Is Anyone Buying This?
October 31, 2007 at 6:40 am | In Grady Little, Ned Colletti | 8 CommentsSince Joe Torre has yet to be named the official manager of the Blue, we’ll hold off on discussing what that’ll mean until it actually happens. In the meantime, there’s the simply astounding turnabout of the last 24 hours of the Reign of Griddle to discuss.
For the entirety of this drama, this was the chain of events we had all led to believe had occurred:
1. End of another disappointing Dodgers season
2. McCourt and Colletti each state that Griddle is back in ‘08
3. After a few weeks, McCourt and/or Colletti change their mind about Griddle and reach out to Joe Girardi
4. After it becomes clear Girardi’s getting the Yankees job, they go to Plan B - Torre.
5. All the while, letting Griddle twist in the wind until he finally quits in disgust and/or before being fired.
This timeline has the positive outcome of not having Grady Little as the manager of the Dodgers; but the much more ominous one of making the front office and ownership look awful by letting a good man (though not a good manager) suffer for nearly two weeks before being tossed aside - an especially damning sign for a GM who’s biggest strength is supposed to be people skills. He talks to the fans so the software people don’t have to!
However, now we’re hearing this is how it went down (differences in italics):
1. End of another disappointing Dodgers season
2. McCourt and Colletti each state that Griddle is back in ‘08
3. Griddle expresses to Colletti that he’s unsure if he wants to return in ‘08
4. Colletti does his due diligence by contacting other candidates
5. After it becomes clear Girardi’s getting the Yankees job, they go to Plan B - Torre.
6. Griddle finally decides to step aside, even though “I wanted Grady Little back,” said Colletti. “We discussed a lot of things, how he felt and how I felt, and we just felt it was best for everybody that this is where it ended up. I encouraged him a handful of times to think it through, that I wanted him back.”
Whew. So what are we to believe here? I have a difficult time thinking that Grady would really need an entire month to decide whether he’d come back in 2008. On the other hand, if it’s the first scenario, it’s mind-blowing to think how bad of a PR botch job this was by the higher-ups.
My best guess? The truth lies somewhere in between. The Dodgers.com article states,
But having taken an inordinate share of the blame for a season gone bad in many ways, Little privately voiced to Colletti that he had doubts whether he wanted to manage as a lame duck, lacking solid support from the front office and being increasingly unpopular among fans.
So what that says to me is, Griddle was going to be welcomed back in 2008 for the last year of his deal, but without a contract extension. Griddle takes that as a sign they don’t trust him and says he’s uncomfortable with it. Ned checks in on other candidates, and somehow the word leaks out and now Griddle is really cooked - it’s unlikely he really could have returned after the events of the last two weeks. But since everyone thinks that Colletti/McCourt are screwing over poor Griddle, in order to avoid a PR backlash they offer him a nice severance package in order to go along with the Scenario #2 story.
There’s also the possibility that Colletti came to the same conclusion most Dodger fans have had for the last year and a half - that Griddle isn’t much of a field general - but.. well, we all know that’s not the case.
What do you think?
- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness 
It’s Official: Grady Little Out!
October 30, 2007 at 3:22 pm | In God save the Dodgers, Grady Little, fired, jackass | 7 CommentsAccording to Tony Jackson of the L.A. Daily News, the Dodgers have officially parted ways with Grady Little and are scheduling a conference call at 4 P.M. Once all of this madness settles down, we’ll try and make some sense out of it, but until then…
GRADY IS GONE!! YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Repeat after me…
NA, NA, NA, NA, HEY, HEY, HEY, GOODBYE!!
Nintendo Baseball triumphs.
- Vin 
RIP, Scott Proctor (1977-2008)
October 29, 2007 at 8:27 pm | In Joe Torre, rumors | 5 Comments
Breaking news within the last hour..
Peter Abraham of the Journal News is reporting that Joe Torre is going to be hired as Dodgers manager as soon as TODAY. (Edit: Rotoworld is now running with this story too. Thanks, Torgy!)
This is unconfirmed, of course. If this turns out to be true, I’ll delve deeper into my thoughts on how Torre would do as manager of the Blue, but I just wanted to get this up as soon as possible.
And might I say? WOW. I honestly never gave this a shot in hell of happening. Maybe the Girardi rumors were actually accurate about him being bench coach if he didn’t get the Yankees job - except he wouldn’t be bench coach for Griddle, he’d be bench coach for Torre.
