Monthly Archives: April 2009

Just In Case You Didn’t Like the Manny Trade Before…

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larocheHBP.jpg…just one Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article has got you covered.

First, former top prospect Andy LaRoche, who never quite got it going in Los Angeles due partly to injury and partly because of management’s inexplicable refusal to ever give him a shot to play (detailed here, and be prepared to be sick when you remember some of the guys who he got pushed aside for). He hit just .152 with 9 errors in 45 games as a Pirate in 2008; how’s he doing in 2009?

Andy LaRoche refuses to use his creaky back as an excuse for his 0-for-14 start or those three early errors.

But yesterday, when the Pirates’ regular third baseman again was out of the starting lineup for the home opener in favor of Ramon Vazquez, he acknowledged he continues to receive treatment for it.

Well, then. When you think of the accomplishments you hope to see from a highly touted young player – especially one from the Dodgers system – “lost his job to Ramon Vazquez” is not exactly high on the list.

But wait! This is the article that keeps on giving. How about young pitcher Bryan Morris, the other half of the deal?

The Pirates updated the health of minor league pitchers Bryan Morris and Jimmy Barthmaier, and each will miss extensive time: Morris’ right shoulder injury, diagnosed as having significantly restricted range of motion, will keep him out four to six weeks. Barthmaier’s right elbow injury, diagnosed as a strained flexor mass, will keep him out a month.

That’d be Morris’ second serious arm injury, since he’s already a Tommy John survivor.

Clearly, it’s not yet too late for either of these players, but LaRoche’s struggles are really striking, aren’t they? Look at the other top prospects in the system from the last few seasons - Billingsley, Broxton, Loney, Kemp, Martin, Kershaw, and Ethier have all become the core of this team. Even more impressive, all of them came up and were impact players from day one; no one was completely overmatched at the big league level. Meanwhile, the prospects that were moved have either been complete busts (Joel Guzman, Chuck Tiffany) or had huge struggles at the big league level before finally turning it around, thanks to playing time a lousy team could offer that the Dodgers couldn’t (Dioner Navarro, Edwin Jackson). 

Now you’ve got LaRoche, who struggled in LA and has been even worse in Pittsburgh. You almost wonder what the Dodgers knew about him that we didn’t, because say what you will about Ned Colletti – and we have – he’s shown a knack for trading away the right prospects. (Let’s ignore, for the moment, his almost-as-uncanny knack for importing awful players from Tampa Bay in exchange those prospects).

So yeah, trading these two for Manny Ramirez? That appears to be working out.

Now let’s just hope that Colletti knew something about Carlos Santana that we didn’t…. 

It Doesn’t Get Much Better Than This

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Wow. Just, wow. Where do you even start? I’m not kidding when I say the fact that Chad Billingsley’s fantastic eleven strikeout performance (including six of his last seven betters) may only be about the fifth best thing that happened today. Seriously, things just do not come together better than this. How about the fact that any Opening Day under blue skies at Dodger Stadium is pretty much the best day of anyone’s life? The record-setting 57,000+ crowd? Vin Scully’s moving first pitch and commentary? The offensive explosion against the hated Giants, including Orlando Hudson’s cycle - a Dodger Stadium first?  And Andre Ethier’s two homers? Any description I’d have of today’s game would be woefully inadequate, and I wouldn’t even know what to focus on, so let’s let the day speak for itself in pictures. They’re worth a thousand words, I hear.

vinopeningday2009.jpgVin, you’re not wrong about much, but you’re wrong about this – we need you much more than you think we do.

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I like to think that the stealth bomber is coming to eradicate the Giants, here. What? You know you were thinking it, too.

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Orlando Hudson: massive kiss-ass. Come on, Orlando. Hitting for the first Dodger cycle since Wes Parker 39 years ago is one thing, and so is being the first Dodger to ever do it in Dodger Stadium. But on Opening Day, in the first game in front of your new home crowd? That’s a little blatant, don’t you think? (Loving Hudson so far.)

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We’re showing Manny here, but every single Dodger got a hit, including Chad Billingsley and pinch-hitter Mark Loretta… except for Juan Pierre, who was robbed by Aaron Rowand. Womp womp!

 
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Andre Ethier with the third two-homer game of his career… he’s sort of good. Remember when he was fighting for playing time with Pierre and Luis Gonzalez? Yeah, me neither.

Plus, Billingsley’s sublime performance. There’s not too many games I can remember that went this well, period, but on Opening Day? This might have been the best ever.

Off day tomorrow, Clayton Kershaw vs. Matt Cain on Wednesday.

Hey, Maybe We Can Get Carlos Santana Back

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mannyindians.jpgBecause according to USA Today (via MLBTR), Manny wants to go back to the Cleve:

Manny Ramirez will be back in Los Angeles Monday to renew his love affair with the city, but before his career ends he hopes to be reunited with his first love: the Cleveland Indians.

