Tonight's lineup
We could really use a win in the finale tonight, which will be on ESPN. I read somewhere today that we only play one team that’s above .500 before June 24 and that’s a rematch with the Cubs at home. This would certainly be a good time to go on a little run.
We’ll get in about 4 a.m., I’d imagine, but get right back after it tomorrow night when the homestand starts, so hopefully some of you will make it out for a game. Or, at the very least, you’ll be online Tuesday to chat with Joe Beimel at 2 p.m.
Here’s the lineup for tonight…DY gets a rare start against Johan Santana, the fifth time we’ve faced a former Cy Young Award winner this year.
Pierre, LF
Kemp, CF
Kent, 2B
Loney, 1B
Martin, C
Young, RF
DeWitt, 3B
Maza, SS
Kuroda, P
Inside the Dodgers 
It was good game, yesterday, except that we lost.
I have to agree with Colletti, that the Dodgers are a young team competing with more established teams with good resumes.
I had the good furtune to meet up with Andre Ethier after the game.
Great guy, very pleasant, I took his picture and got his autograph.
I also took one of Mariano Duncan, He looks like he can still play.
Well I’m getting ready to go back to Shea, with my daughter for tonight’s game and I’m glad it didn’t rain Yesterday. GO DODGERS!!!!
We could really use a win tonight, but not enough to call up LaRoche apparently.
In 78 AB in AAA, LaRoche has 4 homers. Granted, that is in the PCL, but still, that could be useful, and we know he can hit the ball hard. He’s also walking like crazy – 33 so far in Vegas this year. Junkballers aren’t fooling him. Play him at 2nd and Dewitt at 3rd, or vice versa (since DeWitt has professional experience at 2nd). It’s not like they would be worse than Jeff Kent there.
Well, Alex, you sure called it yesterday . . . Ethier’s sitting. Not that I’m taking away this rare start for DY – it’s ‘way overdue. Couldn’t Joe find someone else to bench? BTW, for those who keep the great statistics for the blog, what’s Ethier hitting against lefties this year? I know it’s more than respectable.
Popgun Pierre is now OBPing .286 when batting first in the order.
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When will JoJo realize that much better options exist?
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Russell Martin’s season OBP of .432 is more than one-and-a-half times better than Phew’s 1-hole OBP. Given an average plate appearance of 4.5/game for a leadoff hitter, this amounts to an extra 2/3 of a baserunner/game at the top of the order. Another way to think of it is an extra 100 runners on base over the course of the season. That’s got to translate into at MINIMALLY 30 runs!!
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RUSSELLL MARTIN FOR LEADOFF!!
sparkle,
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Ethier has not hit well against lefties thus far this year — .167 AVG and .255 OBP in 42 ABs. However, his CAREER stats against lefties are much better — .283 AVG and .327 OBP. For what it’s worth Ethier has much more power hitting against righties — 1 eXtra Base Hit/9.4 ABs compared to 1XBH/13.5 ABs against lefties. Also only 3 lifetime HRs against lefties.
Colletti is right about our young team having growing pains at times. But what would you call the veterans having? Pierre isn’t exactly burning up the leadoff spot, Kent isn’t contributing what one would expect; by all means include Sweeney in that analysis – not to mention Nomar, Bennett, Jones, and probably several guys I can’t think off. If you compare the two sides, veterans and youngsters, I think it is fair to say that for all the youngsters’ shortcomings, we would be way down in the standings depending only on the veteran makeup of this team. How about bringing that out, eh, Colletti, or would that offend the sensibilities of those established but faded veterans that you have accumulated.
DY comes through with the game winning hit-calling it now.
DY comes through with the game winning hit-calling it now.
Leadoff 2B Pierre!
sorry about the double post…
shad78, that’s fine if you want to defend Torre, but he’s the one that makes up the lineups and decides on the pitching changes. Despite offensive problems, Torre refuses to play Young to generate more offense. Brox pitched on Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and now Saturday. That’s five out of seven days. During that stretch he has 3 blown saves. With that recent track record, it was foolish to leave him in the game when he got in trouble. So in my book, Torre deserves the blame.
By redfox@q.com on May 31, 2008 9:48 PM
Red I’m not blame him but he not our problem with our offense sucking and for Young he’s out of option where would you put him and remember you won’t bench Pierre so get that out of your mind. Broxton had 3 blown save but 1 or 2help with error so he not the blame for it and Broxton should do his job. If Furcal was playing and were was over 15 GB than you could blame him but until now I would still waited until the season is done before I even blame a manage in his 1st year.
Is about time to see what DY could do in RF.
Who cares about Pierre obp and when he do get on no one can’t seem to knock him in.
Martin is better in the middle order anyway. That’s a waste of talent putting him in the lead off spot when he probably won’t get many rbi’s chances.
I don’t know if we’re still doing this but question for Ned:
Now that we have more than a third of the season under our belt and we are last in the NL in home runs and doubles, do you think you will try and acquire a big bat at the trade deadline? If so, who are you looking at and if not, what do you see as the solution to this problem?
Where is everyone this afternoon? So far Kuroda is doing a decent job, but we HAVE to start hitting sometime don’t we!?!?!?
Live in Chicago, but from KY
This game is probably over.
We gotta start big winning streak at home this week.
I am tired of playing the Mets. Who do we play next?
Me too, now I’m really tired of the Mets. The Rockies are next.
A team that haven’t won one game against us yet.
