Dodgers (Ohtani) vs Blue Jays (Cease): 4/8/26, 3:07pm

[Jonn]

7 minutes ago, ComeTogether said:

 

 

Corey Lidle was not a name I expected to see on that list.

[Laika]

How about Davis Schneider

Comes off the bench, works two walks, scores two huge runs 

This guy is so underappreciated. Almost always has a good plate appearance 

[BTS]

Jeff Hoffman's numbers are bananas. He might have a huge season

[Slade]

24 minutes ago, Laika said:

How about Davis Schneider

Comes off the bench, works two walks, scores two huge runs 

This guy is so underappreciated. Almost always has a good plate appearance 

Dude needs to get more playing time. I thought with Barger out he was going to see more time but no. 

[Eat My Shatkins]

1 hour ago, ComeTogether said:

 

 

How awesome is it that three of those guys are still currently in our rotation?

 

 

[G-Snarls]

10 hours ago, Stangstag said:

Time for the losing streak to CEASE

Good game from Cease.  I'd love to give a shout out to Tyler Rogers too but I wouldn't want the compliment to seem UNDERHANDED...

[Jays24]

Watching the ending lol.

Feels great to win! 

[Brownie19]

1 hour ago, Slade said:

Dude needs to get more playing time. I thought with Barger out he was going to see more time but no. 

I'd definitely like to see him get a few more starts v. RHP over Lukes.  

[Spanky__99]

5 hours ago, Stangstag said:

This is what game 7 should’ve been 😢 

4-3 final, Hoffman Save

Stop man, are you a sadist?

[Stangstag]

1 hour ago, Spanky__99 said:

Stop man, are you a sadist?

Dont tell me you weren’t thinking the same as soon as the score went 4-3

Im not trying to bring it up repeatedly, its just seared into my fkn brain.

[Rynodb1]

4 hours ago, G-Snarls said:

Good game from Cease.  I'd love to give a shout out to Tyler Rogers too but I wouldn't want the compliment to seem UNDERHANDED...

This was good. 😂

[jaysblue]

Hopefully the Jays can carry momentum from yesterday's win and beat up on the Twins this weekend! Take 2 of 3 at least or a sweep would be even sweeter. 

[Landry_25]

14 hours ago, Laika said:

How about Davis Schneider

Comes off the bench, works two walks, scores two huge runs 

This guy is so underappreciated. Almost always has a good plate appearance 

Ugh under appreciated isn’t even the word for it lol. He’s so fundamentally sound, has never really given a reason to say he’s no good defensively (whether outfield or infield) he always seemed solid. Never understood how they continued to play IKF instead of him… gave him a chance and he launched one of back to back HR with vladdy (then proceeded back to the bench) 

really not sure what they have against the guy 

[Stangstag]

22 minutes ago, Landry_25 said:

Ugh under appreciated isn’t even the word for it lol. He’s so fundamentally sound, has never really given a reason to say he’s no good defensively (whether outfield or infield) he always seemed solid. Never understood how they continued to play IKF instead of him… gave him a chance and he launched one of back to back HR with vladdy (then proceeded back to the bench) 

really not sure what they have against the guy 

I think they’re super cautious with him because they think he’ll get exposed/exploited even harder with high fastballs the more he plays?? Idk.

Maybe WHY they specifically targeted IKF since he has good numbers against fastballs. Basically 2 guys as 1 side of a platoon lol.

Except…. DS actually hits righties slightly better than lefties. There’s a good case for him being an everyday player.

[Laika]

22 minutes ago, Landry_25 said:

Ugh under appreciated isn’t even the word for it lol. He’s so fundamentally sound, has never really given a reason to say he’s no good defensively (whether outfield or infield) he always seemed solid. Never understood how they continued to play IKF instead of him… gave him a chance and he launched one of back to back HR with vladdy (then proceeded back to the bench) 

really not sure what they have against the guy 

It's true

The role they have assumed fits him best is a platoon player who can hit LHP and low velo and is an acceptable but poor defender in LF. 

But on the stat sheet, in his career, he has actually hit RHP better. Whether this is his true talent or not is a different question. And he is basically a perfectly average defender at both 2B and LF for his career. And not a baserunning liability. 

We will probably never know what Davis Schneider would look like as a near full time player. He's a batting eye god - elite BB% and almost never chases. And he's a great sweet spot / barrel hitter as well. 