The link also states that Don Mattingly, who just quit the Yankees after not getting the manager gig, would come with. Growing up in NJ in the 80s, despite not being a Yankees fan, I was always a HUGE Mattingly fan. How could you not be? Talk about playing the game the right way. Plus, if you don’t know, LA drafted his son Preston in the first round last year. Sure, Preston sucked in the minors in his debut. But still.
More to come. Including whether this rumor is BS or not. But still. Whoa.
- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness
Is This Silver Lining Coming With a Cloud?
October 29, 2007 at 10:24 am | In Grady Little, Joe Torre, rumors | 3 CommentsI know this is like my 4th post on the subject, but the rumors just keep flying. With two more weeks before the Hot Stove officially opens, this is exactly the kind of stuff a blog depends on to keep going in the long, cold, off-season.
Latest updates in the managerial drama:
Joe Girardi has been offered, and will likely accept, the Yankees managerial position, says ESPN. Okay, so there go the Girardi-to-LA rumors, regardless of whether it’s as Griddle’s replacement as manager, or as bench coach to Griddle with the added role of yelling “Dead Man Walking!!” every time Grady strolls out to the mound. (Seriously, could we have given Girardi a black reaper’s outfit and a scythe instead of a uniform if that had happened? How awesome might that have been?)
Well, that’s that. A little uncomfortable perhaps, but now that Girardi’s out of the picture, Griddle can rest easy and prepare for Vero Be.. wait.. what?
According to two people with knowledge of the Dodgers’ universe, the club and Little are talking about a buyout that would leave the manager’s office in Chavez Ravine vacant for Torre to inherit.
So says the New York Post. Leaving aside the issue of whether “people with knowledge of the Dodgers’ universe” could be the janitor and Mrs. McCourt’s personal trainer for a second, this raises some real issues. The article goes on to say that Jo
e Torre would be the likely target, and while I’ve described why I think that’s stupid already (why bother paying a new guy way more money than the current guy, when they’re very similar managers and we’ve got plenty of good young arms for Torre to ruin??), it’s sort of besides the point here.
If the Dodgers were planning on upgrading from Griddle to either Torre or Girardi, why are we just finding out about this now? Why was Little left twisting in the wind for a month since the season ended, and why did Ned say he’s definitely coming back in 2008? It’s not as if it’s recent news that one of either Torre or Girardi would not be managing the Yankees next year. And if the goal was more pointed towards “not having Griddle” than specifically having Torre or Girardi, then what’s the point of waiting?
I wouldn’t have minded Girardi in town, and I certainly wouldn’t have minded Griddle being gone. I just really don’t see the point of the bizarre timing and murkiness of all of this, and I really don’t see the point of Torre, who’s a very similar type of manager.
I expect this to get ugly. Soon.
- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness
MSTI.com’s 2007 In Review: Left Field
October 27, 2007 at 8:37 pm | In Luis Gonzalez, season in review | 2 CommentsRight! Let’s get back on this, because the Rockies are sure doing a good job of making sure 2007 is getting over with ASAP.
Luis Gonzalez = B-
(.278/.359/.433, 15 HR’s, 68 RBI’s)
2007 recap: I know, I know… this grade might surprise you, but take a look at these numbers and it might make more sense:
Luis Gonzalez’s OPS Since 2001:
2001 (age 33-34): 1.117
2002 (34-35): .896
2003 (35-36): .934
2004 (36-37): .866
2005 (37-38): .825
2006 (38-39): .796
2007 (39-40): .792
O.K., so why do these past numbers matter? Because notice the downward trend in OPS (and, for the record, I only used OPS as a quick and dirty check; other numbers show the same trend) and the upward trend in age. Should we really have expected a man turning 40 to put up numbers close to his prime? Not unless you’re Ned Colletti! But the point is, based on his decline and shoulder surgery in 2004, he pretty much met “expectations” and, you know what? He didn’t have THAT bad of a year.
Let’s not forget the circumstances under which we signed Gonzo in the first place. Remember, going into 2007, the OF was in shambles. Ethier was in no way a sure thing; he’d taken a nosedive at the end of 2006. We all loved Kemp’s potential, but most fans agreed he could probably use some seasoning in the minors for a bit first. We needed Gonzo to come in and play some LF unless and until the following two things happened:
1) Ethier and Kemp proved they were ready to each handle a corner position.
2) Gonzo proved he was cooked.
And what can I say? Things worked out pretty perfectly. Ethier and Kemp both proved they could play every day, but it took nearly half the season to get to that point, thanks to Ethier’s slow start and Kemp’s losing battle with the right field wall. Plus, Gonzo was actually one of the team’s most dependable hitters in the first half when he put up a line of .294/.384/.471. He hit 11 HR’s, got on base and, outside of his defense, I couldn’t really complain, he exceeded expectations. I could go into more detail about his first half, but it was summed it up pretty well in the “Real Men Of Genius” article back in July.
