I am always looking for subjects for new posts. And I remember how well Max Muncy has done against the Giants. And I tried to remember when I have seen a Dodger player dominate a team like that before.
In the winter of 1990, the Dodgers went out and signed Darryl Strawberry to a free-agent contract. Fans were excited to get the Met slugger into Dodger blue.
The team would finish second to the Braves, missing out on the title by one game. Well actually two if they were to have won.
They got there with the help of Strawberry virtually going off the last three months of the season. He had been a disappointment through the first half, hitting 8 homers and hitting just .220.
But he hit .290 over the last 81 games and hit 20 homers. It would end up being his only good season as a Dodger. But let’s get back to dominating a team.
The Dodgers themselves beat the Astros 10 times in 18 meetings. But Strawberry? He owned Astro pitching. He hit .299 against them with 10 homers, 5 doubles and 27 RBIs. 15 of his 20 hits were for extra bases. His OPS was 1.223. His OPS+, 242. The only other team he came close to those numbers against was the Padres. .324/8/19 with 4 doubles and a triple. 1.125 OPS and an OPS+ of 212.
Against the rest of the league, he had 10 total homers, and 53 RBIs. His OPS+ for the year was 139. He played in 139 games that season. He would play in 75 for LA over the next two years. The Dodgers paid his salary until 1995.
Drugs and other problems derailed what might have been a Hall of Fame career. And in my estimation, you could put his contract down as one of the Dodgers worst free agent decisions. But for one year, he was more than worthy of his deal.
Muncy in his six years as a Dodger, has hit 25 homers against the Giants. His best year against them was 2021. He hit 8 homers, but only drove in 12 runs. Never one to hit for a high average, he hit .284 against them that year. He also had 2 doubles against them.
His next best would be 2023. Despite a down year average wise, Max hit .310 in 8 games against SF with 4 homers and 12 driven in. In 22, while recovering over his bad elbow, he managed 5 homers off of SF pitching and drove in 13.
I remember when I was young how amazed I was that a guy like Larry Jaster could dominate my Dodgers one year. But those things happen in this game. Some teams you own, and others own you.
The Dodgers with so many losing seasons, have made up ground on some of their NL rivals who owned them over the years.
They are now only 10 games under .500 with the Giants 1270-1280. They are 6 to the good over the Cardinals, 1044-1038. The Giants are the only NL team they have a losing record against. In the AL they are down to the Yankees, 9-10, A’s, 19-23. Angels, 71-73 and the White Sox, 15-16.
They own the Rockies. They have won almost 60 percent of their games with Colorado. Willie McCovey owned Don Drysdale. Mays had decent success against Koufax. Koufax on the other hand, owned McCovey.
McCovey hit .336 against Big D with 12 dingers. Duke Snider owned the Reds, he hit .315/72/222 against them lifetime. But Duke did very well against the better teams. His BA against teams over .500 was .310. It was .279 against the weaker teams. He clubbed 243 of his homers against the better teams.
The year he hit .393, Babe Herman hit over .400 against 4 of the 8 teams in the NL. He hit .517 against the Phillies. Zack Wheat owned the Phillies over his career hitting .331 against them.
Koufax over his career had a losing record to one team, the Reds. He was 19-20 against them. He dominated Houston and the Mets. He had 20 plus wins against the Phillies, Cardinals and Cubs.
Kershaw does not have a losing record against any team in regular season play except the Phillies. He is 4-6 against them. Of teams he has 10 decisions or more against, he is 11-0 against the Mets.
An interesting stat. Kersh made exactly one start when the Mets were at Shea, and it did not go well. But he is 4-0 at Citi-Field.
He has not fared well at Chase in Arizona nor in St. Louis at the new Busch Stadium. He has a winning record at Coors but a high ERA over 4. His best ERA is at AT&T in SF.
Your Senatorial candidate, Steve Garvey did his best work against the Reds, Giants, Braves and Phillies. Steve was almost even against teams over .500 and below.
