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This has nothing to do with the Dodgers, is only tangentially baseball-related, and will only be funny to people like me who play first-person shooters like Call of Duty (and to top it off, has some NSFW language), but screw it: it’s a Halloween Saturday afternoon, and our team isn’t playing in tonight’s World Series Game 3. What better time?
Update: now with working video!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUSmbfwFZBc]
Casey Blake (B+)
(.280/.363/.468 18hr 79rbi)
I just want to make this abundantly clear, because I’ve been getting grief over this for months: I don’t hate Casey Blake. I like him just fine, as he’s a solid 3B who had a pretty good year, and that’s not even considering the outstanding beard. I just think that far too much was given up in the trade that brought him to LA, and I think that giving him a guaranteed third year for 2011 last offseason was unneccessary. That’s all. Look, this is even what I said in the very first post regarding his arrival:
Look, I don’t really mind getting Casey Blake. He’s a useful guy. I just think that what Colletti gave up to acquire him is mind-blowingly out of proportion.
And that’s exactly the case today, though we of course know a little bit more about why Colletti had to give up Carlos Santana just to save a measly $2m. Back to 2009, Blake had, surprisingly, one of the best years of his career. What was more impressive to me was the timing, because while Blake had hot streaks and cold streaks, he got hot exactly when the club needed it the most – when Manny was suspended. As I said in our first half review:
Say this for Casey Blake, the man knows that timing is everything. On May 6, the day before Manny was suspended, Blake was hitting just .225/.324/.427. In the 46 games Blake played during Manny’s absence, Blake really stepped up, putting up a .319/.371/.530 line, with 6 homers. As the 11th most valuable 3B in MLB by VORP, the Most Interesting Man in the World has been more than serviceable at the hot corner.
Now sure, he suffered a severe power outage after that (just 3 homers in 2 months), and it’s true that he completely disappeared in the playoffs (just 5 singles in 32 plate appearances), which is what’s keeping me from giving him an A. The fact of the matter is, Blake ended up being the 9th most valuable MLB 3B by VORP, and if I’d have told you that he’d be a top 10 3B before the year, you’d have taken that in a heartbeat, right? Even better, his fielding, which was suspect, actually improved. I think you could see this with your naked eye, but even the relevant fielding stats – which had him as a slightly below-average 3B in previous years – had him pegged as being about 7-8 runs above average. So if you take all that into account and forget how he arrived in LA, all you can say is, “well done, Casey. Well done.”
Now let’s work towards making you the four-corners power bat off the bench in 2011 that you really ought to be.
Mark Loretta (F-)
(.232/.309/.276 0hr 25rbi)
Hey, look at Mark Loretta’s card! He’s doing exactly what he does best, and that’s congratulating others on a job well done. You’ll notice there’s not a whole lot of pictures out there of Dodger teammates congratulating Loretta on his own achievements, because, well, there really weren’t any (game-winning single in NLDS Game 2 aside, of course).
Let’s look back and see what exactly Loretta was signed to do, which, admittedly, I loved at the time:
I know I’ve been pretty negative about everything lately, but I love this signing, especially for just $1.4 million over one year. In fact, when the rumor first popped up a week ago, I was completely in favor of it – why wouldn’t I want a guy who could play all four infield positions and absolutely destroys lefties, especially when it seems as though at least half of the infield will be lefty batters? DodgerThoughts points out that Loretta’s had an OBP of .345 or better since 1997, and that’s fantastic. He’s basically Nomar, but better: he might have never had Nomar’s pop, but he can play more positions, and he won’t rack up an extra $10 million in doctor bills.
So how’d that work out? Well, not only did he have the worst season of his career, (345 major leaguers had at least 200 plate appearances this year, and by VORP, Loretta was 330th) he got worse as the year went on. A very nice April (1.050 OPS) was followed by five months in which he never managed a monthly OPS over .703 – and included an absolutely horrific July in which he had 3 singles in 30 plate appearances.
I’m not going to kill Ned Colletti for this one, because I thought it was a great idea at the time, and it just didn’t work out. For just $1.4m, anyway, it was a worthy gamble – as long as they cut the cord and don’t try to bring him back, Mark Sweeney-style.
Blake DeWitt (inc.)
(.204/.245/.388 2hr 4rbi)
I probably should have used a picture of an airplane or a postcard from New Mexico, because DeWitt spent pretty much his entire season flying back-and-forth between Los Angeles and Albuquerque. How many times did he get recalled? Five? Six? I don’t even remember, and the exact number isn’t even important, because DeWitt was the definiton of “26th man” this year. Talk about a slight difference from his 2008 of “out of nowhere Opening Day 3B and playoff 2B” to his scenic tour of the southwestern United States in 2009, right?
You can’t put any stock whatsoever into his MLB stats, because 53 plate appearances spread out amongst 6 stints on the team are meaningless. That said, his minor league line from this year is indeed troubling. In 2008 at AAA, he had a line of .306/.366/.486 – an .852 OPS (granted, in just 124 AB). In 2009, every part of that line fell, to a .776 OPS.