Spoke to soon…. game over!!! Thus is Bull!#!@# That we are such a bad team…. you wait for 6 months to see your favorite sport and your favorite team, they have an exciting offseason, and this is the garbage that you get!!! I want my money back! I’m tired of this!! You get excited and really feel like you’ve got something to look forward to and a team to be excited about! and then this is how they come out!! I want some changes! I like Joe Torre… I think given the right personnel he could do a great job ala Yankees…. But this team has got more holes in it then the swiss cheese I put on my sandwich for lunch today. I try to be optomistic, and say, well, it’s early… and theyve got plenty of time to turn it around…. I’m with everyone else now in saying I”M SICK OF SAYING…. NEXT YEAR!! There is nothing more frustrating than to watch this beloved team of mine go down the crapper!! This team has no fight, no giving a damn, and seem like if they were down 2 runs to a little league team, they’d throw in the towel!! It would be nice to seem some sort of reward for being so loyal, I feel like the Guiness Book of World Record number of fans deserve better than this. The money that good people who just want to take their family to see a ballgame, and have a beer and a Dodger dog are being screwed! I can’t wait for the chance to take my son to go and see my favorite past time…. But at what point to you start to say enough is enough!!! Where is this firey Larry Bowa, and the strategic Joe Torre, where are the promising young players who have a ton of hype!?!? Where is our 4234234 gazillion dollar payroll, other than on the DL!! This might very well be the most dissapointed I’ve ever been for our beloved boys in blue!!! Sorry for the rant, but I’VE HAD IT!!
GAME OVER! Sorry guys, but the Dogers are not a good team. Check all my comments and i have said the same thing. Mets are kicking butt. We will never be a contender even in this weak west until we unload Ethier for some power. We need a big trade. Keep him, then you need to trade Kemp. Keep them both, and we lose. Want do you want.
Ned should be fired. We need a GM who has an eye for talent and isn’t fiscally irresponsible. LOGAN WHITE 2008.
Why did JoJo wait until Santana was up to bring in Kuo the Mets killer? Perhaps he should have done it after Beltran’s HR? Does he expect our anemic offense to score five or more runs?
Yeah, MOMO, I’m with you on that statement…. It’s so odd because Mcourt has shown little patience for not winning… and he has proven time and time again that he’s willing to spend the money it takes to win… he just needs a smart baseball person to tell him where he should spend his money…. And Logan White has a defenite eye for talent like you said.
Even better why didn’t he started him over Penny or maybe Kuroda.
Or 2 innings last night instead of Broxton.
The thing that really gets to me too is that this team has no fire….. there’s not one guy in that dugout right now trying to get anyone pumped up…. every game I’ve seen this year if they get down, they all just kind of fold and say, well, there goes another one… Good teams have that really firey player who will clap, yell, throw water coolers, get into people’s faces…. GET FIRED UP FOR Gods sake!!
The lack of power really concerns me… It seems we either need to win 1-0 or well lose the game. This is no way to play a season. This one is definently over. Also, considering the younger players, unless they begin hitting for some power well have some major problems. We do not get on base enough to win with high BA players. WHy dont the coaches see this.
I think that Jeff Kent is just playing out his contract and doesn’t care if he gets a hit or not. He used to hit home runs all the time he doesn’t anymore.
Maybe we need to signed Kobe until the playoff are done and played him at SS and I wonder if he can hit like Furcal. I guess Furcal was our MVP and he mean more than anyone on this team. Do you actually think are record would be better without him here?
We need Bowa and Torre to go off on an ump and fired up this team again.
Where is the team that won 8 straight games? Under the haystack fast asleep
People…you wanted youth, so here it is. It’s a process. Jump off the bandwagon if it helps. A day after the Red Sox or Angels or whoever is crowned World Champion in October nobody will care anymore anyway. Enjoy the ride…watch the kids get better…hope they jell into a reigning power. I’m OK as long as Ned doesn’t panic and trade them away. Dodgers will make people pay down the line. And I’m a cynic with the best of them…
Good job Kent. Nice catch.
I feel bad for my son and his girlfriend since they went to go see them in NY. Wait and see …they may be the worse Dodger team in recent history. One all star catcher will not do it. Somebody out there was comparing this team with the 70’s. No comparison. That team was exciting, these guys are DEAD.
I’m all for the youth movement and I do think that it is a process…. only problem is this is NOT Arizona…. This is the freaking DODGERS!! This is a payroll that is at the tops of the league and can be every year, I’m all for having young kids who can play… but we need to mesh that with some players that are still in their prime… Furcal is great, but we need some power somewhere…. I saw that Beltre hit his 13th homer this year, out leader has 5!!! We don’t stand a chance with this station to station game.
brandondaughrity… I agree with you….
OK…It’s gotten so bad that I can’t even watch the Dodgers anymore…I started to watch tonight’s game and turned it off when it was 2-1…recently looking back just to see the score…6-1…….so we officially have a 1 and 6 road trip…but the best part is ( if you read in the paper today), Colletti is encouraged…lol…I guess he said he’s encouraged with the pitching…of course that was before tonight…..!!! This has to be one of THE worst teams I have ever watched…Can you believe Luis Gonzalez is hitting better this year than most Dodgers?!…..This is like playing a little league team against a big league team….no matter who we play, we have NO punch…I don’t see how it gets better….getting Raffy back will help, but this team is NOT good…..
And does anyone know why the Dodgers never get players in their prime that are sluggers?…Why do we continually year after year have this problem…?..It’s awful…
I can tell you other organizations that have less money are better run…Look at the Marlins…no payroll and much better hitters….or even Oakland…they weren’t supposed to contend and they are better…It’s the continual bad decisions by Ned that has really hurt this team….We shouldn’t have ever resigned Kent, Nomar ( and never signed Schmidt), Andruw, Proctor and all the other flotsam and jetsam we have…It’s a disgrace to have the same problem every year…
Finding players in their prime is not Ned’s forte. Wait for the kids. I do admit it’s getting tedious after 20 years.
