Welcome again to studying and reacting to different individuals writing about stuff on the Web, the place I promise to try to do that characteristic recurrently as was all the time meant.
======
Governor Gavin Newsom: Mark Walter, Magic Johnson, and Casey Wasserman will lead an initiative referred to as LA Rises to assist wildfire restoration and rebuilding.
To seed this new effort, Dodgers Chairman Mark Walter, the Mark Walter Household Basis, and the Los Angeles Dodgers Basis have supplied an preliminary dedication of as much as $100 million. With plans to boost extra funds by personal donations, LA Rises will present main sources aimed toward serving to Los Angeles communities most affected by these catastrophic fires recuperate and rebuild.
That’s … loads.
——
True Blue LA: Eric Stephen notes a change from the Dodgers again to pursuing strikeouts from their pitching employees after a two-year lull, which additionally uncoincidentally have been two subpar run prevention years.
What the Dodgers are attempting to do that 12 months is add as many pitchers as doable, making an attempt to stockpile sufficient depth to face up to inevitable accidents. However other than amount, the innings they’re doubtlessly including are top quality as nicely. Count on the strikeouts to return up and the Dodgers to be among the many greatest within the league at run prevention once more in 2025.
About time, actually.
FanGraphs: Mookie Betts has nonetheless been performing like a possible MVP, however Davy Andrews factors out crimson flags in his underlying metrics from 2024. Even if he broke his wrist, it’s no less than price monitoring in 2025, as Father Time is undefeated.
I don’t wish to overreact to a single season, not to mention one during which Betts produced his typical implausible offensive numbers — particularly contemplating that Betts missed practically two months with a fractured hand. That is a kind of instances after I actually want we had bat monitoring knowledge stretching again over the past a number of years. Betts had a mean bat pace of 69.1 mph in 2024, which put him in simply the 14th percentile, and I want there have been a solution to know whether or not that was a giant drop-off from earlier seasons. He turned 32 final 12 months, and simply Tuesday, Tom Tango revealed an growing older curve that makes it appear like there’s a dramatic bat pace drop-off beginning at 32. In case you have a look at Betts’ spray charts and his contact charges, you get the sense that he simply reworked his strategy so as to profit from the pitches he was seeing. Nonetheless, the exit velocity numbers are such an excessive departure from his earlier seasons. To some extent, they’re most likely a symptom of that bigger adjustment, however Betts’ bat could be slower than it was once.
——
The Athletic: Keith Regulation’s Prime 100 is out, and regardless of excluding Roki Sasaki, he has 5 different Dodgers like the opposite lists. Dalton Speeding checks in at #16, Josue De Paula at #26, River Ryan at #52, Zyhir Hope at #58, and Alex Freeland at #68. Ryan is the anomaly on this listing, as he’ll miss the 2025 season, however what he confirmed in his transient 2024 stint was convincing sufficient.
The Athletic: Jackson Ferris and Kellon Lindsey have been named amongst those that barely missed on the Prime 100.
The Athletic: Total, the Dodgers have been named the #3 farm system in baseball.
Even with out counting Roki Sasaki as a prospect, the Dodgers nonetheless have probably the greatest and deepest methods within the sport. They’ve stayed that method since Andrew Friedman first took over as president of baseball operations, as a result of he has maintained sizable scouting staffs on the novice, professional, and worldwide sides; constructed up their R&D division; and introduced the people-management type he utilized in Tampa to the larger budgets (OK, a lot greater budgets) of Los Angeles. Groups that attempt to do that on a budget haven’t been in a position to maintain success just like the Dodgers have. The Dodgers’ system proper now nonetheless has a bunch of high-upside place gamers and arms, with an emphasis on athletes, complemented by some higher-floor finds from the school ranks within the draft, often coming past the primary spherical.
ESPN: Kiley McDaniel’s Prime 100 can be out, and it incorporates a whopping eight Dodgers prospects. Roki is #1, Speeding is #16, De Paula is #20, Freeland checks in up at #37, Hope at #70, Emil Morales is a brand new one at #80, Ferris is #93, and Ryan is #94.
ESPN: He additionally did one other 100, which included one other pair of Dodgers. Eduardo Quintero got here in at #106 (named amongst those that might make the Prime 50 in 2026), and Justin Wrobleski at #149 (named amongst those that might throw 200 innings in a season).
ESPN: The system is valued at $420 million, which is … #1 in baseball. Phew.
Los Angeles acquired right here by way of a lot of scouting and developmental avenues to maximise their system. Amongst their prospects on the highest 100 listing: Dalton Speeding was a top-50 total choose, Alex Freeland was a third-round choose, Emil Morales acquired a prime worldwide bonus, Josue De Paula acquired a lower-to-midrange worldwide bonus, and Jackson Ferris and Zyhir Hope have been non-top 100 prospects a 12 months in the past when each have been acquired from the Cubs for infielder Michael Busch. The Dodgers are so good as a result of they’re probably the most environment friendly franchises in baseball from prime to backside (you could possibly argue for the Rays, Brewers or Guardians, too) and so they even have a ton of cash.
——
The Athletic: With equity on seemingly all people’s thoughts these days, Eno Sarris checked out parity amongst leagues 4 alternative ways and located that … nicely, baseball has graded out fairly nicely.
However contemplating that we discovered 4 methods to guage parity, every with barely completely different outcomes, it’s utterly honest to really feel that this degree of parity will not be sufficient. There actually is a bonus to spending, even when the numbers recommend that profit could be smaller than it appears proper now, with the Dodgers coming off a championship and spending liberally to attempt to keep on the prime.
Not precisely shocking if one simply takes a step again from the salt with some sense, actually.
Forbes: In the meantime, MLB reported report revenues of $12.1 billion in 2024, a 4.3% enhance over 2023, and that’s excluding “ancillary revenues” like mixed-use improvement and what not. The opposite groups are broke, although, don’t overlook.
======
It’s nearly time for Dodger baseball, child.