Still, DeWitt will be just 23 for the majority of 2010, and it’s hard to really kill him on his AAA numbers considering how much he was jerked back and forth – and if there is a bit of hope, it’s his 44/48 K/BB line in the minors. I suppose at this point he’s at least got a prayer of being 2010′s Opening Day 2B, if the Dodgers decide to go the cheap route, but it seems incredibly unlikely. If that’s the case, it’s nice to know that you’ve got a guy like DeWitt in the minors, who should hopefully still be improving and might be a starter on other teams, ready to step in.
Next! Rafael Furcal’s back recovery! Juan Castro’s zombie-like ability to stay employed! Chin-Lung Hu’s token appearance! It’s shortstop!
Orlando Hudson (B-)
(.283/.357/.417 9hr 62rbi)
It’s one thing to get off to a hot start, and it’s quite another to introduce yourself to your new team by hitting for the cycle in the home opener, isn’t it? Despite the fact that I was so fervently against giving Arizona a first round pick to sign him in the offseason, even I had to give him props when he hit .332/.407/.469 through the first two months of the season.
But there was a big problem with that outstanding start to his Dodger career, and it’s that his amazing first impression seemed to color everyone’s impression of him for the rest of the season. I started getting worried about him as far back as July, when I was doing our mid-season reviews and giving him credit for his nice first half. In the same review, I pointed out:
So why just the B grade? Because while Hudson may have made an enormous first impression (come on, a cycle in your first home game for your new team? Who does that?) I think it may have obscured just how horrible he’s been over the second half of the first half. (Shut up, that’s a thing.)
Apr. 6 – May 13: 35 games, .348/.429/.539
May 14 – Jul. 10: 49 games, .237/.300/.320For some reason baseball-reference hasn’t updated to include yesterday’s games yet, so I am missing his 2-homer outburst in that latter section, but still: the difference is glaring. You’d like to think that was the start of something, because at some point he’s going to need to turn this around, or all of the good feelings of April are going to dissipate.
Hudson picked it up some from his horrible June stretch, but an OPS that had been over .900 in May still fell to as low as .768 in September. With Ronnie Belliard’s contributions upon arriving, it was absolutely the right decision to bench Hudson for him. So what we ended up with was a year that was average overall (104 OPS+, exactly in line with his previous years), but was put up by two completely different players. But hey, at least he cost a first round pick! Let’s hope that can be recouped by offering him arbitration, especially since in regards to any possibility of a return next year, I’d say this quote from Baseball Prospectus about sums it up:
Second baseman Orlando Hudson, stung by being benched in favor of Ronnie Belliard in the playoffs, has no desire to re-sign with the Dodgers as a free agent.
Fine by me, because he was good, but not great. Thanks for the season, Orlando, especially for being a complete professional about being benched (Hudson has always had a fantastic reputation in that sense), and best of luck in your non-Dodger future. But mostly, best of luck to the Dodgers in terms of recouping the draft picks and getting more bang out of second base next year.
Ronnie Belliard (A)
(.351/.398/.636 5hr 17rbi)
It’s tempting to compare Belliard to the last late-season veteran import from Washington, Marlon Anderson, but what Anderson did was so far out of whack that it’s hard to compare anything to that. Still, Belliard was fantastic upon his arrival in LA – especially compared to the less-than-enthusiastic welcome I gave him:
Well… I guess? I suppose this is related to Ken Gurnick’s report that the Dodgers were looking for a run-producing bat off the bench, but I’m not exactly sure that this qualifies.
Still, I am proud that I was able to point how hot he’d been in Washington out:
Though Belliard’s had a few roughly league-average seasons, he’s hitting a brutal .247/.297/.376 this season, almost exclusively as a second baseman and pinch-hitter. To be fair, since his OPS cratered at .459 (!!) on July 1, Belliard’s hit a nice .323/.380/.475 in 35 games (20 starts).
Which is basically the line that he was able to produce in LA, just with even more added power. Joe Torre got a lot of heat for starting Belliard over Hudson in the playoffs, but when one guy is so hot and the other is so cold – and there’s not a huge difference between them anyway – you can’t be faulted for that.
For next year, I’m not really dying to have Belliard back – his performance in LA is hardly sustainable – but it wouldn’t surprise me all that much if he won people over with his hot September.
Tony Abreu (so long!)
(.250/.455/.250 0hr 1rbi)
Ugh. This one is going to kill me. Well, gee, let’s see. You’ve got a giant hole at second base opening up after the season. You’ve got a talented young player who’s finally overcome injuries and is dominating at AAA, and even has already had a taste of the majors, to boot.
And… you trade that young player to a division rival just so you can get 6 decent starts that you probably didn’t really need, especially when Jon Garland didn’t even appear in the playoffs.
