Valenzuela’s funeral will be held at the Cathedral of the Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles.
Fernando Valenzuela will be laid to rest on Wednesday during a public funeral Mass at the Cathedral of our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles. Valenzuela, nicknamed “El Toro,” passed away on October 22 at the age of 63.
Jonathan Lloyd of NBC Los Angeles shares more on the details surrounding Valenzuela’s funeral.
Valenzuela was the heart and soul of a 1981 Dodgers team that won the World Series, as the southpaw won the NL Rookie of the Year and Cy Young Award, posting a 2.48 ERA with 11 complete games— eight for shutouts— across 192 1⁄3 innings over 25 starts. He finished his career as a six-time All Star and ranks ninth all time in Dodgers franchise history for pitching wins and 10th all time in franchise history for innings pitch.
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The Dodgers enter free agency with some noticeable holes in terms of star power, mainly at the shortstop position. The Mookie Betts experiment didn’t go as planned last season, while the tandem of Miguel Rojas and Tommy Edman played at a well above average clip, but not at an All-Star level of production.
Current free agent former Milwaukee Brewers shortstop Willy Adames has already caught the eye of the Dodgers, notes Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The 29-year-old connected for 32 home runs and 113 RBIs with a career high 21 stolen bases for a first place Brewers team.
Adames spoke on the potential opportunity of playing for a big-market organization, per Will Sammon and Katie Woo of The Athletic.
“I feel like it would be easier,” Adames said. “The pressure is going to be bigger. But pressure is everywhere in the big leagues. You have to be good. You have to perform. You have to make adjustments. It doesn’t matter where you’re at. And I feel like with my personality, it’s going to be even better if I’m in a big market. I think people would embrace that and give me more love just because it’s more people. So I’m not worried about that because I know how I am and I know how I treat people.”
Six 2024 World Series champions are back on the open market, with notable names such as Jack Flaherty, Teoscar Hernández, Kiké Hernández, and Blake Treinen now being free agents.
Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times writes about the tough decision the Dodgers will make this offseason regarding which key pieces the team would like to bring back and where the team can afford to make upgrades.