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I have to admit, was not thrilled about the line up, but this Spring....

Broncosballer32

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Things have been looking real good this Spring. Best Spring in a long time. I am not getting overly excited, cause it is Spring after all.

Looking forward to the start of the season.
 

lasportzphan

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Solid spring scares me. Always.
 

LASports96

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It's better than being terrible in spring? That's what I make of it. I'm excited for the season.
 

lasportzphan

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It's better than being terrible in spring? That's what I make of it. I'm excited for the season.

Actually, I find no correlation between a bad spring and a good spring as far as regular season/playoff results are concerned. And if you mean bad/good spring in regards to record, probably irrelevant as to how the regular season will fair.

But if you mean good/bad in regards to uneventful no injuries etc - then we had an okay spring, not great. We lost Jensen, Ryu, Greinke had issues, Kershaw took one off the face, League may need surgery etc.
 

Villain

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It's better than being terrible in spring? That's what I make of it. I'm excited for the season.
I agree. It's nice to see the Dodgers leading all clubs in home runs this spring while everyone wanted to talk about the #RightHandedPower they lost from Kemp and Ramirez.

Do we all expect it to mean anything on Opening Day? No, but a good spring is a good spring. Ryu's issue seems minor. Losing Brandon League to the 60-Day DL is probably the last thing I'd ever cry about. And Kenley Jansen technically had his surgery BEFORE Spring Training. His surgery was on Feb 17, pitchers and catchers reported on Feb 19.
 

Broncosballer32

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My overall concerns had more to do with the loss of the production of Kemp and Ramirez. True, they were hardly ever healthy. My concern is who they were replaced with. Jimmy Rollins is said to be in the lead off spot.

Now, based on what I am seeing out of him as far as production (offensive), he has been...well, horrible. The last time he hit over .270 was 2008. He has hit .243, .252, and .250 over the last 3 seasons.

Puig always shows flashes of power (like this Spring and each of his first two seasons) and he then goes into ice cold stretches where there are no homeruns. He still has not hit over 20 HRs. Not that that should matter all that much, but he and Gonzalez are going to be the main power guys in the line up. BTW, the last time Gonzalez hit over 30HRs was 2010. His production is good though, but he is the best hitter in the line up and when you compare the Dodgers BEST hitter to other teams BEST hitter......you get the point.

Yasmani Grandal? He is projected to hit.233 with 13 HRs?

Joc Pederson is something to look forward to. Not proven, but hey, he is someone to be a bit excited about.

All of that was assuming the pitching staff would be healthy. Well, it isn't. So someone please help me down from the ledge here. Where am I going wrong with my pessimism?
 

Villain

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I can help! :thumb:

You're having Ned Colletti problems right now. Looking at superficial stats like batting average and not taking the entire picture into consideration.

Let's start with Hanley: He's not a shortstop anymore. He doesn't have the range. Can he hit? Absolutely. Maybe one of the best in the game. But he's not a shortstop. On the Red Sox he's playing outfield. Do you want another bad defense outfielder with a bloated contract in his 30s? I don't. It was smart to let him go to an AL team where he can evertually be a DH. Hanley does not have a fit on the Dodgers anymore.

Now let's go to Kemp. He was literally the worst defensive outfielder in baseball last year by UZR, DSR, RngR, and 2nd worst in ErrR (the worst was Dayan Viciedo, who was cut from his team this week). But! Kemp was a really good hitter (140 wRC+)! He was 40% better than league average! That should be enough to make up for his bad defense, right? Nope. That left him with 1.3 WAR (that's not good). This means that Kemp's overrall value* in 2014 was the same as such offensive powerhouses as:

Chris Heisey (who only played in 119 games, is number 6 on Dodgers OF depth chart in 2015)
Eric Young Jr. (who only played in 100 games, is behind BJ Upton on Braves depth chart in 2015)
Madison Bumgarner (who is a pitcher)

SOURCE *Value added from pitching statistics is not included.

It should be noted that Kemp was worth a whopping 0.1 WAR more than Darwin Barney and Kike Hernandez, who are both backup utility players. It's very possible that both of them will start 2015 in the minors.

So, be sad about losing Kemp from a nostalgic point of view. I am. I loved having Kemp as a Dodger and I'm going to miss him. But, this was the smart thing to do from the Dodgers' perspective. Keep in mind that after 2015, his 10 and 5 rights would've kicked in, so he would've been able to veto any trades, making his value even less. It was trade now and get something, or trade later and get nothing (see: Andre Ethier, when he eventually gets traded for nothing).

-----------------------------

Also, since you talked specifically about projected home run totals, I'd like to point you in the direction to this post from me: Lazy Comparison of 2014 v 2015 Rosters | SportsHoopla.com Sports Forums

The new group of players is projected to hit even more home runs than the players that left:

OUT
KEMP: 16 HR, .435 SLG
RAMIREZ: 16 HR, .455 SLG
GORDON: 1 HR, .357 SLG

TOTAL = 33 HR

IN
GRANDAL: 13 HR, .421 SLG
ROLLINS: 14 HR, .379 SLG
KENDRICK: 11 HR, .419 SLG

TOTAL = 38 HR

You may now step away from the ledge. :suds:
 

Villain

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Also, remember that you're not just replacing Kemp with Grandal. You're replacing Kemp with Joc Pederson and improving the catchers' position offensively and defensively. Kemp's trade also included Joe Weiland, who might be the Dodgers' 5th starter to begin the season while Ryu is on DL, and Zach Eflin who was included in the trade for Jimmy Rollins.
 

