MidValleySports.Com

By Those Deferred BenchWarmers

Heading into the weekend, we mentioned that the Dodger Regular Season would be one-sixth of the way over after Saturday’s game. To make it more confusing, we are halfway to the evaluation point that Andrew Friedman mentioned in a recent interview (he talked about the real evaluations starting around a third of the way through the season).

In preparation for that moment, Those Deferred Bench Warmers will take a quick stock of how certain players are performing:

The Big Three (Ohtani, Betts, Freeman): They aren’t exactly where we want or expect them to be, but each one has their own reasons for a slow start: Mookie’s illness, Freeman’s injury, and Ohtani’s status as a dad. The long and short of it is: nothing to worry about.

The Next Three (T. Hernandez, Edman, Smith): Prior to the season, we likely would have placed Muncy here instead of Edman, but Tommy Tanks has earned the nickname with his play the first part of the season. He’s tied for the team lead in homers with Hernandez, is second in runs, and leads the team in at-bats, showing he is truly dependable. Interestingly, the top 3 run producers so far this season are from this group.

The Rest of the “Starting” Three (Muncy, Pages, Conforto): Okay, we’re running out of nicknames, but either way these guys are true hit-or-miss guys.. And mostly missing thus far into the season. Conforto briefly started hot but has cooled considerably, and Muncy has yet to homer and is really struggling. Recently, we saw a tweet (and an amazing video with sound effects) that stated something to the effect of “Every time Russel Westbrook touches the ball, it’s like a Mario Kart Mystery Box.” We’d humbly like to apply that to Andy Pages. We’ve seen him rob home runs and turn outs into hits with bad paths to the baseball. We’ve seen him hit home runs and make the dumbest mistakes on the basepaths. This Weekend? Pages went 10 for 12 (including 2 for 2 with 2 doubles vs Skenes), hitting a home run and driving in four. Oh, and he also robbed a homerun in game 2. Mystery Box indeed.

The Final 3 (E. Hernandez, Taylor, Rojas): These guys have been solid enough defensively, especially with their versatility, so they are valuable pieces. But the offensive production, aside from Kiké bombs, have been virtually non-existent. Still, they are valuable clubhouse pieces.

The Starters (Yamamoto, Sasaki, Glasnow, May, Snell): A nice little grab bag of Cy Young Contender (Yamamoto), Comeback Player of the Year Contender (May), and Rookie of the Year contender (Sasaki), and two players currently injured (Glasnow, Snell). Moving forward, realistically hopeful: more of the same from Yamamoto and May, a steadily improving Sasaki to an even better pitcher, and return to forms for Glasnow and Snell. Amazingly, the Dodgers can still add two former MVPs (Kershaw and Ohtani) to the rotation as the season continues.

The Bullpen: Overall, solid, but not spectacular. It still feels like roles are being defined as the new faces settle in. With returns expected from several pitchers that expect to play a role down the stretch and in the playoffs, we may not see the settling-in for a while. The talent is there however, so once those roles are defined and Roberts begins pushing the buttons with better regularity, this should be one the best shut-down pens in baseball.

Overall: Each return home from a road trip gives “the sky is falling” vibes from the far reaches of twitter (they are just below .500 on the road), but the Dodgers are half a game back of the NL West lead and only a game off the best record in baseball (it’s looking more and more like the Mets will win back-to-back April World Series). Almost every team would gladly switch places with the Dodgers.

A lot of the issues stem from simply getting settled in. In the batters’ box: The Big 3 getting back into the groove and getting more consistency from the rest-of-the-starting-three group. And on the mound: Sasaki acclimating himself and May reacclimating himself in the Majors, the returns of the injured starters, and the more concrete role definition in arm barn.

The World Series victory last season plus Tokyo Series to start this season equates to likely the shortest offseason for any team in baseball history, and 28 games is not enough to press the panic button or to plan a parade (that’s for you, Joe T). Come check in with us and Andrew Friedman on June 1 (coincidentally right between a seven game homestand against the New York teams).