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After 18 hits yesterday, we’ll roll the same eight out there tonight, with Brett Tomko on the bump.
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After 18 hits yesterday, we’ll roll the same eight out there tonight, with Brett Tomko on the bump.
Inside the Dodgers 
ok so is betemit back to being the starter even though LaRoche has done much better?
Send LaRoche back to Vegas if he’s not going to play everyday. Grady is ruining his development! Makes no sense.
agreed. i mean, if they’re not going to give a *real* shot, meaning more than about 5 games, then don’t bring him up at all. And if he’s not the future at 3b for this team, then trade him for someone who can swing the bat better than betemit.
Martin again for the…. what 8th day in a row with no day off? You just cant do that. As much as Grady loves resting guys- why isnt his catcher one of them? Can yuo imagine what he is going to look like in September?
Is it possible that betemit is being showcased for a possible trade? That’s my only guess here. Otherwise it seems odd, too.
And I agree, no rest for Martin? I hope he gets a day off tomorrow or soon. We have a very capable backup, you know.
At any rate, hope we get some revenge on the Cardinals after last year’s season-long debacle.
I’ll repeat what I said yesterday:
As for Martin, he wants to play everyday, with that being said, I could see Grady sitting him Wednesday night when Wolf pitches and giving Martin two days off with the Thursday off day.
Im pretty sure Grady understands and knows the health status and fatigue level of his catcher better than we do…
“Nice story on La Roche the only pet peeve i have with him is that he doesn’t try & go with pitches the other way.” Posted by: bluebleeder88@yahoo.com | May 14, 2007 02:33 PM
His first hit, in his first game, was a pounded ground-rule double to right-center on an outside pitch.
He’s only had 28 PAs, only 18 of those ABs. From that limited sample size, I thought he went the other way all right. He’s been fooled on some outside pitches. So has Nomar – all hitters get fooled and go fishing sometimes.
Grady is probably wearing the same clothes as yesterday also! Why change anything after an 18-hit, 10-run game?
I hope yesterday is a sign that Furcal is heating up.
I agree with yhou about LaRoche oldfogey– he has just been really impressive at the plate with his discipline and just stroke.
I really hate the Cards. I really hate them because i will always feel nervous playing them– it doesnt matter how good we might be or how god awful they might be– i will just always not look forward to playing them.
Cards are a classy organization. But this year’s different – their pitching is bad and somehow their offense is worse. I think the Dodgers are just starting to heat up offensively again, and the Cards are going to suffer for it.
You bet your boots Alex. Would be more than great to sweep the cardinals out of town.
mitleid – I said last year and I have not changed my mind. James Loney will not be a Dodger no matter how badly I(we) want him to be. I loved his Mark Grace type of hitting and smooth fielding. However, for some reason he seems to be the the odd man out. How else can you lead the minors in hitting and not make the big club after performing well last year with the Dodgers? He is having less than a stellar year this year so far and the Dodgers may have have lost considerable trade equity in him.
The 3B situation confuses me a bit. Prospects Blake Dewitt, Josh Bell and Tony Abreu are all playing some 3B. Chin Lung Hu, SS, is playing very well at Jacksonville. He will be backed up behind Furcal. It seems that some of these will have to be traded before equity is lost in them too. Don’t get me wrong. I love young Dodgers and wish we could fill every position with kids but the vets mean we can’t do that. Changing positions always seems to be a risk, eg. Delwyn Young, unless it is to pitcher or catcher.
As it stands now, our pitching is starting to shape up very well. It would be nice to hit with some power but scoring runs is the important offensive stat by whatever means. Some seem to be impatient with our lineup. However, it seems different guys are stepping up each game. It seems a bit early to blame management for not not fielding the lineup we want. What do we criticize, being in first place?
I expect Wilson Betemit will be traded and perhaps Bigbie. Having said that, I like LaRoche being selective at the plate and not trying to knock everything out of the park. With confidence and playing time some power will come. GO DODGERS!!
it makes the most sense that they are showcasing betemit—starting him against a lhp and then again today, but i have a hard time believing with grady singing his praises day in and day out.
Betemit again 😦
well of course Andy has been playing like poop so i don’t blame Grady! i mean who wants a guy with a .536 OBP taking up space in the lineup!
You guys are overreacting to Betemit a little. The guy’s young, he has 650 MLB at bats that say hes a .260 hitter who can whack some doubles and homers (useful off the bench and as a utility player, if not a starter).