I have researched a lot, but it is hard to find any Dodger who in one season had the kind of year against a single team as good as Strawberry did in 91 against the Astros.
It is beginning to look as if Ryu is headed back to Korea. He is in talks with the KBOs Hanwha Eagles, The Eagles were his original team. Looks like David Peralta has a new home, the Chicago Cubs. Deal is not official yet. In his first live BP, Shohei launched one out of the park off of Feyereisen. On this date in 1984, Pedro Guererro became the highest paid Dodger in history when he signed a five year seven-million-dollar contract. How times have changed.
Great piece. In 2004 Adrian Beltre went off on a lot of teams but not to the extent of what Strawberry did. Daryl Strawberry speaks regularly at a church in our neighborhood. I have threatened to go a few times but have never made it.
In 2002, Shawn Green had a great season against the Brewers, in one game! Don’t know what his seasonal stats overall were tho
Peralta’s deal with the Cubs is a minor league deal. Zack Reks signs with the Padres on a minor league deal. Ryu and the Eagles are in agreement on a deal. It should be announced in the next day or two.
New city connect uni’s will not have Los Dodgers on the front or the caps.
White Sox should go all in and sign Bellinger, Snell, Montgomery, and Chapman to one year deals That would surely make them the favorites in the AL Central. I know those guys are all looking for long term deals, but, time is running out. Who will blink?
Keith Law (The Athletic) is out with his Top 20 prospect list for each team.
Has positive things to say about DePaula (his Dodgers #1), River Ryan, Payton Martin, Joendry Vargas and Quintero, among others, but not thrilled with Kendall George or Jake Gelof.
Maybe Bluto will post his always welcome synopsis at some point in the next day or two.
Just for fun, I thought I would look at one of the greatest home run hitters in their best season to see if they had a dominance over a team as good as Straw did. Ruth hit 11 homers, drove in 30 and hit .391 against the Red Sox in 1927. In 1920, he hit 10 homers against three different teams and drove in 25 against the Red Sox and White Sox and 26 against the Tigers. He hit over .300 against the Tigers and Red Sox and .424 against Chicago. In 21 he drove in 22 or more runs against every team in the league, hitting 10 homers off of Boston and Detroit. The last time he hit 50 or more, 1928, he had 23 or more RBIs against every team except Boston and St. Louis. He drove in 15 against both. He only hit .233 against the pitiful Browns. He had 10 homers against the Tigers and Senators, and 11 against Chicago. He hit .280 against teams under .500 and .341 against teams over .500. Ruth hit 90 or more homers against 4 teams, St. Louis, Boston, Chicago and Cleveland. He hit 123 against the Tigers, 108 against the A’s and 89 against the Senators. He drove in 300 or more runs against St. Louis Chicago, Detroit and the A’s. He drove in 273 or more against Boston, Cleveland and Washington. Conversely, in 2001, when he hit 73 homers to set the MLB record. Barry Bonds hit 10 or more against 2 teams, San Diego and Colorado. He hit 6 against the Dodgers, but only drove in 8 and hit just .200 against LA in 19 games. Mark McGwire, when he hit 70 in 98, did not hit more than 7 against any team.
Amed Rosario has a new home. He signed with the Rays for one year, 1.5 million. JD Martinez still looking for a home.
As per David Vassegh:
Hard not to notice the improved physical condition of Max Muncy this spring. Both Dave Roberts and Brandon Gomes gave credit to Muncy for taking on the challenge to improve himself this winter. Gomes added “Our hitting guys are raving about him.”
And as Josh Thomas points out, this is officially the first “Best Shape of His Life” statement of the Dodgers 2024 Spring Training.
I assume that Joc is reading all of this on Twitter while indulging in his third bag of Doritos today. Some guys can have very successful MLB careers while emulating the Pillsbury Doughboy.
