Starting At Third Base: Russell Martin?! « Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness

Starting At Third Base: Russell Martin?!

April 26, 2008 at 2:07 am | In Blake DeWitt, Joe Torre, Nomar's done, Russell Martin |

So, explain this to me: Ned Colletti is sitting in his nice, cozy office at Dodger Stadium and pondering the future of Blake DeWitt. Now, with Nomar about ready to come back, he sends him down for Cory Wade, because we somehow NEED a 12 man pitching staff. Now remember, Chin-Lung Hu, Delwyn Young, and the rest of the team? They don’t play third base. So, knowing this, Nomar will become the full-fledged starter for at least the next three weeks or so, until Andy LaRoche gets back..

Yeah… here’s how that worked out:

Top of the 9th inning:

T Saito relieved J Broxton
C Hu at second base
R Spilborghs hit for M Corpas
R Spilborghs walked
W Taveras ran for R Spilborghs
S Podsednik doubled to left, W Taveras to third
G Bennett catching
R Martin to at third base
W Taveras scored, S Podsednik to third base on passed ball by G Bennett

What the…?

That’s no typo. For those who didn’t tune in, as Podsednik doubled to left, Nomar popped his calf trying to get the ball, thus removing himself from the game and bringing in our backup third baseman Bl… uh… An… oh wait, Russell Martin.

Once he goes to third base, Bennett comes in to catch and on the very first pitch from Saito, Bennett botches it, bringing in the tying run.

Now, you see, this begs a much bigger question: just how fucking brain dead do you have to be to send down your young, hitting third baseman when he’s the ONLY POSSIBLE ALTERNATIVE??!! It is beyond stupid to put yourself in this position with any third baseman, but the Stupid Meter goes up infinitely when that third baseman is a man who has been DL’d about 29238472309482903840923983488^2 times in the past few years and is expected to man the position every day for the next three weeks. Not only do you kill your depth, but this lack of depth caused the team to have no other choice but to move their starting catcher to third base, only to have their backup catcher come in and give up the tying run in the 9th inning. Now, sure, I don’t think anyone expected Nomar to go down THIS soon, but you should never put yourself in this position to begin with. It’s like Theo Epstein one day saying: “You know what? We don’t need any other right fielders for now… we have Drew to hold fort!” The good news is that, DeWitt will be able to be called up immediately, rather than waiting the standard 10 days. The reason is that Nomar will almost certainly have to be DL’d with what Joe Torre said was a pop in his calf, something similar to last year.

Thanks, beautiful.

- Vin

9 Comments »

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Ya, actually Delwyn and Hu have taken plenty of ground balls at third this Spring, but Young had already been burned as a hitter and Hu was the second baseman as a defensive replacement, so barring the use of a relief pitcher as a position player that was the only thing to do. But ya, it seemed like we did rush Nomar’s return, and given his fragile nature we probably won a gamble on yesterday’s game, and probably see DeWitt back in the lineup today. Welcome back.

Comment by DodgerfaninJapan — April 26, 2008 #
Well said, Vin. Like I said, last night, Ned is tying his own noose with his stupid machinations. Only a fool or a person who is so invested in protecting his own ass would hope that Nomar could stay healthy for three games, much less, three weeks.

I hope this lack of preparation and attention to detail will open the Brand’s eyes and get him the sack. It is about time for Logan White and Kim Ng to take over the day to day of the Dodgers. Logan handles the scouting and player evaluations, while Kim can negotiate contracts and keep the financial end working. God knows, no one wants to go to arbitration against her, she is nigh on unbeatable in that venue.

Comment by grabarkewitz — April 26, 2008 #
Ya, while I hate the instability, I kind of think that Ned and Grady go together too much to keep Ned around anymore. The more I think about it the more I think DePodesta was a better GM. That means Ned was a mistake. Kim/Logan would be amazing, I’m tired of the Yankees/Red Sox/Giants throwbacks for management. So as a somewhat related note, since we have a 2 person consensus on replacing Ned, who do you replace Joe Torre with? Not to say you replace him now, but he can’t last more than 4 years, right? He’s gonna be 70 before long. I’d like to see some sort of homegrown or smart recently retired player take the helm. Kind of like when the Angels hired Mike Sciossia. Who would be our Mike Sciossia?!

Comment by DodgerfaninJapan — April 26, 2008 #
I agree with the idea that firing Ned at the end of the 2008 season would be good for the Dodgers. The only problem is will McCourt FINALLY get a passing grade in How to Choose a General Manager 101? I mean this guy is the absolute WORST at picking GMs. There is no guarantee that he wouldn’t replace Colletti with somebody equally “old-school.” Anyway, I do think it’s a little early in the season to be sharpening the executioner’s axe for Ned. Let’s see how the team does first. I for one think the Dodgers are going to have a good year, their early-season slump notwithstanding.

Comment by Shmolnick — April 27, 2008 #
DodgerfaninJapan, I believe that Torre was a Brand hire. I think Ned was pushing for Girardi and if he couldn’t get him, would’ve been happy with Griddle. If that is the case, Joe is pretty safe for the length of his contract and IIRC, Mattingly was promised the job when Joe retired. I am very interested in seeing what kind of manager Mattingly would be. I know he was a smart player and has shown an ability to help most hitters (there is no help for Andruw, I think he is beyond listening to anyone but the voices in his head).

With all this being said, I doubt that the Brand fires Ned during the season. But, if someone starts sniffing around either Ng or White, I am sure that the Brand will give Colletti his cards.

Comment by grabarkewitz — April 27, 2008 #
I hope so graber, Logan White and Kim Ng get more credit in my book for making the Dodgers successful than Ned, Paul DP, Grady/Torre and McCourt combined. Although I will say I like McCourt better than Fox Sports as an owner. I’m not calling for anyone’s head, but I get a headache everytime I think about JP’s contract, Schmidt’s contract, and Nomar’s contract. Mattingly would be a good direction as a successor, still a little dissapointed that he wasn’t a Dodger, but what are our options of retired Dodgers? Eric Karros? Brett Butler? You just don’t have any real cerebral Dodgers from the end of the Tommy Lasorda as manager era, you know? So Mattingly I guess. Better than like Terry Francona as soon as he falls out of grace (which would be like never). I really like the idea of getting Terry Collins back from Orix Buffaloes, he was a good Scottie Pippen to Logan White’s Michael Jordan in getting our farm system back together.

Comment by DodgerfaninJapan — April 27, 2008 #
You mention an interesting name, Dodgerfan, Brett Butler. If his health is good, I think he would be perfect as a manager. He played the game right and he is one of the smartest players I have ever seen. While I think much the same of Mattingly, Butler does have the Dodger stamp of approval.

Comment by grabarkewitz — April 28, 2008 #
What’s even more amazing to me is that even with DeWitt starting at the position, the Dodgers still have no backup 3B. None. How can you run a major league club and not know this is bad?

Comment by Rob McMillin — April 30, 2008 #
[...] Chip Caray if he could shake left-handed because that’s how much his right hand hurt! On April 26th, Nomar popped his calf (injury #2) and missed over two months. Okay, so far: nothing crazy, because [...]

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