This is a preview of the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter, an e-mail newsletter about all things baseball, featuring analysis and opinion about the game on and off the field from the perspective of the informed outsider.
You can subscribe to the newsletter for one year for $79.95
using your PayPal account or major credit card. (Zelle users, please email me for details.)
--
Diamondbacks 5, Dodgers 3
AB R H BI
Betts SS 4 0 0 0
Tucker RF 4 0 0 0
The Dodgers lost Sunday, but they’re still 61-36 while getting almost nothing from $100 million worth of hitters. It’s probably fair to think this is Mookie Betts’s level now, in his second straight year of being more or less a league average hitter. He’s also lost just about all his applied speed, with two triples, nine steals, and 25 GIDPs since the start of 2025. Betts’s glove at shortstop is holding up the entire profile, which would have sounded crazy two years ago.
Kyle Tucker is the NL’s version of Cal Raleigh, just unable to productively hit the baseball. Tucker does have a league-average batting line, a 12.5% walk rate, and a 6-for-6 mark stealing bases. He wasn’t signed, though, to slug .375 with seven homers. It actually looks worse than that, Tucker working deep counts before limply rolling over to second base or popping up. I can kind of understand Raleigh’s collapse; Tucker just lost his ability to drive the ball over one winter.
Will Smith is having the worst year of his career. Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell, and Edwin Diaz have combined for fewer than 50 innings. The Dodgers have the best record in baseball. I think Dave Roberts is the NL Manager of the Year.
-
You can subscribe to the newsletter for one year for $79.95
using your PayPal account or major credit card. (Zelle users, please email me for details.)
