Corey Seager – Dodger Thoughts

Tag: Corey Seager (Page 1 of 10)

Comparing major injuries
for the Giants and Dodgers

On September 28, 2021

In Health/injuries

San Francisco first baseman Brandon Belt suffered a fractured left thumb while attempting to bunt (against the shift, apparently) on Sunday for the Giants. As a result, he will miss at least the remainder of the regular season, and his return date during the playoffs is currently undetermined.

This is obviously a major injury for San Francisco — for their resurgent lineup in 2021, Belt leads the team with a 159 OPS+ and has 29 homers in only 97 games. (He missed almost two months because of a right knee injury earlier this year.) The Giants are already without one-time Dodger acqusition Darin Ruf, who has a 141 OPS+ in 114 games.

The news made me curious to compare major injuries between the Giants and the Dodgers this season. As a resource, I used these pages for San Francisco and Los Angeles available at Fangraphs.

Bring on the DH so Dodgers bring back Corey Seager

On July 30, 2021

In Dodgers, Rules

OK, the timing and subject of this piece might seem weird considering there are bigger fish to fry today, but hear me out …

First things first: In the world that I’d prefer to live the rest of my life, I still don’t want to see the designated hitter in the National League, primarily for reasons I discussed here. But I’m going to admit that over the past year, I’ve been worn down on this, partly because so many pitchers themselves have completely given up on trying to hit, partly because there are newer, even more cockamamie rules that I’m more eager to get rid of. (Maybe later this year, I’ll write about my grand distaste for the year-old runner-on-second rule in extra innings.)

But in the wake of the exciting reports Thursday about the Dodgers’ apparent acqusition of Max Scherzer and Trea Turner — reports that others are covering at length — I have a more selfish reason to want the DH to arrive in the NL by 2022.

It might be the only way Corey Seager returns to the Dodgers.

Lux could be odd man out for Dodgers when Seager returns

On July 11, 2021

A.J. Pollock is hitting better against right-handed pitching this season (.819 OPS) than Gavin Lux (.769 OPS).

And Pollock is destroying left-handed pitching (.911 OPS), while Lux is downright Joc Pederson-esque (.414 OPS).

Pollock is a streaky hitter — Lux might be as well — and as we’ve learned the hard way, a lot can change while waiting for a player to come off the injured list. But right now, it looks very much like that Lux is going to be the one who will be essentially displaced from the starting lineup when Corey Seager makes his way back to the Dodgers, sometime this month if all goes to plan.

Previewing the 2021 Dodgers: Position players

On March 31, 2021

In Dodgers, Offense, Opening Day, Season preview, Status report

Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers

Hey there! Since I haven’t actually written much on the defending World Series champions this year, I thought I’d throw down some of the stuff that’s been percolating inside my head about the 2021 Dodgers ahead of Thursday’s Opening Day. Let’s start with the position players. (Note: Some of these thoughts materialized during the chats we’ve had on Clubhouse.)

Corey Seager, a slider and the Dodgers’ October bubble

On February 28, 2020

In Dodgers, Philosophy, Postseason, Thinking out loud

Carrie Giordano/Los Angeles Dodgers

It was drowned out by the Howie Kendrick grand slam, by Juan Soto teeing off on the fattest pitch of Clayton Kershaw’s career, by Anthony Rendon taking a golf swing at a Kershaw pitch near his shins.

It was smothered by a National League Division Series Game 5 that tore the Dodgers and their fans apart.

But before NLDS Game 5, there was Game 2. And in Game 2, there was one inning, arguably one pitch, that speaks as much to the Dodgers’ Job-like journey through the Octobers of the past seven seasons as any other.

Best of the 2010s:
The All-Decade Dodgers

On September 30, 2019

In Awards, Dodgers, History

Raymond Gorospe/MLB.com

We have nearly reached the end of the ’10s, and though selections of the Dodgers’ all-decade team should probably wait until after the 2019 World Series, these few days of relative calm before the storm of the postseason seemed like a good time to reveal them. Nothing is likely to affect these choices between now and then (although I’m fascinated by the idea that something could).

Most challenging was having to deal with five legitimate candidates for the four openings at outfield/first base. Catcher was nearly a toss-up, and second base yielded its own surprise.

Here we go …

Uneasy lies the head that wears a Dodger cap

On February 4, 2019

In Dodgers, Front office, Status report, Thinking out loud, Transactions

Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers

Hi ho, it’s February. Dodger pitchers and catchers and other eager beavers are scheduled to report to Camelback Ranch in eight days. The first full squad workout comes two weeks from Tuesday.

Vibe: unsettled.

Forecast: angsty.

What Seager’s lost season signifies for the 2018 Dodgers

On April 30, 2018

In Dodgers, Health/injuries, Status report

Josh Barber/Los Angeles Dodgers

Let me start by saying this isn’t a “Remain calm, all is well” post.

Seager, Roberts, Maeda finalists for top MLB awards

On November 7, 2016

Juan Ocampo/Los Angeles Dodgers

Juan Ocampo/Los Angeles Dodgers

By Jon Weisman

Corey Seager is a finalist for both the National League Rookie of the Year Award and the NL Most Valuable Player Award, MLB and the Baseball Writers Association of America have announced.

Kenta Maeda is also one of the three NL Rookie of the Year finalists, while Dave Roberts is in the final countdown for NL Manager of the Year.

