Back to the beginning…
On the first day of the 2008 season (at least it is for us), we start to focus all of our attention forward. But as I’m cleaning through a bunch of emails I’ve saved over the season, I just came across one with all the predictions of the "experts" at the beginning of the 2007 season and found it interesting.
Some have done pretty well with their predictions, others were more than just a little off. No one actually got them all right, but it makes for interesting reading…
ESPN’s experts (full 2007 predicted standings) and Dan Patrick
Some of the others like Fox Sports and NBC Sports are now dead links so you can’t go back and check them out.
And Diamond Leung of the Press Enterprise posted this link a while back that actually has standings based on predictions. It hasn’t been updated yet this week, though.
I almost forgot how many people were picking us to win at the beginning of the year, but as they say, that’s why they play the games on the field, not on paper.
Anyway, it’s something to look back before we turn all our attention forward.
Inside the Dodgers 
Josh,
As I was going down the escalator yesterday with my friend Uni, she greeted you and then I asked her if you were Josh. I had seen you in SF the last Saturday The Dodgers played there when I asked you if Loney was playing and the rest of the lineup. I also asked you for your name. I would have liked to have thank you personally for keeping us informed here.
Looking at the standing and how we finished 8 games back, I think sadly back to games that we should have won.
thank you Josh for keeping us informed. Emma (crzblue)
Well, since today is the first day of the 2008 season, we’re back in first. I hope that the Dodgers make some good off season moves, since Ned and Grady will be back, let’s hope that they put together a team that will not be dependant of Grady’s managerial skills. I really hope that there is a legitimate clean up hitter out there to be had and that indeed the Dodgers make a run at Johan Santana… Let’s go Blue!!!
Uh, Kiper04… hate to burst your bubble here, but we aren’t in a first place tie just yet, and we won’t be until the day AFTER the world series champion has been crowned. Right now, the Diamondbacks are the first place team because they’re still playing… and well… we aren’t. ‘Nuff said…
kiper
I’d love to make a run at Santana. We’ve got other pitching prospects that we could let go instead of Kershaw which I think the Twins might do but Kemp would have to be in that deal which is fine with me but I’d love to throw Santana in the mix with the staff we already have.
This time last year I was predicting that the Dogers new dynasty would probably begin in 2009, although I thought 2008 was possible.
I am now convinced that the 5-to-15 year run of great Dodgers teams led by an offensive core of Loney, Martin, and Kemp will have its first fantastic year in 2008!
Martin has solidified his place as one of the premier catchers in the game.
Kemp has not only overcome his previous weakness to the curveball and established very solid power credentials, his .342 BA cements his status as a true 5-tool star.
And what can’t you say about James Loney??!! He’s even better than advertised.
Welcome to the new Dodgers Dynasty. I can hardly wait for Spring!!
GO BLUE!!
Not a good way to start 2008, Grady is still the manager.
Dodgers need the following:
*Sign Alex Rodriguez or Johan Santana. The signing of A-Rod will take care of 3rd base and have a big middle of the line-up bat! Johan will be the face of the Dodgers if acquired, pitching wins games. Nothing needs to be said for Johan except that he is Johan. One of the top 5 pitchers in the MLB.
*Move Nomar to 2nd and let go Kent. Nomar will be healthy next year and ready to play! He will produce and is by far a better defensive player than Kent.
Defensive alignment I would like to see:
C) Martin
1st) Loney
2nd) Nomar
3rd) A-Rod
SS) Furcal
OF) Ethier, Pierre, Kemp
how can you afford both A-Rod and Johan?
Just read on SI.com some guy said “Grady looks like someone’s grandmother”..They need someone born after the moon landing…gotta love it!!!
Why not just keep the kids and pay for Santana after 08? We might really be in a spot to make that one signing to put us over the top (WS over the top, not NL west over the top) as Martinloneykemp is suggesting. I know deep down we would have contended in the west the whole year if Loney, Bills and Kemp had started from the get go. It seems the dodgers know it based on their comments I have been reading. They just won’t come out and admit it which is respectful.
I think unless someone in the west ups the ante and trades for someone or gets A-rod/Jones (unlikely) we can compete next year in the west with the roster we have now, we just have to use it correctly and tweak it.
