A rare MSTI post without joking or obscure stats: Happy Birthday to a great man.
- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness 
Monthly Archives: November 2007
There Is No Joy In Seoul…
For mighty Hee-Seop has struck out. 
Slugger Choi Hee-seop of the Kia Tigers has broken up with his fiancée just a month before their planned wedding, according to an interview with Choi in Tuesday’s issue of Sports Seoul.
The sports daily said that Choi, 28, met with fiancée Aya Yasuda, 30, at a hotel in Seoul and agreed to end their engagement.
Choi met Yasuda after being traded from the Chicago Cubs to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2004. She was working as a TV reporter covering the Dodgers.
In March of last year while in Tokyo for the World Baseball Classic, Choi met Yasuda’s parents and got their approval to continue meeting her. They were engaged in Korea last December.
Yasuda is the daughter of Fuyou Group chairman, one of Japan’s 10 largest conglomerates. An accomplished woman with an MBA from the U.S., she now runs a cosmetics business in Japan.
I don’t mean to dump on a guy’s personal life, especially considering I was a big supporter of Choi, and never could understand Jim Tracy’s refusal to give him a shot when the 2005 season was going down the tubes (I still wake up in cold sweats thinking of Jason Phillips and Jason Grabowski playing first base)but… she’s cute, she’s rich, she’s smart, she’s cute, her parents are cool with it, she covered the Dodgers, and she’s cute?
Poor Hee-Seop. Those stats just keep heading south.
– Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness
Ken Rosenthal: My New Favorite Writer
Ken Rosenthal! Please! Enlighten us. And wondering what’s with the picture? It popped up on a Google Image Search for “Ken Rosenthal”. I’m assuming it’s an artist by the same name, and not a self-portrait of the FOXsports.com writer, but it seems to fit all the same.
After signing Torii Hunter and trading for Jon Garland, the Angels are pushing hard to acquire Miguel Cabrera.
The Dodgers?Their off-season might have been over before it began, judging from comments by owner Frank McCourt in Sunday’s Boston Globe
“I think we’re in good position right now,” McCourt said. “We don’t have to make a deal. We made the biggest move we needed to make in signing Joe.”
First of all, I still don’t understand why we should care even a little bit what the Angels do. The Dodgers outdrew Anawhatever last year, as they do nearly every year. Except for the 6 interleague games a year, the Angels aren’t a direct competitor on the field, either. Why do I care what goes on down there? Well, except to point and laugh when they give Torii Hunter a ridiculous contract to give themselves 6 outfielders. Thanks, guys! Also, “we don’t have to make a deal” is a good thing, no? Keeps our great young prospects? Right?
Well, Torre is not enough.
His hiring should be a beginning, not an end — especially for a team that plays in the booming L.A. market and has finished second only to the Yankees in home attendance the past four seasons.
Judging by my calendar, it’s November 26. The Winter Meetings haven’t even started yet. There’s been about 3 trades and 4 free agents who’ve gone to new teams. Have they moved Opening Day up to December 1 and no one told me about it? Relax, Kenny.
The lowly Reds, for goodness sake, are not content with the hiring of a big-name manager, Dusty Baker. They’re trying to sustain their momentum and build a better team. Signing free-agent closer Francisco Cordero to a four-year, $46 million contract doesn’t exactly qualify as shrewd, but at least it demonstrates commitment.
I’ll give you this – it takes some real journalistic talent to contradict yourself in the space of one sentence. Cordero’s deal was a completely insane one, especially for a team that had such starting rotation issues it couldn’t even get a lead to the closer half the time. Not only that, Rosenthal admits in this exact paragraph that it wasn’t “shrewd”. But hey, “at least it demonstrates commitment.” Committment to fiscal irresponsibility by a small-market team, perhaps. Did anyone really want the Dodgers to give $46 million to Francisco Cordero? Anyone?
McCourt talks the talk, saying, “If there’s a player or two out there that can make us better, I’m very interested.”
But let’s see him back up those words.
Again. The season ended like 10 minutes ago. Pitchers and catchers don’t report for nearly 3 more months.
This is my favorite part of the article coming up:
Two of the Dodgers’ division rivals, the Rockies and Diamondbacks, met in the NL Championship Series — and only figure to get better. A third NL West club, the Padres, routinely contends despite limited resources.
And the Dodgers’ answer to this is … nothing?
Please. Someone, please explain this to me – on more than one level.
1. “The Rockies and Diamondbacks only figure to get better.” Why do you say that, Ken? Because they have a good amount of young, inexpensive homegrown prospects who are just making their mark on the bigs, and figure to improve over the next few years? Well, good point. The Dodgers have absolutely no one who fits that description.