However, in the true bipolar fashion that is the Dodgers, he just completely took a shit in the second half.
.251/.316/.368. Only 5 HR and 27 RBI, and a 171-point drop in his OPS. With his usual “stellar” outfield defense.
For an over-40 vet, that’s a pretty clear sign he’s past his expiration date, right? Yeah, he was pretty bad in the second half. Really bad. But I sort of felt like once Kemp and Ethier proved themselves, it wouldn’t really matter what Gonzo did, because he’d be pushed aside unless he was still lighting it up. Of course, I failed to take into account the fact we have a manager with the IQ of a peanut.
Oh, and there was there was the whole petty jackassitude (yep, still making up words) a few weeks ago bashing the kids, but which did lead to this great quote: “They were hitting .340, .350. Loney, Kemp, Martin, Ethier - they’re all great players, but we weren’t winning games. They’re getting three and four hits, but you’re not winning games.” Yes. That was EXACTLY THE PROBLEM! Damn those kids for getting three and four hits a game! They should have taken a nosedive just like you did!
So there you have it. A B-. He did was he was supposed to do for the length of time we needed him to do so, and it wasn’t his fault he kept getting playing time when he was long past his usefulness - that we can thank Griddle for.
2008 outlook: Well, you know the saying. You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here. Which he won’t be. Adios, Luis!
- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness
So, What the Hell Is Going On Here?
October 26, 2007 at 11:07 am | In Grady Little, Joe Girardi, Joe Torre, rumors | 6 CommentsBuster Olney has an update to yesterday’s Girardi rumor in his blog today:
The silence from the Dodgers’ front office has been deafening on the matter of their manager. Left a lot of messages at Dodger Stadium on Thursday, and only one was returned, and not from the Ned Colletti, the Dodgers’ GM. A lot of questions linger for Colletti. Among them:
1. Is it your intention to fire Grady Little if you have a chance to hire Joe Girardi?
2. If the answer to Question 1 is yes, and you can’t hire Girardi, are you still going to fire Little?
3. Have you spoken with Joe Torre, or intermediaries to him, about possibly being your next manager?
What we wrote Thursday is that Girardi may have a developing opportunity with the Dodgers if he doesn’t get the Yankees’ job (and the guess here is that he will get the Yankees’ job).
After talking with sources yesterday, what I strongly believe — but don’t know for certain — is that it is the Dodgers’ intention to fire Little and replace him with Girardi, if they have the opportunity.
The Dodgers certainly had a whole lot of chances to come out Thursday and say unequivocally that Little’s job is safe for 2008. They have not done so, to date. We’ll see if they do so today.
Buster’s not wrong - the lack of a response from Chavez Ravine is pretty surprising to me. I originally thought this whole rumor was mostly coming out of Girardi’s camp, pressing the Yankees to choose him by showing his services are in demand elsewhere. But if that were the case, then Colletti would have quickly come out and said, “that’s ridiculous, I’ve already said Griddle’s coming back in 2008 and that hasn’t changed.”
But Colletti’s said nothing. Hear the silence so loud, indeed. I wouldn’t be opposed to Girardi replacing Griddle, but what I’m really wondering about is what happens if Girardi does indeed get the Yankees job. What then? Will the Blue still look elsewhere for a manager? Will Little be so upset about possibly having the rug yanked out from under him that it will make working relationships impossible?
We haven’t heard the last of this story, that’s for sure.
Oh, and can we please knock off the Torre rumors? Please? I don’t even like seeing it in print. Type. Internet ink. Whatever.
- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness
Managerial Rumors a Go-go
October 25, 2007 at 9:09 pm | In Grady Little, Joe Girardi, rumors | 8 Comments
Wow, an actual… rumor?
First brought to my attention by intrepid reader Morgan, we’ve got fur flying here that if the Yankees choose Don Mattingly or Tony Pena as manager over Joe Girardi.. Girardi might be managing the Dodgers in 2008.
Or he might be the bench coach.
Or none of this could happen.
Let’s sort this out. ESPN’s Buster Olney is reporting that Girardi could have “a developing opportunity” with LA in 2008. We’ve got MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick saying nearly the exact same thing, while also suggesting the “opportunity” may be in the front office or as bench coach. Finally, we have the Newark Star-Ledger reporting the same, except with the added twist of not even being able to spell Girardi’s name right. Good reporting, guys.
