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“DODGERS DECISIONS”
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They have all the money in the world.
They draw over 4M fans a game
They have won all these National League West titles
They historically develop really good minor leaguers
They are fearless about investing big money in players
They are willing to pay a steep luxury tax on their increasing (290M) payroll

But now they have some decisions to make about a battered roster.

In a span of 28-hours this weekend they lost star leadoff hitter Mookie Betts with a fractured hand

They lost big money Japanese pitcher Yosh Yamomoto with an inflamed rotator cuff

They lost rookie pitcher Gavin Stone with a strained shoulder lat muscle.

They now have 15-players on the disabled list, but there is never-ever panic in the front office, just good-timely decisions from Andrew Friedman-Stan Kasten’s team.

But now we wait to see what is next.

Trust the farm system, that James Outman is coming back from AAA to regain what he did as a rookie?

Trust that there are still AAA-pitchers who can be plugged in?

Show patience with guys coming off the rehab-DL list, Bobby Miller-Clayton Kershaw-maybe Dustin May?

Re-evaluate whether they made a mistake bypassing the Japanese tradition they used prior, and not limiting Yamamoto to pitch once a week, rather than putting him into the regular rotation?

Allowing Yamamoto to add a fierce slider to his repertoire over a 6-start span that led to this breakdown when he hardly used it in his arsenal in Japan?

Are they confident they can recapture all the things Gavin Lux showed last year at the plate and in the field?

Do they move Mookie Betts back to 2B-or-OF once healthy, since SS has been too big a defensive challenge?

Do they reopen trade talks, and trade away prospects to go get former White Sox OF-Luis Robert, who has been plagued with injuries?  Reopen trade talks with soon to be free agent SS-Willy Adames having a big bounce back season in Milwaukee?  Seek out a rental starting pitcher in the trade market?

Lucky for them they play in the National League Worst (West) where AJ Preller’s baseball-business model is in collapse mode again.  Where the Giants are adrift with injuries and free agent mistakes (Blake Snell).  Where Arizona’s injured pitching staff and slumps have brought them back into mediocrity.  Where the Rockies are crushed by pitching injuries (Freeland-Marquez) and haunted by the complete breakdown of often injured slugger Kris Bryant-who has missed more games than played over a 4-years span of DL-stints.

Shall be interesting to see what happens between now and that August 1st deadline for deals.

We know two things about the Dodgers.  They do make big time deals.  Seldom do they make mistakes on player acquisitions.

Stay tuned.

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“PADRES ARE FAILING”

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So if you are keeping score at home, we are almost to the midway point of another underachieving season, and the Padres are below .500 again in the standings.

No consistency at all to anything they are doing. in the midst of a (37-39) season.

They have wasted some sizzling starting pitching by not hitting.
When they hit, the pitching springs leak

They must lead the world in runners caught stealing….in guys picked off bases…and in runners thrown out trying to take extra bases.  At last check, the Padres have lost 26-potential runs by getting guys nailed on the base paths.

Add in the stolen base count against Padres catchers.

Don’t forget the number of errors in the field that have helped opponents rallies.

Don’t look now, the Padres pitching staff now leads MLB in most home runs allowed.

Starters 1-and-2 (Darvish-Musgrove) are hurt.
The middle of the bullpen is struggling again, maybe because of overuse.

The 2-bulldogs in the rotation, (Cease-King) give up home runs and have wild spells too.

Force feeding guys from the El Paso pitching staff has been detrimental as witnessed by the overwhelmed Adam Mazur.

The atrocious record (23-26) vs teams with losing records, is probably as ugly as the team batting averages (.217) against left handed pitching, and this with a big money right handed batting order.

Xander Bogaerts is hurt and wasn’t hitting before that.
Ha Seong Kim looks like he did in year one, overwhelmed at the plate.