2. “And the Dodgers’ answer to this is … nothing?” Setting aside how early in the offseason it still is, what exactly have the Rockies and D-Backs done? Colorado’s probably losing their starting catcher, half of their bullpen, and their second baseman. Arizona hasn’t made a single move at all. You’re right. We better hurry to catch up!
No, that would be too strong, too early a condemnation. The Dodgers remain in the mix for Cabrera. They could sign Aaron Rowand or Andruw Jones to play center field. They might even attempt to trade for Johan Santana.
Oh, they’re going to do something, but they’ve already passed on Hunter and appear destined to pass on Cabrera, who would cost them at least two elite young players in a trade.
Wait, now you’re saying it’s too early to condemn them? After you’ve been, you know, condemning them for not doing anything yet? And, by the way, passing on Hunter was a GOOD thing, for the contract he got, and for how slightly-above-average he is.
It’s also understandable that the Dodgers do not want to include both outfielder Matt Kemp and Class AA left-hander Clayton Kershaw in a deal for Cabrera. Both could develop into stars, centerpieces of the Dodgers’ next championship team. Then again, the same was said of former Dodgers phenoms such as Joel Guzman and Edwin Jackson, and neither came close to fulfilling his hype.
Did you ever think that, just maybe, the Dodgers see something in Kemp and Kershaw that they didn’t see in Guzman and Jackson? You can knock Colletti forever for the dreck he got back from Tampa Bay – I’m no fan of Lurch or Lugo. But maybe, just maybe, the man has a talent for trading away the right prospects and holding onto the guys who can succeed. I don’t think anyone misses Guzman or Jackson… but we’re all happy we still have Martin, Billingsley, and Loney.
I’m not even going to quote the rest, because he just blathers on about how the Dodgers have money, and they don’t spend as much of it as the Angels – which, fine, but I’m still not sure why I should care about what they do.
So Ken. Please. Relax. Take a vacation. Have a mai-tai on the beach. Remember how early in the offseason it is. And stop advocating that we send all of our best young players for older, more expensive players. You’ve no idea how many sheep there are out there that take this kind of crap seriously.
- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness
MSTI.com's 2007 In Review: Bench
Hey… hooray! The bench! An ode to those other guys who just haven’t been touched upon yet. Bring us your tired.. old veterans. Bring us your poor.. young rookies. Bring us your huddled masses.. who can’t get off the trainer’s table.
It’s a real motley crew here. And when you see who we’re dealing with, you might actually wish this was a discussion of Bret Michaels and Rikki Rockett. But we soldier on towards our sadistic goal of mentioning everyone who played in 2007. And then on to the Hot Stove League? I’m sure nothing’s really going to happen with that, anyway.
(All stats for these dudes are in Dodger blue only. Remember, less than 100 AB earns you an imcomplete.)
Olmedo Saenz (D-)
(.191/.295/.345 4hr 18rbi)
Hey, this is an easy one. We already went over the last death throes of Big Sexy in LA. But so much has changed since then! Oh wait, no, he was still terrible this year. We’ll miss ya, Sexy.
Ramon Martinez (D… ish?)
(.194/.248/.225 0hr 27rbi)
Ah, the Wrong Ramon Martinez. How you did suck. I mean, look at those stats. Unreal. And even after a surprisingly decent 2006. With a 0.0% chance he’ll be back in 2008, let’s focus on what is really the only interesting thing that Martinez was able to accomplish this year: 25 hits, 27 RBI. How is that even possible?
Mark Sweeney (inc.)
(.273/.294/.303 0hr 3rbi)
Sweeney only had 33 at-bats for the Dodgers (totally worth giving up Travis Denker for, by the way). So it’s sort of hard to say anything meaningful about him. What’s 33 at-bats anyway? Not a long enough time to do anything worthwhile, that’s for sure. No, I put some thought into it, and absolutely nothing happened involving Mark Sweeney that had anything to do with the 2007 Dodgers season.
(three outs in an inning, jackass!!!)
Wilson Valdez (inc.)
(.216/.263/.270 0hr 7rbi)
Ah, yes. Mr. Valdez. If you’ve ever wondered how to make a baseball team, a good formula would be to have a incredibly hot spring training (.356/.373/.548 with 3hr) wildly out of line with your career norms, and have an out of control teammate (more on Mr. Repko later) take out the 
starter at your position before Opening Day. Actually, I’ve got to hand it to Valdez. In his short time in the bigs, he played 5 positions without committing an error, and was actually pretty flashy at SS and 2B. Sure, he couldn’t hit a lick. But he was an able defensive fill-in. That said, I like to think that Tony Abreu and/or Chin-Lung Hu has stolen that position for 2008, and that Valdez enjoys his time in Las Vegas, never to return except in case of massive food poisoning attacks in LA.
