A few announcements
Popping up on the site soon should be a few announcements. One, we’ve resigned Ramon Martinez for next year, with an option for 2008. I think anyone who watched the team regularly saw how valuable he was because of his versatility and he was also a very positive presence in the clubhouse.
Second, there have been some promotions in the baseball operations department, including Logan White, who is now the Assistant GM, Scouting. Among the other key people in baseball ops whose titles have now changed (and their new titles) are: Vance Lovelace (Special Asst. to the GM), Tim Hallgren (Director, Amateur Scouting), Chris Haydock (Assistant Director, Player Development), Ellen Harrigan (Assistant Director, Baseball Administration), Luchy Guerra (Assistant Director, International Player Development), Bill McLaughlin (Manager, Scouting), Jane Capobianco (Manager, Scouting and Administrative Travel) and Adriana Urzua (Coordinator, Minor League Administration). We’ve also hired Toney Howell, who was with the Brewers as a pro scout, to be a Special Assistant to the GM. Our sincere congrats go out to these people, who have worked very hard and deserve some recognition.
Also, Clayton Kershaw was named the Player of the Year in the Gulf Coast League by Topps and Minor League Baseball while James Loney was named by Topps to the Triple-A All-Star team.
That’s all for now…
Inside the Dodgers 
what happened to Kim Ng??
so has someone replaced roy smith?..
http://raysdodgerblues.blogspot.com/
Good job on resigning Martinez!
Now sign Fernando as situational
left-hander. I’m sure he’s got a couple of tricks left, and he probably will not cut his hand in a bar room or trip over the bull pen mound. Why not take him to Vero?
don’t get me wrong i really really like Logan White
kim ng is already assistant gm
but i thought Logan White was the assistant G.M. now?
i not trying to by funny here i’m really comfused??
i guess they r going to have 2 assistant gms… i may be wrong, but wasnt roy smith also assistant gm?..
i don’t know ray maybe Josh will give further details tomorrow or something
Man that’s great news about re-signing Ramon Martinez. Now PLEEEEEASE re-sign Maddux!
GO DODGERS!
apparently they are going to have two assistant GMs. Why not, we had 5 shortstops. 🙂
I’ll copy/paste it since you guys can’t read the word at the end of the sentence 😛
“Logan White, who is now the Assistant GM, Scouting.”
Good for Martinez. Now if only he could get some playing time. The Lugo thing was a horrible mistake and a fiasco.
if anything Logan White will now whisper in Neds ear what trades will be good & what trades would be bad.
Resigning Ramon is good , promoting Logan is great. He’s done a good job so far and having him more acessible to the front office can’t be bad.
To clarify your questions, Kim Ng remains our Vice President and General Manager. She’ll be in charge of Player Development (the minor leagues) and Professional Scouting, as well as assistant Ned on everything having to do with the Major League team. Logan White will be in charge of International Scouting and Amateur Scouting, while also assisting Ned with big league transactions. In terms of a replacement for Roy Smith, this is basically it, though it’s not a direct replacement for him. That position was molded into Kim and Logan’s duties.
Giving Lugo the playing time that Martinez was getting did turn out to be a mistake, glad Martinez is back. Now the next few years will show just how bad a trade it was if Joel Guzman turns into a star. However, at the time of the trade, both Kent and Nomar were out, so Lugo really was needed, and the turnaround started around that time, so you just have to live with how it turns out, it was the right move. (I know, I just took both sides of the issue)
Okay, maybe I’m a little bit crazy (my closest friends would tell you that that’s a big understatement) but I’ve been thinking about this a lot. We all keep saying that we need to go out and get a power-hitting 3B, right? Why? We have a pretty decent one already.
