Monday, March 11, 2024
Copyrighted by Sarah Morris, 2024
The Los Angeles Dodgers finish their abbreviated Cactus League schedule on Wednesday, and they will catch a flight to South Korea to open the 2024 season against the San Diego Padres.
On Monday, Dave Roberts announced Tyler Glasnow will be the Opening Day starter, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto will start the second game against the Padres. Both have had good spring training. While Yamamoto struggled in his last start against the Chicago White Sox, he was working on his stretch delivery. Glasnow is scheduled to make his last Cactus League start, and Yamamoto will start on Wednesday.
Roberts has a bigger concern than who is starting during the opening series against the Padres. It’s not Brusdar Graterol not making the trek to South Korea. Graterol has made one spring training appearance because he has been dealing with shoulder and hip soreness. He and the Dodgers think Graterol will be ready to pitch on domestic Opening Day on March 28 against the Saint Louis Cardinals.
Moving Mookie Betts to shortstop isn’t keeping Roberts awake at night even though he had a few rough plays. Betts won’t be an elite defensive shortstop, but he will be average. He needed a full spring training to practice there, but he will be alright. Betts has been a big leaguer since 2014, so he won’t let making a couple of errors get into his head. He has good fielding techniques. Betts should be the everyday second base, but he understands and has the willingness to do anything that the Dodgers need.
Gavin Lux isn’t ready for the 2024 season at all. While Lux is a hard worker and a talented offensive player, he isn’t a good player. Moving him to second base hasn’t solved the problem. Lux is consistently making low throws. Although Freddie Freeman is an outstanding defensive first baseman, he can’t dig out Lux’s throws.
On Monday, Lux couldn’t catch a popup directly in front of the second base bag. Perhaps, Chris Taylor, who was playing shortstop, should have called for that popup, but it was on Lux’s side of the infield.
Since Lux is healthy from his ACL and MCL, the Dodgers can’t put him on the IL. Sending him down to the minor leagues will hurt his fragile confidence.
The Dodgers should leave Lux at home when the team goes to South Korea. Miguel Rojas is dealing with leg tightness, so he might not be able to play second base. Kiké Hernàndez or Taylor can play that position satisfactorily.
Lux’s defensive woes don’t only create extra scoring opportunities for the opposition that will lead to losses. His errors make the Dodger pitchers work harder than they ought to. Many Dodger starters have questionable endurance, so they don’t need to be required to get more outs than necessary. Pitchers understand errors are a a part of the game, but Lux, for now at least, has proven he is a poor defensive player.
Some players cannot handle the bright lights of playing in Los Angeles. Lux, growing up in Wisconsin, might be one of those, but the Dodgers can’t get much value for him until he proves he can compete satisfactorily at the major league level.
The Dodgers must figure out what to do with Lux before they board the plane on Thursday for South Korea.
