This story was excerpted from Sonja Chen’s Dodgers Beat e-newsletter. To learn the total e-newsletter, click on right here. And subscribe to get it frequently in your inbox.
With greater than a 3rd of the common season within the books, it looks like a great time for a Dodgers mailbag.
Because of everybody who submitted questions — which have been calmly edited for readability — by means of the hyperlink within the earlier e-newsletter. Let’s get into it.
Are the Dodgers gonna transfer Mookie Betts again to the outfield within the postseason and put Tommy Edman again because the shortstop? As Mookie’s glove within the outfield is extra precious, and there’s no room for errors within the postseason. — Xiang L. from Toronto
Supervisor Dave Roberts just about put that concept to mattress a few week in the past in New York.
“I do not see us making a change whilst we did final 12 months. I do not see that taking place,” Roberts stated. “He is a Main League shortstop on a championship membership.”
Betts has truly graded out fairly effectively defensively, however to strategy this from one other aspect, I’ve additionally seen some concern about his transfer to shortstop doubtlessly affecting his offensive manufacturing. Betts truly addressed this on Sunday, noting how he had no downside producing as a shortstop final 12 months (.907 OPS, in contrast with .840 with no consideration fielder).
That stated, if there is a state of affairs the place a short lived shift to proper discipline for Betts would objectively be the very best transfer for the crew from a lineup building standpoint, possibly there’s an off likelihood it occurs. However I do not see that as being probably.
How way more “runway” does Michael Conforto legitimately have? We might have stored Chris Taylor to have a .160-hitting left fielder. I do know Doc has stated that Dalton Speeding will not be seeing time in left, however is not it a viable possibility at this level to get a greater bat within the lineup? — Adam W. from Stockton, Calif.
It has been a really sluggish course of, however Conforto has truly been turning issues round recently. Coming into Monday, he was hitting .260 with an .817 OPS in 16 video games relationship again to Might 10.
The Dodgers had been hopeful {that a} change of surroundings plus the chance to work with the crew’s participant improvement employees might assist Conforto get near his kind from, say, a few of his greatest years with the Mets. However fairly frankly, on this membership, he would not should be enjoying at that stage. If Conforto can sustain what he has been doing recently, he’ll find yourself being fairly precious.
As for Speeding, the Dodgers have been adamant about him specializing in his work with the pitching employees and growing as a catcher. I believe it is extra probably that he sees occasional time at first base when the crew is ready to get Freddie Freeman off his ft early, reasonably than getting any appears in left discipline.
What’s the common timeline for the starters (Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell, Shohei Ohtani and Roki Sasaki) on the injured checklist to come back again? — Chris Ok. from Nashville, Tenn.
Broadly talking, I would not anticipate to see any of them begin a sport for the Dodgers till across the All-Star break, and possibly not till after.
Ohtani is a case of his personal, and he has been ramping up his progress recently. It has been troublesome to plot out the trajectory of his buildup as a result of it has been an untraditional course of, however it needs to be considerably extra easy now that he is dealing with hitters. Ohtani final threw two innings on 29 pitches, and he’ll most likely get within the neighborhood of six and 90 earlier than he is able to return as a pitcher.
It has been sluggish going for Snell, Sasaki and Glasnow, who’s in considerably of a holding sample. As common supervisor Brandon Gomes just lately stated, the Dodgers are taking their time with their injured pitchers now within the hope that the crew can have them at their greatest within the postseason.
“It’s simply being aware and methodical concerning the foundational part and the buildup in order that once they come again,” Gomes stated, “the thought is … they’re operating by means of what we hope is a deep October run.”
What are the Dodgers doing to determine why so many pitchers are on the IL? Is it their throwing regime, lack of flexibility, weight coaching, what? — Karen S. from Salt Lake Metropolis, Utah
The Dodgers did a deep dive into their pitcher accidents within the offseason. They have not shared many particular findings, however they’re inspecting how private historical past and utilization can impression the danger of damage. I truly wrote about this just lately, and you’ll learn extra right here.
