Mailbag Monday: More and more concerns
Answering your questions!
Happy Monday, everyone!
The Dodgers are finally back home and we have a brand new week of baseball ahead. Hopefully they build on Sunday’s win and put together a nice little win streak.
As always, thank you so much to everyone who asked a question this week. If you’d like to ask a question for a future mailbag and be added to my ‘Thinking Blue’ Twitter groupchat, become a subscriber today!
Jim Ruland — Did losing to the Dodgers in the World Series break the Yankees?
I don’t think it broke them, but I think the Yankees’ sloppy defense has been rubbing off on the Dodgers this season!
J. Zura — Was Kirby Yates the better choice over Ryan Brasier or a reunion with Shelby Miller?
Also, why has there not been an update on Tony Gonsolin? Just his forearm is bothering him & the MRI didn’t show anything but he went on the 60-IL almost immediately after his last start.
During the offseason, Kirby Yates was 100 percent the right move over those guys. He was one of the best relievers in 2024 and you were hoping he’d replicate that with the Dodgers. I wasn’t a fan of DFA’ing Ryan Brasier to make room on the 40-man, but with how crowded the roster was there simply wasn’t another option for the team. They were banking on Yates being a better reliever than Brasier in 2025…. which he unfortunately hasn’t been.
The whole Tony Gonsolin situation has been weird. I tweeted it out shortly after it happened, but the Dodgers transferred him to the 60-day IL VERY QUICKLY. Normally they try and postpone that as long as possible and do whatever they can to not transfer a player to the 60-day. They transferred him almost immediately after he was IL’d, which means they knew how bad his injury was at the time and that he’d miss multiple months. For a team who always tries to be as optimistic as possible, that was an eye-opener. I’m not sure why they’re downplaying this, because I don’t see any possibility of him returning this season sadly.
MJ Vera — I like to check in every couple months. June wasn't bad. July wasn't good. So how are we truly feeling after the trade deadline, going into the stretch run? How many guys will we really call to DFA (for the rest of this season anyway)? Has the team considered not striking out every at bat to see if maybe some other team in the league can be worse defensively? Do you have some sort of movie theater subscription plan to spend nights at the theater for the rest of the season as needed? Normal questions like that. Thanks Blake!
If you come to Monrovia, you can sign up for the yearly movie pass to join me! Nowadays, going to see a movie is a lot better than watching Dodgers games!
Overall I’m feeling confident with this team still. Despite having a terrible July (by their standards) they are still in first place in the NL West and have the third best record in baseball. They are getting reinforcements back in Blake Snell and Max Muncy. The team is healthy, for the most part.
If they offense comes back to life, this team will be just fine. Over the last 5-6 weeks, the bats have been some of the worst in baseball. For whatever reason, most of the All-Stars in the lineup have gone cold at the same time. If they can go back to hitting and cutting those strikeouts down, we’ll see this team go on a run and remind us of the team we were expecting to begin the season.
Sassan Suarez — What do the Dodgers do about Mookie Betts? Clearly having him lead off hasn’t produced the results at the plate they were hoping for. And thankfully they’ve pulled the plug on that experiment.
As for the lineup, I think they should have Will Smith bat 2nd after Shohei, and really think about having Mookie bat lower in the order. It’s August and we are in a tight division race, don’t really have much more room to “experiment” and “hope” he finds his swing.
Finally, do you have any favorite all time moments of the Dodgers vs the Cardinals (and/or Blue Jays)
The Dodgers need to move him down in the lineup. The whole leadoff idea was stupid to begin with, but continuing to hit him second is just as bad. I don’t think he should be hitting ninth like a lot of fans are suggesting, but I think until he turns things around he should be hitting fifth in the lineup. Move up the guys in the lineup who are actually producing. I agree with you that Will Smith should hit second. He has the highest batting average in the NL, give him more plate appearances!
Against the Cardinals it would be the Chris Taylor walk-off in the Wild Card game. Unfortunately, I have way too many PAINFUL memories of playing the Cardinals that outweigh the good moments!
Peter Zales — I often "listen" to the Dodgers games on my phone, which is helpful for me because I don't have to see Ohtani's (strikeout) swing. It looks like the love child of Cody Bellinger and James Outman. How and why can't he lay off the HIGH pitch or the LOW and away pitch? He is on pace for a 175+ strikeout season.
Shohei’s strikeouts are really starting to concern me. His 33.8 whiff rate ranks him third percentile in all of baseball. His 26.8 percent strikeout rate ranks him 14th percentile. It is also his worst strikeout rate since 2021.
A lot of his at bats have been really uncompetitive. The good news with Ohtani is that when he isn’t striking out, he’s still producing. Despite averaging nearly two strikeouts a game over the last month, Ohtani still has the second highest wRC+ in the NL. Hopefully we can see that rate come down at some point over the final two months.
Travis — I can't think of any questions this week that have not been asked. I'll take this opportunity to let you know you do good work and it's appreciated. Keep it up!
Appreciate you, Travis!
LifesEZ — At the Trade Deadline an Uber driver delivered 3 identical $399.95 lunches to three Trading Rooms in a hotel .
A Gentleman answered the 1st door, handed the Driver 4x$100 and a $20, then handed him a bag of MiLB swag with 22 autographed pieces of equipment.
Second door the gentleman answers gave him 3x$100, said to wait, his Twin came back to the door with 3x $50 and a mixed bag of MLB and MiLB autographed Swag. At the last second said, "Oh, wait, here is another piece," and gave the Driver it as well.
Third door the man answered, wrote a check for $299.97, told the Driver he could keep the change and started to close the door. The driver asked for ID. The man said he showed his ID during the Winter meetings. The Driver said the other had some autograph swag. Could the gentleman at least add a single piece or two of MiLB Swag to the tip? The man answered, "I gave away all the autographed swag I am going to give away this year at the Winter Meetings and no matter what, I am determined to stick to that and not give away any more at the Trade Deadline. I rather be firm than right," and slammed the door in the Driver's Face.
The fans are the Driver. They all gave a tip.
Which gentleman worked for the Padres? The Phillies? The Dodgers?
How often does another team sell the farm for prospects in order to sell the team? Rare is my guess. Which of the 3 men could not read the room would not under any condition or scenario add a prospect to get a better MLB quality player?
No notes!