IheartLA

Tomlin was just what the doctor ordered.

Even against Tomlin Pujols is overmatched..

Man even Richards is pumped up!

I'm so pumped right now!

yes, yes it was

YESSSSSSSSSS

Tomlin is terrible, please let Ohtani face him to raise his confidence

LOL Gubi! "Albert had no choice to leave the baseline to avoid the tag because the fielder was in the way." NO SHIT, that's the whole point.

pujols had a slow reaction on that 87mph up and in...

good win

joyce is so bad

Petit isn't fooling anyone

because he's hitting and pitching

it started so well... but i agree with the others saying this is very encouraging: the velocity, the swing and misses.

you sound like a 3-D chess kind of guy, we don't have to blindly support someone even if we're fans. I do like Eppler as well, he took over in '15 so I'm not even laying the onus on him. I like picking high upside guys like Adell that have lots of tools in the 1st round. Going for a future 1B in round 1 is something I would absolutely avoid, same thing with relief pitchers. But that's just me, I feel like you can find good value at those positions without using a 1st round pick.

b/c the position of catcher raises the value of a hitter tremendously. We are viewing these players as good hitters relative to their position. If you tell me they would have been 1st round picks even if they had played 1st base their entire college careers then ok fine, but that's some bad scouting. Cron I could maybe give you b/c he did have 80 level power and decent K/BB ratios in college so you can make the argument that he did have a solid bat. His walk rate tanked once drafted and along with it a lot of his potential future value. And we can hardly call any of them solid major leaguers. Thaiss had a below .400 slg in the minors at a premium offensive position, Cron if he hits his ceiling is Logan Morrison, if he doesn't then he's barely a 1 WAR player with OBP & defensive deficiencies. You can't treat catcher the same as other positions. Mauer was a potential HOF level catcher but at first base he's arguably a very replaceable bat since the bar is so much higher. Same reason you don't move Posey b.c his hitting while HOF level amazing for a catcher is just solid Eric Hosmer level for 1b. And if he regresses his hitting he can still be a top 10 level catcher, but would quickly become replaceable level at a corner.

If this is what the DH alternatives are (valbuena,marte,young) then might as well throw Ohtani out there for 300 PA, at least there is upside.

Cron, Thaiss, Ward stop drafting catchers in the 1st round if you don't think they will stick there

Ohtani has an ichiro style swing yet when we got him he supposedly had 80 level power. His feet and body are all over the place. He's literally hitting everything on the ground, he can't lift anything in the air. Ground balls are outs, if Ohtani can't lift anything then his career as a hitter is going to be over really quick. Funny thing is he wanted to go to an AL team but in a year or two he might of had more at bats hitting 9th in the pitcher's spot for the Dodgers then us. He has to be good enough at pitching that almost like a prerequisite we deal with his hitting b/c they come as a package. Power hitters are hitting over 50% of BIP in the air but Ohtani grounds EVERYTHING.

upton is seriously so slow in LF, how is he a GG nominee seager's bloop, grandal's flare

i think he said it was a fruit snack

hit and run with pujols is a good idea, maybe scioscia felt on a base hit pujols could make it in time to second anyways, cozart!

has bridwell got a swing and a miss yet, he may have got like 1 or 2 in 60 pitches

this game doesn't count but it feels like it does for some reason.

Also to add we always hear how in the NFL every time there is a new FO they want their own HC and their own QB. Usually the QB is tied to the regime that drafted him. There is emotional/financial and psychological investment in that particular player due to generally going through the pre draft/combine/schmoozing/etc. Same concept, this wasn't just a handshake, Ohtani didn't just come here thinking if he plays bad for a couple games then he's back to square one. Pujols never moved lower than 4th even though he was the worst player in MLB for a whole year. It will take Ohtani being this bad till at least the ASB before Eppler and Balelo have a face to face on a potential change of course from the plan they agreed to.