He has 70 ab this year that are bad. Thats not a big enough sample to conclude he stinks – the Dodgers aren’t dumping him because he’s legitimately worth trying to work out. Valdez is alot more likely to vanish (since he hasn’t got Betemit’s previous performance record, or upside), and Martinez is old and has been very bad this year. Even if LaRoche turns into the permanent starter at 3b, Betemit is a much better bet to be a useful bench/utility bat than the other two, especially in the long run given the Dodgers control his rights for the next few years.
Starting him alot isn’t the best idea, but it’s obvious Grady has realized that Betemit’s switchhitting is a joke – he’s always hit very well left handed and very badly right, so right now he and LaRoche are in a traditional handedness-platoon situation, and notice how willing Grady was to swap LaRoche in late in the game yesterday as soon as the righty starter was out.
Recouping Betemit into a useful player isn’t a bad strategy, and he’s not going to be as bad going forward as he’s been so far this year – he’s already rebounded a good bit, and even hitting as low as he does, his on base and slugging rates are better than Valdez or Martinez (or, scarily, were better than Furcal’s before yesterday and are better than Pierre’s). He’s not going to be an all-star third baseman and probably not even the starter, but an infielder with a bat who can play 3b/ss/2b is very valuable, and Wilson still has alot of time to improve as a player, as he’s pretty young.
LaRoche has been good but lets not forget that his OBP is spiked (as Wilson’s is) by the fact that 4 of his 8 walks are intentional walks to face the pitcher – they boost his OBP, but they make him look a bit more valuable than he’s really been. You similarly can’t expect Betemit to sustain a .150 difference between his BA and his OBP the way he’s got now – alot of that are walks to face the pitcher, since both guys hit 8th alot.
LaRoche will be a much better player going forward, but if Ramon Martinez lost his job to Wilson Betemit for the next 4 years, this Dodger team would be alot better off and the player development staff are keenly aware of it. Utility infielders with actual power are shockingly rare, and Wilson hits lots of doubles and homers. (even hitting as badly as he is, half his hits are for extra bases, hes always going to be a lower-average slugger, think of him as a potential Saenz without the patience who can hit left-handed and actually play the infield defensively – thats a great bench guy).
mike…Grady started Betemit yesterday against a lefty. Really now Betemit is horrible. La Roche has been hot. You always play the hot bat and the players that will help you win the game the most. Like Herm Edwards said “you play to win the game” you don’t play to try and showcase a horrible player so we can get more then a minor leaguer for him.
DUMP BETEMIT NOW!
Breathe deeply Max. It’s going to be OK. In order to play him or move him Wilson has to produce so has to be given the opportunity. Breathe deeply again.
Hi Frank: What do you think of 53 coming up with all of these baseballs? He’s a ball magnet. So far away the best I can do is dream. I did order some cards from sportslot.com to feed my Dodger appetite. – 10 Duke Snider, 7 Martin, 6 Kemp, 7 Billingsley. Looking for some other young Dodgers from the same supplier to cut down on postage to Canada. GO DODGERS!!
Betemit should be DFA and we should call up Loney. It would be the best “trade” we could make. Essentially we would be getting Loney for Betemit. Even if we package Betemit with Bigbie and Hendrickson who are we gonna get? probably no body better then Loney or Kemp. If we do trade him that player will probably take up a spot on the ML roster instead of Loney or Kemp.
mikejunt – Good post Mike. Still early in the season and we are in first place. Too early to give up on Betemit. Loved those two pinch hit homers against the Braves.GO DODGERS!!
Stop complaining about Martin I like him in their helping my fantasy team. LaRoche is better but he having won that job yet and Betamit should still get start.
oops like me say that again.
Stop complaining about Martin I like him in their helping my fantasy team. LaRoche is better but he haven’t won the job yet and those 2 PH homerun making it hard for him to take that job away from Betamit.
Betemit might make a really good utility infielder, for all the reasons that mikejunt gives. But he is young and might still make a quality 3B. I think we should sit him and give LaRoche a chance (and if that doesn’t work, let Nomar play third, and give Loney a chance, which we should have done by now). But if either of those options work, we may end up dealing Betemit, who still might prove to be quite valuable to us, or another organization.
