The calm before the storm…
With less than five weeks to Spring Training, I would have thought I’d be blogging every day but there hasn’t really been much to report from the past week.
The only real noteworthy news right now is that we added another game to our Spring Training schedule. We’ll play a night game on March 4 against the Nationals as a split squad (we also play them earlier that day in Viera).
Also, for those who missed the announcement a couple weeks ago, Nomar and Mia Hamm are having a celebrity charity soccer game on Jan. 26 at the Home Depot Center. All the information you need can be found at the website for her foundation.
Earlier today, James Loney visited Mattel Children’s Hospital and spent some time with the young patients there. He was in town for the Rose Parade and asked if he could go back to the hospital again, having visited it earlier this year, so it’s great to see our young players getting involved in the community on their own. He’s kept busy here this week, hitting up the Laker game on Thursday, where he was interviewed during the game by FSN Prime Ticket and then stopping by Clipper practice, where he played HORSE with Sam Cassell.
As for the question about a Blue Carpet event, that remains to be seen. It was a great event…I’m just not sure if FSN Prime Ticket will repeat that event or do something different this year.
And regarding the Caravan – it’s set to take place Feb. 5 and 6 this year. Details and locations to follow, but it’s shaping up to be our best ever, with great public events and some very cool stops along the way.
That’s all I can think of for now…will keep posting things as they come up.
Inside the Dodgers 
Here’s an interesting article from the Hardball Times that puts a statistical analysis on OF throwing arms.
http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/best-outfield-arms-of-2007/
Only three Dodger OFs are rated; no none else had enough opportunities. No one should be surprised.
I’m re-watching last year’s St. Patrick’s day spring training game and my have things changed.
Loney in RF…Bomko on the mound…Nomar and Betemit on the corners…Pierre showing his horrific arm in CF.
Thanfully, this team will be dramatically better.
I’m shocked, shocked I tell you to find that both Juans were at the bottom of the outfield “arms” list. Great info old fogey. Our pitchers must have been appalled to look past the infield and see those two out there. Psychologically, having Andruw patrolling CF should help our guys on the mound tremendously.
Jones is a definite upgrade , and with Either in left and Kemp in right the Dodgers have a pretty good outfield.
On the 5th starter someone said it would be Loiaza and expect him to win 10-12 games with a 4.50 era or lower…please look at his stats and his trend…it is not going to happen…hopefully one of the kids will have a great ST and grab that spot because it is going to be very painful to watch Loiaza pitch…here is his stats
1995 Pittsburgh Pirates 8 9 5.16 32 31 1 0 0 — 172.2 205 115 99 21 5 55 85
1996 Pittsburgh Pirates 2 3 4.96 10 10 1 1 0 — 52.2 65 32 29 11 2 19 32
1997 Pittsburgh Pirates 11 11 4.13 33 32 1 0 0 — 196.1 214 99 90 17 12 56 122
1998 Pittsburgh Pirates 6 5 4.52 21 14 0 0 0 — 91.2 96 50 46 13 3 30 53
1998 Texas Rangers 3 6 5.90 14 14 1 0 0 — 79.1 103 57 52 15 2 22 55
1999 Texas Rangers 9 5 4.56 30 15 0 0 0 0 120.1 128 65 61 10 0 40 77
2000 Texas Rangers 5 6 5.37 20 17 0 0 1 1 107.1 133 67 64 21 3 31 75
2000 Toronto Blue Jays 5 7 3.62 14 14 1 1 0 0 92.0 95 45 37 8 10 26 62
2001 Toronto Blue Jays 11 11 5.02 36 30 1 1 0 0 190.0 239 113 106 27 9 40 110
2002 Toronto Blue Jays 9 10 5.71 25 25 3 1 0 0 151.1 192 102 96 18 4 38 87
2003 Chicago White Sox 21 9 2.90 34 34 1 0 0 0 226.1 196 75 73 17 10 56 207
2004 Chicago White Sox 9 5 4.86 21 21 2 1 0 0 140.2 156 81 76 23 1 45 83
2004 New York Yankees 1 2 8.50 10 6 0 0 0 0 42.1 61 43 40 9 2 26 34
2005 Washington Nationals 12 10 3.77 34 34 0 0 0 0 217.0 227 93 91 18 5 55 173
2006 Oakland Athletics 11 9 4.89 26 26 2 1 0 0 154.2 179 92 84 17 5 40 97
2007 Los Angeles Dodgers 1 4 8.34 5 5 0 0 0 0 22.2 26 21 21 9 1 16 15
2007 Oakland Athletics 1 0 1.84 2 2 0 0 0 0 14.2 10 3 3 1 0 4 5
Career Totals 125 112 4.64 367 330 14 6 1 — 2072.0 2325 1153 1068 255 74 599 1372
Shawn, thanks for all the knowledge and all the facts, they don’t lie, but I am the one who said he’d be the D’s 5th starter. I also am the one who said he’d win 10 – 12 games with an ERA between 3.9 and 4.5…If I read your stats correctly, I don’t see how it’s not possible with a solid 4 guys in front of him and a good offense and defense behind him. Of course all of this is based on him being healthy, but then again the other 4 have to be healthy also. Anyways Shawn, thanks for the info and let’s be positive.