I just don’t understand how we do not have a Piazza, or a Beltre, or jeeze. even a Karros, or a Mondesi, or a Green, or how about a Pedro Guerrero, or any type or threat…. There is not one player in our lineup that other teams fear…. to top that off, we do not have an ace…. We’ve not had a dominating pitcher in I don’t know how long…. appearantly last year Penny was all smoke and mirrors.
We’ve got some guys who can hit for great average, and who I’m sure will be very good ball players, but guys if we’re waiting for Kemp to become Pujols…. we’ve got another thing coming.
I missed Beltre I think we should’ve given him a huge contract. I don’t care if he would’ve had a sub par year the next year but he would still probably lead us in homerun and rbi’s,
Nah Kemp won’t even come close to Pujols because he K’s too much than he walk and Pujols bb’s to k’s ratio is freaking rediciously.
I guess you missed all the lob’s with risp this team had since the Cardinals series David but we can’t seem to get that big hit.
That would require someone capable Shad…. We seem to always be off somehow…. when our hitting is on, our pitching sucks, and vice versa
In my fantasy league I had to dropped Penny but I seriously hope it doesn’t come back to hurt me later and had bench him the last 2 times. I have a bad feeling Penny would turn this around in his next start and is he starting against the Rockies? Maybe I should’ve had kept him one more time against that team and see how he does.
The season is over. It needs to be said. This is a .500 team at best. My one hope for this season is that Ned gets fired..or at least his contract isn’t renewed
Loney had a chance and did not come thru. He can only play 1st base. It amy be the sophmore jynx.. but he does not look the same.
well game is over.. it will happen again and again and again until someone says the hell with this youth movement because it is going up a one way street the wrong way.
I don’t mind them playing the young guys…it’s the signing and resigning of used up veterans that has really hurt this club…With the money Ned wastes on all the has beens we could have had much better players…I recently heard Tori Hunter wanted to come here, but the Angels beat the Dodgers to the punch….who would you rather have, Andruw or Tori?…I said that before the season even started…not after seeing how bad Andruw is….!……The only prayer we have is if we continue to struggle all year….then maybe something will be done…but if we remain just win some lose some type team, the same thing will continue….NOTHING!!!..
It’s so sad not to even watch the Dodgers play…I’m embarrassed….what kind of a team do you have when one player ( Furcal) is out and the team falls apart…The Angels have had lots of injuries, but they don’t fall apart because they are much better run….they have loads of little guys that can play the outfield and infield that can get the job done…not the Mazas, Hus, etc of the world….It’s a JOKE!
we are going through some rough times right now..but i still believe in the youth movement and i still believe this team has a chance to make a run in september….i just wish that the youth movement would finally come full circle and call up laroche to play 3rd and dewitt to play 2nd. jeff kent just doesnt have it anymore..
Agree, joey, as far as LaRoche call up. Kent probably has a some gas in the tank, but let him go to the American League for his last shot at a ring. Go full youth and quit back pedaling. LaRoche, Repko (even if his Vegas stats are crummy), Meloan, whoever else is down there and ready. Play Hu; hopefully he’ll find his groove.
One wonders why DY started today. Showcase him for a trade? Since it’s apparent the Dodgers aren’t going to use DY, I guess we might as well trade him. But not for a middle infielder to clog up the progress of our youth.
CC Sabathia???
the indians are struggling and if they continue to do so, they might trade sabathia if they know fer sure that they will not be able to sign him this offseason. he would def. bring that ace pitcher that we have lacked this season to our rotation.
we would then have a great chance to lock him up long term…and that would work out great considering there is a strong possilbility of not having penny or lowe next year…
This team totally sucks. No power hitter anywhere on the horizon. We will be last in HR’S. I turned the game off in the third inning. What a sad state this team has become. About time I cancelled my MLB.TV
Ned said he likes this team. Well Ned I’m glad you like them because everyone else thinks they stink! This team is run badly and will never be any good without some changes, on the field , and in management. Kuo should be in the rotation. He’s better than Penny , Lowe ,Kuroda , and right now Kershaw. Every team needs power in the line up , not a slap hitter in left field. Tiffee, Maza, Sweeney and Hu don’t belong on a major league roster. Everyone Praises Logan White, and maybe it’s deserved, but where are our power hitting prospects? How come we don’t have a Justin Upton , or Ryan Howard, or Jay Bruce, or a Josh Hamilton? Even at AAA or AA where are our power hitting prospects?
I guess I didn’t miss much from the game last night, and by the posts there wasn’t much to talk about either. I noticed one of the village idiots was out last night (somebody must have let him out of his room).
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MLK – who knows anymore why DY is or isn’t playing – you may be right in thinking showcase, but he didn’t do much to showcase last night by the box score, and I didn’t watch the game to know if he made any defensive plays that would have made eyes turn. Also, I was thinking they may be showcasing Pierre, too. I realize he is playing because Furcal is out, but he is the only player on the top 8 that has not had a day off since late April (when Andre sat for that stretch). I realize he had a pretty good day yesterday, but why all of a sudden is he the focus of every write-up, article, etc? – hmmmm
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PierreEW – I am totally jealous you got to meet Andre (my favorite player). I am glad to here he is such a great guy. It validates all the articles I have read about him. I know the game wasn’t too great on the Dodger side of things, but I hope you and your daughter had a good time anyway.
