New Kid on the Block
No, the headline doesn’t refer to any of the rookies at Dodgertown but rather, Diamond Leung of the Riverside Press Enterprise, who continues to find interesting new angles during his first month on the Dodger beat. This morning, he wrote a fantastic piece about Hong-Chih Kuo and his journey to the Majors. For those of us who watched Kuo rehab here at the stadium year over the past few years, it really is cool to see him back on a mound and healthy, given all that he’s been through. And to top it all off, you couldn’t find a nicer person in the big leagues. It’s hard to believe he’s only 25 years old…Kuo, that is. Then again, Diamond is 25 also, and both are of Chinese descent, which makes for an interesting coincidence. Their paths to the Major Leagues have been different but today their stories kind of came together.
And then we go from the new kid on the block to the veteran, Kevin Modesti of the Daily News, who arrived in Dodgertown and penned an awesome first column that recounted some his fondest memories of Vero Beach.
The rest of the news today was mostly rehashing the J.D. Drew story, which I understand has to be done because we were playing the Red Sox but I have to admit, is getting a little tired. I’d like to think that with this game now in the past, both sides can move on peacefully and that maybe sometime in the next five years, the Dodgers can be playing against him in the postseason, as that would mean that it worked out for both J.D. and more importantly, for the Dodgers.
Inside the Dodgers 
Really a great piece on Kuo– everyone should check it out. Amazing he is only 25..
i’ve always been a big fan of his (well since last year), but that piece was pretty inspirational. Also, i was thinking about this yesterday listening to the game and the only reason i comment on it is because it is mentioned above– i was thinking that i really dont want J.D. Drew to succeed. I’m not wishing injury on the guy, but i hope he has a crappy year along with the rest of the BoSox– I HOPE, SOMEDAY, HE REGRETS LEAVING US… does this make me a bad person? o, well…
GO DODGERS
Kuo really impressed me in 2 big games against the NY Mets late last year… if he can stay healthy, he can dominate. That would be great, go Blue. How many lefties throw 97 in the game today? Not too many.
only ned ” i love veterans ” coletti is foolish enough to not hand the Kuo the job of the of the fifth starter. we have all seen what this guy can do when he starts. right handers hate facing him and leftys are pretty much out. yet he will just have to wait see.
Dodgers at Twins: Spring Training Update: Top 1: Ramon Ortiz Pitching:
Jason Repko grounds to the pitcher
Matt Kemp grounds to third
James Loney flies to left
0 Runs 0 Hits 0 LOB End of 1/2 inning No Score
Dodgers at Twins: Spring Training Update: Bottom 1: Jason Schmidt Pitching:
Alexi Casilla reaches on an infield single
Nick Punto strikes out swinging, Casilla steals second
Mike Redmond foul pops to Loney
Michael Cuddyer strikes out swinging
0 Runs 1 Hit 1 LOB End of 1 No Score
Dodgers at Twins: Spring Training Update: Top 2: Ramon Ortiz Pitching:
Andy LaRoche strikes out swinging
Andre Ethier grounds to second
Kelly Stinnett flies to left
0 Runs 0 Hits 0 LOB End of 1 1/2 No Score
it would be foolish to put Kuo in as the 5th starter! Considering he has had past serious arm problems and the fact that he only has about 15 starts as a pro! He hasn’t completed one year of professional baseball at any level in America as a starter. Billingsley should be and probably will be the 5th starter. Kuo will go to triple A and get more starts under his belt and might be up after the trade deadline if brad penny is traded.
Billingsly probably needs starts in AAA more than Kuo. He needs to be able to get past the 5th inning a little more often. I think it Kuo stays healthy, he will be the #5. Bills will probably either start in AAA or work out of the ‘pen. Lets jsut hope they dont fall for Tomko’s “new delivery” trick. That guy is bad news over the long haul- even if he can get hot at times. Hendrickson? Nothing needs to be said there.
bills is the one who needs more triple a though max power, kuo has had some arm injuries but so have basically every other pitcher in the majors. hes more seasoned than bills and i like his makeup right now at this point in time over bills. triple a would do nothing for kuo hes already dominated there. chad is still young. dont get caught up in all that billingsley hype from a few years ago he needs to be able to control his fastball consistantly before in your opinion he can help us before kuo. why let a 95 plus fastball and devastating slider go to waste on triple a hitters that are completely overmatched?
