Dodgers News: Vin Scully Uncertain What To Expect In 2015
Coming off a season in which the Los Angeles Dodgers won 94 games and repeated as NL West division champions was met with significant changes from the front office down to overall organizational roster depth.
Gone are key contributors Dee Gordon, Dan Haren, Matt Kemp and Hanley Ramirez. While World Series expectations remain for the Dodgers, Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully enters the year with uncertainty. In an interview on Access SportsNet: Dodgers, Scully discussed not knowing what to expect from the 2015 Dodgers given how much has changed:
In all honesty I don’t know who the Dodgers are, for a lot of reasons. They’ve made several changes behind home plate, at second base, at shortstop, in the bullpen, in the outfield. They’re minus Matt Kemp, what will that do? I have no idea. So when you say to me, ‘What do you think the Dodgers will do?’ I have no idea. Your guess is as good as mine. All we know is the team they had last year won 94 games and of course they’re trying to improve. We’ll see.”
Under president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Farhan Zaidi, the Dodgers have been aggressive in remaking the roster while keeping an eye on sustained success in the years to come. The Dodgers replaced Gordon and Ramirez with viable players in Howie Kendrick and Jimmy Rollins, however both have one year remaining on their respective contracts.
Of the two, Kendrick is most likely to be re-signed as there isn’t a second base prospect at the level of a Corey Seager. Whereas some questions may surround the on-field product next season, that doesn’t hold true for Scully, who returns for an unprecedented 66th year behind the microphone.
YOU SEE, NOT EVEN VIN KNOWS , THEY SAY THEY ARE CHANGING THE WAY THINGS HAVE BEN DONE, THE DODGER WAY, TO ME WHAT MANAGEMENT IS DOING ITS AL A BUNCH OF LIES, AL THEY ARE DOING IS BUSINES, THEY DON CARE ABOUT WINING,
, IT IS ALL A BUNCH OF HOW DO YOU CALL IT? HUG WASH?
Enrique… (It’s called, “hog wash.”) I don’t know if you remember but more than 10 years ago the Dodgers were RUINED by a Billy Bean protege named Podesta who came to the team. They made a movie about the philosophy behind the Bean/Podesta way of doing things. It was called, “Moneyball.” Well, as *you* said, it was all about business and as I say, it ruined the team. So, NOW management has brought ANOTHER guy who believes in the Moneyball way of doing things and guess what’s gonna happen again? Ruination.
As if that nightmare with DePodesta wasn’t bad enough. Someone upstairs clearly felt that we had to suffer through it all over again. And like someone else said…if Vin Scully of all people can’t justify or even get behind the moves that have been made, that speaks volumes in my opinion.
Kim, ain’t THAT the truth! That “someone upstairs” might be Magic or it might be the shadow Chinese moneymen who funded his purchase of the team.
Well if Vin doesn’t know…….none of us know!……I agree…..the whole concept is a crap shoot… andwe will not know if this is
we will not know
Well if Vin does not know, none of us do and this whole thing is a crap shoot……..We will not know if this new team is better until after the season starts….spring means nothing
When Vin says “I don’t know who the Dodgers are” that means no one knows who the Dodgers are.
I hope Vin retires before the year begins. We had a good year and that would be the best way for Vin to depart.
He doesn’t deserve to see the Dodgers collapse.
I think he might be diplomatically questioning the logic of remaking a team that won 94 games 🙂 Last year’s team needed a better bullpen, but other than that we were solid.
I don’t understand all of the negative comments about the
Dodgers, but I suspect it’s because of the loss of one player – Matt Kemp. And little is said of the solid ballplayers
who have joined the team: Start with
catcher – Grandal is a huge upgrade versus Ellis. Among the 30 catchers who had 300 or more
plate appearances last year, Grandal ranked 12th in OPS and 6th
in pitch framing; Ellis was 30th in OPS. and 26th in pitch framing. Among all MLB players with 300+ PA’s, Ellis
was dead last in OPS with a dismal .254 slugging percentage. The only negative I see for Grandal is a
high strikeout rate.
Move on to second base:
Dee Gordon is an exciting player.. love to watch him flying around the
bases- but, it all ends there. Howie
Kendrick is far superior both offensively and defensively. Also, a line drive hitter – perfect for
Dodger Stadium.
Shortstop: Hanley can
hit! … but it’s panful to watch… especially in the field. Missed over 100 games in past two years..
certainly not worth his $20M salary.
Rollins is a big defensive upgrade, and still capable at the plate, at half
the price.
Now we get to Kemp: How
do you replace a Gold Glove outfielder who hit 39 HR and drove in 126? Oh, sorry…. that’s the 2011 version of Matt
Kemp, but that is the Kemp that everyone thinks the Dodgers traded. The
2014 version is a guy with arthritic knees who whined when moved from CF,
although he was clearly a liability at that position. In fact, his poor fielding nearly offsets his
fine hitting. I don’t see this guy
remaining healthy for a whole season – like Hanley, he will probably end his
career as a DH. Yeah, he can still hit,
and you will never replace his bat with just one player. You don’t need to replace his bat,.. what you
need to do is put together a team that collectively can produce runs… and
prevent runs.
I think too little attention is given to fielding. The Dodgers have improved themselves defensively
at four positions. Offensively, they are
improved at two positions, and may have enough parts in the OF to replace Kemp’s
production… and Rollins/Kendrick are capable of out producing Ramirez/Gordon in
the infield.
Pitching: Brandon McCarthy is an excellent signing – one of
the best starters in the 2nd half of 2014. The
bullpen is slightly improved. Could use
more pitching, (who doesn’t?)..But, I think they’ll be okay. Still haven’t given up any top
prospects.