Jansen vs. Cabrera showdown sparks memory of Gagne vs. Bonds

In the top of the ninth, with a 2-1 lead, a man on second, and one out, the Dodgers on Tuesday night elected to have Kenley Jansen pitch to Miguel Cabrera instead of walking him. I don't know about you, but Victor Martinez with men on first and second sounds like a more survivable situation than Cabrera with man on second.

Jansen is about the best there is right now, but so is Cabrera. He just pumped his 98 and 99 MPH fastball/cutter in there a half dozen times and struck him out. He did end up giving up a hit to Martinez to lose the lead, but the confidence boost from going after the world's best hitter in that situation, and getting him, should last a long time.

It reminded me right away of a game I was at 10 years ago in San Francisco.  The moment is captured here.

Eric Gagne and Barry Bonds were both 'roided up to superhero proportions, which we all kind of knew at the time, but it didn't really matter. Gagne knew he could give up a home run and still have the lead, so he just went at Bonds with 99-101 MPH fastballs. Bonds just laughed at that and pulled it foul into the Bay before taking the next one and depositing it in the center field bleachers.

Best thing about these memories -- the Dodgers won both games.

Photo credit: File photo

Dodgers 6, Giants 2: Kemp and Hanley mash, Zack Greinke excels

Welcome back, Beast Mode.

Matt Kemp hit his first two homers of 2014 and continued to look excellent at the dish. The Bison drove in three and has looked like The Bison of old through three games while displaying good command of the strike zone.

Hanley Ramirez also homered twice in his breakout game of the young season, driving in a pair and adding a double in the process.

Zack Greinke whiffed eight without allowing a walk over six frames of two-run, six baserunner ball. The two runs allowed were dingers off the bats of Brandon Belt and Hunter Pence. Greinke threw 69 of his 94 pitches for strikes.

The bullpen was excellent following Greinke, as four relievers combined to fan eight Giants over three innings of work. Kenley Jansen wrapped things up by striking out three around a broken-bat bloop single.

Yasiel Puig missed the game due to an injured thumb suffered from sliding head-first into first base yesterday. It's a dumb thing to do when it's Nick Punto doing it, and it's equally dumb for Puig or any player to slide head-first into first.

Dodgers 3, Padres 2: Yasiel Puig disrespects San Diego with a Monster homer

The Dodgers moved to 3-1 on the young season with a win over the Padres behind Puig's bat and Zack Greinke's solid season debut.

• Puig hit his first home run of the season, a 2-run bomb to left. It was so, so disrespectful. He also singled.
• Juan Uribe had his second 3-hit game of the season as he doubled once and singled twice.
• Greinke threw five innings of two-run ball, allowing four baserunners while fanning five and walking two. He also allowed a long-ball and threw a wild pitch.
• Kenley Jansen worked out of a tough bases-loaded ninth inning jam to close the door on the Friars, striking out a pair in the process.
• Chris Withrow, Paco Rodriguez, and J.P. Howell all threw scoreless innings in relief of Greinke.

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Brian Wilson is headed to the DL with elbow issues. Eric Stephen of True Blue LA has more on the injury and Wilson's attempt to pitch through it on Sunday.

Dodgers 7, Diamondbacks 5: Give me ALL your Ryu Australia puns

The Dodgers avoided a bit of a late scare to hold off the D-Backs and sweep the opening 2-game series in Australia.

• Hyun-Jin Ryu was excellent in five innings, allowing two hits and a walk while striking out five. He left the game after injuring his toe. It, thankfully, does not sound serious.
• Yasiel Puig had himself a 3-hit night (double, two singles) and drove in two as well. Puig was also bitten by the injury bug as his back is sore.
• Dee Gordon and Juan Uribe also chipped in with three hits and a run driven in apiece.
• Adrian Gonzalez stole a base.
• Alex Guerrero had his first official plate appearance and struck out. He's almost certainly about to be sent down for some minor league seasoning.
• The bullpen ran into some trouble in the ninth with a big lead. Jose Dominguez fared the worst -- two walks and a 2-run single -- while Kenley Jansen was taken deep by Mark Trumbo.

Photo Credit: Dustin Nosler, Feelin' Kinda Blue

Dodgers 3, Diamondbacks 1: Scott Van Smash and Kid K wrangle Snakes

The 2014 "Season Opener" is officially in the books as the Dodgers took down the Diamondbacks 3-1 in Sydney, Australia. Behind Scott Van Slyke and Clayton Kershaw, the Blue Crew got the season started with a bang. Here are some notes from the opener, of which I saw four innings live before entrusting my DVR with the rest and knocking out at 3 a.m. PST.