Look, Abreu may not be a superstar, though there’s something to be said about a middle infielder who has a .916 OPS in AAA in 2007, misses all of 2008, and then returns to be even better with a .999 AAA OPS. (Yes, I know Vegas and Albuquerque inflate offensive stats somewhat – still, those are good numbers.) For 6 relatively meaningless starts of Garland, you’ve just handed this player to the Diamondbacks. I hated the trade from Day 1, saying:
Look, if it’s Abreu, I’m going to be really unhappy. He’s a 24-year-old with a .991 OPS in AAA this year, and looks to finally have put his career back on track after two years of injuries. With Orlando Hudson headed back into free agency this offseason, I was strongly in favor of letting him walk and giving Abreu a crack at the second base job. Now – again, if it’s him – the Dodgers have just handed a division rival an excellent prospect for 5 mediocre starts of Jon Garland?
Survey says… We’ll of course have more to say on this once we know who the player is going back to Arizona. Right now, the feeling is more “worried” with a good chance of “horrified“.
Yep. “Horrified” is about right. What an awful move. Then again, with all we’ve learned about the issues in the owners’ box, this might be another instance of Colletti’s hands being tied by cheap management. The D-Backs took on all of Garland’s remaining salary for the chance to get back a better prospect, just like how the Indians did for Casey Blake to get Carlos Santana. Please, why won’t they sell?
Next: Casey Blake’s beard! Mark Loretta’s corpse! Blake DeWitt’s frequent flyer miles! It’s third base!
From SI’s Jon Heyman’s Twitter:
manny will exercise $20-million option and stay with #dodgers. #diamondbacks will pick up webb’s $8.5-million option.
Shockingly, Manny’s taking big money rather than going into a depressed free agent market after a year of tarnishing his reputation and somewhat underperforming. Who’d have thought?
Because even though we all knew this divorce case was going to be messy, it’s already so far out of control that it might spin the planet right off its orbit. So what better solution than for me to drum up some investors and take over the club myself?
So… anyone know any billionaires looking to make a PR splash?
Where do I start here? Diamond Leung has a shot of Jamie’s monthly living requests. 6-4-2 has links to a possible 911 call by Jamie against Frank, Jamie’s possible new man – a former Dodger employee – and a great dig at her ridiculous claim to be “face of the Dodgers”. Plus, TMZ – and yes, I just linked to TMZ as though it were an actual news organization, so kill me now – has the details of Jamie’s demands. At least Jon @ Dodger Thoughts sees a possible silver lining to this nightmare:
Some fear the divorce proceeding will hamper the Dodgers’ offseason plans, and for good reason. On the other hand, isn’t this the time when you buy the kids a nice pony to take their mind off the ugliness?
This whole mess is so bad, that T.J. Simers’ latest column is nothing if not the voice of reason. T.J. Simers! As painful as it might be, let’s look at what Jamie actually wants here, from TMZ:
Here are the benefits Jamie is requesting:
- travel by private jet
- 5 star hotel accommodations
- travel expenses – Unlimited
- business dinners 5 nights per week
- business lunches 5 days per week
- parking spots at Dodger Stadium
- flowers in the office
- making Dodger Legends available for events without charge
- provision of Dodger autographed items as requested for use in business and charitable activities
- hair and makeup for Dodger events
- access to team doctors for McCourt family members
- access to the owner’s suite for Dodger home games and non-baseball events at the stadium
- Tickets to All-Star games and playoff games — even if the Dodgers aren’t playing
- a pass to all National League gamesThen there’s this: Jamie lists her monthly living expenses at $488,928 — THAT’S PER MONTH!!!!!!!!
Of those expenses, $333,000 goes towards her residence and vacation homes.
I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. You rich asshole. You’re spending nearly $500k per month, and you were mocking Dodger fans for wanting to get Manny instead of building parks for kids? And then there’s this - which just kills me – from Bill Shaikin’s story, in regards to Jamie’s claim that she didn’t understand the community property document she signed:
Marshall Grossman, an attorney for Frank McCourt, noted that Jamie McCourt has practiced law, including family law.
“Jamie McCourt saying she didn’t understand what she signed is like John Hancock saying he didn’t understand the Declaration of Independence when he signed it,” Grossman said.
*snicker*. I despise having to write about this, but it’s pretty clearly going to be a big story all offseason. As Jon says, they have “torched themselves in the Los Angeles community”, and this all brings me back to what I said in our open letter to them last week:
Don’t let your personal issues get in the way of the enjoyment of millions of Dodger fans around the world, because if – as seems likely – this devolves into a path of scorched earth and courtroom rhetoric that leads to the selling off of assets on the field and a string of losing seasons like in San Diego, you might still own the team, and you might have won in the eyes of the law, but you’ll still be a pariah in the eyes of Dodger fans everywhere.
Fix this quickly and privately, or sell the team. Now. You may be striving for the spotlight, but you’re not bigger than the Dodgers, and it’s your association with them that’s brought you fame – not vice versa.
I think I speak for a lot of Dodger fans right now when I say, we hate you both. (To be fair, Jamie a lot more.) Please sell. Please. Sell.
