logo
How concerned should we be about Mookie Betts and the Dodgers?

How concerned should we be about Mookie Betts and the Dodgers?

Yahoo4 days ago
Yahoo Sports senior MLB analyst Jake Mintz and senior MLB analyst Jordan Shusterman discuss Mookie Betts' recent struggles and bigger concerns for the Los Angeles Dodgers' offense. Hear the full conversation on the 'Baseball Bar-B-Cast' podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.
View more
Video Transcript
Mookie struggles.
Feel pretty concerning to me.
We've talked about this so much, trying to pick through this Dodgers season when they struggle, what is real, what is meaningful, what is small sample size theater.
But the Mookie stuff every week that it continues, I think it gets more and more concerning.
Would you agree with that?
Yeah, and you can kind of cling to the things that he's still doing well, which is, of course, playing a good shortstop.
He's not striking out, he's not swinging and missing.
He feels like he's healthy, uh, he's tried to work through a lot of these different things.
And yet, the results are just not there.
There is just no juice in that bat.
And so even though he is making a lot of contact, it is just not the kind of contact that we're used to seeing from him.
So, it is pretty concerning.
I think putting it all on Mookie is, is a little bit unfair.
Obviously, he's the one hitting at the top of the lineup, but there are a lot of other hitters in this lineup, especially with Muny out.
They're not necessarily keeping this, uh, this lineup moving.
So, I don't know, man, it is, it is quite a departure though.
I mean, we've never, we've never seen Mookie healthy and playing this poorly.
It is, it is, or at least offensively, it is that simple.
The Dodgers' intimidation factor stemmed from an unbelievable top 3 and a very, very impressive top 6, right?
The top 3 being Otani Bets Freeman, Otani Solotai, Freddie and Mookie have been bad now for 2 months.
Mookie has an OPS that starts with a 6.
Which is not what you're expecting from the future Hall of Famer at the top of the lineup, but once you go past that top 3 and you go to Will Smith, Te Oscar, Hernandez, Max Muncy, Will Smith has been one of the best hitters in the world this year, but Muncy is out and Te Oscar has been bad for a month and a half, and so, This is not an offense that can single-handedly win games in the way that it could for the first two months of the season when the Dodgers were rolling out me and you to suck up innings as they tried to get their pitching healthy.
And so that's why I think they've hit the n.
Close
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Yankees acquiring 3B Ryan McMahon in trade with Rockies
Yankees acquiring 3B Ryan McMahon in trade with Rockies

Yahoo

time11 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Yankees acquiring 3B Ryan McMahon in trade with Rockies

The Yankees are making an upgrade at third base, acquiring Ryan McMahon from the Colorado Rockies, according to Mark Feinsand. New York is sending two pitching prospects in exchange for the 2024 All-Star, including LHP Griffin Herring, per ESPN's Jorge Castillo. The Rockies are currently a league-worst 26-76 and on pace for the worst record in major league history. McMahon is in the fourth year of a six-year, $70 million contract. He's owed $16 million in both of the next two seasons before becoming a free agent ahead of the 2028 season. The 30-year-old is slashing .217/.314/.403 this season with 16 home runs, 15 doubles, and 35 RBI over 100 games. He's struck out a league-leading 127 times, but is still on pace for his fifth straight 20-plus home run season and sixth of his career. It's a drop-off from his All-Star 2024 season in which he hit .242 with 20 homers, 28 doubles, and 65 RBI. McMahon had a career-best 4.0 WAR in 2021 with 23 home runs, 32 doubles, and 86 RBI in 151 games. He was drafted by Colorado in the second round of the 2013 MLB Draft out of Mater Dei HS in Santa Ana, CA and made his debut at age 22 in 2017. Over nine seasons and 1,004 games with the Rockies, McMahon owns a .240 batting average and .740 OPS with 137 homers and 445 RBI. Defensively, McMahon has logged 696 games at third base, owning a .968 fielding percentage. He's also played 244 games at second base, 70 at first base, seven as a DH, and two at SS. He's played 100 games at third this season (.978 fielding percentage) and manned the hot corner for 152 games in 2024, leading the league in both assists (323) and errors (15). The Yankees will bank on his glove at third base for at least the rest of the season, allowing them to move Jazz Chisholm Jr. to second base full-time.

