Touring the stadium with Andre
We just spent the last two hours going all around Dodger Stadium with an FSN Prime Ticket crew and Andre Ethier, who is going to host a special show/feature about Dodger Stadium. It’s still very early in the production stages and there’s no air date set, but Andre went to all the places that the public doesn’t get to see and shows them off with pride: the clubhouse, the players’ lounge, video room, training room, batting cages, press box, Dodger offices, luxury suites, etc. Stay tuned for more info on that front.
Also, in regards to Alyssa’s blog, it’s still updated regularly and can be found here. And no, we didn’t take it down because of her open letter to Grady Little. She’s certainly welcome to her opinion and she is clearly a big Dodger fan who is as frustrated as we all are. However, her blog is not a Dodger-affiliated blog and was put up my MLB.com on the Dodger homepage to help generate interest in it. Once we started a Spanish-language blog with thoughts from Jaime Jarrin, Pepe Yniguez and Fernando Valenzuela, we figured that it made much more sense to give easy access to that blog than one that isn’t run by the team. Our hope is that there will soon be as many people posting to the Spanish one as the one we’ve got here in English.
And for those Spanish-speakers, don’t forget that Viva los Dodgers is this Saturday.
As for the post about technology on this site: I know that MLB.com is currently working on improving the technology for all of the blog sites and your suggestion is one of the many that they’re looking into. A lot of you guys gave great ideas over the winter, too, that I passed along, but obviously they have a lot of things on their plate over there and I’ll make sure they are aware of this request.
There was also one comment about whether Juan Pierre has a clause in his contract that doesn’t allow him to sit on the bench and while I’m sure it was tongue-in-cheek, I hope people realize that in this three-week slump, you can hardly blame Juan Pierre. The guy is batting .377 in August with a .421 on-base percentage and stealing bases left and right without really getting caught and playing very good center field.
It just so happens that when everyone else went into a slump, Juan has played incredibly well. If it were a player who fans were more excited about, many people would probably talk about how that guy is trying to carry the team through a slump and instead, Juan continues to be questioned. He’s the first to admit that he hasn’t had the type of season he’s capable of or that we expected when he was signed, but try to remember that if the rest of the team was playing well this month, we’d be better off and if he had played well when they weren’t slumping, we might still be in first place. The bottom line is, the Dodgers win as a team and they lose as a team, not from one guy in the lineup.
Hopefully, here’s the winning lineup for this evening:
Furcal, SS
Pierre, CF
Kemp, RF
Kent, 2B
Loney, 1B
Martin, C
Ethier, LF
Hillenbrand, 3B
Lowe, P
Inside the Dodgers 
BTW, all Pierre hating from an offensive standpoint is on hold until further notice:
After the all star break:
.308/.362 14 SB Zero Times Caught
August:
.377/.421
You can complain about his arm all you want, that’s something he can’t control, it’s always been bad. What he can control, he’s doing very well right now. So, for now, lay off Pierre and go after someone else to complain about. If Gonzo didn’t play a game for the rest of the season, I could live with that.
Grady did a great job with the lineup!
I cannot say that I have said that very often this season!
Let’s go crazy and win two in a row!
Same lineup as last night except with Ethier instead of Gonzo, I think we’ll score some runs against Wandy Rodriguez who is terrible away from Minute Maid Park.
With all do respect, JP isn’t doing anything much different than his career stats suggest which is misleading because of his exciting SB’s. He’s been making nice catches in CF, but the arm isn’t going to change. If his OBP was consistently around .370 then maybe his arm could be overlooked, but at .324? Everyone has hot streaks so yeah for JP.
If Grady put this lineup out there every night, I like our chances every night. Once LaRoche is healthy, look out!
“If Gonzo didn’t play a game for the rest of the season, I could live with that.”
I agree 100 Percent!
It is a shame that management does not understand that not only from a performance standpoint, but also a fan’s stanpoint, Gonzo should not play on a regular basis.
This is no fault of Gonzo’s, but he just is too old! He is below average in every skill at this point in his career, he should be a PH!
Wandy on the road means a Dodgers win…
http://www.fightingphils.mlblogs.com
Alex are you gonna be at the game tonight?
I think somebody here is a liason for Grady, isn’t this what we have been asking for in regards to the line up. Someone fess up, is it you van 19?!!!!!
Do not have tickets for tonight’s game…I do have tickets for tomorrow nights game. I’ll be blogging as usual during gametime tonight.
A good 1/2 month does not a good player make. Pierre consistenly OPS’d in the mid 600s since April – what he’s doing right now is a fluke.
I’ve had my difficulties getting fully behind JP but his attitude and type of guy he is makes it extremely difficult for me to dislike him. I know what he can do when he gets on base. I also know what impact a positive attitude can have in the club house. I support him. It’s just tough some times. And Josh, you’re absolutely right. If he were a more popular player I’m sure fans wouldn’t give him as much grief.
On another note, I like this line-up tonight. I do, however, (like most of us I’m sure) wish LaRoche could get and stay healthy!
I have an idea:
How about Ethier or Kemp run over to where Pierre is at when he fields a ball and he can pass the ball to one of them like an ultra short cutoff man?
its a good point that people kind of are ignoring pierre’s hot streak while if it were another player that most people loved we would be obssessing over it. can’t really help that though, you like who you like. id like to see everyone get as hot as he has been for sure. but then again, this is a streak and he will come back to his career norms, which many have already noted, are not good.
Wait a second Scott weren’t you the one yesterday who said you thought Pierre was gonna throw someone out at third and at the plate in last night’s game?
I predict at least three homeruns tonight
Kent
Kemp
Ethier.
Haven’t had reason to bash Pierre for a while, and in fact gave him some praise just yesterday, but Josh didn’t really answer the question of whether it’s in his contract not to sit out any games. I can’t really believe that even this management would entertain that kind of a clause in a player’s contract, so I’ll just assume that it is Grady’s intention to keep Pierre’s playing streak alive unless something very extraordinary were to happen.
I was joking swood…
The reason why people aren’t feeaking out over JP’s hot streak is that a hot streak for him is a bunch of singles whereas a hot streak for anyone else might mean doubles, triples and home runs.
I know scott… and thats a good point about Pierre. I get the felling some of you guys were starting to root against him.
Oh, nice lineup just missing Laroche!
with all those stats about JP, why is he not batting lead off?
messagebear,
Of course he doesn’t have a contractual agreement to not be benched. No organization would legally cede control of their lineup to a player…
Scott,
He had an RBI, a run, and 2 SB (which, effectively, turned his singles doubles). How is that not exciting?
Amen to that statement , Furcal should bat lower in the lineup
im predicting that they will score 10 runs for todays ball game…
ok puppy
Over the last 10 days JP has just that one RBI as well as two 0-4 games and one 1-5 game.
van, let’s just score 6 and leave a few in the bats for the Rockies, whom i believe, we will sweep.
this just came in to my mind…
i still want to win this year…
why?
becoz of Kent and Saito…
this two might be gone next year…
i actually want it more for saito…
i just hope they can continue winning for this two guys…
I think that in spite of Kent’s relationship with the media and at times with his teammates, he has been a pretty good member of the Dodgers. He is a gamer who plays hurt and gives it all he’s got. He plays 2nd base pretty well for a 39 year old, he was never considered a great glove, but he holds his own. If you look at his career, he’s one of the best ever at the position and probably a first ballot HOF’er. So let’s win it for Kent also.
I’ll take the good Pierre over the bad Pierre any day. Let’s be happy while it lasts…First thing I posted this AM was props to him. I think his great recent numbers illustrate perfectly the points some have been making all year
1. that he isnt that good. The dude is doing all he can possibly do right now and it’s still not that team/game changing.(14 sb, caught 0 times, strong BA and strong OBP)
2. That Pierre is a minor problem in what is wrong with the team. Ned said, and I agree he is a complimentry piece ,not the main cog.
3. I always bring this up as sorta the jusifing statement. I have never had a problem with the Pierre contract other than it being too long and even thats not a big, big deal. I don’t have a problem with him on our dodgers by any means, but have a problem with him on THIS dodger team based on the pieces of the entire puzzle.
4, And yeah with the way he is running (and hitting) put him in leadoff to utlize the steal more.
Kiper..who do u put in kent’s class at 2b? Mine is a short list. I can only base it on who I have seen play.
Alomar
Sandberg
Morgan.
I agree Kent is a hall of famer. If I was building a team from scratch, i’d probably take Alomar and Sandberg, and that because of defense.
somebody had asked about young being put in the IR or something…but he is in todays lineup.
Kiper Kent doen’t play a pretty good defensive 2B. He has committed a lot of errors this year even for him, and thats not even mentioning the fact that he has less range then any other second basemen in baseball. If it wasn’t for Furcal’s great range our infield defense would be the worst in baseball. Kent is a hall of famer because of his bat NOT his glove.
manfromchina,
are u from china?
Just would like to also point out:
Kenny Lofton
Post All-Star Break:
.265/.299 1 SB
August:
.195/.290
Blame the move to Cleveland if you want Pierre has been a much better player since the break, it’s not even close. Lofton had a great first half, but he’s back down to earth.
hahaha thats really funny van.
sorry cant say i am. just a joke between friends.
Roberto Alomar was on his way to being the best 2b by a landslide and then just fell off the face of the earth. He just lost it.
Kent is a gamer. No one can question his effort. He’s probably a little hurt still.
Ok, JP: Keep it going as long as you can dude.
swood, he’s 39 and i said, he was never considered a great glove.. OK??
was kents defense ever good? i don’t know because i didn’t follow him in his mets/giants/astros days.
Alex I think Lofton will ajust to being back in Cleveland and his numbers will slowly start to pick up.
no jspelk he has never had any range. thats one of the reasons the blue jays, his first major league team got rid of him.
i know he played some third for the bluejays/mets. can’t imagine what that was like.
i should have change my name to manfromphilippines…
tnx manfromchina…
it actually is a pretty good idea… lol
van_19_cute: “im predicting that they will score 10 runs for todays ball game…”
I hope so! *******!!!
GO DLOWE!
GO DODGERS!
Go Dodgers!
Kemp wil go deep tonight, maybe Martin again.
Good call Scott. I think Kemp will get really hot hitting in front of Kent.
I can’t get to the game tonight. If anybody wants my seats (32F 1-4) and is willing to pay the 8 bucks total for me to e-mail them, then drop me a line: ifallelse1@aol.com
Kent has always had a good glove. He has always been great at turning double plays. He has also always had limited range.
Now his range is like 3 feet.
I wonder if Roids happened to Alomar. Some of you guys might be younger and don’t recall Sandberg. (not the lazy sunday guy on SNL) but that Sandberg guy was sick. He won 9 straight Gold Gloves between 83-91. He won the silver slugger award 7 straight times (Kent, 4 times). He hit 40 bombs in 1990! 40!
His career numbers for avg season over 16 years (the 80’s were not exaclty the 90’s, so its hard to compare eras was:
99 runs 21hr 80rbi and .287avg
Kent’s for fun:
97runs 27hr 109rbi .289avg
D’Backs lead 1-0 and they have the bases loaded with nobody out in the top of the first in south florida.
Make that lead 2-0 sac fly stephen drew. first and third with one out.
Like do u guys think Biggio should be in the hall?
Can’t stand the guy, but he is the gold standard. I had no idea Morgan won back to back NL MVP awards.
Joe Morgan-22 seasons
1965-NL-31
1972-NL-4
1973-NL-4
1974-NL-8
1975-NL-1
1976-NL-1
1982-NL-16
Kent MVP voting: 16 season
1997-NL-8
1998-NL-9
1999-NL-26
2000-NL-1
2002-NL-6
2004-NL-13
2005-NL-19
Biggio: 20 seasons
1994-NL-16
1995-NL-10
1997-NL-4
1998-NL-5
1999-NL-12
Sandberg: 16 seasons
1984-NL-1-0.97
1985-NL-13-0.04
1989-NL-4-0.47
1990-NL-4-0.45
1991-NL-17-0.01
1992-NL-12-0.04
Alomar: 17 seasons
1991-AL-6
1992-AL-6
1993-AL-6
1996-AL-20
1997-AL-22
1999-AL-3
2001-AL-4
Can anyone tell me what’s going on with Young? I haven’t seen his name in the Las Vegas lineup since he was since down.
rekrell I think young went 4-4 in his first game back so they sent him to AA Jacksonville. haha just kidding.