I personally would be happy if Loaiza could give us something along the lines of Sele in ’06. Even half a decent season will really be all he needs to put up. Figure that (A) if healthy, Kuo can pick up the starts after the all-start break. (B) Schmidt can pick-up those the starts if/when he’s healthy. (C) McDonald gets a half year seasoning at Vegas and he picks up the starts after the break.
In the meantime if Loaiza’s this years version of Bombko, there’s still Houlton to fall back on if not Kuo. Plus Stults is there as a last resort.
13-16 halfway decent starts from Esteban is all we ask. Keep the ERA between 4.75 and 5.25 and I think there’s enough offense behind him that could account for 3-4 wins, with the Ds maybe winning 7-8 of the games he starts.
Kiper I try to be positive but he 37 years old w medical issues…since 2004 and with a nice 2005 year he has a 4.80 ERA and I like you hope that he does have a sub 4.5 era, but I also like the Pierre bashers, I am looking at this as another of Neds reactive moves that should not have been made. I suffered with Nomo that last year that LA ran him out there every 5th day for 90 innings and had almost a 9.00 era until they finally dumped him. Seven out of his 12 years he has had a 4.89 era or higher. Just giving my opinion like you and not real excited to see him pitch every 5 days. Nothing personal just business.
Anything is possible and a good debate is healthy. Thanks and go Dodgers!!!!
Call me crazy, but I think Schmidt is going to be ok. We’ll have to wait until he starts throwing in Vero, but I’m hopeful. If Loaiza is healthy, he’s better than Tomko or Hendrickson, although that’s not exactly great praise…
Well we have our Hall of Fame voting done for 2008 and what a shmae that at least 5 deserving players did not get voted in. I would like to know what makes writers qualified to say if a player is a Hall of Famer. If they are not going to vote for a player because he did not speak to them that is preposterous. The voters should be the living Hall of Famers and and a committee like the NFL has. One player a year is a joke. Jim Rice is a Hall of Famer, Tommy John, Bert Blyleven, Andre Dawson, Jack Morris who won more big games in the last 20 years than he did.
Player Total Votes Percentage
Rich Gossage 466 85.8%
Jim Rice 392 72.2%
Andre Dawson 358 65.9%
Bert Blyleven 336 61.9%
Lee Smith 235 43.3%
Jack Morris 233 42.9%
Tommy John 158 29.1%
Tim Raines 132 24.3%
Mark McGwire 128 23.6%
Alan Trammell 99 18.2%
Dave Concepcion 88 16.2%
Don Mattingly 86 15.8%
Dave Parker 82 15.1%
Dale Murphy 75 13.8%
Harold Baines 28 5.2%
Rod Beck 2 0.4%
Travis Fryman 2 0.4%
Robb Nen 2 0.4%
Shawon Dunston 1 0.2%
Chuck Finley 1 0.2%
David Justice 1 0.2%
Chuck Knoblauch 1 0.2%
Todd Stottlemyre 1 0.2%
Jose Rijo 0 0%
Brady Anderson
Who are the ****** voting for Dunston, Nenn, STottlemyre,Beck. They should not even be able to vote for the President if they thing these guys are Hall of Famers, they need their head examined. Tommy John 288 wins a 3.34 era and this with a rebuilt elbow that revolutionized how baseball injuries are treated. He and Frank Jobe should be in the Hall….This is frustrating every year to hear that Jim Rice did not play long enough…he was the most feared hitter in the late 70s and 80s ask the pitchers who he faced. If that is the criteria why did Kirby Puckett get in? Because he was a nice man and a helluva player but his carrer numbers do not match Rices in my opinion. Writers have no business voting…
Of course anything is possible… that said however, I would be VERY surprised if Loaiza were to win 10-12 games, judging based his performance last season. Loaiza isn’t now and wasn’t when Ned aquired him the type of pitcher we needed in our rotation(old, injury prone Vet trying to revive his career). Looking at his numbers, Loaiza has been an average pitcher throughout his career with the exception of 1 sensational season. If both were to stay healthy, I would say Kuo is the better option for the 5th spot in the rotation because hes young and a southpaw.
