Podcast: 'Dugout Blues' episode 46 - Dodgers, Marmol, Ramirez, Pederson

On this episode of "Dugout Blues," Jared Massey (Dodger Diamond) talk about the Dodgers and their new winning ways. It's much more fun to talk and write about this team when things are going well.

The Dodgers swung a trade with the Cubs for Carlos Marmol (using Matt Guerrier), which doesn't sound great on the surface. However, the Dodgers got international spending money in the deal, which does sound great.

Jose Dominguez, despite a rough outing on Wednesday, made an impressive MLB debut on Sunday.

Hanley Ramirez is on fire and is carrying the team as much as Yasiel Puig is. Maybe it's time to start a campaign for him to go to New York for the All-Star Game.

Luis Cruz is now an ex-Dodger and, somehow, landed a 25-man roster spot with the Yankees.

Joc Pederson will represent the Dodgers at the Futures Game. He'll also go to the Southern League All-Star Game along with Yimi Garcia, Zach Lee, Hector Nelo, Ross Stripling, Luis Vazquez and Rafael Ynoa. Rob Rasmussen also got the nod, but he won't play in the game because he's in Triple-A.

Blake Smith is now a pitcher. I'm trying to get an interview with him to give us his reaction. He's struggled at the plate this season.

Plus, there's a draft and international signing update.

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Look for new episodes of "Dugout Blues" every Wednesday. Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast and review us on iTunes. We want to make this the best podcast we can so we're always looking for suggestions and ways to improve.

If you have questions you'd like us to answer or certain topics/players you want to hear more about, feel free to email us (ladugout@gmail.com or feelinkindablue@gmail.com) or send us messages on Twitter (@Dodger_Diamond or @FeelinKindaBlue). You can also "Like" the podcast on Facebook. We always welcome audience participation.

Image credit: Joe Martin

Dodgers eye SS Lucas Tirado early in 2013-14 international signing period

The new international signing period begins Tuesday (July 2) and the Dodgers have been tied to one player who could garner a bonus of more than a million bucks.

Lucas Tirado, a shortstop from the Dominican Republic, is the guy the Dodgers reportedly have an eye on. Kiley McDaniel of Scouting Baseball projects the Dodgers to ink Tirado to a $1.2 million bonus. He also ranks Tirado as the 14th-best prospect available.

Tirado, 16, is a shortstop for now, but Matt Garrioch of Minor League Ball thinks he might have to move off the position eventually. He lists second base and left field as possibilities. I’d be perfectly fine if Tirado ended up as a second baseman.

Garrioch also had this to say about Tirado: 

“Interesting hitter. Polished. Not sure he can stick at SS. Might be a LF/2B.”

Tirado’s a lefty swinger with decent bat speed. He isn’t the fleetest of foot, which could lead to a position change. Tirado’s hit tool is his best, with everything else grading out as average in the future (at best).

Tirado won’t be 17 until Dec. 13. At 6’2, 175 pounds, he’ll fill out physically, which could also determine his long-term position.

For what it's worth: Ben Badler of Baseball America doesn't have Tirado ranked in his Top 30 international prospects list. Badler is one of the foremost authorities when it comes to international players, but he isn't the be-all, end-all, either. Also, he didn't have Julio Urias ranked in his Top 20 last year (hat tip to Jared Massey).

I don’t think Tirado is a future star, but, if his development goes according to plan, could be an everyday player in the majors in a handful of years.

Here's some video of the youngster.

The Dodgers have $2,112,900 to spend on international talent this year. That’s down from the $2.9 million they had last year. Badler reported on Wednesday the Dodgers are among a handful of teams looking to trade for more international cap space (trading for cap space explained here by Badler).

The fact the Dodgers could commit more than half of their available pool to one guy -- who isn’t even regarded as the top two or three guys available -- says one of two things:

1. The Dodgers are really high on this guy
2. They will acquire more cap space

I won’t question the Dodgers’ methods, as they’ve gotten back into the international market by signing roughly 46 players since the new ownership group took over in May 2012.

The team made waves last year by signing Yasiel Puig and Hyun-Jin Ryu -- neither of whom counted toward the cap spending limit. The Dodgers are interested in a couple other guys who fall into this category this year: right-handed pitcher Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez (26 years old) and outfielder Dariel Alvarez (23) -- both of whom are Cuban defectors.

I wrote about Gonzalez for Yahoo! Sports last week. The Dodgers should go all out for this guy. He could pitch in the majors this season and profiles as a middle-of-the-rotation guy long-term.

“Gonzalez has fastball that sits in the low-90s and routinely touches 94-95 MPH. He also has a changeup, curveball, cut-fastball and the rare forkball. Dodger fans remember a great forkball thrown by Hideo Nomo oh so many years ago.

Many believe Gonzalez is near-MLB ready. He might need a month or so in the minors to get back into the rhythm, but he should pitch in the majors this season. He profiles as a middle-of-the-rotation starter with No.2 upside.”

Alvarez would be a nice get for nothing other than depth, because the last thing the Dodgers need is more MLB-ready outfielders. But I’d rather the Dodgers focus efforts elsewhere.

It should be an interesting signing year. I want the Dodgers to acquire more cap space after a lackluster draft. Chris Anderson is the only player with impact potential from the Dodgers’ 2013 draft.

These international prospects -- save Gonzalez and Alvarez (to a certain extent) -- are lottery tickets. If the Dodgers hit on just one per year, the investment will have been well worth it.

If the Dodgers come out of the signing period early on with Gonzalez and Tirado, I'd call that a win.

