Grady Little Signs an Extension
I’m very excited to let you all know that we will be shortly announcing that Grady Little’s option was picked up for 2008 and we added another option for 2009. As someone who gets to watch his leadership every day, I can attest to the fact that this is a great decision and a big day for the Dodger organization.
You can talk to Frank McCourt about this announcement and any number of other topics during today’s live web chat at 2 p.m. PT
And I will do my best to get answers to all of your parking questions sometime very soon, but rest assured that we take all of the comments to heart and appreciate the fact that you are all taking the time to write in with your thoughts.
Inside the Dodgers 
oh joy, 2 more years of Cletus mismanaging the entire pitching staff!!! hurray!
Managing is all year by year anyway, but regardless congrats to Grady and may he write L-O-N-E-Y in the lineup as much as possible!
pearljam, Get a life. Give the
guy a chance. He’s done well.
Starters have to go more than 5 and the personnel he was given, has to bang the pelota.
Slack off on Grady, will ya.
“His .568 winning percentage is best among all current Major League managers.”
He does something right…
so much for my “Scioscia ’08” t shirts.
Nice fellow, good player manager, questionable game manager.
I don’t mean to hijack this thread, but last night I saw the “Kirk Gibson’s Home Run” episode of “Beyond the Glory” on FSW2. Even though I have seen it several times already, it still sends chills up my spine. That was one of, if not THE greatest Dodger moment in my 53 years as a Dodger fan (although the Miracle Monday is a close second).
I even pulled my 13 year old son away from his homework to watch it with me (which really upset him – Ya Right).
I had completely forgotten Gibson’s favorite phrase after a great victory: “What a team!”
I sure hope somebody steps up and takes charge of the 2007 Dodgers and fires them up the way that Kirk Gibson (and Orel Hershiser) did with those magical 1988 Dodgers.
What a team!
GO DODGERS!
I’m not a big fan of Grittle or his coaches. I think this team would do better under someone else, someone like Joe Girardi. As long as Grady’s the manager we’re going to continue to see washed up veterans over the young guys. Also his in game moves are very questionable, he’s also the last one to see a pitcher has nothing on the mound on any given day.
“As long as Grady’s the manager we’re going to continue to see washed up veterans over the young guys.”
What about Ethier/Martin/Broxton/Billingsley last year? In his first year, he showed a willingness to put young players in in important situations. Any complaint you have about “washed-up old guys” has to do with Coletti not Grady. And who are these washed-up guys? Gonzo? OK…one. One potentially washed-up old guy. Kent will get 90+ RBI if he stays healthy…he had 14 HRs playing half the season injured last year. Otherwise our entire roster is guys under 35, if you don’t count Saenz. (Please correct me with whomever I’ve forgotten.) I’d hardly say that Garciaparra is a washed-up old guy, even if he’s past his prime – he batted around .360 before the All-Star break (and his injuries), and came through with some clutch hits all year long. Ethier and Pierre certainly can’t be considered washed-up, nor can Furcal or Betemit…nor can anyone in the back end of the bullpen or the top 3 (4?) in our rotation.
Have I made my point yet?
Congratulations Forrest Gump hopefully you have learn to make a pitching change by now.
Scocia is with a real team and a good owner. The dodgers had their chance at him but being the idiots that they are they let him go. They said he would never be a good manager. Lets just look back at 2002. When is the last time Little won a world Series can you say never.
Josh, I have a question about a different topic. Can you tell me why so few of the Dodgers’ spring training games are being carried by XM? If I understand the explanations offered by the XM hosts, they are broadcasting all of the games that the teams’ flagship stations make available. KFWB is doing a webcast of most of the LA games, so why would they not make these available to XM too? I realize the games are available on the computer, but my employer blocks high-bandwidth web sites, leaving XM as my only option for listening to day games. (My job is such that listening to a game is perfectly fine–as long as I don’t use my computer to do it.) Thanks for any information you can provide.
I like Grady as a manager, and not just because I share a birthday with him.
As far as the pitching staff, he really did a good job with the staff last year, and the rest of the team too. He pushed Danys Baez back to the 7th inning after realizing he was no good, and he didn’t use three pitchers to get three outs in an inning (coughJimTracycough). He didn’t order a lot of position players to give up outs either. He also gave Repko and Ethier a shot when it became obvious that Jose Cruz wasn’t worth $4million.
In all honesty, a manager is not going to win ballgames. The best managers do the best damage control by avoiding bad decisions and in helping the players stay steady. Then if they’re good for a quote now and then, more power to ’em. So I like Grady.
Honestly the vets on the team has more to do with Colletti than with Little. After all Colletti hired Little, so it’s expected that Grady will play his players.
You know, I’m tired of hearing the “Grady’s going to play washed-up veterans over younger, more talented players” music. It’s getting old. I’ve never seen anyone in “the show” ever being handed a starting position. It doesn’t happen. These positions are EARNED.