Manny Machado is dinged.
Fernando Tatis seems to be just 50% of the power hitter he was.
Luis Arraez is spraying hits but not getting driven in.
There’s a black hole at catcher with Luis Campusano’s weak bat.

Manager Mike Schildt keeps singing the song ‘I believe’ and ‘all is well’, but no one buys that any longer.  This is no longer a ‘small sample size’.

Rumors are rampant, AJ Preller, addicted to always trading, wants to make a deal, to save the season, or maybe save his job.

But upper level ownership says ‘no more trades of top prospects’ having dealt 5-of-10 so far this season.  And no ‘taking on salary’, desperately demanding they stay below the luxury tax.

It’s a mess right now, once they get done playing the 1st place Phillies, the Padres still have 1st place Milwaukee…Atlanta..Boston…and then 1st place Cleveland..1st place Baltimore and always in 1st place-the Dodgers.

In 9-years as GM, AJ Preller has made so many trades, taken on so many name players, given out so many monster contracts, dealt away so many prospects, that there does not seem much of a present and big question marks about what the future is like.

In those 9-years, aside from the 3-month run into the playoffs, the win over the Dodgers and getting to the NLCS with the Phillies, this franchise has accomplished nothing.  On either side of that summer spurt, what has the franchise done?

Big names here, sure.  Big trades there-hell yes.  Big contracts to soon to be aging players-you bet.  But nothing has been accomplished.  Look at the standings at breakfast in the morning, 9-games out of first place.

You tell me Padres fans, are they ‘Contenders….or….Pretenders’?

Maybe the bigger question is Preller’s franchise a ‘House of Cards’, always trying to prevent things from crumbling by making the next big deal?

Going nowhere fast in San Diego.  Keeping score at home, that’s what your scorebook reads..

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‘FATHER’S DAY–A MEANING”
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Father’s Day….What it means to me.Column from my archives:
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“Ode to a Father-Gone”

A weekend upon us. For some, time off. For some, time to work. For many, a time to remember. For a few, a time to forget.

A weekend of hustle and bustle. Padres games. U.S. Open golf. NASCAR race. Yard work and picnics and phone calls.

Will you take time to think of days gone by? Your heritage? Your background? Your family? Your dad?

Father’s Day has many meanings to many men.

 

I wonder what it was like for him to grow up in the depression.

I wonder what it was like to lose his father at the age of 15. Become the man of the house as a mid-teen.

I wonder what it was like to be a minor league pitcher in the 1930s, him wanting to be a St. Louis Cardinal, the disappointment of never getting to the show.

I wonder what it was like to be a 24-year-old in combat in World War II, a scared Seabee, building runways, avoiding snipers, seeing planes burn and men die in places like New Caledonia and Wake Island.

I wonder how hard it was to hold a job and go to night school for six years to get a degree.

I wonder what it was like to see his four children graduate from college, the private joy he must have felt.

I wonder if he ached the year we had only one Christmas present per child because there was no money.

I wonder if he knew that the richness of love and guidance he gave us was valued more than any material gift we got.

I wonder what he thought, or even if he knew he was dying so quickly, of his belief in God, family, friends and his courage.

I wonder if he knows how my career turned out and if he sees his two grandsons and all they are accomplishing.

I wonder when I see him again, what it will be like, and how much fun it will be to ask all the questions I have. I feel I hardly knew him.

We all have memories of a father.

Some who carried briefcases, some who had lunch buckets.

Some who wore three-piece suits, others who wore coveralls.

Some wore work boots, others wore wingtips.

Some had 9-to-5 jobs, others who had two jobs, some had no jobs.

Some loved us, others left us.

Some pushed us, others punished us.

Some drank to excess, others drove us to excellence.

There are good memories and bad, happy times and sad, with the man you called your dad.

As we think about this weekend, let us never forget the one valuable thing our fathers gave us: “This life to live.”

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“NBA-NHL….SURPRISED-SHOCKED”
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I think everyone expected more in the NBA-NHL finals.  And now it’s almost over.