• Today's game only further emphasizes why Scott Van Slyke should have been a part of the bench from day one in 2013. He's the only true power bat on the bench, can play three of the four corner spots, and crushes lefties. If a guy who posts a .342 OBP, .465 SLG, .353 wOBA, and 129 wRC+ can't find a permanent bench spot, what kind of bench are you building? Thankfully, SVS will have that permanent spot this season. A two-run bomb, double off the base of the wall, and walk is just the kind of start he needed.
• Kershaw was his usual dominant self in the end, although there was clearly a bit of rust and working out of early season kinks. He allowed six baserunners over six and two-thirds innings, whiffing seven while issuing a lone walk (102 pitches, 73 for strikes). He also singled before being thrown out trying to stretch it into a double.
• I'm no pitching expert by any means, but it did seem to me like Kersh was a bit too reliant on his fastball at times, particularly in a long at-bat against fellow pitcher Wade Miley.
• Hanley Ramirez pulled up lame as he headed back to the dugout late in the game, but did finish out the contest in the field. Hopefully it's nothing major, but I wouldn't play him today under any circumstances and would sit him until the real regular season stateside gets underway. He's far too important to risk, especially with the hammy injury last season.
• Kenley Jansen was Kenley Jansen, fanning one D-Back in a scoreless ninth.
• I'm surprised they sent Clayton back out for the seventh considering it's the opening game of the series; the quirkiness of playing it overseas; and Clayton running the bases hard in the top half of the inning.
• That being said, if you are going to send him out for that frame, let him get the final out in it when the batter is not Paul Goldschmidt, who had hit Clayton well. Clayton was obviously tired, but in no circumstance is Chris Perez a better option.
• Don Mattingly is truly like his mentor Joe Torre when it comes to bullpen management, which is to say I don't get it.
• A better defensive center fielder with more range probably catches Goldschmidt's double in the sixth inning.
• Yasiel Puig struck out three times while going 0-for-5, but he did lace a ball in his final at-bat.
• Alex Guerrero, who I would argue should be starting at second, technically made his debut as he was announced as a pinch-hitter before being pulled back for Mike Baxter.
• Mark Trumbo is such a bad defender that he fooled the cameras and SVS into thinking Scott's clear double off of the wall was a homer.
• A fan behind home plate wearing Red Sox garb attempted to start the Joseph Gordon-Levitt "Angels in the Outfield wings-wave" during the sixth inning. It failed. I would prefer that to the wave itself though.

Photo Credit: Dustin Nosler, Dodgers Digest

Looking at the Dodgers' numerous bullpen options for 2014

The Dodgers have a LOT of guys who are viable bullpen options, not even counting starting pitchers who are biding time. It's likely all these guys see action at some point during the year, but what should the pecking order should be?

I looked at the peripheral stats for all the guys and projected how I think they'll do this year. The rigorous approach led to some surprises and insights. Here's my list of candidates, and projections for these players, with Dodger Stadium as their home park, in 2014.

Pitcher	K/9	BB/9	HR/9	ERA
Kenley Jansen	12.6	2.5	0.7	2.10
Brian Wilson	8.9	3.9	0.3	2.77
Jose Dominguez	8.5	4.3	0.4	3.15
Paco Rodriguez (L)	10.2	4.5	0.7	3.29
Jamey Wright	7.0	3.5	0.6	3.53
Yimi Garcia	8.6	3.3	1.1	3.64
Javy Guerra	7.5	4.0	0.7	3.76
Chris Perez	8.4	3.4	1.1	3.89
J.P. Howell (L)	7.6	3.8	0.9	3.91
Scott Elbert (L)	9.0	4.3	1.0	3.96
Brandon League	5.4	2.7	1.0	4.08
Seth Rosin	6.5	3.6	1.1	4.15
Onelki Garcia (L)	7.9	5.4	0.9	4.17
Chris Withrow	9.1	5.2	1.2	4.79

Kenley Jansen, of course, is a beast, and I feel good about Brian Wilson ($10 million looks like an overpay in light of later "closer" signings this winter, but whatever). Rodriguez ought to bounce back from a poor close to the season. That's three good guys, which goes a long way to having a solid bullpen. Relievers are volatile, but you can be pretty sure about the A-listers here at least.

Chris Perez and Brandon League are what they are -- and it could go a lot worse than what you see here.

Some guys I thought were pretty good actually just got lucky last year, or temporarily elevated themselves (I'll believe it's permanent if they do it again), and I'm not sure I see them carrying their performance level through to 2014. I'm speaking specifically about J.P. Howell and Chris Withrow.

A lot of people are down on Withrow, and I couldn't see why. I remember him getting a lot of outs last year. He did better in the majors than he ever did in the minors in terms of strikeouts and walks. He also had a completely unsustainable .205 batting average on balls in play (BABIP). Howell also had a crazy-low BABIP (.241) and a HR rate 1/3 of his career average.

On the other hand, I think there's a few guys who I weren't thinking of that highly who could surprise this year.

Jose Dominguez , Yimi Garica and Javy Guerra look ready to make the jump to solid big-league contributors. Dominguez is going to get the strikeouts with that 100 MPH fastball, and I think he'll continue to limit the number of home runs he allows. His control isn't great, but it'll play. Yimi Garcia has a great slider that's striking out everyone. Guerra has been up and down, but if you normalize his BABIP & HR/FB, he actually looked good last year in both the majors and Triple-A. Jamey Wright is an ageless marvel. Seth Rosin, I don't see what the Dodgers see.

