Dodgers: As The Ball Dropped, Walker Buehler Tweets Important Message
You may have missed it as you were sipping champagne or the confetti was falling upon your head. Wherever he was, and whatever he was doing; Dodgers ace-in-the-making Walker Buehler had but one thought as 2019 rang itself in.
Buehler quickly tweeted just a few minutes after midnight on the east coast. Equally important: his message was a simple one. It couldn’t even be construed as cryptic. No, Buehler was thinking about his team, the Los Angeles Dodgers. Moreover, in a tweet that has since been deleted, he says that 2019 will be ‘Dodgers year’. Here’s a screenshot to prove it.
Walker Buehler did more than simply ‘wow’ us in 2018. There were nights it felt like he couldn’t be touched. The 23-year old changed the shape of Dodgers baseball as we know it. He felt like a stopper – when he took the bump and the ball you knew what you were getting every time out. Los Angeles had a legitimate second ace during their postseason run back to a second consecutive World Series appearance.
And now – something in Buehler’s intuition is telling him that 2019 will be the Dodgers year. Enough that he tweeted it out at whatever exciting times a 23-year old should be having on a night like New Year’s Eve.
This kid is special, more than just his stats page will tell you. In his make-up is the desire to win. Few players around baseball tweeted much on Monday night. Buehler was compelled, and time will tell if he’s correct in his short assessment.
However, if Buehler believes; maybe that should be good enough for some of us. Perhaps 2019 will be the year the Dodgers finally end the drought and bring a championship back to Tinseltown.
Dodgers will have best team again hopefully Roberts stops messing up.Kershaw Buhler and Julio will make 3 aces forget about kluber and Harper who’s way overrated Joc will put up same numbers or better if dumb Roberts stops platooning him. Alex Verdugo in center Joc in left Taylor in right Cody at 1st Munch at 2nd Seaver in short Turner at 3rd Barnes catching with Hernandez filling in at all positions except catcher and bring up a catcher from minor leagues to back up for 15 to 18 games.We don’t need to spend or give away more talent for a catcher.Get 1 more good reliever and save the money for when you need it like when all the youngsters will ask for more money keep this team together.Ryou Kent’s and Hill to form a 6 men pitching rotation that will benefit all starters.but with Roberts and Friedman making dumb moves nothing is a sure thing.Dodgers managed by 2 stooges
I agree with you on some points, the most important being the Dodgers as structured will win the NL West and have plenty of cap money to make a change or addition during the season to address an injury or apparent need.
I am not a Roberts fan but I am a fan of Friedman and Kasten. Look at this team going forward. IN 2020 we should have a very cost controlled and probably top 3 starting rotations in baseball. Plus may have an infield of Bellinger, Lux/Muncy, Seager, Turner and Barnes and Smith with Kike and Taylor there to fill the gaps.
An outfield of Verdugo, Toles, Pedersen with Kike, Taylor and a subing Bellinger is a very young and talented team.
My question going forward is do the Dodgers break from their no large contract ways in 2020 and go after Arenado? He is a local guy and a monster. But I do doubt it although it depends on the success and weaknesses shown in 2019. Plus Arenado bats right and is a perpetual Gold Glover. He is the only mega position player that makes sense to break their ways and sign going forward.
But there are guys like Ruiz and Peters coming up that look to have huge potential. And maybe Kendall figures out his swing and becomes the monster everyone has predicted. He has changed his stance significantly in the Minors and if can every figure it out could be a potential 5 tool All Star. But lots of guys have failed at not being able to figure out how to consistently hit a baseball.
A big impact RHB is a MUST here, otherwise look for the Dodgers to have every LHP alive being thrown at them at every opportunity. I am also not in favor of any all LH hitting OF either.
We could be seeing every left handed pitcher teams have. Teams could even bring up triple A prospects for a series against us by manipulating the Injured list (kind of like we do).
It is a serious issue that was obvious particularly in the post season.
Many have an expectation that the NL West is already wrapped up. We needed an extra game to win last year. Colorado has added more power at second base with Daniel Murphy. We have yet to add any position player to make up for giving away Puig and Kemp, and not being able to sign Grandal.
For all of those three players weaknesses, their offensive production was significant.
