Update your Dodger Insider email notifications

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Hi, everybody! Hopefully you’re aware that in November, Dodger Insider (and every other official MLB blog) switched blogging platforms from WordPress to Medium.

While the URLs for the blog has not changed — dodgers.mlblogs.com, dodgers.com/insider and dodgerinsider.com all work — we know many of you learn of new stories via email updates. In order to continue receiving new blog notifications, you will need to create a Medium account.

To do so:

  • Step 1: Visit Dodger Insider and click on the follow button just below the masthead. 

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  • Step 2: Choose from one of the sign-up options.

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  • Step 3: Here’s how it looks if you use your email address: 

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  • Step 4: A link will be e-mailed to you. (It should come quickly, but please allow a few minutes for it to arrive.)

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  • Step 5: Open the e-mail and click on the link within to create your account. 

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  • Step 6: Fill in the “Full Name” and “Username” boxes and click on “Create account” to complete the process. 

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  • You should now be following Dodger Insider and receiving e-mail notifications. 

If you have any questions, leave a comment here or on a Dodger Insider post at Medium. Otherwise, come on over!

— Jon Weisman

Video: Who was the most underrated Dodger in 2016?

By Jon Weisman

Late in October on Twitter, I asked folks whom they would pick for the most underrated Dodger of 2016.

It was a doubly subjective exercise, integrating not only your own perception of Dodger players but your belief in how others feel as well.

From the dozen or so nominees, I picked out the four with the most mentions and put them in a decidedly unscientific poll, narrowly won by Joe Blanton.

Blanton was a fine choice, but my own vote went to Joc Pederson. In the video above (edited and produced for Dodger Insider by Julian Gooden) I explain why. Enjoy …

Seager, Roberts, Maeda finalists for top MLB awards

Juan Ocampo/Los Angeles Dodgers

Juan Ocampo/Los Angeles Dodgers

By Jon Weisman

Corey Seager is a finalist for both the National League Rookie of the Year Award and the NL Most Valuable Player Award, MLB and the Baseball Writers Association of America have announced.

Kenta Maeda is also one of the three NL Rookie of the Year finalists, while Dave Roberts is in the final countdown for NL Manager of the Year.

With Max Scherzer of the Nationals and Kyle Hendricks and Jon Lester of the Cubs announced as finalists for the NL Cy Young, Clayton Kershaw’s streak of five consecutive top-three finishes has ended — though Kershaw still led NL pitchers in WAR despite being limited to 149 innings.

The winner of the NL Rookie of the Year Award will be announced November 14, followed by NL Manager of the Year on November 15, NL Cy Young on November 16 and NL MVP on November 17.
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What the Dodgers’ qualifying offers to Kenley Jansen and Justin Turner mean

Los Angeles Dodgers

By Jon Weisman

Kenley Jansen and Justin Turner, who became free agents at the end of the 2016 season, have received qualifying offers from the Dodgers.

Accepting a qualifying offer before the deadline of 2 p.m. November 14 guarantees the player a one-year contract for the 2017 season at $17.2 million. If declined, the Dodgers are still free to negotiate with the player, but would receive draft-pick compensation if either signs elsewhere.

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Willie Calhoun MVP of AFL Fall Stars Game

By Jon Weisman

Dodger second-base prospect Willie Calhoun went 3 for 3 with a home run to win Most Valuable Player honors and lead the West team to a 12-4 victory over the East at the Arizona Fall League Fall Stars Game tonight.

Calhoun, who turned 22 Friday, singled and scored in a four-run second inning, hit an RBI single in a four-run third inning and knocked a two-run homer in the fifth. In 2016 with Double-A Tulsa, Calhoun hit 27 homers and 25 doubles in 503 at-bats and slugged .469.

Cody Bellinger, the Dodgers’ No. 1 prospect, added a two-run homer in the sixth. The left-handed swinger hit his off 6-foot-7 southpaw Jared Miller, an Arizona Diamondbacks farmhand.

Bellinger, Calhoun follow AFL Fall Stars path of Pederson, Seager

By Cary Osborne

Top Dodger prospects Cody Bellinger and Willie Calhoun are selections for tonight’s Arizona Fall League Fall Stars Game, which will be played at 5 p.m. PDT and broadcast live on MLB Network. Fifteen of baseball’s top 100 prospects were selected for the game — including Bellinger (31) and Calhoun (87).

Joc Pederson (2012) and Corey Seager (2013 and 2014) are Dodgers who have played in recent Fall Stars games. Some of the biggest stars in baseball — Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Kris Bryant and Nolan Arenado — have also played in it, as well.

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Dodger Stadium waits for spring

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By Jon Weisman

If we had somehow forgotten, Wednesday’s World Series finale between the Cubs and Indians, an instant classic that will be revisited for generations to come, reminded us of why we invest in a team not only over the course of a season, but of seasons.

Today, on the first day of the rest of our offseason, Dodger Stadium killed us with its kindness, with its beauty, with its perfect backdrop for one day more of baseball, if baseball could only just oblige.

For now, our days and nights turn to other things. So the ballpark waits, patiently, for next year to arrive.

David Ross’ long journey began with the Dodgers

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By Jon Weisman

Baseball’s magnum opus, Game 7 of the World Series, takes place tonight — the Cubs and Indians taking their 176 combined years of bridesmaiding to a final contest.

Among other storylines, this will be the final night as a player for David Ross, who has received about as grand a farewell tour as a backup catcher will ever find. Of course, most of that has focused on his years as a Cub, but he spent a plurality of his professional career in the Dodger organization.

The Dodgers signed Ross 18 years ago, days after he was taken in the seventh round of the 1998 draft out of Florida. Only three of the 50 players the Dodgers drafted that year played for the team: first-rounder Bubba Crosby, fifth-rounder Scott Proctor and Ross. At age 21, Ross signed with the Dodgers 15 days before 19-year-old Adrián Beltré made his MLB debut with the team.

Ross would make his MLB debut on June 29, 2002, pinch-hitting for Shawn Green (and striking out) in the ninth inning of a 7-0 loss to the Angels. Beltré played third base, while the Dodgers’ starting center fielder that night was Dave Roberts. Another player in that game, pitcher Terry Mulholland, is now 53 years old.

Ross also happened to be the last Dodger to make his big-league debut before I founded Dodger Thoughts about three weeks later. That might well have been the most noteworthy fact of his first season in the big leagues, if not for the night of September 2.

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