Case in point: last year Matt Kemp was setting the league on its ear for the first three weeks when he was called up, so much so that Grady had no other choice but to give him a starting role. Simply, in the short amount of time, Matt Kemp earned the right to become a starter. And shortly thereafter, as we are all aware, he then earned the right to sit on the bench once the rest of the league figured out how to pitch to him, thus showing the Dodgers that more time was needed to groom Matt Kemp.
Believe me when I tell you this: Grady Little will do all that is necessary to provide the Dodgers with the best possible players to create a winning team. He will give Matt Kemp another shot when he’s proved he can be entrusted with a starting role. The same goes for James Loney, Chad Billingsley, etc. So enough of with the “Grady only plays washed up veterans” **** already… the kids will get theirs when they PROVE they are ready.
************************
And as for YOU “eduardosoto”… Why don’t you try learning to SPELL Mike Scioscia’s name first before you prove to everyone how ignorant you really are. You don’t think you’re ignorant? Oh really… well then, you seem to love Arte Moreno, and yes, he’s proven to be a good owner for the Angels… just as Frank McCourt has proven he’s committed to winning and will try and do whatever he and his staff feel is best for the Los Angeles Dodgers. But Eduardo… you point out 2002. That was a fantastic year for the Angels and a fantastic year for Mickey Mouse as well… because if you would simply pull your head out, you’d remember that Disney OWNED the Angels that year and Moreno had absolutely nothing to do with the Anaheim Angels of 2002! Moreno loves everything the Dodgers stand for that he is actually trying to make the Angels the Dodgers… all by stealing the Los Angeles name in the process!
So what has Arte Moreno brought to the city of Anaheim? Reduced beer, a few good free agent deals, one Divisional Series and a heap-load of legal issues. In 2001, the Dodgers were owned by Murdoch’s News Corp, which lets McCourt and Colletti off the hook for your insinuation that the Dodgers were idiots for letting Scioscia go. If McCourt had owned the Dodgers when Scioscia was looking for work, you bet he’d have been given a strong look to have managed the Dodgers. So wake up and get your facts straight before you come on here and post your poison on this board. Get on board with this team or get lost!
Grady Little is the best man for the Dodgers RIGHT NOW! Mike Scioscia is the best man for the Angels… and good luck to them both. I hope that Mike doesn’t mind it when we show the Angels who the REAL Los Angeles team is again in 2007!
GO DODGERS!!
the good on grandy, we tied for the divison lead last year, he made changes needed to put the best team on the field, and in his first year it was getting to know the players.
the bad, he seemed to be happy with being on a pace, a pace just to make the playoffs, to me setting his sights a bit to low. Sometimes he did not seem to be going for a win in a game,
just happy to be on pace.
I hope that he developes more of a killer habbit this year, go for every win we can, especially early in the year,
getting off to a fast start helps tons.
I’d hardly say that Garciaparra is a washed-up old guy, even if he’s past his prime – he batted around .360 before the All-Star break (and his injuries),
What We saw after Nomar was hurt and Loney Taking it up was nothing less the Phenom on Loneys part and the day after Loney Set a one day rbi record for a rookie and break or match …(don’t quite remember it completely) but he was riding pine….Why would you sit that Hot of a bat?
Today was the worst outfielding I’ve ever seen!Last Year I just Thought it was lofton playing short but it was all the outfield not being able to get to the wall.From my most basic little league days it is the most important thing is that you have room to play the ball in front of you and never let it go over your head!!!! Everyone seems to be playing too shallow… AND WHERE THE HECK IS OUR #1 Pitching staff???? Granted Hendrickson gave up runs but looked efficent and sharp as compared to last years midseason transistion meltdown.Today looked like Lofton playing all outfield positions and nobody having a clue on the basepaths. Runner at second in spring training with a hit to the outfield 2 runs might have scored 0 runs tried. Sorry all but I’ve not been on board yet with Grady nor his coaches since they arrived.Tracy atleast had good coaches to back him.
Last week when Furcal returned to spring training i remember JP saying how important it is that they both get on board with hitting and reading each other in spring so they can execute from the git go and I’ve yet to see them both start a game nor see that they have played 1-2 yet.I know martin could be a #2 hitter but Then where do you put JP?not to mention that martin likes to hit He’s a better #6-7 hitter.Pathetic game pathetic performance and pathetic Managment in this game I see this team winning less then the Royals the way they played today with currant coaches and management…..
Go Blue 2008…..?
i like how it was put in Jerry Crasnick’s article today…
“general manager Ned Colletti would rather make a prospect kick down the door than simply throw the door open and watch the poor kid trip stepping over the threshold.”
with taht being said. I think Martin blew down the down with some TNT last year as did Ethier before he slowly started rebuilding that door. Bills put a dent in it but isn’t quite ready to finish it off. Kuo opened it and is starting to walk back out.
And Why The Heck is Saito not closing Games???????????
Came up with a song for The Dodger pitching staff today. ‘When The Hammer Swings Down’Babylon A.D.Thats what Happened today…..
It was great to hear Frank on the mic last night with Vinny address the fact that the parking situation is flawed. I’m glad he’s heard us. Looking forward to the info about all the fixes he has in the works.