You could compare him to a hitter like Max Muncy, honestly. Or Torkelson/Hoskins but if they could play a decent LF. 

We will probably never know. 

[Terminator]

How's everyone feeling this fine morning?

[Terminator]

This Twins series isn't going to be easy.

We are throwing 3 pitchers who wouldn't crack our rotation if everyone was healthy (including Corbin who is getting thrown into the fire after one A-ball start) and they are throwing their #5-1-2.

• Corbin vs. Woods-Richardson
• Lauer vs. Joe Ryan
• Scherzer vs. Taj Bradley

That said, their bullpen is complete ass after they traded everyone at the deadline last year. If we can keep it close against Ryan and Bradley we could put some runs up late to take the game.

[Laika]

It will be a cake walk lol 

[Orgfiller]

16 hours ago, Jonn said:

I don't know if I would go with the words "lights out". Obviously his underlying numbers are very good. But he has still blown 2 saves and lost a game in the first 2 weeks. He got himself in trouble again tonight. Gotta pump the breaks on that a little bit. We need to see some more mental toughness from him to bare down when things don't go well because things to tend to snowball on him quickly. Today was an excellent example of him not letting the situation get out of hand.

The game he "lost" and got his second blown save on is when Heineman got subbed in following Kirk's injury and promptly blew the game for him. He's striking out 48% of hitters, I guess "swing and miss is king" only for guys you like eh?

[Laika]

Hoffman's stuff appears largely the same, but he is really throwing less FB and more Splitters. 

His command appears much better so far. 

He's an interesting reliever. Found that splitter years ago, but it was his third weapon. He was a 40% slider guy with Philadelphia. Tried to be more of a three pitch guy last year, with disastrous results. Interesting and surprising that he is now a 40% splitter guy. 

His overall Stuff+ does not support this kind of K rate though. A good chunk of that is a mirage. 

Worth noting, however, that his velo is slightly up on everything. 

If the command improvements hold, he should be very good. 

I guess splitters are hard to run through the Stuff models so there is also the possibility that it is an elite pitch but the models don't recognize it. 

[Orgfiller]

1 hour ago, Laika said:

Hoffman's stuff appears largely the same, but he is really throwing less FB and more Splitters. 

His command appears much better so far. 

He's an interesting reliever. Found that splitter years ago, but it was his third weapon. He was a 40% slider guy with Philadelphia. Tried to be more of a three pitch guy last year, with disastrous results. Interesting and surprising that he is now a 40% splitter guy. 

His overall Stuff+ does not support this kind of K rate though. A good chunk of that is a mirage. 

Worth noting, however, that his velo is slightly up on everything. 

If the command improvements hold, he should be very good. 

I guess splitters are hard to run through the Stuff models so there is also the possibility that it is an elite pitch but the models don't recognize it. 

It's so early that it's hard to make conclusions on if things like his command are sustainable, but I've definitely noticed his command of the splitter is night and day compared to last season. He's using it pretty aggressively against lefties, unsurprisingly, but where he's spotting it is huge. Seeing a lot of down or down and away and significantly fewer hangers.

Combine that with the regained fastball velo and everything plays up. He froze Ohtani yesterday on a fastball down the middle lol, that doesn't happen if they're not respecting the splitter. With Freeman he went down and away with the fastball, with a splitter mixed in there, and then went up and away for the whiff. This kind of sequencing and command of his stuff should mean he's hopefully closer to 23-24 Hoffman that last season's version.

I'm also hopeful that having Varland and Rogers to lengthen out the bullpen and cover some of those high leverage innings means he's not as overused as he was to begin last season. He notably started strong last year, but was being used so often that I wouldn't be surprised if this led to his stuff and location both backing up as the year progressed.

[Terminator]

So Dave Roberts is just a whiny crybaby. Go figure.

And I don't mind giving Ohtani extra time if he's on base, on deck, or on the bases, so long as he's not abusing the rule.

What is really stupid is that the Dodgers get to carry 14 pitchers because of him. The guy will throw double the amount of innings that most RPs do, yet he's not a pitcher? How is he not a pitcher?

If you let the Dodgers carry 14 pitchers, they can go with a 6-man rotation thus giving him and every other starter extra rest. Or they can go with a 9-man bullpen which helps their entire staff and allows them to mix and match more. Why are they allowed to do this?

[mphenhef]

18 minutes ago, Terminator said:

So Dave Roberts is just a whiny crybaby. Go figure.