Young was on the inactive list, but he’s now active and playing for Vegas as we speak.
Mike Jacobs 2 run bomb Marlins lead 3-2.
Marlins have a rookie making his 2nd start of the season, so this game is far from over. Nice first inning though…
Ok if we go on a long winning streak will you guys say its because of Grady or in spite of him???
Your Daily Oldtime Player:
This is the first in what I plan as a series of installments on players who some may never have heard of and others may remember fondly.
Today’s oldtimer is Jim Brewer who was the Dodgers #1 reliever from 1968 to 1973 when he was displace by Mike Marshall. Brewer is 75th on the all-time saves list, but who was in the Top Ten at one time. He threw the screwball which he learned from Warren Spahn. Brewer died in an automobile accident one day before his 50th birthday in 1987.
Great job Pierre. Now maybe we can trade him in the off-season for a center-fielder who can get on base more and can also throw. This team is badly mismanaged. When you have money for Tomko Saenz Pierre etc. they should have the money to sign a young draft pick. Other teams do.
Re: Your Daily Oldtime Player
One of the best things about Jim Brewer was that he always won the cow milking contests.
Jim Brewer was one of ten or so players to play for both the Dodgers and the Angels in the same season. Unlike Shea Hillenbrand, he was actually traded from one to the other, for Dave Sells.
fliegel: Even the Washington Nationals!
I disagree fliegel I think we should spend our money at the major league level. There’s only about a 1 in 5 chance that a 5th round draft pick will even make it to the majors so I don’t think we should throw our money around there.
It is what it is, Blair is going to college and cannot be drafted until 2010 at the earliest.
It looks like a lineup that most of us will agree on. It seems like many are looking for a particular batting order, such as all homegrown or some have favorite players. I root for the name on the front of the uniform. No matters who’s in the lineup I just want to win. The most important thing especially on this team is whose pitching. LOWE gets the ball tonight sore hip and all. LET’S CONTINUE WHERE WE LEFT OFF LAST NIGHT.
where did you come up with 1 in 5? the odds are greater than that actually. but its not the point, if you draft someone, and you believe in their talent, which they said they believe in blair’s, and you have the money to spend, you spend it.
Even if we disagree with the lineups, once the game starts will all root for the name on the front of the jersey.
I do not think Gonzo should play on a regular basis any longer, but when he does I am quite glad when he does well…
Wouldnt it be funny to bat Pierre clean up just for the heck of it? The servers for Dodgers.com (MLB.com) would go down….some of you guys would be suicidal.
Blair would have been a 2nd rounder if teams thought he was signable. If we weren’t willing to go above slot to pay for him, why was he drafted in the 1st place? There is still a lot of quality talent on the board in the 5th round.
I just got 1 in 5 because I know that only 1 in 3 first rounders make the majors. I just don’t think we should be spending big bucks on a kid who will likely never help us at the major league level.
Because charris I would rather have that money go to proven veterans rather then some 17 year old immature high school kid.
yes draft choices are like stocks or poker chips. The more you have, the more you can make in the end. Not being able to sign some of our recent draft picks is dumb, not because of the individual player or the money, but it’s just wasting a draft pick. Just pick guys you can sign.
Exactly charris, you nailed what i was trying to say. It was just a stupid decisions to draft him if they never intended on paying him what every team knew he was going to demand. And since other teams around the mlb are doing the same thing with other picks (going overslot number), we should be too. otherwise you’re just screwing yourself. After all, we gave LaRoche a million after he was left in like the 37th or so round because everyone though he was going to college. That wasn’t even the issue with Blair, he wanted to go pro.
id rather let logan white go on spending spree than colletti.
isis hindsight is 20/20. If you don’t think you can sign a player for a reasonable price don’t sign him at all.
amen isis, thats why I’m frustrated with the situation. We could have drafted and signed a talented and much more affordable pick in his place, so if we weren’t willing to shell out the dough, why did we draft him?
*don’t draft him at all
swood…but all your favorite dodgers right now were all 17 year old immature high school kids. Martin, Loney, Kemp, Broxton, Billingsley.
When it’s time to spend money on the MLB roster and when those guys are available on the open market, they will cost millions.
it’s not mutually exclusive.
No one says you can’t spend money on the farm/future and not spend money on the present.
Besides the money is being spent on guys like Brett Tomko, Saenz, Ramon, anyways
No they’re in there mid 20’s trust me there is a difference.
they are now. not when they were drafted.
actually martin was drafted out of college 🙂 but the rest of them yeah. its actually pretty amazing what white has done considering his successes have been with almost all high school kids which are a bigger gamble than college players. if its such a dumb idea to go overslot for an 18 year old, why are so many other teams doing it. did you know other teams are giving major league contracts to teenagers now b/c its what their agents demand?
All i’m saying is that Blair is a 5th rounder who everyone knew wasn’t gonna take less then 1st round money and if you weren’t going to pay him 1st round money(which I don’t think you should) why draft him in the first place?
When they were drafted i’m sure they were considered willing to take the norm amount of money for their position/ draft round.
I think the decision on Blair should have been left to Logan White. If he thought the guy’s talent was comparable to those drafted in round two, and he only slipped down to the fifth round because of signability (which turned out to be the case), Logan should have had the discretion to give him a round two signing bonus. Like jspelk said, I too would rather trust that money being spent to Logan than to Colletti.
Martin was college? my bad.
Yeah we all agree with you on that point (why draft him if your not gonna pay him), but that’t not all you were saying. You were saying:
“I would rather have that money go to proven veterans rather then some 17 year old immature high school kid.”
Sorry about that. I misunderstood.
jspelk there’s nothing wrong with drafting a high school kid if you are positive you can sign him for a reasonable amount.
Do we get compensated for losing our 5th round pick in next year’s draft?
Within hours after David Wells cleared waivers and became a free agent Thursday, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Colorado Rockies were the first teams to express interest in possibly signing the veteran left-hander.
Wells, 44, was cut free by the Padres last week, after going 5-8 with a 5.54 ERA. Gregg Clifton, his agent, has made it clear that Wells — who has 235 regular season victories, and a superlative post-season record — would like to pitch for a contender. The Dodgers have been looking for pitching, in the aftermath of a series of injuries to their starting pitchers, including Jason Schmidt and Randy Wolf. The Rockies have recently lost starters Rodrigo Lopez, Jason Hirsh and Aaron Cook to the disabled list.
Opponents have hit .322 against Wells this season. But with almost no quality starting pitching available for trade this month — the Blue Jays’ Josh Towers and the Orioles’ Steve Trachsel are probably the best starters to have gotten through waivers — the Rockies, Dodgers and perhaps other teams could take a shot with Wells
isis let me rephrase that. I don’t want us to have to overpay many 5th rounders wanting 1st round money and therefore be unable to sign veterans.
an extra 400K isn’t going to stop us from signing anyone. although the schmidt/pierre contracts might.
jspelk if we’re doing that for every pick year after year it is. I’m looking at the big picture here.
Lowe going to be healthy enough to get his sinker back tonight and get a ton of ground balls?
Just out of curiosity… do you guys think Grady is to blame for this current slide?
Isis,
Rockies just picked up former Angel Ramon Ortiz in a trade
I’m glad we didn’t get Ortiz, he’s not very good.
Grady seems like he’s trying to find a right combination in the batting order. No timely hitting, no patience at the plate and guys trying too hard to hit 3 run homeruns with no one on base(Quoting Kennedy). Their not doing anything right. I would like to see guys trying to move runners over or something. You have to be agressive and at least try to manufacture some runs.
Grady, the front office and the players are all to blame, not just one individual.
Some people on this blog have suggested that Grady alone is to blame and that he needs to be fired. I couldn’t disagree more.
Managers get too little credit for winning and too much when they are losing. Its all on the players. We’ve had some decent pitching, and our hitters need to step up.
ok mike and scurtis if people like diehard start posting that its all Gradys fault and the only reason the Angels and Tigers are good is because of their manager and the players have nothing to do with it im gonna need you guys to back me up in saying its the players fault too that we’re on this losing skid and that the Leyland and Scoiccia help but they’re not the only reason those teams are successful.
Just to comment on Grady Little’s involvement in our losing ways the past few weeks…I would just like to add that it IS the manager’s responsibility to put their team/players in the best position to win.
I cannot agree with Grady Little’s managerial moves such as letting pitchers hit in games we are losing by 4-5 runs when we have had trouble scoring runs and we have men in scoring position with 2 outs. Letting Lowe hit and leaving pitchers in too long are mistakes.
Batting Furcal (and his diminished speed) atop the line-up is also a mistake as he is IN FRONT of JP. I hate JP but still he is our best leadoff option these days.
Batting Ethier, Loney, Kemp, etc at the bottom of the line-up when Gonzo, Kent, and Nomar are struggling in spots 4-6 is a mistake. Let these players have a chance to drive in some runs since they are some of our better players at the moment. Delwyn Young on the bench after a 4-4 game.
Grady Little is far from the worst manager but he does make many mistakes. But our biggest coaching blunder has been keeping Rich Donnelly as the 3B coach. He is just not very good at his job.
And as for Colletti, i have no sympathy for him and hope he loses his job as bringing in Proctor rather than “trying” Meloan first and losing a 25yr old Switch hitting 3B in Wilson Betemit with legitimate power for a 30 yr old middle reliever abused by Torre for the past few years is atrocious. His trades are horrid. The END!
Everybody knows that you win or lose depending on well the manager manages & how well the players produce….
The most important responsibility for the manager is to put the best players on the field & make a lineup with the hitters in an order where they can be the most productive….
Unfortunatley Grady Gump has refused to do his this all year long… Quite possibly because he just isn’t capable of knowing what the right moves are…. But, also because of his blind faith in old veterans & his fear of failure by younger players….
Whatever the reasons, to me he has been a complete failure…
Players win games. Managers lose games and umpires ruin games.
Just remember that and your life will be better.
David Wells is drawing interest from the Dodgers and Rockies after clearing waivers and becoming a free agent Thursday.
Both teams should be willing to put him right in the rotation, and since that’s the case, we imagine Wells would prefer staying close to San Diego and joining the Dodgers.
Source: ESPN.com
i think the roster construction (and the players production) are the biggest reasons for the slide, but… we had one horrific slide this year and we had one last year. I do not believe Grady is blameless.
Would signing Wells be a good or a bad thing…..
If it means getting rid of Tomko and/or Henderickson I would be all for it…
It could add some FIRE to this club…
Wells is ridiculous. I hate to say this, but I would stick with Tomko over Wells and try Stults and/or Houlton before Wells.
Colorado is even more desperate than LA – Elmer Dessens is now in their rotation as well!
Wells, pitching in the same division as LA, with home games in Petco:
Innings H R ER HR BB SO
118.7 156 74 73 17 33 63
More ******* action than a Dyson.
Nice to see Ethier & Kemp in the lineup, hopefully we can give Lowe a W today.
Arizona will lose 2 out of 3 or get swept in Atlanta! We need to take advantage of this weekend against a good Colorado team.
I hope Biggio doesn’t say Goodbye again, remember on 7/24 he got a single and hit a Grand Slam, well that’s goodbye enough already.
old fogey showing knowledge of high-end vacuum cleaners.
Nice low pitch count start for D Lowe. Hoping for another win to split the series.
Speed never slumps!
That a boy Kemp and Pierre. Nice solid swing Matt.
Raffy and Pierre need to swap positions in the lineup, we can use Raffy to sac pierre over. Then Kemp gets the hits, all works out and we get runs in the first.
Lowe is lookin good thus far…
Well, it all turned out nicely for Kemp, but he’s probably going to get an earful in the clubhouse.
way to ignore the 3rd base coach Kemp lol u saw JD Drew ignore him last year lol
Uh-oh….UH-OH! UH-OH! WE HAVE AWOKEN!
Boy, I sure do like how Kemp just ran right through Donnelly’s “stop sign” . . up 2 in the first inning!! GO DODGERS!!!
Good start! Nice to see Kent contribute again.
kent!
At least Rodriguez doesnt look like a Cy Young like we’ve made so many other horrible pitchers look. Things are looking very good!!
Donnelly can’t stop Kemp! I think he forgot who was running those bases…not every player can’t score from first base on a double.
