Twenty-three days before he signed with the Dodgers, Louis Coleman flew into Kansas City and checked into a downtown hotel. He was scheduled to sign autographs at a convention center during the final weekend in January with the rest of the World Series champion Kansas City Royals, a group he had...
Highlights of the Dodgers' 6-3 loss to Seattle: AT THE PLATE: Justin Turner launched a home run in the first inning off Mariners starter Hisashi Iwakuma. He ripped a run-scoring double in his next at-bat. His third at-bat? Another RBI double. He has hit .583 this spring. "Iwakuma, he's tough,"...
Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts planned to visit Milwaukee outfielder Rymer Liriano in the hospital this week after Liriano sustained facial fractures on Sunday after he was hit in the face with a fastball by Dodgers minor-leaguer Matt West. Roberts coached Liriano, a 24-year-old from Santo Domingo,...
Jered Weaver did not throw demonstrably harder Sunday than he has throughout this spring, but he felt better. Facing Class-A Colorado hitters in a minor league game at Tempe Diablo Stadium, the 33-year-old right-hander threw 67 pitches in four innings, struck out three, and yielded three hard-hit...
At 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, the Dodgers settled their fifth starter competition with a roster move. By optioning Zach Lee to the minor leagues, a day after giving Brandon Beachy time to rest his sore elbow, the club handed the job to Mike Bolsinger. About 25 minutes later, Bolsinger took the mound...
Nine days after he sprained his left knee, Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager took the field for a light workout with his teammates Sunday morning at Camelback Ranch. Seager ran, completed some agility drills, took batting practice and threw. The initial diagnosis was one to two weeks off after he...
Highlights from the Dodgers' 3-1 loss to Milwaukee and 12-5 loss to San Diego: AT THE PLATE: With the Dodgers holding a split-squad day, only one starter, Yasmani Grandal, made the trip to the Brewers complex in Maryvale. Their lone outburst of offense occurred when infielder Charlie Culberson...
Andre Ethier limped into the Dodgers' clubhouse on crutches on Saturday morning. An X-ray on his bruised right shin came back negative, but Ethier still felt discomfort after fouling a ball off his leg the afternoon before. "I squared myself up pretty good right there," Ethier said as he stood...
His father towers over him, as do his two older brothers, but Trayce Thompson jokes that this is by design. As a boy, he visualized barreling through an offensive line, not spotting up at the three-point line. In his childhood obsession, he altered his diet because "he wanted to stunt his growth...
Highlights of the Dodgers' 4-2 loss to the Chicago White Sox at Camelback Ranch. AT THE PLATE: Howie Kendrick continued to club the baseball this spring with two hits, including an RBI double off White Sox ace Chris Sale. He raised his Cactus League average to .476. After missing a week due to...
It is 40 minutes to game time, and the broadcaster excuses himself from the press box. He has been at the ballpark for close to two hours already, setting up his laptop, checking in with the coaches, taping statistics and rosters to the window in front of him. He is 78. He shuffles down the steps...
Brandon Beachy, one of three candidates for the final spot in the Dodgers rotation, sounded disgusted with himself after surrendering six runs and failing to record an out in the third inning of an 11-8 loss to Arizona on Friday. Beachy flashed only occasional command of his changeup and curveball,...
Highlights from the Dodgers' 11-8 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks: AT THE PLATE: An unseemly afternoon, one laden with errors, walks and wild pitches, at least featured some offensive firepower from the Dodgers. The batters hammered Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Godley. Yasmani Grandal capped a four-run...
Former Dodgers starting pitcher Brad Penny is retiring after 14 seasons in Major League Baseball. The 37-year-old right-hander was in the Blue Jays spring training camp after signing a minor league deal in the offseason. Toronto gave him a legitimate look this spring with Penny tossing seven innings...
Julio Urias and Jose De Leon, the highest-touted pitching prospects in the Dodgers’ farm system, were reassigned to minor-league camp on Thursday afternoon as the team trimmed seven players. The Dodgers optioned infielder Micah Johnson and pitchers Yaisel Sierra, Ross Stripling and Ian Thomas....
Highlights from the Dodgers' 5-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals on Thursday: AT THE PLATE: Joc Pederson doubled off Royals starter Kris Medlen in his first at-bat, and even after a pair of strikeouts to end his day, his Cactus League batting average was .321. His performance this spring has pleased...
The Dodgers are prepared to play at least the first two months of the season without injured starter Hyun-Jin Ryu as he continues his progression back from shoulder surgery last May. Manager Dave Roberts does not expect Ryu to pitch in a Cactus League game this spring, a goal the organization set...
Dodgers 7, Colorado 3 AT THE PLATE: With Chad Bettis, a right-handed pitcher, on the mound for the Rockies, Dave Roberts trotted out a new leadoff hitter: Andre Ethier. Ethier will turn 34 next month, has limited speed and has led off only seven times in his 10-year career. But the Dodgers may...
Yasiel Puig will not be disciplined by Major League Baseball after the league found no evidence that the Dodgers outfielder struck his sister during a Thanksgiving Eve bar fight in Miami. A league investigation of the incident included interviews with Puig, his sister and employees from the bar...
This idea that a pitcher should just grin and bear it if a batter hits a mammoth home run and celebrates by flipping his bat? Mike Trout isn't having any part of it. "As a pitcher, I'd be pretty upset," Trout said. And would Trout say that such a demonstrative batter would be showing up the pitcher?...