Chin-Lung Hu (inc.)
(.241/.241/.517 2hr 5rbi)
Huuuu….. are you?
Hu hu? Hu Hu?
Okay, cheesy, but expect to hear plenty of it. And some really, really bad puns from Vin (the real one) about “Hu’s on first”.
Chin-Lung Hu coming into 2007: reputation as one of the best defensive SS in the minors, mediocre-at-best hitter. That’s what a .254/.328/.338 line (ugh) in double-A in 2006 will do for you. Being a great fielder is nice, but if you can’t hit, well that just makes you.. Wilson Valdez. And even Wilson Valdez doesn’t want to be Wilson Valdez.
Chin-Lung Hu coming into 2008: Well, now!! Let’s see. Hu kills the ball in big league spring training (.381/.409/.429!). Hu goes back to AA Jacksonville and not only improves his hitting (.329/.380/.508) but actually leads the entire league in hits and doubles at the time of his promotion. Hu moves on up to AAA Las Vegas and not only keeps on hitting (.318/.337/.505 with 8hr in only 45 games), but gets himself elected MVP of the Futures Game at All-Star Weekend, thanks to his 2-2, 2rbi, 1sb showing. Finally, he gets a late-season chance to play in the bigs, and slugs .517 with 2hr in a short 29 at-bat cup of coffee.
So what happened? Vitamin S? Deal with the devil?
He hit over .300 in his first three minor league seasons before slumping to .254 at Jacksonville last year, when a “tired eye” obscured his vision at the plate.
“I see the ball better now and I’m more comfortable because last year I couldn’t see,” Hu said. “Last year my eye was not healthy, but this year it’s working so it’s better.”
51s hitting coach Mike Easler was Jacksonville’s batting instructor last year and confirmed that the eye problem hampered Hu, who underwent an MRI exam after the season, rested and recovered.
Oh. You mean it’s a lot easier to hit when you can see the ball? No kidding!
So now in the space of one season, Hu has gone from “great glove/might not hit enough to stick” to “great glove/may be one of the better hitting SS around”. So much so that I wouldn’t mind seeing Furcal get dealt for something good and letting Hu get a crack at SS. Not a bad year at all.
Delwyn Young (inc.)
(.382/.417/.647 2hr 3rbi)
Explain something to me. You have a team that’s pretty good, but is flawed in one major area: power. You could use some power. Now, you’ve got a young player in the minors who’s done nothing but hit. Double-digit home runs in every season, and improving every year. Yet 
somehow he keeps getting stuck in AAA. So he goes back to Vegas for the 3rd time last year and has his best season yet – including a PCL record for doubles (54) and an awesome stat-line of .337/.384/.571 (dig that .955 OPS!). He gets a shot in the bigs and continues to hit in his small opportunity: 1.064 OPS and 2hr in only 32 at-bats. He even goes 4-4 in his second start. He’s a mediocre fielder, sure, but there’s no question he can hit, and he’s even a local boy.
So tell me: why is Delwyn Young never mentioned when it comes to the Dodgers young players? Why does it seem he’s never even considered for a decent shot with the big club? Why does Juan Pierre get $44 million while Delwyn Young – obviously a much superior hitter – can’t even get a chance?
No sir, I don’t get it.
Brady Clark (inc.)
(.224/.308/.293 0hr 5rbi)
Remember Brady Clark? He was about to get cut by Milwaukee in spring training, just like we were about to cut Elmer Dessens. They had one too many outfielders, LA had one too many pitchers. Plus, Jason Repko had just hurt himself – again – so we actually needed a backup OF. Sounds peachy, right? So Clark rots on the bench, does little but play decent defense and.. ah, hell. Kemp and Ethier were better, and Gonzo and Pierre weren’t going anywhere. Brady got cut, went to San Diego, we barely remember him, who cares.
Marlon Anderson (inc.)
(.231/.310/.231 ohr 2rbi)
Let’s not even bother talking about Marlon Anderson’s 2007 – he didn’t do any
thing in LA, and frankly I remember him more this year for the Mets’ laughable attempts to play him in center field while Beltran was hurt. I can remember at least three diving attempts in which he didn’t come close to catching the ball, but did almost rip his own arm off. So let’s just pour one out on the curb in one last rememberance of Marlon’s ridiculous, insane 1.243 OPS in Sept ’06, including being part of the back-to-back-to-back-to-back HR game. Thank you, Marlon – thank you. Now let us never speak of you again.
