has completed at least six innings in five of six Opening Day starts. The exception came against the Padres in 2012, when illness limited him to just three scoreless frames.

Although Padres manager Andy Green named his Opening Day starter last year — Tyson Ross — during the first few days of camp, he’s yet to do so for 2017. Conceivable options are Jhoulys Chacin, Christian Friedrich, Luis Perdomo and Clayton Richard.

 

ouch
and declining