Feb 08

Bits and pieces

When the team hasn’t announced a deal but the player has a locker at the Spring Training clubhouse in Arizona, does he have a deal? That’s what we know about Paul Maholm, who’ll be in his tenth year and has a lousy W-L record to show for it. On the other hand, if you’d pitched for the Pirates for seven years between 2005 and 2011, you’d have been hard-pressed to do much better.

Billingsley thinks his Tommy John surgery has given him an entirely new arm. He’s throwing 80mph off a mound and won’t try curveballs till the end of February.

Mattingly says Kemp probably won’t play in Australia; he hasn’t yet run outside.

Dee Gordon has been practicing at second base and in the outfield.

Update: From Camelback Ranch today:

Oct 29

2013 Free agents, pitchers

And here’s CBS Sports’ list of free agents-to-be among pitchers.

Again, top fifteen listed.

Rank Player Last Team Pos Age IP W-L S ERA K Status

1 Zack Greinke Angels SP 29 212.1 15-5 0 3.48 200 Unrestricted

2 R.A. Dickey Mets SP 38 233.2 20-6 0 2.73 230 $5M Club Option

3 Kyle Lohse Cardinals SP 34 211 16-3 S 2.86 143 Unrestricted

4 James Shields Rays SP 30 227.2 15-10 0 3.52 223 $9M Club Option

5 Jake Peavy White Sox SP 31 219 11-12 0 3.37 194 $22M Club Option

6 Edwin Jackson Nationals SP 29 189.2 10-11 0 4.03 168 Unrestricted

7 Hiroki Kuroda Yankees SP 37 219.2 16-11 0 3.32 167 Unrestricted

8 Brandon McCarthy Athletics SP 29 111 8-6 0 3.24 73 Unrestricted

9 Rafael Soriano Yankees RP 32 67.2 2-1 42 2.26 69 $1.5M Opt-out clause

10 Fernando Rodney Rays RP 35 74.2 2-2 48 0.60 76 Unrestricted

11 Anibal Sanchez Tigers SP 28 195.2 9-13 0 3.86 167 Unrestricted

12 Tim Hudson Braves SP 37 179 16-7 0 3.62 102 $9M Club Option

13 Gavin Floyd White Sox SP 29 168 12-11 0 4.29 144 $9.5M Club Option

14 Ryan Dempster Rangers SP 35 173 12-8 0 3.38 153 Unrestricted

15 Shaun Marcum Brewers SP 30 124 7-4 0 3.70 109 Unrestricted

Greinke, Lohse and Peavy might appeal to the Dodgers, I think. What say you?

Oct 29

2013 Free agents position players

Via CBS Sports. This is just position players; they’ll have the list of pitchers later.

I’m not sure what the basis of the ranking is, but here are the top fifteen. Only one is a Dodger: Victorino

Rank Player Last Team Pos Age AB HR AVG RBI Status

1 Robinson Cano Yankees 2B 30 627 33 .313 94 Signed by Yankees; 1 year, $15M club option

2 Josh Hamilton Rangers OF 31 562 43 .285 128 Unrestricted

3 David Wright Mets 3B 31 581 21 .306 93 $16M Club Option

4 Michael Bourn Braves OF 29 624 9 .274 57 Unrestricted

5 Brian McCann Braves C 28 439 20 .230 67 Unrestricted

6 B.J. Upton Rays OF 28 573 28 .246 78 Unrestricted

7 Nick Swisher Yankees OF 31 537 24 .276 93 Unrestricted

8 Curtis Ganderson Yankees OF 31 596 43 .232 106 Signed by Yankees; 1 year, $15M club option

9 Mike Napoli Rangers C 30 352 24 .227 56 Unrestricted

10 Carlos Ruiz Phillies C 33 372 16 .325 68 Signed by Phillies; 1 year, $5M club option

11 David Ortiz Red Sox DH 36 324 23 .318 65 Unrestricted

12 Angel Pagan Giants OF 31 605 8 .288 56 Unrestricted

13 Adam LaRoche Nationals 1B 33 571 33 .271 100 $10M Mutual Option

14 Shane Victorino Dodgers OF 31 595 11 .255 55 Unrestricted

15 Melky Cabrera Giants OF 28 459 11 .346 60 Unrestricted

Anybody see anyone there the Dodgers might be desirous of acquiring?