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I did have time to do a song last night, but I will post later – it’s 7am (PST), and it seems to be pretty quiet around here right now.
When you play the youngsters, this is the kind of performance that you sometimes have to suffer. Putting all of the team’s blame on the youngsters is also inappropriate, because none of the veterans who were intended for our team at the beginning of the season have performed well enough to even have us at .500. Pierre is probably at the level that he’s now capable of, and he’s doing a reasonable job defensively in left, so that as long as Ned and Torre are here, he’ll be a fixture in the starting lineup. Wouldn’t be my choice, nor that of many on this forum, but that’s what we’re stuck with.
It’s pretty clear that Maza, Tiffe, and Hu don’t really belong on a competitive major league ballclub – there may be some future development for Hu, but it’s hard to see him as an answer at shortstop in the absence of Furcal. Furcal should not be signed after this season, because back problems do not go away short of some surgical intervention, and even then you really don’t know. By the same token, Sweeney has no value left whatsoever, and I would use Proctor only in a lost game situation like we had yesterday, instead of using up Kuo, who by now should have earned a better assignment than just a mop-up man. In the short term, I think we might as well bring up and give DeJesus a chance at short and see if he might surprise as did DeWitt; otherwise, we’ll obviously have to get **** either at trade deadline or in the off-season.
It may be time to let go of Kent, unless he’s going to be satisfied with part time duty, and try DY, DeWitt or LaRoche at second for the most part. It does not seem that LaRoche is currently doing much at AAA, so I don’t look at him as saving us this season in any way. It definitely is time to get rid of Nomar, Bennett and Sweeney. Lowe definitely needs to go in a trade for some prospects, and we might consider Penny in the same category. I agree with fliegel that we need some power prospects along the line, because we really don’t have any that are showing such capability in the minors. Kemp is disappointing in the power category, even as he’s adjusting to at least maintaining a decent average. The rest of the youngsters are also hitting for a decent average, but there’s no threat of a three run HR in our lineup, and you can’t string together enough singles off a good pitcher to make much of an offensive impact. Logan White should know where those power prospects are on the other teams, and we need to get some of them in our system.
I don’t know why the system insists on blanking out the abbreviation for shortstop, because that’s what it did in my previous post.
boblee,
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Have our guys hit for power so far this season? No. On the horizon:
Matt Kemp (20 HRs in 636 lifetime ABs)
Russell Martin (19 HRs last year)
Blake DeWitt (5 HRs since May 5)
James Loney (15 HRs in 344 ABs last year)
Andre Ethier (13 HRs in 447 ABs last year)
Andy LaRoche (Many consider him the best power potential in the system)
Delwyn Young (The world may never know, but I’ve seen this kid hit the ball live and a couple of times I half expecte the ball to unravel)
Chin Lung Hu (14 HRs in 517 ABS in the minors last year, 2 HR in; 2 HRs in 117 lifetime majore league ABs)
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Ethier, at age 26, is the oldest guy in the above group.
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Dodger fans need to remember a couple of things too. We don’t play in a bandbox. We play in a perfectly symmetral medium-large park. Both power alleys are 385 ft. There is no “short porch” anywhere. There is virtually never any significant wind to push balls out. There is no inside stadium effect. We are not at altitude. In short, Dodger Stadium has consistently been one of the hardest ballparks in which to hit a homerun.
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Although we will probably never return to the way baseball was from the 1930s until the ealy ‘90s, the steroid-powered, juiced-ball era of the mid- and late ’90s and early ‘0s is over. By way of example, in 2003 the #5 HR hitter in the NL hit 43 HRs (tie between Pujols and Luis “Whiny” Gonzalez) whereas in 2007 the #5 HR hitter in the NL hit 34 HRs (tie between Berkman, Braun, and Cabrera).
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Conclusion: There is more than enough power on the Dodgers horizon.
I contend that Andy LaRoche is doing just fine at Las Vegas this year. He has 4 HRs in 98 ABs, not very good but decent. Although his batting average is only .265, his OBP is a ******** .438 and his OPS is .843.
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It seems to me that Andy indirectly gets an awful lot of grief for being a selective hitter and taking a lot of walks. Last year he took a ton of walks — both intentional and unintentional at the major league level. Somebody explain to me how being selective at the plate is a bad thing. I would think that’s the kind of skill that will translate extemely well in the big show. Unfortunately it’s not a very exciting stat/skill and so is sometimes overlooked.
The filter wiped out the word that would describe a Burger King burger.
Messagebear – very well said – Nice!!!!
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MLK – When I was at Angel Stadium, I couldn’t believe how close the HR wall was. We do have to take into consideration the parks we play in. Dodger Stadium is definitely a pitcher’s park, and so, how many of our Dodger’s have hit home runs at Dodger Stadium and the other stadiums that are considered a pitcher’s park?
Hey Nelly. How was the wedding? You didn’t miss anything as far as the game went. I settled in to watch and we were down 6-1 by the 4th inning. Knowing our history and with Santana on the hill, it was pretty much over. Kuo came in and restored order, but it was too late. They need to trade Penny and put Kuo in the starting rotation soon.
Totally agree Bear and ML..
Penny’s ERA in May is over 8 and he is traditionally a first half pitcher. I would trade him for now and maybe get those power prospects. Ferks back issues are a huge red flag in my opinion. I would not resign him to a long term deal. Might as well see what this DeJesus kid can do. Can’t do any worse than Maza and Hu. We need to see what we’ve got. Any good free agent shortstops on the market this off season?