I want Ned to go after one of the CFer’s move JP to LF and trade Either and prospect for a pitcher.
Or do nothing other than tweak it alittle…
jungar..
I don’t think we should go after Santana because it would cost us Kemp and someone else…Keep Kemp and maybe go after Rowand from the Phils for CF..I like him alot…
Let’s just hope Ned doesn’t ruin this off season like he did last..!
Wow! Almost everybody picked us to win the west. Maybe they were thinking Jason Schmidt might have a good year and be the piece we needed. Too bad it didn’t work out that way…
Pierre is the CF for next year! Forget about Andruw! Forget about Rowand! Forget about Hunter! We are stuck with Pierre! No matter how much some of us hate him…
I don’t agree that we are stuck with Pierre in CF. We may be stuck with him on the roster because he really is untradeable. 4 years 36 million and if traded he can opt out of his contract at the end of 08. But if Little or Ned know anything about Baseball then they know they can’t win with Pierre’s arm in CF. Seriously. And that’t not a knock on Pierre. He can cover lots of ground in left field and his arm will be hidden. We just have to get LF production out of CF and Jones or even Hunter would be better than say Pierre and Either. My thing is we cant go into next year with Kemp as our only OF power threat again. either is no threat and never will be.
Total:23
Furcal
Kent
Loney
Nomar
LaRoche
Abreau
Lieberthal
Martin
Jones
Kemp
Pierre
Young
Repko
Penny
Lowe
Bills
Loazia
Schmidt
(arm picked up in trade of Ethier)
Saito
Broxton
Beimel
Proctor
oops, Ethier.
Jungar, I don’t think Ned will part with Ethier for a young starting pitcher. Have you heard any rumors of this happening or are you just putting thoughts together? For now, I think Ned/Grady will keep Pierre in CF unless you can show me evidence that there is talks of some kind between us and the Pirates or someone with young pitching.
does anyone else get nervous after reading that Ned expects Kent to return? From Kent’s quotes lately it sounds like theres a good possibility he will retire, and Im afraid Ned will try to persuade him by signing more veteran scrum.
I don’t Ned or anyone else is the org. is opposed to trading Ethier/LaRoche/Abreu for an arm given that we could sign an offensive replacement. I’d prefer Rowand or Jones to Hunter given that they are younger. Pierre needs to be moved away from CF but the thought of him in LF just disgusts me too.
jungar, you and I have been on the Ethier for a young arm bandwagon for awhile now, let’s just hope management sees it the same. I think Ethier’s trade value is currently at its peek and that we can go get a quality arm for him. I remember taking a lot of flack for my views on the issue but I still feel Ethier is a .280-.300 hitter with 15-20 HR potential. Those numbers are good not great and I think D. Young is a worthy fallback option. We need to get Hunter/Jones/Rowand this offseason because our team is still built on quality starting pitching and Pierre’s arm is a BIG liability in CF.
Lieberthal will not be back. Why pay over $1 million for a catcher who starts 17 games? Chad Moeller will be paid half that much to do the same thing.
“[Juan Pierre] can cover lots of ground in left field and his arm will be hidden.”
Posted by: jungar@wsgcorp.com | October 1, 2007 02:06 PM
I disagree with that last part. Luis Gonzalez’s noodle-arm wasn’t hidden when he was in LF this season. It just hops up to bite you a little less frequently.
Anybody is can be traded it’s just a matter of what you get in return. I think Pierre should be traded even if we just give him away. I love his attitude but I wouldn’t even want his arm at first base.
I have mentioned this several time but does it make sense to anyone else other than me to let Kent go and have Nomar at 2nd. He is by far a better defensive player and he will be healthier next year and ready to produce… What do you guys think?
Ned, sign A-ROD! Lets go DODGERS LETS GO…
I wouldn’t trust Nomar starting any position. He’s been hurt for how many years in a row now? He’ll never make it through a full season starting at any position much less 2nd where he’ll be turning double plays and guys sliding into him.
I think Dodger management is happy with what they got out of Pierre. He had nearly 200 hits, played every day, scored nearly 100 runs, and stole 60 bases.