“I would like to play for Cleveland one more time, to go back where I started,” said Ramirez, with the Dodgers playing their home opener Monday against the San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium. “I have so many good memories there, why not?

“I think to go back where you started is everyone’s dream.”

I predict that the local media will start whining over this, with the usual bellowing of “we’re paying him how many millions and he doesn’t even want to be here?” The timing, I will admit, is not particularly great considering that the home opener is today, but you know what? This isn’t that bad. I don’t think anyone should expect that Manny’s ending his career in Dodger blue. He’s going to be here in 2009 and possibly 2010, pending his opt-out, and he’s going to have to end his career in the American League as at least a part-time DH. While I do wish he wasn’t talking about it so openly on April 13th, it’s not unreasonable to admit that he’s thought about it.

Speaking of players no longer being Dodgers, Tony Jackson says that Juan Castro is being added to the roster today and sort-of-but-not-really tells us how that’s going to happen:

He will have his contract purchased from Triple-A Albuquerque in the morning. No word on the corresponding roster move. I do have a pretty good idea of what it will be, but I’m also fairly sure the player who is going down hasn’t been told yet, so out of respect for that, I’m going to hold off on speculating. But I’m sure you can figure it out. As for clearing a 40-man spot, I’m guessing Delwyn Young has been traded for a sack of balls, probably to Cleveland, Pittsburgh or Philly, all of whom were scouting him on his rehab assignment. But again, that’s only a guess, and it’s also possible he will be DFA’d if no deal was reached.

We’ll save the Young farewell tour until it actually happens, though you can imagine what my reaction would be. (Shades of Cody Ross, I’m thinking). But for the active roster move, well, that has to be Blake DeWitt, doesn’t it? I’m sure the rationale will be “we want him to play every day”, and that’s very defensible. I just hate the idea that in this game of roster musical chairs, DeWitt might get farmed out, Young might get shipped out, and Juan Castro, the most inferior of the three, would end up with a spot. More on this as it actually occurs.

Update: as expected, DeWitt was sent down to AAA to make room for Castro. The blade is currently hanging over Delwyn Young’s head…

Update #2: according to a press release the club just sent out, Young has been designated for assigment. The Dodgers now have 10 days to trade or release him; I’ll save the ‘so long, Panda’ speech until that happens.

Three Cheers For Eric Stults

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87toppsericstults.jpgEric Stults has always been an MSTI favorite, dating back to a big pennant race performance in his first major league start in 2006, going six one-run innings against the Mets. Last year, we really jumped on the bandwagon after that complete domination of the White Sox – a four-hit shutout in June. And by “bandwagon”, I mean more “hey, that guy’s not so bad – I wonder what he could do” and less “he’ll be the third man of the Kershaw/Billingsley powerhouse trifecta!” I mean, I like the guy, but he’s Eric Stults. That said, I always felt he got a raw deal last year, best explained in our 2008 reviews, in which he received an “A”:

Look, if you’ve got a lefty with the talent to shut out an American
League contender, and that lefty gives up 4, 1, 3, 3, and 3 earned runs
in his other starts, doesn’t that sound like a guy who’s worth a look?
No, he won’t be an ace; probably never anything more than a decent #5.
But probably a guy worth keeping up over the likes of Tanyon Sturtze,
isn’t it? One would think. But no, after Joe Torre prematurely pulled
him from a blowout win against Colorado because Stults wasn’t being
aggressive enough, Stults rotted in AAA for the rest of the year, save
for one token appearance in September.

All of which leads us up to Saturday night against the Diamondbacks, where, as I noted yesterday, Stults absolutely had to come up big. It’s a lot to ask of a 6th starter in the first week of the season, coming off a dreadful spring training, but the team needed a win and the bullpen had to be saved.

Well, I’d say allowing just one run and striking out six over 5.1 innings works on both counts, doesn’t it? Let’s not ignore the bats finally coming alive (particularly Orlando Hudson with a double and a homer), but Stults was clearly the hero of the night – not only putting the club in position to win, but allowing the bullpen to take a breather. 

Even better, Torre was effusive in his praise of Stults:

“Stults was great,” said manager Joe Torre, whose rotation now includes
three starters (Stults, Clayton Kershaw and James McDonald) with a
combined 10 Major League victories.

“We saw him last year come up and pitch against Cincinnati and throw a
lot of strikes and then [use] the changeup when he was behind in the
count. I thought he worked fast, which was a benefit for him. And
tonight he was aggressive, especially when behind in the count.”

Odd that he’d mention the Reds game and not the White Sox game just days later, but whatever – I’m just happy he’s recognizing Stults. It’s likely that Eric gets at least another start or two in Hiroki Kuroda’s absence… so let’s hope he continues to not make me look bad by supporting him.