The World Baseball Classic is back. Soon enough, the red, white and blue rejections will be too. The event is a smashing success in Asia and Latin America and an afterthought in the United States, with many of the top U.S. players declining to participate. The last U.S. roster did not include Mike...
The schedule called for the Dodgers to split their infielders into two groups Tuesday morning, so the middle infielders gathered on one diamond and the corner infielders headed for another. The composition of the groups displayed the varying pursuits for the unit this spring. Leading the collection...
Highlights from the Dodgers' 8-6 loss to the Chicago White Sox: AT THE PLATE: Andre Ethier opened the scoring by powering a first-pitch home run off Chicago left-hander Jose Quintana into the Dodgers' bullpen. It was Ethier's first homer of the spring. Enrique Hernandez cleared the stadium's outer...
Austin Barnes spent the entirety of Tuesday's 8-6 Dodgers loss to the White Sox at second base, part of the team's ongoing attempt to test his versatility. He is also the third-string catcher, behind Yasmani Grandal and A.J. Ellis, but the Dodgers would like to see how else he can help the club....
On Thanksgiving Eve, Yasiel Puig got into a bar fight. His sister was there, and a report that he might have shoved her triggered an investigation under Major League Baseball's new domestic violence policy. The league has yet to announce whether the Dodgers outfielder will be disciplined, although...
The scout shook his head, delivering a two-word report on Dodgers pitcher Scott Kazmir. "No bueno," the scout said. For the last two years, Kazmir's fastball has averaged 91 mph, according to Fangraphs. On Monday, his fastball sat in the 86-89 mph range. The last time his fastball was so slow,...
Dodgers 6, Milwaukee 2 AT THE PLATE: Two of the prospects acquired from the Chicago White Sox last winter figured in a five-run first inning. Second baseman Micah Johnson singled to start the inning, and center fielder Trayce Thompson capped it with a three-run home run. Johnson is batting .370...
East Lansing police, start preparing now. This tournament has a going-green feel to it. Michigan State has one of the two best teams in the nation — Kansas is the other — and the top coach in Tom Izzo. So says me, a recovering baseball beat reporter, forced into action because college basketball...
Clayton Kershaw might be the best pitcher on the planet, but that and $300 million could not buy him a spot in the World Series last year. He finished in the top three in National League Cy Young Award voting for the fifth consecutive year and yet this is how he thinks of himself today: Kershaw...
Highlights from the Dodgers' 6-4 victory over Colorado at Scottsdale, Ariz. AT THE PLATE: Outfielder Scott Van Slyke hit his third home run this spring, tied for the team lead. The home run came off Rockies right-hander Jordan Lyles. Van Slyke seldom plays against right-handers … Joc Pederson singled,...
His left knee already was throbbing, but Corey Seager wanted one more at-bat. “It probably wasn’t my brightest moment,” Seager said Sunday. Seager later feared he had torn his meniscus, an injury that could have required surgery and forced him to sit out a month or more, depending on the severity...
Dodgers 6, Chicago Cubs 5 Dodgers 8, Seattle 4 (10 innings) AT THE PLATE: The Dodgers beat the Cubs by scoring twice in the bottom of the ninth — on a game-tying walk with the bases loaded, then a walk-off walk. Austin Barnes, the third catcher on a team that might carry only two catchers, hit...
Corey Seager might be a rookie, but he also might be the position player the Dodgers can least afford to lose. On Saturday, they lost him, at least for a chunk of the Cactus League schedule. Seager will sit out one to two weeks because of a sprained left knee. The season opens in three weeks, and...
The Dodgers scratched left-hander Alex Wood from his scheduled start Saturday because of what the team called tightness in his left forearm. The injury gives the Dodgers a complete rotation of ailing starting pitchers. The other four — Brett Anderson (back surgery), Brandon McCarthy (elbow surgery),...
Some baseball questions answered using analytics. WAR WAR (Wins above Replacement) is a complicated equation that answers the question: "If this player got injured and their team had to replace them with a minor leaguer, how much value would the team be losing?” You can learn more about WAR at...
Julio Urias' biggest mistake may have been that he exhaled. The 19-year-old Dodgers left-hander lived up to billing as one of baseball's top pitching prospects in his first spring inning Friday, striking out the side — Geovany Soto, Gregorio Petit and Todd Cunningham of the Angels — with a fastball...
Highlights of the 8-4 Angels victory over the Dodgers on Friday at Camelback Ranch. AT THE PLATE: Angels catcher Geovany Soto hit a long three-run homer to left off Dodgers starter Zach Lee in the first inning. Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes hit a solo homer to left off Angels starter Nick Tropeano...
The Dodgers training room is getting a little crowded. Joining infielders Howie Kendrick, Justin Turner and Alex Guerrero on the shelf this week is catcher Yasmani Grandal, who suffered a right forearm bruise in Wednesday’s game against the Angels and is not expected to play again until Monday....
Hate to have to remind angry UCLA fans following their basketball team's humiliating season-ending defeat Wednesday night against USC, but Coach Steve Alford won't be fired this year. Or next year. Or the year after that. If you care enough about UCLA basketball to demand a coaching change, then...
PHOENIX — Scott Kazmir's epiphany came on the mound at the cozy 5,200-seat home of the independent league York (Pa.) Revolution, late in the summer of 2012. In the shadow of the "Arch Nemesis," the name given to the imposing left-field wall that is six inches taller than Fenway Park's Green Monster,...