The Los Angeles Dodgers Took 3 of 4 But It Wasn't Without Some Lineup and Bullpen Issues

The Dodgers ended up taking three of four from the Cardinals over Opening Weekend. The starting pitching was good but not what was talked about as much. There was some lineup issues and bullpen issues. For the lineup, is the bottom of the order going to be ok? For the bullpen, is it a matter of needing more talent or just needing more healthy? We answer those questions and more, and also talk about Walker Buehler's rehab start and the decision to bring up Nabil Crismatt.
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[@mikio6444]

Ohtani’s timing is off. He seems to struggle every season early on and then takes off in May. Once you see Ohtani hitting line drives to center and left field you can expect homeruns to follow.

[@senatorlainez]

Shohei's struggles are other players' good seasons. Really, never seen a player like him since Mannywood.

[@joseayalaayala2730]

Lol😅😅😅 Concerns??? I think Ohtani will be fine , i would be more worried about Outman..

[@garypenrod5585]

It's gonna take some time for everyone to gel and play like a team. Already looking better earlier than I thought

[@craigosterberg5045]

I like Hudson because he’s another option for close besides Phillips. Muncy is making better contact so far.

[@omariparker3769]

No concerns yet. They’ve looked great in their wins and the never-quit from this squad has them looking even scarier in their losses.

[@DemonShade21]

the bottom of the batting lineup for any roster doesn't do much anyway so even if outman and heyward keep playing like that there isn't much they can do besides bring up andy pages. the relief pitching so far hasn't been good but it doesn't really matter because it's way too early.

[@f430ferrari5]

I don’t think it’s too early based on the circumstances. Mookie is on fire. The top 3 is hitting well but only when nobody is on base. Last year, the Dodgers lost Justin Turner and Bellinger from the year before and decided to go with Outman and Vargas to start the year in 2023. That’s a sign of it’s early. Roberts for 2024 has decided to stick with an established veteran team. Pages would bring in youth and potential speed. The Dodgers are yet again lacking speed unless Taylor and Lux get more opportunities. Instead for Lux, he’s finding himself with men in scoring position and he makes contact but can’t drive them in. Line outs or fly outs. Let Lux bat first. Opposing pitchers have a lot of pressure to get him out. 1. Lux 2B 2. Betts SS 3. Freeman 1B 4. Teoscar RF 5. Ohtani DH 6. Smith C 7. Muncy 3B 8. Kike CF 9. Taylor LF Above is for lefty pitchers. Similar against right with a few switches and rearrange the line up. The days of Betts batting first has to stop. Lead off home runs don’t win games. It’s just 1 run.

[@DemonShade21]

@@f430ferrari5 bellinger didn't play well until he went to chicago he was striking out non-stop with the dodgers. an justin wasn't much better he had no power either. dodgers have always lacked fast players outside of bellinger and trea turner. ohtani though has the speed when he gets on base the same as lux his problem so far is he isn't hitting that well. dodgers won 111 games an lost to the padres a few years ago as long as the starting pitching is decent which is wasn't last year they should be able to go further in the playoffs even with somewhat inconsistent offense they are putting up enough runs to win every game.

[@goatyachty1762]

Does anyone else notice that they're pitching ohtani outside low and away. It's working most of the time. I think ohtani is pressing hard and not use to playing on a winning team and being able to rely on his whole team to hit. Ohtani isn't playing bad, cause he's getting his hits but he's just striking out a bit and pressing

[@LockedOnDodgers]

The comments where we specifically said five of his six hits have been for extra bases and it's a decent tradeoff for the nearly 50% strikeout rate? As we said on the show, the concern is that the ISO might not stay at .458 so he'll probably need to start making better contact to continue contributing well as the batted ball luck evens out.

[@mikem3789]

Should have been a sweep. What Manager allows a reliever to give up 5 runs before yanking him? Unbelievable.

[@Quintessence.]

Tempest in a teapot. Much ado about nothing. Making a mountain out of a molehill. We get it. Talking points. Need fodder for conversation. The LA Dodgers will be just fine. They will win the division, once again. But this season, they will achieve far greater victories. They will win those elusive 11 postseason games, and be crowned World Series Champs 2024.

[@tocadadj2951]

Delusional. They are doing the same things from previous years. Yes theyll win the division but once again will get bounced in the playoffs. Their demise is lack of preparation to detail and not incorporating small ball

[@jafco9]

Roberts should know who Joe Kelly is by now. He either comes in strong or comes in out of control. I can't remember a time when he was able to pitch out of a jam after coming in wild.

[@wokeupmens]

Gotta give em a month till you can say anything.❤

[@chrisweidner4768]

My Cardinals still look like a disaster. You tried to give us the game, but nooo. Add the humiliatiom of the first 3 batters striking out in back to back games. Ugliness. Good luck to you going forward.

[@Truebaconluver]

That Seoul series puked everything up

[@davideneim5068]

Hey guys. Your talk about Vesia today.. to add why do you think we traded TJ McFarland for just cash? Pitched a real good spring for lefty's... doesn't it make more sense for a Vesia swap? I get he's down to 1 option but for lefty depth. Especially when we traded Ferg and Gonzales.

[@LockedOnDodgers]

I don't know all the details, but they definitely look at a lot more than raw spring numbers, and apparently whatever they saw in McFarland wasn't enough to assuage the concerns over the 6.55 ERA the past two seasons. When he was that bad in the big leagues most recently, there's probably a higher bar of what they need to see to reassure them.