Okay puppyhead you made your point,but what about Little playing an injured Nomar,a Nomar who hit something like 200 after the break ,when he had a healthy Loney who produced when given the chance? Martin did great,but Little had no other options and had to play him. It’s true Ned gives him these players, washed up vets like Gonzo, but everything I read says they’re on the same page so I believe Grady has input into the roster. Also wasn’t Eithier only called up after some other older guy went down with an injury? That said you can’t think Honeycutt is a good pitching coach or what about Grady’s 3rd base coach (remember the playoffs). It seems to me Grady doesn’t have the fire a manager needs to be really competitive.
Fisher…because it’s spring training, it’s an exhibition game, it’s more situational than anything else. Losing 13-0 is completely meaningless, which is why the only person to talk about it is you. If this happened in two weeks this board would be screaming over 100 posts about everything you just mentioned. In Spring, not everybody plays everyday and the veterans aren’t even up for the games yet just read what Schmidt said yesterday on Dodgers.com. As, for Saito in the spring they bring the closer in early in all of the games so they can face major league hitting before the youngsters take over in the later innings. But, if you want to base a whole season on a meaningless 13-0 blowout in the spring, we’ll talk to you next season. Otherwise stick around cause only 12 days till opening day, when the board picks it up a notch.
Yeah fisher…that was pretty dramatic of you for a spring training game. Know why they probably didn’t send the men home from 2b on the outfield singles? The possibility of having an injurious collision at the plate. The 3b coach knows that this game is MEANINGLESS – the team isn’t out there to win in ST, they are out there to practice in a live situation, and they’re not going to injure baserunners to score a run.
That said, pitching was atrocious. It was a pathetic game to watch. As for the outfield, having JP’s speed in center will make a significant impact for those gappers we saw getting to the wall in just about every inning.
Fliegel, Ethier was called up when Cruz showed he was no good. Ledee also hurt his leg to open up a roster spot, but Ethier would have gotten his chance when Cruz was released. I think the comments about Grady and Ned being on the same page doesn’t mean that Grady has input into major roster decisions like free-agent signings (Ned has a lot of other staff for that), but rather that Grady was attempting to be an amicable co-worker in a new environment. There’s no point in Grady disagreeing publicly with Ned – EVER – from Grady’s point of view. All it’s going to do is get him fired and cause controversy in the clubhouse. What’s a manager supposed to do? Tell the players playing under him that he wishes some of them weren’t on the team? That’s not very managerial…
KSS very well put I agree with you 100% who let the halo fan in this blog anyway? Go Dodgers!!I’m not the biggest grady fan but congrats. Only time will tell with this team they should win close to 100 ball games!anything under 90 and grady goes!!
read the article in the Times… I LOOOVE how parking prices went up too…up to $15. When the front office lets us know all the new things and changes coming in 2007, its cute how they dont mention the other stuff. I know I know…its obvious why they dont. But its still an aire of deception isnt it?
someone mentioned that Mr. McCourt and Vin were talking about the parking situation? What was brought up and what was said? if someone could fill me in….cause i missed it… thanks!
Frank: “Parking is a real problem at Dodger Stadium”
Vin: “Yeah it is.”
Frank: “We’re going to try to fix it.”
Vin: “Good.”
parking is the main reason fans are late and leave early.
They need a huge parking structure behind the stadium (or multiple structures around the lot)…think they can get that done in 1 off-season?
More parking spaces is definitely not the answer. The city needs better public transportation for the fans. A parking lot five minutes away where people can park and take a shuttle to the stadium is a far better solution.
well, if they’re raising parking prices in addition to ticket prices, i expect a structure.
I like that idea Kirby. There should definitely be a light rail station near the stadium. Not that LA is renowned for its excellent public transportation, but it’s a good idea.
Oh and beyond the parking story, here’s a Stark article on ESPN about March trade possibilities…should at least provide some food for thought, and perhaps some fuel for the discussion here. Significantly, it lists Tomko and Hendy as on the trading block, and Penny as off the block.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring2007/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=2806659&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab6pos1
puppyhead, you brought up a good point. I wonder if Ned asks Grady if he would like to have a certain player on the team? It seems to me he should, maybe Grady knows something about said player and his input along with others can only help him decide.
i heard of a mark hendrickson for BK Kim deal.
I know the logistics would be really intense, but the stadium would benefit greatly if the City of Los Angeles would cooperate with the Dodgers in creating direct freeway access on/off ramps for the 5 and 110 freeways. The Stadium Way route could easily be converted as direct access by losing the street signals from the off ramp. Any way that they could get the freeways directly to the parking lots without stopping would be the only way to speed things up in getting to and from the stadium… in my opinion that is.
Although it’s still waaaaay too early to tell, maybe not re-signing Gagne wasn’t such a bad idea after all. Check this out:
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/recap;_ylt=Aop3HZm2MXA3ZgueQThjV00RvLYF?gid=270320113&prov=ap
GO DODGERS!
Hey 53… I had no idea that Kevin Federline played for the Giants, and he seems to have power too. I guess there really is life after Britney!
It was Gagne’s first outing, so the jury’s still out on him. I’m sure he’ll give up some dingers while working on his pitches.