We’re loading up guys who can play third base because it’s a weakness right now, and possibly in the future. We don’t really know if LaRoche will pan out, or if he doesn’t, if Abreu will move to 3B and pan out, so we build up guys who might make it. Remember, Dioner Navarro was supposed to be the Dodger catcher of the future, but we stacked up an extra guy at that position, and he turns out to be the best player on the club (possibly, at least for now, but darn good).
Martin needs to rest, but he’s young and wants to play. Also, don’t forget, as much as I think that Interleague Play is an abomination, morally reprehensible, a black mark on the game, and blatantly in violation of Rule 6.10, not only do we have Thursday off, but I suspect that Martin will DH one of the three games in “Anaheim of Los Angeles.” So, if Grady rests him Wednesday, he takes Thursday off, and DH’s on Friday, that’s almost like three days off. (Or, he could play Friday and Saturday, and DH Sunday.)
Just because Grady isnt playing the players that YOU think should be in the lineup really does not mean that he isnt playing to win the game. come on … so dumb sounding…
The managers job is to put the best team on the field with the players he has. Right now La Roche is better then Betemit.
Could someone persuade Grady Little that Brett Tomko should never start another game in his entire life? Please? Please?
Paging Chad Billingsley.
nice of us to let the cards break out of their slump.
haha i was just thinking the same thing
Dear Mr. Little,
Brett Tomko is a crappy, below average pitcher in his 30s who has never been anything better than average in his entire life. He is a 5th starter, at best, if he’s lucky and good. At worst he is a liability.
Chad Billingsley has walk problems. He is also 23 and will potentially improve over time. He may not be any better than Tomko this year, because he has walk problems, but it’s highly likely. Tomko is a paper tiger. Please exchange their roles and let Tomko throw mopup like he did last year. He’s useful in no other capacity in a reliable basis. None. Well, his drawings are nice. His pitching’s not.
Dodger fans everywhere.
That’s right because not every pitcher gives up a check swing double…Bad inning with a little bit of bad luck, still a long way to go. Lets get them back! Starting with red hot Furcal with a base hit!
Billingsley should have been in the rotation in March. This Bombko thing was a joke from the beginning. I knew Grady was messing around with us….That being said. Bombko will probably be in the rotation until the break.
Tomko has been mediocre his whole career. Come on Alex get off of your positive high horse.
Billingsley and a couple guys in triple A are better then Bombko.
its not being negative its being realistic.
A converted reliever starts for St. Louis, so naturally our first 3 batters see a combined 5 pitches – why bother tiring him out or anything like that?
Thank god for Kent’s AB.
If Bills gives up 3 runs the way Tomko just did it’s bad luck…however Tomko does and he’s a mediocre pitcher…that’s why he gave up a check swing double. Look I’m not a fan of Tomko by any stretch, but I saw the same thing you did and those were cheap runs, except for that rip by Encarnacion. Tomko is not a good pitcher, he’s decent at best, we all know this. I didn’t want him in the rotation just as much as most of you. The fact is he is and it’s a bad game so far.
oh man, we can’t even use bills tonight since he pitched yesterday. UGLY so far.
take em out grittle.
No, now it’s UGLY and this game is over, and that’s not negative THAT’S being realistic!
Bad luck aside, you can tell whether Tomko has it on any given day by how badly he’s missing on his balls – hes missing badly today, and he’s going to get hammered if he keeps it up because he ends up throwing fat ones people hit a long *** way. This is the Tomko way. Sure there’s some bad luck involved, but this is a team hitting .230, they’re terrible – terrible. Their offense is Nationals-level bad. They’ve already scored their runs per game average. Even with luck, they don’t usually get this much, because pitchers don’t walk Aaron Miles, among other stupidities.
And another run.
If you’re not going to strike guys out much (like Lowe doesnt), you have to get lots of ground balls (like Lowe does). Tomko does neither, so days like this happen. Alot.
Well, at least Tomko’s ERA is now back where it belongs. His good part of the season didn’t last nearly as long as it did last year. Little may actually have to make a decision here.
but the thing is Alex…Tomko IS a mediocre pitcher. He always has been. He has a Career 4.53 ERA. That is mediocre.
Sabermetricians for the furtherance of RA over ERA, unearned runs count too (and Tomko has given up tons)!
Tomko and Hendrickson seem to be coming down to earth. Grady has to make a decision this week. Billingsley and Kuo or Miller should be in the rotation in two weeks.
