Mar 07

This is strange

Old friend Russell Martin pulled out of the World Baseball Classic when Team Canada decided he’d catch rather than play shortstop as he preferred.

Say what? Martin hasn’t played shortstop since 2002, his first pro season in the minors, and that was just one game.

This hasn’t endeared him to Canadian fans, nor has it done him any favors with Justin Morneau of the Twins, who’s playing for Team Canada.

But the desire to play a new position is kind of what has everybody wondering what the decision-making process was behind that. When we get there, we’ll be there with everybody who wants to be there and with somebody who’s capable of playing shortstop.”

You know, as badly as Martin’s skills have fallen off and as weird as this reasoning is, I think it’s just as well we let him go to the Yankees a couple of years ago.

Update: Another old friend, Rafael Furcal, is going to have Tommy John surgery and will be out for the season.

That’s a shame. When he was healthy Raffy was a great shortstop for the Dodgers.

Update: Tonight’s (March 8) game is available via webcast. Capuano is on the mound to start.

Update: Video of Kershaw’s two-hit one-run outing today in Scottsdale, which the Dodgers won 6 – 1. Juan Uribe (!) had a three-run home run.

Oct 26

Mid-Series Dodger news

Roberto at Vin Scully is My Homeboy has some news and photos of a press conference the Dodgers held today to introduce Carl Crawford as the team’s new left fielder.

New news items will be added here until the next WS travel day, if one’s necessary.

Update: Eric Stephen of True Blue LA updated his payroll worksheet to include all the trades which occurred in August of 2012.

Oct 13

Dodger’s grades, cont.

In an ongoing series, Mark Saxon grades the Dodgers’ outfield this past season and looks ahead to what it might be next season, with a healthy Kemp, a recovered Crawford and a steady Ethier.

After that he does the same thing for the pitching rotation. Beyond Kershaw, forecasting who makes it up is the interesting question there, since we don’t yet know whether Billingsley will have Tommy John surgery. The latest news about that is from October 3, when Trainer Sue Falsone said “Billingsley can avoid Tommy John surgery if he stays pain-free, but ‘if he hits any road bumps he’s probably going to have to have surgery.'” A week ago he was playing catch two of every three days and reporting no pain, but that could change.

Then there’s Lilly. We won’t know till spring training whether his shoulder has fully recovered. Harang and Capuano are under contract, as is Beckett. Blanton is a free agent and will likely test the waters, but he didn’t perform all that well as a Dodger anyway.

A press release from ESPN LA says that Dave Hansen is out as hitting coach; he’s been offered another position within the organization. “Pitching coach Rick Honeycutt, third-base coach Tim Wallach, first-base coach Davey Lopes, bench coach Trey Hillman and bullpen coach Ken Howell will return in 2013.”

Oct 10

Dodgers news, mid-playoff edition

At ESPN LA, Daniel Braunstein has written a combined look back/look forward post about the just-completed season.

Also at ESPN LA there’s an unsigned (but probably Mark Saxon-written) post putting a letter-grade on the infield’s performance for the season. Hint: you’d probably not be promoted to the next grade if you got the one he assigned.

Roberto Baly has a lot of links at Vin Scully is my Homeboy, including a podcast of Vin Scully on AM570 radio.

Via Roberto comes this link to a Ken Gurnick story which informs us that Yasiel Puig had a staph infection in his elbow requiring surgery. It’ll take three to five weeks to rehab and it means he’ll miss the Arizona Fall League.

Oct 07

Whither the Dodgers?

via ESPN, here’s a link to a radio interview Stan Kasten did on Friday with ESPNLA’s Max Kellerman and Ramona Shelburne. It’s enlightening.

Update: Go look at the Twitter photo Jon’s posted over at Dodger Thoughts. It’s the Dodgers’ regular catcher recovering from surgery for a torn meniscus in his left knee, but there are some humorous Twitter thoughts added to the photo.

Update #2: Kemp’s damaged shoulder was hurt more than anticipated. The labrum had to be reattached, and the docs say he may not be at full strength when spring training starts.

Oct 06

Kemp’s surgery

I guess it’s too early to know the extent or for privacy reasons nobody’s saying, but we’ve gotten a terse Kemp had surgery story and no more. The team says he’ll be ready for Opening Day, but no bat swinging for three months. I’m now wondering how much swinging a bat a player does in the offseason when no surgery has been done.

The 60-minute procedure at the Kerlan-Jobe Clinic in Los Angeles was performed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache. Kemp will begin physical therapy in seven to 10 days.

The Dodgers were hoping the surgery would be little more than a cleanup and Kemp would be ready to return in a matter of a few weeks. He injured his shoulder colliding with an outfield wall against the Rockies in Colorado on Aug. 28.

Let us hope.

Update: See new post above for further details on the results of the surgery.