With Max Scherzer of the Nationals and Kyle Hendricks and Jon Lester of the Cubs announced as finalists for the NL Cy Young, Clayton Kershaw’s streak of five consecutive top-three finishes has ended — though Kershaw still led NL pitchers in WAR despite being limited to 149 innings.

The winner of the NL Rookie of the Year Award will be announced November 14, followed by NL Manager of the Year on November 15, NL Cy Young on November 16 and NL MVP on November 17.

Sporting News awards honor Roberts, Seager

On October 24, 2016

By Jon Weisman

The Sporting News has named Dave Roberts its National League Manager of the Year and Corey Seager NL Rookie of the Year.

Remarkably, Roberts is the first Dodger named Manager of the Year by the Sporting News since Walter Alston, who won the honor in 1955, 1959 and 1963, when there was only one award to cover both leagues. Leo Durocher was the first in the franchise to win the award, in 1939.

During the Dodgers’ two World Series title seasons under Tommy Lasorda in 1981 and 1988, the Sporting News honored Oakland’s Billy Martin (1981 overall winner) and Pittsburgh’s Jim Leyland (NL 1988).

Major League managers form the voting body for this award. Roberts won seven of a possible 14 votes in the NL, followed by Washington’s Dusty Baker and Chicago’s Joe Maddon, who had three apiece.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and the Dodgers be holding a 2-1 NLCS lead

On October 18, 2016

In Postgame, Postseason

By Jon Weisman

Pitchers paint on the edge of a cliff. They are artists, tending to a tiny canvas that hovers in mid-air, and they are adventurers who might fall at any moment.

Rich Hill took a minor masterpiece into the sixth inning tonight at Dodger Stadium. After walking two of three batters with some tremulous brush work to start the top of the second, Hill was in his element. Twelve of the next 13 batters he faced became dots on his Seuratian landscape.

In the top of the sixth, the ground beneath Hill’s easel began to quiver. With one out, Kris Bryant singled to left center, for the second hit off the Dodger left-hander. With two out, Anthony Rizzo took the first four pitches, and three fell outside the borders of the strike zone. On deck was Javy Baez, whose electric play helped the Cubs win Game 1 of the National League Championship Series and nearly Game 2 as well.

Hill raised his arm and lofted the next pitch, a 74 mile-per-hour curveball that sidled through the California air with the arc of a rainbow, landing into the glove of Yasmani Grandal for strike two.

Then, at 87 mph, Hill dropped down with a master’s flourish.

Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers (Top: Juan Ocampo/Los Angeles Dodgers)

Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers (Top: Juan Ocampo/Los Angeles Dodgers)

Hill pumped his fist, shouted to the heavens and handed his work to the gallery, for 54,269 art-lovers at Dodger Stadium to marvel.

The 36-year-old’s six innings of two-hit shutout ball, his finest performance since he threw seven perfect innings at Miami on September 10, were framed by Grandal, the catcher who also hit a two-run home run off Jake Arrieta in the Dodgers’ 6-0 victory.

Taking a 2-1 lead in the NLCS, the Dodgers are as close to the World Series as they have been in 28 years.

Hill struck out six, giving him 19 in 13 postseason innings (13.2 strikeouts per nine innings) with a 3.46 ERA. With Joe Blanton, Grant Dayton and Kenley Jansen finishing the game, the Dodgers have thrown consecutive postseason shutouts for the first time in franchise history.

Despite strong start, Dodgers fall in NLDS Game 2

On October 9, 2016

In Postgame, Postseason

By Jon Weisman

The cut on Rich Hill’s non-pitching hand looked small. The bruise on his psyche looked large.

On a day that the Dodgers — baseball’s No. 2 offense in 2016 with the bases loaded — couldn’t take advantage of five such at-bats, Hill saw a promising start derailed by a three-run home run from Nationals catcher José Lobatón, lifting Washington to a 5-2 victory that evened the best-of-five National League Division Series at 1-1.

Game 3 of the NLDS takes place at Dodger Stadium on Monday at 1:08 p.m.

Following Lobatón’s homer, Hill was shown on the Fox Sports 1 broadcast with the small mark on his right hand after banging it in the dugout in anger. It was not the only time today a Dodger would hit something hard in vain.

Pitch hits Turner hard, Turner hits pitch far

On October 7, 2016

[mlbvideo id=”1203755383″ width=”550″ height=”308″ /]

By Jon Weisman

It was the worst of déjà vu, it was the best of déjà vu.

Dodgers ride homers, bullpen to NLDS Game 1 triumph

On October 7, 2016

In Bullpen, Postgame, Postseason

kershaw-pitching

Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers

By Jon Weisman

Clayton Kershaw didn’t have his best stuff, not by a longshot. But he had some of his best guile, some his best perseverance and all of his best bullpen.

With four Dodger relievers throwing four shutout innings, the Dodgers survived a nail-biting, seat-squirming Game 1 in the National League Division Series, edging the Washington Nationals, 4-3.

Kershaw lasted five innings, punching out seven batters but bobbing and weaving through three runs on nine baserunners. Joe Blanton, Grant Dayton, Pedro Báez and Kenley Jansen worked the back end, to make a Dodger offense led by homers by Corey Seager and Justin Turner stand up.

In case you missed it: Pre-NLDS news and notes

On October 6, 2016

In Awards, In case you missed it, Postseason

Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers

Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers

By Jon Weisman

Tomorrow really is just a day away. Friday’s opening game of the National League Division Series between the Dodgers and Nationals comes in about 24 hours, depending on when exactly you’re reading this.

Here’s what been percolating …

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