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Post by indobilly on Apr 27, 2018 3:02:34 GMT
According to: www.espn.com/mlb/team/salaries/_/name/lad/los-angeles-dodgers, that's Clayton's 2018 salary. I know, I know, different sites show different numbers, and exact contract details are hard to nail down for us fans. I just felt it was time to start a separate thread about Kershaw's early struggles. Yeah, yeah, no run support; but most recently, no help from the mound, either. No Dodger fan wants to see Clayton struggle, but he's the hyper-expensive "point of the spear" for our team. Right now, that point is looking blunt after his two previous games. Washington, against Sherzer on April 20; I expected Clayton to be really "up" for that match-up against a very potent rival. He wasn't. It wasn't a terrible start, but not what we expect from the "point of our spear". Miami! Ouch! One of the worst starts of his career! Is he injured? I seriously doubt that Clayton is is "growing fat" on his reputation, press, & salary. He is an avid competitor. He hates losing; but at "felony money", has he lost some of that hunger? He certainly wouldn't be the first. Before this season, Clayton has averaged 29 starts a season (not including post season). His highest has been 33 starts (4 times). Most of us would be very happy This is his age 30 season. He turned 30 last month. I don't believe the "age" argument, for his poor start. It's not like he has "100,000 miles" on his arm like Sandy Koufax did at that age. I really don't believe that Clayton is not giving his best effort. It could be a minor mechanical adjustment, a glitch, a slump. I sincerely hope that's what it is. The only other reasonable explanation is a health issue... something that he's hiding, and trying to compensate for. Plain and simple, his pitches are not going where, or how, he wants them to go. For the team's sake, Clayton's sake, and us loyal fans' sake; I hope this thread dies quickly. |
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Post by azulblues on Apr 27, 2018 5:42:21 GMT
I posted this on the other thread. I don't think it's much of a "struggle". Time will tell.
Kershaw's ERA is 2.84 with a WHIP of 1.132 after 6 starts. Hardly horrible.
In 2014 after 6 starts his ERA was 3.57 with a WHIP of 1.217, both worse than this year's start.
He went on to win the Cy Young that year.
In 2011, after his first six starts his ERA was 3.52 and WHIP was 1.252.
He won the Cy Young.
Yes, some years he started great and after six starts had lower ERA and WHIP.
But the point is that these first six starts don't necessarily mean anything. He has started the season worse and still gone on to win the Cy Young twice.
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Post by boron on Apr 27, 2018 13:36:07 GMT
Even the great Clayton Kershaw will have lousy starts. Of course, there is a chance that there is something systemic happening - health issues or age is starting to take its toll. But there is no reason to jump to that conclusion. I am concerned about the decreasing velocity, but I also think Kershaw is very capable of dominating with a 90-91 MPH fastball.
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Post by Blunashun on Apr 27, 2018 16:08:24 GMT
Even the great Clayton Kershaw will have lousy starts. Of course, there is a chance that there is something systemic happening - health issues or age is starting to take its toll. But there is no reason to jump to that conclusion. I am concerned about the decreasing velocity, but I also think Kershaw is very capable of dominating with a 90-91 MPH fastball. He's been throwing closer to 93 mph. |
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Post by Blunashun on Apr 27, 2018 16:09:39 GMT
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Post by Blunashun on Apr 27, 2018 16:12:09 GMT
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jrgreene6
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Post by jrgreene6 on Apr 27, 2018 16:37:49 GMT
I’d rather see him struggle now in these early games than come October when the title is on the line.
As I said in another thread, as much as we expect to see him dominate every time he takes the mound, he is not a robot and will continue to throw a stinker more than a few times each year until he decides to hang up the glove and cleats.
The one thing I do think most of us know about Kersh is that he hates losing and it absolutely pisses him off when he knows he is directly responsible for losses like the one two days ago to the little fishies.
GO DODGERS!!!
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Post by Blunashun on Apr 27, 2018 17:21:32 GMT
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zevo
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Post by zevo on Apr 28, 2018 15:56:33 GMT
I’d rather see him struggle now in these early games than come October when the title is on the line. As I said in another thread, as much as we expect to see him dominate every time he takes the mound, he is not a robot and will continue to throw a stinker more than a few times each year until he decides to hang up the glove and cleats. The one thing I do think most of us know about Kersh is that he hates losing and it absolutely pisses him off when he knows he is directly responsible for losses like the one two days ago to the little fishies. GO DODGERS!!! Are you predicting that Kershaw will be traded to a team that will be playing games in October?  |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 28, 2018 16:55:12 GMT
I’d rather see him struggle now in these early games than come October when the title is on the line. As I said in another thread, as much as we expect to see him dominate every time he takes the mound, he is not a robot and will continue to throw a stinker more than a few times each year until he decides to hang up the glove and cleats. The one thing I do think most of us know about Kersh is that he hates losing and it absolutely pisses him off when he knows he is directly responsible for losses like the one two days ago to the little fishies. GO DODGERS!!! Are you predicting that Kershaw will be traded to a team that will be playing games in October? :) Don't see where you came up with that unless you believe we won't make the postseason. We're struggling now, but we're missing two starters (maybe 3 with Matt), many have had slow starts hitting and pitching, but we're not that far back and JT and Buehler will definitely help in numerous ways. Logan too. It's early. |
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Post by 88bulldog on Apr 29, 2018 1:52:42 GMT
We're struggling now, but we're missing two starters (maybe 3 with Matt), many have had slow starts hitting and pitching, but we're not that far back and JT and Buehler will definitely help in numerous ways. Logan too. It's early.