First, I understand people’s frustrations with the way things are going now. Going with the kids is going to be that way. They are going to be hot and cold. The talent is there. Have a little faith. If not, get off the wagon. I’d rather root for a bunch of kids than the garbage we’ve been signing lately. Look at the stats, it’s the underperforming and/or on-the-DL vets that are letting us down. It’s fun to watch them play and hopefully develop.
Second, I agree with bear about DeJesus and the comparison with DeWitt. You just never know until you try them out. Arizona didn’t want to bring up Mark Reynolds yet. They didn’t think he was ready either. He’s struggling with the average right now, but the power is sure there. Everyone across the board was saying DeWitt wasn’t ready in the spring. Give Hu a break and send him back to Vegas for a while. His defense is fine, and his numbers in Vegas were good last year. He may be fine eventually. Maybe he’s just not ready yet.
Third, and I’ll admit that this is real pie-in-the-sky stuff, but perhaps Ned is close to doing Kent a favor and trade him to a contender for that last shot at a ring. I’m having trouble coming up with a reason for LaRoche playing 2B, unless it’s for next year already.
Fourth, the lack of power in the system is a direct reflection of our drafting pitching almost exclusively in the early rounds the past few years. Maybe it’s time to rethink that.
Fifth, there’s updates on Schmidt, LaRoche and a little DY humor:
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-dodrep2-2008jun02,0,4194142.story
Stay on the wagon. It’s raining right now. It won’t last forever if we stick with the kids. Anyone who wants to abandon the plan (Pa?) needs to find a nice team who is winning right now and follow them for a while. Front-runners can get off any time they wish. It’s a free country.
Oh, one more thing Pa, Loney’s leading the team in RBIs. His BA with RISP is only 6 points under his overall average and he’s hitting an even .300 w/RISP and 2 outs. Yeah, he didn’t come through yesterday. So what? Name me someone who comes through 100% of the time.
Well said Eric.
Thanks, jhall. Missed you guys this weekend.
Finally some glimmer of hope on Furcal:
http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080601&content_id=2818300&vkey=news_la&fext=.jsp&c_id=la
With Lowe’s free agency on the horizon, I could see trading him at the deadline. But not Penny. Penny is locked up for another year. He’ll be fine. Too many bloggers fall in and out of love too quickly for my tastes.
I say bring on MORE kids. Forget the big-bat stop gap. martinloneykemp is right. Dodger stadium has NEVER been a power arena. I pointed out last week that Garvey, Cey, Baker and Smith hit 30+ home runs only ONCE in their careers at Dodger stadium. Home runs don’t win pennants. Solid fundamental baseball, good defense and pitching…DOES. Patience!!!!!!!!!
Sounds like Ferk is still a week or so away but making progress. It’s good that they aren’t rushing him back like last year. He came back too soon last year and was not very effective. Schidt throwing consistantly in the low 90’s is also encouraging. If he is ready in July that would be great. Activate him and trade Penny. Penny is in decline in my opinion. Get what you can now for him.
Hope you are right about Penny Kahli, but I’m not terribly optimistic about him turning it around to any significant degreed. We’ll see.
It’s a shame our bullpen imploded on this road trip. We should have at least come home with a 3-4 road trip instead of 1-6. Plus, the game we left 29 runners on base was a very winnable game. We were very close to a 4-3 road trip.
Thank you eric!!!!! The guy drives me nuts!!!!! (BTW -he’s got it in for my guy, Ethier, too)
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jhall – the wedding wasn’t so bad, beautiful as far as colors and such. I pay attention to the game a little, but like you said, after the 3rd inning, it was kind of pointless. I did go online via phone to see what you all were saying, but that PA just drives me to drink, which I had a few in honor of him and his idiocracy (sp?). I did show my family a couple of the songs we have been doing (my mom and dad bleed Dodger blue too), and she thinks you guys (we) are as crazy as we sometimes think we are.
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gotta go to end of the year assembly. I will come back in a little while and post my song: Eagles
Cool Nelly. LOL. PA is definately not playing with all the cards, just the Jokers.
LOL jhall!
I’m so down right now I don’t even have the heart to rip on Ned or Juan Pierre or our manager playing JP and Jeff Kent at top of the order, no me, I am just sitting here…..pretending to be Ned…..and singing Lennon to myself
People say I’m Crazy doing what I’m doing
Well they give me all kinds of warnings to save me from ruin
When I say that I’m o.k. they look at me kind of strange
Surely you’re not happy were no longer winning games
People say I’m lazy dreaming for middle infielders all day
Well they give me all kinds of advice designed to enlighten me
When I tell them that I’m doing fine watching the team fall, fall and fall..
Don’t you miss the big time boy were no longer hitting the ball?
I’m just sitting here watching the wheels round and round
I really love to watch them roll
No longer riding on the merry-go-round
I just had to let it go….
Jungar has definitely been touched – Nice one!!!!!
I worry the Rockies have been SOOOOOOOOOOO bad they’ll turn it around at Dodgers’ expense. Regardless, it’s payback time when the Cubs come waltzing in. I grew up a Sox fan in south Chicago centuries ago and don’t care for Pinella and his little bruins. Let’s hope Bowa had a meltdown out of media’s ear shot and the Dodgers bring some urgency to the park tonight. Joe, try a new lead-off hitter. Every other player on this team has paid the piper when the team falters and Joe “decides” a new place in the batting order would set the world right. Why does Pierre get a free pass when his so-so job of setting the table has produced crummy TEAM results?
jungar, well done. In the same spirit, I might tell Ned that two games under .500 is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans…
Well we are out of NY and back home. We should have won at least 2 maybe 3 more games. The good news is we only lost 2 games to the Snakes. Hopefully the Rockies are just what we need right now.
