Dodgers: Examining LA’s Insanely Deep Lineup with Addition of Trea Turner
With out a doubt the Dodgers won this year’s trade deadline. Trading for Royal’s lefty Danny Duffy didn’t satisfy many fans. Nor did it satisfy the likes of Andrew “GOAT” Friedman. The magician himself was able acquire both Max Scherzer and Trea Turner for a pretty sizable prospect package.
While it ultimately did cost them switch hitting catcher Keibert Ruiz and right-hander Josiah Gray, if it helps Los Angeles win back-to-back titles then it may be well with it. Scherzer helps fill a depleted rotation while Turner can help provide a much needed spark that has been lacking at times.
Whenever you an add an underrated player like Trea Turner, you have to pull the trigger. However, his arrival will pose a tough but good problem for LA. Both Corey Seager and Mookie Betts can possibly return this weekend which would move Turner to second base. Pretty soon, the lineup could look something like this or anywhere in between.
- Mookie Betts RF
- Corey Seager
- Justin Turner 3B
- Max Muncy 1B
- Trea Turner 2B
- Will Smith C
- Cody Bellinger CF
- AJ Pollock LF
Where do the hot hitters end up?
Chris Taylor and AJ Pollock have been absolutely hot this month for the Dodgers. Taylor has hit .326 with 16 extra base hits (6 home runs) and 16 RBI. He’s also filled in at the top of the lineup in Mookie’s absence. Pollock has also been a force at the plate hitting .375 with 14 extra base hits (7 home runs) and 12 RBI. That kind of production from the duo has helped them both named National Player of the Week on separate occasions.
So where do you play them?
They could both platoon in left field but what good does that do? They both have earned the right to start at this point, especially if they continue to produce at the plate. Taylor could go back to a super utility role but, Trea Turner looks to be firmly entrenched at second and once Mookie returns, right field will be out of the picture.
Related: Mookie Betts on Track for Sunday Return
The answer may be an unfortunate one. With the struggles Cody Bellinger has been having all year, I’m sure many would love to see Taylor start over him. Doing so would create more playing time for Taylor who could also move around the field. If he’s willing, Turner could also see time in center field as well seeing as he has experience there as well.
The Young and the Old
Albert Pujols has not been as hot as the two above but he can still swing it. It was a given that he would see a more limited role on the team once it’s back to full health, but the addition of Turner wasn’t foreseen. He’ll likely take on pinch hitting duties against lefties which isn’t a bad thing, but you can’t help but want to see more history in the making. Everyone loves them some Tío Albert.
Gavin Lux is still out with a hamstring injury. Once he returns, he’ll see this is a different team with no clear spot for him. A huge part of that reason is due to the lack of production and failure to meet expectations. He’s been especially awful against left handed pitching. His immediate future with the team is in jeopardy. While he could take on a bench role like Pujols and make the occasional spot start, could he also be sent back down to Triple-A?
There’s no doubt that doing so could help him revamp his swing and approach as well as give him his confidence back. There’s a chance that he could come back in September ready to contribute, but for now his spot on the team is in jeopardy.
Final Thoughts
The roster crunch certainly makes it harder to find playing time for all these worthy players, but it’s also a great problem to have. If the team can make up ground against the Giants and march their way through October to achieve glory once again, who will be complaining?
Chris Taylor in CF, Belli goes to AAA. Belli needs rehab assignment and then needs to earn spot on team. Turner is much better than a Belli. Great move for next year and beyond. Turner can play CF, SS or 2b.
Yes, CT3 for Belli (bench), move T. Turner to #2 w/ his speed along w/ Mookie @ the top, move Seager down for now and break him in slowly. All of a sudden they are RH heavy, but it is what it is. Until Seager comes up to speed and Belli comes around, then adjustments can be made. Belli needs to earn a spot, not automatically given. There’s competition now @ every position which is good for the team to put out or shut up.
Totally! And Trea is used to being in the #2 spot in the order and does great.
Good call, Belli is killing the Dodgers right now
Play Turner in Center, Taylor at second base. Re-sign Seager, let Jansen go and trade Bellinger in the offseason for a closer while he still has some value in the field and on base, he is a total waste of a bat in the lineup, he has been for the last 2 1/2 years including the second half of his MVP season. It is actually sickening watching him at bat.
Proposals like this is why nobody listens to you. Bellinger’s going nowhere until his contract is up. You were most likely one of the fake fans who wanted to trade him 2018 for J.T. Realmuto.
I thought the same thing. Send him to AAA . His swing is considerably slower than usual. Also, I’ve studied video of Kenley Jansen in the good ole’ days of 2016-2017. If you pay attention to his delivery, it is straight forward.
No rocking back and forth, just straight to the batter. He is trying to hard to deceive the batters by rocking back and forth, and these days. I seen a pitcher from the Yankees do it, and of course Cueto from San Francisco.
