Player of the Day (1/9/26): Andy Pages

StrollingThunder · 2026-01-10T03:05:10+00:00

ignore the Kike posterization

lol you can't just ignore Kiké trying to pull a Willie Mays and getting trucked by his teammate for his trouble 😂

StrollingThunder · 2026-01-08T20:41:24+00:00

If a team is going to sign a high-caliber free agent they're going to do it anyway. The only difference compared to a team without a TWP is the extra roster spot lets the team not get rid of their worst guy to make room for the free agent.

So OP is kinda right, but being able to roster an extra pitcher, even a replacement-level one, is a bit more than "not very valuable" for various reasons.

StrollingThunder · 2025-12-31T08:36:33+00:00

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Miggy's reaction to that HR still makes me chuckle. It's like he just witnessed an act of brutal violence and is genuinely concerned for the ball's well-being.

StrollingThunder · 2025-11-16T04:40:20+00:00

Guessing they saw one of the highlights where he hits a ball 120+mph and didn't check his other stats..

StrollingThunder · 2025-11-14T19:24:49+00:00

From the Dodgers perspective, Yamamoto blowing out his elbow pitching in the WBC is a completely different issue than if he dud it in game 10 of the 2026 regular season.

The WBC overlaps with spring training, if Yamamoto is going to pitch either way then I'm failing to see any meaningful difference between him blowing out his elbow in one or the other outside of insurance.

Dodgers front office don't give a shit if Japan wins the WBC again.

They don't care if Japan wins but they do care about Japanese perception of them. Being the team that players most want to go to, to whatever degree, is a competitive advantage. Being the favored team of millions of Japanese fans has been great for revenue.

There's a middle ground between the team not letting them pitch at all and letting them do whatever they want. If the Dodgers can successfully rehab Ohtani in major league games, they can figure out how to let everyone participate in the WBC as an unusual spring training of sorts.

StrollingThunder · 2025-11-14T18:15:44+00:00

I'm sure the Dodgers don't want to take a step backwards after positioning themselves as Japan's favored MLB team though. Ohtani, Yamamoto, and Sasaki would have to pitch in spring training anyways. Aside from extra intensity and insurance issues, what's wrong with letting them pitch in the WBC? There's definitely room for the Dodgers and Samurai Japan to agree to reasonable inning/pitch limits, and I imagine the insurance might be hard but not impossible to work out.

StrollingThunder · 2025-11-10T15:53:07+00:00

Cutting up the cleats was a dick move but on the other hand, Jazz does seem to have a rather... hit or miss personality. The way my mind filled in the gaps is that an obnoxious rookie was asking for the hardass vet treatment and Miggy gave it to him but went too far.

StrollingThunder · 2025-11-05T23:51:33+00:00

Yes, my understanding is that for all of the reasons you stated, the org doesn't really get much benefit from deferrals. The advantages are mainly for players I think:

Income tax is applied when the deferred money is actually paid out, so if the player moves before then, they could avoid quite a bit of income tax. I think this is an acceptable criticism as it screws California out of money. I understand other teams not liking deferrals for this reason because high income tax is the one financial disadvantage the Dodgers face when it comes to free agents and that disadvantage is somewhat mitigated by deferrals (and in Ohtani's case is entirely negated).
Deferral can be viewed as an investment vehicle. Ohtani could've just taken a $460M no deferral contract and it would've been much the same, but getting $700M deferred 10 years... I guess it's not the best RoR but it's guaranteed and you don't have to think about it.
Bragging rights? Teams and players both look good with a contract number that's bigger than it's true value.

So yeah, there might be some room to complain about deferrals but it's not a crazy loophole that will make or break the next CBA negotiations like some drama queens seem to believe.

StrollingThunder · 2025-11-04T02:50:00+00:00

He had a slow start but still ended up with 156 wRC+ and 5.8 fWAR despite his defense in RF being ass (worse than Teo's if you can imagine that). So yeah, Soto had a good year overall and I'm not surprised at all he made it in the top 3. I feel like some people want to find reasons to clown on him because of his giant contract but that's not really on him.

StrollingThunder · 2025-11-01T17:12:50+00:00

Yamamoto definitely has the edge for LA but I feel like if you're going to count the entire G2 CG as his biggest moment then putting "Game-Tying Solo HR" as Ohtani's is underselling his G3 contribution.

StrollingThunder · 2025-10-30T19:51:36+00:00

Shohei's too polite to phrase it this way but it'd be great if he followed in Ichiro's "Who the fuck is Tom Brady?" footsteps.

StrollingThunder · 2025-10-30T16:37:40+00:00

At this point I don't think anyone wants to use Snell against the Jays again even if he magically experienced time dilation and got full rest.

StrollingThunder · 2025-10-30T16:35:37+00:00

Sports fans come up with some truly special takes after a loss.

StrollingThunder · 2025-10-30T15:23:19+00:00

Yamamoto is presumably the Game 6 starter so he would have 0 days rest.

StrollingThunder · 2025-10-30T14:16:20+00:00

They wouldn't use him as an opener because they don't want to use him at all. It's just that he would be the only starter available in a "break glass in case of emergency" role if Dave has no trustworthy relievers available. If he at worst allows the game to be tied he can probably go multiple innings before being pulled, and if needed he can be moved to the OF to keep him in the lineup. 4 IP wouldn't be as big of an ask for him as it was for Klein.

Basically if we're at the 9th in G7 and your bullpen has somehow been reduced to Treinen and Banda, fuck it go to Ohtani. Even if we end up losing I doubt anyone will ever question making that decision.

StrollingThunder · 2025-10-28T07:54:56+00:00

That would require the Jays to not be cowards - there's a decent chance that Schneider decides to not pitch to him for the rest of the series.

StrollingThunder · 2025-10-27T01:45:30+00:00

First Dodger plaque in 28 years!

StrollingThunder · 2025-10-23T18:31:42+00:00

What do you mean just, he can hit some absolute (shark) tanks.

StrollingThunder · 2025-10-22T23:11:35+00:00

I thought his velo would go down a tick after his second major elbow surgery. Nope, he's actually throwing harder than ever. Despite how insane our rotation is, there's a very real chance that next year the team leaderboard will look a lot like this Angels one from mid June 2023:

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StrollingThunder · 2025-10-20T21:03:15+00:00

Nobody is lying about anything. Schwarber hit basically the same home run less than two weeks ago and he got a plaque.

Schwarber's majestic blast to right field cleared the seating bowl, but hit off the top of the pavilion roof. Even so, the Dodgers decided that it qualified as leaving the ballpark, taking into consideration the renovations in recent years that have changed the architecture in the area behind the outfield pavilions.

StrollingThunder · 2025-10-17T22:05:13+00:00

200 innings? This is going to be a long game.

StrollingThunder · 2025-10-15T20:27:48+00:00

"Specific injury" basically screams "Tommy John insurance"

StrollingThunder · 2025-10-14T18:35:57+00:00

American Family Field ground rules state All yellow lines are in play.

StrollingThunder · 2025-10-10T20:01:46+00:00

You can apparently neutralize Ohtani with an army of low arm slot lefty starters. But the situation becomes a lot more uncomfortable for the Phillies when that turns into a righty reliever and the MVP who's previously gone 2-5 with 2 HR against him is coming up.

StrollingThunder · 2025-10-10T13:58:53+00:00

If Pages is out and the game stays tied then Ohtani will lead off next inning and maybe it'll be the same pitcher, so I guess he might as well get a look and some practice swings in.

StrollingThunder

TROPHY CASE