In which I mention that I received a baseball book for Christmas which tries to prove using statistics just who the best fielders in baseball history have been.
I’ll advise whodunnit when I finish the book.
In which I mention that I received a baseball book for Christmas which tries to prove using statistics just who the best fielders in baseball history have been.
I’ll advise whodunnit when I finish the book.
I have just learned that my birthplace of Fargo, ND, has a special distinction: “Located at Newman Outdoor Field, the Maury Wills Museum is in honor of the former 1962 National League MVP and Major League Baseball player who worked for the RedHawks as a coach and a radio analyst.”
So, how’s the book?
Haven’t started it yet.
The LA Times says the Dodgers are out of the Scherzer, Shields and Hamels market for now.
Not beating a dead horse, just attempting to put our negative opinions into a humorous context. What the Dodger brass has done is analogous to this: Coming home from a hard day at school and on the baseball diamond, you remember your Mom saying something about grilled steak, corn on the cob, and strawberry shortcake for dinner. You come in the door to find…. tuna casserole, spinach, and a small piece of Aunt Martha’s pound cake. It may fill your stomach, give you just as many vitamins, but it won’t be anywhere near as exciting and fulfilling. That is what our Dodgers may become.
I just wish the season started tomorrow, so we could find out sooner rather than later
Corn on the cob, tuna casserole and (fresh) spinach are all OK with me.
To put this another way, do you want an exciting team with lots of stars, with it’s ups and downs, that MIGHT get you to the playoffs, or a dull, no name team that doesn’t excite you but just wins? Maybe I’m in the minority but I love baseball for the excitement, not the hum drum factory worker win every (almost) day. Remember Mannywood? Ethier’s walk-off home runs? Kemp’s home runs when everybody in the stadium and watching television KNEW he was going to hit it? That is the Dodger baseball I want to see again…
Excitement is great during the season, the big streak in 2013, Gagne’s save streak, Kemps MVP season….I’ll take Jay Johnstone’s big home run against the Yankees in the World Series any day….just win, baby….
interesting story on the combining of my 2 sport loves, baseball and cricket
http://wapc.mlb.com/cutfour/2015/01/02/105401156/the-million-dollar-arm-guy-is-looking-for-the-first-us-born-cricket-player-with-million-dollar-bat
Ken Arneson goes back to the beginning of life to explain why he didn’t like a trade and what life is like for a fan with Billy Beane as GM. http://ken.arneson.name/
Okay, I give up trying to persuade you guys to wait till the season starts to whine about the management and its moves so far. We’ll just have to see.
Skepticism and criticism are fine. Reflexive naysaying is not helpful, though.
In my mind, the issue last year was the bullpen and the manager. All these moves, the changes to the starting rotation, changes in fielders, changes in hitters and the bench, none of it matters to me.
If we don’t see improvement in the bullpen, 2015 will be a repeat of 2014.
And in my humble opinion, the best move new management could make would be a new manager. This one does not have a feel for game management.
I have to admit I don’t understand the negativity toward this team before it’s even set foot on a spring training field, much less started the season. Nearly everyone thought Colletti was a lousy GM, so now he’s been replaced by two guys who are aggressive and willing to dump dead wood and yet there’s been a lot of complaining.
Can’t we at least see how the team does on the field before we pass judgment on Friedman and friends?
I wouldn’t refer to Kemp as “dead wood,” and I will miss his presence in the lineup. That said, the acquisition Grandal addresses a weakness on the big club and in the farm system – A.J. is getting older and was injury-prone, and the next best catching prospect is in the lower minors. The LA outfield, meanwhile, had (and still has) a surplus of talent. Even next year may not be definitive, as Grandal and Joc are still developing, while Kemp is in his prime (though he’s also been injury-prone in recent years).
I think most fans prefer star players who do great things but make lots of money. Our front office prefers , shall we say, less extravagant players who are more cost effective. In the end, they may well be just as effective in team wins but they won’t be as interesting. The real bottom line in professional sports is money, and that comes from butts in the seats and in front of the (paid) television. Time will tell on that front. Personally I can’t see watching a team without Kemp (2015), Grienke (2016), and Kershaw (????). Perhaps we should change the team name to “Los Angeles Journeymen”…
I guess the key word with “executives” (Do you get the feeling I dislike them as a class?) is “change things” as in put my stamp on it, make it different than my predecessor so I’ll get credit. For what they’re paying for Anderson and McCarthy, they could likely have signed Shields or Scherzer, and kept Heron whom we’re paying for anyway. I almost hope it blows up in their faces (as in two…), I’ll root for the team on the field but I’ll never like the front office and every time their machinations backfire on them, I’ll get a little satisfaction from it, although I’ll be sorry for the player on the field. I’m afraid in time the players will get so drab and uninteresting that I’ll completely lose interest in the team altogether. Of course they’ll be making lots of money but that won’t affect me.
Scherzer’s agent is Scott Boras. He’s already talking about a bigger contract than Kershaw’s., so that’s certainly not as inexpensive as Anderson and McCarthy.
Signed Anderson, DFA’ed Arruebarrena. If he’s not picked up on waivers he can be assigned to Okie City without his consent.
Dodgers DFA
ERISBEL ARRUEBARRENA. Another $25MM down the tubes from Ned’s bad signings…
If the book ends with one besides Brooks Robinson or Ozzie Smith, I will have to question whether it is a work of fiction
A vote for Belanger.
Belanger was great at SS, but his offense makes Miguel Rojas look like Hanley.
of others that I saw a lot in person, Roberto Alomar was AL GG ten years in a row.
From an annual “Strange but True” column at ESPN LA:
Jon’s account of his adventures and brush with greatness the night of CK’s no-hitter-shoulda-been-perfecto–
http://dodgers.mlblogs.com/2014/12/27/2014-farewell-from-piano-to-panic-a-kershaw-no-hitter-odyssey/#more-2088205
that’s really cool!
Ditto!
MLBTR says Kuroda back to Japan, to his Hiroshima Carp.
Amazingly consistent numbers year after year in the Majors.
Even in the vaunted AL East with its bandboxes. Bandboxes don’t seem to matter much for very good groundball pitchers, at least not this one.
Interesting that his MLB ERA was a tad LOWER than in Japan. Whooda thunk it?
He’s 40 now, so who knows how his rerun with the Carp will go. Wouldn’t be surprising if he doesn’t do better after his MLB experience, even at 40.