Why does MLB allow it? Jansen needs to go back to his old delivery, because all this rocking isn’t working. Clearly
There should be a *denotes when ALL players are healthy, **Bellinger is removed
Who in their right mind would have ever thought that Bellinger would end up being the weak spot in a Dodgers lineup. Unbelievable. But he’s definitely unreliable now, and has been for awhile. Needs to be able to work on his swing outside of the spotlight. Send him to AAA until he can get some consistency.
Another extra inning game and another loss tonight, 1-10. Doesn’t matter how deep the team is if they can’t beat teams they’re supposed to. Last 4 EI losses to sub .500 teams. Once this game went into extra innings I knew it was a loss.
And what’s with Bellinger?
When Turner arrives and is cleared to play, if Roberts benches CT3 instead of Bellinger I swear I’ll become a Giants fan! ( just kidding) but I will join the growing chorus for Roberts to be benched!
Could not agree more. If Roberts starts Belli over Taylor he should be FIRED! Roberts does not know what the H he is doing. His management of this team has been bad since day one. The only reason he has a ring is because of the talent and under no circumstances his managing ability. I said in previous posts that Belli need to be sent down whether he can mentally handle it or not. Left 5 men on last night. I just don’t think he is the brightest light bulb in the room and has been coddled his whole life and now it needs to be changed and changed very, very quickly.
Now that they gave Roberts all of these tools to win a championship, once they get eliminated and they will (because of the lack of chemistry) get rid of Roberts as he has proven nothing with only 1 ring and the best on the field team for at least the last 5 years. He is always out managed (1-11 in extra inning games), time for him to go.
Im with you Tim, i almost cant watch night after night of pop ups and strikeouts from Belli n crucial situations, considering how many one run losses we have. If belli could just hit .210 we could have won a few of those games.
Enough is enough! Belli needs to get his head and mechanics straightened out. (Down in AAA).
I’m not convinced that even this huge deal is enough to help this sorry team. Will they even be able to drive in Turner when he gets on? Will they allow him to steal as much? Will they give Scherzer any run support? Will the bullpen blow his gems? This team will find a way to not win a championship somehow with this roster
Don:
If we could just play the games on paper, it would be fine. Unfortunately, on the field the “paper” Dodgers fold. Gonsolin’s latest outing underscores that he simply isn’t ready to be above AAA. The numbers don’t lie. Bellinger’s performance on the field has been a mess and shows no signs of improving. Bench him or send him down to figure it out. It is like Roberts is looking at the “paper” Dodger’s predicted performance and not seeing or comprehending what’s out on the field. The way things are going the race in the West will be to see who finishes in third place. Dodger’s are most certainly in the running at this point.
Here’s an interesting tidbit. Seager hasn’t played in almost 11 weeks and gets 2 hits tonite. That’s just about the same number as Bellinger has had during the same time span!
In the same time span he has also gone from “Cody The Stud” to “Bellied-Up”. I have never seen a 5-tool super talent go from a state of extreme high accomplishments to the very low end of futility and not make any noticeable adjustments to his deficiencies. I think he needs help not only physically but mentally as well. Cody take a time out, some reach stardom too fast, and life becomes chaotic.
Managers jobs are to get their trams playing at their highrst level. Help them break out of slumos, manage tight situations, make their players better, choose thd lineup that gives the best chance at winning that game.
Mr Freidman I ask you, does that describe Dave Roberts?
Sorry to say….Look at Mark android Mac Guire…he had tony hold him out last game as he didn’t want to end year below 200….
Send Beli Down, or just put him in IL…and go work on his freaking weak azz swing…geez to long to much upper cut…..and look at those glazed eyes….I think he is hitting the bong to much….
It’s time to send Bellinger down to Oklahoma City to work on his hitting. We can’t afford to have him in the lineup for batting practice.
Let Belli bat against rh pitchers only. Use Muncy,Beatty, Mckinstry, Seager and maybe Belli in the lineup against righties.
What’s that old adage about insanity. Fits both Roberts and Bellinger to a tee. Roberts for obvious reasons and Bellinger for not even attempting to alter his strategy after TWO years of futility. Somebody hit it on the head. Think it’s mental with him as well and not because of the stardom part. He’s a different guy with a different life outside the lines….not your clean cut fresh faced phenom anymore
You are so right. Something ain’t right with him.
Could be because he knocked up his girlfriend.
He knocked up Giancarlo Stanton’s ex. Sure I’m mistaken, but ya think this young Instagram model was even remotely interested in a multil millionaire athlete? Now that’s she with belly and Belli, her future is bright green. His future, seriously in doubt!