NBA…I thought Boston would roll the Dallas Mavericks and they have.  Just too much firepower, too many 3-point shooters, too much talent off the bench for Boston.  Dallas has the celebrated Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, but everyone else around them has disappeared.  A 2-man team in Dallas, cannot handle all the things Boston sends at them.  Might be Jayson Tatum leading a bunch of bigs.  Might be Jaylen Brown or Derrick White.  It’s the glue that a veteran Jrue Holiday has brought in that deal from Milwaukee.  It might be big old dog Al Horford, playing like he is 28-rather-than 38.  I  am not surprised but Mavericks fans are probably shocked.  No coming back from being down (3-0).

NHL…I expected more from the Edmonton Oilers, but if anything has taught us anything about the Stanley Cup finals, you can ride a hot goaltender in the playoffs.  Case in point Sergei Bobrovsky and his Florida Panthers team.  All you need to know is that the Oilers superstars Connor McDavid-Leon Draisaitl have no goals in the 3-games played in this Florida series.  And no goals from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and an Oilers power play going (0-10) in this series after going (15-for-30) in the prior 3-series.  The Panthers are relentless.  Have diverse goal scorers and a hot goaltender.  And some job by Coach Paul Maurice and GM-Bill Zito who traded for 18-of the 23 players, who now have a (3-0) lead vs Edmonton.  I’d say I am shocked.  No coming back from this either.

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‘JERRY WEST-REMEMBERED’
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He was perfection.
He was royalty
He was excellence

Jerry West was the Gold Standard, as a player, as a General Manager, as a person.  He has passed at age (86Y) after a lifetime of achievement.

‘Zeke from Cabin Creek’ was who he was, growing up in poverty in West Virginia, in a family of abuse and dysfunction.  He lost his brother, killed in Korea.

He went to be a Mountaineer at West Virginia, and became an accomplished star.

He was part of the lst greatness of the LA Lakers, tied to Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Gale Goodrich and more, as high scoring guard..

His NBA career was star-studded (27PPG), a 14-year run as an All Star.

He became an executive, then General Manager of the Lakers.

it was Jerry West who created and ruled over Showtime, the era that brought us Kareem-Magic-Worthy and so many others.

He traded for Kobe Bryant and packaged him with Shaquille O’Neal that brought the next group of championship banners to the Great Western Forum.

His reach also extended to telling the Lakers owner Jerry Buss, Pat Riley was ready to coach, and that Phil Jackson would fit in LA in a 2nd tour of star studded coaching duties.

Jerry West became a trusted consultant with the Warriors-Clippers-Memphis where people spoke glowingly about relationships, blueprints, scouting reports.

His work led to 1-ring as a player, only because Red Auerbach and Bill Russell stood in the way so many times in Boston.  As an exec, his Lakers won 4-titles, and after he left, the roster he put in place won 2-more rings too.

Jerry West’s silhouette is the NBA’s logo because of who he was, what he did.

The nationwide reaction was instant:

Basketball was his therapy
He respected the game and people in it
He leaves a legacy of achievement
He changed people’s lives
He was skilled and relentless
He bridged generations in basketball
A basketball sage.

 

But Jerry West was in reality two very different men.

Passionate about his teams, their talent levels, the coaches he hired, wanting excellence at every stop.

But he was a troubled teen, fighting thru depression and self doubts.  He was complex, complicated and at times a sad inner person.

The man who sought perfection and excellence, never found peace, either on the job or in the shadows of his own personal life.  His biography is filled with how hard his inner self became despite years of therapy and the support of NBA people at every level.

He was basketball royalty, someone I was in awe of, and a guy who always had time to say hello to the media and talk basketball.

‘Zeke from Cabin Creek’ was part country-boy, part Rhodes Scholar in hoops.

What a gifted man in public, sadly a troubled man in private, but a winner in virtually everything he touched.

RIP #44.

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