I think Hendy is better then Loaiza…
If you can’t already tell Loaiza isn’t exactly my favorite player on the D’s… LOL! I thought it was stupid( I posted it on this blog and got alot of heat for it) when Ned picked him up from the A’s at 7 mil per year and I think it was stupid now. I can’t really blame Ned as much for Schmidt because at the time, I thought he was a good pickup. He made a little more sense then picking up Loaiza did…
Shawn I couldn’t agree with your post responding to Kiper any more. =)
Josh,
Please let us know the schedule for the Caravan. I went last year to Pasadena and this year I have an in-house HR conference that I was just told about it today. I’ve been asked to make a maybe 1 hour presentation (never done that haha). I told the HR manager that I am planning on taking a one day vacation either 2/5 or 2/6. I’d like to attend the one either in the San Gabriel or SF valley area (live in one, work in the other). Please, pretty-please… TIA-Emma. I’ll give him an answer tomorrow.
You actually blog more than a lot of others, Josh. Take Alyssa, she seems like she’s still hung up on the Mitchell Report. The one that runs “Dodger Talk”‘s last one was on Dec 17th. That’s proberbly because I’m his most usual poster. I think their are one or two others. I don’t know why others are not making comments over there. I guess when there’s nothing to say there is nothing to say.
I don’t know, I get my eyes examined twice a year with new glasses every year, but I went over that Preseason FLB Ranking on Dodger Addiction and noticed that I mistakenly stated on Jan. 5th that Andy LaRoche was listed as a first baseman. Unless it was changed it actually was Adam. Which means neither Andy nor Nomar was listed at third base. I don’t know if they were just left out or they rank so low they didn’t make the chart.
“I have no problem with our young players; I have a problem with losing”
Jeff Kent in the new Simers article.
“But as good as these kids are,” he says, “there needs to be something extra to go with that. There needs to be some accountability.
“I think Joe Torre and his coaches, Don Mattingly and Larry Bowa, bring that. There wasn’t enough of that last year.
So I ask, not as a youth versus vets thing blog guy, but as a 10 year old kid. What is he talking about? (I watched at least 130 dodger games last year and most likely for the last 10 years) and I feel stupid for not seeing what he means, at least on the field. What am I missing?
I think he means Grittle didn’t bust the kids butts enough when they screwed up. And its true, Grittle did not expect ANYTHING from anyone, not here and not in Boston. And so Kent felt that when an error was made or whatever, it was just forgotten about and dismissed. Of course as we all know, there were an equal number of screw ups amoung the elder set. A little tough love will make them better in the longer run.
From what I understand Kent frustrations grew out of the lack of accountability that when Kemp screwed up there was no one or any consequences to repeated offenses. His attitude was like it is no big deal instead of listening to some of the older players. Kent although is not the prime example of a leader, he did reach out and it was ignored. We have all either been 21 or worked with young people who are talented and think they know what they are doing and do not take criticism well. Hopefully another year of maturation will help and Kemp will learn that he has a lot to learn that talent alone will not let him reach his ultimate potential.
I also agree that Torre has seen it all and has always had his players play a certain way so things will not be the same.
I think Kent was more frustrated with losing then anything else when he made those comments last season… My expectations for Jones are .260 avg, and 35 HR’s.
Those comments above by Kent were made the other day. Please read the full article at LA Times because Kent was very fair. Logical.
However he has had all winter to think about what he said. And what did he do, rehash old BS.
Even whining that maybe he was targeted as “the jerk” by the media when Nomar and others felt the same as he did. ME, ME, ME everytime he opens his mouth. Even when it’s disguised as all I want to do is win. I don’t care about anything else. Yep it shows. All you (I) want to do is win.