I want to know what DY did to Joe. It was great that he got a start but against Johan Santana! Give me a break Joe, if you really do not like the kid just tell us. I am hoping that he gets at least one more start befor the All Star Game, maybe agianst Brandon Webb.
As for Laroche I was looking at his stats and he is walking but only 5 extra base hits in 31 games, makes me believe the wrist is still bothering him. I am hoping that it gets strong and if the Dodgers are not within 5-6 games at the break trade all the 30 and overs for (and Penny) prospects.
Penny has always been overrated in my eyes, he pitched decent last year, but he has always been inefficient. It does not take an ace 100 pitches to go 5-6 innings. Plus from what I have heard he is a total jackarse.
Lets all hope Furcal is back by the weekend!!!!
Go Dodgers!
Kahli, the question about Pierre is a question I ask myself daily. The only thing I am hoping is “showcase” – Pierre has been talked about on every sports channel and many articles like he is the golden child of this team, like he has been the savior with Furcal gone. It’s really annoying so my only hope is that this is all for show because we all know the real story, and it’s not the same story that is being told through the media.
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I was doing report cards last night, listening to the Eagles, and I couldn’t resist – I don’t know who to thank for this recent musical escapade (jhall, enchanted, eric, MLK, et all), but this is just too much fun, and I am exploring a definite creative side I didn’t think I had.
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Eagles : Take it to the Limit
.
Ned can spend all Frank’s time wasting money
He will lose all our boys doing fine
Don’t let it fall to pieces tomorrow
And we’ll still be fine
.
So put Ned on a highway
Show him the sign
Send Ned to the firepit one last time
.
So when your looking for old players
(nobody seems to care)
That Ned can’t find the score
(can’t find it anywhere)
Frank there’s nothing to believe in
Ned still comes back, he’s running back
Ned’s coming back with more
.
So put Ned on a highway
Show him the sign
Send Ned to the firepit one last time
dodgerseric
that was right on the money…there are too many front-runners in so cal. just enjoy these times because it only makes winning that much sweeter!
the last couple years penny has been ON in the first half, and OFF in the second half.. if this were the year he was reversing the trend, i’d much rather him be ON in the second half, as long as we stay close in the race.. here’s hoping.. they should hold on to him and hope.. lowe, on the other hand.. they should look to trade at the deadline.. he’s not re-signing.. he doesn’t even like it here.. so they should try and get something for him..
plus lets look on the bright side..
the dodgers always play well in june and july…so hopefully we can turn things around
Another lunch’s useless energy spent………
I don’t think we’ve used messed with The Boss yet:
I come from down in the valley
Where mister when you’re young
They bring you up as a Dodger fan
Like your Daddy done
Me and Mary we met in high school
When she was just seventeen
We’d drive out of this valley
down to the Stadium where fields were green
We’d go down into the Stadium
And into the Ravine we’d drive
Oh down to the Stadium we’d drive
Then I got Mary infected
With my addiction to the Dodger flu
And for my nineteenth birthday I got 2 box seats and a hat that’s blue
We went down to the will call
And the clerk gave us two down close
No sun in our eyes, a chance for pop flies
On the aisle, no cigars in sight
That night we went down to the Stadium
And into the Ravine we’d drive
Oh down to the Stadium we’d drive
I bought us a pennant and the vender said, ”Hello ma’am”
And then he said, “You can’t tell
the players without a program!”
Now I could tell him their numbers
from today back for 40 years
But I shelled out the bucks to get one
As long as I could still buy some beers
But I remember us sitting down in our seats
Wondering if our hot dogs were made with real meat
We’d turn on our transistor radios
To let Vin and Jerry tell us what we already know
Now those memories come back to haunt me
They haunt me like a curse
Did we really trade Pedro for De-Lin-o
And then Konerko for something worse,
That sends me down to the web site
And to the bloggers I cry
We think we could do a better job
On the Dodger’s roster
dnel, bear, jhall and I
We could save the team and some bucks
Rats!!® That second line should be “I don’t think we’ve messed with The Boss yet:”
Jungar, Eric, Nelly, EXCELLENT!!!!! LOL!!
Dodgereric,
That is way too cool – Wow!!!!! You are awesome!! – Wow!!
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BTW Dodgereric – you have become a popular person in this classroom – the pictures you sent are a hit! I put them in a binder for now until I figure out my plan for next year. It’s funny, some of the girls don’t understand how old they are, and many of them have asked where Andre and Russell are in the team picture – it’s funny how they are always thinking of those two – hmmm (brainwashing at it’s best) – lol! I think I have definitely hooked a few of them into thinking Dodger Blue, especially #16 and #55 – lol!! One of my girls even noticed Andre didn’t play last night – scary – lol!!
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jhall,
my husband is looking at buildings – the fun begins 🙂
Alright Nelly. Good for you. Good luck.
Our younger players are expected to develop more power in the future, and maybe they will, but we need someone in the line up that opposing pitchers fear with the game on the line now. Someone who can change the game and get us a couple of runs with one swing of the bat. Other teams have 2,3 or more of these guys. Also even though Dodger stadium is a pitchers park, we don’t hit a lot of long balls anywhere else either. We have nobody other than Laroche at triple A and right now he’s not tearing the cover off of the ball. Even so he should be up and added to the mix instead of Tiffee Maza etc. Our great GM should be looking to trade some lower level guys for a young vet power hitter. I know it won’t be an easy thing to do , but a good GM should be able to figure out how to do it. Start looking to upgrade left field with a guy who might be able to hit the ball over the wall once in a blue mpon. I know, how about players like Cody Ross or Jason Werth to name a few..