Who are you arguing with Max…I don’t like Tomko, I don’t want him in the rotation. But, at the very least this will lessen the Betemit posts. God Tomko is just awful tonight. Wait, wait I want to boo Tomko too…
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Miller? As in Greg Miller? No way. Bills and Kuo should def be in, but Miller’s control issues are no where near resolved yet.
I’m so happy Vinny is calling tonight’s blowout, this is where he tells great stories to pass the time while we’re getting whipped, so we don’t focus on the fact we’re getting well…whipped.
What is it about the Cardinals having the Dodgers’ number? With this score, I would have thought Odalis Perez was pitching for LA.
the cardinals are still our daddies.
HA, if Odalis were pitching Pujols would be 4 for 4 with 4 HR’s. Tomko did get Pujols to pop up twice so he did better than Odalis would have…man Furcal is getting hot!
Terrible game so far– but i was thinking the same thing about Furcal.
Question: We definately offer Furcal a very considerate 4-5 year contract that he could not afford to refuse? 65 mil range ? I really dont know..??? opinions por favor.
The only Dodger fan enjoying the game tonight is the Kragen guy who just won 500 bucks!
Why is Betemit being played? he’s terrible! why bring up laroche and not play him everyday? he’s been playing very well?
yes! liebs in for martin. martin rests!
What? The Cards didn’t score any runs the 4th? What’s wrong with them? They ****.
I wonder if we can put Tomko on the DL with an acute case of Jeffritis Eracia and call up a real pitcher!
i hope gonzo doesn’t swing at the first pitch again.
lol good jinx
man Betemit’s home run is just going to prolong the agony of having to watch him make outs for 15 AB’s waiting for him to hit a home run.
Grady is going to fall in love with the home runs.
Welcome back to the rotation, Chad!
i dont know about that momo…He’s not old enough.
yah, i guess Laroche’s .536 OBP just isn’t good enough
Ok, if Bills K’s Pujols put him in the rotation…if he doesn’t…do it anyway 😛
i think it’s safe to say Furcal is back.
Man this would’ve been a good game if Tomko didn’t explode. Anybody else think we can come back at this moment? My head tells me no way, my darn heart always thinks they can.
cardinal relievers have been rather bad tonight.
At least we made it interesting at the end. Of course, we left the bases loaded with one out. Given that Tomko got hit pretty hard against Atlanta, and shelled tonight, that’s 2 bad starts out of his last three. But that being said, all of but one of his other starts was a “Quality Start” and the other was 5 innings, only 2 Earned Runs. So I am not sure that he has worked his way out of the rotation yet. But given that Bills seems to be back (he’s gone 9.2 innings without giving up a run–since the day he got roughed up in San Diego), the decision is getting closer.
Since we can’t figure out what to do at third base, we seem to be going with 11 pitchers, and we can’t afford two inning starts.
I think Tomko should get one more chance. But if Bills keeps doing well, I don’t think that Grady will give him much more than that.
bills just looked flat out nasty. if tonight doesn’t seal the deal for switching him and tomko i don’t know what will. i guess one more bomko like start should do it.
well remember. Grady let Hendrickson lose 7 straight starts last year so who knows how long Bombko will be in the rotation.
Anyone else think Grady pulled the starters too soon tonight? Martin gone after the 4th, Kent after the 5th? I could see pulling guys if you’re down 6 in the 8th inning, but THAT early? And Gonzo needs to be dropped in the lineup to 6th or maybe even 7th. I would rather have Martin up with runners at 1st and 3rd and one out than Gonzo at this point. I’m getting a little tired of the inning ending DP’s by Gonzo. Tomko gets the Angels followed by the Nationals both on the road, Bills is looking too good not be in the rotation. But, I really don’t want Tomko coming out of the pen. Maybe I’m overreacting to a horrible start by Tomko, but then again we’ve seen this before and I’m sure we’ll see it again.
alex questioning gradys stellar managing? what has gotten into you alex have you joined the proverbial dark side. anyone here saying give tomko another chance needs to be examined. basically it comes down to tomko getting lit up by the worst offensive team in the majors. i guess the cardinals had the calendars marked. bills k’s 3 in 2 innings, nuff said. lets put ourselves in the best position to win ballgames grady. and this hopefully is a betemit showcase, because we better not tease laroche like we did loney. laroche is ready to contribute. i will never trust tomko taking the mound in the first again in a dodger uniform get him out of here, letting that **** team break out of a slump like that. i dont know the last time scott rolen hit the ball hard. duncan hadnt homered for two weeks. just an ugly start. furcal goes 4 for 5, JP showing his true colors. Jp out of the 2 hole immediately please grady as well, that spot has russell martin written all over it. a nice example being that hit and run grady put on the other day with him. hopefully we see some of these so called major changes grady alluded to after that florida debacle.