Dodgers at Twins: Spring Training Update: Bottom 2: Jason Schmidt Pitching:
Justin Morneau walks
Torii Hunter doubles, Morneau advances to third
Jason Kubel sacrifice fly to Kemp, Morneau scores, Loney cuts off the throw and catches Hunter off the bag and is tagged out, 1-0 MIN
Garrett Jones strikes out looking
1 Run 1 Hit 0 LOB End of 2 1-0 MIN
Not only that but Bills does not, contrary to past reports, throw “mid-90s”.
I dont think he threw anything over 92, maybe 93 last year. Bills maybe a solid starter in time, but Kuo has much more upside right now.
hahahaha.
tomko should be designated for assignment if there are no takers through a trade. you can only blow so many leads before the fans just dont believe in you anymore. and we arent buying your lame duck excuses. im tired of hearing about sports psychiatrists and new windups. cut your losses ned and get your SF buddy brett bomko out of here. same for mark hendrickson.
hahahaha= oops sorry guys i wasnt thinking.
Dodgers at Twins: Spring Training Update: Top 3: Ramon Ortiz Pitching:
Ramon Martinez flies to deep left
Wilson Valdez flies to center
Chin-Lung Hu grounds to second
0 Runs 0 Hits 0 LOB End of 2 1/2 1-0 MIN
Dodgers at Twins: Spring Training Update: Bottom 3: Mark Hendrickson Pitching:
Tommy Watkins grounds to second
Casilla strikes out looking
Punto grounds to third
0 Runs 0 Hits 0 LOB End of 3 1-0 MIN
Last year Billingsley was the best pitching prospect in baseball according to Baseball America. He has been called the best pitching prospect for the Dodgers since Pedro.
Bills can throw in the mid 90’s he hit 94-95 in a couple of games last year. Specially in that string of games he started after the break where he was dominate. Bills has a plus curveball has well and good change. He also learned a cutter last year which he used often and it hit 89-92 last year.
Billingsley>Kuo>Tomko
Atleast were off the Juan Pierre topic, hopefully Panda isn’t onlne today. J/K
Dodgers at Twins: Spring Training Update: Top 4: Glen Perkins Pitching:
Repko singles
Kemp robbed of a base hit by Watkins with an over the head grab and doubles up Repko at first
Loney singles
LaRoche singles to left
Ethier strikes out looking
0 Runs 3 Hits 2 LOB End of 3 1/2 1-0 MIN
Kuo had some good starts last year he was impressive in his first start againts the Mets and was good in his other starts. He would be a good 6th starter and if Penny gets traded a good 5th starter but to put him in over Billingsley is silly
Dodgers at Twins: Spring Training Update: Bottom 4: Mark Hendrickson Pitching:
Redmond singles to center
Cuddyer singles to center, Redmond to second
Morneau strikes out looking
Hunter shallow flies to right
Kubel singles up the middle, Redmond scores, Cuddyer to third
Garrett Jones strikes out swinging
1 Run 3 Hits 2 LOB End of 4 2-0 MIN
Dodgers at Twins: Spring Training Update: Top 5: Glen Perkins Pitching:
Kelly Stinnett strikes out swinging
Ramon Martinez grounds to short
Valdez HOMERS down the line, 2-1 MIN
Hu singles to right, Hu picked off
1 Run 2 Hits 0 LOB End of 4 1/2 2-1 MIN
bills is still young. arm issues or not kuo is still the more polished of the two to me. either way we have a nice dilemma on our hands.
Dodgers at Twins: Spring Training Update: Bottom 5: Greg Miller Pitching:
Watkins hit by the pitch
Casilla sacrifice bunts to third, Watkins to second
Punto grounds to second, Watkins to third
Redmond grounds to third
0 Runs 0 Hits 1 LOB End of 5 2-1 MIN
Tie probably goes to the lefty. But we’ll see.
