I live north of Tulsa, and we've had Tulsa Drillers season tickets for several years. In 2019, Kershaw started the year on the IL. He was going to do one rehab start and then join the Dodgers, and when he was ready, instead of doing it with OKC (who I think was playing in Omaha that week) he chose to do it in Tulsa because he'd had a good experience there several years prior.
Gavin Lux was the Drillers' shortstop that season. He was not a good one. Josiah Gray was on that team, and a couple other guys that ended up advancing, but Outman and Busch and Pepiot and Bobby Miller and that group are still a couple years away at this point.
I will never forget this game. The opponent is Springfield, the Cardinal's AA team. Second inning, there's no score. Kershaw allows a baserunner with two outs. The next batter hits a soft grounder to short, to our friend Gavin. He should have fielded it and held it because there was no play. Instead, he charges it hard and promptly airmails it waaaay over the first baseman's head into the Drillers dugout. The runners both advance and it's second and third with two out.
Kershaw is standing on the mound at the end of all that, and he turns to his left and stares Gavin down for a good ten to fifteen seconds. And the crowd goes quiet. It was a warm night, but I swear the temperature in that stadium dropped 15 degrees. I don't know how he had the nerve to go back into the dugout when the inning was over. I'd have just run out to the bullpen and jumped the fence and called an Uber to take me to the airport. It was brutal. And it's not like that was the first error he'd ever made at short. He was much better at second than at short.
So when I heard last season that they were going to try to play Lux at short, I thought, "This doesn't end well." I'm sorry he got hurt and I don't wish him ill, but he has no business as a major league shortstop.
I'm going to keep my comment to one topic: I know from nothing about Gavin Lux or the history you (Molly) cite. But the simple humanity you demonstrate toward him (and others, in other posts) are a large reason I subscribe.
When I'm watching sports in March, of course I'm watching arguably the greatest of them and the only true American sport, Basketball. The Lakers just won a thriller over the stout Bucks of Milwaukee.
With respect to the great sport of baseball, in its prefatory phase that is fairly irrelevant save for stretching, returning memory to muscles and gathering momentum for an early April beginning, I say the following------
Congratulations to Molly for running her 5K for a good cause, and may she complete same with her usual flourish.
Gavin Lux---Oh, man, I feel bad for this young man. I hope he can settle in at second base, although his issues at short cannot help to recall a major yip filled era in Dodger history, as I most definitely hope that Gavin is not channeling the spirit of Steve Sax overthrows of seasons past. He is a fine baseball player all around, and his obviously fine skills should be able, now that he has recovered from that horrible oddball injury, to raise him above any doubts, whether individual or institutional. Let us hope he finds his place regularly in the lineup, where his slashing bat, his startling speed, and his defensive instincts should kick in.
The Dodger uber Capitalist brass has done a fine job in recent years, in building and sustaining such a fine team. Yet if the Guggenheim Group has an Achilles heel in this regard, it is clearly the absolutely gobsmacking failure to retain Cory Seager. Seager was the best of all the many fine Dodger Rookies of the Year, arguably the best shortstop in modern major league history not named Jeter whether gloved or batted, and never, EVER should have been allowed to escape SoCal, especially for the God awful planas of Tejas. The one WS championship the Dodgers have won during the Guggenheim era, was four years ago and was mainly due to Seager's contributions, along with a few defensive gems that highlight reels couldn't do justice to, by the man that will now be playing the Lux/Seager position at shortstop, the incomparable Mookie Betts.
Whatever dreams he has of pawing the dirt between second and third, Mookie is clearly an outfielder extraordinaire. The Dodgers need him in the outfield, especially since they failed to pull their other hero from 2020 back from the friendly confines of Saul Bellow's City. Mookie plays his best on the run, and if compelled to spend a season at short, I fear some combination of leaping and leaning will place him on the IR at exactly the worst time, and lead to all sorts of lamentations on this site.
Let's avoid that.
Leave Rojas at short, and Mookie in the outfield, and let's get back to the business or even better, the play of the game, and look forward to a fine '24.
This is an absolutely great column. Mookie is what baseball is all about. The soul of the game. I've watched a lot of baseball over a lot of years, and I don't think I've ever seen a less selfish player or a better pure athlete. And doubly yes to hoping Lux lands with both feet. He deserves success, however and wherever he can find it.
Excellent as usual, Molly. Laughed out loud at the placement of the Rendon and Acuña injury news back to back. I’m hoping (assuming, actually) it was intentional.
While I expressed skepticism about this move last night, in general I think more teams should more players UP the defensive spectrum. Have a good glove 3B or 2B, try him at SS. A plus corner OF is probably as passable CF.
Given the commitment to Kris Bryant, the Rockies might as well put him at 3B and shuffle around the IF to see if Rodgers can handle SS. Though overpaying for a player and pushing him to 1B seems to be their MO.
Last season, I was delighted by Miguel Rojas’ play at shortstop continually. It seemed every game he would make a couple plays to diffuse a possible uprising by the opposition. I’m a little concerned that shifting again, to short, might have an adverse affect on Mookie’s bat. In a lineup supposedly stacked with world class offense, one spot conceded to defense seems not only justified, but necessary. I would not rest easy with the toll on the staff a season full of the recent 12-8 Chisox game might exact. Miggy & Mookie has a good ring to it.
Mookie is amazing and very much a team guy. A player of his caliber/stature moving to yet another position for the good of the team is awesome
I live north of Tulsa, and we've had Tulsa Drillers season tickets for several years. In 2019, Kershaw started the year on the IL. He was going to do one rehab start and then join the Dodgers, and when he was ready, instead of doing it with OKC (who I think was playing in Omaha that week) he chose to do it in Tulsa because he'd had a good experience there several years prior.