And then there are the before and after shots of Pablo Sandoval. He looks about half the size he was when he last played in the majors about 3 years ago.
According to The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya, the Dodgers and Will Smith have not discussed a potential contract extension at this time. Ardaya does mention that it would make sense for them to do so, but so far, it hasn’t come to fruition.
“There still have been no talks between the two sides on an extension, Smith told me this week. Would it make sense? Absolutely. Are the Dodgers uniquely positioned to pivot if needed? Yes.”
Per Fabian Ardaya of the Athletic
Just thought we should hear from someone who is closer to the situation than any of us.
Just want to be sure everybody saw this Dodgers programming note courtesy of from mlb.com, regarding Outman and Margot …
“I want him out there,” Roberts said of Outman. “He’s shown he can take good at-bats against left-handed pitching, so it’s definitely not a platoon situation. It’s more of how can I keep Manny involved situation.”
With all the free agents still unsigned–not just big names–and the trade possibilities, I keep thinking AF will tinker a bit more with this lineup. I still think Kike makes more sense than Margot because of the extra versatility.
RIP Don Gullett
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/16/sports/baseball/don-gullett-dead.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb&fbclid=IwAR3PuUwKohZLDGWQimo4dTl4X5GlbFFHhZ5_4vfGi3HhgP7Iu-yWwIvKvlQ
It may have taken an injury, but I suspect the Giants will be back looking at the elite FA pitchers, Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery. Doubting that Montgomery wants to come all the way to the west coast with his wife being a resident in a Boston hospital, I am guessing that it will be Blake Snell. The projected #4 starter for SFG, Keaton Winn, has come down with a sore elbow. He is being shutdown for a few days to determine the next step.
Eric Hosmer announced his retirement.
Jamai Jones DFAd by the Brewers. Looks like tomorrow’s starter is going to be Gavin Stone vs. Joe Musgrove.
News from Internet:
Keith Law Chat
https://meadowparty.com/blog/2024/02/20/klawchat-2-20-24/
gach zreinke: Thoughts and timetable on Dodgers’ Hyun-Seok Jang?
Keith Law: Hasn’t thrown a pitch yet. I imagine we’ll all see him in spring training.
Brian: Who was your biggest disappointment when doing the rankings? Was there one player going in you thought would have had a bigger impact in 2023 and would be a star that just didn’t materialize?
Keith Law: Cartaya was originally on the list in the 70s or so, but as I circulated it to sources & also considered him further I realized I had no argument to put him on the list except that he was on it last year.
Brian: Do you ever discuss your sources with other prospect writers? I’m curious how secretive the world is/isn’t when you all know the same people (and most say they cross reference lists with scouts), and how that plays into the differential product of the lists.
Keith Law: Not names, necessarily, but I might say “the Mets told me” something when talking to Eric or Jonathan.
Joe: The Dodgers gave up two players with some value for Trey Sweeney, so I was surprised that he didn’t get a mention in the LA write up. Do you think they did the trade because they needed the roster spots, or do they see something you don’t?
Keith Law: Maybe they see something they can do with the swing, but I just don’t think he’s anything but an up-and-down guy. He would have made a lot of top 20s, just not the Dodgers’.
At Fangraphs amongst Longenhagen’s Picks to Click: Who we expect to make the 2025 top 100 list
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/picks-to-click-who-we-expect-to-make-the-2025-top-100/
Eduardo Quintero, OF, Los Angeles Dodgers (EL)
Justin Wrobleski, LHP, Los Angeles Dodgers (EL)
Ronan Kopp, LHP, Los Angeles Dodgers (TT)
Alexander Albertus, 3B, Los Angeles Dodgers (TT)
Ben Clemens Chat:
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/ben-clemens-fangraphs-chat-2-20-24/
Dodger Blue: is the river ryan hype legit (sorry forgot name last time i submitted)
12:51
Ben Clemens: I’m not really sure, if I’m being honest
Baseball America article on Gavin Stone and his struggles last year ($$$$$)
https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/dodgers-gavin-stone-makes-adjustments-after-rough-mlb-debut/
About how Stone’s rough 31 MLB innings led to him reworking his pitch ix. Adding in a 2-seamer and a cutter.
