Monday, June 25, 2012

Tolleson Didn't Bring The Drama I Had Hoped

As I watched the minor league stats pile up this year I kept a close watch on S. Tolleson. I did the previous season also. His back story and complete and utter domination of minor leaguers made me think he might be another Kenley Jansen.

For awhile it looked as if the Dodgers were trying everything in their power not to bring him to the Majors this year with their signing of more old guys, etc. But the easy to project breakdowns and DFAs occurred and, well, S. Tolleson got his chance.

I thought when this guys starts blowing away major leaguers who are the Dodgers going to get rid of to make room for him. You know, more drama.

Crisis averted. Tolleson isn't ready.

Sabre kids will look at the minor league stats and say well this is a small sample size and he didn't walk people in the minors. I prefer to judge by what I see.

He had no control over his pitches. He got rattled. His stuff is really good but it's not Jansen/Belisario good. He can't just throw his pet pitches down the middle and say try to hit it like those two can. No doubt he can be a fantastic relief pitcher, just not yet.

The other thing that bothered me about Tolleson was his motion. It's very violent. He's had significant arm troubles before so it could easily happen again.

Just a good reminder about the minor leagues, statistics and prospects.

In a related matter people are jumping off the Josh Lindblom bandwagon. He's got the stuff that can dominate if he gets it near the plate. But at no time did I think he was the 8th inning guy for this year. He just doesn't have the command. Plus if the Dodgers can keep Belisario upright, out of jail, and in this country, he's the perfect 8th inning guy.

New Feature


I'm starting a new feature called Tragedy Of The Day after Mike Scoscias Tragic Illness blog. I find the dumbest sabre rattling comments there when people who seem to know little about baseball try to impress with their knowledge of reading statistics which are imperfect at best and a total friggin lie at worst. It's where all baseball logic goes to die.

Oddly enough the first award goes to someone in the mostly reasonable Dodger Thoughts chatroom. Take a look at this exchange. Thank you TiensyGohan. Congratulations on being the first winner.


  • TiensyGohan
    Dee doesn't play anything close to solid defense. Since his debut, Dee has played 124 games and cost the team ~15 runs with his defense. Dee would have to hit like Derek Jeter if he wants to earn his keep.
    You seem to believe Ozzie Smith's first 8 seasons were spent in offensive mediocrity. That is not so. He was consistently in the top 10 among qualifying shortstops, sometimes much higher. Dee Gordon? Next to last among qualifying shortstops so far.
    Dee is not a star-in-the-making who just needs some time. He is a flawed prospect who got pushed into the starting role because the club understandably didn't want to pay Furcal. He has never shown anything close to star potential, and based on the results it's doubtful he will make it as a useful backup.
  • PismoBruce
    Ozzie made 25 errors his rookie season. In his first 4 full seasons, his OBP was NEVER  higher than .313. Pretty hard to not be top 10 in the league when their were only 12 teams in each league then. We will simple agree to disagree.
  • TiensyGohan
    Top 10 in the majors and with wRC+ in the high 80s only about 12-15% below league average. Gordon, on the other hand, is about 60% below league average. Even if Gordon improves, he will still be one of the worst baseball players in the league, until he inevitably begins to decline at the age of 28 or so.


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