yeah weve seen him pitch like john smoltz, then we have seen him pitch like tonight. Dr jekyl and Mr Bomko. hes just not cutting it. brilliant trade proposal: tomko hendy and pierre for fred lewis and some infield rakes, maybe a rain tarp.
we would be so much better (this year and the following years) if we just played our best players..
No Alew you are right on point. The Tomko months should be over isn’t Kuo due back? And Bills can do it to … Gonzo Needs to make way for Kemp to come back and Yes i was looking the whole thing too asking why we have Martinez and Lieberthal now trying to bring us back? If you are gonna rest players rest em on’t yank all the bats when we are fully capible of coming back against a bad team who had a good start…..Tracy never managed this bad except for always leaving Weaver in to give up a bomb.Hendy Deserves another go round Tomko needs to go….He has 1 win….This is mid may…Hendy has what 3-4 and he started from the bullpen with 0-0 record on his first start.Hope this doesn’t throw us into another Hitting slump….
oops alex
Tomkos new delivery really kept the Cards off balance last night. Otherwise they would have scored 10 runs in his 2+ innings of work. Grady still doesn’t know when to pull a pitcher. If he pulled him after 6 runs maybe they would have had a chance. Also why let down the whole team by leaving in Tomko to give up 8 runs? I guess he didn’t want to hurt Tomkos feelings. Also why did Grady pull out his regulars? Sure they were down by 7 runs, but the Cards were up by 7 runs and they kept their regulars in the game. It sends a bad message to your team.
Taken from the page of what’s this world comin’ to? Can you guys believe that some animal rights activist group had the audacity to write Frank McCourt a letter telling him to dump Farmer John because of its inhumane treatment of pigs soon to become Dodger Dogs. I say, wake up lady and smell the crispy bacon! With so many other burning issues needing to be brought to light in this world, one of the biggest being how Bret Tomko is actually paid in U.S. currency and allowed to wear a Dodgers uniform. His heinous actions and feeble attempt on the pitcher’s mound inflict unwarranted suffering to fans whom are unjustly forced to endure the experience of watching him pitch, while simultaneously attempting to enjoy and devour their delicious Farmer John Dodger Dogs, leaving the majority plagued by severe upset stomach, diarrhea, and agonizing acid reflux. Unbelievable!
Why does LuGO still play? He is a joke and no longer a capable major league player. He even looks so small and pathetic. Bomko also needs to go, lets see what Bills can do and try to avoid the Loney treatment.
ALso, does anyone realize all of the former dodger players who were awful when they were with us, but are now playing quite well? Jose Cruz Jr., Julio Lugo, Jose Valentin, even Seo pitched a nice game yesterday. Are we cursed or something?
David B:
Have you considered that it may have a lot to do with the coaching staff? I have not had a great deal of confidence in ours this past year.
Bear! Come on man are you kidding i dont get how we can honestly sit here and say that Grady is not our best manager since Lasorda! He has had his moments, but as do other great managers. Oh wait i get it i wouldnt want a manager that changes a losing record and a bad year to a winning record and playoff year! (even though we were terrible in playoffs last year that was not fault of Grady’s, Sorry so sarcastic!)
I am 100% behind our manager and the decisions he has made this year! GO DODGERS!!
You did not just bring up Seo– please. Lugo is a terrible example bc he was so pissed he wasnt playing every day. Jose Valentin did play quite well for us when he was healthy but then jacked up his knee again, and he is currently on the DL, and Cruz Jr. is not a bad ball player. He always had power, but you know he isnt going to hit .300 all year.
I guess i should ask–Are you kidding?
DOES ANYONE ELSE FEEL LIKE we gave up last night. I mean Russell, Kent, Nomar all pulled, then in the bottom of the 9th Martinez is batting in Kents spot with bases loaded and Marinez was the tying run.
