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Los Angeles Dodgers: Will Dee Gordon Outshine Guerrero and Keep 2nd Base Spot?

The Dodgers made a splash when they signed Cuban middle infielder Alexander Guerrero this past offseason to play second base, but in the early stages of the 2014 season, it’s been another middle infielder that has emerged as a sensational second baseman.

After years of hacking at the threshold, Dee Gordon has finally materialized into the player that he was hyped up to be when he made his major league debut for the Dodgers in 2011.

In his prior three seasons with the Blue Crew, Gordon flashed game-changing, lightning speed on the base paths, but getting on base with consistency was a challenge for him, as he hit a collective .256 in his career coming into this season.

In addition to his unpredictability at the plate, he also struggled to make plays at his native position of shortstop, where he tallied 35 errors in 160 games (.947 fielding percentage).

Gordon’s mediocre performance and the signing of Guerrero in October 2013 suggested that the 26-year-old infielder would be spending most of the 2014 season in the minors, barring an injury to shortstop Hanley Ramirez.

Facing another run-of-the-mill year alternating between stints with the Dodgers and their minor league affiliates, Gordon worked his tail off in the offseason and put on nearly 15 pounds of muscle to his slender 5’11” frame.

Gordon continued to work hard in spring training, where he hit .271 and stole 10 bases in 21 games, notching more base knocks (13) than Dodgers sluggers Adrian Gonzalez and Ramirez.

Then, the ideal scenario aligned for Gordon to reclaim his starting spot in the Dodgers lineup.

The Blue Crew let Mark Ellis, who was the team’s everyday second baseman for the 2012 and 2013 seasons, enter the free-agency market, a logical move given the four-year, $28 million deal they’d just inked with Guerrero.

However, Guerrero demonstrated in spring training that despite having ample years of professional ball in Cuba at age 27, he wasn’t quite refined enough to be an everyday major league infielder, particularly at his new position of second base.

Enter Gordon, rejuvenated and willing to do whatever to make the 25-man roster.

In only a few months, Gordon has not only made the transition to second base, but has been the most consistent contributor to the Blue Crew’s offense, which contains sluggers like Gonzalez, Ramirez, Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier, who are being paid a collective $71 million this year to join forces to become one of MLB’s most dominant offensive juggernauts.

One-quarter of the way into the season, the 26-year-old second baseman leads the Boys in Blue in both batting average (.324) and hits (48). What more could manager Don Mattingly ask for from his leadoff hitter?

However, Gordon doesn’t just get on base. He has the exceptional ability to immediately swipe his way into scoring position, which has been extremely valuable for the Dodgers’ No. 2 hitter, Yasiel Puig, who is currently on pace to drive in 117 runs in his sophomore season.

Gordon is not only leading MLB in stolen bases with 24 bags swiped, but is doing so by a wide margin, as the runner-up in steals, Eric Young Jr., is nine steals behind him. Additionally, Gordon, who is on pace to steal 97 bases this season, has only been caught stealing three times so far (12.5 percent caught-stealing rate).

Gordon’s ability to single-handedly bolster the Dodgers can’t be ignored, much like Puig first demonstrated when he was called up to make his debut last June.

He put his game-changing prowess on full display on Saturday, when he orchestrated an offensive surge that led the Dodgers to snap a three-game skid and beat the Giants 6-2 in Dodger Stadium.

After singling in the Dodgers’ first at-bat of the game, Gordon stole both second and third base, giving the meat of the lineup a chance to drive him in. They didn’t, but that didn’t stop him from having a big impact on the Dodgers offense later in the game.

In his third at-bat, Gordon worked Matt Cain, who had managed to hold the Dodgers scoreless through five innings, for a leadoff walk. He then stole second and later scored the first run of the game on a double play off the bat of Adrian Gonzalez. Kemp then evened the score at 2-2 with an RBI single that wouldn’t have happened without Gordon starting off the inning well for the Dodgers.

An inning later, Gordon slapped a double down the left field line with two outs that scored catcher Drew Butera from third and nudged the Blue Crew ahead of the Giants 3-2 late in the game. He then scored on an ensuing ground-rule double from Puig.

In all, he manufactured three runs in critical junctures of the game nearly all by himself. A manager should always find a way to pencil in a player that has that much influence over a game.

Which then brings about another dilemma to the Dodgers. When Guerrero proves he’s ready to be called up to The Show, what will they do?

