S.

So your theory is that signing Odorizzi, Rodney, Reed, Duke, Lynn, and Morrison were moves looking out 6 years in the future and weren't attempts to improve our team over last year? Dozier is an adult. If his mediocre play is because he's moping that the FO didn't offer him an extension in the offseason, then I don't want him on the team anyways. And how Bryce Harper is playing has no bearing on anything to do with Dozier (besides the fact that Harper also didn't get extended in the offseason). Yeah, I wish we got Ohtani instead of Lynn. Sure, I wish we had been able to trade for Archer. But we didn't, and the moves the FO made still should've been an improvement. But our players have played poorly. No one was looking at offseason moves and expecting this sort of flop from Buxton and Sano. How do you plan for that? If you're proposing we should've been buyers this trade deadline and traded away prospects for rentals, then I simply disagree with you. This team hasn't been .500 since April. People can hem and haw all they want about how we were only 5 games out of .500 and 7 back from Cleveland when we started selling, but that doesn't change the fact that we've mostly been playing uncompetitive baseball this season. If this was a competitive team, they wouldn't be below .500 in the weakest division in the league.

Or maybe they did and he didn't like the money they were offering, which doesn't equate to the FO disrespecting him. And lets not act like Dozier has been playing out of his mind the first half of the season. And lets not act like there weren't endless amounts of ground balls where he basically walked down the line to first. And lets not act like he didn't make a total ass out of himself with his comments to the media about a bunt in a close game. It's completely disingenuous to act like the FO gave up when they made a bunch of moves this offseason that SHOULD'VE improved this team over last year. You think those offseason moves were looking 6 years in the future? How was the FO supposed to know that Sano and Buxton were going to turn into some of the worst players in the league? The FO made moves that they hoped would elevate us above last season. Sure, I wish we had got Ohtani or Archer, but even those moves wouldn't have saved us from the awful play this team has produced. If the players are mad that the FO sold when they hadn't sniffed .500 in like 3 months, maybe they should've played better. edit: To add, I'm probably as critical of the FO as anyone on this board, but c'mon. People are really grasping at straws with some of these theories.

To be fair to Dozier, I'm pretty sure most any player would be thrilled to be traded from a bad team to the current Dodgers squad in the midst of their pennant run, and a few months before they hit free agency. Still gets to approach his free agency just the same and gets a chance at a ring. But at the same time, there have been a lot of games this season where some of the players simply did not look like they were giving it their all. Dozier has been guilty of a whole lot of half assed jogs down the line to first and made bush league comments to reporters about bunts and other stuff. And he's not the only player on the team who has looked like they were dialing it in at various points of the season. If there actually are real clubhouse issues and this isn't just some clickbait journalism, then thats just one more thing to add to the list of reasons why Molitor should be fired, because if its true then he can't manage a team on or off the field.

To clarify, I certainly think we can be competitive next year with some moves and some players getting their **** together. I also am absolutely 100% in support of us selling this year and trading our pending free agents for some minor league pieces. But the person I was quoting was also asking for a ton of things to all break right in their hypothetical situation, and while I think we can be competitive I would not be banking on us acquiring two top tier SP + two top tier RP + multiple other quality major league pieces, and my confidence in Buxton and Sano is not particularly high. I have expectations of improvement over this year, and I expect they'll be making a fair number of FA moves and trades this offseason, but that list was definitely more moves/lucky breaks than I'd be counting on. But that isn't to say I don't think we can be competitive in 2019.

The difference there is he had a good chance of making that play. The one the other night, he had next to no chance at all of making the catch but still dove for it anyways.

Has he ever?

"Well you know, Gibson pitched a scrappy game and we really battle our tails off out there and Matty B has been solid like a rock all season besides all those times he wasn't and now that we traded Pressly, Matt is the only name in the bullpen I know besides Rodney. So, you know, I went with the name I knew and i think he grinded pretty hard out there and things just didn't work out as we'd planned."

He cooks a mean BBQ? He knows all the pretty single women? He hacked Falvey's gmail account and has some serious blackmail?

At this point, I really don't think money is the reason Belisle is still on the roster. But, I don't have any other valid explanation so I'm not exactly sure what the hell is going on.

[yarnivek1972 has been banned by CB Bucknor]

Can we just intentionally walk Ramirez, please?

Whoa now, Torii. Sano was sent down to High A a few months ago. It might be a little early to say that him losing some weight is going to turn him into Mike Trout.

That would make too much sense.

Free challenges for the game! Do the fans get anything for free for watching the game?

Does RBI stand for Ribs, Beer, and Ice-cream?

Good to know they have their finest IT people working on it and in 24 hours they've been unable to sync a monitor to their replay system.

Had the volume low and wasn't paying attention - did we seriously just challenge that play at first?

I'd argue that Buxton's playstyle alone makes him more prone to injuries. A guy who regularly runs full speed into the walls and makes a ton of diving catches is more likely to injure themselves than an outfielder who just makes the routine outs and has never made contact with the wall at speeds higher than 3 mph. But I'd absolutely agree that the real concern is his inability to hit.

Getting 2 very good starting pitchers alone in one offseason is a huge ask, assuming you mean actual top tier pitchers when you say "very good" You're asking for: -2 very good SP (I would assume very good means something in the range of an ace to a solid #3) -2 very good RP (I would say that would mean 2 RPs better than anything we have in our pen) -2 players who were 100% failures this season to be very successful next season -a catcher who has never been good defensively to become good defensively -sign or trade for multiple position players who all work out and don't require trading any of our good MLB players for -players like Berrios and Gibson to maintain or improve their level of play I don't think there is any perspective where your list isn't asking for a ton of things to all work out.

When was the last time we even sniffed .500?

Injury prone is a real bad label for a guy who currently has all of his value tied to his speed since he can't hit. One injury where he loses a step or two and his value becomes close to 0.

I think a 1 year deal is still certainly a possibility but that hinges on our other offseason moves and how big of a question mark Sano is.

We have a guy who can't hit, can't stay healthy, and is steadily losing value on speed and defense the longer it takes him to figure things out. If he ever figures things out. I am also a pessimist.

Good to know you already know their offseason plans, as well as their plans for the entirety of next season. Is this reaction entirely based on a bad team selling when they're well under .500 at the deadline, or do you have any sort of evidence to back up your claims?

Obviously it'll never happen, but it'd be really interesting to know what sort of numbers we offered him and what sort of numbers his agent wanted. I'd be curious to know if he was trying to get paid like his second half numbers are the norm. At the end of the day though, not signing him to an extension was the right choice both then and now.