Gavin Lux was the Drillers' shortstop that season. He was not a good one. Josiah Gray was on that team, and a couple other guys that ended up advancing, but Outman and Busch and Pepiot and Bobby Miller and that group are still a couple years away at this point.
I will never forget this game. The opponent is Springfield, the Cardinal's AA team. Second inning, there's no score. Kershaw allows a baserunner with two outs. The next batter hits a soft grounder to short, to our friend Gavin. He should have fielded it and held it because there was no play. Instead, he charges it hard and promptly airmails it waaaay over the first baseman's head into the Drillers dugout. The runners both advance and it's second and third with two out.
Kershaw is standing on the mound at the end of all that, and he turns to his left and stares Gavin down for a good ten to fifteen seconds. And the crowd goes quiet. It was a warm night, but I swear the temperature in that stadium dropped 15 degrees. I don't know how he had the nerve to go back into the dugout when the inning was over. I'd have just run out to the bullpen and jumped the fence and called an Uber to take me to the airport. It was brutal. And it's not like that was the first error he'd ever made at short. He was much better at second than at short.
So when I heard last season that they were going to try to play Lux at short, I thought, "This doesn't end well." I'm sorry he got hurt and I don't wish him ill, but he has no business as a major league shortstop.
I'm going to keep my comment to one topic: I know from nothing about Gavin Lux or the history you (Molly) cite. But the simple humanity you demonstrate toward him (and others, in other posts) are a large reason I subscribe.
Evening to All of you wonderful Long Gamers!
When I'm watching sports in March, of course I'm watching arguably the greatest of them and the only true American sport, Basketball. The Lakers just won a thriller over the stout Bucks of Milwaukee.
With respect to the great sport of baseball, in its prefatory phase that is fairly irrelevant save for stretching, returning memory to muscles and gathering momentum for an early April beginning, I say the following------
Congratulations to Molly for running her 5K for a good cause, and may she complete same with her usual flourish.
Gavin Lux---Oh, man, I feel bad for this young man. I hope he can settle in at second base, although his issues at short cannot help to recall a major yip filled era in Dodger history, as I most definitely hope that Gavin is not channeling the spirit of Steve Sax overthrows of seasons past. He is a fine baseball player all around, and his obviously fine skills should be able, now that he has recovered from that horrible oddball injury, to raise him above any doubts, whether individual or institutional. Let us hope he finds his place regularly in the lineup, where his slashing bat, his startling speed, and his defensive instincts should kick in.
The Dodger uber Capitalist brass has done a fine job in recent years, in building and sustaining such a fine team. Yet if the Guggenheim Group has an Achilles heel in this regard, it is clearly the absolutely gobsmacking failure to retain Cory Seager. Seager was the best of all the many fine Dodger Rookies of the Year, arguably the best shortstop in modern major league history not named Jeter whether gloved or batted, and never, EVER should have been allowed to escape SoCal, especially for the God awful planas of Tejas. The one WS championship the Dodgers have won during the Guggenheim era, was four years ago and was mainly due to Seager's contributions, along with a few defensive gems that highlight reels couldn't do justice to, by the man that will now be playing the Lux/Seager position at shortstop, the incomparable Mookie Betts.
Whatever dreams he has of pawing the dirt between second and third, Mookie is clearly an outfielder extraordinaire. The Dodgers need him in the outfield, especially since they failed to pull their other hero from 2020 back from the friendly confines of Saul Bellow's City. Mookie plays his best on the run, and if compelled to spend a season at short, I fear some combination of leaping and leaning will place him on the IR at exactly the worst time, and lead to all sorts of lamentations on this site.
Let's avoid that.
Leave Rojas at short, and Mookie in the outfield, and let's get back to the business or even better, the play of the game, and look forward to a fine '24.
This is an absolutely great column. Mookie is what baseball is all about. The soul of the game. I've watched a lot of baseball over a lot of years, and I don't think I've ever seen a less selfish player or a better pure athlete. And doubly yes to hoping Lux lands with both feet. He deserves success, however and wherever he can find it.
Excellent as usual, Molly. Laughed out loud at the placement of the Rendon and Acuña injury news back to back. I’m hoping (assuming, actually) it was intentional.
While I expressed skepticism about this move last night, in general I think more teams should more players UP the defensive spectrum. Have a good glove 3B or 2B, try him at SS. A plus corner OF is probably as passable CF.
Given the commitment to Kris Bryant, the Rockies might as well put him at 3B and shuffle around the IF to see if Rodgers can handle SS. Though overpaying for a player and pushing him to 1B seems to be their MO.
Molly, was Tyler’s Zoom recorded? I missed it and would love to see it. Great book
Last season, I was delighted by Miguel Rojas’ play at shortstop continually. It seemed every game he would make a couple plays to diffuse a possible uprising by the opposition. I’m a little concerned that shifting again, to short, might have an adverse affect on Mookie’s bat. In a lineup supposedly stacked with world class offense, one spot conceded to defense seems not only justified, but necessary. I would not rest easy with the toll on the staff a season full of the recent 12-8 Chisox game might exact. Miggy & Mookie has a good ring to it.
First, Mookie can do it because, as a baby, he landed in a cornfield near the home of the Kents and ....
As for letting shortstops go, I don't think it was JUST because Andrew Friedman believed Lux could do the job.
Lux was serviceable at second in the past but I hope to God this team continues to score six runs a game.
Hi Susie!
Thanks for your "like"
How are you doing?!?