Harold Reynolds used to be a cast ballplayer and turns out like he is almost certainly a pleasing man.
Okay, now that we’ve got lined all his excellent issues, let’s speak about his baseball “analysis.”
Harold has an extended historical past of claiming dumb issues, almost certainly about all the groups however undoubtedly about the Dodgers.
Remember 2017, when Chris Taylor got here out of nowhere to submit a 123 OPS+ and four.4 WAR, one in every of the brightest surprises on the absolute best Dodger crew we would noticed in a long time? In overdue August of that yr, with Taylor wearing a .923 OPS, Reynolds stated Taylor mustn’t make the postseason roster as a result of he hits proper-passed and so they wanted extra guys who may hit towards righty pitchers. (Taylor used to be in fact moderately higher towards righties than lefties that yr.)
A month later, Reynolds stated Yasiel Puig would best play towards lefties in the postseason. Puig, after all, had a smartly-publicized .592 OPS towards lefties that yr.
Okay, another: Earlier this yr, Reynolds modified baseball historical past.
Okay, now that we’ve got established Harold’s bona fides as a baseball “analyst,” let’s get to what he stated on Thursday. He used to be on the Dan Patrick Show, and he used to be requested about the Dodgers being liked to win the World Series.
“Well I think they’re probably highly favored,” Reynolds stated, “but I think they’re overrated with the favoritism.”
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Look, Harold’s a dadgum skilled, so if he thinks they are puffed up, he has a excellent explanation why, k?
“I’m a little concerned about their starting pitching,” Reynolds stated. “I think the pitching is not where it was at. You lose Walker Buehler, that was a huge blow to them. And Scherzer’s now with the Mets. So you look at the staff from last year that didn’t get all the way there, they’re two down. I just don’t see it.”
There are issues available about the Dodgers’ beginning pitching. Can Clayton Kershaw’s again keep wholesome? Will Tyler Anderson’s loss of strikeouts be a topic? Is Tony Gonsolin wholesome?
But no, Harold went with “they don’t have Max Scherzer or Walker Buehler,” although they received 111 video games and posted the absolute best ERA in baseball with out Scherzer or Buehler.
There’s extra. Surely, that is the place the knowledge is available in, proper?
“The top three guys in the lineup I think have a chance to be all Hall of Fame potential players,” Reynolds stated. “Mookie, Freddie Freeman, Trea Turner, incredible. But there’s a drop-off after that.”
It’s true. There’s undoubtedly a drop-off. You drop all the way down to Will Smith and his 120 OPS+, after which Justin Turner’s 116. Max Muncy had an .858 OPS over the remaining two months of the season, and Trayce Thompson used to be .901 for the entire season.
Are there query marks offensively? Sure. But, once more, that is the crew that scored extra runs than any crew in baseball this yr; that wasn’t simply the most sensible 3. Seven guys drove in over 60 runs this season, and 8 guys scored over 60. Five guys hit 20+ homers (with another at 19), and 9 guys had 20+ doubles.
Are the Dodgers assured to win the World Series? Of path no longer, and if you are making a bet on both them or the box, take the box, on account of the nature of baseball. But the Dodgers are a actually, traditionally nice crew, and if Harold thinks acknowledging this is “overrating” them, smartly, that is Harold for ya.