Kent grand slam in bottom of the Ninth would of been pretty exciting but never given the chance.
yeah fleigel brings up a good point…..6 runs wasnt enough for grady? was that too early in the ballgame to yank that bum? i feel we conceded that games as well. that was really wierd.im getting tired of lugo and pierre in the same outfield. im also getting tired of gonzos batting approach as well as nomars. we need to be seeing more pitches.
every guy you brought up davidb made me sick to my stomach watching im glad those guys are gone. especially lugo and cruz jr. seo had his good days and bad days but was overall pretty horrible, he pitched one good game this year. edwin jackson’s looking like **** too so……you know me i just hope my boy joel guzman doesnt make ned look bad.
I also wish that some of our hitters will take more pitches. Read the summary on the Red Sox’s win last night. Read about them chasing the starter in the fifth because they were fouling off many of his good pitches. Look at their best record in baseball. Think about it. Then despair because we have so many first pitch swinging veterans unwilling to spend a little time out there earning their big bucks. Of course, these guys have acceptable averages and so on, but I think they win us less games than they might otherwise. Fouling off pitches, seeing the pitcher and really looking for the pitch to hit helps the team as a whole, instead of just the individual. Kent had a good at bat last night where he really worked the pitcher. I wish we could see more of that from our veterans.
As for some more of my thoughts on last night’s game, if you want you can go read what I think television takes away from the modern fan and gives to the modern fan, as well as some thoughts about Tomko, over here:
http://dodgerama.blogspot.com/
ok, yes grady pulled the starters too soon. I don’t understand why he pulled nomar and kent and not gonzo though. Gonzo took some of the most pathetic hacks I have ever seen last night, killing two separate rallies. The man is old. This is what happens when you have too many aging players that need to rest…you have to sit them down, leaving bench players in to play too much of the time. Or you leave them in and they can barely muster a good at bat. I don’t know how the Dodgers think they are better off with him instead of Kemp.
Hmmm, make that link
http://dodgerama.blogspot.com/2007/05/for-love-of-game.html
instead, for the interested 😉
What’s the ETA for Bills’ return to the rotation?
Josh, does Grady ever hear of what is written on this blog?
i still want to know why we have two utility infielders? And why Matt Kemp isn’t up on the big club taking over for Gonzo.
I still wanna know why our ideas are passed over so often.
I just call it like I see it. This team would just be better in every way with Kemp on the team over Valdez. When Valdez came in and took over Pierre’s spot in the ninth it was a classic case of wrong person wrong job. And like Max said we have actually three utility infielders (Valdez, Martinez and Betemit) so Valdez needs to be DFA’d, take your chances he won’t be picked up and bring Kemp up!
I HATE THE CARDINALS! The Cards and Mets are the only teams I feel physically ill after losing too. Hence the bitter post last night! I’ll be there tonight, Lowe never does well against St. Louis, I really hope he turns it around tonight!
GO DODGERS!
davidb86, if you think the manager of a major league baseball team that carries a payroll of 100+ million bucks is at all concerned with what is written on one blog you are giving yourself way to much credit.
What happens if we lose Wilson Valdez? NOTHING! It won’t hurt the team, it can only help if they use that spot for someone that may possibly help the team. Kemp ,Loney Bigbie etc.might actually help. Why is management so slow to react? I’m sure they see what we see.
Wilson Valdez = Oscar Robles. We managed to get along without Robles so why not Valdez? Okay Valdez has some speed, but we have speedy guys,yet another power bat might help.
Is Martinez perhaps more expendable than Valdez? He’s due to become a free agent after this year, and I don’t see a particular reason why we would extend to offer him a free agent type of contract beyond this season. The best situation would, of course, be if Valdez or Martinez could be traded even for a prospect.
I also don’t understand the thinking in holding on to Valdez. Perhaps they are shopping Betemit and want to keep him as a backup to Laroche. Any other theories out there?
On a different note: I was invited by a friend to sit in the Dugout seats at last night’s game. After the game, as I was leaving, I ran into Ned as he was heading towards the bar. I was curious about Bigbie’s opt-out on June 1st so I casually asked him when we were going to see Bigbie on the Dodgers. His reply: “We’ve gotta find a spot for him” As he continued walking past me, I think he also said something like “we would probably see Kemp up first” but I couldn’t be certain. It was kind of loud in there. I’m sure I heard “kemp” though.
coming into this year i was really hoping for a youth movement.