Dodgers at Twins: Spring Training Update: Top 6: Randy Choate Pitching:
Repko flies to right
Kemp walks
Loney hit by the pitch, Kemp to second
LaRoche grounded to short, Kemp to third, Loney to second
Ethier singles, Kemp and Loney score, 3-2 Dodgers
Stinnett doubles, Ethier to third
Ramon Martinez singles, Ethier and Stinnett score, 5-2 Dodgers
Valdez pops to second
4 Runs 3 Hits 1 LOB End of 5 1/2 5-2 Dodgers
Dodgers at Twins: Spring Training Update: Bottom 6: Greg Miller Pitching:
Cuddyer doubles
Morneau strikes out looking
Denard Span singles, Cuddyer scores 5-3 Dodgers
Kubel reaches on an infield single at third, Span to second
Garrett Jones flies to right, Span advances to third
Watkins forces Kubel at 2nd
1 Run 3 Hits 2 LOB End of 6 5-3 Dodgers
Dodgers at Twins: Spring Training Update: Top 7:
Hu reaches on an infield single, Hu advances to second on a wild pitch
Larry Bigbie walks, Hu steals third
Choo Freeman grounds to second, Hu scores, Bigbie to second 6-3 Dodgers
Loney grounds to second, Bigbie to third
LaRoche strikes out looking
1 Run 1 Hit 1 LOB End of 6 1/2 6-3 Dodgers
In my opinion the edge goes to Bills for his consistency – I would argue that he was the most consistent starter last year. He has proven his consistency through more starts, where Kuo has shown his promise through fewer. I think Kuo is a filthier pitcher, no doubt, but remember that this staff needs a workhorse. If Bills can calm down in the 1st inning and control his fastball better, he IS that workhorse. (Remember how many 1st-inning jams he had to get out of last year? That always ran his pitch count up early.) Whether or not he can prove that by opening day, we shall see.
That said…I love Bills but I’d almost rather have Kuo at #5. Get as much use out of his arm before he blows it out again. Then bring up Bills after one of our starters is traded/injured. Hopefully at that point Bills will have the 1st inning/control issues down pat.
i dont see the point of sticking Kuo in there until his arm blows out. Kuo needs to go to triple A and start there. He has NEVER finished a full season has a starter. He hasnt even thrown half a season or a quarter of a season as a starter.
Put him in triple A build up his arm strength and core strength. Have him get used to being a starter. If we stick him in there now it could turn out to be a disaster.
Dodgers at Twins: Spring Training Update: Bottom 7: Dario Veras Pitching:
Casilla grounds to second
Glenn Williams HOMERS, 6-4 Dodgers
Chris Heintz reaches on an infield single
Unknown reaches on an infield single to third, Heintz to second
Matthew LeCroy walks, bases loaded, Gil Velazquez pitch runs
Denard Span shallow flies to right
Josh Rabe forces LeCroy at second
1 Runs 3 Hits 3 LOB End of 7 6-4 Dodgers
1. We dont know if his arm is going anywhere. At this point, it looks great. Held up all year last year.
2. Are arms more stable in AAA?
I can’t believe unknown reached on an infield single. That pisses me off, the nerve unknown has.
Dodgers at Twins: Spring Training Update: Top 8: Carmen Cali Pitching:
Ethier singles to left
Ken Huckaby 6-4-3 Double Play
Fernando Tatis doubles off the wall
Valdez doubles, Tatis scores 7-4 Dodgers
Hu reaches on an error, Valdez to third
Bigbie flies out
1 Run 3 Hits 1 Error 2 LOB End of 7 1/2 7-4 Dodgers
Haha, considering the fact that Steiner says a player’s name once if I’m lucky, i’m just happy i’ve gone this long without having Unknown playing spring training.
Dodgers at Twins: Spring Training Update: Bottom 8: Jonathan Meloan Pitching:
Brandon Roberts grounds to second
#93 (another unknown, even Steiner and A Martinez have no clue who he is) singles to center, Freeman gave it a dive, but came up short
#92 (apparently the Twins don’t want us to know who these guys are) grounds out
Glenn Williams grounds to third
0 Runs 1 Hit 1 LOB End of 8 7-4 Dodgers
Got to think Meloan makes the squad.
