Editorials

Five Wild Cards Who Could Determine The Dodgers season

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

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1. Joc Pederson



After a building a very strong resume at outposts throughout the Dodgers’ farm system, a lot of very smart baseball people believe Pederson will be an excellent Major League hitter.

Don Mattingly has compared his swing to Colorado’s Carlos Gonzalez on multiple occasions. Still, the Dodgers aren’t expecting anything close to the 33 home runs Pederson hit last season at Triple-A Albuquerque.

I’m guessing he’ll hit around .260 with a solid OBP — even while batting only .143 in 28 at-bats last September with the Dodgers, Pederson still walked nine times, and he drew 170 passes in 2013 and 2014. So that, plus 12-15 home runs, and a bleep-ton of strikeouts.

The Dodgers would happily take those numbers, particularly if he plays the type of defense everyone expects. But if Pederson exceeds those totals, suddenly a Dodgers lineup with less proven pop than last year’s, gets a lot stronger.

The flip side: While the Dodgers will give Pederson a long leash at the plate since it’s his glove drawing him to the lineup, there is a limit to what can be tolerated. Should Pederson scuffle at the plate to the point of becoming a genuine liability or his defense be less than advertised, now they have a problem.

Not only would it make the loss of Matt Kemp feel more acute, but having to sit, or even demote, Pederson throws the balance of the bench off. The Dodgers may have plenty of outfielders, even after moving Kemp, but they’re not flush with center fielders.

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Dodgers 2015 Spring Training: Yasmani Grandal


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5 Comments

  1. Great list! So much hinges on the success of bullpen this year — that could be a wild card story all on its own.

  2. I agree great list. I am very impressed with some of the BP guys in Spring such as Santos and Tsao. As the catchers together batted about .188 any improvement will help make up the difference between the offense of Kemp, Ramirez and speed of Gordon. I think Kendrick is a huge offensive upgrade. Especially in tight games as he is a tough grind it out line drive hitter. Rollins knows how to work counts and if you watch Pederson he tends to work counts and get on base. So I think with the huge improvement of the defense, much better BP and smarter grind it out hitters we will have a dynamic club this year. This really matters against good clubs and in the playoffs.

    1. You asked about Kemp in Petco…he actually hits great there…Has well over a .300 average there……somebody said to me, well that is against Padre pitching, which really is not that bad…and besides now he hits against all teams there…..he kills Rockies pitchers too. the only question is how will he do vs the Blue..

  3. Kinda scary when two out of five starters are considered “wild cards.” Plus the guy you trade Matt Kemp for? Hmmm…..

  4. We will see during the Season but Grandal has very poor mechanics. He does not catch low balls to his left well and his throws to second are erratic. So he can frame the pitches he can catch but that critical breaking ball in the dirt for a strike? He cannot catch or knock it down. He does hit some line drives but they seem to be at people. So far not impressed.
    Pederson looks good enough and he his very good defensively and has a better arm than I thought. Love Kendrick. McCarthy and Anderson look very solid now if they can just stay healthy….

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