And then we’ve got FOXsports.com’s Ken Rosenthal advocating that the Blue should hire Joe Torre and providing five reasons why, while starting off his article with an admission that there’s no proof to validate this rumor whatsoever. Which, shut up, Ken.
So what does this all mean? Let’s be clear - all anyone is saying is “sources say.” So there is no evidence that this is anywhere near happening, or even that this isn’t just posturing by the Girardi camp to press the Yankees into choosing him. What I’m most interested in is finding out if Colletti is actually losing patience with Griddle, because he’s been nothing but completely supportive of the yokel publicly. But if you read this blog at all, you know we’d clearly support a Grady-less future - but would a Girardi future be a brighter one?
Girardi, as most people know, coaxed 78 surprising wins out of a $14 million payroll in Florida in 2006, won the NL Manager of the Year Award, and was then.. fired, after a disagreement with owner Jeffrey Loria. Well, that’s a bonus right there: Loria’s an ass.
- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness
All Work and No Play Make MSTI… Something, Something.
October 23, 2007 at 7:23 am | In Uncategorized | 9 CommentsWell folks, as it tends to do, real life has gotten in the way of blogging a little bit. But let’s be honest - there’s less than nothing going on in the way of Dodgers news right now, anyway.
But not to worry. We’ll be pushing forward with our ‘07 wrap-up this week 
(finally!), and then we can get on with looking towards ‘08 and finally fire up the Hot Stove.. as soon as the godforsaken playoffs actually end. Can you believe we’re still competing in the 2007 season? Doesn’t it feel like the Dodgers stopped playing about 3 months ago? I suppose in some sense, they did. But it’s not like the Blue didn’t play any role in this; more than one Rockie, when asked what the real turning point of their season was, identified the sweep of the Dodgers on Sept. 18 - particularly the home runs off of Broxton and Saito, which just does not happen. Good times. Can we get a playoff share out of that?
As for the World Series, I predict: Red Sox 4, Rockies 1, feet of snow 2. Love the Rockies story and all, but I’ve got to think the 8 day layoff really hurt their momentum. Half the reason they were able to do what they did is that every game was a do-or-die since the beginning of September; and now they’ve been chasing snowbunnies for a week while the Sox were playing do-or-die games in the ALCS. Feel free to comment with your predictions!
Oh, and a happy first birthday wish to our compadres at Sons of Steve Garvey. Also, congratulations on having the huge, brass, Saturn-sized cojones it must have taken to decide that starting a Dodgers blog in the middle of October, the absolute deadest time of year for Dodgers news, when it’s almost a struggle to find worthwhile things to discuss, was a good idea. Just kidding, guys. Cheers! Here’s to the terrible twos.
- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness
OMG JOE TORRE OMG
October 19, 2007 at 9:07 pm | In Grady Little, Joe Torre | 7 CommentsOver at Dodgers.com, Ken Gurnick felt the need to explain that Joe Torre won’t be coming to the Dodgers in 2008 now that he’s a free agent. (Sidebar: as you may or may not know, I live in New York City. Do you have any idea how many TV stations covered his press conference today live? By my count, eight: ESPN, YES, SNY, MLB.com (live on the internet), and the local NBC, FOX, ABC, and CBS affiliates. I didn’t even check CSPAN or the Food Network, but I’m sure they were discussing Torre’s impact on Canadian Parliament and lemon quiches, respectively.)
Anyway, first of all, thanks to Mr. Gurnick for taking a story that absolutely didn’t exist (Torre to LA? Where has this come up anywhere except for in the recess of his mind that says “uh-oh, I have a deadline coming up”?) and giving me something to populate this blog with.
Second of all, much as we really, really, don’t like Grady Little, I really didn’t want to see Torre in Blue either. Torre and Little are actually very similar types - pretty good at managing people, and pretty rotten at managing baseball lineups. It’s pretty common knowledge that Torre ruins bullpen arms by picking the 1 or 2 guys he trusts and using them 8 days a week - what do you think would happen if he got his hands on Broxton? No thanks. We’ve already got a laid-back, players’ manager who makes questionable lineup decisions. No need to make a lateral move.