Yeah, you gotta feel for the press box here, sending in their 92 and 93 without any names on their jerseys. Maybe they should’ve just made up a story for them.
“And here’s number 92, Bebe Rabuzzo. Bebe, an alma mater of the Fighting Steubens of Steubenville City College, has spent three years as the pinch hitter for the Jailhouse Nine of the Minnesota Penal League…”
Yeah, I know, they could get in trouble, but at least it might be more entertaining.
Dodgers at Twins: Spring Training Update: Top 9: Mike Venafro Pitching:
Freeman grounds to third
Loney flies out to deep center
LaRoche reaches on a throwing error by Mr. #93
Delwyn Young flies to center
0 Runs 0 Hits 1 Error 1 LOB End of 8 1/2 7-4 Dodgers
I’m listening to the Twins radio station. Even the Twins announcers don’t know who some of these unknowns are, though they knew the name of the last one (which I forget).
Thank you for the spring training updates and the daily blog posts. I really do appreciate it. Go Dodgers!
VENAFRO!!!! HHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!11!!
Dodgers at Twins: Spring Training Update: Bottom 9: Eric Hull Pitching:
Chris Heintz flies to right
Eli Tintor walks
Gil Velazquez sacrifice bunts, Tintor to second
Denard Span flies to left
R H E
Dodgers
7 13 1
Twins
4 11 1
WP: Greg Miller
LP: Randy Choate
SV: Eric Hull
Time of Game: 2:44
Well, a game with only one error…that’s a huge improvement.
Twins had an all-star line-up out there today.
Did you guys all see our staff get shafted on mlb.com? I don’t know about y’all but I definetely think that our staff is in the top 5, the Pads and Indians ahead of us, NO WAY!
As for the Billingsley-Kuo debate, I think Kuo has the higher potential but Billingsley definetely proved his worth on the big-league squad last year. How bout we turn Wolf into a reliever and let ’em both start, if they start to buckle under the pressure, Wolf is a great insurance policy.
Hey Guys: I haven’t heard of
the defensive side of Bigbee ?
Does anyone, have a clue, as to how good/bad he is ???????
Thanks….Go Blue…
Dodgers are paying Wolf a lot to be an insurance policy…he’s being paid to regain his pre-surgery form. So far, he doesn’t look like a bad addition to the rotation, and he has a lot of upside in this second season after the operation.
Great thing about Wolf’s contract – it contains an ’08 team option, I believe. If he’s great this season, we get him again. If he’s not, there’s a spot in the ’08 rotation for Bills or Kuo, and more money to use to attract a power bat.
Good point puppyhead, but a lot of people are talking about sending Bills back to AAA when he pretty much dealt all year last year. I love Kuo’s stuff but to me bills doesn’t need anymore minor league seasoning.
That mlb.com piece is a joke…
Ill take the best 2 of Wolf, Bills, Kuo over Wells and Hensley any day.
Schmidt, Lowe, Penny VS Peavy, Young, Maddux is close-edge still to Blue.
Plus how can cleveland be rated so high, with 5 #3 starters.
dont forget about Scott Elbert in 2008…he’ll be a september call up this year and im sure he’ll battle for a spot on the rotation next year.
Don’t forget about a possible trade for Unknown, either. I hear the Twins are looking to move him and he is versatile.
1) David Wells made Brad Penny look like a supermodel before. Now that Penny’s lost a bit of weight, I seriously question why Wells is considered that good. The rotation rankings there were definitely a joke; Detroit doesn’t have good pitchers as much as good defense. Anaheim has good pitchers. The Padres rotation isn’t that much better than ours if at all, and a lot of that is just that their outfield is big enough to fit an entire team of David Wells. Our rotation, if not a top 5, is certainly a top 10 rotation, but I can’t see how a top 5 rotation list can omit the Florida Marlins and that bright young pitching staff.
2) Jim Molony hurt my head with that article, but then Ken Gurnick blew my mind by actually saying that he’d go with Kuo as the fifth starter; finally Gurnick speculation (and admitted speculation!) that makes me happy.