I think the youth movement would have come along faster if we were not holding onto first place. With that in mind, why would management change their philosophy of doing it with the veterans. I’m in favor of the youth movement myself, because I want to build beyond just this year.
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/
Scott Rolen for Betemit and Kemp or Ethier quasi-rumor circulating
Any thoughts?
The Brewers went with youth and they are doing pretty well if i recall correctly. But to be fair a couple key parts of us making a youth movement aren’t ready yet. I can only pray that it happens next year.
dodgerdude…the only way I’d want Rolen on the team is if the cards pick up part of the contract which means we’d have to give up more and the length of his contract means he will block La Roche unless Andy moves over to second when Kent retires which will block Abreu.
on the contrary, if this ship was sinking the prospects might already on other teams and replaced by proven mediocrity. Management seems intent on winning in 2007 no matter what future sacrifices need to made, which of course I completely disagree with. We had somewhat of a youth movement last year for a while when injuries came about, but most of the kids found their way back to minors. So we got a glimpse. Does anyone else feel like we backslid from that? I mean, Kemp and Loney are still in the minors and Bills still isn’t starting. Who knows what they’re doing with LaRoche. Tony Jackson commented in his blog that grittle might play him in LF a few times to get at bats—that would be an adventure, wouldn’t it? And it would also take away the opportunity to bring Kemp up to play there. It just seems a little backward that prospects that proved themselves useful last year are in still AAA. Maybe I’m overestimating Loney and Kemp what could offer or underestimating what Nomar and gonzo are doing.
why don’t we package betemit, ethier, and others for someone with power to play right field? Not that there’s anyone out there, but doesn’t that make the most sense? Much more sense than Rolen? I love Ethier but I’d rather part w/ him then Kemp.
LaRoche in LF would be no worse than Gonzo; plus, he has a great arm.
Id hate to see Ethier go. He can hit .280-.300 easily with that swing of his. Trading away Ethier would weaken our outfield defense even more. Trading Kemp would be a Pedro like trade. Kemp has a unlimited ceiling and if he’s traded Ned would probably have to go into isolation.
Gonzo needs to go though. So if we trade Ethier and Put Kemp in right and La Roche in Left with Rolen at third i wouldn’t complain.
Loney’s a different story because of Nomar, Loney’s in a precarious position because he’s being blocked by a major draw. Nomar is loved! I go to half the games and he’s without a doubt the biggest reaction everytime his name is mentioned and ‘Low Rider’ is played. Nobody in L.A pays to see Luis Gonzalez and nobody would be sad to see him dropped in the order to 6th or even 7th. Martin right now is a better player than Gonzo and should be batting ahead of him. Gonzo still has gas in the tank, but Martin is running with a full tank on a hybrid! So you’ve got to move Martin up at this point! Loney needs to pick up the pace in AAA and right now I don’t even think of bringing him up at this moment in time. Kemp is a different story, when Valdez came up yesterday in the ninth he’s no threat to go deep he’s a poor man’s Ramon Martinez…and we have Ramon Martinez! Kemp in that situation would have at least had the aura that he can pop it in the seats, which psychologically changes the way the pitcher pitches the baseball. This team badly needs that aura! Aside from Kent and Saenz nobody has the aura that at any given moment he could pop it in the seats! Kemp for Valdez and move Martin to 5th!
Go Dodgers!
MLB Trade Rumors is a fun site for trades that never happen. Rolen is not the answer if we have to trade away Ethier, I really don’t need to see Ethier in the birds uniform for the next 12 years kicking our teeth in and throwing runners out in Busch Stadium. Anything involving Ethier and/or Kemp should be immediately rejected on grounds of temporary insanity by the other GM for asking for them.
good point. I have feeling pitchers would, irrationally, be afraid of pitching to Kemp. Yes, I know people love Nomar, I don’t and I guess that unfairly influences my views. But honestly, Nomar has been little more than a singles hitter this year, though a clutch one. If Loney’s power is a problem then so is Nomar’s. I wish we had just let Loney play and left it at that. If it doesn’t work out there are harder position players to find than 1st basemen. Yes I know Nomar is a draw and I don’t agree with resigning him because of it. I just think the whole Loney gepitomizes the Dodger’s attitude toward a youth movement—delay, delay, delay some more. Of course to go completely off the deep end with youth like Arizona isn’t a great idea either.
Alex, i totally agree with you.
Ditto to Alex’s last.