And I don't mind giving Ohtani extra time if he's on base, on deck, or on the bases, so long as he's not abusing the rule.

What is really stupid is that the Dodgers get to carry 14 pitchers because of him. The guy will throw double the amount of innings that most RPs do, yet he's not a pitcher? How is he not a pitcher?

If you let the Dodgers carry 14 pitchers, they can go with a 6-man rotation thus giving him and every other starter extra rest. Or they can go with a 9-man bullpen which helps their entire staff and allows them to mix and match more. Why are they allowed to do this?

I would say more time as long as that is just warmup time and not time spent in the dugout going over batters with a pitching coach.  Either way, I'm not sure he should delay the start of an inning anymore than a catcher who is on base and has to put on gear.

The extra pitcher is an interesting component that I hadn't picked up on.  It's a big advantage to them as a team for sure.

[G-Snarls]

24 minutes ago, Terminator said:

So Dave Roberts is just a whiny crybaby. Go figure.

And I don't mind giving Ohtani extra time if he's on base, on deck, or on the bases, so long as he's not abusing the rule.

What is really stupid is that the Dodgers get to carry 14 pitchers because of him. The guy will throw double the amount of innings that most RPs do, yet he's not a pitcher? How is he not a pitcher?

If you let the Dodgers carry 14 pitchers, they can go with a 6-man rotation thus giving him and every other starter extra rest. Or they can go with a 9-man bullpen which helps their entire staff and allows them to mix and match more. Why are they allowed to do this?

IIRC Ohtani WAS on base to end the inning before he had to pitch

It would make sense to say he's not on the clock until he's at least back in the dugout maybe?  That would seem fair. But they need to clarify. 

[G-Snarls]

4 minutes ago, mphenhef said:

I would say more time as long as that is just warmup time and not time spent in the dugout going over batters with a pitching coach.  Either way, I'm not sure he should delay the start of an inning anymore than a catcher who is on base and has to put on gear.

The extra pitcher is an interesting component that I hadn't picked up on.  It's a big advantage to them as a team for sure.

Good point 

It happens to catchers all the time and that takes even longer. 

[mphenhef]

It almost makes you wonder if you had a RP who wasn't awful with the bat and a non star DH, would it make sense to DH one of your RPs for 60 AB (20 games with 3 ABs) to get the extra pitcher for the rest of the year and playoffs?  If you are a team not in a tight fight for a playoff spot it might just be worth it.

[Terminator]

If your team is out of contention, it might be worth letting one of your pitchers hit for the last 20 games of the season. He could get two-way player status and then you can carry 14 pitchers on your team the next year.

I think the Rockies might try this with Lorenzen toward the end of the year. I wonder if a crazy team like the Rays would ever do it, even with a pitcher that can't hit. 

I guess the problem is that you then run with a 3-man bench if your two-way player can't contribute out in the field? You probably couldn't do that for a full season but you could deploy it at times.

I think it could be worth exploring with certain guys. Probably needs to be a pitcher who could at least be replacement level as a position player. Or one that could pinch run or something.

[mphenhef]

3 minutes ago, G-Snarls said:

Good point 

It happens to catchers all the time and that takes even longer. 

The one difference is someone else can catch the warmup if the catcher is not ready.

[mphenhef]

3 minutes ago, Terminator said:

If your team is out of contention, it might be worth letting one of your pitchers hit for the last 20 games of the season. He could get two-way player status and then you can carry 14 pitchers on your team the next year.

I think the Rockies might try this with Lorenzen toward the end of the year. I wonder if a crazy team like the Rays would ever do it, even with a pitcher that can't hit. 

I guess the problem is that you then run with a 3-man bench if your two-way player can't contribute out in the field? You probably couldn't do that for a full season but you could deploy it at times.

I think it could be worth exploring with certain guys. Probably needs to be a pitcher who could at least be replacement level as a position player. Or one that could pinch run or something.

How fast do you think the league would shut this down if teams other than the Dodgers took advantage?

[Stangstag]

50 minutes ago, mphenhef said:

How fast do you think the league would shut this down if teams other than the Dodgers took advantage?

Yep. They would somehow change the rule so it only applies to Ohtani. Something like raise the IP threshold, or AB threshold, or make it so the pitcher can only be a starter… something.

The league will continue to cater to and bend the rules for Ohtani.