The bullpen seemed well-stocked, too, with Blake Treinen, Brusdar Graterol and Tommy Kahnle also due back from injuries. Since the Dodgers had the best record in the National League, adding a top-tier starter didn’t seem an urgent need. The price for top-notch starters was costly. That rotation was so strong - and the prospect of getting Walker Buehler and Dustin May back from injuries was so tantalizing - that president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman didn’t reinforce the pitching staff before the Aug. A shining light in the glittering galaxy of the Dodgers’ starting rotation with a 16-1 record and 2.10 earned-run average. SAN DIEGO - Not so long ago, Tony Gonsolin was an All-Star. MLB Trade Rumors projects Bellinger would earn $18.1 million through arbitration next season - a modest raise from the $17 million he was paid this year. The Dodgers, however, could choose to not tender him a contract this offseason, effectively releasing him. Still a fan favorite, Bellinger has one year of team control remaining before hitting free agency. 907 OPS, with the go-ahead hit in Game 5 of the NLDS against the Giants, and a walk-off home run against the Braves in the NLCS, but he went 1 for 6 with four strikeouts in his two starts against the Padres in this NLDS. He was significantly better in last year’s postseason, batting. His 74 OPS+ suggests he’s been 36% worse as a hitter than a replacement-level player (100 is considered average). 648 on-base-plus-slugging percentage over the last three seasons. But they changed course Saturday, illustrating a perplexing fall from MVP to bench player in three years for a player still in his physical prime.īellinger, 27, remains one of the best defensive center fielders in the majors, but he hasn’t regained his All-Star form since 2019. The Dodgers followed that script in the first three games of the NLDS: Bellinger started in Game 1 and Game 2 against right-handed starters before he was benched in Game 3 opposite left-hander Blake Snell. They shifted their approach in September, demoting Bellinger to a platoon player against right-handed starting pitchers. The Dodgers stuck by Bellinger as their everyday center fielder for most of the regular season even though he was one of the worst hitters in the majors for the third straight season after winning the NL MVP award in 2019. But he also said he’ll be ready for whatever we need.” All year long I’ve played him against right-handed pitching, and he wanted to be in there. But the decision seemed to have caught Bellinger by surprise. Roberts pointed to Bellinger’s poor history facing Musgrove - he’s 2 for 17 against him - and said the team liked Thompson’s and left fielder Chris Taylor’s chances to produce better. SAN DIEGO - The Dodgers’ lineup Saturday featured one unexpected omission: Cody Bellinger.ĭespite facing right-hander Joe Musgrove, the Dodgers elected to bench Bellinger and have Trayce Thompson start in center field. San Diego held a two-games-to-one advantage in the best-of-five series entering Game 4 in Petco Park Saturday night. There has been no need for such managerial outbursts this past week, not with the Padres pushing the 111-win Dodgers to the brink of elimination in the NL Division Series. ![]() If he needs to get mad again, I wouldn’t be mad.” “I think it was the right time and place to kind of light a fire under everybody, and it seemed to work. “It’s interesting, because you don’t see it much,” Padres second baseman Jake Cronenworth said with a laugh, when asked what it’s like when Melvin gets mad. So when the San Diego Padres field boss aired out his players in the clubhouse and then ripped them to the media after a lackluster 4-0 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sept. SAN DIEGO - Bob Melvin is about as mild-mannered as big league managers come, a 19-year veteran whose style has always leaned more toward the even-keeled, professorial Gil Hodges than the volcanic Billy Martin.
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