Regardless of whether or not Gordon continues to perform at his current stellar rate, will they put him on the back burner and bring Guerrero in as their everyday second baseman?

The Cuban sensation has already made a good impression on the Dodgers in Triple-A after a mediocre display in spring training. After 26 games, Guerrero is hitting .337 with a .392 on-base percentage, four home runs and 18 runs batted in.

He still has some work to do at second base, where he is learning the ropes after playing shortstop for all of his life, but he’s on pace to be called up in a month or two if he continues to develop at his current rate.

Will the Dodgers stick with Gordon, who has improved tremendously and has established himself at the big league level, or Guerrero, who has loads of potential but has no experience in MLB?

Gordon is hitting for average and can steal a base in the blink of an eye; Guerrero is hitting for power and average but has limited experience facing major league pitching and may be a liability in the field.

If the Dodgers’ future decision relied solely upon risk-reward, then Gordon would be the obvious choice if he can continue to buoy the offense as he has done so far in the leadoff spot.

Nevertheless, the Dodgers didn’t sign Guerrero for $7 million a year to stay in the minors or ride the pine, which could very well lead them to supplant Gordon with Guerrero at second base merely for monetary reasons.

Which leaves Gordon with little room for error. The moment he falls into an offensive slump may trigger his demotion from the starting lineup.

However, if Gordon continues to hit above .300 and steal bases like a bandit for the majority of the season, it makes little sense to make Guerrero the Dodgers’ starting second baseman, regardless of the economic discrepancy.

If the Dodgers’ true goal is to win baseball games, then an offensive force like Gordon should remain in the starting lineup, even if Guerrero continues to thrive and develop in the minors.

Yet, it’s difficult to tell what would be considered common sense for a team that is now commonly driven by cents.

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Los Angeles Dodgers: TV Standoff Is Dangerously Disillusioning Fans

“It’s time for Dodger baseball!”

A month into what could very well be Vin Scully’s final season uttering those famed words, most of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ contingent isn’t able to hear them spoken.

Scully’s voice is booming rich with bits and pieces of Dodgers history gushing from his lips like a geyser as it has been for decades now, but the majority of Dodgers fans are being deprived of that which they’ve come to crave for six months of the year.

After a month of deadlock in negotiations between the Dodgers’ new TV channel, SportsNet LA, and cable and satellite providers, those fans are parched and enraged.

A month into what has been the most anticipated Dodgers season in a decade, fans are witness to a finger-pointing match that they have no interest in but are forced to watch as they impatiently wait to see the Boys in Blue take the field.

The blame is of no importance to fans.

They could care less if the hefty $8.35 billion deal Time Warner Cable struck with the Dodgers is the root of the impasse, or that there’s a website set up to demand providers to carry SportsNet LA.

What matters to the nearly 70 percent of fans who haven’t been able to watch the Blue Crew on TV is that the matter become resolved immediately.

Los Angeles sports fans are growing weary of getting entangled in the stalemate of TV negotiations. It’s become a maddeningly familiar debacle that starves fans of watching the games they love.

In 2012, fans were held hostage in a standoff between the Pac-12 Networks, Time Warner Cable SportsNet, and its Spanish-language equivalent Time Warner Cable Deportes and providers that prevented them from being able to watch both the Lakers and Pac-12 games, including those of local colleges UCLA and USC.

While nearly all providers eventually struck deals with those channels after a few months, DirecTV and the Pac-12 Networks, as well as Dish Network and the TWC tandem, have still to make a deal, which continues to infuriate fans.

The consumer, of course, has the option to switch to a variety of other providers that carry Pac-12 Networks and TWC SportsNet and Deportes, but in the case of SportsNet LA, only Time Warner Cable is carrying the new channel.

But, then again, why should consumers be subjected to the hassle of switching providers over one channel? It doesn’t take a genius to decipher that the onus is on the provider and channel to find resolution, not the paying consumer.

Moreover, was not the endgame of this new Dodgers channel taken into account when the megadeal was proposed and then inked by both Time Warner Cable and the Dodgers? Are there not shrewd businessmen capable of meeting a deadline, which would’ve been Opening Day?

Again, a digression. Trying to sort out the culpability in the matter is as useful as swinging when the ball’s already in the catcher’s mitt. A blatant waste of energy.

Fortunately for fans, though, there is an assortment of alternative ways to partly satiate their hankering for the Dodgers as the TV deal remains unresolved.