Chris Reed helping himself and the Dodgers with improved performance

If you’ve listened to virtually any episode of “Dugout Blues,” you’d know Chris Reed is “my boy,” as dubbed by Jared Massey. He was massively overdrafted, which put him behind the proverbial 8-ball (at least with me) from the start.

While he’s still likely a future reliever, Reed is showing at least the slightest chance of remaining in the rotation -- at least for now.

But Reed’s success this season isn’t without some concern, because who else but his No. 1 fan bring up something negative?

Reed has a 3.50 ERA, 1.21 WHIP and a 3.61 FIP as a 23-year-old at Double-A Chattanooga. Those numbers are solid, especially since he started the season poorly.

In his first nine appearances (eight starts, one relief, 46 2/3 IP), he had a 5.40 ERA, 1.58 WHIP, a .290 batting average against and a 1.67 ground out-to-fly out rate. He was 1-5 and looking like a permanent move to the bullpen was nigh. Yet, Reed turned it around, and it’s been rather impressive.

Since that time (six starts, one relief appearance, 41 1/3 innings), he has a sparkling 1.31 ERA, 0.77 WHIP, a .177 BAA and a 2.18 GB/FB ratio. Of his 25 hits allowed, just five have been for extra bases (two home runs, two doubles and one triple). That’s elite-level performance by the 2011 first-round pick.

One of Reed's relief appearances was a five-inning outing because Dodger reliever Scott Elbert got the "start" on May 18.

He’s also throwing more innings than he ever has. In two of Reed’s last three starts, he’s thrown at eight innings and has eight starts of at least six innings in 14 total starts. On the season, he's averaging 5.8 innings per start. That's not great, but it shows he's not totally failing with the conversion from college reliever to pro starter.

I’m not changing my tune on Reed, but his turnaround has been impressive. What's surprising is his strikeout rate. He struck out 8.6 batters per nine innings in 2012 between High-A Rancho Cucamonga and Chattanooga. He only struck out 7.4 per nine with the Lookouts. This season, he only has a 6.0 K/9, which is some cause for concern. However, he has a 2.67 GB/FB ratio on the season, and that has improved every season. Last year, he posted a 2.02 GB/FB rate.

Chris Reed is a ground ball pitcher, which is somewhat surprising because he profiled best as a fastball/power slider guy. But it appears his two-seam fastball is the reason his profile has changed.

He's also walking batters at a career-low rate this season (2.9 BB/9). He was a 4.4 last season, including 5.1 at Chattanooga.

If the better control, more grounders and fewer strikeouts formula works for Reed, that's great. Derek Lowe and Brandon Webb (not comparing Reed to either of them directly) had great careers using the sinker. Starters don't have to strikeout a batter an inning to be successful. Reed could revert to his strikeout ways if he moves to the bullpen, but right now, he looks like a he could have a future in the rotation.

With Reed's name having come up in trade talks (specifically regarding Ricky Nolasco), he couldn't have picked a better time to increase his trade value.

Photo credit: Courtesy of Brandon Lennox, True Blue LA

Dodgers' 1st-rounder Chris Anderson impressive in pro debut for the Loons

Chris Anderson made quite the statement with his professional debut on Tuesday night. It’s the smallest of sample sizes, but his debut should fill Dodger fans with optimism.

Anderson, the Dodgers’ first-round draft pick in 2013, struck out the side in his first inning of work. He did so on just 10 pitches, nine of which were strikes. That’s impressive in its own right. But the fact all nine of those strikes were swinging and on his fastball is almost unbelievable.

He only struck out two in his second -- and last -- inning of work. He finished with the following line:

• 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K, 27 pitches, 20 strikes

Probably couldn’t have drawn it up any better than that. He topped out at 98 MPH with his fastball and sat in the 90-96 MPH range while flashing a plus mid-80s slider. He didn’t throw his changeup, which is something I’d like to see him do consistently before season’s end. It was just his first start and, despite being on a 50-inning limit, he’ll have plenty of time to throw it.

Jared Massey said he counted 14 swings and misses. If accurate, just two of Anderson’s 20 strikes were put into play -- a fly out to left and a bloop single. That’s awfully impressive.

Anderson is a surefire Top 10 prospect in the system, and more likely a Top 5 guy. I’m doing my midseason Top 25 update in July, and Anderson will surely make an appearance.

Second-round draft pick Tom Windle also made his debut -- piggybacking with Anderson (as he will do for the foreseeable future). While he wasn’t as impressive, it was a good debut for Windle as well:

• 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K

The only velocity reading I heard on his fastball was 91 MPH, which is true to scouting reports. His slider made an appearance (got a strikeout on the pitch) and hit 86 MPH on the radar gun.

His profile still screams reliever to me, but it’ll be nice to see him throw against Midwest League hitters the rest of the season.

Also, Jared Massey made an interesting observation while recording “Dugout Blues” Tuesday night. This is the first time he (and I) can remember the Dodgers first three draft picks have all been on the same roster in full-season ball immediately after being drafted (Anderson, Windle, Brandon Dixon). The Great Lakes Loons are benefiting from the draft and the infusion of talent to an already talented roster. The Dodgers have leaned so heavily on high schoolers early in the draft for so many years that it is surprising to see all their first three picks on the same team.

Cody Bellinger won’t make making an appearance in Midland anytime soon (Arizona Rookie League, 18 years old), but guys like J.D. Underwood and Jacob Rhame -- both at Ogden -- could be promoted if they perform well enough in the Pioneer League.

Photo credit (courtesy): Ali Messick, Great Lakes Loons