3) As for the fifth starter, it is clear to me that neither Tomko or Hendrickson deserve the job, and it should be Billingsley or Kuo, and I’d go with Kuo by far. Billingsley needs to work still on his command of the strike zone and his efficiency. That Billingsley does so well under pressure makes me think it is not coincidental, and that perhaps it would be a good idea to move him into the bullpen as that would limit his workload, and he could go into the rotation later. Kuo would still not be overworked as the 5th starter, because you can skip the 5th starter on an off day (something Grady would be willing to do). Besides, why not use Kuo where he can do the most good?
4) JD Drew is gone. Let’s leave it at that.
5) I think Repko will be traded by the time Spring Training is over. He’s a backup centerfielder, and that’s not something particularly vital when you have a guy that will play 162 at that spot. I’d expect to see him traded, to see Bigbie make the team out of spring training, and to see Kemp promoted when Gonzalez hurts himself, and then take the job when Bigbie starts playing like Bigbie.
Patriot, you may be right about Repko…however, he has so much upside (if he stays healthy) and is such a great defensive fielder, with a cannon for an arm, that he is a valuable defensive replacement from the 7th on. Remember how he tore up April last year before being injured? Every team needs a 4th outfielder that can produce offensively and play defense, and I think he’s the guy for that. He could replace Pierre or Gonzo in late innings and do a great job in either spot. In addition, he could get spot starts to rest Gonzo.
But you could be right. If you are, I hope they trade him later in the season after a productive start and a few highlight-reel plays to buffer his trade value. He could be packaged with a pitcher or two…I’d be sad to see him go, though. An exciting young player to watch.
i dont think Repko will be traded…considering out entire outfield is left handed Repko will be needed. Matt Kemp wont get called up to be a backup unless he starts tearing up triple A and Gonzo falters.
there is supposed to be a period aver backup and the sentence follow should have been…Unless he starts tearing up triple a and Gonzo falters Kemp will stay in triple A until the break or even next year. Lord knows he needs a full year in TRiple A to learn how to hit a breaking ball.
I got a big kick out of the Unknown string. I am surprised one of you did not suggest trading Hendrickson for Unknown. Thanks for making me laugh; some of you are very funny.
aww thanks ibirken. And actually that sounds like a steal: Hendrickson for Unknown. Any GM would be a genius to pull that one off.
Actually…I’d trade Hendrickson for just about anyone at this point, so “Hendrickson for Unknown” is perfectly acceptable to me. Unless he can dominate as another situational lefty out of the bullpen in ST, let the Twins take him.
Trade Hendrickson AND Tomko for Unknown, no less.
Nomar at 3B? Now thats a good debate. I tihnk at the end of the day Grady is going to have a real tough time keeping Loney’s bat out of the line-up. The guy is a hitting machine in a lineup that may need runs. Will be interesting to see how this all plays out.
man oh man, I don’t mean to rile anyone up, but i’ve been reading the Juan Pierre debate, and decieded to do a little research. I went back and looked at every at bat he took last year and, since he will probably be in the #2 hole, here is what i was looking for: if he-
a. got a hit where a runner(s) on base advanced a base or scored
b. had a sacrifice which caused a runner to score who otherwise wouldn’t have
c. left a runner(s) stranded on base
JP had appox. 270 runners on base when he came to bat, and 108 of them either advanced a base, scored, or were sac’d and scored. so 40% of the time he came to bat with runners on, he was succsessful. just something to think about. Oh, also looked at for whether his stolen base attempts resulted in –
a. nothing positive or negative
b. an out
c. directly resulting in a run (like when he singled, stole 2nd, stole 3rd, there was an error on the throw, and he scored. that’s as good as a home run in my book.)
out of 78 attempts, nothing came of 38 of them, 20 were outs, and 22! directly resulted in a score which would NOT have happened if he had not stolen the base.
just some food for thought.
atomikkid,
…. uh, thanks…. ill check back in a week when this has died down (again).
nomar at 3rd will probably happen. LaRoche needs a few more AB’s at triple A and betemit needs some AB’s in single A. Having Loney in the lineup would make this an even better lineup. If Loney gets into the lineup id hit him 5th.