For one, fans can tune into games on the radio and follow along with play-by-play streams online. There is also a bevy of free, high-quality content from SportsNet LA on the TV channel’s website.

Yet, those methods of ingesting the Dodgers are droplets to a panting beast.

The Dodgers faithful don’t want to merely watch highlights or features on the team; they want to be immersed in the game, doused knee-deep with Scully’s fascinating stories or poetic tangents about the picturesque Los Angeles skyline that lingers above Chavez Ravine as the first pitch is being thrown.

Without it, fans are disenchanted and irritated, which they are unendingly expressing on social media every day; however, with every game that isn’t televised, a growing number of them are becoming increasingly withdrawn from the team.

Hopelessness can increase desire, but it can also yield discouragement, which has the potential to negatively affect fans’ relationship with the Dodgers in addition to their discontent with both sides of the TV standoff.

It’s been clear from the onset of this fiasco that it’s a winless scenario for both of the most important parties involved: The Dodgers organization and its fans. Without the most important medium to connect the two, the distance between them can only expand.

And for those fans eagerly waiting to be told it’s time, Dodger baseball is beginning to seem like a mirage.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com


Breaking Down the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Playoff Scenarios

The NL West has been clinched. The Los Angeles Dodgers have secured their first postseason berth since 2009.

Pop the champagne! Jump in the Diamondbacks’ pool!

Thursday’s thorough celebration was a well-deserved one. It’s been an elevator ride of a season, and for the once-last-place Dodgers to make the playoffs after spiraling out of control in dead last in May is remarkable.

However, it’s only the beginning of the journey. In fact, it’s not even the beginning of the journey, but merely an affirmation that the journey will take place.

The Dodgers have a long road ahead of them as the leaves begin to redden and fall begins to run its course.

The Boys of Summer better zip up their windbreakers because October is an unrelenting month.

It all comes down to this.

 

NLDS

Having notched the NL West, the Dodgers are guaranteed a spot in the postseason; however, their seed number is still up in the air.

If the regular season were to end today, the Blue Crew would be the No. 3 seed in the National League and would play the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLDS, with home-field advantage going to the Cardinals.

Nonetheless, with eight games remaining in the season and the Dodgers only two games behind the Cardinals and 3.5 games behind the NL-leading Atlanta Braves, there are a variety of possibilities that could play out.

To close out the season, the Dodgers will play the San Diego Padres and the San Francisco Giants in a road trip and then culminate with a series against the Colorado Rockies in Dodger Stadium.

Based upon their performance against these NL West foes this season, the Dodgers will pull off a pair of wins from the Padres, win one of three games in San Francisco, and win at least two out of three against the Rockies.

That would nudge the Dodgers’ record to 93-69, which wouldn’t push them past either the Braves (91-62)—who will cruise past the Cubs (64-90), Brewers (68-85) and Phillies (71-82)—or the Cardinals (90-64), who should manage to pull off five wins out of their final eight games against the Brewers (68-85), Nationals (83-71) and Cubs (64-90).

In that scenario, the Dodgers will head to St. Louis to play the first two games of the NLDS. It may seem daunting to open the postseason on the road, but the Dodgers have the confidence of winning a series at Busch Stadium earlier in the season under their belt.

Both Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke, the Dodgers’ respective No. 1 and 2 starters, have fared well on the road this season and will be able to nab at least one win in St. Louis, which will allow the Dodgers to close out the best-of-five series in Los Angeles.

Although the Cardinals are battle-tested in the playoffs, they are without ace Chris Carpenter, which leaves a void in their rotation. Rookie ace Shelby Miller has impressed this season, but he didn’t awe the Dodgers, who hit .296 off him.

 

NLCS

This is where it would get tricky for the Dodgers. If they do indeed make it past the Cardinals in the NLDS, they’re in for a hard-fought series in the NLCS.

As it stands right now, the Pirates and Reds will square off in a one-game wild-card playoff to face the Braves, who will likely sweep either team.

The Dodgers haven’t had much success against the Braves this season (2-5), but those games were all played in the first half of the season when the Dodgers were a far cry from the team they have molded into.

Regardless of the applicability of the outcome of their head-to-head matchups, the Braves will be a tough team for the Dodgers to face in the NLCS.

Not only are they a well-rounded team, but they have two vital tools that will likely propel them to an NCLS title: pitching and power-hitting.

The Braves’ pitching staff ranks first in MLB in ERA (3.20), and their batting order is tied for the fourth-most home runs in baseball (174).

Nevertheless, the Dodgers are a formidable opponent for the Braves. While Atlanta boasts impressive stats, the Boys in Blue have some encouraging statistics of their own.

The Dodgers only slightly trail the Braves in team ERA (3.33, third), and while they don’t quite stack up to the Braves in the quintessential power-hitting stat (131 HR, 24th), they trump them in batting average (.266, sixth; Braves: .248, 21st).

Beyond the numbers, both teams are starving for a deep postseason berth. The Braves have a chip on their shoulder after losing the NL wild-card game last year. It goes without saying that the Dodgers are famished for postseason fortune with a 25-year World Series drought thrusting them toward the trough.

It’ll be a back-and-forth battle, more than likely decided in seven games, with pitching being the decisive factor.

 

World Series

If the Dodgers manage to emerge victorious from a strenuous NLCS, they’ll head to their first World Series since 1988, a season that also marks the franchise’s last World Series victory.

There are a bevy of talented teams in the American League that will be serious World Series contenders, from the Oakland A’s to the Tampa Bay Rays.

The general sentiment from many is that the Boston Red Sox, who don the best record in the MLB at 94-61, will be World Series-bound for the first time in six years after missing the playoffs in four straight seasons.

While that yielded a convenient “potential World Series preview” when the Sox came to Chavez Ravine in August for a three-game series, which they won two games to one, they’re not headed to the Series.

Two reasons: 1) Barring Jake Peavy, their starters are unreliable; 2) Their bullpen, particular the back end, is shaky.

The other reason: the Detroit Tigers.

The Red Sox are an incredibly talented team led by veteran designated hitter David Ortiz and gritty second baseman Dustin Pedroia, but the Tigers are a stronger team at the dish and have the starting pitching to exceed the Sox.

Spearheaded by Miguel Cabrera and aces Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer, the Tigers have been incrementally trending towards a World Series title for the past three seasons.

In 2011, they reached their first ALCS in five years during their first playoff run in as many years, and last season they followed it up by making it to the World Series.

In order to win the World Series against the Tigers, the Dodgers would have to play premium baseball on every pitch.

With veteran leader Torii Hunter thriving in Detroit to add to a heavy-slugging lineup that includes Prince Fielder and last year’s Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera, the Tigers are prepared more than ever to win the Series.

Although the Tigers have home-field advantage due to the AL’s victory in this year’s All-Star Game, the Dodgers can’t be dismissed as an unworthy opponent.

Much like the Tigers, the Dodgers have the bats to win the World Series, particularly with a healthy Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier in the lineup to complement Hanley Ramirez, Adrian Gonzalez and Yasiel Puig.

With the highest payroll in MLB history, the Dodgers—from the front office to the dugout—have harbored the mantra “World Series or bust.”

That mindset, coupled with their widely displayed genuine team chemistry, may just propel this team to achieve its goal, regardless of which opponent stands in its way.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com


Los Angeles Dodgers: Ranking the Most Underappreciated Players on the Team

In the short span of two weeks, Yasiel Puig has become the hottest player in baseball, adding yet another top player to an already star-studded lineup.

Nevertheless, as Puig joins All-Stars and Cy Young winners like Hanley Ramirez, Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw, there is a cluster of Dodgers whose contributions don’t typically make it to the front page of the LA Times.

The journeymen, the role players, if you will.

Let’s take a look at the Dodgers players who have excelled so far this season and haven’t necessarily gotten the recognition they’ve deserved. 

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Blueprint for the Los Angeles Dodgers to Get Back to .500 ASAP

To say it’s been a bumpy road for the Dodgers this season would be a vast understatement. It’s been an oil-slicked road filled with gaping potholes and fallen power lines.

Just over a quarter of the way into the season, the Blue Crew is a pitiful 19-26, has been marred by injuries to key players and has been dealing with undermining questions from the media about manager Don Mattingly.

To add insult to injury, the team hasn’t seen a record of .500 or better in May, commencing the month with a disastrous eight-game losing streak.

Yet, this talent-filled team always reserves the potential to do something spectacular, to rise from the ashes with a vengeance.

As they continue to sort out their newly minted lineup, what can the Dodgers do to get back to an even record and beyond before it’s too late?

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Boston Red Sox: Why Bobby Valentine Won’t Last in Beantown

The Red Sox are purging themselves after blowing their playoff hopes with a huge wild-card lead.

Forget about the most recent World Series wins in 2004 and 2007 that reversed “the curse.”