Educated fans know a player that does this is not in itself worth the money Pierre is getting, even before taking into consideration his below average fielding ability, but Dodger management does not view players the same as an educated fan does. They insist their day to day observations are more valuable, what with skills in spotting intangibles, “leadership”, showing up to the clubhouse first, and other such nonsense.
Long answer: Pierre is going nowhere.
Nomar needs to be told upfront that he will be a reserve player, a jack of all trades, next year. Dodger management must tell him that before they break for winter and if Nomar doesnt want that role, the team can find a trading partner for him. In no way should they leave it vague whether or not Nomar has a guaranteed starting spot next season.
You should apologize to Bob Harvey for your sad behavior. It’s because of people like you in the Dodgers, that we ended up in 4th place. And unless you change your attitude, we (the fans) can expect the same results for next year. As for myself, a life long fan, will stop going to Dodger Stadium until I see Mccourt & Colleti put a team on the field that Los Angeles deserves.
Quote from SI.com
“The Dodgers may be pushing their luck with Nomar Garciaparra, 33, Jeff Kent, 39, and Luis Gonzalez, 39, in the same lineup, but I’m betting those players will need to be replaced for health reasons at various times during the season and Los Angeles will be the better for it. It won’t be a bad situation to get more at-bats for Matt Kemp, 22, James Loney, 22, and Andy LaRoche, 23. The Dodgers, too, have pitching depth to withstand the usual attrition that forces every team to fill about 25-30 starts beyond their original starting five.”
Why was it so easy for them to predict at the beginning of the year when our Brilliant Managemnet Team of Ned & Grady (who gets paid to know these things) showed they had no clue how to run this team..
Y’all would be buying high on Aaron Rowand. The ’04 & ’07 versions (.905 and .889 OPS, respectively) are pretty good, but the ’05/’06 version put up .736 and .746 OPSs, which would be pretty disappointing to watch if that is delivered after a big FA contract.
Not only did Si.com and othe publications predict it, but us fans who “know nothing” and “play nintendo baseball” predicted it too. Sad.
Bottom line for me:
With Ned & Grady running the show..
With Pierre & Kent & Nomar still playing a significant role on the team..
This team will never reach it’s full potential…
I have absolutely no faith that these people can take this team anywhere near the World Series…
Josh – I went to Fan Appreciation day adn there were approximately 50 or so prizes given away… Wouldn’t it be a good idea for fans not to have to pay for parking on Fan Appreciation day? I know that all fans then can have something to appreciate instead of watch the Dodgers lose and a few people win some stuff… (The funniest was the trip to Vegas went to one of the Suites and a Tommy Lasorda book went to someone in the Top Deck…) Nice!
This offseason will be really telling.
-Will we truly stick to building from within or is it lip service.
-Will we go after a real FA and offer them real market value, not a hodgpodge of stopgaps like 2005, 2006, 2007?
I really hope the Dodgers make a serious push to sign A-Rod I really feel can make us be serious WS contenders for ’08 & beyond….
– release Pierre and eat his salary
– Move Kemp to center and just deal with his growing pains (unless we sign jones)
– Sign Jones or A-Rod
– Make Nomar our number 1 pinch hitter
– Hope Officer Jeff Kent Retires
– hire a new manager
tons of stuff needs to be done.
I hope we see this lineup next year.
SS – Furcal
C – Martin
1B – Loney
CF – Jones
RF – Kemp
LF – Ethier
3B – LaRoche
2B – Abreu
Rotation:
Billingsley
Penny
Lowe
Schmidt
McDonald
dumb Loaiza on someone else.
Bills will be our Ace next season.
Juan Pierre’s put up some good numbers especially after the allstar break. which of course we all know he is a 2nd half player. But i still beleive that he batted out of place. He is a leadoff hitter. He should be in the leadoff spot. And Rafel F. should bat second. He has better pop then Pierre.
As far as Pierre in center, yes he can cover ground, but his arm is weak. Time after time i saw players extend a basehit into a double. People would score from second base on a hit. And people woud tag up on him all the time. I like Pierre but he needs to make a change to left field. We should go after Tori Hunter or Rowand from the Phils. They both can cover ground and they have an arm.