Rodriguez and Howell have the two lefty spots pretty much locked up. Scott Elbert Onelki Garcia are both recovering from surgery. Elbert is a mid-year return, while Garcia hopefully is ready close to opening day.

As far as minor-league starters spending a little time in the bullpen, I see Zach Lee (4.22 ERA) and Stephen Fife (4.28) as not that great this year. Chris Reed (4.69) and Matt Magill (4.96) just do not look good to me. Ross Stripling (3.56) is the one guy I think could contribute in that role. The numbers in parentheses are how I project them as major league starters, so perhaps they'd do a bit better in the bullpen (on average, bullpen ERAs are about 0.3 lower despite having lower quality pitchers than starting rotations). However, maybe they'd have a hard time adjusting (Fife's season was basically ruined by the disruption last year).

Paul Maholm (3.83), Josh Beckett (3.80) and Chad Billingsley (3.55) all might or might not be asked to get in the bullpen business too, with Dan Haren (3.62) as an extreme outside shot. Most likely, they'd be at least toward the middle to upper-end of the pack if they had to do that.

A lot will go into the decision besides performance -- who has what kind of contract situation in terms of minor league options, Rule 5 status, etc. There's also who the Dodgers might want to showcase for a trade, or how Beckett's recovery is going, and so on. But opening day is just a point in time. People will get injured or be ineffective and others will get their chances.

Photo credit: Dustin Nosler, Feelin' Kinda Blue

Seth Rosin's chances of remaining with Dodgers better than some expect

When the Dodgers acquired right-hander Seth Rosin from the Mets, following New York selecting him in the 2013 Rule 5 Draft, not much was made about it at the time.

Rosin, 25, has never pitched above Double-A, and was just mediocre at the level in 2013 (4.33 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 2.5 BB/9, 6.8 K/9). But that was as a starting pitcher. He'll shift back to the bullpen, where he has spent a majority of his minor-league innings.

At 6'6, 250 pounds, it's hard to miss him on the field. With a low-90s fastball that touches 94 MPH, he has the velocity to succeed in the majors. He also seems to have the command to do so. His career walks per nine innings rate is 2.7. Sure, it'd probably tick up a bit in the majors, but he's adept at throwing strikes.

If Rosin were able to miss more bats consistently, he could find himself in a Major League bullpen. To make the Dodgers' bullpen, a lot of things are going to have to go in his favor.

Dodger relievers with MLB deals
J.P. Howell
Kenley Jansen
Brandon League
Chris Perez
Brian Wilson
Jamey Wright

Dodger relievers with MiLB options
Jose Dominguez
Paco Rodriguez
Chris Withrow

Barring anything unforeseen, all six of the pitchers from the first list are going to make the team in some fashion. The only conceivable way one doesn't is if League is designated for assignment.

Of the three on the second list, Rodriguez is a sure bet to be in the Dodgers' bullpen come opening day. If he weren't, that means Howell would be the team's only left-handed reliever.

Eric Stephen wrote a piece about Rosin earlier this week. He got an interesting quote from General Manager Ned Colletti.

"'I'm very interested in seeing what he can bring. Great arm, very competitive, very sharp,' (Colletti) said. 'He may be a power arm out of the pen, he may be somebody who could pitch multiple innings out of the pen, he could be a spot starter.'"

That versatility is an attractive feature to have, especially to the Dodgers, which lack a true long-reliever right now.

Colletti also had good things to say about him in Bill Plunkett's article on Baseball America on Sunday.

"'We had good reports on him,' (Colletti said). 'He's a big guy with a live arm and he's a smart kid. The day we traded for him, he finished his last final to get his degree from the University of Minnesota.

'That doesn’t speak to the baseball side but it says something about the kid.'"

This probably means absolutely nothing, but the Dodgers' 2013 first-round pick Chris Anderson is from the Minnesota area and second-rounder Tom Windle went to the University of Minnesota. Just interesting to note.

Rosin was invited to the Dodgers' Winter Development Program, the Dodgers' annual symposium-type even for prospects and young players close to the majors. If the Dodgers didn't really think Rosin had a chance to make the club, he would not have been invited.

As a Rule 5 draftee, Rosin would have to be on the active roster when the seasons start -- either on the 25-man roster or on the disabled list. If the Dodgers do not retain him, he'd be placed on waivers for any team to claim. If he goes unclaimed, he'd have to be offered back to the Phillies for $25,000. If they refuse, the Dodgers could then send him to the minor leagues. The Dodgers could also negotiate a trade with Philadelphia to keep him around. I don't see him making it that far. If he throws well in spring, the Dodgers could find a way to keep him. If he is waived, he'd surely be claimed.

As a flyball pitcher, his profile fits well in Dodger Stadium. I put a 70 percent chance he'd be cut to make room on the 40-man roster. After hearing the good things about him from the Dodgers, I'm not so certain.

A team can never have too much pitching. That adage usually holds true, unless one of those pitchers is a Rule 5 draftee.

It's a tough road ahead for Rosin, but he has a better chance of remaining in Los Angeles than it may seem. I'll say this: I'd take Rosin over league in a heartbeat.

Photo credit: woolenium, Flickr