Ryan McMahon trade: Yankees acquire Rockies third baseman ahead of deadline, reports say
Ryan McMahon trade: Yankees acquire Rockies third baseman ahead of deadline, reports say

Yahoo

time11 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Ryan McMahon trade: Yankees acquire Rockies third baseman ahead of deadline, reports say

NEW YORK − The MLB trade deadline is days away, but the Yankees are already on the move. The Yankees are acquiring third baseman Ryan McMahon from the Colorado Rockies, according to multiple reports. Third base was one of the Yankees' biggest needs, and McMahon will provide lefty power (though with a lot of strikeouts) and a contract that takes him through the 2027 season. Who did Yankees trade for Ryan McMahon? According to USA TODAY's Bob Nightengale, the Yankees will be sending pitching prospects Griffin Hering and Josh Grosz to Colorado in return. Check back here for more on this breaking news story. This article originally appeared on Ryan McMahon trade: Yankees acquire Rockies third baseman ahead of deadline

MLB trade deadline: Yankees reportedly acquire 3B Ryan McMahon from Rockies for two prospects
MLB trade deadline: Yankees reportedly acquire 3B Ryan McMahon from Rockies for two prospects

Yahoo

time11 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

MLB trade deadline: Yankees reportedly acquire 3B Ryan McMahon from Rockies for two prospects

The New York Yankees reportedly acquired third baseman Ryan McMahon from the Colorado Rockies on Friday in exchange for pitching prospects Griffin Herring and Josh Grosz, according to Mark Feinsand. [Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2025 NFL season] The 30-year-old McMahon, who has played his entire nine-year MLB career with the Rockies, is hitting .217 with 16 home runs and 35 RBI in 100 games this season. A 2024 NL All-Star, he's in the fourth year of six-year, $70 million deal signed in 2022. He has a $12 million base salary this season and is due $16 million in both 2026 and 2027. While McMahon has shown pop at Coors Field, his hitting away from Colorado has been a different story. The new Yankees third baseman has a career batting average of .216 and career OPS of .665 on the road, compared to .263 and .821 at home. He has hit .146 in 41 at-bats with one home run and six RBI in his career at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees had been seeking help on the left side of their infield, with D.J. LeMahieu designated for assignment earlier this month and Oswald Peraza and Jorbit Vivas struggling to chip in. Arizona Diamondbacks slugger Eugenio Suarez had been rumored as an option, but the two teams were reportedly unable to get close to a deal, according to Jon Heyman. The Yankees are 56-46 and sit 4.5 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays for first place in the AL East. They've come out of the All-Star break struggling, with a 3-3 record, having just lost two of three to the Blue Jays. They begin a seven-game homestand Friday against the Philadelphia Phillies. What to make of this trade? For the Yankees, this is an absolute no-brainer, as predictable as a deadline deal can be. The hot corner has been an abyss of woe in the Bronx for a while now; McMahon fills that need. He's no superstar, but that's fine; the Yanks just needed a capable humanoid at third. It's a glove-over-bat profile because while McMahon makes a ton of hard contact, he's immensely whiff- and strikeout-prone. Perhaps that changes now that he's free of Coors Field and all its wonkinesses. For the Rockies, this qualifies as a shocker. Despite the franchise's sustained run of non-competitiveness, they've been incredibly averse to trading away players they view as cornerstones. For other teams, completing trades of any kind with the purple mystery in the mountains is considered quite a chore. Perhaps this trade is a sign that Colorado, jolted awake by its historically bad 2025, is pivoting from those isolationist ways. Perhaps they just really liked Herring and Grosz. — Mintz

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store