July 10, 2023
We’ve reached the all-star break and the Dodgers are looking a bit better than a few weeks ago. They hit the break winners of 4 straight and 5 of their last 6 games. They are tied with the D’Backs for 1st place in the NL West. This is definitely a playoff team, but does it have a realistic chance to win a World Series? If there’s anything we’ve learned over the last few postseasons it’s that October is a crapshoot, and it’s about peaking at the right time. However, peaking at the right time usually means being able to plug the holes on your team, and I’m not sure how the Dodgers will be able to do this between now and the postseason. They desperately need a #3 starter, and that’s assuming Julio Urias and Clayton Kershaw get healthy and in good form again. They also need another high leverage bullpen arm, and a reliable bat off the bench that can play the infield. That’s a lot of holes to fill, and if you look at who could be available at the trade deadline, that kind of help just isn’t out there. Instead, the Dodgers will have to hope for health from the likes of Walker Buehler as a reliever, Ryan Pepiot, Chris Taylor, and Trayce Thompson to plug their holes. That doesn’t sound promising to think that group could suddenly peak, but stranger things have happened.
As for the Angels, they have had an absolutely miserable last two weeks. They’ve lost 5 straight and 9 of their last 10 games. They are 7 games out of 1st place in the AL West, and they’ve slipped to 5 games out of the AL Wild Card with 5 teams to jump over. The worst part about it is the injuries. Mike Trout is down for the next 8 weeks with a broken hand, Taylor Ward pulled his groin, Jo Adell strained his oblique, Anthony Rendon bruised his shin even though he stinks anyway, and Brandon Drury has shoulder issues. Right now, the Halos look like they would rather be in Cancun than playing baseball, and most of them probably will this week. However, the dark cloud is rearing it’s ugly head as we approach the trade deadline: should the Angels trade Shohei Ohtani? It’s clear even the average fan is more sensible than Arte Moreno and knows he should be traded to get something of value. Instead, Arte Moreno is caught up in public perception. He doesn’t want to be the owner that traded Ohtani. This is really about lack of self-awarness. He’s never thought of himself as a small market, but in reality he is. He’s never thought he needed to rebuild because he had Trout and Ohtani. But his team has been mediocre with them because he refuses to rebuild. He thinks he doesn’t need to invest in scouting and development, because that’s what a small market would do. This is such a small minded way of operating a baseball team. Unfortunately, nobody around him will tell him otherwise, and he has a bunch of “yes men” surrounding him. Sadly, the Ohtani situation is the only reason people are talking about the Angels. Even Stephen A Smith was right.
I found it interesting that Facebook decided to launch Threads, and everybody on Instagram just opened an account. One-third of Instagram users are college students, 48% of them are female. Nearly 60% of Twitter users are between 25-49 years old, and 68% of them are male. In other words, the user base is completely different. Mark Zuckerberg did a great job of creating short-term hype, especially at a time when he knew Twitter users were frustrated with Elon Musk. I’m one of them, and I probably will never forgive Elon for the limitations he put on the platform right in the middle of NBA Free Agency. Ultimately, it remains to be seen if the major Twitter base will carry over to Instagram, and become real users. I have my doubts. Nevertheless, this at least gets us closer to a cage match between Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk.
It sure didn’t take long for Victor Wembenyamba to have his first controversy. Can’t say I thought it would be with Britney Spears. The situation is so ridiculous though. She tried to chase him down to congratulate him, and his security team pushed her away. The kid has absolutely no idea who she is, being that he’s a teenager and hasn’t been in the country that long. However, the situation could be resolved in 5 minutes if he had smart people advising him. Call her and apologize, then offer to take her and her husband to dinner, and even create and Instagrammable moment around it. Also, for those of you saying “Britney Spears is crazy”, that really has nothing to do with this situation. I did really enjoy all the Britney stans trolling Wemby’s summer league performance on Twitter.
Speaking of Summer League, I don’t like to overanalyze these games as many people do, but there’s definitely a few things to take note of. Max Christie has absolutely been putting the work in, and is clearly dominating Summer League. He looks like he can be an excellent rotation player for the Lakers this coming season, and provide them with the 3-D presence they really need. Jalen Hood-Schifino has some potential, but will need to work on his shooting. Colin Castelton also looks like he could be an effective big man after he puts on some weight and spends some time in the G-League. However, speaking of bigs, the Lakers will probably need to sign one more with some girth, and ability to defend and rebound. Bismack Biyombo, Tristan Thompson, or even Dwight Howard come to mind as reasonable fits, and good locker room fits as well. Dwight even said the Lakers are like “the girl that got away” recently. Look Dwight we get it, you want to come back, but why do you have to get personal?
NFL Training Camps are just around the corner and the talk around the Rams is interesting. Jason McIntyre from Fox Sports threw out some bold predictions, which caused a stir. He thinks the Rams will be bad, and a 1-5 start will prompt them to trade Aaron Donald. That of course, resulted in lots of talk on who could trade for him on Twitter. This is how trade rumors in sports get started these days, when many times there is nothing to them. McIntyre was asked to give “bold predictions”. If they are bold they are actually not likely to happen. I realize the Rams weren’t great last year, but that’s also because they were injured. They do have 40 1st year players on their team, but they also still have Cooper Kupp, Aaron Donald, and Matt Stafford. Other than the Eagles, the NFC really doesn’t have any sure fire great teams. We think San Francisco might be good, but they don’t even know who will be playing quarterback for them. My point is, as long as the Rams have those three stars, they will be in the mix for a playoff spot in an NFC with a lot of parity. Aaron Donald is going nowhere.