OutlawImmortal

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Great points all around Villain. Rollins may not have the same eye-popping stats he used to have but if you compare him to other SS around the league, his numbers are great for what we got him for. As much as I loved having Kemp, Gordon and Ramirez on the team, they aren't exactly the most consistent players. You never have to worry about Rollins or Kendrick being unhappy either, can't say the same for Kemp and Ramirez.

I still think we should trade Uribe though, he's only played over 110 games once since becoming a Dodger.
 

Villain

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Trade Uribe? For what? And who plays third base?
 

Broncosballer32

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I know it is day 1.

Hanley Ramirez just hit a grand slam and has 5 RBI so far, while Kemp is 2 for 3 with all of the Padres RBI today.

Not exactly a great opener with Kershaw.

Hey, you never know. The Dodgers are still in it, but this is not I wanted to see today.
 

Villain

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There was no question about Hanley's bat, again, the problem is that he doesn't have a postion that fits with the Dodgers.

Kemp's RBIs are a huge indication of why RBIs don't mean shit in terms of how you grade a player's skill. The first RBI was a weak roller into a hole in the defensive shift, and he scored Wil Myers who was only on base due to being the first HBP Kershaw has had since 2013. The second and third RBIs, Kemp deserves credit for hitting a double off of Kershaw but those runs should go to Uribe. He loafed on throwing Norris out and that inning should've been over. So don't go thinking that Kershaw is broken or anything.

Also, remember that the problem with Kemp was not his bat either. Kemp at his best was one of the most dangerous hitters for a lefty to pitch to. It was his defense that was the problem. In fact, that holds true for the entire San Diego OF. Kemp, as I showed earlier, was literally the worst defensive OFer last season. Wil Myers is NOT a real center fielder. Their OF defense will be a disaster all season. We got to see that first hand today in the FIRST GAME of the year! Kemp let Kendrick turn a single into a double and Myers let Kendrick turn a double into a triple.

I'll be shocked if PETCO Park doesn't lead MLB in inside-the-park home runs this season.
 

Broncosballer32

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There was no question about Hanley's bat, again, the problem is that he doesn't have a postion that fits with the Dodgers.

Kemp's RBIs are a huge indication of why RBIs don't mean shit in terms of how you grade a player's skill. The first RBI was a weak roller into a hole in the defensive shift, and he scored Wil Myers who was only on base due to being the first HBP Kershaw has had since 2013. The second and third RBIs, Kemp deserves credit for hitting a double off of Kershaw but those runs should go to Uribe. He loafed on throwing Norris out and that inning should've been over. So don't go thinking that Kershaw is broken or anything.

Also, remember that the problem with Kemp was not his bat either. Kemp at his best was one of the most dangerous hitters for a lefty to pitch to. It was his defense that was the problem. In fact, that holds true for the entire San Diego OF. Kemp, as I showed earlier, was literally the worst defensive OFer last season. Wil Myers is NOT a real center fielder. Their OF defense will be a disaster all season. We got to see that first hand today in the FIRST GAME of the year! Kemp let Kendrick turn a single into a double and Myers let Kendrick turn a double into a triple.

I'll be shocked if PETCO Park doesn't lead MLB in inside-the-park home runs this season.

I think RBIs are a strong indicator. Yes, there are the "lucky" RBIs like you mentioned. However the ones that consistently produce RBI are often hitters who have the higher batting averages with runners in scoring position etc.

The defensive factors as you mentioned are true.

I liked what I saw out of Kendrick yesterday. Rather unusual to see a second baseman at clean up. Anyway, it was a good win.

I am concerned about Puig. He just cannot lay off the outside slider. It, will most likely be a big problem for his career.
 

Villain

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Well, try to remember that we're a whole 1 game into the season. The RBI debate is a discussion for a different thread, so I won't go there again.

Moral of the story: don't be worried about Kershaw and the moves that the Dodgers front office made had sound logic behind them, and we got to see that up close and personal yesterday.
 

OutlawImmortal

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Another problem with Kemp is his SO numbers, they've never improved.

I'd trade Uribe for a bag of chips. I've always hated Uribe though, he had that one homerun in the playoffs and that was pretty much it.
 

Villain

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OutlawImmortal

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Unfortunately, that's a concern for Pederson too. We'll have to keep an eye on that one.



I don't understand this. Who would you have play third? You need to visit this thread: 3B - Juan Uribe | SportsHoopla.com Sports Forums

I'm sure J Turner could see more than 6 pitches in 4 AB's. That was an average playoff game for Uribe the other night. Dead weight, I said the same thing about Rojas being on the playoff roster, and he stunk it up last year too. Uribe's stat line would mean something if he could manage to play more than 50-60% of the season. It would be logical to think he's going to be on the DL for some time this year as well, since he's getting older not younger. You clearly love Uribe though, there's nothing wrong with that, but he's dead weight, .118 and .130 averages in the last two playoff series.
 

Villain

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You'd really prefer to have Justin Turner start ahead of Uribe?
 
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