Billingsley or Kuo is a great decision to have to make. On the other hand, it’s really easy if you just look at how they fared. Look at Billingsley’s starts after the All-Star Break. 11 total earned runs in July and August, and all 5, 6, and 7 inning starts. He was basically the key to the Dodgers turn-around over the summer. His September was lousy because he got the omni-present oblique strain, and was not sharp when he came back. But he pitched two scoreless innings in the playoffs. Kuo had five starts after coming back up (starting the season as a bad reliever). A great outing against the Mets, a good efforts against the Cubs where he got no decision, badly beaten up by the Pirates, and good outings against the Giants and D-Backs. In his playoff start, he did not last 5 innings (possibly pulled too early). But the entire book on him right now is based on one day against New York. This is like the big deal when Edwin Jackson (who???) beat Randy Johnson in his first outing. I think Kuo has huge potential, but Billingsley has already proven sustained succeess as a starter, and never had arm problems. Kuo is obviously the insurance policy for any problems for Bills or the other top-4, and I would not be surprised to see him in the rotation at some point during the year (either because of injury, trade, or inability of the other 5). But unless something drastic happens in Spring to change the outlook, Billingsley has to be the fifth starter.
I’m all for more playing time for Loney. Nomar is an injury risk no matter where he plays; I don’t think 3B is much riskier than 1B, if it is at all.
attomikkid: I question the accuracy of your post. JP had 297 runners on base total in his plate appearances, not the “approx. 270” you stated (10% off!). Your SB numbers are wrong (38+20+22 /= 78). Additionally, you cannot know these outcomes: “…runner to score who otherwise wouldn’t have” and “…a score which would NOT have happened if he had not stolen the base”
Good point leekfink. Bills definitely has proven his stuff further than has Kuo.
Good point on the stats old fogey. Gotta be accurate if you’re using numbers in a debate…
old fogey –
the problem with just looking at the stats is that they are sometimes misleading, that’s why i went back and looked at each individual at bat. i did not count baserunners in instances where-
a. there was an error on the play
b. he was hit by a pitch
c. there was a wild pitch on the play and a runner scored, a runner was thrown at attempting a steal, etc, etc….
as far as i am aware, the runners on base total is calculated when he steps up to the plate. (JP was involved in 25 or so plays involving an error, I’d have to go back and look it up)
and you’re right, it was supposed to be 20 and 20, not 22, was looking at the wrong number.
as for the outcomes…i only counted a sac. score when following the sac. the next 2 ab’s resulted in outs (if the runnner was on 2nd, JP sac’d him to 3rd, and the next two plays were outs, in all probability the runner would not have scored if he had still been on 1st base. yes it’s not perfect, but i did have some rules going into this. also, twice JP stole 2nd and 3rd, there was an error, he scored, and the next player got the 3rd out of the inning. again, he *probably* would not have scored. i went into this blind, not trying to have a opinion one way or the other, just doing it to provide some info. i guess my reason for this was: stats are misleading in many ways. if a guy has a .500 obp, great. but we don’t know what instances he is getting on base necessarily. is it only when the team is way down or way up? does he fail in crunch time? i know there are plenty of sites and figures and numbers blah blah blah, but the best way is to actually look at each at bat and seem what the instances were and what happened. i didn’t say the numbers were exact, i said appox. for a reason. taking the time to go through every at bat a player has takes time, and sometimes you miss an at bat or two (i missed counting 1 of his rbi’s, don’t know how i missed it). anyways, take it with a grain of salt, or ignore it. whatever.
one final note on this and then i’m leaving it alone. if you look at a players RISP avg. (runners in scoring position), it’s a near meaningless number. it doesn’t count runners on first, and it doesn’t count how many runners. if you had 10 ab’s, 7 of which had only 1 runner in scoring position, and you failed to get a hit, but in 3 of your ab’s the bases were loaded and you hit a grand slam, you would have driven in 9 of the 16 runners, but your RISP avg. would only be .300. every stat is correct, but it only tells half of the story. we all tend to get caught up in players OBPS and RC27 or whatever, but they really don’t tell you nearly enough. 60 SB’s are meaningless if everytime you steal a base there are 2 outs and you never get past 2nd. conversely, if you only stole 5 bases, but it was 3rd each time, and on the next play you were driven in by a sac fly, then the 5 is greater than the 60. but you can’t see that unless you put the numbers within the context of the situation that they occured.