First inning DREAM. KENT is super, Pierre is Wills. Kemp hits too.
When was the last time Lowe was pitching in a game when we had a lead?
And if Kemp hadn’t run through the stop sign we would have stranded him. So, it definitely was worth the risk.
Anyone see that Kent piece last night with Charley Steiner after the game? If so how was it?
KEMP says “need all the runs we can get. DONT STOP ME.”
The amazing Superman Jeff Kent does it again!Ain’t no mountain high enough!Way to go Grady Little,keeping Furcal and Pierre, 1 & 2 in the batting line up.Watch out everybody,here come The Dodgers!
You are not going to believe this one…or maybe you will. The last time Derek Lowe pitched with a lead of ANY KIND…June 22nd against the Devil Rays.
The last time against a team from the National League June 4th against the Pirates.
Last time Lowe pitched with a lead, July 22nd in a 7th inning relief appearance against the Mets in LA. Last time he did it when he started, @SF on July 14th, which we blew a 6-2 lead on a Winn grand slam.
maybe Derek can hit it to Left field this time, much harder to be thrown out….
Well at least he didnt have to run.
Yeah, July 14th, I blocked that grand slam from memory. In a game he won June 22nd, overall July 14th, thanks fezzik.
lol forget his last win, its gotta be a relief for him to get the run support, but that Gnats game has got to be in the back of his mind. Hopefully Biggio isnt the hero tonight.
Lowe looks impressive with only 31 pitches so far through 3.
keeps this up a CG is within reach and gives the ‘pen a night off.
keeps this up a CG is within reach and gives the ‘pen a night off.
Posted by: fezzik031@yahoo.com | August 16, 2007 07:46 PM
Agreed. The pen could use a break.
A very nice AB by KEMP.
/agreed Pierre… the sooner we knock out the starter, who is getting off lucky with a couple plays. Just work the count and he will be out soon.
That is one crusty, old, and filthy helmet on B-G-O!
Way to go Martin!
Martin has that throw down to second down to a science, always love watching him throw the balls down there.
Beautiful Strike em out, throw em out. Lowe at 42 pitches through 4.
Kent has got his stroke back.
kent is awesome
I hope Kent didn’t aggravate his hamstring on that double.
Andre!!
we’ll take them however we can get em.
It’s good to see J.K. out of his slump.
Kent is out of his, Martin looks to be coming out of his. Loney is still looking a bit off. Dont be surprised if Martin and Loney swap batting positions tomorrow night.
Kent looks to be struggling on his feet, not again.
NIICE! Another twin killing. Lowe’s go good stuff tonight.
52 pitches through 5 for lowe. Even he is coming out of his pitching slump. Looks like Lowe is returning as the viable #2 pitcher in the rotation.
WOW 3 runs for LOWE
Bad night for Lamb. Good for us!
Lamb for President!!!
KEMP is patient and is swinging that bat well tonight.
Sorry folks CF & 2B are taken at the moment.
A word about Garlic:
The superstitious hung garlic over themselves to ward off evil spirits.
Looks like Gordon Biersch is going to have a shortage for their Garlic Fries. Lets keep it under the benches, maybe they can ward off idiot umpires by bathing in it.
I love the line up! who said a line up doesn’t matter they sure are more fun to watch.
Oh well. One run beats none.
For those who are unable to watch the game, or hear Vinny mention it, There are garlic cloves under the Dodger bench. sure glad I didnt drop $125 for the seats behind the dugout.
Colorado has blown it open 6-2 over S.D Top 5
This is the best Lowe has looked in a while!
64 pitches through 6…. very nice!!!
maybe he can finally get a complete game win this year.
sssshhhhh! Lowe is doing ok.
Is ethier trying too hard?
Remember boys, Lowe is a gamer and he has always pitched well when there is something to play for. Hopefully he keeps this up
little finally got it right 8/16 please don’t mess with the line up.
When there is something to play for? Havent we been playing for something all year?? Everyone is talking about how well he is playing tonight as opposed to how he has pitched recently due to the hip.
OUCH!
I hope Randolph is okay, scary thing is that it is probably a ligament injury.
On a funnier note, did anyone notice Lowe covering is head when the throw came towards first. LOL
hate to see a guy get hurt lik that. Lowe put down a nice bunt to set up raffy.I predict he clutches up to break open the game.
isn’t raffy up?
I’d like to mention those blue jackets with the little LA on the chest, that I see in the dugout. Shouldn’t the name Dodgers instead of LA be written across the chest during home games
Raffy!!!!!!
Good call Diehard.
Way to go Berkman! We’ll take it.
Is it just me or is Berkman a little cry baby… I’ve seen him complaining a lot this series.
Furcal should get two ribbies they were scoring anyway.
“Is it just me or is Berkman a little cry baby… ”
haha i was just thinking that
FURCAL 2nd hit. LOWE is for change is getting some runs while he is pitching good.
So of course San Diego scores eight in the fifth and take a 10-6 lead
I love Biggio, always have had the most respect for him. Gonna be hard to imagine the Astros without him. THANK YOU CRAIG!!
I know Alex I was just watching that game… bummer.
impressive
Nice Play Raffy!!!!
Furcal has sooooooo much range defensively. He kind of evens up our middle infield with Kent at 2B.
Gotta love it! Season high 4 DP’s for the boys in blue.
I think I mentioned this afternoon to give Kent a chance when everyone was down on him. Who is the hero now??
manfromchina are you posting that from china?
I think I was defending raffy this afternoon as well.
85 pitches… that **** 1 pitch at bat was an entire inning for him.
12 pitch*
no sir
never even been there
Pete LaForest the Padres third string catcher is having a huge night tonight. San Diego up 11-6… bummer.
7 innings
84 pitches
16 groundouts
2 flyouts
2 strikeouts
This is a Derek Lowe game!
well then why is your email address manfromchina? haha?
Cant wait to get the Rox this weekend. Gonna be fun to watch us play them with the healthy bats.
FURCAL has made many outstanding plays, but you got to admit that B__I__G L_E_G S_T_R_R_E_T_C_H was a little odd.
just a joke between my friends
Kent’s doubles machine tonight!
Is Stults still the most likely canidate to start tomorrow night’s game?
Kemp needs to sit out for the rest of the night. His knee gave on him before he hit the bag. May not see him play again for a couple days.
ball boy needs to make a play!
Rox on the comeback trail Tulowitzki RBI single. 11-7. first and second one out.
Make that 11-8 Holliday RBI single.
We need KENT.
Sure doesn’t look like a pitchers duel at petco tonight does it?
Oh yeah. I remember this team now. Nice. I am willing to limp into the playoffs. As bad as we have looked, no one in the NL is any better really. Come on Blue, let’s put 5 or 6 wins in a row at least. It’s very encouraging to see Lowe pitch like Lowe again.
old fogey likes things that work…”properly”
stupid to bring out Lowe.
I think Lowe could have gone another inning.
Maybe this was Little being smart and pulling someone early, before things got out of hand. I always have criticized him about not pulling pitchers in time.
He could have left lowe in longer but Grady didn’t want to hear diehard complain about how he always leaves pitchers in too long. haha just kidding diehard.
11-8 in San Diego, Im guess Chris Young is a bit rusty.
Nah, he had to work hard in that 7th inning, I personally believe with a six run lead you can throw Seanez and Hernandez out there to mop up. 11-9 Padres Top 6…
11-9 now Atkins RBI single.
Chris Young didn’t start that game. Clay Hensley did.
my bad Hennsley started tonight, I thought Young did.
Elmer Dessens vs. Clay Hensley, that had scorefest written all over it…
outfielder could have set up lawn chairs with Lowe in, now they actually need to work.
I thought Dessens was a middle reliever. Colorado must be real desperate for pitching.
GET RUDY OUT OF THERE!!!
Chill…
Wasn’t a pretty outing for Rudy, but the shutout continues…
good, we get to see jonathan in the 9th… watch the future closer in the 9th.
Doesn’t it feel good to see LOWE back in the grove. I’m only concern with his health. He looked strong though. And it was great to see him get 6 runs Yes runs for a change on a night he pitched good.
Hernadez in the ninth, exactly what I suspected. Smart and hopefully we can give both Broxton and Saito a game off that we win.
GROOVE.
Colorado has 3 starters on the DL.
Im gonna start listening to what Alex says, good call. Hopefully this mean hernandez wont be available tomorrow night with the mystery pitcher on a pitch count.
Save situation coming up for Saito. Why did we pick him up? Might as well have asked Orel to come out of the broadcasters booth.
Meloan? Can you hear me?
There goes the shutout! Nice going Roberto!
It Blowberto TIME!!!!
Abreu? Can you hear me?
I expect a lot of DFA Martinez and Hernandez posts…if I don’t see them I’ll start them myself…
Saito’s night off just got revoked.
Thank you Grady, get Sammy in to clean this one up. DFA Roberto.
I was going to say it was a wild cleanup job by RUDY & BERT.
lol guess I got a jump start on the DFA comments.
a shutout really would have helped with momentum and everything.
Tell me again —
Why the helll are Rudy & Roberto on our pitching staff…..
What a pathetic joke they are….
Thanks again Ned…
Rudy is spotty and seems to be on when Beimel is off.
Lee thought twice about running on Kemp.
man from china…momentum is as good as your next days starting pitcher.
31 out of 34 is awesome! Way to go Saito! Here’s hoping we keep it going, and beat up on the Rocks!
THAT’S ANOTHER WIN
speaking of jon meloan. He got the win tonight for vegas. Has his ERA down to 2.57. LaRoche wasn’t in the lineup tonight.
I cant believe you guys!! We’re gonna win this game and you’re worrying about DFA’ing Roberto and Ramon? Are you forgetting about Tomko, Hendrickson and all the other worthless acquisitions Ned has made? Let’s start the list of bad pickups….
BAD MOVES
Jae Seo, Jason Schmidt, Bombko, Hendy, Ramon Martinez, Juan Pierre, Lance Carter, Roberto Hernandez, Rudy Seanez, Shea Hillenbrand, (re-signing Nomar), Proctor for Betemit, Danys Baez
GOOD MOVES
Gonzo (for one yr), Furcal, Saito, Marlon Anderson, Trading Baez, Aybar for Betemit
Max do you know why LaRoche didn’t play tonight? Is he still hurt?
I’m not arguing that list, but Ethier, you cannot forget Ethier in the good moves list.
LaRoche is still on the DL
Ok Max you seem to be one of the most knowledgable Dodger fans here. Who do you blame for the recent slide Grady, management or the players?
lv,
Schmidt – could still be a good move. We’ll see if he’s healthy. And you really think that two weeks later we know if Proctor for Betemit was good/bad?
Good moves: Maddux? Remember that?
Nomar, Beimel, Ethier…trading Navarro to give Martin his spot…picking up Betemit for a fairly productive year…etc.
Anyway. It’s just funny how people tend to forget what they want to forget. You could try to say the same thing about me, I suppose, but I’ve made your two lists before and they were much more comprehensive.
Two in a row!! go Dodgers! I wonder if you guys could go a couple of minutes without criticisim of the management or players. Let’s just bask in the glow of winning.
Swood…the recent slump was a combination of horrible veterans, bad lineups and bad coaching.
I dunno Max I may not be seeing straight on this one but I just don’t see it being Gradys fault the way the rest of these guys do. I mean I see Grady trying everything.
RH hitters hitting .167 againsr Hernandez with Dodgers but Little uses him against LH hitters as well.
puppy, thats why it was just a list. i want people to add to it and see how it balances out.
as for the proctor for betemit move…i would say it is a bad move for the simple reasoning that Betemit is 25yr old switch hitting position player with a potent bat that can play 2B, SS, 3B and maybe OF while Proctor is a middle reliever who has no more potential than he has already showed and is also 30yrs old.
in my mind, that’s a bad trade. for the long run thats a bad trade. for winning now, thats a bad trade. we had meloan tearing up AA and AAA all year. we had options..
i thought i was doing well forgetting Lugo and the JD Drew debacle. But absolutely yes….Ethier, Maddux were great moves. I don’t know if the Dioner trade was what I would consider a good move. Yes it opened up catcher for Martin but Dioner had options remaining and we packaged him with Chuck tiffany and Justin Ruggiano for Hendrickson. so Im not sure how much i love that deal in all honesty.
