Ronald Belisario’s Troubles Are Far From Over
February 16, 2011 at 11:21 am | Posted in Jay Gibbons, Ronald Belisario | 28 Comments
This morning, it was “we don’t expect Ronald Belisario to arrive today.” Okay, no one really expected him to be completely on time, so if he’s a day or two late, no big deal. Right?
Yeah, about that…
Ronald Belisario could miss the 2011 season, according to his agent, Paul Kinzer.
Pitchers and catchers were supposed to report to the Dodgers’ spring-training complex on Wednesday, but Belisario wasn’t there. The hard-throwing reliever reported late to camp in each of the last two years because of visa problems.
His latest problems could be more serious.
Kinzer would not specify why Belisario was still in his native Venezuela. But asked if Belisario was having trouble securing a visa, Kinzer replied, “It goes a little deeper than that.”
Kinzer said he didn’t think Belisario would be able to enter the United States at any time this year.
“Unless some things change drastically, I’m not very optimistic at this point,” Kinzer said.
Every time I read that quote, all I can think of is Ron Burgundy in Anchorman: “Boy, that escalated quickly… I mean, that really got out of hand fast.”
(Cue Belisario: “I killed a guy with a trident. I stabbed him right in the heart.”)
I’m going to predict the fan reaction here, and that’ll be “cut him loose! He’s unreliable! We don’t need him! Get rid of him!” That’s fair, but also unnecessary. If he doesn’t report, then the team can just put him on the restricted list, freeing up the 40-man roster spot. Any action beyond that is obviously going to depend greatly on what the circumstances are here, though I must admit I’m less interested in knowing what’s really going on than I am in knowing why this is just being brought to light now.
There’s always a silver lining, however, and in this case there’s two. First, seems like I’ll be able to keep up the “Has Belisario Reported Yet?” image on the sidebar there for quite some time. Second, you know there’s a few guys doing a jig in Arizona right now – guys like Blake Hawksworth, Ron Mahay, Ramon Troncoso, Scott Elbert, and even Lance Cormier, who all just saw their chances of making the club rise by quite a bit.
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Unrelated, but still interesting. All winter, we’ve been treating it as a foregone conclusion that Tony Gwynn, Jay Gibbons, and Marcus Thames would all make the team because of their major-league contracts. Not so fast, says Tony Jackson…
Gibbons’ ability to play first base and the outfield could be a factor in the ultimate decision as to whether to go with five infielders and six outfielders or vice versa. But although Gibbons’ contract is technically a major league deal, the fact that he has to actually make the club to get the last $250,000 of his $650,000 salary means he isn’t viewed as a lock. If he has a bad spring and the Dodgers cut him loose, that would open a spot for an outfielder — presumably Paul — and another utility infielder. Thames could serve as the backup first baseman if Gibbons isn’t around.
I still think that Gibbons is an overwhelming favorite to make the club – whether that’s deserved or not – but this is the first indication we’ve heard that his chances may be at something less than 100%. It gives Xavier Paul a ray of hope, anyway.
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Finally, as you’ve no doubt seen elsewhere, Don Mattingly named Clayton Kershaw as the Opening Day starter today. I’ve long felt that the gig was completely overrated, but I definitely dig Mattingly’s style of getting it out of the way on the first day, rather than waiting until camp was nearly over like Joe Torre did last year.
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Perhaps this explains the signing of Cormier, who’s only value seems to be that he’s a ground ball machine, the role Belisario filled for the Dodgers last year.
Comment by Dave— February 16, 2011 #
Did Belisario induce a lot of groundballs last year?
Comment by Eephus Blue— February 16, 2011 #
61.3 percent last year; 56 percent in 2009.
http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=2203&position=P
Comment by Dustin Nosler— February 16, 2011 #
Yeah, maybe Ned isn’t a hoarder of relievers, but has real concerns. Belisario was generally seen as landing behind Broxton, Kuo, and Jansen in the bullpen pecking order. But since we still have so many other options (Tron, Monasterios, Link) along with the myriad of castoffs Ned has signed, it’s not a season changer.
I am really curious what is going on that keeps Belisario from a.) pitching, and/or b.) entering the U.S. A gazillion others from south of the border seem to have no problem.
Comment by SamAdams— February 16, 2011 #
lol, by the looks of it it probably is a murder or something investigation………….yikes man why not just hang out in PAsadena?
Comment by DodgersKings323— February 16, 2011 #
Holy cow. That’s really surprising regarding Belisario. So much for his great winter ball performance. I wonder what happened?
Paul now has a little hope, but he’s still a long shot to make the roster, unfortunately.
Comment by Dustin Nosler— February 16, 2011 #
For all we know Belisario may have pissed off Hugo Chavez and he will spend the summer in the Venezuelan version the Gulag.
Comment by Grabarkewitz— February 16, 2011 #
I don’t get this. What did he do. When whatever incident finally was cleared up last year and he came back to the Dodgers there was never any indication that he wouldn’t get a visa again?
Don’t believe he has ever been charged with anything serious in Venezuela pr has he?