Besides, all due respect for what Torre’s accomplished in New York, it’s pretty obvious that he was helped out just a little by all the, you know, talent. People forget now, but he was regarded as a pretty mediocre manager in his stops with the Mets, Braves, and Cardinals - St. Louis actually fired him in mid-1995, before he took the Yankees job. You know why? Those teams sucked. Do you remember the late-70’s Mets? Of course you don’t, because the reason the mid-80s Mets were so good was because they were able to take players like Strawberry and Gooden in the first round, thanks to their terrible finishes under Torre. This is a guy, who in 15 opportunities before going to the Bronx, finished in first exactly once - and he just happened to have the best player in the league on his 1982 Atlanta team, 26-year-old NL MVP Dale Murphy. Then he goes to a team who just happens to have Jeter, Rivera, Posada, etc. etc. entering their primes and look at that, all of a sudden he can manage. Amazing what talent can do, isn’t it?
Oh, and the most depressing part of Gurnick’s article? This:
Colletti selected Little over four other candidates — Jim Fregosi, John McLaren, Manny Acta and Joel Skinner. Since then, McLaren has become manager of the Seattle Mariners, Acta was hired to manage the Washington Nationals and Skinner is rumored to be in the running for the vacant Pittsburgh Pirates managing job.
I would kill up to nine people to somehow get Manny Acta. Not only did he guide a Nationals club that most predicted to be historically bad this year to a 4th place finish with under 90 losses, well, just read this. This is exactly the kind of guy I want leading my team. This guy gets it. Griddle does not.
- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness
Official Position on: Alex Rodriguez
October 17, 2007 at 6:25 pm | In Alex Rodriguez, Official Position | 17 CommentsFirst off, quick site business: Big doings around here lately. Thanks to our friends at BaseballThinkFactory linking to the Pierre article, we broke our one-day high for hits the other day. On that same thread, we also broke the site record for comments, mostly by our blue-blooded brethren at the Big Blue Wrecking Crew.
So powered by CHJ stealing my thunder, and with apologies in advance for the shoddy Photoshopping…
There’s a chance that one of the ten best players of all time may be available this offseason, at the peak of his abilities. Not only that, he perfectly fits the Dodgers needs - he’s a third baseman, which is a hole that we just have had an impossible time filling, AND he’s a fantastic power hitter, which is without question the biggest issue in this lineup. Plus, he’d just cost money, not our tasty tasty prospects. The Dodger online fan presence is already drunk with possibilities, most of them along the lines of “let’s do it!”
Sounds great! Sign me up?
Well, no.
Because the first “Official Position of MSTI.com” is:
SAY NO TO A-ROD IN 2008.
“MSTI, are you drunk?”, people might say. And while the answer is “yes”, that’s besides the point.
The problem I have with going after A-Rod has absolutely nothing to do with his work between the lines. He’s fantastic. Astounding. He’s going to break a whole lot of records in the coming years, and there sure isn’t anything wrong with having your team’s uniform be the one people see in the video clips for years to come. The problem I’m seeing here is how much cold hard currency it’s going to take to sign him up, and whether it’s actually worth it.
It’s not that I have a problem with him being the highest paid player in the game; I don’t. But the numbers being thrown around? Ungodly. Bora$ is actually throwing numbers out there like 12 years and $360 million dollars. (Side note: is it even possible to read that sentence without doing a Dr. Evil voice? I tried my hardest and couldn’t come close.) That’s $30 million a year, and by all estimates that’s the low end.
Let’s say the Blue give him $30 million per year. That’s one quarter to one third of the payroll tied up in one player. Now, A-Rod has been a remarkably durable player in his career. But all it takes is one foul ball off the toe, one wild pitcher that wonks him on the wrist, or one awkard step of the thousands he takes each season, and the Dodgers are now essentially a team with a $70 million payroll and a gaping hole in the order and at 3B they can’t afford to fill. Even worse, while he might actually be worth that much now, what happens when he’s 38, 39, and 40 and is still owed that much? That has disaster written all over it.
If we’re spending $30 million a year on free agents, I think I’d much rather have 2 excellent $15 million players than one sublime $30 million player. I think I’d rather give Andruw Jones $17 million a year to play CF, $10 million to some other team to take Juan Pierre and his remaining $35 million off our hands, and $3 million to throw a parade celebrating that Juan Pierre is off our hands.
Hey, there’s nothing wrong with spending big-time money on a free agent. If this is a big-market team, let’s act like one, especially because one of the ancillary benefits of having so many young players up is that they all make relatively little. But for the numbers and years being tossed around? Count me out.
I’d be willing to give him six years, no more. And while I think it’s obscene to even offer this much, I’d do $27 million a year, just because there’s no way he’s not getting a raise from his curent $25. 6/162? That’s a lot of coin. And it’s not going to be anywhere near what he’ll actually get.
That said, if he does end up in LA, I reserve the right to be thrilled when he’s killing the National League and we’re in 1st place.
- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness
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