Ethier and Maddux were fabulous deals though.
for so-so deals i would put Wolf, Lieberthal, and Tsao on the list for this year.
I never thought I’d hear myself say this, but I’m hoping the Braves beat up on the Dbacks while the Dodgers beat up the Rocks. Gotta admit, one of the best things to ever happen to the Dodgers was the switch to the 3 division setup that put the Braves in the east.
Yay. A win.
Problem is it should have been a SHUTOUT.
Seriously, when you have a six run lead in the 9th inning…
THROW STRIKES. Make your opponent earn their way on base, don’t issue free passes. The two walks came in to score. If they didn’t happen, the final is 6-0.
What’s it going to take for the Dodgers to throw a shutout? 5 all season? This staff is better than THAT.
Pardon me for not really celebrating something that was SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN.
Gaaaah.
lvproduction: you are mixing up different trades. It was:
Edwin Jackson and Chuck Tiffany for Danys Baez and Lance Carter.
Dioner Navarro and Jae Seo for Toby Hall, Mark Hendrickson, and cash.
In the long run, that first trade effectively became:
Edwin Jackson, Chuck Tiffany and Willy Aybar for Scott Proctor and one season of Wilson Betemit.
Tsao cost nothing but his minimum salary. The fact we got anything out of him (24 2/3 IP, 18 H, 16/8 K/BB, 1.054 WHIP) makes it a plus acquisition. Can’t ever have too much pitching.
Oh, Ruggiano was the PTBNL in the Hendrickson deal. Forgot about that.
thanks fogey, yeah i tend to mix up those d-rays trades since they were all in a short time period of each other. add in the lugo deal and it’s blake johnson, joel guzman, justin ruggiano, edwin jackson, chuck tiffany, willy aybar for scott proctor.
sorry, i forgot one. it’s scott proctor AND mark hendrickson. yippee!
Not resigning MAddux should go in the VERY BAD moves pile.
I always felt not offering arbitration to Maddux was the mistake. Re-signing is a totally different situation. He accepts and you get Greg Maddux for one more year. He leaves you get compensation and as it turned out it would’ve been from San Diego. Lowe, Penny, Schmidt, Maddux, Billingsley. That was my dream rotation for 07 after last season. It’s not as if Maddux is lighting the world on fire this season, but I really enjoyed watching him play the game in Chavez Ravine in the blue.
Fantastic victory by our Los Angeles Dodgers! Superman Jeff Kent is a true Los Angeles Dodger and a truly great,great leader!Derek Lowe,way to go! You really are a champion pitcher!Way to go team!Ain’t no mountain high enough!
Yeah same here Alex. Maddux was my favorite player growing up and the brief time he was in Blue were very happy for me. I even bought a jersey with is number. I went to the game he pitched againts the Giants and shut them out over 8 innings. It was the best game i’ve ever seen pitched. (schmidt pitched a **** of a game for the Giants too)
Maddux brought so much more to the team then what he did ever 5 days. Plus he never gets hurt and he’s good for 10-15 wins every year.
Instead of giving Maddux a 2 year 20 million dollar deal we gave schmidt a 3 year 47 million dollar deal and wolf a one year 8 million dollar deal and they both are hurt right now.
nice win…
im looking forward too see more wins to come…
OK…Another great win last night, but can we finally DFA Hernandez and Martinez??? please….thankfully D Lowe was back to his good self..nice to see
Now we have to see what the back end of our rotation can do with the power hitting Rockies..and then we face Phillies and Mets…should know alot by end of next week.
I just hope that the 2 -3 week fall we took didn’t doom our season…Stay tuned.
looks like alot of people are still sleeping…
have a good sleep huh?
is it good to see the dodgers win 2 straight?
let’s hope to see more…
a great game by D lowe…
for me it’s a complete game…
not only he pitched 7 shutout innings he also got 1 of the astros pitcher injured…
Nice all around game last night. A friend just gave me 2 tickets for tonight! Grady better not start Olmedo at 1b!
Now we just need those darn D-backs to start losing.
Nice all around game last night. A friend just gave me 2 tickets for tonight! Grady better not start Olmedo at 1b!
Now we just need those blasted D-backs to start losing.
i can smell a Kemp rest, though!
i don’t know…
i hope Kemp stays in the lineup…
Oh NO…just saw Dodgers and Rockies interested in David Wells…just what we need…another used up pitcher…He’s been terrible this year…Say it ain’t so.!
I would totally roll with David Wells. He is no worse than Mark Henderickson. He also may be super bitter at the Padres and that could help. He typically throws strikes and has a great playoff pitching record. He is worth a flyer based on what we have have in house now.
isis, Hendrickson is no longer in the rotation, and actually, he was better than Tomko, who somehow is still in the rotation. I am not a big David Wells fan, but do what the DBacks did with Kim, 1 or 2 starts if it doesn’t work, drop him. Hey, if not Wells it’s gonna be Tomko, so it’s worth a shot.
I am not a Wells fan either but I think you guys are right. If Tomko, Hendu and Wells all had an era of 6.00 and I had to ask one of the three to start a playoff game, i’d go with Wells. Of course maybe we don’t make the playoffs…I think he is a better option than contreras who is still owed 20 million bucks.
Did you guys see that Zambrano just resigned with the cubs 5yrs 90 million.
i still want a pitcher from the minor leagues…
we haven’t start a rookie this year…
why is Ned so scared about this rookies… those guys are our future… they need to have a taste in the Bigs!
van, I agree with that, Stults will go tonight. But if Colletti is hesitant to make any more moves with the young guys, pitchers, i would not mind giving Wells a look see….
If Alex Rodriguez opts out of his contract after this season, the New York Yankees insist they won’t try to re-sign him……
“How can we? We lose all our money from Texas,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said Thursday.
He’s earned the right to opt out if he so chooses,” Cashman said. “He has a contract. We hope he doesn’t opt out.”……
The GM said the team’s position has been reported before, so it shouldn’t be surprising.
That’s just talk from Cashman. I fully believe they would be competing for a-rod if he ops out.
Wells:
I’m ok with giving him a look see start since he’s not carrying a huge multi year salary like Contreras.
Tomko has a good arm, but he turns mental too quick out there and loses focus. Stick with your charcoal paintings Brett.
i see that article…
if A-Rod opts out and the yankees wont try to sign him again…
i think we have a 60-40% chance…
I agree Scott. Plus if they don’t resign him, Boston will. I would say the SF Giants have a much better shot at signing him than we would.
i think at his age…
he wants to go to a winning team…
it’s either boston or L.A…
i don’t see any reason for him to sign with the giants instead of the park…
The ARod sweepstakes will come down to the Yankees, White Sox, Angels, Giants and Dodgers. The Cubs are on the market and will have their hands tied and the Red Sox will not go after ARod.
The Dodgers have as good a chance as anybody, but i would imagine ARod’s first choice would be the Yankees..
I just don’t see why anyone would want to play for the Giants who have won 0 WS in SF and last won as NY in 1954 and had to cheat their way in in 1951 with the CF telescope tipping off pitches.
Yankees
Dodgers
Cubs
Redsox
Remember ARod played for Pinella in Seattle and they are still friends. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him go to the north side of chicago.
scott, the Giants will be in the running for 2 reasons, ballpark and money… Arod could hit a ton of HR’s in SF, and the Giants will have alot of money to offer ARod, they may not have a team around him but they will have plenty of money. The Dodgers offer money and a good team with a chance to win. There is no doubt that if you take what we can expect to be the core of the Dodger team next year and add ARod, they would be the favorites in the NL…
Can the Cubs afford another huge contract on top of 90 Million they gave Zambrano?
the Cubs cannot afford any more contracts while they are for sale…
Did the cubs resign Zambrano today? I’ve been busy and I haven’t got a chance to see what’s been going on.
i don’t think the redsox will sign A-Rod…
i still think the dodgers are the front runners…
If we sign ARod what will we do with Furcal? I’m sure ARod will want to sign somewhere where he can play shortstop.
92 Million
18.3 per year, slightly more than Zito per year.
Makes me laugh when you think about the Giant Debacle with that deal.
do u want furcal or A-Rod?
I read an article in the NY Post about a month ago, in the article ARod says that at this stage in his career he would more than likely remain at 3rd base. He would not rule out a return to SS, but he says he would like to remain at third.
The giants have made some real bad signings recently. Van, I want ARod but Im just asking what would happen to Furcal? Would he try to play third? Would we try to trade him?
O kiper I didn’t know that.
The Dodgers do not have anyone that would be in the way of A-Rod on the field. SS or 3B would be trade bait.
The safest senario would be A-rod at 3b since laroche is less proven than Raffy, but you never know.
swood, ARod would play third.
Arod to the Dodgers would be HUGE! How much money will McCourt make if he does that. I guarentee every game will sell out before the season. How many of us would go buy an Arod jersey the next day I would! the gnats stink they have no one in the minors we have more money than the gnats they are an old team Arod wants to win a championship add him to the puzzle in the NL we are favorites.
A-Rod 3B
LaRoche can play 2B…
Abreu in SS…
trade HU…
If Kent can play 2b I don’t see why LaRoche couldn’t.
Furcal is good defensive SS with a great arm. I really like him there and he’s not that old yet. I like Hu over Abreu as well.
people please don’t be down on my boy Furcal he will clutch up. He carried us last year, he’s going to get hot!
oh yeah…
i forgot furcal…
we still got him… lol
Furcal CF
Martin C
Loney 1b
A-Rod SS
Kemp RF
Ethier LF
LaRoche 3b
Abreu 2b
one can dream right?
Furcal is a much better player than he has shown this year. It’s hard to tell who’s to blame for him not going on the DL, management or Furcal, but it’s clear that he started the season hurt and never got healthy. We will see a different Raffy next season, this season he may get hot for a while but he’s not the bat he was or can be.
isis, if A-Rod came here he would bat 3rd, you put your best hitter in the 3 hole
Interesting lineup isis…
There was some talk about Furcal switching to OF when he was a FA searching for a new team. Probably unlikely though.
I know many of you are gonna bash me for this but I don’t really want A-Rod. He’ll eat-up such a huge portion of our payroll and we probably wouldn’t be able to sign all of these kids once they close in on free-agency. Cashman is on record as saying he wouldn’t want to eat that entire salary and we’re talking the HUGE Yankees payroll. I dunno, I have mixed feelings A-Rod would be exciting here in LA but it might cost us in the long-run, we might end up as Texas part II (a superstar on a bad team).
Valid concerns charris. So far A-Rod has not helped anyone win anything with al of his massive stats, but he also hasn’t been on teams with a decent pitching staff.
I say it’s 50-50 and the Dodgers are in pretty good shape with or without him.
charris, this is not a bashing, but ARod signing will not really affect the young Dodgers pending free agency. First of all, none of them are eligible for free agency for at least 3 years. By then ARod would be 2 years into his contract and would have generated plenty of revenues to help sign some of those players. Now, to compare the Dodgers to the Rangers, that doesn’t even merit an answer.
I guess the question would have to be will McCourt invest a lot more in the team if he gains in revenue? In 3 years what if Loney becomes a .320-20-100 guy and Kemp becomes a .300-40-120 guy? They will be asking for major jack to resign with us. Not to mention Martin and Billingsley who will no doubt demand big contracts too. I don’t see a huge ceiling for Ethier but I think he’ll demand some pretty big $$$ too. At that time all of these guys will be approaching their prime playing years as A-Rod will be leaving his.
I don’t see A-rod happenning for two reasons.
1. Weekend at Bernies relationship with Boras
2. McCash won’t pony up.
Well then the question, charris, is.. Do you want to win now or later? It sounds like your comfortable with being mediocre for a few more years until Loney hits his 20+ HR’s and Kemp hits his 40+ HR’s. In the meantime ARod will hit his 40+ every year and when our guys hit their “prime” and ARod drops from his, in what 4 to 5 years? He’ll be 36 or 37, he’ll definitely drop off to 35 HR’s. I can see your point.
boy i can’t w8 for Kemp to have that kind of season..
.300+ 40+HR…
This whole thing is not about ARod, it’s about the Dodgers needing somebody with power in the line up next season. Obviously ARod would be the preferred flavor, but they need to be involved in conversations with somebody who carries a big stick. I believe that regardless of whether or not the young guys, namely Loney, Kemp and Ethier, play every day, they are not 30+ HR guys….yet!!
It just seems to me that our organization is building for the future whether we like it or not (they made that clear at this season’s trade deadline). So if we’re rolling the dice with all of these kids, we should at least put ourselves in a position to resign them after they’ve gotten past their growing pains in the big leagues.
I agree with that kiper, I just think that their are better options out there for our future than A-Rod. I honestly think we should trade Ethier (while his value might be slightly inflated due to his undetermined ceiling) and get a good young pitcher, then go out a sign Torii Hunter so we can strengthen our rotation, defense (Pierre would be in left) and offense (Hunter is currently a better hitter than Ethier). Sure he isn’t a monster stick, but he’s good and kemp/Loney will probably put up better #s next year as well.
charris, that’s a good point. And like i said, it’s not about ARod, it’s about getting somebody who can push a few runs across and make the team a little better. We’re not that far away.
I don’t want Hunter and Pierre in the same lineup. He’s another low OBP guy who is slugging more than usuall this season. Buyer BEWARE!
scott, his defense and occasional pop make him more valuable than most, low OBP is fine if good run production is there.
A-rod is not the answer, I agree with Charris. The answer is to get creative and trade for a young masher who might be a little closer than our current young players in being the next A-rod type player.
Miguel Cabrerra comes to mind.
I also like Alexi Rios he seems to have a bright future.
I would look at Aaron Rowand heavily as a FAs and move Pierre to left if you cant move him off the roster.
Good call isis, Rowand may not be a bad option next year and he will certainly be more affordable than Jones and probably Hunter.
Wells would be a good signing because of this fact (which, I am about 90% certain of). If a player gets released in the middle of his contract, and gets picked up after that, the releasing team is still on the hook for hir guaranteed salary, while the signing team is only on the hook for the MLB minimum. So we could have Stults (who will take over Hendy’s spot in rotation otherwise) for the minimum or David Wells. There is an argument that Wells has lost so much that Stults is better, but a roll of the dice that we might see the David Wells of old for 6 angry weeks is worth it. Right now, we’re the short stack, and we need to find a good hand to go all-in with.
I agree with charris about not signing ARod. He fills needs, and is a good player, but he never seems to win. He’s Mr. April! Maybe he will turn that around, but the bigger issue is the salary. I can agree that he should be the highest paid player in the game, but what he’s getting now–much less what he will be paid if he opts out–is just too much. His salary ruined the Rangers, because they didn’t have anything to sign anyone else. If ARod hits .350 with 60 home runs, you still need 5 starters and 8 other hitters. It’s not basketball where Jordan alone can guarantee you a spot in the Conference Finals (and even Kobe can’t do that).
The Yankees are probably the only team that won’t be ruined if they sign him, because they can (and/or are foolish enough) to spend ridiculous amounts. We can (and do) spend a lot, but there is a limit even for the Dodgers. Admittedly, because of the young/cheap talent, we have some flexibility, but I’d still rather see a front-line starter as the FA signing, and Nomar/LaRoche at 3B next season.
Cabrera would be ideal if we’re looking for a guy who gonna go out there and throw up huge #s, plus that makes LaRoche expendable for a good trade.
Rowand instead of Ethier? He’s having an unusually super productive year. I would rather keep Ethier than gamble that Rowand has suddenly become more than a great CF with ok offensive skill. Ethier is a better offensive player at his age than Rowand was.
I think Pierre in CF would cost us more runs than Ethier’s offense compared to Rowand but yeah I see your point. I just really don’t want Pierre in CF next year.
avg/obp/slug/ops
.334/.414/.616/1.029 Miggy
.311/.367/.530/.898 Rios
.308/.379/.515/.894 Rowand
.296/.339/.544/.883 Hunter
As comparison:
Kemp is OPSing .860 and slugging .503 highest on team for both.
In more at bats Kent is OPSing .859 and slugging .491 and leading the team in OBP at .368
Not a bad point Scott.
Rowand career #s in 7 seasons
.284/.342/.458/.800
.308/.379/.515/.894 this year.
leekfink don’t be an ignorant yankee fan that doesn’t appreciate Arod. To call him Mr. April is unfair he had a bad post season last year but what did he do before that?
2005-.435 5 games
2004-.414 11 games
2000-.421 9 games
1997-.313 4 games
That’s pretty clutch for me. Arod had a hard time last year he put too much pressure on himself he will have a huge postseason AGAIN this year.
my mistake that was his OBP .320 .371 .313 still clutch
i can’t believe u want rowand rather than have ethier..?
is this a joke…
are u the one who is spending money for A-Rod?
alot of us here wants to win…
Hunter is not the type of guy that can lead a ball club…
A-Rod is a complete package..
he will give the team alot of money…
He will contribute big in offense…
he is a leader i think if he is here in L.A…
the guy haven’t won a championship… so what?
he still has alot of time…
and it should be here in L.A that he wins his first WS championship…
Isis & Charris: On the Cabrera issue, I think what you guys are failing to see is that the Marlins have no intent to trade the guy. And even if they do, it would take the farm to get him. I mean, look at what Texas was asking for Teixaira; and I think we all would agree Cabrera is a much better player.
The thing about A-Rod is that he’ll be there for the taking. Players like him don’t hit free agency very often. If McCourt thinks he can get him and still retain some level of financial flexibility, he should definitely go after him.
This team needs a star. And any talk about A-rod not being a winner is either driven by personal animus or pure unsubstantiated speculation. I watch the Yankees play on a regular basis and the guy shows passion day in and day out. Baseball is a team game; it is simply unfair to say A-rod’s teams have not won because of him.
With our young, cheap talent, I think we’re in the perfect spot to make a run after A-Rod. Considering his talent, durability, and all-time HR record breaking potential, I think he makes a moderately safe investment.
From SI
LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers, a team many have viewed as the most talented in a tight National League West, lost their way in a hurry. They stopped hitting in the clutch. Their first 89 at-bats with runners in scoring position in August resulted in 84 outs, something their general manager, Ned Colletti, called “mathematically impossible.”
A lot of weird things were happening en route to a 2-13 stretch that dropped them from first place to fourth faster than you say Nomar Garciaparra. On Tuesday, Mark Sweeney, a heady player by nature and recent pickup, was embarrassingly doubled off first base on a foul popout to Astros’ catcher Brad Ausmus to end a 7-4 loss and prevent powerful Matt Kemp from coming up as the potential tying run. Sweeney apparently managed to lose track of the ball and the outs simultaneously.
All the Dodgers would like to forget the horrid two-week stretch. A shoulder injury to left-hander Randy Wolf, who they hope can return in September, and a nagging hip injury to righty Derek Lowe, didn’t help. But the main problem is a surprising lack of hitting. Hard as it is to believe, the Dodgers were on the cusp of playing their way out of baseball’s tightest division before two consecutive victories over Houston steadied them and kept them within 6 1/2 games of red-hot Arizona, the surprise first-place team.
If the Dodgers don’t make it back — and it’s still too early to count them out, now — questions will linger about whether they were overprotective of their impressive stash of top prospects at last month’s trade deadline. The scuttlebutt around the game is that involved-owner Frank McCourt — who’s been conspicuously absent in a box often occupied by only a glum Tommy Lasorda and another less-known underling or two this week — made all their many top prospects off-limits, or close to that. Word going around is there was a split within the hierarchy about how protective to be with their prospects, as well.
But Colletti, who made several daring moves last July to help the Dodgers tie for the top spot and win a playoff berth, insisted in an interview with SI.com that the organizational decisionmakers were all “on the same page” regarding their reluctance to trade their very top young players and prospects for veteran help. No one wanted to hinder their future for the present.
Word is the Rangers sought smooth young first baseman James Loney plus at least superb pitching prospect Clayton Kershaw, whom the Dodgers declared untouchable, for Mark Teixeira. L.A. preferred to include some next-tier prospects with Loney. For Teixeira and reliever Joaquin Benoit, the Rangers also wanted young outfielder Andre Ethier. The Dodgers found the prices too high for A’s pitcher Joe Blanton, White Sox pitcher Jon Garland and outfielder Jermaine Dye, as well. While Colletti wouldn’t address specific requests, he said they “weren’t about to tear apart their roster,” suggesting other teams were targeting young players already on their 25-man squad.
Some other Dodgers people believe they were handicapped by extra high demands that reflected their impressive collection of young prospects and players, who include Kemp — who some view as a Dave Winfield-type — Ethier, pitcher Chad Billlingsley, minor-league third baseman Andy LaRoche and minor-league pitcher Jon Meloan. The Dodgers’ suspicion is trade partners felt more comfortable getting another organization’s top prospect even if, in the Dodgers’ estimation, their fifth- or sixth-best prospect may have been just as good. Colletti said they never received an offer that made them even “waver,” showing how steadfast they were in their resolve to keep top young talent.
Last July, Colletti was able to grab Greg Maddux, Julio Lugo and others with deals for prospects, but so far this summer they’ve only made smaller deals, adding reliever Scott Proctor and infielder Shea Hillenbrand as well as Sweeney. Still, it’s hard to second guess them for playing it cautious with top young players such as Kemp, Ethier, Loney and Kershaw, who some view as one of the two or three best pitching prospects in the minors. “They absolutely did the right thing,” one competing GM said.
The Dodgers’ talent is also such that anyone could still see them getting back into a very quirky NL West race. And yet, if they don’t make it back, like many others, they still might be asking themselves whether their decision to protect their future cost them the present.
i wonder what ARod would cost in FA? $28-$30mill per year for what 3-4yrs so he can hit FA again when he’s 33-34 and still in his prime? or would he want it for 7-8yrs? My guess is ARod signs a 3yr deal with Ned for $32mill/yr so he can hit FA again when he’s 33 and go for the 6-7yr deal worth about the same per year.
i agree manny3vee
my question is…is Arod worth more than two 16 million dollar players?
If its true that McCourt was being protective of our young talent, then I have to applaud him (although part of me wonders whether its just him thinking of saving $ in the future). Also, you have to consider how much McCourt is going to want to spend this offseason. He spent alot last offseason, and of course got minimal return. Our payroll will already be high even if not a not another cent is spent. Not only do I not see ARod coming here but I don’t see McCourt ponying up the money.
all i can say is ned did the rayt thing by not trading the young guns…! (period.)
lvproduction
that’s not really a question…
everyone knows the answer…
I would take the 2 $16 million players.
after you take those 2 what’s next?
is it a championship?
if yes is the answer i will agree with you…
but No!
here’s an interesting comparison….is ARod/Schmidt better than Soriano/Zambrano who cost about the same at this point? Eventually Arod will make this comparison a moot point considering he is due about a $3-6mil yr raise
I would say yes at this point.
van, we don’t have a single player on our roster right now making $16 mill. If $16 mill get you 2 guys with 30+ HR and 100+ RBI potential thats 60 jacks 200 RBI, numbers A-Rod would not come close to touching in Chavez.
If Beltre and Green could hit 49 hrs each as Dodgers, why would far superior a-rod do less?
Catchers
Jorge Posada (36)
Ivan Rodriguez (36) – $13MM club option for ’08
Paul Lo Duca (36)
Michael Barrett (31)
Jason Kendall (34)
Ramon Castro (32)
Jose Molina (33)
Yorvit Torrealba (30)
Brad Ausmus (39)
First basemen
Adam Dunn (28) – $13MM club option for ’08; becomes free agent after season if traded
Second basemen
Jeff Kent (40) – $9MM club option vests with 550 PAs this year
Marcus Giles (30) – $4MM club option for ’08
Luis Castillo (32)
Tadahito Iguchi (33)
Kaz Matsui (32)
Shortstops
Omar Vizquel (41)
David Eckstein (33)
Juan Uribe (29) – $5MM club option for ’08
Cesar Izturis (28) – $5.45MM club option for ’08
Third basemen
Alex Rodriguez (32) – Has ability to opt out of contract after season
Mike Lowell (34)
Mike Lamb (32)
Pedro Feliz (33)
Left fielders
Adam Dunn (28) – $13MM club option for ’08; becomes free agent after season if traded
Geoff Jenkins (33) – $9MM club option for ’08
Luis Gonzalez (40)
Barry Bonds (43)
Brad Wilkerson (31)
Center fielders
Andruw Jones (31)
Torii Hunter (32)
Corey Patterson (28)
Milton Bradley (30)
Aaron Rowand (30)
Mike Cameron (35)
Kenny Lofton (41)
Right fielders
Jermaine Dye (34)
Kosuke Fukudome (31)
Bobby Abreu (34) – $16MM club option for ’08
Milton Bradley (30)
Geoff Jenkins (33) – $9MM club option for ’08
Trot Nixon (34)
Jose Guillen (32) – $9MM club option for ’08
Shawn Green (35) – $10MM club option for ’08
Eric Hinske (30)
DHs
Shea Hillenbrand (32)
Mike Piazza (39)
Barry Bonds (43)
Mike Sweeney (34)
Sammy Sosa (39)
Starting pitchers
Curt Schilling (41)
Jason Jennings (29)
Koji Uehara (33)
Freddy Garcia (32)
Kenny Rogers (43)
Jon Lieber (38)
Bartolo Colon (35)
Joe Kennedy (29)
Tomo Ohka (32)
John Thomson (34)
Kip Wells (31)
Wade Miller (31)
Livan Hernandez (33)*
Randy Wolf (31) – $9MM club option for ’08
Paul Byrd (37) – $8MM club option for ’08
Jeff Weaver (31)
Tom Glavine (42) – $9MM player option for ’08
Kris Benson (33) – $7.5MM club option for ’08
Jaret Wright (32)
David Wells (45)
Eric Milton (32)
Kyle Lohse (29)
Matt Clement (33)
Rodrigo Lopez (32)
Josh Fogg (31)
Byung-Hyun Kim (29)
Odalis Perez (31) – $9MM club option for ’08
Brett Tomko (35) – $4.5MM mutual option for ’08
Closers
Mariano Rivera (38)
Jason Isringhausen (35) – $8MM club option for ’08
Bob Wickman (39)
Francisco Cordero (33)
Armando Benitez (35)
Eric Gagne (32)
Todd Jones (40)
Middle relievers
Scott Linebrink (31)
Jorge Julio (29)
Kerry Wood (31)
Luis Vizcaino (31)
scott, how many 60 HR 200 RBI seasons has anyone ever had?
Sorry I forgot to post above that those are all the FA’s next year (so far) along with ages. I dont know what players on this list I would pair up and consider them as a better option than ARod.
Name two free agents that we can sign this year for 16 million ayear that you would take over Arod
BREAKING NEWS!!!! year 2013 Arod shatters Bonds homerun record as a Dodger!! How sweet would that be
Even if none are available does it make it neccessary to sign A-Rod. Seriously put it in perspective, we don’t have a player that will make half of what A-Rod will next year, thats CRAZY!
I’m not paying the payroll we already have one of the most expensive ticket prices. We lead the NL attendance almost every year, we are the LA DODGERS we can afford it!! what our payroll is 150 million next year so what. that still is not as much as the yankees.
I would rather go for Hunter and possibly Johan who might opt out this year. It might be a little more than A-Rod but it would improve our team so much more.
charris, u have a point….what type of descention would occur if we were to have 1 player making more than double what our next highest player makes while key contributers such as Billz, Kemp, Loney, Ethier, and our All-Star stud Catcher make at or near the minimum while contributing just as much? We also have Lowe AND Furcal heading into their contract years which could create problems trying to re-sign them if we wanted.
Johan will not be a FA until AFTER 2008. Where is Torrie Hunter going to play? We signed JP for 5 years and he is occupying CF for us for at least the next year or 2. Ned will not admit he made a mistake that quickly.
A-Rod is no doubt the best player in baseball but baseball is the ultimate team sport and he would just kill us financially.
Looking at the FA market who would you consider even making $16mill yr? Andruw Jones
Charris, you have to add waht you think a-rod would do plus another player currently on the team and you would exceed 60/200 easily with any of the young guys.
It’s simple trade Ethier for a quality pitcher, move Pierre to left (where his arm is no where near as exposed)and put a gold glove centerfielder out there. An outfield of Pierre, Hunter, Kemp is ridiculously fast and would save our pitchers a ton of runs over the course of a season.
That’s why I keep saying no A-Rod, yes he is the best player in baseball, but baseball requires 25 players to win, not 1 player, that’s why he has never won.
yeah scott but for A-Rod $ we could get a front-line starter and a guy that throws up good offensive #s, the kids are already here so you can’t include them in this.
lvproduction, yes A, JOnes will probably fetch that kind of money and in my mind he’s way more than 1/2 the player that A-Rod is even with his terrible year this year.
charris you really think Ethier is tradeable, I think
Pierre in LF
Kemp In Cf
Andre In RF
and Repko the 4th outfielder next year is really good.
we have 24 players we need 1 power bat and the most prolific power hitter in history is going to be a free agent. We aren’t the rangers or the mariners. The Dodgers are making a boat load of money adding Arod would only increase our revenua and exposure. How many Arod jerseys is McCourt going to sell in the first year alone.
I guess the question would have to be will McCourt invest a lot more in the team if he gains in revenue? In 3 years what if Loney becomes a .320-20-100 guy and Kemp becomes a .300-40-120 guy? They will be asking for major jack to resign with us. Not to mention Martin and Billingsley who will no doubt demand big contracts too. I don’t see a huge ceiling for Ethier but I think he’ll demand some pretty big $$$ too. At that time all of these guys will be approaching their prime playing years as A-Rod will be leaving his.
Posted by: charris1010321@yahoo.com | August 17, 2007 11:24 AM
A.Jones is the most overrated CF he had one good power year and hits .260 his range is going down as fast as his weight is going up.
Do any of you guys no who Martin and Loney’s agent is.
Kemp and Bills agent is Dave Stewart which I think is pretty **** cool.
If Colletti is smart you resign the younger guys before they become elgible for free agency so you eventually save money. Pay the young guys earlier to save in the long run. That is what the Indians do.
diehard is correct.
diehard, you still won’t save money…they all have agents and their agents will go fetch market value for them before they sign any extension.
hey charris…
the point is A-Rod will not only strenghten our offense he would also give the organization alot of money…
look what Kobe did to the Lakers…
not all agents are Boras. If you have a good relationship treat these kids right before you have too, I think they will remember that. Your paying them before you have too by adding more years to a contract.
A-Rod is not worthy, please guys listen to me. He has no world series rings, none.
You guys said it yourself baseball is the ultimate team sport your adding a huge piece to the puzzle. You can’t put it in Arod the Rivera blew back to back saves. there is his ring right there
He won’t give us enough to sign all ofour kids, they’ll all want way more than the revenue A-Rod pulls in.
Anybody know who went down for Eric Stults? I’m guessing Eric Hull.
GO STULTS!
GO DODGERS!
look what Kobe did to the Lakers…
—
not the best comparison. unless your trying to say that bringing in A-rod would destroy the dodgers.
—
californiaautorebuilder
that’s the point…
he is hungry for a ring…
and along with this kids who hasn’t win any ring…
u always base things on numbers…
baseball is not just numbers…
it’s about how u play it…
if u want to win a championship and be wise enough to join a team who has a good chance you will win it…
Let A-Rod stay in american league.
charris you think we have lifetime contracts with all of our guys. By the time we have to resign the youngsters we wil have all these pitchers off the books. Plus we still have Logan White adding prospects in the minors.
okay van 19, let him win with the kids on the nationals then.
Nobody on our team (with the exception of Kent 11 mill. and Schmidt 12.5 mill.) is making much more than 7.5 mill a year. If our kids produce like many have projected, their extensions will be much pricier than that.
isis,
if u hate Kobe so be it…
but he is one of those players who makes lakers oraganization rich…
not only with money…
he gave 3 rings also…
yeah he is with shaq…
can shaq win w/o Kobe?
A-Rod is the right package…
and i say…
send him in!
I think shaq won in miami
Shaq has won without Kobe by the way
That market is ridiculously low which makes Ethier even more important. No way he goes anywhere…I’m really starting to love Ethier in left with Kemp in right. There’s no reason whatsoever those two shouldn’t be in the lineup every day. Options are limited as to what we can do this offseason. Except for upgrading the pitching staff. Pitching, pitching and more pitching. I like Lopez and while risky picking up Wolf’s option may be a good move, because we do need a lefty in the rotation not named Hendrickson. If we let Wolf go, Hendrickson without a doubt would be retained if for at the very least insurance. Tomko is gone.
furcal is making 13 isn’t he?
oh sorry…
my mistake…
can shaq win w/o another superstar?
he win another ring coz of Wade…
what is Lowe making? what about Penny?
and hey…
how many HR’s did Hunter have this year?
u might want to use subtraction if he is playing in the national league west teams… the ball parks are big…
my bad jspelk, you’re right, but I think Furcal’s salary would even be a conservative estimate of what many of our youngsters could potentially ask for if they play up to their potential.
diehard, lowe 9.5, Penny 8 per year
charris the kids aren’t going to get 13 million a year if we sign them two years early
van, the good question is can A-Rod win without another superstar because we may not have enough dough for anymore if we sign him.
sorry to bring up the lakers but this is my last post about them here…
i think they would be just fine next year…
alot of people wants J.O!
but if Lamar is healthy he is just doing the same numbers like J.O…
actually Lamar is much better coz he knows how to pass the ball…
Remember guys that salary figures will not remain stagnant and whatever A-Rod gets next year might seem very reasonable in 2-3 years.
Another good point being made is by time the young guys are eligable to make big bucks, other high contracts will be expiring like Furcal and Schmidt.
diehard, if they start putting up ridiculous #s next year, I doubt they’ll want to sign an extension until they are closer to becoming FA’s.
gonzo,nomar off the books also that’s a lot of money we are opening up for the kids when they are ready. Why can’t we have a payroll of 150 million that will let Arod fit into the budget nicely.
why won’t they sign let me see I make 300,000 for two more years or I get 10 million a year if I add two more years with the team I think that’s reasonable.
I will believe a $150 mill payroll here when I see it, we’re not the Yankees and while we have more $ than most, it’s not unlimited.
Van
The dodgers sell out nightly without A-rod. The only difference would be ticket prices would go up which adds revenue, but at our exspense.
There are plenty of dodger jerseys being sold, plenty of hats being sold. Sure there will be an initial a-rod jersey buying breakout but thats it. That money goes to MLB players association, not individual teams.
As for TV revenue, nothing would change. Contracts are already signed, we might be on TV more nationally, but that wouldn’t make up for paying him. Not even close.
A-rod would not make a difference, other than on the field and that’s debatable.
Not one Mariner was sad when A-rod left, Texas players came out and said they were happy he was gone. In NY he has pretty much been hated by the fans there. I can see why. He is whiny, he is all about a-rod and he talks as if he has won, when in reality not one team that has aqquired A-rod been better since aquiring him.
He is a **** of a hitter and baseballs best player. Kobe is the NBA’s best player. Best players don’t equal winning all the time. The under .500 record over the last three laker seasons is proof of that.
For 150 million less dollars I’d be willing to take my chances on laRoche at 3b.
PS: I don’t hate Kobe. The lakers make the lakers rich. The lakers will be great after Kobe leaves just like they were great before he got here. And even the strongest Kobe defender has to admit that the orginization has been in turmoil pretty much since the day he arrived due to his me first attitude.
It’s a team sport. He didn’t win the rings the lakers won rings. All of them.
Yankees have a 200 million payroll. We have the most revenue behind the yanks so to pay our team 50 million less a year is reasonable. And us as fans shouldn’t want anything else. I heard our ticket prices are higher than anyone but the red sox and yanks. Can anyone confirm that
charris,
i think they would want to sign an extension as early as they can…
are u saying that all this young guys we have are all for money?
they are still kids…
right now the only thing they want is to play… and they want to play for the team who let them play in the bigs…
It’s obvious charris is not a fan of ARod’s, and he’s not alone. But, if you are talking about signing him, you are looking at 5 to 6 years at about $30 million per. The young guys that you are worried about (Martin, Ethier, Kemp, Loney) will not be eligible fro free agency until their 5th year in the league. If you sign them to extensions before that you can put off free agency for another 2 years, by then a guy like ARod is in his 4th or 5th year of his contract. Now, if you really believe that any of the kids are gonna have monster years that will put them in a position to ask for lets say 12 to 15 mil per year, well then that means the Dodgers will go through at least 3 great years at a low price for all these players. I don’t know about you, but i’ll take it.
isis,
Still Kobe hater!
jerseys and hats sold don’t go to the player association that is false. Arod will double our sales. Plus carry us deep into the playoffs. Trust me McCourt is making money and will continue to make money.
van, these kids haven’t really gotten paid yet, so yeah I think its safe to assume that they’ll be fetching top dollar or close, they may give us a hometown discount but our offer still needs to be competitive.
well said Kiper!
If we don’t go after A-Rod, then fine, but I don’t want the team throwing foolish money at a fools gold player like Torii Hunter who as soon as the clock strikes midnight will turn into Mike Cameron.
Thanks diehardblu….Go Dodgers!!
kiper, good points and I am a fan of A-Rod just not his contract. If the Dodgers can find a way to sign him and keep the kids and go out and add good pitching then I’m all for it. I just don’t see that happening.
Kiper is right…
2008 Line Up
Loney 1b
Kent/Abreu 2b
Raffy ss
LaRoche/Nomar 3b
Andre lf
Pierre cf
Kemp rf
Martin c
Ok charris seems like we convinced you a little…
I’m afraid Nomar might be finished. He’s a good team guy though and maybe he can be convinced to be a utility/pinch hitter type for his final year or we can get someone else to believe he can still be great and trade us a young arm for him.
Ok i’ll chime in. I wouldn’t sign any player over the age of 27 to a lucrative deal.
A-rod included.
I’m not hardly convinced, like somebody said above: we’ll be off the hook on our pitcher’s contracts in a few years, and then what? No way in my mind we can sign A-Rod, sign all of our kids to extensions, and stay competitive in the FA market for pitchers. The Yankees couldn’t even do that, look at their rotation.
californiaautorebuilder
is it a championship team for you?
are u grady?
These kids can’t ask for a raise until their fourth year in the majors. When they do they won’t be asking for as much money as you think they will. If they do that means we’ve seen something very special. So, lets just hope they ask for 10 million plus. They’re all locked up for 6 years anyway regardless. Martin, Bills, Broxton, Loney, Ethier and Kemp do not qualify for free agency until 2011. LaRoche in addition does not qualify until 2012. That is a very BRIGHT future!
Nomar has no value I’ll take his clubhouse presence and clutxh hitting to replace the fatty tomato
amen jungar, A-Rod is leaving his prime years here shortly.
This team would look completely different with a middle of the order slugger. Completely. The only other team in the NL West I could see competing for ARod is SF Giants, and dear lord help us all if they get him. But think about it. AZ’s Chris Young, a rookie, would be leading our team in homers. So would Adrian Gonzalez. We could conceivably have no one on this team hit 20 this year. We need that one guy so badly. Whether its ARod or whoever, we need to go out and get him this offseason. Still, Im don’t think McCourt will pony up for him. I think all the kids will increase their power production next year but I don’t think that going to be enough.
Better to be Grady than A-Rod’s man crush.
I would love to see the Dodgers get Aaron Rowand..think he’s a great hard nosed player that is great defensively and at the plate…oh, but we already have a center fielder!!! lol
LOL
I’ll take Arod man crush over no passion grady gump.
I should’ve said after the 2011 season, LaRoche after the 2012 season.
IF we SIGN Arod, Pick-up Wolf and Lieberthal’s Options our budget would still be less than $120mill. I have not accounted for arbitration raises but I think only Yhency and Repko are due for them. Oh and probably Broxton. Im not sure though.
12.5 Jason Scmidt
9.5 Derek Lowe
8 Brad Penny
9 Randy Wolf
0.4 Chad Billingsley
1 Takashi Saito
0.4 Jonathan Broxton
1 Joe Beimel
0.4 Chin-Hui Tsao
0.4 Yhency Brazoban
0.4 Hong-Chih Kuo
9.5 Jeff Kent
7.5 Nomar Garciaparra
9 Juan Pierre
0.4 Russell Martin
0.4 Andre Ethier
0.4 Matt Kemp
0.4 Tony Abreu
32 Alex Rodriguez
1.5 Mike Lieberthal
13 Rafael Furcal
0.4 James Loney
0.4 Andy LaRoche
0.4 Delwyn Young
0.4 Jason Repko
I wouldn’t pick up Wolf and Lieberthal…You never know if Wolf will get hurt again..He’s a liability..and they need a catcher they can trust so we can give Russell some time off..otherwise you’re going to wear him out.
It’s funny nobody’s mentioned the fact that the Yankees are not doing what they were supposed to do this year right, they are playing below there expectations. They have no pitching, cause they have no money to spend on pithching, cause there giving all there money to A-Rod
ok before i posted it was separated a bit more. the numbers in front of the players are their probable 08 salaries (in millions)
give me the contracts of Mussina,Clemens,Petitte, what do you mean they don’t have money to spend on pitching. I think those three guys make more than our team
drpedblnd
i just added them in there since whomever else we sign would likely be of the same sort of salary. a back-up catcher is about 1.5 or so and a decent SP is about 9.
The only way I would consider A-Rod is if he would have a contract like Ichiro’s, but he won’t, because he has Bora s s has his agent.
Ok charris,
Let’s say we play it cool and let someone else overpay for a-rod.
Then let’s just stand pat with our home grown guys and see what happens. WS births are not guaranteed no matter who you sign since players can get hurt or have off years for no reason.
It’s time to add younger utility guys and look for good – not great – pitchers who won’t demand a gazillion dollars liek Schmidt to fill out the rotation until the young stud pitchers in the minors can break through.
I think we need to give the young guys a full season of playing every day together to really know what we’ve got.
californiaautorebuilder, are you serious about your Yankee comments? Not having money to pay for pitching? If you look at the salaries of their pitchers, Clemens, Wang, Pettite, Mussina..you know what, never mind, i thought you had more sense than that.
How many wins do they have combined.
The Yankees are only obligated to a portion of A-Rod’s current contract, we haven’t seen a team take on the $30 mill/year blow since the ’03 Rangers.
Hasn’t Wolf proven to you that he is pretty much done?
He has not thrown 200 innings since 2003.
He has not had an ERA below 4.25 since 2002.
In the last 4 season the leauge is hitting .278 off him.
californiaautobuilder, how many wins they have is not the point. The point is you said, they don’t have money to sign pitchers.
scott, if we dont go after A-Rod we’re looking at another rival possibly being able to get him since the Giants, Angels, and Padres all have loads of money coming off the books and all looking for a power bat. Would you really want to chance NOT making a run at ARod and losing him to the Gnats or Pads? That would be scary.
The had the money to sign old man Clemens and Pettite in the offseason didnt they? They got rid of RJ. Pavano went down. Thats why they have no pitching. And even now they’re not doing badly. Remember both Mussina and Wang were injured this season and Clemens didn’t start pitching until I believe mid June.
jungar,
like i stated, i included both he and Lieberthal (neither of whom has done anything for us) as a salary slot reference. I figured they had options at set prices and it was easier to include these 2 than make up a salary for someone else and slot them in there.
the yankees have these bad contract to blame not arod:
Mussina
Petitte
Clemens
Giambi
Abreu
Damon
Pavano(I forgot)
that’s is the reason to blame are you from New York you sound like an ungrateful yankee fan
californiaautorebuilder
u are not talking about wins…
ur talking about the money…
seriuosly are u grady?
he’s not going to go to a dumb loser franchise like the Giants or Pads (see Texas Rangers) and Arte said he’s not paying anyone that kind of money.
I meant to say for the amount of wins they have and the amount of money they have spent for the wins, is it really worth it. Sorry, I hate the Yankees, got a little worked up.
If A-Rod goes to the Giants or Padres, I would be in heaven. We’re looking at Barry Bonds’ single season walk record go down. I don’t think he’d average 2 abs a game in either one of those line-ups.
haha, the Pods going after ARod… now thats comedy.
diehard don’t forget Jaret Wright either…lol
lol@charris
I agree completely with Scott. Llvproduction I don’t think you should sign ARod just because your scared the pads or giants might get him. Anyway the Giants are a bad team with or without him.
Hendrickson, Beimel, Proctor, Brazoban, and Repko qualify for arbitration after this season.
the madres spend money are you serious? the gnats will stink for at least 10 years why would Arod go to a last place team with zero prospects filled with old veterans
for once diehard i agree with you. haha.
swood hey little buddy. you called me out last night. Your right I couldn’t complain about grittle leaving Lowe too long. He only threw 85 pitches why did he come out?
swood, im not saying sign him per say im talking about making a run and driving up his price so that the gnats or pads will be seriously hindered if they did. i dont think it’s a bad option either way. im personally fine with a LaRoche/Nomar/Abreu at 3B next yr.
Just really don’t think one guy makes a different, I am a big believer that it takes 25 guys to win this thing. Look at us this year, we don’t have 25 quality guys to win this thing. First blow was Jason Schmidt going down,
Randy Wolf going down,
not a very solid bench (Martinez, Olmedo just really not going to cut it.
It really pains me to see the Giants stink…NOT!
The problem with the Dodgers roster is that the one player everyone wants to replace with someone better isn’t going anywhere on account of his high salary and wet noodle of an arm.
Arod will be the final piece not the only piece.
ok lvproduction now I see what you mean. and diehard I swear Grady can’t win with you, either he takes the pitcher out too early or leaves him in too long. I think you should become our new manager and Max should be our bench coach. haha.
If that’s the case what do you do with LaRoche then, why did we hang onto to him then.?
diehardblu, ur on the money there.
u can play LaRoche at 2nd…
who would u want to see LaRoche or Abreu at second…?
you want pitching I am willing to give up LaRoche for some pitching if we have Arod.
LaRoche is a guy with alot of POTENTIAL, and although all of us here seem to agree that he will be a good player, is he really a 40+ HR – 100+ RBI guy? That question won’t be answered until he can be with a team that will give him 500 to 600 ab’s per season. If the Dodgers don’t go after ARod, then the question is , will Colletti and Grady give LaRoche the opportunity? Based on their track record, i say NO.
I would love to be our new manager. Swood I bet with two weeks of long toss I get your arm stronger than Pierre’s
You guys are getting way to far ahead of yourselves. The chances of us getting ARod realistically aren’t very good. He will probably resign with the yankees. Never underestimate Steinbrenners wallet. We should be focusing on the team we have now.
I still think chariss is a better CF, even with a bad hose.
haha that made me chuckle diehard but unfortionately im a middle infielder.
Arms don’t change hands. It’s self-evident anatomically, and increasingly an axiom throughout baseball, underscored by the Chicago Cubs on Friday with $91.5 million of thick, black ink.
No wonder the first players sought in trade talks are minor league pitching prospects. No wonder teams loathe letting them go.
After it was announced that right-hander Carlos Zambrano had agreed to a five-year contract extension with the Cubs, general managers throughout baseball crossed the top name off the potential free-agent list.
Already, Mark Buerhle and John Smoltz had signed extensions with their current teams.
Who’s left? The aged, infirm and ineffective.
There was a time Curt Schilling, Kenny Rogers, Bartolo Colon, Freddy Garcia and Livan Hernandez would have formed a dynamic free-agent class. That time is long past, yet those could be the top names available this off-season.
Unless you deem Carlos Silva (9-12, 4.30) or Josh Fogg (7-7, 4.64) more desirable. Otherwise it’s pick your poison.
You be the GM. Which of the following could turn around their career and justify, say, a three-year, $24 million deal?
Jason Jennings (2-8, 6.16). Jeff Weaver (4-10, 5.64). Brett Tomko (2-10, 5.67). Kip Wells (6-13, 5.24). Odalis Perez (7-11. 5.78). Kyle Lohse (7-12. 4.56).
Rather than be forced to rifle through that bargain rack, teams are doing all they can to sew up the guys they’ve got, stock up on pitchers in the draft and do their best to develop them.
The bleak landscape could force GMs to exercise options on pitchers despite serious questions. The Dodgers’ Ned Colletti, for example, is contemplating picking up the $9 million option on Randy Wolf (9-6, 4.73), and is likely to do so if team physicians believe the left-hander will fully recover from the shoulder injury that has sidelined him since July 3. (Wolf, by the way, will begin throwing early next week and could return in late September if the Dodgers are in the playoff hunt.)
swood you really want me to start banging on Little. I’m extremly happy with the line up he threw out yesterday so I’m trying to stay positive.
obviously i didnt write that above. http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/mlb_experts/post/Five-and-Fly-Teams-losing-arms-race;_ylt=Ar1oc5eB9MJYtOotGyS.DDcRvLYF?urn=mlb,42327
yes diehard I would love for you to tell me what the big problem is with Grady. Maybe im blind but I just don’t see it.
Swood I was a middle infielder in high school and college your suppose to be smarter there. Do you mind me asking what high school you play for?
why did it take grady until we sunk into a big hole to fix the line up?
I play for Robinson High School in Fairfax Station Virginia. I also play for an AAU team called the Mazda Mets. I am hoping to play at a division 2 or 3 college.
You guys are really young aren’t you. I am old, I should just shut up and leave you young guys alone then.
I’m glad to hear that. Here is a tip I didn’t learn until college. If you out work everyone you will out play everyone.
I’m resuming baseball activities with my rec league buddies tomorrow and I’m going to throw one to 3b from CF just to see how much stronger my arm is at 39 than JP and even though I can barely break 80 even when I used to pitch. I can’t believe he is that weak.
How about the Dodgers go out and sign Wells so that he can start on Sunday? The matchup for Sunday is Tomko vs. Francis, that’s just not right. How are we suppose to sit here and hope for a sweep when we’ve already conceded the game on Sunday…
I’m 28 years old just trying to help our young Dodger fans
hey scott I play sundays play catch once a week I think the highest I ever got clocked was 84 when I was 21 and I have a cannon next to Pierre. sad
diehard, where did you play your college ball, we’re the same age so we may have played against each other.
My son is 12 and he’s been clocked at 58… and there are 3 kids on his traveling team topping 60.. how’s that JP??
“diehardblu”–If you ever call me a Yankee fan again, you’ll find my foot in your backside.
A-Rod may be a fine player–maybe the best player in the game, but in three years with a roster that is the most stacked roster you can get (the worst team money can buy), he has 0 championships, and 0 Pennants. In Junior Griffey’s best year, when they still had Randy Johnson, they did not make it out of the Division Series. And he was never able to lead Texas to the post-season.
Now, I cannot entirely explain his failures in Seattle and New York–but it’s not as if he has not had back-up there, since he has played with at least one other Hall of Famer. You can blame Rivera for blowing back-to-back saves all you want. But leading the ALCS 3-2, why didn’t A-Rod get his team just one more win in two games. It could be bad luck or it could be bad karma, but I don’t really want either part of it.
His tenure in Texas is really what worries me the most. One player cannot win a division, but if one player gets paid $25 Million a year, that means there is not much left for the other 24 (or really, 39) players. A-Rod is likely to seek $30 to $35 Million per year if he opts out (he’s due $27 Million, and the Yankees would probably give him an extension that would get him to $30 Million rather than losing him and the cash considerations that they are still getting from the Rangers). That’s more than 1/4th of what our payroll is likely to be (and a $120 Million to $140 Million payroll is all that you can hope for–even the Dodgers have limits).
The point that it’s a team game is absolutely correct. But the fact that it’s a team game means that it’s insane to value one player at something like 1/4th of the team.
Boys I’m going on 38 in October. What a sweet b-day gift if the dodgers were in the world series. Last time that happened i was going on 18.
leekfink thank you very much, maybe somebody else sees what I see. Still cannot understand how you cannot live on 8 to 10 million a year.
Yeah, diehard.
I don’t get it. Nobody expects him to uncork a 100 mph throw from the fence to home, but jeez, just cf to 3b on a hop at least?
Our biggest concerns heading into next year are:
Starting pitching
Getting JP out of CF and in LF
california, you and leekfink aren’t the only ones. I started this whole A-Rod debate by saying I don’t want him on the Dodgers.
I figured you were a smart guy, We did go to the same University.
LOL touche
On Wells, I repeat:
Wells, pitching in the same division as LA, with home games in Petco:
Innings H R ER HR BB SO
118.7 156 74 73 17 33 63
More ******* action than a Dyson.
Posted by: old_fogey_la@yahoo.com | August 16, 2007 06:34 PM
BTW, that’s a .322 BAA (!). Even Tomdrickson keep that in the low .290s, which is bad. The NL BA this season is in the low .260s.
“… but in three years with a roster that is the most stacked roster you can get (the worst team money can buy), [ARod] has 0 championships, and 0 Pennants.” -leekfink
But you can say that for ANYONE who’s been on the roster those same three years. Like Derek Jeter. Or Mike Mussina. Or Hideki Matsui.
I wonder if Pierre would ever go into Grady’s office and say “Coach can you put me in left field cause I pretty much **** in Cf, and can’t even throw out the trash at my house, but I promise too play everyday.”
old fogey, I would rather have Derek than A-Rod.
Not good to put all your eggs in one basket. A Rod is 32, maybe doesn’t sound old but, heaven forbid, what if he’s injured? All of you guys are right, it’s a team game. Dodger Stadium will be full no matter what. I know you guys always get down on me for commenting on that. It doesn’t matter whether you have that superstar or not. The young ones play well together because they care. You have one star (Kobe) and it’s all Kobe. You don’t hear about Lakers although it took a village. It’s Kobe Kobe Kobe. The Dodgers now are full of future stars. And also likeable stars. After that Kobe debacle I lost respect for him. I’m not a basketball fan anyway nor a Laker fan and definitely not a Kobe fan since he is a spoiled, unfaithful brat. It’s important to play cohesively as a team. I think that’s why we have two wins. The kids care. I’m not sure A Rod would be worth it. Like I said before, at what cost. Go ahead quote me some more statisticss
LF is not an issue with Ethier there…not in the slightest
xoxrussell, you’re right, no need to get an over the hill 32 year old superstar who can get injured. The young guys on our team will not run the risk of getting injured….why? Oh, because Grady doesn’t play them. I agree, we’re O.K. with the team we have now.
I think Grady really likes Repko, you guys think if Repko was available, Pierre would be playing as much.?
Do I detect a little sarcasm Kiper? I live in a dream world, I guess.
If Repko were available, he to would be part of the Gonzo, Ethier,Young, Kemp platoon. JP would continue to play EVERYDAY in CF.
nice kiper, that was some really nice sarcasm?
alex, what if we could trade Ethier and Delwyn Young to the Pirates for Snell or Gorzelanny then go sign somebody like Hunter or Rowand? You mean to tell me you don’t think that would improve our team?
xoxrussell, not at all man. I just want somebody to come in next year who scares the **** out of the opposition when he steps into the box. You know?
I find that the young ones are exciting. A Rod is a superstar but so is Barry. I still pay to see the young ones. I went to the games when Barry was in Dodger Stadium but not to see him. What a spectacle. It was a circus, not baseball. I like to see good teamwork, not one guy hitting the long ball. I always have said that it’s the small ball that works.
kiper i see what you are saying, but even when we were winning pennants and all that good stuff did we ever have someone like that on the team?
Anyone who signs ARod needs to commit to something like 8 years, $240 million minimum, to ensure that if ARod is in a HR record, they reap the benefits. (8 yrs x 35 HR/year = 280, 280+500 = 780).
charris why do u hate ethier?
maybe u are grady…
why do u want him traded?
Not really, but it depends how far back you want to go. If you’re talking about that great run in the late 70’s early 80’s we had Garvey, Cey, Smith, Monday, Baker all going for 25 to 30 per season. Then in ’88, well that was one in a million a magical season, but if i’m not mistaken Gibson hit 25 HR’s and drove in 99, and he missed 34 games due to injuries. I agree that with great pitching you manufacture runs, small ball, but the Dodgers don’t do that well enough. You need the presence of a guy who can at least hit 20, that’s my point.
Hmmm, A Rod for 8 years and he’ll be 40?? And getting 30 mill??
Let’s Kobe, Farmar and Pierre to the Bulls for Deng, Gordon, Wallace, cash and draft picks.
How many players can you guys think of that have gotten better after age 33. (without PEDs-what Bonds, are you going to sue me?)
Let’s not be the ones that pay for A-rods best years by buying history instead of buying the future.
How well did the veteran thing work this year?
Agree with you, but I think that’s what we have here if all goes well.
Ethier 20 hr’s 90 rbi’s
Kemp 25 100
Martin 20 90
Loney 15-20 90 rbi’s
LaRoche 15-20 90 rbi’s
Maybe what you think.?
I don’t hate Ethier, I just think that JP is untradable and that he has a lower ceiling than Kemp. I also think its imperative to get JP out of centerfield. With the #s Ethier put up this year his trade value will be relatively high. So why not try to trade him for a good young pitcher and go try to get one of those FA outfielders?
Hopefully A Rod would keep hitting well when he’s 40 but maybe he needs some HGH or roids to do that???
As far as i’ve read, ARod has never asked for 8 years. He wants 5 to 7 and i’m sure that after the 5th he’d want an out.
Kiper, you’re right. The Dodgers need to bunt more, hit & run more, go the other way, hit a long fly for a SF like Kemp did last night more often.
why don’t we just get rid of Juan Pierre and then sign Hunter or Jones.
Of course if we resigned Lofton or even went with Repko in center (if he didn’t get hurt obviously) we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Instead we’d be talking about how much money our offer would be to Hunter or Jones.
kiper i see what you are saying, but even when we were winning pennants and all that good stuff did we ever have someone like that on the team?
Posted by: californiaautorebuilder@hotmail.com | August 17, 2007 03:25 PM
The 70s Dodgers had the first team with FOUR 30 HR men, back when 30 was a lot. Garvey, Cey, Baker and Reggie Smith were pretty good. Smith’s ’77 and ’78 OPS+ were 167 and 161.
I’m really high on Andre Ethier and think he’s a really special player. He can do it all except steal bases. He has tremendous defense, his arm is good, not a cannon like Kemp. Kemp makes my heart jump every time a ball is hit to him. Ethier is so smooth in the outfield and I he gets great jumps on the ball. I would build the outfield around Ethier and Kemp, whether that includes Pierre, Hunter, Rowand etc…that’s for Ned to decide. You can’t build a team assuming you can sign certain free agents. To answer your question that trade would never happen, if in some way it was offered, I wouldn’t do it. Why pay nine million plus for what we already have in Ethier. If he played everyday he could have some really good solid numbers. He’s also only 25. So no way I trade Ethier. I like Snell and Gorzelanny but they’re not going anywhere and it would take more than that to pry one of them away.
Pierre is untradeable charris but he’s not uncutable.
The 70s Dodgers were awesome.
i just think that trading ethier is a bad move…
and i know alot of people feels that way…
I would have traded Ethier for Blanton but thats about it.
Man diehard by the way you talked I figured you were in your 40’s or 50’s. Just because you talked about the LaSorda era. By the way where did you play in college?
Ethier has the potential of being a superstar. Trading him would be irrational. But then Betemit was traded when he was hot….
speaking of that Blanton trade. The A’s wanted LaRoche and Kershaw. According to Keith Law
Reggie Smith was a stud!
Pierre is not untradeable. The Dodgers would have to pay a good portion of his salary, but for the right price there would be teams interested. If Colletti really wanted to go after Hunter or Rowand or Jones, Pierre can be moved. It would mean Colletti’s admitting that it was a bad signing, so i doubt it will happen, but make no mistakes, he can be traded.
Just who is this good, young pitcher that other teams are going to trade to the Dodgers for Andre Ethier? Is there anyone out there trading good, young pitchers? The Pirates are going to ask for more than that for, say, Ian Snell.
They should be posting tonights lineup. What do you guys think it will be?? Van?
Gibby hit 25HR and had 76rbi. He missed 12 games.
His OPS+ was 149 (best of his career) OPS+ is essentially OPS normalized to the league and ballpark. Think of it as a rate above the league average (100) expressed as a percentage.
When Piazza was robbed of his MVP award his OPS+ was 186 and his career OPS+ is 144.
To show you how good Barry Bonds is..He has a career 186 OPS+
The flavor of this blog is different today. What a change two wins make!!! Go Dodgers.
Same lineup as last night is my prediction, if Gonzo is in that lineup I’ll have a conniption fit, for reasons I’ll get into when it’s posted.
OMG THE LINEUP IS UP AND I’M GOING TO PUKE!
Kiper…It’s not really the money on Pierre’s deal that will turn off teams but it’s the number of years. Nobody is going to want a rapidly declining one dimensional player for four more years. Well of course except Ned Colletti.