NEWS/RUMORS/AROUND MLB Thread

I thought it was 5 my bad then no thanks! If I'm opposing signing Greinke for that same length then I should for him.

 

Lee is easy to forgot.

 

Lee it is

• Dodgers righty Brandon McCarthy threw a bullpen for team officials yesterday, tweets MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick. The throwing session was the latest step in McCarthy’s recovery after having Tommy John surgery early last season.
• Another injured Dodgers starter, Hyun-jin Ryu, threw a 30-pitch bullpen today and could soon begin facing live hitters, ESPN’s Doug Padilla writes. Ryu, who is recovering after having labrum surgery last year, had his throwing program delayed after he suffered a groin strain earlier this month. It’s still unclear when he’ll return, Padilla notes.
• The Dodgers have also announced that they’ve reinstated outfielder Carl Crawford, who had been on the DL for the past two weeks with a back injury. To clear space on their active roster, they optioned righty Zach Lee to Triple-A Oklahoma City.

 

That Arenado/Trayce thing you were talking about a while back, CKWG



DENVER -- Receiving tough love can be one thing. Actually asking for it is quite another.

Call Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Trayce Thompson a glutton for punishment, but when he asked his closest friend to give him the most raw and honest truth about his game, most notably his swing, it was only because he wanted to be able to bring out the best in himself.

That his friend just happens to be one of baseball’s brightest young stars shows the actual method to Thompson’s madness.

“I’ve known Trayce for a long time, and ever since we got drafted we’ve hit together every offseason,” Colorado Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenadosaid. “He’s one of my best friends and he’s like a brother, basically. He tells me things honestly -- I tell him things and sometimes we argue a lot, but we’re honest with each other. He’s my boy.”

What can’t be argued is the genius in Thompson’s decision to let Arenado break him down to the core. The Rockies’ star third baseman has only three full MLB seasons under his belt, but he already has won two Gold Glove Awards and finished eighth in National League MVP voting last season when he hit 42 home runs with 130 RBIs.

The two have been connected at the hip since first playing baseball with each other at age 13, not long after the Thompson family moved from Oregon to Orange County, California. They ended up at different high schools -- Thompson at Santa Margarita, Arenado at El Toro -- but played together often on travel and scout teams.

“I’m very thankful for all he has done for me,” Thompson said. “He’s the closest thing I have to a third brother, so me and him, we talk and see each other every single day [in the winter]. It’s amazing to see everything he has done, but I’m not surprised in the least. Colorado has a superstar to build around.”

One of those actual brothers by blood, of course, is NBA sharpshooter Klay Thompson of the champion Golden State Warriors. That means two of the people closest to Trayce Thompson are All-Stars in their respective sports.

“[Arenado] and Klay probably remind me the most of each other,” Trayce Thompson said. “If I could find anyone who is like Klay, it’s probably Nolan. It’s definitely validating to me, and they let me know that I can do the exact same things. It’s definitely very exciting.”

Trayce Thompson’s rise to superstardom remains a work in progress. Although Dodgers manager Dave Roberts seems to be a huge Thompson supporter, the 25-year-old’s place on the Opening Day roster was probably because of the broken leg Andre Ethier suffered during spring training.

Whether or not Thompson reaches the heights that Arenado has, or that his brother has reached in basketball, can be debated. Some might say that a .241 minor league hitter with a strikeout-prone swing doesn’t exactly project as an annual All-Star.

But what Thompson has going for him, and part of what Roberts no doubt sees in his outfielder, is that anything less than a tireless work ethic is unacceptable.

San Francisco Giants system, and his older brother had no problem giving the younger brother the truth, no matter how brutal it might have sounded. Thompson wanted some of that, too.

“I told Nolan, ‘Look, I know you view me as a peer because we have been doing this together since we were 13, 14 years old, but if you think something is wrong with me, I want you to get on me like that,’” Thompson said.

So Arenado let him have it, in addition to giving his buddy strict instructions to pester veterans such as Adrian Gonzalez, Chase Utley and Howie Kendrick for tips, too.