On another note, Torre announced that Juan Pierre will be starting on Sunday. He didn’t say who will be sitting, but since he did say that Pierre will be in center with Manny in left, that means that either Matt Kemp or Andre Ethier will take a seat. Much as I don’t like Pierre, that’s fine – it’s of course unreasonable to think that all three outfielders are going to play 162 games, and since Pierre’s the main backup, he’s likely to start once a week or so. Fine. What I do have a problem with is the timing, because as Tony Jackson notes, both Kemp and Ethier have had good success vs. Dan Haren:

Pierre is hitting .333 (2 for 6) lifetime against Dan Haren, but Kemp
is hitting .364 (4 for 11, 1 HR), and Ethier is hitting .467 (7 for 15,
1 HR).

Is this really the game we want to be sitting one of these two down in? With Monday being the home opener, you of course want your big three ready to go, so you’d think Pierre would have started on Saturday against Yusmerio Petit, who each Kemp and Ethier had lousy track records against. And as could have been predicted, Kemp and Ethier went 0-4 with 2 strikeouts (both by Kemp) against Petit.

As far as decisions go, it’s not a major one, and you hope it doesn’t come back to bite you on Sunday. It’s just a choice that doesn’t seem to have much sense behind it, and one that I’d love to hear explained someday

Off to Just a Phenomenal Start Here

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Hey, everything’s great right now, isn’t it?

* James McDonald got lit up. After breezing through the first two innings of his first major league start, it all fell apart for the kid in the third. Homer, fly out, walk, walk, hit batter, walk, single. While I didn’t see the game, I can be pretty confident in saying that a stretch like that can’t really be blamed on the umpire squeezing you. It wouldn’t be the first time a young pitcher got rattled by giving up a homer (which was the first run he’d ever allowed in the bigs, as well), but you just can’t allow yourself to lose control like that. Like many Dodger fans, I was a big supporter of McDonald winning this role coming into the season, and usually I’d be worried that this one bad start would cause the club to lose confidence in him and bury him – which would be a mistake. But, not only is he not going to lose his job, he’s now the 4th starter because….

* Hiroki Kuroda is headed to the DL. I’d heard rumblings of this coming yesterday morning, but couldn’t confirm them so I didn’t mention it. Fortunately, it sounds more precautionary than anything, and Kuroda didn’t even want to miss his start today. I don’t disagree with the move, because Kuroda’s a big part of the rotation and you can’t afford to be without him for a long stretch. But, still, what a kick in the pants. We all knew that the rotation depth was iffy at best and that reinforcements would be needed, but after just one start for Kuroda? Ugh. At least it’s not his arm. Since Kuroda’s not going tonight, that means…


 stults.jpg* Eric Stults better not prove me wrong. We’ve been big Stults supporters around here for a while – particularly in feeling that he was unfairly forgotten because of one lousy start last year, after several excellent ones. That said, he was terrible this spring when he had a shot to claim the job for himself, and hasn’t yet made an AAA appearance. Stults has almost no history against the Diamondbacks (1/3 of a relief inning in 2007) and there’s been just three at-bats by current D-Backs against him. Hopefully, that works in his favor, because while you hate to put pressure on the 6th starter on April 11, this club needs a solid start from him, since…

* The bullpen might be in trouble. It’s actually not as bad as it sounds, because much of the bullpen has been great. Broxton, Belisario, and Kuo all have 0.00 ERAs, and Ramon Troncoso was excellent in relief of McDonald last night, throwing 3.2 one-run innings. The problem, though, is that the string of short starts is already overtaxing the pen. Troncoso’s clearly going to be unavailable today, as is Guillermo Mota (which is probably a good thing, since he was awful last night – hey, glad we signed him!), and Cory Wade’s already showing signs of overuse. Stults needs to go at least six tonight, no matter how well he’s doing, to preserve the bullpen. And we really need to see the pitching step up because…

* You thought this offense was going to rule, and so far, you’d be wrong. 18 runs in 5 games just isn’t cutting it – especially when you consider that even San Diego has 18 runs in 5 games, and I’m pretty sure they’re hitting the Chicken 6th. Sure, Casey Blake hit his second homer last night, but it was also only his second hit of the season – he’s hitting .125. Hudson and Ethier both had oh-fer’s and are hitting .250. I hate to even say this, but Brad Ausmus getting 2 hits last night was an improvement on Russell Martin, who’s only manage 2 hits all season. I know, it’s still early, but this was supposed to finally be the year that a good offense carried a questionable pitching staff. You’d like to think that tonight is the night the bats wake up but…

* Yusmerio Petit has owned the Dodgers. I say “owned”, even though I know 42 plate appearances isn’t much of a track record, but in those chances current Dodgers are hitting just .205/.220/.410 – and Kemp, Loney, Martin, and Ethier have a combined 1 hit and 1 walk in 23 of those plate appearances against Petit. Woooooof.