The Dodgers are in their bye period, getting everyone healthy and their pitching lined up how they want it for the NLDS that will start this Saturday at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers will play the winners of the Braves/Phillies Wild Card Series.
Fans of other teams often accuse the Dodgers of buying their championships, and does one player who joined the Dodgers this off season need to have a great October to wipe out his dismal regular season? Kyle Tucker signed a four-year, $240 million contract in the offseason.
He proceeded to have the worst offensive season of his life, with a slash line of .233/.330/.385 and OPS of .715.
Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register talked to Tucker, Dave Roberts, and Andrew Freidman about Tucker’s season:
“Oh, for sure,” Friedman said. “Like if you said, Player X can have a down regular season as compared to his previous performance but a really good October – I couldn’t pick it across the board because then we wouldn’t get a bye. But with one-offs, I would absolutely take that.”
Katie Woo of The Athletic ponders the Dodgers NLDS roster decisions, and predicts Josue De Paula should make the team as a pinch-hitter over Daulton Rushing who is just coming back from the IL. The club optioned him with the exact number of days needed to be added to the postseason roster last week:
“He’s done everything he can to put himself in a position to be in the conversation for us as we’re making our postseason roster,” Dodgers president Andrew Friedman said at the time.
De Paula added a lot of pop and swagger to a team that at the time was coasting to the finish line of the regular season. His youthful exuberance could buoy the oldest team in the playoffs.