I know someone here is going to bash me for saying this but look at the stats. Betemit hit 18 HR in 373 AB this year. Think about that – roughly 1 HR per 20 AB. This includes the beginning of the season when he was basically a spot player in Atlanta. Most power-hitters will increase that ratio when given regular playing time. I’m not gonna say that ratio’s gonna be 1 HR/15AB, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it became 1HR/18AB. Aramis’ number was about 1HR/16AB this year, and we keep drooling over him. 1HR/18AB runs to about 33-35 HR over the course of a season. Then there’s the problem of his AVG. vs RHP…
Okay, mull over this for awhile. Our hitting coach is… that’s right, Eddie Murray. One of the best switch-hitters of all time. Certainly the best switch-hitter for power. Look at what he did for Furcal – he had his best season ever. Highest AVG, most RBI, most hits, 2nd most Runs scored, 2nd highest OBP, the list goes on… Again, maybe I’m just crazy and sleep-deprived, but I think that money would be better spent on a really high-end starting pitcher and some good bullpen help.
dualtone428@yahoo.com
why not 2 quality arms? but think about it Kent is up there in age & won’t heall as quickly as he would if he were a young pup Drew is Drew & Garciaparra is Garciaparra also. it’s gonna be tricky but i have full faith in our front office to make the right moves.
dualtone – Betemit’s problem is against Left-handers, but that can be solved by platooning him with Saenz until he can sort out hitting from the right side (or just becoming a lefty). If he couldn’t hit right handers, he would be released.
But that is a good point, and I think that just one good upgrade for the rotation would be the way to go, given the depth of young talent. I think if any starter is to be traded, it should be Kuo, considering that his value is high but his injury history isn’t good.
I would hesistate to do a whole lot for the bullpen, apart from re-signing Gagne, keeping Saito, getting Brazoban back, keeping Broxton, and reconciling things with Beimel. Really good middle relief is rare; either the pitcher will be good enough to be a setup man or closer somewher else and leave, or that pitcher will not stay good. The key to a good overall bullpen is having young guys without the service time to become free agents so that they do what you say, and having a good pitching coach. As long as you aren’t tempted to trade them, you’ll be fine.
So that said, the three biggest upgrades the Dodgers pitching staff could see are
1) Healthy Gagne
2) Sign Zito/Schmidt
3) Fire Rick Honeycutt and hire Orel Hershiser
in my book the best switch hitter for power was mickey mantle!!!! Go Dodgers
I agree that getting lugo was a mistake. unless we get draft picks for him, that become solid players, it could be a huge mistake. giving up a couple of power hitting outfielders in guzman and pedroza already seems bad to me. we didn’t need lugo then, and don’t want him now.
i predict this trade was so bad, that trades will be compared to this one, and bad trades will be known as a big lugo.
and…. trading prospects for someone like lugo will become a giant lugo.
“3) Fire Rick Honeycutt and hire Orel Hershiser”
really man, what is that guy doing here.
Hey kday01 – Great to hear from you!
I agree with you about “The Mick” being the best switch hitting power hitter of all time, but I have to say that even though he is one of the biggest jerks in the game, Milton Bradley is also one of the best switch hitting power hitters I have ever seen, too.
I was at the game where Bradley hit homeruns from both sides, including the left-handed shot that landed way up in the right field loge seats. He was only the 12th player in Dodger Stadium history to hit one there. Man, what a shot!
That being said, in spite of his incredible power, I sure am glad that we got rid of his sorry *** and picked up Andre Ethier in his stead.
GO DODGERS!
PS: Hey Ned – PLEEEEEASE re-sign Maddux!
Maddux needs to be re-signed. Gagne need to be re-signed
HoneyCUNT needs to be fired.
Free agents…
Sign Zito
Sign A-Ram
I can’t get excited about any FA except for Zito. I’d rather we get a stud LF/RF and pitching. I think betemit will be okay-don’t know much about LaRoche, but he should be given a chance.
Hey 51 and 53 – I agree, the Mick was without doubt, with respect to Eddie Murray, the greatest power hitting switch hitter of all time. Man, I really get nervous when we start talking about signing high priced free agents, especially pitchers. They hardly ever seem to work out once the huge contract is signed. Having said that, I expect we could use a couple of guys, pitchers or otherwise who worked out like Furcal. To use a hockey term, I like grinders. Guys who give all they have every time but are not necessarily superstars. One thing I think is for sure is that we don’t take on guys who are injury prone or coming off surgery, with the exception of Gagne. Ray, now I don’t want you to think I am envious because you are in Arizona and we had snow flurries the other day. Thanks for the heads up on Meloan but you clued us in to that several months ago. He does look like a good one.