Comment by Louis— February 16, 2011 #
Apparently he lost his passport. Or that’s what they’re saying, anyway.
Comment by berkowit28— February 20, 2011 #
LMAO! Love the Anchorman reference!
P.S. What ever happened to the idea of signing Eric Chavez to share time with Blake at 3B?
Comment by Mike H— February 16, 2011 #
Chavez signed with the Yankees….
Comment by Jon#7#22— February 16, 2011 #
Of course he did. How much did the Yankees give him to be a pinch hitter? Man we should have signed that guy. I envisioned a serious run at come back player of the year and Casey Blake moving to a back up role at 1st & 3rd. Oh well…so when’s McCourt going to have to sell the team?
Comment by Doug Harris— February 17, 2011 #
How does that effect the teams control of him? I think we discussed this last season, but I don’t recall. If he’s put on the restricted list then it’s basically as if time has stopped for him right? Once he comes back, would he still be under the same control by the Dodgers as he was when he was put on the restricted list? I know it frees up a roster spot, but I really hope teams can’t just pick him up later because that then gives the player a way to manipulate things. Can’t imagine they’d allow that though.
Comment by Wil— February 16, 2011 #
Yep. If he’s on the restricted list, he’s still Dodger property but is off the 40-man. I think (but cannot say for sure without looking it up) that he does not accrue service time at that point. When he’s ready to come back, the Dodgers can then either reinstate him to the active roster or DFA or trade him.
Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— February 16, 2011 #
You’re going to feel like a real jerk if Belisario actually IS being detained for killing a man with a trident.
Comment by 3.3seconds— February 16, 2011 #
Just saw that Podsednik signed a minor league deal with Toronto :)
Comment by Scott— February 16, 2011 #
Remember that 2nd baseman (forgot his name) who opted out of his contract and ended up taking less. That preceeded us trading for our new 2nd baseman, Delino Deshields, giving up Pedro Martinez to get him.
Just in case the baseball God’s are listening…THIS DOESN’T MAKE US EVEN!!!
Comment by Doug Harris— February 17, 2011 #
Yep, that was Jody Reed. I don’t think this situation will end as poorly though.
Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— February 17, 2011 #
here we go again. oh well at least we have plenty of pitching.
Comment by format— February 16, 2011 #
I have to say I disagree with naming an opening day starter, especially because it really doesn’t mean a lot. If one of the 5 starters has such a great spring, head and shoulders over everyone else. Or if Kershaw is really struggling I say give it to the guy who deserves it. Its like years ago. Loney comes up in Sept and hits .400. Then next spring .400+ again. But because the position was ‘set’ he had to waste more time in the minors. Finally he is doing so good its like the team was embarrassed keeping him down and finally called him up. I believe Kemp had a similar struggle. We always say put the best team on the field. So put the best guy on the mound day 1 and let him lose that job.
Comment by David S— February 16, 2011 #
True, but he probably doesn’t want to be harassed by the media all the time either.
Comment by DodgersKings323— February 16, 2011 #
And in the next episode of “As Belisario’s World Turns”, Ronald states the opposite of what his agent said and tells the media that he has lost his passport and will be able to report to camp once he gets his new one. His agent then gives a clueless response and Belisario doesn’t even consider contacting the Dodgers about the situation. Genius!
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dodgers/2011/02/ronald-belisario-i-lost-my-passport.html
BTW, I find it funny that no where in any of his comments does he say that he’s actually going to do any of this. He just lists what needs to be done for it to be possible. The closest we get is the vague, “Of course, I’ll go to spring training”. Can’t wait for the next exciting episode!! :P
Comment by Wil— February 17, 2011 #
I just read that Joe Crede has become available. Do you think he’s worth bringing in on a minor league deal if he’s healthy???
Comment by rob— February 17, 2011 #
I don’t think so. I remember him having splits like Blake. Although he plays great D, don’t think we need two Blake-type hitters.
Comment by @BrocNessMonster— February 19, 2011 #
No, we do not need another Blake.
I just read a discussion on another board regarding strikeouts and how unproductive they are. A guy brought up an interesting point…. Mark Reynolds had a horrible year, struck out 211 times and was shipped to Baltimore – yet Reynolds scored 79 knocked in 85 and managed an OPS of .753 … all numbers considerably better than one Casey Blake. And Blake is now a year older.
And for what it’s worth, I don’t believe this team will miss Belisario. With the possible glaring weaknesses throughout this lineup, I really doubt a missing middle reliever will be what stops this team.
Comment by Rory— February 19, 2011 #
The Juan Pierre trade is apparently one of the worst in team history.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/528442-los-angeles-dodgers-power-ranking-the-50-worst-trades-in-team-history/
LOL BLEACHER REPORT.
Comment by Taylor Maricle— February 19, 2011 #
[...] he got off to a pretty good start in camp by naming Clayton Kershaw the Opening Day starter on the first day of camp, rather than letting it linger as Torre had, and (along with Ned Colletti) putting together a [...]
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