2009 Free agent shortstops:
Orlando Cabrera (34)
David Eckstein (34)
Adam Everett (32)
Rafael Furcal (31)
Cristian Guzman (31)
Cesar Izturis (29)
Felipe Lopez (29)
Edgar Renteria (33) – $11MM club option for ’09 with a $3MM buyout
Juan Uribe (30)
Omar Vizquel (42) – $5.2MM club option for ’09 with a $0.3MM buyout
Outfielders:
Left fielders
Moises Alou (42)
Garret Anderson (37) – $14MM club option for ’09 with a $3MM buyout
Milton Bradley (31)
Emil Brown (34)
Pat Burrell (32)
Adam Dunn (29)
Cliff Floyd (36) – $2.75MM club option for ’09 with a $0.25MM buyout
Luis Gonzalez (41)
Raul Ibanez (37)
Jacque Jones (34)
Kevin Mench (31)
Jason Michaels (33) – $2.6MM club option for ’09
Craig Monroe (32)
Jay Payton (36)
Wily Mo Pena (27) – $5MM club option or $2MM player option for ’09
Manny Ramirez (37) – $20MM club option for ’09
Juan Rivera (30)
Center fielders
Rocco Baldelli (27)
Mike Cameron (36) – $10MM club option for ’09 with a $750K buyout
Jim Edmonds (39)
Jacque Jones (34)
Mark Kotsay (33)
Corey Patterson (29)
Right fielders
Bobby Abreu (35)
Casey Blake (35)
Milton Bradley (31)
Cliff Floyd (36) – $2.75MM club option for ’09 with a $0.25MM buyout
Brian Giles (38) – $9MM club option for ’09 with a $3MM buyout
Ken Griffey Jr. (39) – $16.5MM club option for ’09 with a $4MM buyout
Vladimir Guerrero (33) – $15MM club option for ’09 with a $3MM buyout
Jacque Jones (34)
Bobby Kielty (32)
Brad Wilkerson (32)
Reaction: Getting Izturis back looks like a good idea.
Thanks for the lists Eric. Pickin’s are slim out there. I would just stay the course and unload Phew. Hopefully Jelly Roll will come back and be somewhat effective and if not, we only have him thru next year. Bring up Repko as the backup outfielder. Any way you cut it, Ned needs to somehow unload Phew.
Wouldn’t that be a dream come true – 🙂
Boy, the one thing that just jumps out at you when looking at those lists is AGE!
yes, eric – too much of a risk in getting another PVL – we haven’t been too fortunate in the department so far
Honestly, there is not ONE guy on that free agent list I’d want. None. I’m tired of free agent hitters. As far as pitching, the only one I’d want is Beimel, so I’d lock him up before season’s end. Lowe…ta ta, because I know Boras will over-price him. If Schmidt keeps making progress, he replaces Lowe and you have your rotation. If Saito gets old quick and Broxton still has the jitters, maybe you look at K-Rod to come up the freeway until Broxton’s ready.
Stay the course with the kids. Hu has a career .290 average, albeit in the minors. He’s five years younger than Izturis. Why go backward? Furcal was a lock to resign until injuries cast a cloud. Back problems are strange creatures. Not sure you gamble. We’ll see how 2008 plays out.
Kemp, Martin, Loney, DeWitt (he has batting champ written all over him), Billingsley, Broxton and Kershaw are untouchable. Leave them alone. LaRoche, Ethier, Abreu, Hu, Repko…not sure. Dodgers would have to get something REALLY good back.
Playing GM is fun, huh Ned?
Hope Ned has learned at least one thing. Don’t give a long term deal (4 years or more) to a player over 30. It hardly ever works out. That would be my cardinal rule if I were a GM. It’s obvious money put into scouting and player development is well spent and the way to go. Most of the time when you sign a true superstar player thru free agency, you’re just getting a year or two of their prime. Mostly end up paying a premium for what they already did. No thanks!!
jhall I agree with your rule. Now convince Ned.
That’s the kicker Kahli. You can’t make a silk purse out of a pigs ear. He just doesn’t have the tools.
That list makes you realize how young this Dodger team really is (minus the PVLs). Ethier is the oldest of the young ones (26) and other than the two 27’s (Pena and Baldelli), there’s at least three years difference between him and that whole list. It would be great to see Pierre on that list (Oh, I forgot, he is on our roster for how many more years? – too many!)
The topic, Dodger Free Agents over the years. I’ve researched and came up with the following free agent signings. I’ve deleted the obscure ones, they would have more than doubled this list. You’d have to be a bigger freak than me to have recognized any of them. I’m left with these 142 names.
Of these, how many would you grade out as an “A” signing. Not that sounded good at the time, how many were GOOD signings? With the full advantage of 20/20 hindsight? I would count no more than 15. Granted, a lot were signed as roster fillers, but that’s still a lousy percentage. Also, note that Ned didn’t start the Dodger tradition of signing from the trash heap.
My point? Fill from inside the organization. Castoffs and headcases need not apply. Look and remember. I apologize for the horribly long post.
