Dodgers links: Minor league pay, Boys of Summer, best lineup in baseball?

The addition of Mookie Betts added a new gear to the Dodgers lineup that they didn’t have before. That’s how they rate as the best lineup in baseball, per Anthony Castrovince at MLB.com.

But it’s not just the star power that comes with MVPs Betts and Cody Bellinger. It’s also the depth. These aren’t adjusted for park factor or league competition, but FanGraphs projected standings have the Dodgers as the fifth-most prolific offense, while PECOTA has them sixth. The Dodgers top the National League in offense in both projections.

“An NL team will inherently not have quite as much firepower as an American League unit while punting away opportunities in the No. 9 spot,” Castrovince wrote, “but the devastatingly deep Dodgers could hold their own in either league.”

Links

• The Dodgers will continue to pay their minor leaguers spring training stipends during the shutdown. But a new piece of information comes from Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register, who noted the Dodgers raised minor league pay in 2020 as well. MLB instituted raises across the board for minimum salaries at each minor league level for the 2021 season, and to date the Cubs, Giants, and now Dodgers have increased pay this season as well. The Blue Jays did the same starting last season for their minor leaguers.
• Alfonso Tusa at The Hardball Times reread ‘The Boys of Summer,’ and compiled anecdotes from various Brooklyn Dodgers featured in Roger Kahn’s wonderful book.
• With Tom Brady signing with the Buccaneers after 20 years with the Patriots, Bradford Doolittle at ESPN ranked the top 12 MLB players it would be most shocking to see in another uniform. Clayton Kershaw was No. 2, just behind Mike Trout. From Doolittle: “I’ll note that while neither Trout nor Kershaw has been around long enough to match the Brady level of weirdness that would occur if they were to change teams, they are the closest things we have to that status in the majors right now.”
• Joon Lee at ESPN wrote about Boston losing both Mookie Betts and Brady in a matter of months.