As far as Kent goes, i belive it will all depend on how we do in the offseason. If kent sees that the dodgers make some good trades to better the team, i think he will be back. He want’s to win a World Series. And with who else but with a West Coast team like the dodgers.
And by the way, Nomar would not be able to cut it at second base. you need to cover alot of range and have good foot work to turn those double plays. Nomar does not have the ability to do that.
Kent might be old but he can still can play 2nd base.
Not Loroche at 3rd. I can stand seeing him swing out of his shoes to hit the ball. I rather see Nomar, I love it when the Lowrider song comes on, when he is on his way to the plate.
LF-Pierre
ss-Furcal
1b-looney
3b-Rodriguez
2b-Kent
cf-Tori Hunter
rf-kemp
c-martin
Wow the only person here that does not have power is Pierre.
Other then that everyone is a stud here.
We can have a lineup like the Colorado Rockies were there #2-#5 hitters have 20+ homeruns.
Keep Martin in the 8th spot he needs all the rest he can get. through the innings.
go rockies
nice…lets nock peavy out early
carcyn
wow nice line up lol
yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
c’mon guys show them some love
wow carcyn….just wow.
IF:
Torii Hunter (too old, too expensive, not good enough [career: .271/.324/.469, 2007: .287/.334/.505 – near career highs, compare Old Man Kent 2007: .302/.375/.500) is signed
AND
Nomar is played at 3B over LaRoche (better minor league hitter than Loney or Kemp at same age – clearly a better fielder than Nomar)
AND
Russell Martin (3rd highest OBP on the team) bats eighth,
THEN
I will become a Rockies fan.
LF-Pierre
ss-Furcal
1b-looney
3b-Rodriguez
2b-Kent
cf-Tori Hunter
rf-kemp
c-martin
If this was our lineup(like carcyn says it will be_LF-Pierre
ss-Furcal
1b-looney
3b-Rodriguez
2b-Kent
cf-Tori Hunter
rf-kemp
c-martin
If this is our lineup(like carcyn says it will be) then we have more then a legit shot to win it all.
i love watching postseason baseball. it would just be better and more exciting if the dodgers were in it..
heres looking to 2008!!!
GO BLUE!!
Here is my plan for the 2008 Los Angeles Dodgers.
Sign Andruw Jones
Sign Mike Lowell to a one year deal.
Resign Randy Wolf for less.
Deal Brad Penny and Andre Ethier to the Mets for Mike Pelfry or Phillip Humber and an other prospect as well as Endy Chavez (he would strengthen out bench)
Trade Nomar and Kent to who even the **** wants them.
Lineup:
CF – Pierre
SS – Furcal
1B – Loney
RF – Jones
LF – Kemp
C – Martin
3B – Lowell
2B – Abreu
Rotation:
Lowe
Billingsley
Wolf
Schmidt
Loaiza/Pelfry/Humber/McDonald/Elbert/Miller/Stults
Bullpen:
Saito
Broxton
Meloan
Beimel
Proctor
Hull
Mark Alexander/Houlton
Bench:
Lieberthal
Sweeny
Chavez
Young
Valdez
It just dawned on me that this is the first year 4 new teams have qualified for the postseason in 1 league. The divisional playoffs are not that old but with the long postseason runs of Atlanta and NYY we have never seen 4 fresh teams from 1 year to the next, unbelievable.
I’m very glad for the Rockies. I hope they can make a good showing in the playoffs. The scary part is that they will be even better next year, and I hope that we can match their improvement with one even better.
I do not have any confidence in Colletti’s ability to do that, and I am now resigned to the fact that we’re stuck with him and Grady for at least another year. As far as I’m concerned, McCourt is showing that he’s only interested in the investment aspect of this franchise. As long as he can turn out more fans and generate more revenue, nothing major is going to happen to benefit this club.
It’s going to be a long winter. I’ve enjoyed the postings on the blog from all of you, whether we’ve agreed or not.
That was a great game last night. I hope Dodger management saw what home grown talent can do.
Bottom line for me:
With Ned & Grady running the show..
With Pierre & Kent & Nomar still playing a significant role on the team..