________
And this has happened before, with slow starts in April..
We are fine right now.
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Post by indobilly on Apr 29, 2018 7:30:37 GMT
We're struggling now, but we're missing two starters (maybe 3 with Matt), many have had slow starts hitting and pitching, but we're not that far back and JT and Buehler will definitely help in numerous ways. Logan too. It's early. ________ And this has happened before, with slow starts in April.. We are fine right now. As we approach the end of April, I see that our offense is finally wakening up a bit. Our defense is getting a bit better lately. Our starting rotation is finally settling in to provide five or six good innings... but our bullpen REEKS. That has to have an effect on our starters. In our second game last night, against Queto, Woods was lights out awesome, until he wasn't. When he was stumbling, Doc had to hold back on relieving him, because out pen is terrible. Kershaw, Ryu, Woods, Beuler, Maeda, Hill... no matter how well any of them pitch for the first five or six innings, like tonight, when the relievers come in, it just doesn't matter. |
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Post by speedcity on Apr 29, 2018 14:57:01 GMT
We're struggling now, but we're missing two starters (maybe 3 with Matt), many have had slow starts hitting and pitching, but we're not that far back and JT and Buehler will definitely help in numerous ways. Logan too. It's early. ________ And this has happened before, with slow starts in April.. We are fine right now. As we approach the end of April, I see that our offense is finally wakening up a bit. Our defense is getting a bit better lately. Our starting rotation is finally settling in to provide five or six good innings... but our bullpen REEKS. That has to have an effect on our starters. In our second game last night, against Queto, Woods was lights out awesome, until he wasn't. When he was stumbling, Doc had to hold back on relieving him, because out pen is terrible. Kershaw, Ryu, Woods, Beuler, Maeda, Hill... no matter how well any of them pitch for the first five or six innings, like tonight, when the relievers come in, it just doesn't matter. Then over half of the bullpens in MLB reek, since the Dodgers are tied for 11th in bullpen ERA. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2018 15:54:27 GMT
I'd like to see Buehler added to the SP rotation and preferably Maeda, though would settle for Alex Wood, moved to BP, unless the BP shows something soon, doubtful imo. I don't think Baez will turn it around, looks like he's going down the drain. Package Baez and OF for pitching. Alexander ineffective to minors, Cingrani effective but seemed overused this week due to Alexander and Baez. Libby's good but wasn't he overused when he set that Dodger BP record, I think they're trying to prevent that this year. We need BP help, sitting 11th or not.
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zevo
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Post by zevo on Apr 29, 2018 16:37:35 GMT
We're struggling now, but we're missing two starters (maybe 3 with Matt), many have had slow starts hitting and pitching, but we're not that far back and JT and Buehler will definitely help in numerous ways. Logan too. It's early. ________ And this has happened before, with slow starts in April.. We are fine right now. As we approach the end of April, I see that our offense is finally wakening up a bit. Our defense is getting a bit better lately. Our starting rotation is finally settling in to provide five or six good innings... but our bullpen REEKS. That has to have an effect on our starters. In our second game last night, against Queto, Woods was lights out awesome, until he wasn't. When he was stumbling, Doc had to hold back on relieving him, because out pen is terrible. Kershaw, Ryu, Woods, Beuler, Maeda, Hill... no matter how well any of them pitch for the first five or six innings, like tonight, when the relievers come in, it just doesn't matter. I agree that it is too early to panic or consider the season a bust, but I think it is very wrong to assume things will simply get better. This team had way more risk of regression over 2017 than improvement. Especially with regard to pitching. And we are seeing that so far. With starters that struggle to go six innings the bullpen has got to be much better for this team to win. The FO has done a nice job of running out re-treads and shuttling guys back and forth from the minors to make the pen work in previous years, but there is no reason to be optimistic that we'll see that strategy work again this year. Especially true if Kenley doesn't get back to being Kenley. |
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