He may be a good hitter but he is not a winner. He is a ****** team mate and a selfish guy
A winner says last year is over so no comment other than I look forward to 2008. I am excited Joe and his staff are here and the moves made by Ned
Now all we have to do is to get all this talent, enough I feel in playing 20 years on different teams, to win a championship. Other than that there is little to talk about.
But no Jeff still feels he needs to send his message. Hey he might be right. But I doubt it.
He sounds like what people used to say about him.
And thats when maybe it’s time to go..
Leopards don’t change their spots. Kent has always been a bitter and selfish player. Let’s hope he keeps his mouth shut, hits 20 homers, gets 90+ rbi’s this year and then goes away. I for one will not be unhappy when the Kent era as a Dodger has ended.
I agree jungar/jhall – as I recall, I haven’t seen Kent leading any of his teams to the crown, so why’s he always throwing stones at glass houses?
Personally, I don’t care if all the players hate each other’s guts as long as they[proverbially] play for the logo on the front of their jersey rather than the name on the back. I think though with Mattingly and Bowa playing good cop/bad cop, a lot of the petty bickering will stop. And as Torre has stated, winning breeds chemistry. We also got rid of another whiner in Long Gone. I really don’t care either if Kemp has a ‘tude as long as he delivers the goods.
Ned’s “character” team backfired on him – I’d rather get us a team that just flat out wants to beat your **** everytime it takes the field.
Interesting article by Gurnick. Imagine 18 guys trying out for 3rd base. Talk about the 3-headed monster. The fact that M. Cabrera may be availale as a free agent (I think. I’m not sure if I’m right about that), leaves some breathing room if we don’t solve the problem by seasons end. I hope it’s LaRoche who wins the job with Nomar in the sub role. That would be just great.
Like I always say, the youth movement is great, but we need experience, Like Kent, to go along with it. It slows it down but I don’t feel we have any reason to rush it. I don’t know about Kent’s personality, but I feel he still belongs over there at second base. The youth should follow his performances on the field, regardless of what they think of him personally.
I agree with you jungar. I’ll be happy when Kent is gone and you know one play really soured me on him last year. I know it was one play but… we were playing the Marlins and a ball was hit into the gap.. the RF (I guess it was Ethier) throws it to Kent and it kind of hits him while the runner goes into third. Then Kent just holds the ball and the runner charges home and scores. I mean where’s the accountability, lol?
Well Kent is a bad 2nd baseman on defense and a bad baserunner. So that leaves offense to emmulate..And didn’t they produce the same as Kent? So what, between the lines, does Kent have a problem with? I am not saying get rid of Kent etc..just wondering, honestly what he is so ticked off about baseball wise. It seemed to me that they were not the problem.
.342 .373 .521 .894 kemp
.331 .381 .538 .919 Loney
.293 .374 .469 .843 Martin
.284 .351 .452 .802 Ethier
.302 .375 .500 .875 Kent
Someone may say well they werent clutch like Kent and then I would say that Kent has the lowest OPS among those 4 Above in 2007 with RISP so it’s not that. And does anyone recall Jeff Kent moving runners over or hitting behind runners. Doubtful.
Yeah Pierre, Gurnick implies that dodger management hopes Laroche gets the job and Nomar is super sub, i like that and it may be the best thing for Nomar if he can handle it…I am pretty happy with the way things have gone recently..I just wish the darn season would start.
Kent just seems like a hypocrite and those people kill any teamwork weather in sports, business or just a bunch of friends hangining out.
O my bad guys, I thought those were the comments Kent made last september. I didn’t read the article and I just assumed that. Sorry…
This is the team guys, lets just see how it all plays out. We got Pierre, Nomar, Kent Raffy, Jones to go along with Loney, Russell, LaRoche, Kemp, Bills etc,,..etc. They all wear the same uniform. GO D O D G E R S
ok ok, I’m going to play devils advocate here – this may be a bit farfetched but, maybe he is saying these things to try to motivate the team(the young guys in particular) to work harder next season and take the advice of the vets and coaches. Kent knows this may be his last year to win a championship and he wants to make it worthwhile plus he knows the continued improvement of the kids gives us our best chance to win. Kents been around and maybe he knows what hes doing. I could be wrong but its an interesting theory.
he referring to Kent
When is the exact date pitchers and catchers report? Feb. 16 or something? Reguardless, I CAN’T WAIT!!!! That’s the first step towards the start of the season.