Peter Gammons on Buehler:
After Walker Buehler threw Wednesday, one longtime Buehler watcher expressed positive surprise at how easy, how lively he looked. “It’s been a long rehab,” he said. “It shouldn’t be a surprise.” Indeed, the surgery was 5/23/22, after his 16-4 ’22 season, and expects a May return.
Both the Rays–after Dr Keith Meister’s final work–and Dodgers absolutely believe Tyler Glasnow will be healthy for the long term, as in 5 yr. contract. That is scary. In ’23 the staff averaged 4.9 IP a start; only Giants, Rockies were worse. Clayton Kershaw led in IP, 131.2, now they should have Yamamoto, Glasnow, Miller, Buehler, Sheehan for at least 5 months, Kershaw back by August, <there’s> positive feel on Gonsolin, May <late in the season>, Paxton…
Longenhagen Chat:
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/2024-prospect-week-chat/
Jon Kay: I like to think about your ratings for FV as functional normal distributions for outcomes and assume that the value you settle on is the most likely. Is there a way that you could add SD on your evalus as a way of measuring floor and celling? This guy plays great CF defense so it limits is floor and therefore I put a 55 FV on it but the SD has more skewness? Or is this just dressing up what is a qualitative process with opinion values to turn it quantitive?
Eric A Longenhagen: One of the former prospect writers at the site tried to do a version of this and people felt it was super confusing to have floor/likely/ceiling grades. Grade+Variance is a little easier and doesn’t feel like you’re abdicating making an actual call
guest: How do you reconcile traditional scouting versus newer advanced metrics approaches like Stuff+? take Sawyer Gibson-Long for example. he was never a high pedigree prospect and his fastball according to Fangraphs scouting is a 40 grade. But according to stuff+, his change-up and sinker are two of the highest rated pitches in the model, and his fast is above average. His FIP and xERA seem to back up his limited results. Thank you for the feedback!
Eric A Longenhagen: Stuff+ overvalues guys whose stuff has lateral action
Reggie: the dodgers seem to have really done well with their most recent DSL team. Who do you like best joendry vargas. Quintero or someone else?
Eric A Longenhagen: well one of them was on the top 100 and one was a pick to click
J: This is both a real-life and fantasy-driven question. With the evolution of the SP role, I find it increasingly difficult to gauge value. Just in terms of how you approach rankings, both value/slotting, has it affected you and Tess’ valuations? If so, what has it modified?
Eric A Longenhagen: For sure. I’ve flattened their curve, so to speak. Fewer workhorse SPs generating WAR value via innings volume, more innings to go around means more 40/40+ types who work in bulk relief, or who you need to get key outs in the middle innings. For fantasy I do not envy you because it’s more about counting stats than talent and you’re also gauging team situation. In the one league I’m in (dynasty sim) I really only draft sexy arms when the value feels too good to pass up, I’m more on stable performers and paths to opportunity than upside most of the time
John: Roki Sasaki would rank top 3 if he were on the list?
Eric A Longenhagen: 2-4 range, yeah
Cy Young odds
Yamamoto 15-1
Glasnow 17-1
Miller 35-1
Buehler 120-1
Kershaw 200-1
According to Tread Athletics, a athletic development company they worked with Hyun-il Choi on his delivery. FB has gone up from 90-91 to 94+ MPH
Strawberry is why I am a Dodgers fan. I started watching baseball in 1985 and became a fan of his. When he went to LA so did my fandom. I don’t know how or why but I remember Kal Daniels getting ejected late in the 91 season while the Dodgers were trying to catch the Braves.