Jason Repko (inc.)
Oh, right. That guy. The guy who missed the whole season. 
Because he got hurt. Again. Except this time, he didn’t just fuck up his own ankle/hamstring/knee/ finger/back/kidney/duodenum. This time, he had to go take out All-Star SS Rafael Furcal. And since Furcal is a warrior, he played the whole season on a bum ankle, and was generally ineffective the entire season. So with a 1-2 of injured Furcal and crappy Pierre, the entire Dodgers offensive season was torpedoed. Thanks Jason! No really, thanks for showing up. I like the guy, but I hope he’s not back next season for fear he runs over Russell Martin with a golf cart or actually slams a car door on Takashi Saito’s fingers.
- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness
Let's Spend Millions on Center… wait, what?
Sure, we just went through some unbelievably insane rumors a few days ago. Now that I’ve had the weekend to recover from that idiocy, I thought we’d look at some of the rumors bouncing around about one position: center field.
“But MSTI,” you say. “I thought we had a center fielder. And I thought we just signed him to a expensive long-term deal only one year ago. He’s still got 4 years and $36 million left. Why would we be throwing more money into center field?”
“Well, there’s an easy answer to that. Juan Pierre, as you may have read, is very bad at the game of baseball. Very bad. You’ve seen the Native American who cries, ostensibly because of littering? He doesn’t care about non-biodegradable trash. He’s just watched Juan Pierre go 0-5 with 4 flyouts to right, and seen a runner tag from first on a short pop to center.”
That said, that hasn’t stopped the rumors from flying about the Dodgers pursuing one of the big ticket free agent centerfielders, namely Torii Hunter, Aaron Rowand, or Andruw Jones, and then moving JP to left (which would be a terrible idea) or dealing him elsewhere somehow (would would be the greatest coup in sports history, regardless of what was coming back.)
So here’s my thing: if we can move JP to another team/league/sport/planet, then I don’t really have a problem with putting some money into a centerfielder, with Ethier and Kemp in the corners beside him. Unfortunately, since Pierre is so overpaid and unproductive, I’ve got to think that moving him is very unlikely – especially since it would represent Colletti admitting a big ticket mistake.
But moving Pierre to left, a free agent to center, and Ethier or Kemp to the bench? A horrible, terrible, wildly inefficient idea. Let’s see:
OPS, 2005-07
Jones: .848 (but coming off a .724 in 2007)
Kemp: .840
Ethier: .822
Hunter: .822
Rowand: .797
Pierre: .694
2007 EQA (includes park adjustments)
Kemp: .294
Rowand: .294
Hunter: .278
Ethier: .269
Jones: .251
Pierre: .248
Age on Opening Day 2008
Hunter: 32
Rowand: 30
Jones: 30
Pierre: 30
Ethier: 25
Kemp: 23
Contracts/Rumored Demands
Hunter: 6 yr/ $90 mil
Rowand: 5 yr / $60 mil
Pierre: $44 mil due through 2011
Jones: who knows, but a boatload
Ethier: minimum salary for 2 more years, ineligible for FA until at least 2011
Kemp: minimum salary for 2 more years, ineligible for FA until at least 2011
What does this prove? Well, besides for Juan Pierre being a really, really bad signing last year. Seems pretty obvious to me. We’ve got 6 players to consider. 4 are 30 or over. The same 4 are receiving or will recieve mammoth salaries. Then there’s 2 players, both 25 or under (i.e., likely to improve over time, unlike the 30+ players), who are making the minimum and are under Dodger control for the next several years. Not only are they young, cheap, and likely to improve, but they’ve already equaled or outperformed some of the bigger names on the list – and that’s even taking into account the fact that each of them has suffered through some rookie/sophomore slumps and managerial lack of confidence.
The answer, as always is – Juan Pierre sucks. Sorry, I meant “play the awesome young kids you have instead of pouring millions into players who aren’t very likely to outperform them.” I don’t mean to come off like I want the Blue to be a small-market team and not spend money – I thought last year’s signing of Jason Schmidt was a great signing (doh!), and I also liked the Furcal signing a few years ago. Except, in each case, the big ticket signing filled a need. In this case, there’s no need to spend millions on players who aren’t likely, over the life of the contract, to do better than the players you already have who you are paying minimum wage to.
- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness