Inside the Dodgers outfield problem and how they can fix it

Dodgers do not put Mookie Betts back in the right field.

Or, at least, they do not actively consider it.

Manager Dave Roberts clearly indicated that it was this week, saying that the club had not had such discussions with the history of the defender of the right of working gold at the stop.

At this stage, even the defensive limitations of Teoscar Hernández not or the offensive of Michael Conforto still pushed the team to this extreme theoretical.

“We haven’t talked about the right field at all,” said Roberts this week, while the noise around the hernández Tremblant glove was stronger following a pair of toys in a Monday defeat in Colorado.

“The way Mookie plays short,” added Roberts, “not bouncing it, I think we feel very well.”

However, while the Dodgers enter the last 34 games of their calendar, starting with a crucial series in San Diego against the second place this weekend, club field problems remain a problem.

And although Betts is not the obvious solution this time – as it was last year when he made a change from end of the season to the right – the dodgers will nevertheless have to find answers.

Upon entering the game on Thursday, their two outdoor outdoor field positions ranked only 19th among the MLB clubs in the total victories above the replacement, and 22nd in a defensive note, according to Fangraphs.

“Defense is a large part of baseball in playoffs and baseball victory,” said Roberts.

Here are the options to which the dodgers will have to consider in the coming month:

The current casting

Dodgers Outfielders (from left to right) Teoscar Hernández, Michael Comforto (23 years old) and Andy Pages go to the inner field to celebrate with teammates after a victory over the Miami Marlins in April.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

For the moment, the Dodgers do not have much other choice than to deploy the same variations in the range of couples which they displayed from the deadline of trade.

Most nights means having Hernández in the right field, where, despite a recent increase in his once collapsed bat, the 32-year-old player ranks in the lower half of the Right fields of the MLB in the saved defensive tracks (-1) and the outcome above the average (-9); And comforto on the left, where the only thing worse than its bad note defense (-2 DRS, -5 OAA) was an average of the stick of .186 which is a last distant among the MLB strikers with 350 plate appearances (the closest: the brand .207 of Oneil Cruz).

Ideally, the Dodgers would benefit from the trip from Hernández to the left (where he also had trouble playing mainly last season, but made less blatant mistakes that have spoiled his last two weeks) and relegated comforto largely to the bench.

But this requires another option in which they trust to assume more playing time elsewhere in the outside field.

And if it is not Betts, Alex Call represents the only potential adjustment of the current list.

The call happened last month as something of a disappointing disappointing acquisition. Of course, he had a good season with the Nationals of Washington and scrambled his reputation of a hard blow on the opposing launchers. But he was not Steven Kwan, or Ramón Laureano, or Harrison Bader, or one of the championships of the big most established leagues which were commercial targets on the deadline.

Until now, this has been reflected in the use by the Dodgers of the 30 -year -old striker, starting him only eight times in three weeks.

The call had a solid performance in the Rockies series, reaching the base eight times in 13 appearances, including a double and a home run in a match of four strokes on Tuesday. He beats .281 since he joined the Dodgers and flashed (mainly) a solid game in the two outdoor fields.

Over time, he could perhaps fall into a main role. His versatile glove (he also played in the center in the big leagues) and his contact capacity make it a potential for programming.

For the moment, however, taking into account the short -term team bench, Roberts, Roberts is committed to effectively placing the call in the left field alongside Comforto – the signing of the off -season of $ 17 million that the Dodgers seem to give a last chance to stage a sort of reversal at the end of the season.

Reinforcements he

Dodgers’ utility player Kiké Hernández looks at the canoe in a match against the Padres in San Diego on August 15.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Finally, if comforto continues to collapse and the call cannot order more playing time, dodgers will have to find a better option.

Thursday, two potential alternatives adapted during rehabilitation assignments with triple-a Oklahoma City.

In the central field, the veteran of the hero October Kiké Hernández, who was sidelined for months (and physically limited before that) with an injury to the elbow that he suffered for the first time in May.

In the left field, surprisingly, was the South Korean off-season which signed Hyeseong Kim, a second base specialist who scrambled in the central field at the start of the season, before finally settled in the inner field before an shoulder injury.

The two players could represent defensive upgrades on the outside field once you return. Kim’s experiment in the left field is particularly intriguing, even if he suffered defensive tricks during his brief stake in the center.

The real joker of this equation, however, could be another name currently stuck on the injured list.

An ideal version of the figures in the Dodgers range to include the Tommy Edman utility man in the center, Teoscar Hernández in the left pages and Andy on the right – allowing Betts to stay at the stopped stop; A combination of Kim, Kiké Hernández, Miguel Rojas (and maybe even Alex Freeland) to fulfill the second goal; And pages to move to the right field, where his cannon with an arm is the most precious.

Edman, however, was hampered by an ankle injury for much of the summer and still appears to be back several weeks. Questions remain as to whether he can physically go to a place where he could play again on the field this season.

“His versatility is a superpower,” said Roberts, explaining why the team tries to give Edman as much time as possible. “So, the ability to play in the field, go out on the outside field and not be compromised by the ankle and not to regress is something we need.”

The Mookie scenario

The Dodgers Mookie Betts stops launching Caleb Durbin from Milwaukee at the first goal on July 20.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Although Roberts stopped talking about Betts on the outside field, he took care not to slam the door while looking at the rest of the season.

“I think it’s a good question,” said Roberts. “But I don’t think we are still there.”

It was at the time of last year, of course, that the Dodgers announced that Betts would go from the stop to the right field; Sending him back to a position where he has six gold gloves in a career.

And for a large part of this season, the major factions of the fans base were waiting for history to be repeated, in particular in the midst of speculation on the quantity of Betts stopping games contributed to a first season in a career on the set.

However…

This year’s Dodgers team is not last year’s Dodgers team. And the version of this year of the Betts stop game added a new factor in a delicate equation.

While Betts would almost certainly remain an option worthy of confidence in the right field, its defensive measures in this position in the last two years have increased from pedestrians compared to its formerly generational standards.

At its peak, Betts was generally between 15 and 30 in DR and more than 10-15 in OAA playing the right field. But in addition to 1,000 rounds of land on the right in the past three years, he only posted a DRS plus-3 and a Net-Zero OAA. Its range is not what it was (Betts ranks in only the 35th centile among the mainagists at sprint speed, by baseball scientist). And he rebuilt his launch motion to better meet the requirements of the Second stop.

As Betts showed while playing right on the field in the last season, there can always be an impact.

But as he showed this year, he can also be precious in other places in the diamond.

After having struggled at the stop-COURT last season, Betts now ranks third in the majors in the DRS (plus-11) and ninth in OAA (Plus-3). Of course, Rojas or Edman could probably provide a defense of the comparable cessation (and in the case of Rojas, perhaps improved). But Rojas, 36, has struggled to physically resist regular playing time in the past two years. And if the ankle of Edman is not good enough to manage the center, it is just to wonder how limited it would be in a key position like the stop stop.

This is why, for the moment, dodgers are simply trying to walk on the water with their current outside group, while waiting for a better solution (either on appeal, or Edman or Kiké or Kim or, if they must, maybe even Betts) to become clear.

What they know: they must be better in the corners, on both sides of the ball.

It was obvious before the deadline for trade. This remains a problem now. And until they find a solution, it will loom as a potential stumbling block in their pursuit of a second consecutive world series.