This team will never reach it’s full potential…
I have absolutely no faith that these people can take this team anywhere near the World Series…
Posted by: rwbjr0@yahoo.com | October 1, 2007 03:26 PM
I agree with you totally rwbjr0. This pretty much sums it up.
I don’t think Kent and Pierre will keep us from the world series but if Nomar plays then we have no chance. Don’t forget the Pierre has already won a ring so a team with him on it can get the job done.
Yeah Ned is in over his head I have been saying it now for 2 years.
—
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
by Walter O Malley
http://mayorsam.blogspot.com/2005/11/sixth-choice.html
The Sixth Choice
The most embarrassing search for any open position in the history of Dodger baseball came to a conclusion today, as the Dodgers hired Ned Colletti as its General Manager. Colletti, of course comes to us from the San Francisco Giants, where he served as assistant GM.
His hire is a sad indication of how poorly managed the Dodgers have been since my son Peter sold the team. I would have never ever hired someone from the “Hated Ones.” But once we push aside rivalries, we have to ask ourselves if Ned Colletti is actually the right man to run the Dodgers. I’m not overly optimistic.
There’s no question that Brian Sabean has done an excellent job of cobbling veterans together to make the Giants one of the baseball’s best teams over the years. Ned Colletti has been there every step of the way. But we also know this team would be nowhere without Barry Bonds, as was evident for most of this past season.
Colletti is the anti-DePo. He doesn’t think too highly of numbers, stastitical analysis, and new tools which can help you run a better baseball team, as he explained in a Baseball Prospectus interview two years ago. You can also read another stinging rebuke of Colletti here.
Yet, Colletti is well-respected by “baseball men”, and liked within the institution for his old school methods. As a former sports writer who later worked his way up in baseball through the Cubs PR department, Colletti had a chip on his shoulder with the old guard, and eventually proved himself to them.
I think McCourt brought in Colletti because of his PR background. This is an owner obsessed with patching together the team’s image which he helped tarnish. McCourt saw a man whose written some books, knows how to negotiate contracts to keep payroll in check, and can get along with Bill Plaschke. He puts an outrageously high premium on “veteran” ballplayers (like Neifi Perez), which will please sports writers desperate to disprove new ideas.
Colletti only got the job because Pat Gillick, Gerry Hunsicker, Theo Epstein, John Hart, and even Jim Bowden all said “no”. But for a team in need of a PR makeover, McCourt opted for a man who is seemingly more suited at helping the Dodgers in the press than on the ballfield. He could have made history by following the Dodger tradition of ingenuity and hired Kim Ng. Instead, he took the no. 2 guy from the Giants.
Now, Colletti has basically no time at all to make a ton of moves to solidify the team’s management. For the front office, I suggest keeping everyone on payroll. Kim Ng definitely deserves to stay as assistant GM, if for no other reason, than to evaluate a team this offseason that Colletti doesn’t know. Colletti also needs to keep scouting director Logan White, who is responsible for the Dodgers highly successful drafts over the past few years. As for field manager, Colletti needs to hire someone quick. Bobby Valentine is out of the picture, after accepting a contract extension in Japan. Maybe he’ll hire Orel Hershiser, even though Tommy Lasorda doesn’t think he’s qualified. Maybe he’ll just go ahead and hire Terry Collins. Whoever it is, let’s not hire another Giant in Ron Wotus, please.
Unfortunately for the Dodgers, Colletti needs to make this decision quickly, because no free agent wants to sign with a team without knowing who the manager is. Ah, what a mess.
Good luck, Ned. I don’t believe in you, but I think I speak for the Dodger nation, when I say that we all desperately want you to succeed.
Posted by Walter O’Malley
All McCourt is doing is wasting time by having Ned as our GM. The agents for the young guys are probably not going to try and convince there clients to stay in a place where they don’t have a clue as to what a good GM is. Ned needs to be gone tomorrow and replaced by Logan White. From there let Logan make all the decisions from manager to trades. Ned will eventually deplete our farm system and probably trade away our young studs one at a time for veterns. Ned is no good for Dodger baseball. He needs to go to a team that will let him build a retirement team because those are the only players he likes. So until Ned is gone we can plan on finishing 4th for years to come.
everything you need to know about Ned Colletti can be summed up in three words…Juan D’Vaughn Pierre.
also the fact that the Dodgers interviewed Jim Bowden before him says A LOT.
