The Only Thing Standing Between the Dodgers and a 110-Win Season is the Padres
For those of you with doubts about San Diego’s ability to equal the home team in almost every category in 2021, you’re deluding yourself.
The 2021 Dodgers are a 110-win club. And might be even with the Padres in the National League West to keep them interested until October. Los Angeles is that good. Not because they are undefeated in Cactus League play — I mean, c’mon — but because they were the best team in the regular season last year, followed through to beat the best in both leagues to win a World Series and haven’t rested on their laurels during the winter.
Say what you will about Trevor Bauer. He’s a great pitcher. Queso grande Andrew Friedman handled both the negotiation and introduction of the player perfectly and I’m done criticizing both he as president of baseball operations and manager Dave Roberts. Okay, that’s a lie. I’ll still have at them, but it’ll be with the genuine understanding that they know better than I do — much better than I do — and have earned my faith going forward. Because they’re champions.
Bauer makes the Dodgers a better team than last year’s model. After opting out in 2020, the returning David Price makes L.A. better this year as well. With Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May, either of whom could start every fifth day for at least 25 clubs immediately, the rotation is seven deep. Top pitching prospect, Josiah Gray, gets the ball tonight. Decide for yourself if L.A. is eight deep.
With May and Gonsolin likely headed to the bullpen to start the season, with new Dodger Corey Knebel and a host of compelling bubble-watch youngsters and non-roster invitees, the relief corps is better, too. While I’ll get into the specifics in a separate column soon, I’m telling you right now that the Dodgers will hit a ton in 2021. Dino Ebel is going to need rotator cuff surgery after seven months of waving runners home with only the All-Star break to rest the limb.
For those of you with doubts about San Diego’s ability to equal the home team in almost every category this year, you’re deluding yourself. The 2021 Padres represent the best in their franchise’s history. Sure, they’ve never won a World Series, but they’ve been to two of them, and an NL flag is all it’ll take to make Dodgers fans scurry for their crying towels come fall.
The Pads will match the Dodgers pitch for pitch, one through 13. About the only thing for L.A. fans to hang their hat on is the idea that guys like Jake Croneworth, Trent Grisham and Wil Myers might not be as good this year as last. On the other hand, San Diego has switched out its catching duo since last summer and will have the benefit of Austin Nola and Vince Caratini for the full 162 this year. And, oh by the way, they added starting pitchers Yu Darvish, Blake Snell and Joe Musgrove. Just that.
The Dodgers are the better team, but only be a smidge. They’re good enough to win comfortably if everything falls their way. But so are the Pads. If you aren’t worried about them, you should be.
Personal note:
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Dodgers exhibition action:
The Dodgers have played twice since my last issue, with both games ending in ties, 1-1 versus San Francisco and 4-4 with Cincinnati Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. Walker Buehler started against the Giants and looked great. Two innings with a single, no walks and a strikeout. Five L.A. relievers, including May and Nick Robertson (a name to watch) pitched scoreless frames. Mookie Betts and 2019 first-round draft pick, Michael Busch, had doubles.
Julio Urias started last night and struggled vs. the Reds, win a run across and escaping a jam only because of the new spring rule that allows skippers to end an inning before it goes sideways, primarily to preserve arms. For what it’s worth, the left-hander struggled in the first inning of his starts last year, to the tune of a 9.00 earned run average and a .341 batting average against. Knebel allowed three hits for a run in his debut outing, 2020 second-round Landon Knack blew a save with two runs allowed in the ninth, and four other relievers, including Scott Alexander, managed zeros.
Old friend Tim Federowicz stroked a two-run double, Gavin Lux added a single (he’s 3-5 to date) and made a bad throw from shortstop on a routine grounder to start the game, dug out by Max Muncy. And just missed colliding with second baseman Chris Taylor on another play. The beat goes on with that guy.
ICYMI:
Kiké Hernandez is making himself at home at JetBlue Park at Fenway South in Fort Myers, Florida. He mashed his first home run of the spring Tuesday (see below) and is hitting .800/2.675 in exhibition play.
And Joc Pederson, hitting .333/1.933, homered for the Cubs Wednesday.
Andre Ethier is still a Dodger, however, and seems happy to remain involved wherever he can be of help (below). We’ll no doubt continue to see him on road trips to Arizona, where he keeps his primary residence, and in Los Angeles a couple of times a year.
A couple of scary medical stories to tell you about. Nationals’ starter Jon Lester, who was treated with chemotherapy for lymphoma as a Red Sox rookie in 2006, has left camp to have his thyroid gland removed. And Yankees’ skipper Aaron Boone, who had open-heart surgery in 2009, is away from the club to have a pacemaker installed.
Additional injury updates from around the league.
And in a major disappointment for this reporter, who was looking forward to watching the Oklahoma City Dodgers from the jump, Major League Baseball has decided to push the Triple-A season back at least a month, from April 6 to some time in May. Lower-level play was already set to begin in May. On the flip side, alternate site camps are back. The assumption is that the Dodgers will return to USC. Jeff Passan has the story at ESPN.com.
Baseball Photos of the Day:
Paul Olden is the Yankees public address announcer. He is a former L.A. newsman and is famous in these parts for asking Tommy Lasorda what he thought of Kingman’s performance, on May 14, 1978. He’s also a photographer of note. Below are three of his photographs.
Gerrit Cole at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa.
Yankee Stadium.
Paul Olden.
Media Savvy:
“Uniforms of the past making a comeback: Designers reflect on their classic uniforms given second life,” by Michael Clair at MLB.com.
“Why the Dodgers might want to trim baseball's largest payroll, and three ways they could do it,” by CBSSports.com’s R.J. Anderson.
Finally, since we’re reliving old Tommy stories, how about the “The time Rick Sutcliffe trashed Tommy Lasorda’s office, by Eric Stephen at TBLA?
And remember, glove conquers all.
Howard Cole has been writing about baseball on the Internet since Y2K. Follow him on Twitter. Follow OBHC on Twitter here. Be friends with Howard on Facebook.
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