“That’s a sign of a player that wants to be good,” Arenado said. “He’s young in this game, but he’s gotten better and he’s still getting better. We’re both young, but we both want to learn and we both want to grow. He says he does talk to those guys. That’s the way to get better. You learn from guys who have done this before and he wants to grow and get better. It’s a great sign.”

As Arenado was in the midst of his monster season last year, Thompson got his first call to the major leagues. Arenado was one of the first to find out because he was one of Thompson’s first calls when he received the news.

“I was more than happy for him,” Arenado said. “I always keep up with his game. I still keep up with his game as much as I can. I can’t be a fan of the Dodgers, but I try to watch his at-bats, tell him what I see and he’ll tell me what he sees.

“It’s nice to have someone there to watch you other than your parents, because sometimes when you hear from your parents it’s like, ‘Ah, yeah, whatever. That’s just my mom and dad.’ But to hear it from your boy that tried to help you out, it’s good.”

That’s not to say it isn’t nice to have your parents put eyes on you whenever possible. The first major league series pitting Thompson and Arenado against each other this weekend is being attended by the mother of each player. They are sitting together at each game and rooting for both boys as if they are their own.

It really is family.

“I hang out with this guy all the time,” Arenado said. “We hung out [as soon as the Dodgers arrived in Colorado]. We talk after every game. We’re like brothers. We argue, we literally fight, we’ve wrestled, messing around and stuff, but it’s nice to have him around.”


Thompson still knows that no matter how much instruction and advice he gets from his buddy, he still has to perform on the field. The start to the season has been a bit up-and-down for Thompson, but he is doing his best to take advantage of his opportunity.

“Even if you’re penciled in every day, you’re still going to have to go out there and prove yourself,” Thompson said. “I’m just looking for the opportunity to do that. I just want to go out there and play and prove myself. For me, it doesn’t change if I get a couple of opportunities or a bunch of opportunities. I still have to go out there and play and perform.”

Apparently somebody has received some sound advice.

 

There really should not be a timetable. You are putting unnecessary pressure on a player to get back potentially sooner than he may be ready for. I think I did my first bullpen at about 10-11 months, so this seems about right for him. So without setbacks, McCarthy probably has about another 2-3 months. Ryu should be sooner as he is already throwing with the full assortment of pitches. If he is bumped up to 50-60 pitches on Friday and has no set back, he should be ready to face live competition, if not that then maybe one more 75 pitch bullpen session.

 

So the Giants are absolutely pounding the Padres in the 5th, 13-4. Everyone on the team crushing the ball...everyone hitting- sort of the opposite of the Dodgers.
I guess the "expert" scumbags were right the other day.

 

What do you mean? Of course the Giants are good. If experts picked them to win the division, that's fine. Cueto is a proven elite NL pitcher. Alphabet soup is a pretty good fit with that ballpark and defense behind him. They have an amazing homegrown infield and explosive offense.

The only issue I took with the experts is that the Dodgers are a third place team. They aren't.

This division will probably come down to the final weekend of the season.

We're the ones in first place btw. It's horrible that we lost the last 2 games and will probably lose tonight. But the Giants have lost more games than we have. We will demolish the Padres this weekend too.

I'm as frustrated as anyone. I can't stand Anderson, Wood, Kazmir, Mccarthy (especially considering his contract), etc. The oft injured, inconsistent, 'almost good' starting pitchers. I don't like the bullpen held together by glue and more 'almost good' pitchers. I really hate it. But in spite of it all we are still a good team and have the resources to improve.

162 games, guys. You already know.

 

Giants just lost like 5 games in a row.
That's it.
That's all I have.

 

Should only count as half of a win.

 

What are you guys talking about? The Padres are going to win their division in 2015.

 

So long as Ryu's back with a chance to warm up and get in rhythm before the post season it's all good.
July/August whatever.

 

Behind Kemps RBIz

 

Kemp, Upton, Meyers... that outfield is STACKED!

 

Assuming we make the playoffs. But I get you, if we can make the playoffs without him it's almost better to have him fresh for the playoffs.