by Paul Teetor
The Dodgers desperately need reinforcements – and the trade deadline is Tuesday afternoon at 3. So by the time you read this you’ll know if they’ve done anything significant to shore up a team that badly needs shoring up.
Especially on their pitching staff, but also for the infield and the bottom of their batting order.
Wait, what?
The team that spent more than $1.5 billion in the off season on new players now has depth issues?
How can that be?
Let me count the ways.
Manager Dave Roberts, as always, is doing a great job with the roster he has been given. But President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman and the rest of the front office bear the responsibility for the team’s underperformance. Anything less than making it to the World Series will be considered a crushing disappointment for a team that, on paper at least, has more talent than any other team in either league.
First of all, more than a billion dollars of that cash was spent on decade-long contracts for two Japanese pitchers — $700 million for Shohei Ohtani and $325 million for Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
Ohtani has been great, except for the fact that he can’t pitch this year due to an elbow injury. But the Dodgers knew that when they signed him, just as they also knew they were getting one of the two best hitters in Major League Baseball, along with Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees.
Othani is batting .315 and is on pace to hit 50 home runs this season. That makes him a candidate for his third Most Valuable Player award, even without his incredible pitching, which he is scheduled to resume next season.
His spectacular performance is no surprise. Othani was a tried-and-true major league superstar coming into this season. In six seasons with the Angels prior to coming to the Dodgers, he proved he is the real deal and won two American League MVP awards.
But Yamamoto? The pitcher who was given the most lucrative contract in baseball history, except for Othani, who is much more than just a pitcher?
Based on his current trajectory, Yamamoto is a candidate for the worst signing in history. Not just in Dodgers history. Not just in baseball history.
The worst signing in pro sports history — baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer – any sport you can name.
Now, he still has time to turn that around – he has 11 years left on his contract.
But if he ends up as a bust, the Dodgers will have egg on their faces because all the warning signs were there before he signed his massive contract.
Start with this: the 25-year-old had never thrown a single pitch against major league hitters before this season. He was a star in the Japanese league, sure, but that was no guarantee he would handle MLB hitters like he handled Japanese hitters.
So far, he hasn’t proved anything either way – but it’s not looking great.
The Dodgers knew he was only five-foot-ten and 175 pounds, and pitchers with that kind of spindly physique rarely do well against today’s bulked up beasts who come to the plate looking to hit homers every time, no matter what the score or the game situation is.
He was awful to start the season, then steadied himself and had a string of good starts where you could see why he had been a star in Japan. He has great control of all four of his pitches – fastball, curve ball, splitter, and change up – and can usually keep hitters off balance, routinely guessing wrong on what is coming from him next.
But then he hit a bad streak, then he hurt his arm, and now he is on the injured list with no guarantee that he will be back in time for the postseason.
If he doesn’t make it back in time for the playoffs – and the Dodgers of course will be in the playoffs, as they are on track to win the National League West for the 11t time in 12 seasons – he will be considered a profound disappointment in his initial Dodgers season.
Meanwhile the clock is ticking on the Dodgers.
Ohtani is 30. Mookie Betts is 31. Freddie Freeman is 34. Will Smith is 29. All four all-stars are signed to long term deals, but this could be the only season in which the Dodgers have all of them in their primes. The team’s other All Star caliber player, Teoscar Hernandez, who won the Home Run Derby last week, is playing on a one-year deal and will almost surely sign a lucrative, long-term deal with someone this winter, and it may not be with the Dodgers.
But above all else, the Dodgers main problem is getting a steady, consistent and reliable pitching staff going into October. Tyler Glasnow was signed and extended with the intention of making him the staff ace. He started out strong in the spring, but eventually fell victim to an arm injury and now can’t be counted on for anything until he comes back and proves he has the right stuff again.
Walker Buehler missed all of last season after Tommy John surgery and was supposed to make a big comeback this season. But he just wasn’t the same pitcher this season when he did get some starts, and there is a growing fear that he will never be the same.
With two months left in the season, the great Clayton Kershaw made his first start of the season on Thursday and was just OK. Last October he gave up six runs in the first inning in a playoff opening loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks, and all indications were that his Dodgers career was ending on a very sour note.
But he wanted to come back, and the Dodgers wanted him back, for both sentimental and practical reasons. He signed a $17 million, one year contract and finally made it back to the mound at Dodgers Stadium last week against the Giants
He was not bad, not good – somewhere in between. He pitched four innings and gave up two runs in a 6-4 Dodgers win. He showed enough of the old magic that he could maybe be a number four starter in the postseason, but the staff ace that he once was is now ancient history.
The kids – Gavin Stone, River Ryan, Bobby Miller – have all flashed impressive stuff but have also been shelled at times. They’re rookies, and that is how it goes with rookie pitchers unless your first name is Fernando.
So far, the Dodgers have posted the second-best record in all of baseball – behind only the Philadelphia Phillies – by having the best offense in baseball and letting Roberts work his magic in moving starters and relievers in and out of the rotation.
But that formula is unlikely to lead to a World Series title without a staff ace to take the pressure off the other starters and the bullpen. So watch what they do at the Tuesday trade deadline. That will tell the true story.
As of Monday night, they had made a couple of minor deals. But if they get a front-line pitcher who can step into the staff ace role, they’ll be in good shape to go deep in the playoffs.
If not, prepare for more of the same October Dodgers angst that rolls around here every year.
Contact: teetor.paul@gmail.com
South Bay Olympians update
Beach Volleyball
Beach volleyball players Sarah Hughes and Kelly Cheng, of Hermosa Beach, convincingly defeated a Czech team 21 to 16, and 21 to 11 in their opening match on Sunday, July 28. Their pool play was scheduled to continue on Wednesday, July 31 against France, and on Friday, August 2 against Germany.
Beach volleyball player Chase Budinger, of Hermosa Beach, and his partner Miles Evans, of Santa Barbara, also had a convincing win in their first match, defeating a French team 21 to 14, and 21 to 11 on Monday, July 29. On Tuesday, July 30, against a Netherland team, they lost. 13 to 21 and 15 to 21. Their pool play continues on Friday, August 2 against Espagne (Spain).
Palos Verdes High graduate Andy Benesh (Class of 2013) and Pacific Palisades High graduate Miles Partain fell to Cuba in a tight match on Saturday, July 27. Both games ended 18 to 21. Benesh and Partain played Morocco on Tuesday, July 30, and won 21 to 12 and 28 to 26. The final game in pool play is August 1, against Brazil.
Triathlon
Mira Costa High graduate Taylor Spivey (Class of 2009) is representing the U.S. in the individual and mixed relay triathlons. The individual triathlon was scheduled for Wednesday, July 31. But if water quality in the Seine hasn’t improved, the individual triathlon will be moved to Friday, August 2. The mixed relay triathlon is Monday August 4, at 11 p.m.
Water Polo
Mira Costa High graduate Jordan Raney (Class of 2014), and her USA water polo team defeated Greece 15 to 6 on Saturday, July 27, but lost to Spain 11 to 13 on Monday, July 29. They were scheduled to play Italy on Wednesday, July 31, and France on Friday, August 2..
Men’s singles tennis
Marcos Giron, of Redondo Beach, lost to Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime by scores of 6 to 1 and 6 to 4 on Monday, July 29. ER
Men’s Decathlon
Mira Costa High graduate Dan Golubovic (Class of 2012) is representing Australia in the decathlon. On Friday, August 2, he will compete in the 100 meter sprint, the long jump, the shot put, the high jump and the 400 meter run. On Saturday, he will compete in the 110 hurdles run, the discus, the pole vault, the javelin and the 1500 meter run. ER