Awesome winter workout pics that just got posted! Can you tell us more of whats going on there Josh? And please put more pics in the gallery!
I read Simers column…though I really can’t stand Simers. The only irony I found was Kent saying on the one hand that last season he’d offer advice around the batting cage and it was ignored…then he turns around and says (in response to a question about helping the kids this year) that he’s not paid to coach, just win games for the fans. Whatever. Go Dodgers.
One more thing, as an aging liberal, I CAN’T STAND KABC’s regular programming. I hope O’Reilly, Hannity and Elder don’t wreck the karma. OK, conservatives, fire back!!!
Kent and his pornstache need to get lost bike riding in the woods. I don’t want a no range, no speed, bad attitude(fact: see Toronto,Mets,Indians,Gnats) He is the biggest hypocrite. I remember that play in Florida. I’ll take a youngster with talent over an aging veteran ANY day!!!! We’ll me and John Wooden.
GO Dodgers! I think it will be a great season, looks good when our biggest concern is our fifth starter.
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/7628516
An interesting article that breaks down the NL West. Interesting, but I could not disagree more with the writer regarding the Dodgers’ situation. He doesn’t mention the rotation as a strength, and says that the only two “average” defensive players are Jones and Furcal. He further says that the Dodgers are still overpaying for aging talent rather than building from within…even though they signed ONE everyday player for big money.
Anyway, the rest of the article is informative, but this writer clearly has a bias against the Dodgers in the NL West.
Thanks puppyhead! None of the article really makes sense when it starts out with the premiss that the NL west is the class of the league, then goes on to rag on every team in the recap.
And you’re right, guess we don’t have a youth movement going on. Evidently they’ve never heard of Kemp, Ethier, Brox, Billz, LaRoche, Abreu, Hu, Young, Martin et al. And great idea – let’s bring Kershaw into the rotation at 19 and despite pitching only a handful of games at AA.
Brilliant!!
i think that it is safe to say that the NL West will have at least four, if not all five of its teams contending for the playoffs.
i enjoyed last years wild card game…but how about this idea?
major league baseball expands its teams from 30 to 32. having 16 in both leagues.
then five teams make the playoffs in each league. the 3 division winners and two wild card winners. the two teams with the best record that do not win the division. they could come from the same division(as they would have last year) or different divisions.
their would be a 3 game series between the wild card teams…and then the winner would play the team with the best record in the leauge.
wild card series: 3 games
the division series: 7 games
LCS: 7 games
WS: 7 games
this would make more teams fight for the playoffs, which would lead to a lot more exciment for the fans..more than there already is. and it would make it a lot harder for the wild card to make it to the world series. and with the 7 game series in all the rounds, i think that the winner of the series would be considered the better team without a doubt.
Yeah, I thought most of the team-by-team analysis was pretty good though. There were just such huge gaps in the Dodgers’ discussion that it really made no sense. But I especially thought the analyses of San Diego and Arizona were fairly astute.
Although the writer really didn’t have much good to say about any of the teams, in retrospect, maybe the emphasis on their weaknesses has to do with the high expectations to win the division in ’08. None of the 4 competitive teams (Gnats being excluded for many obvious reasons), as exciting and talented as they may be, is without question marks. Which, in my opinion, is why the West will be so exciting to watch this year – anything could happen. (Except the Giants being competitive. Praise God. Or Allah. Or whoever you want.)
bill,
One major problem with that idea is that it leaves more time for long layoffs for legit teams. Every non-wild card team would have a 3-5 day break right away; then if one of those teams won the first series in four, while their CS opponents went seven games, they could have another 4-7 day layoff…etc. There was plenty of complaining here in Denver about the 8-day layoff for the Rockies preceding their unceremonious sweep from the WS. October is already being potentially stretched into November with travel days, off days, etc…you couldn’t add another 3-game series plus turn the DS into a 7-game series. It would be a logistical nightmare.