Forget about all the positive steps the Red Sox have made in the past 10 years.

When a team doesn’t win, the pointed fingers jab in all directions; there’s always someone else to blame. 

On your way, Terry Francona.  Purge, purge. 

New is better.  Fresh, unattached, clean, and inspiring.  Welcome, Bobby Valentine. 

Valentine? He has been chosen as the fresh face in Beantown who will ensure Red Sox fans that wild-card leads will never be blown again?

It seemed as though Valentine’s career as a baseball analyst for ESPN would keep him surrounded by the game without being in the game.

Before getting overly critical of one of baseball’s most trademark people, let’s break it down as to why Valentine isn’t a good fit for the Red Sox. 

Managerial Skills: Valentine knows as much as anyone about the game of baseball, which has been demonstrated by the insightful comments he made as an analyst.

However, he’s not the best manager.  In his 15 years as a coach in the MLB, Valentine’s record was 1,117-1,072 (a win percentage of 51).  He won the NL pennant one time, and never finished first in the division. 

It’s hard to gauge a manager’s success because it’s up to players to execute wins; nevertheless, a good manager is able to motivate a mediocre team and lead them to victory. 

Coaching in Japan, Valentine led the Chiba Lotte Marines to a Japan Series title, but coaching in the MLB is much different, style-wise. 

Volatility: Unlike Boston’s most-recent manager, Francona, Valentine has an explosive personality and isn’t afraid to let people know what’s on his mind. 

Boston and its fans will provide Valentine with plenty of feedback—most of which will be negative—from the moment he walks into Fenway Park. 

Valentine is semi-prepared for criticism after the bleacher chatter he experienced in New York, but Boston will be his most challenging city to manage in. 

But Valentine won’t hesitate to counter any negative criticisms that arise in his first season as Red Sox manager, which will just intensify it all. 

Player Relations: Whether it’s due to their dislike of Valentine, or their immense love for Francona, Red Sox players aren’t being very receptive of Valentine.  ESPN’s Buster Olney elaborated on the players’ reception of Valentine:

“As Valentine emerged as a managerial candidate, some Red Sox players have been upset; they’ve been grumbling to each other, through texts and phone calls.  Maybe it’s because they heard Bobby critique their play on the air.  Maybe they haven’t liked his tone.  Maybe they haven’t liked his smile.  Maybe they’ve heard bad things.”

Whatever the reason may be that the players are not being receptive of Valentine, it’s a problem, not only for team chemistry, but especially with Valentine’s unfiltered personality. 

Carl Crawford and Josh Beckett will start off on a bad foot with the 61-year-old manager.  As an analyst, Valentine criticized their play.

According to the Boston Herald, Valentine made a snark about Crawford’s outfield play, saying, “I was probably a little faster, at least a half-step faster, than Carl, maybe a full step.” 

Of Beckett’s slow-paced pitching approach, Valentine commented, “That’s a half-hour added to this game of him standing around, and us sitting around, watching him do nothing.”

While these aren’t the most offensive things to be said, the cynical light under which the players view Valentine will not set the team off right.  Valentine will certainly address these comments with the players, but it’s not going to win him any brownie points in the clubhouse. 

Loyalty: This is an extension of Valentine’s volatility.  He seems to be unable to maintain his loyalty to his team and the front office. 

In his first stint in Japan with the Chiba Lotte Marines in 1995, Valentine was fired due to a personal conflict with the team’s general manager.

Then there was the “Whartongate Affair” in which Valentine allegedly made cynical comments about Mets players and the organization to the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. 

To top off Valentine’s career with the Mets, his incendiary relationship with general manager Steve Phillips caused Phillips to fire Valentine after the 2002 season. 

And that’s where Valentine closed his career as a manager in the MLB—fired due to a crumby relationship with a general manager. 

So after a 10-year hiatus from the MLB, here he is. 

Wrap-Up: Valentine is one of the greatest living figures in baseball.  He knows the game better than most and has a true desire to win. 

However, his personality is not fit for Boston, and the critique from Bostonians won’t be good unless he lives up to the high expectations of Red Sox fans. 

So, in that respect, the fans’ expectations determine all. 

He’s a guy with a good sense of humor (who could forget his return to the dugout in disguise with a mustache after being ejected in the 12th inning in 1999?) and a good heart, but he’s not the best fit for Boston. 

Welcome to Beantown, Bobby.  Don’t get too comfortable.

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