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 15

Dodger update, mid-postseason

I think I’m just going to keep this post open for additions for the next week or so as new news (if any) appears. You might want to bookmark it.

Chad Moriyama has an interesting tidbit about the potential signing of a Japanese pitcher named Shohei Otani out of high school, which he thinks if it happens is the first time a Japanese player signed with an MLB team without playing professionally in Japan first. (Yu Darvish is only 26, but he pitched for seven years in Japan before signing with the Rangers.)

Chad also has a video of the young man.

Update: Otani has now decided to make himself eligible for the MLB draft rather than the Japanese league draft. MSTI has some thoughts, as does Moriyama.

Update: In his ongoing grading session, Mark Saxon gives the bullpen an A-minus. He identifies keeping League, Jensen, and Belisario as the most critical (and possibly easiest) jobs for Colletti in the offseason. League, a free agent, indicated he’d like to stay in LA since it’s near his San Diego home, and the other two are pre-arbitration eligible and under contract for next year. Long relief could involve re-signing Jamie Wright; Matt Guerrier is under contract for next year despite pitching only 16 innings in 2012 and arriving on the disabled list earlier in the year. Shawn Tolleson could continue as a middle-innings guy as well.

Update: Roberto at Vin Scully is my Homeboy has collected half-a-dozen Dodger stories, including one I’d not heard and didn’t want to hear: that somebody suggested the Dodgers solve their third-base problem by taking Alex Rodriguez off the Yankees’ hands. Shudder. If any idea should die a-borning, please let it be that one!

Update: Over at ESPN LA Mark Saxon asks whether the Dodgers should consider moving Matt Kemp to a corner outfield spot in order to save his body from itself.

You simply don’t see many center fielders who are 6-foot-4 and 230 pounds. When a body that big collides with a less-than-forgiving wall or flops awkwardly on the ground, the physics aren’t forgiving.

Saxon points out that, sabermetrically, Kemp has been a below-average centerfielder defensively since 2009 and implies that the team’s fielding wouldn’t be hurt if he did move. Of course, then you have to find another centerfielder, and Crawford’s arm may not be recovered enough in 2013 for him to play there. So Saxon suggests this should be something the Dodgers should think about for 2014. What do you think?

Update: Having fired Dave Hansen as hitting coach, who should take his place? Saxon at ESPN LA has some thoughts.

Update: Vin Scully is my Homeboy‘s Roberto Baly has the text of a press release from the Dodgers announcing the hiring of longtime baseball executive Gerry Hunsicker as Senior Advisor, Baseball Operations.

Hunsicker will assist Colletti and President and CEO Stan Kasten with the Dodgers’ big league club while also lending his expertise to international scouting and development, pro scouting and minor league development.

Sep 28

Six to go

Kershaw v. Francis on Prime Ticket @ 7:10pm PDT.

I’m still nervous about Kershaw’s continuing to pitch with a diagnosed hip impingement. All we can do is hope that the Dodgers’ medical staff, coaches and front office know what they’re doing when they sign off on allowing him to do so.

Francis had a wonderful year in 2007, helping the Rockies to their only World Series appearance as he went 17 – 9. Since then he’s played for the Rockies, the Royals, and back to the Rockies, and he’s been essentially mediocre. This year he’s 5 – 6 with a 5.54 ERA.

Lineup:

Ellis, M, 2B
Cruz, L, 3B
Kemp, M, CF
Gonzalez, A, 1B
Ramirez, H, SS
Ethier, A, RF
Victorino, S, LF
Ellis, A, C
Kershaw, C, P

Gameday

My attention may be diverted a little this evening, as the U of Hawai’i plays Brigham Young University in Provo beginning at 2:00PM HST. The Dodgers game starts at 4:10PM HST, so I can see a full half of football before I have to worry about Kershaw.

Late news: The Dodgers have sent Stefan Jarrin, Jaime’s grandson, to the Phillies as the PTBNL in the Victorino deal. Young Jarrin hit .209 with three homers and nine RBIs in 26 games for the rookie-level Arizona Dodgers.