This clean-cut innocent ice-cream eating boy became a rockstar overnight in the baseball world. ‘17 won multi ROM awards, and then ROY; ‘18 NLCS MVP; ‘19 Gold GA , Silv. Slg. Award, and NL MVP and many other publications awards. He was the darling of the media w/ being this young, tall, boyish- looking phenom that had all the talents to be the next superstar. ( this is before Tatis Jr. appeared). Bellinger was mentioned almost daily on all sports media especially MLBN. By winning all those awards, Belli thought baseball was easy for him hearing all the accolades given to him. Then came his popularity @ ballparks, time taken away for the media; being single, rich, and naive must have all distracted his focus on baseball. “ THE FALL OF A PHENOM “
Sorry, to sound negative but Belli is too good of a talent to go the wayside. We have all been talking about him and criticizing his faults a lot for the longest time. That is why some of us are gravitated towards him because we want him to turn it around but it has been a disappointing process. He has to rise above to solidify the team!
Wanna bet Bellinger’s personal matters are affecting his baseball matters?
Just a thought.
On paper and from a “logical” perspective, the Dodgers’ lineup should be fantastic when everybody is healthy and Trea Turner joins the club. A potential Dream Team.
However, as some have already pointed out, there seems to be a systemic problem with this ballclub regarding inconsistent hitting with runners in scoring position and often head-scratching base running. This was happening, even when Betts and Seager were in the lineup earlier this season. We can only hope that Betts can manage his hip injury, that Seager (who, after finally coming back last night, is going to sit out today’s game), stays healthy and that T. Turner, a great hitter and fantastic base runner, helps to supercharge the Dodgers’ offense. Maybe it’s illogical to think that the Dodgers will still have issues with the offense when all the pieces are in place–but I need to see what the offense does for the 1st full month after everything is in place–before getting too excited. There should be virtually no issues with the offense–but we’ll see. Being the defending Champs, navigating through all of the injuries and the Bauer situation, the Dodgers have played the game so far this season as if the weight of the world is on their shoulders–that’s got to change and soon.
At times some of the guys are trying to be the hero instead of “passing the baton” as they say but practicing it. The defensive shifts are playing w/ their minds and affecting their ABs. Last night they had the bottom order ( except Belli) get on base w/ singles to set the table a couple of times. CT3 did his job but the main producers failed in guessing and over swinging. Last yr. the offense ranked @ the top because they were good @ 2 outs RBIs, and more contact w/ less KO. The shifts are making them to launch instead of going oppo and get the sure hit. However, I see a couple of them are trying to do that,but they need to practice it more. T. Turner is good @ that and I hope the hitting coaches don’t change his swing. I hope his style can rub on the other guys…..he’s not a consistent +.300 for nothing.
Who wants to bet that when Tre Turner plays his first game with LA he then sits because he needs a day. After all he had COVIID so let’s ease him back in there. And everyone here is right Bellinger needs to go on IL with broken brain. Where are all these batting coaches/hitting gurus the Dodgers pay? Anyone who ever swung a bat can see what a lousy stance and approach he has. Yes and Seager doesn’t need a day off. He needs to be feasting on Snake pitchers and getting hot.
Cody stays and will battle out of his slump . All you hating on Cody are only bandwagon fans. Bellinger stays and will battle himself out of his slump don’t have anyone that can cover center like him.
Yep, that’s the answer, keep Bellinger in despite his lousy hitting that is hurting the team, and keep someone else who’s playing better collecting splinters. That’s the thinking that could get one a job managing this club. LOL
I agree that Bellinger ” will battle out of his slump”, but I also believe that Cody needs a little time in Triple A to do so. Cody’s talent is undeniable and he has been (and will continue to be) instrumental to the Dodgers overall success. We need all of our guys to produce as we battle for the NL West (and beyond.) Right now, Cody needs time away to get himself together. A player’s mental game is as important as his skill, and Cody’s mental game seems compromised. When he steps up to the plate, much of the time, he looks resigned. A brief time in triple A may do him some good.
Amen on belli and Roberts. I thought I was the only one that noticed him taking players out after only one game back.(seagar). He also takes starters like Buehler out to soon not toughening them up and relies on bullpen too much using them up.. He runs out too almost steals the ball from his starters before anyone can complain. He doesn’t understand pitchers(men) I think he moves players around too much. It’s hard to max defense when playing a lot of positions unless you’re Hernandez or Taylor.!!
Moving players around defensively is what happens when you carry 13-14 pitchers and have a short bench. Back in the day, when there was a 4 man rotation teams carried 10-11 pitchers and had more guys on the bench
Even Orel commented last night that Bellinger needs to adjust his setup and swing mechanics – why don’t the coaches step up here???
1) Mookie Betts-RF, 2) Trea Turner-2B, 3) Corey Seager-SS*, 4) Justin Turner-3B, 5) Max Muncy-1B*, 6) Will Smith-C, 7) Chris Taylor-CF, 8) AJ Pollock-LF
Cody Bellinger-AAA [Love ya, but go find your old swing already]
Bench: Pujols, Lux, Barnes, Reks, Beaty