Together they combined for 69 Doubles, 68 Home Runs, and 216 Runs Batted In. That production will not be equaled by throwing Verdugo, Toles, and Barnes out there.
Colorado is hungry and a stronger team with their additions. Without significant position player improvement, we will be in trouble getting by Colorado…. not to mention all of this talk about what we are going to do when we get to the World Series. We were very fortunate to win the division and get by the Brewers in seven games.
The platoons are not just Roberts decision
Happy new Year Clint. correct, as the FO ‘intervenes’ a bit too much IMHO. Again, if Dodgers had players who were not so marginal, meaning good at only one hand of a pitcher, platooning in the excessive way they did would be a mute point.
Happy new year Paul! Thanks for spending the first day of your 2019 with us for a little bit. We appreciate you
Thank you and basically this is now where I do most of my posting and hey, I am just trying to begin 2019 in the proper manner. Let us all hope the Dodger FO conducts themselves in a proper manner for duration of this off season, as you and all of us know work MUST be done as far as player acquisitions go in filling those holes on the roster.
And a resolution for less platoons
seems the FO is very involved in each pre game strategy and who to play when. Would be nice if they gave the manager more leeway to go with his feel in game for a hot player to play rather than the past statistical (emphasize past) analytical cyber metric.
Okay what are you saying? The fact that you are even considering comparing Joc Pederson to Bryce Harper is ridiculous. Don’t get me wrong, I like Pederson, but was he the first overall draft pick? No. Has he won MVP? No. Has he ever rivaled Mike Trout for best player in the game? NO! I agree with team management when they say one of our biggest priorities is right-handed hitting. Other than Turner and maybe Hernandez, all of our good hitter are lefties. Adding Verdugo (a lefty) and Toles (a lefty) to our outfield isn’t smart. That said, I don’t think there’s any argument that Harper would make the Dodgers a better team, I just don’t know if he’s worth the money. If it were up to me (and thank goodness it isn’t) I would probably pursue a power righty bat like Nicholas Castellanos and would try to include Pederson in the deal.
Just bring more coaching staff to help Dave Robert’s coach the team, he clearly needs help. This a team ready for any stage and has been for the past 3+ years! Easy first choice is Mike Scioscia to help our young catching prospects and up to game making decisions/ adjustments. His American league game approach / Experience and him playing National league would be a tremendous advantage period…
First of all, I disagree greatly with the argument that Joc Pederson could be as good as Harper. Pederson wasn’t drafted #1 overall, he has never won MVP, and he never rivaled Mike Trout as the best player in the game. I actually really agree with Robert’s strategy of platooning with the group of guys he has, but I think the Dodgers would be better off finding someone who is good enough to be an everyday player. I don’t think anyone would argue that adding Harper would make the Dodgers a better team, but is he worth the money? I think a better route for the Dodgers would be adding an impact right handed bat who could be an everyday player, but for a cheaper price than Harper. Someone like Nicholas Castellanos would fit into the lineup really well, especially if Pederson or Verdugo is traded this offseason (cough Kluber cough). In my opinion, the addition of a right handed bat to hit lefty pitchers needs to be a priority for Los Angeles. As of right now, Turner and Hernandez are our only decent right handed hitters. I don’t hate Barnes, but he isn’t a game-changing bat by any means. Pollock could fit well too, but signing a free agent outfielder wouldn’t solve the problem the Dodgers already have, which is an over-crowded outfield. They already have Bellinger, Pederson, Hernandez, Verdugo, Toles and possibly Chris Taylor. Maybe adding DJ LeMahieu would be a good solution.
The only thing the dodgers need to change is get a clutch ab or a clutch relief appearance in the world series and we could be back to back ws champs. Belly and Turner disappeared both years, and play tolsey more.
Happy New Year to you all. Dodgers can do it but have to make some changes throughout the year. The team, the coaches, manager and upper management have to get their act together. dodger Fans want winners and a World Series trophy. Make the right calls as a team, upper management stay out of coaching. Don’t play someone just because he’s getting paid more than someone else, play the one that’s doing the job. If a pitcher is doing a good job don’t pull him because of a batter that bats from the opposite side. Let’s see if he can save the bullpen more time.
Good luck, I do hope this is the year, I don’t have much time to go.