moonslav59

Yes, they "really improved" while Cespedes did not by as much. We also saw Teel, Monty and Meidroth traded, so that made room for 3 slots up, which he did not fill. I do think the lack of a clear position hurts. If DH is his only reasonable position, then his value and ranking should drop. Remember, SP's previous ranking was NOV 15th, and Cespedes was 10th. No games were played between then and April 3rd, where he moved to 9th. Essentially, he was passed by 2 players. Yes, this does not mean he got worse, in the eyes of the evaluators, since others may have improved by more, but he did move from 6 to 7 to 10 during the 2024 season. He was 10th at the end of 2023.

I think they may be our only hopes. (Maybe Guerrero. Maybe we add I Campbell or Burdi to the 40 and give one a chance.)

Agreed, but everyone is sucking in that slot. I get the idea that the number 2 slot is where your best batter should be slotted, but maybe that is Bregman, and we could slot Devers 4th, where power is needed most. 1. L Duran 2. R Bregman 3. L Abreu/ R Refsnyder 4. L Devers 5. R Campbell (1B) 6. L Mayer 7. R Story 8. R Narvaez 9. R Rafaela (or call up Anthony and bat him 6th,) Ideally, if Campbell starts hitting again, he could bat 2nd .

My guess is we trade him, but waiting for him to be healthy may (or may not) increase his value. I'm not sure what sort of roster crush we might be under, this winter or by opening day, but we have quite a few deals expiring, this winter.

While Martin was not great in 2024, Jansen got the job done. I'd say replacing Jansen & martin with Chapman, Wilson & Hendriks looked close to a push, BUT the pen was weak, last year, despite some metrics that showed they were not that bad or even good. RP IP Lost from 2024 55 Jansen 3.29 (27 svs) 50 Chase Anderson 4.11 (much in low leverage) 44 Martin 3.45 43 Booser 3.38 25 Keller 5.85 (scrub innings) Horn, Garcia, Sims, Joely & others IP Leaders of '25 (pen only) 22 Whitlock 4.43 (started strongly) 18 Weissert 3.44 17 Slaten 4.76 (struggling) 16 Bernardino 1.65 16 Chapman 2.25 (6 svs) 14 Wilson 2.51 12 Wink 3.86 11 Newcomb 1.64 10 Hendriks 1.80 10 Kelly 9.00 Criswell, Guerrero, Fulmer (gone) & Stock 14 used, so far.

I have more hope for Crawford. He is throwing in the bullpen, so maybe I was rash on him.

$40M for just these 2! Bloom sure missed badly on his largest signings, while also failing to find enough worthy bargain basement specials to make a big difference.

Three words: Paxton, Giolito, Hendriks. (I could have added Sale I, Sale II, Sale III, Sale IV) I'm setting my expectations to zero.

I doubt we make any major trades, and if we do, it will be near the deadline or next winter.

The 1B issue has come up almost every year. I can see why they had faith in Dalbec a pretty nice first couple of seasons (.800+ OPS) and Casas, too, but no depth, at all. This winter we traded Gasper and Meidroth, and never asked Devers to pick up a 1Bman's mitt, as far as I know. The pen was the obvious biggest weakness as winter came to a close. I'm glad they made an effort to bolster the rotation depth, as we've already hit #10 and #11 on the winter depth chart. I'm glad we got Bregman as the RHB and defensive upgrade, but just adding Chapman and Wilson (plus Hendriks return) seemed woefully short-sighted. I guess we could have signed Tanner Scott over Buehler for about the same AAV, but the length of his contract must have scared JH away. Maybe the hope was the excess SP'er depth would be the pen additions, but we have seen very little of that, and when the do pitch from the pen, they have sucked, except for maybe Newcomb, but he wasn't even listed on the early winter depth chart of SP'er. (Criswell has an ERA over 10 from the pen.) Maybe, when Buehler and Fitts return, someone else has better success, otherwise, we'll probably see the 2025 versions of Luis Garcia and Lucas Sims.