The reason the Padres lost to the Rockies (Mon. 10/01/07 ),
was due to Bud Black’s belief, that Peavy is GOD. He
put Peavy’s personal Goals, before the Teams goal. Peavy should have been taken out, long before(Black had over a dozen guys to choose from.)That
plus the fact, that we are NOT
seeing the Hoffman, of yrs. past. 88 mph tops and pitching 8 straight change-ups ??? Any
Joker would have slammed him.
Hoffman should hang it up. That loss, by the Padres, made my season. I’m a contented dude, right now. No,
more smirck, on Peavy’s face, for awhile…..
That arrticle is a fake. Some of it is true, but O’Malley died in 1979.
Bottom line is McCourt has never, ever paid the big bucks for anything. As much as I belive Ned is a buffoon the biggset buffon is McCourt.
He won’t pony up for a real GM. He has yet to pony up for a legit player. He has thrown money around but we could have had Vlade, could have kept Beltre, could have signed Soriano..but no we make excuses in the press. Instead he allows our GM to give money to Nomar, Schmidt and Pierre.
******! You Put Soriano in Left, Kemp in Center and Ethier in RF, Loney at first base and Bills in the rotation over Schmidt and were in the playoffs. But no, instead we got this mess.
Enough is enough. You promised us a winner and have failed to deliver anything close to it.
with ticket prices going up and Ned and Grady coming back I will not make the trip down to Dodger stadium next year regardless of the situation. I suggest you all do the same.
In late July we went to Denver and caught a flat Dodger team. They had no pizzazz what so ever . I commented then that I had not seen a playoff team, at least the one in blue did not look like one. So now it’s come to pass. The Rockies are going to advance. So power to them (sigh) I hope they do well.
I’ve seen these games with the D-backs, Brewers, and Rockies, where the announcers keep going on about how all these young players on these teams play hard, do it right, that they are throw backs mixed in with a few key veterans. Isn’t that what we tried?
Why did go so wrong for us?
The vast majority on this space want to lay it on the vets, Colletti, and Little, and talk about how great the kids are. I’m not so sure. My only gripe with Little would be he played Martin too much. In the future he needs more rest.
I’m not talking about Martin, or the Sept. call-ups, But some of these young players seem to be lacking something. It’s already been posted here that the talented group from the early ’70’s had Smith, Baker, and Monday added to them to create a winner. There is nobody out there now, like that, that we are going to add. It’s also been said here that this group is better than the bunch from the ’70’s. I very much doubt that. I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t think so.
McCourt has some gall to raise ticket prices after a 4th place finish! In NYC or Boston, the press would have his head by now. I’m still appalled with $15 parking. I agree with Max power — only a significant decrease in attendance will get McCourt’s attention. I thought for sure after the debacle in Colorado that Grady would be fired. Reaffirming Grady as manager is a disappointing end to a very disappointing season. I will not be subscribing for season tkts or any single-game tkts even, until I see what transpires over the winter.
I try to comment on what happened and make little prediction, I found out long ago. I’m not too good at it. I would’ve picked the Met’s to go all the way. You know it’s funny how the Met’s picked the 50th anniversary of the Dodgers & Giants departure, for their great collapse. One guy wrote in the Daily News(N.Y.) how he learned his lesson long ago, discribing the Dodgers’ collapse in ’51 & adding the departure in ’57. He said he never rooted for a team again(which many ex-Dodger fans say). I wrote to the paper’s(which is my favorite paper), “Voice of the people”, that I went through the same two disasters and survived and that in fact, i’m still a Dodger fan. I wonder if they’ll print it. Yes***, for us and my home team the Mets, 2008 came a little early and it will be fun to go through my first off season online. I can’t wait for the Free agents listings and Of course I’m making NO PREDICTIONS.
Fact is even if McCourt fired Ned & Grady (which is warranted) his replacements would probably be equally bad.