[@davideneim5068]

@@LockedOnDodgers thanks for clarifying those bad numbers and possible reasoning. Appreciate the convo. Let's hope we get another lefty option that can contribute

[@LockedOnDodgers]

Like we said on the show, getting Graterol and Treinen back and getting Brasier all the way on track would be just as good as getting a lefty or two, because all three of them dominate lefties when they're going well.

[@dominiccounts4023]

Who would have bet on Teoscar Hernandez having more home runs than Ohtani, Freeman, Muncy, and Smith combined?

[@BSVernage]

ct3 got traded at the deadline in 2017.. not 9 years

[@captfido100]

He played 34 games with L.A. in 2016 so this is his 9th season

[@LockedOnDodgers]

It was 2016, so this is his ninth season with the team.

[@23skidoo46]

you all need to stop complaining about Teo. We all knew what we were getting with him. Instead maybe complain about Shohei swing outta his shoes every at bat. He needs to take a step back and just make contact instead of trying to hit the cover off the baseball.

[@sweatyraider7241]

Someone donate some launch angle to ohtani!

[@harleyanderson3897]

Hello guys

[@f430ferrari5]

The issue is the batting order. The top 3 go 7-14 and lose 6-5 😂. Are we paying the top guys to get on base and expect the others to drive in the runs? What if the top 3 go 1-14 in post season. We get swept yet again? I’ve been saying this all pre-season. Use the Dback formula. Get men on base who can steal bases. Put Gavin Lux at the top of the line up. It’s his job to get on base and steal bases. This whole starting a rally at the 9th spot is dumb because it takes 3-4 innings to even finally score. Same Dodger habits kicking in. Scoreless through 5 at times then expect to win it in late inning. It works against the crummy teams. Separate Freeman and Ohtani in the batting order. The concept is as follows. The opposing pitcher is pressured to get leadoff Lux out. If he doesn’t… If Teoscar or Smith is between Freddie and Ohtani then they will see better pitches themselves and same for Freeman and Ohtani. At this point, Muncy could be the 700 million or 350 million guy and just DH. Let it sink in. Move Ohtani to the 5th position. He will probably have the most opportunities with men in scoring position. Teams will always use situational pitching and bring in a lefty to face Freeman and Ohtani.

[@mikio6444]

No

[@omariparker3769]

The game they lost 6-5 realize that only Joe Kelly gave up an earned run. That game was easily winnable and with the current lineup construction, they had Ohtani at the plate with bases loaded and the game on the line in the 10th. The Dodgers could very easily be 6-0 right now. Even when they went down 5-0 and 9-2 last week to SD, it felt like the lineup was gonna get back in the game. I agree that there’s too much swing-and-miss at the bottom of the lineup but separating the “big 3” isn’t the answer.

[@f430ferrari5]

@@mikio6444 is “no” an acceptable response. At least suggest something different.

[@f430ferrari5]

@@omariparker3769 the point you miss is how often is Ohtani in position with men on base vs that of Muncy, etc. You and others are not even addressing the Dbacks formula. Why are you and others against Lux leading off and putting pressure on opposing pitchers right off the start. There is just as much pressure to get Lux out vs Betts and even more so because look who follows. You can’t even rebut this proposal.

[@omariparker3769]

@@f430ferrari5 The Dodgers are 4-2. There haven’t been enough games to clearly analyze what you are saying and in the games that have been played the offense has been enough and they haven’t gotten going yet. You wanna change it up before they even get going? As for the Dbacks, they caught fire last year and are not that great. SF and SD can claim to be better than they are. I bet they’ll end the season with 85 wins in 4th or 3rd place.

[@kneelbeforezod2160]

I believe us dodger fans are a bit spoiled. A lot of baseball left. This offense is going to wake up.

[@omariparker3769]

You’re absolutely right that we’re spoiled at this point. Don’t worry though. Dodgers always heat up with the summer and they go on these 41-9, 42-8, or 43-7 stretches. They’ll have one this year too.

[@kneelbeforezod2160]

@@omariparker3769 💯 I know the boys in blue will have a streak comes summer 💪

[@AYA-sj3mq]

Hey, Without putting up good spin over the prospect on each Dodgers player.... All the content was Too much junk Chats ... I'd rather subscribe to Dodgers Blues 💙

[@LockedOnDodgers]

I'd love to reply to your comment if you could translate it to English for me.

[@AYA-sj3mq]

Let me clear as much as possible here...I rather trust Dave Roberts saying and directing the Dodgers as a whole team forward to playing better games . Here talks were filled with Junk prospects ..too pessimistic,too negative and mostly unpleasant 👎👎👎

[@AYA-sj3mq]

You're welcome 😂

[@LockedOnDodgers]

Well that clears it up. Thanks for watching!

[@JC-ig4xy]

Long season, slow start. Calm down Dodger fans, we have the best team in baseball.

[@user-wr8hg2ed8z]

Promotions on this podcast whatever you call this freaking sucks

[@LockedOnDodgers]

Thanks for watching!

[@harleyanderson3897]

Giants have better pitching than the Cards I hope they hit better in the next series

[@omariparker3769]

Giants are always tough against us even when they suck. They have a better team than SD this year though.