Besides, MLB could easily add two teams to the AL (West + Central?) for numerical balance with the NL, and continue to use the existing playoff system. In fact, they probably should. The AL West having 4 teams, the NL Central having 6…this actually increases the odds of an ALW team making the playoffs while decreasing the odds of an NLC team making them. It would have made a heck of a lot more sense for all 6 divisions to have 5 teams, since there are 30 total in MLB…can someone explain to me why that didn’t happen?
puppyhead
the reason that it didnt happen was because there would have been 15 teams in each league. so there would be an odd number of teams..meaning that team would get a bunch of days off in a row.
and yes i agree with your point…but after the season, i think most teams would like to have 3 or 4 days off to rest up.
and with the 7 games series,i understand that point, but their have been teams that have done the same as the rockies did last year and had no problem winning the world series..or at being competitive. it wasnt the lay off that hurt the rockies…they really were not a match, and once they lost their momentum they were done. so i think that the 7 game series would work.
and i dont think we should count out the giants just yet, they have some pretty good pitching and that is what wins ball games
Bill,
I like your idea. It would certainly make alot of the meaningless games in September now count for something and generate more excitement.
I think with regards to the NL West breakdown, it is all relative. Every team in the NL has some pretty big question marks. Will be interesting to read what they have to say about the East and Central divisions.
I can’t think of one team, including Boston that doesn’t have some question marks. Boston may have the fewest with Detroit and Cleveland right up there. But, we need to get to the World Series before that has any impact on us. If we make it that far, I have a feeling most of our question marks will have been taken care of in one way or another.
If we play solid ball and win, it will be amazing how much character the guys will all of a sudden have. LOL
Interesting thoughts about expanding playoffs. Perhaps an NFL-style system with four divisions and two wild cards, all seeded 1-6, with 1 and 2 getting first-round bye. First round is quick three game series, second round is five games, last two, including WS, are 7 games. I understand the problem with going into November and I agree. Maybe they should cut the season by a week or so.
Just for fun, maybe the divisions would look like this:
West-LA, SF, AZ, SD
Central-CO, STL, CHI, MIL
South-ATL, FLA, HOU, WASH
East-PHI, NY, PITT, CINN
I like that breakdown Kahli.
I like Kent’s hard-nose attitude and is passion for winning games. He realizes that he is getting older so for the last few years he has been working harder during the offseason to get in shape. When Kent first became a Dodger, I did not warm up to the idea right away, but once I heard that he cried at his News Conference, he was a Dodger to me from that date on. I’ve attended the Women’s baseball clinics. that he has hosts at Dodger Stadium for the last couple of years and he is a classy guy and funny. All my friends that attended the women’s baseball clinics think that same too. I hope to be around when his number gets retired.
R.I.P. Johnny Grant
I was sadden when I heard that the Walk of Fame host and honorary mayor of Hollywood Johnny Grant had passed away. I was hoping that he would be there when the Dodgers get their Star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Rest in peace Johnny.
Two things I didn’t like about that articule breaking down the NL West, concerning the Dodgers were that they wasted more money to make up for money already wasted and the fact that Jones & Furcal are the only average fielders.
Jones, Loney, Martin, Furcal are at least better than average defensive players. Ethier and Kemp are at least average in left field and right field respectively. I think they had to condense space for that article and couldn’t really expand on the details.
LaRoche will also be average to above average if he wins the position. Nomar will be average at worst if LaRoche doesn’t take his oppportunity and win the position.
I have to disagree with Bill 1234, I feel the layoff did hurt the Rockies and whether they would have beaten the Redsox, I don’t know, but I’m sure they would have been more competitive. Too bad there is very little that can be done about a situation like that((( unless the LCS loser could help out with some extra games)).Of course that will never happen. Any ideas?
Martin won a gold glove for christ sake. How these editors even let these guys publish some of this stuff is beyond me
I’ve never been happy with the whole wild card thing to begin with, but there’s no way of getting around it the way things are now lest you have a round-robin tournament with the three division winners. Just seems that an awful lot of the time the wild card team is the one that’s been average all year, then gets hot the last few weeks and buzzes through to the crown. If that’s the case, why have such a long season when you can rise from mediocrity at the end and win it all? I like Kahli’s four division system. You play all year to determine who’s the very best team in each, then playoff for the pennant.
From what I understand Kent frustrations grew out of the lack of accountability that when Kemp screwed up there was no one or any consequences to repeated offenses. His attitude was like it is no big deal instead of listening to some of the older players. Kent although is not the prime example of a leader, he did reach out and it was ignored. We have all either been 21 or worked with young people who are talented and think they know what they are doing and do not take criticism well. Hopefully another year of maturation will help and Kemp will learn that he has a lot to learn that talent alone will not let him reach his ultimate potential.