As far as kids, I would suggest you look at the other teams you listed —Brewers, Rockies Dbacks, these are teams that have committed to their young talent, given them starting jobs, let them work through growing pains etc. We did NOT do that at all. These kids had to fight for the playing time and fight for respect of their manager. This was not a kid friendly team, as has been evidenced by the infighting in the clubhouse and the appeasement of several vets. I predict if we had gone with these kids from the beginning of the year it would have been a different team and a different attitude. This team went flat because it was filled with deadwood veterans. Period.
With the way Ned has built this team for the ’08 season I have a feeling that DY, Valdez, Houlton and Hull may be traded.
Loney hit .331 with 15 homers and 67 RBIs in 96 games
Kemp hit .342 with 10 homers and 42 RBIs in 97 games
Martin hit .293 with 19 homers and 87 RBIs in 151 games.
Billingsley was 12-5 with a 3.31 era in 145 innings.
Broxton was 4-4 with a 2.85 era in 82IP
All under 24. Others are not far behind.
“It’s tangible evidence, it’s credibility within the baseball community, in Denver and with our fans,” said Hurdle, who notched his first winning season in six as manager. “We were patient with our young players because it was the only sane way for us to operate. The biggest thing was having the courage to hold onto our patience.
“We took models of successful teams in similar markets, the Oakland A’s and the Minnesota Twins, studied how they went about their business. It’s one of the biggest reasons we were able to hold fast and stay with our plan through tough times.”
Let Jeff Kent whine and Luis Gonzalez pout in Los Angeles. Barry Bonds can ride out of San Francisco on his asterisk.
And before you say, well yeah but were not the twins or the As or the rockies or the d-backs and I would pause and say, yeah it’s to bad we aren’t. All 3 of the 4 of those teams have more playoff wins than we have had since 2000.
knoufbrock —
It’s true that those ’70s teams had some veterans. But note that the ones you named didn’t come along until a few years down the road. In ’74, for instance the veterans were Willie Crawford and Jimmy Wynn, and that ’74 team was darn good losing only to the dynasty A’s. The 2008 versions of Wynn and Crawford will be Kent and/or Nomar and/or Pierre and/or a free agent.
The Dodgers lost out in the NL West in ’75 and ’76 to the Big Red Machine — one of the best offensive clubs of all time. The fact that they beat the Reds out in ’74, ’77 and ’78 is pretty impressive.
Yes, Baker, Smith and Monday made important contributions. We will need to add players as we go along. But that doesn’t necessarily mean we add by trading our own prospects and proven kids away, especially here in the FREE AGENT era. There’s no need.
Bill Buckner was the best of the ’70s crop we traded away (straight up for Monday, who got the best of that deal? I ask rhetorically), and Buckner wasn’t traded because management was hot for Rick Monday. He was traded because due to his knees he could only play first base; it seems there was this other guy over there named Steve Garvey.
We got Dusty Baker (along with Ed Goodson) for some surplus parts: Lee Lacy (2B was occupied by Lopes), utility player Jerry Royster, Tom Paciorek, and an old Jimmy Wynn.
We got Reggie Smith for Joe Ferguson, Bob Detheragae(?) and Fred Tisdale(?).
The Dodgers of this era should do the same. Trade the surplus parts to fill in the gaps. Right now we don’t yet have enough surplus parts to get a big name, unless we luck into a Reggie Smith situation — that is a player who appears to be fading and who has a somewhat poor reputation as a person. (Note: Reggie’s poor reputation was the fault of the then very racist city of Boston, not Reggie’s fault.)
In sum. We are at the BEGINNING of a a GLORIOUS ERA. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Great memories:martinloneykemp by your e-mail adress I took you for one of our younger members. I just want you to know, that I feel that we are going through the same thing we went through back in 1973 and I’m hopeful that it will continue just like it did a way back then.
pierre–
I made that address specifically for this site. I do love these kidss, and I EXACTLY agree with you that 2007 = 1973. Let’s hope that 2008 is just a little bit better than 1974.
I guess it would make almost as much sense to call myself garveylopescey.
That write-up of 11/15/05, “The Sixth Choice” the author has the same name as our teams ex-owner.