Don't Forget

Coffee's a brewin'

You guys don't count!

The Dodgers forgot the game was at 12:40.

I was afraid of this. The Dodgers basically didn't do much to improve the team. Last year was magical, to expect a repeat is asking a lot. They need a spark and hopefully that spark will be when Turner comes back, and when Toles comes up from the minors. Until then, it could be ugly.

Yes it was! 

Everything went right for the Dodgers last season.  They were lucky, IMO, and blew a golden opportunity to win a chip.  To sit back and let opportunities to improve go to waste irritated me to no end, all to reset the luxury tax, which IMO will result in nothing but re-signing Kershaw.  They're not getting Machado, they're not getting Bryce Harper, so why did we pass on trying to acquire Stanton?  The Astros won the chip and still went out and vastly improved their team.  But we got Matt Kemp!  LOL.

The Dodgers will be alright, but this slow start was predictable. 

This!  I was saying all last year that Dave was doing some weird shit, and that it would eventually cost us.  It kept working for him though and I finally just gave in and thought maybe I was wrong to question him...until the World Series when all of his stupid decisions finally bit him in the ass.  I love Dave- he's a great guy and the players love to play for him...but he made boneheaded decisions all season- but none bigger than the ones in the World Series.  His use of the bullpen, his roster decisions, and his Game 7 choice to start Yu over Wood was disastrous.  

Having said all of that, the Dodgers are not this bad.  They're just off to a slow start and soon they will put it together.  But, I can't help but think that they are vastly inferior to the Astros and have no real shot of winning the world series this season, no matter how hot they get.  The Astros loaded up and we didn't.  

"Everything went right for the Dodgers last season."

mlb.mlb.com/mlb/standings/#19980928

Same thing the year before.

"To sit back and let opportunities to improve go to waste irritated me to no end, all to reset the luxury tax,"

It isn't just the luxury tax, although it's easy to spend someone else's money. There are other sanctions as well.

www.dodgersnation.com/recap-dodgers-luxury-tax-penalties-ht0696/2017/12/20/

'2017 was the 5th consecutive season that the Dodgers were over the luxury tax threshold. Having paid close to $150 million in penalties over the past five seasons, it’s understandable why they put focus in getting under it. Even if they only get under it for one season, it will have huge benefits. Teams are penalized higher percentages for being over the luxury tax consecutive years. The penalty is 20% in year one, 30% in year two, and 50% for every year beyond. So if the Dodgers are under the luxury tax for 2018, but go over again in 2019 they will only need to pay a 20% penalty.'

'Eric Stephen of TrueBlueLA noted that there are now new tiers of penalties depending on how far over the threshold a team is.

With the new collective bargaining agreement, there are now extra tiers of penalties for exceeding the luxury tax, more punitive as the payroll increases.

For teams $20 million over the threshold, there is an extra 12% surcharge
For teams $40 million over the threshold, there is an extra 45% surcharge (42.5% for first-time offenders)

That means that for the Dodgers in 2018, any payroll above $237 million will be taxed at a 95% rate, so each marginal dollar added is nearly doubled.'

www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-hot-stove-shohei-otanis-extremely-complicated-free-agency-process-explained/

'Beginning in the 2017-18 offseason, any team that is over the luxury tax threshold and signs a Major League free agent that has rejected a qualifying offer will lose $1 million from their international signing pool in the following signing period. A team that is not over the luxury tax would only forfeit $500,000 of its signing pool in the subsequent period.'

www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2016/11/30/breaking-down-mlbs-new-2017-21-collective-bargaining-agreement/#240e9d3111b9

'Luxury Tax offenders and the draft: Beginning in 2018, clubs with a payroll $40 million or more above the Tax Threshold shall have their highest selection in the next Rule 4 Draft moved back 10 places, except that the top six selections will be protected and those Clubs will have their 2nd highest selection moved back 10 places.'

"which IMO will result in nothing but re-signing Kershaw."

That's not nothing.

"so why did we pass on trying to acquire Stanton?"

The Yankees have a lower team payroll than us.

"The Astros won the chip and still went out and vastly improved their team."

They're 27 million dollars behind us.

"But we got Matt Kemp! LOL."

And jettisoned Gonzalez, Kazmir & McCarthy. If we had been able to dump Matt, we would probably have Stanton in left.

"The Dodgers will be alright, but this slow start was predictable."

They've had them before. Just last year, for instance.