Not if you hit .300 and win 80 games and .250 and win 97. Isn't 15 runs plus better than 15 minus kinda the same thing?

I don't see it that way. I still think Casas will end up being a very good MLB hitter- maybe as a DH and maybe somewhere else.

Buehler is rumored to be coming back around May 19th. Fitts will start facing live bats, soon. We may never see Crawford or Sandoval.

Agreed, and while a top catcher with 3 years of control is nice, it's not worth it. Narvaez is looking like a steal, so far, as well.

POR split a doubleheader. Any more rainouts and they may need to start playing tripleheaders. GRE was up 9-2 into the ninth and McShane finally had a bad game, letting up 6 ERs. YRod is 1-2 w 3BB, Zanetello 1-3 w 2BB and Ehrhard is 2-4. Lugo hit a dinger. It's tied 9-9, now. SAL lost 2-1 and the FCL Sox won their first game and are now 1-7.

I've consistently ranked him higher than SPs and others on this site. I just got the sense he was slipping in some people's minds. Not having a defined position hurts.

I'm not for trading a top prospect, but do you trade Mayer or Anthony plus Wong to MIL for Wm Contreras (2 more years of control) & Hoskins ($18M option in '26?) How about Rafaela and Wong for Hoskins, Haase and $10M of the $22M owed Hoskins? Call up Anthony and move Duran to CF. (I'd say no to both.) Any better ideas?

I get that, and he's been hurt. Good points. This is his 4th season on the farm, and he barely has 400 PAs. Other players get hurt and fall in the rankings, and he's only gone from 7th to 9th or 10th. Others have improved, yes, and by more than he has, but Teel and Montgomery were traded and Bleis fell below him. Romero has been hurt, too, and he passed Cespedes. When he has played, he has hit, so maybe my statement was harsh and misplaced. He turns 20 in SEP and is at Salem. Let's see if he can get promoted to GRE, this year or by the start of '26.

This year, the Dodgers have lost 3 straight and 4 out of 5, twice, already. True, they have much better and longer winning stretches, but there are plenty of examples of bad stretches by good teams.

Almost every winning team has times like this. There is a lot of season left to play.

Bregman may be gone, and that opens a clear spot for Mayer at 3B, SS (move Story) or 2B (move Campbell.) Refsnyder may retire, so that allows Rafaela to platoon with Abreu (or Duran) and open up LF for Anthony- not that Ref is blocking Anthony, now: Rafaela & Duran are. DH might be open, if they convince Devers to play 1B, or 1B could be open to Campbell, which allows Mayer to play middle infield. A lot can happen, including a trade of Mayer or Anthony, or more likely, an established player like Story, Duran, Rafaela or Abreu.

Anthony in LF, Duran/Rafaela platoon in CF with maybe Duran DH'ing some, if Devers plays 1B. Is playing CF really a position change for Duran? He's played 90 more games in CF than LF, over his career and looked pretty good there, last year. Rafaela is a way better defender in CF, but his bat has never looked as good as Duran's did from '23-'24. Duran at DH is an option, assuming Cora gets Devers to play 1B. To me, the opening at 1B created a situation where we can shuffle the deck a little and get a kid onto the 26 man roster as a FT or very near FT player. Just do it.

What "norms" are you talking about. Many of our players are so young, they have yet to establish a norm, but certainly Abreu is doing better. Ceddanne has a better OPS and is K'ing way less. Hell, Narvaez is doing better or the same as his "norm" in. Duran got way better than his, but don't give Cora any credit. Houck had a career year in '24. Does that count< or just his awful 2025 season, so far? While it's true many players are doing worse than their career stats or recent years, but it's only mid May.

Nothing matters until it's 80 games... LOL.

He started off slowly, this year and dropped in SP's rankings, even as some above him were traded or graduated.