I think you’re right about the contextual claim you made, atom. That is why I’m holding judgment on the JP thing.
The pitching is looking so nice and it’s definitely nice to see Hu, Valdes, and Bigbie making things interesting at the plate.
Nomar at third is great (just hope he doesn’t get hurt…) and I definitely would love to see Loney in the lineup.
Ethier has his swing back, baby!! (or so it seems) Ethier is going to be such a stud!!!
as it was pointed out earlier the reason billingsley should be in the rotation was because of his starts after the break until he was hurt. During that stretch there was really no better pitcher in the league.
Got to agree with you there Ringo on all 4 points. I think we keep Repko and if anything watch him take playing time from Gonzo. Maybe even shift the outfield because repko Has the CF Gun and the speed and Hitting is not an issue with him in any way.Only reason Lofton played so much last year was the fact that Repko Climbed the wall and broke down.I think more then anything Gonzo is a 50/50 replacement for Lofton/Drew(Aging Vet with Power insurance 4th outfielder).Ethier,Repko,JP is a very fast with 50-60HR .300+ avg. outfield Gonzo could Pony in 10 or more pinch/relief start Dings.Kemp needs more time in Vegas.Bottom line is that we have alot of Very talented players in spring training and the ones who are not signed for major league contracts are playing for spring the ones who have postions are playing for 162 games of reg season and hopefully+++ in the post season.
JP still doesn’t have a walk(.444) but Nomar still doesn’t have a hit(.000)
Go Blue 2007!!!
Nomar always starts off crappy in Spring training. Same thing happened last year and the Red Sox told the Dodgers that he always does that. I totally support him going to third, open up for Loney.
I’m guessing Randy Wolf doesn’t know how to type real well cuz he really didn’t say much…
That wasn’t really any kind of knock on Nomar it was just a spring first week sample….
I noticed that too about Wolf but chalked it up to a man who goes out and does the job quickly and efficently.Hopefully! He had no errors….
You don’t want a starting pitcher to spend alot of time on one question/out do you?
hey guys, its been a lot of fun reading all of the posts about this stat and that stat and why it makes one player a better choice than another. but being older than some of you guys and having cut my teeth watching Walter Alston manage, there is no stat to measure HEART. that was the one thing that the old school guys knew how to measure and knew when to put that guy in the lineup in the right spot with the game on the line. if you remember we used to call these guys “Gamers”. just as an example,one guy that was a huge part of a World Series team who wouldn’t have measured up to the “stat game” that year was Mickey Hatcher. but what would we have been that year without him. let’s give some of these guys the chance to become the “Gamer” that every good team needs.
Great call sabre3. Man those Walter Alston days were great!
You are right on about Mickey Hatcher and the heart that he brought to the ball park everyday. But even more recently, the Dodger with the most heart (and was the heart of the team) was Paul LoDuca. When DePodesta traded away LoDuca, he traded away the very heart of our Dodger team, which, to this day, we still have not fully recovered from.
Juan Pierre appears to have this same type of heart, regardless of his stats. Because of this, I believe that he will prove be the best addition to the team in several years.
As you may or may not know, we have several “veterans” (a kind word for old guys) here on this blog. I do not know your age, but we have guys who are 51, 52, 53 (me), and even a few guys older that us that post here regularly.
GO DODGERS!
“you remember we used to call these guys “Gamers”. just as an example,one guy that was a huge part of a World Series team who wouldn’t have measured up to the “stat game” that year was Mickey Hatcher”
Well, Mickey Hatcher (who coincidently has the same lifetime slugging average as Juan Pierre) helped the Dodgers win the 88 World Series. That wasn’t his heart though, it was his two home runs! A big difference: Hatcher was a role player who got a couple hundred at bats at most with LA and was paid about $300,000 (in 1988 money of course). Pierre is being paid, what, $10 million a year and is expected to get 650-700 plate appearances this year. I’d rather give his at bats to Kemp and pay Pierre the minimum wage and use Pierre as the “role player Gamer”
fansince53,
i have you by 2 years. glad to know the old f–ts hang in there. GO BLUE