Comments on: James Loney Is Going to Have a Huge Year

By: MSTI’s 2010 in Review: First Base « Mike Scioscia's tragic illness

MSTI’s 2010 in Review: First Base « Mike Scioscia's tragic illness — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 15:44:03 +0000

[...] in March, I made a bold proclamation. I said that James Loney was in line for a huge step forward in 2010, and I said that for three reasons. #1, he was just 25 and had already established himself as a [...]

By: Mike Scioscia's tragic illness

Mike Scioscia's tragic illness — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 02:47:20 +0000

i don’t disagree with you guys that 2010 is a make-or-break year for him; I just think it’s going to be “make”.

By: Mike Scioscia's tragic illness

Mike Scioscia's tragic illness — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 02:46:54 +0000

Fair enough – and good find. Still, Kelly was a good player for a number of years, if not a HOF. More importantly, blog more!

By: Bryan

Bryan — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 02:33:19 +0000

I agree with Table. I really do want to see Loney go .320 with 25 bombs, my concern is that if he doesn’t quite reach that, and hovers at or under .300 / 20 then he will be hurting us at a major offensive position. I do think this is a make or break year for Loney, if he is sitting at 105 OPS+ come the deadline, or the end of the season, we really need to consider bringing in a Thome-esque veteran for the last half of the season or trading for or signing a big middle of the order bat. Maybe bringing a guy like Delgado in mid-season if Loney’s still lurking around league average might light a fire under him. But I do like the positive indicators that MSTI pointed out, like the great BB/K, and I’m really hoping for a breakout year from him, but like Martin, he really needs to take a big step forward this year, or else his job should be in jeopardy come 2011, maybe sooner…

By: Geffin

Geffin — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 00:09:50 +0000

What do you think about a Keith Hernandez comparison? He never hit a lot of HRs, but he was a powerful hitter and got on base. Loney’s defense is often praised although advanced metrics say he’s close to average, Keith Hernandez was known to be an elite defender in his prime.

By: mk

mk — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 00:07:07 +0000

I like the fact that LoneDog has shown a knack for delivering clutch hits in big games. I hope he breaks out this year. It would be nice to have a lot of homegrowns on this team.

By: Table

Table — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 21:58:14 +0000

Kevin Kouzmanoff hit around 380. that same year, but has a career 261. batting average in the majors.

By: John Hamilton

John Hamilton — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 21:05:52 +0000

I believe Loney’s offensive value will be more in his batting average than in his homerun power.
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Loney hit .380 at Las Vegas in 2006.
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Loney is now entering the third year of my prediction that he would put a scare into .400 at least into mid-August sometime in a seven-year span.
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Is this the year?!

By: James

James — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:34:24 +0000

I’ve been a huge loney supporter ever since watching him go 4 for 5 with 9rbi’s in late september 2006. I completely agree that he’s going to break out sooner or later, and put up some great numbers… hopefully sooner than later!

but what i’m concerned about is russel martin. I think every dodger fan is hoping he can bounce back to all star form after that abysmal season last year, especially since we dont have carlos santana to fall back on now. I think it would be awesome if you could write a piece about martin and give us some inside information about where he went wrong last year, and why you think he’s not going to improve this year.

love the blog, keep up the good work!

By: Rob McMillin

Rob McMillin — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:50:27 +0000

Back when I was a lot more actively blogging baseball, one of the things I did to amuse myself in the offseason was to take on the birthdays of players who had spent time with either the Angels or Dodgers. One in the latter category was George "High Pockets" Kelly, of whom Bill James said, "wasn't a Hall of Famer on the best day of his life". The guy got in because the Veteran's Committee was packed with former teammates. So let's hope that's not the career trajectory that James Loney takes.