March 15, 1975 Juan Marichal
June 11, 1975 Leron Lee
August 11, 1976 Jim Lyttle
April 5, 1977 Boog Powell
November 22, 1977 Terry Forster
November 14, 1978 Derrel Thomas
January 26, 1979 Alan Wiggins
February 23, 1979 Pete Broberg
June 11, 1979 Ken Brett
November 14, 1979 Dave Goltz
November 17, 1979 Don Stanhouse
December 4, 1979 Jay Johnstone
July 8, 1980 Vic Davalillo
September 8, 1981 Jerry Grote
December 11, 1981 Mark Belanger
January 13, 1984 Terry Whitfield
October 22, 1984 Brian Holton
February 11, 1985 Bobby Castillo
April 10, 1986 Cesar Cedeno
February 11, 1987 Jack Perconte
April 10, 1987 Mickey Hatcher
June 12, 1987 Danny Heep.
July 10, 1987 Tito Landrum
July 20, 1987 Julio Cruz
December 15, 1987 Mike Davis
January 1, 1988 Bill Krueger
January 29, 1988 Kirk Gibson
March 30, 1988 Rick Dempsey
June 27, 1988 Mario Soto
November 7, 1988 Alfredo Griffin
December 10, 1988 Willie Randolph
December 7, 1989 Jim Gott
December 19, 1989 John Shelby
December 21, 1989 Mike Maddux
February 20, 1990 Don Aase
November 8, 1990 Darryl Strawberry
December 3, 1990 Kevin Gross
December 14, 1990 Brett Butler
December 16, 1990 Juan Samuel
March 25, 1991 John Candelaria
March 26, 1991 Gary Carter
December 3, 1991 Tom Candiotti
December 6, 1991 Mitch Webster
January 23, 1992 Jay Howell
January 28, 1992 Dave Anderson
June 17, 1992 Lance McCullers
December 1, 1992 Eric Davis
December 4, 1992 Mitch Webster
December 5, 1992 Roger McDowell and Cory Snyder
December 9, 1992 Todd Worrell
January 8, 1993 Lance Parrish
January 12, 1993 Kevin Elster
April 20, 1993 Ken Dayley
November 12, 1993 Tom Prince
December 14, 1993 Jeff Treadway
January 6, 1994 Rudy Seanez
February 23, 1994 Mike Sharperson
April 10, 1994 Chris Gwynn
December 13, 1994 Tim Wallach
February 1, 1995 Casey Candaele
February 8, 1995 Hideo Nomo
April 11, 1995 Reggie Williams
April 12, 1995 Rob Murphy
April 15, 1995 Dick Schofield
November 1, 1995 Darren Hall and Tom Prince
November 9, 1995 Brett Butler
November 30, 1995 Greg Gagne
January 16, 1996 Scott Radinsky
February 16, 1996 Mike Harkey
November 6, 1996 Mark Guthrie
December 8, 1996 Todd Zeile
August 20, 1997 Eddie Murray
December 3, 1997 Trenidad Hubbard
January 12, 1998 Mark Gubicza
January 16, 1998 Mike Devereaux
November 9, 1998 Devon White
December 12, 1998 Kevin Brown
December 30, 1998 Pedro Borbon
January 1, 1999 Matt Herges
April 24, 1999 Mike Maddux
December 15, 1999 Mike Fetters
December 27, 1999 Jeff Branson
January 10, 2000 Gregg Olson
January 11, 2000 F.P. Santangelo
January 14, 2000 Kevin Elster
January 20, 2000 Chad Kreuter
February 1, 2000 Geronimo Berroa
December 6, 2000 Andy Ashby
January 4, 2001 Giovanni Carrara
February 28, 2002 Kazuhisa Ishii
December 31, 2002 Fred McGriff
January 13, 2003 Pedro Borbon
January 30, 2003 Ron Coomer
January 31, 2003 Wilson Alvarez
February 26, 2003 Tom Martin
July 14, 2003 Rickey Henderson
December 7, 2003 Robin Ventura
December 19, 2003 Tanyon Sturtze
January 2, 2004 Olmedo Saenz
January 5, 2004 Bubba Trammell
January 23, 2004 Jeremy Giambi
January 28, 2004 Jose Lima
February 4, 2004 Jose Hernandez
December 7, 2004 Ricky Ledee
December 8, 2004 Elmer Dessens
December 15, 2004 Jeff Kent
December 21, 2004 Jose Valentin
December 23, 2004 J.D. Drew
January 7, 2005 Odalis Perez
January 11, 2005 Derek Lowe
January 13, 2005 Paul Bako
January 31, 2005 Scott Erickson
February 3, 2005 Norihiro Nakamura
May 10, 2005 Oscar Robles
December 13, 2005 Sandy Alomar
December 15, 2005 Bill Mueller
December 19, 2005 Rafael Furcal and Nomar Garciaparra
December 20, 2005 Kenny Lofton
January 3, 2006 Brett Tomko
January 14, 2006 Aaron Sele
January 24, 2006 Joe Beimel
January 26, 2006 Wilkin Ruan
January 31, 2006 Ramon Martinez
February 1, 2006 Pat Borders
February 7, 2006 Takashi Saito
May 9, 2006 Giovanni Carrara
November 20, 2006 Nomar Garciaparra
November 22, 2006 Juan Pierre
November 28, 2006 Matt White and Randy Wolf
December 6, 2006 Mike Lieberthal
December 8, 2006 Luis Gonzalez and Jason Schmidt
February 14, 2007 Choo Freeman
February 17, 2007 Kelly Stinnett
July 6, 2007 Roberto Hernandez
August 10, 2007 Shea Hillenbrand
Eric, I am not sure how you even came up with 15 “A” signings. Gibson, Brett Butler and Micky Hatcher come to mind as players who made a big difference. I might say I could have gone a long time without seeing the names Don Standhouse and Dave Goltz remind me of the risks of signing free agents.
Oops, I meant Stanhouse. I might add Jay Johnstone to the A list because at least he was a fun guy to have around.