I Think The Rotation Is Ready For the Season (Updated)

March 6, 2011 at 2:47 pm | Posted in Dioner Navarro, James Loney, Jamey Carroll, Ramon Troncoso, Scott Elbert | 18 Comments

Nice weekend for the starting staff, right?

Chad Billingsley, today: 3.2 innings, 3 hits, 2 runs (1 earned), 2 K, after last week’s 3 scoreless inning debut.

Clayton Kershaw, yesterday: 4 scoreless innings, facing the minimum 12 batters, giving him 7 scoreless innings this spring in which he’s allowed just 3 hits.

Jon Garland, on Friday: 3 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit.

Any comments about the offense, or lack thereof, should be held back on a day that has a lineup missing Matt Kemp, Rafael Furcal, Andre Ethier, Casey Blake, and Juan Uribe, and features Dioner Navarro hitting cleanup. On the other hand, Marcus Thames, on his 34th birthday, doubled off the left-center wall to tie the game at 3 in the 8th.

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25th man update: Justin Sellers replaced Juan Castro in the starting lineup at shortstop, walked once in two tries and made two errors on the same play in the first inning, destroying a WGN banner in the process. Castro struck out pinch-hitting in the 5th (against Carlos Marmol, to be fair) and later doubled. Aaron Miles, playing third, tripled and scored the first Dodger run, while Ivan DeJesus went 0-2. The arrow is still pointing strongly in Castro’s direction.

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Ramon Troncoso got four outs on seven pitches, prompting new DodgerTalk co-host Joe Block to claim that he’s made the team; Troncoso has now thrown 3.1 scoreless innings without allowing a walk. I think that may be a bit premature, but with the turmoil at the back end of the bullpen, there’s certainly opportunity. You’d think that his history, and time away from the overuse of Joe Torre, would get him some consideration, though.

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Hey, Navarro’s going to get a hit sometime, right? I know, it’s spring, it’s early, I get it. Just saying, guys who have hit .212 over the last two seasons and have an arguably superior player behind them need to show something a little more than not getting on base once over their first eleven plate appearances. He at least plated Gabe Kapler on a sac fly today, though of course if Kapler hadn’t been on third, it’d have just been another flyout. Meanwhile, A.J. Ellis drew a walk and threw out a runner trying to steal.

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At the Los Angeles Times blog, Steve Dilbeck wonders what might happen if James Loney‘s knee troubles end up being worse than they appear. Despite Russ Mitchell getting the most playing time in Loney’s absence right now (where’s John Lindsey?), Dilbeck thinks that Casey Blake would get the bulk of the time during the season, with Juan Uribe sliding to third and Jamey Carroll entering at second, because it’s just not realistic to think that Jerry Sands breaks camp with the team.

I think Dilbeck’s assumption is probably correct, but it got me thinking – would that alignment actually make the team better? There’s a few reasons to think that it might:

Carroll would add badly need OBP. His mark has been .355 or higher in each of the last three seasons, four of the last six, and five of the last seven. Carroll doesn’t hit for power, but then again neither does Loney; overall, Carroll had a higher OPS+ last year.
It’d help optimize the lineup, since Carroll could be a good #2 hitter, pushing Blake down to 6 where he belongs.
It’d shift Uribe to 3B, which is his stronger defensive position.
It’d improve platooning possibilities. If Blake were the 1B, then he’s a much more dangerous hitter against lefty pitching than Loney is (though I hope that’s going to happen regardless). You could also spot in Gibbons against tough righty pitching, which likely wouldn’t happen if Loney was in.

It’s not all roses, of course, because you couldn’t expect the 37-year-old Carroll to play every day, and you’d weaken an already questionable bench by removing him from it. The ideal solution is that Loney is healthy and productive, so by no means am I rooting for him to be out. But just the fact that this is a conversation worth having shows the extent of the questions that he’s going to have to answer this year.

Update #1: Well, looks like Carroll has injury concerns of his own:

Jamey Carroll was unable to throw comfortably Sunday after taking a pitch off his right index finger Saturday, but X-rays were negative.

Carroll was able to hit despite the swelling in the finger and will probably need a few more days before he can return to game action.

Update #2: I’d meant to note that Scott Elbert, who was originally supposed to pitch today, did not. Here’s why:

Scott Elbert, the lefty reliever struggling with his control in games, was held back from a scheduled Sunday appearance and instead will throw batting practice Monday while working on a mechanical adjustment.

18 Comments »

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Mike, how close is Jerry Sands? Could he be called up this season?

Comment by dodgerbobble— March 6, 2011 #

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- It seems to be almost a certainty at this point that he’ll make his MLB debut in 2011. Some people are calling for him to break camp with the team, though I think there’s a 0% chance of that happening.
  
  Much depends on how the LF platoon and Loney pans out, of course. I think we could see him as early as June if he plays well in ABQ, though it could be as late as Sept as well.
  
  Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— March 6, 2011 #
  
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  - So, could Loney end up being trade bait come July?
    
    Comment by dodgerbobble— March 6, 2011 #
    
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    - Yes.
      
      Comment by nsxtasy— March 6, 2011 #
      
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    - I guess, but if he’s playing well the Dodgers won’t want to trade him, and if he’s not no one will want him.
      
      Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— March 6, 2011 #
      
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      - What if he’s playing somewhere in between…you know, kind of like he’s entire career? Would anyone be interested then?
        
        Comment by Doug Harris— March 7, 2011 #
        
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Perhaps the Dodgers could consider a dual-position platoon:
Infield, vs RHB – Loney, Uribe, Furcal, Blake
Infield, vs LHB – Blake, Carroll, Furcal, Uribe
To be honest, this doesn’t excite me but I like these alternatives better than a lineup with Loney as a full-time starter.

Comment by goldstar4robotboy— March 6, 2011 #

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- Er, make that a TRI-position platoon.
  
  Comment by goldstar4robotboy— March 6, 2011 #
  
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I expected this to be Loney’s last season with the Dodgers anyway, unless his hitting (particularly power) improves dramatically from the past few years. I expected Sands to get called up some time this year, and that after the end of the season they would be deciding whether he’s our starting first baseman for 2012, or whether to consider signing a free agent like Pujols or Fielder. If Loney’s hitting hasn’t shown improvement by the AS break – either due to injury or just more of the same as in recent years – then the timetable for considering the other alternatives could be moved up to June or July (and possibly involve a pre-deadline trade for a soon-to-be free agent).

Blake could play first at the start of the season but I don’t see that happening all season long. I agree with Mike/MSTI that Sands is unlikely to start the season with the team, but if he hits well at ABQ in April and May, he could see a late May or early June call-up if Loney isn’t back.

One other thing – if Loney starts the season on the DL, this ensures that at least one slot on the 25-man will be for a backup infielder (Sellers, Castro, Miles), and opens another slot, either for a second backup infielder or for a sixth outfielder (Paul, Hoffmann, etc).

Comment by nsxtasy— March 6, 2011 #

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Hey msti, what do u think of. Caroll being the starting 3b? I know the question is can he last all year, but he is a year younger than Blake, has a better obp and more speed. You lose power yes but how much? Lucky if Blake hits 15 hr this year. Plus Carroll would solve the two hole issues. If loney is hurt this solves itself. Idk y everyone is bashing loney. He had a bad year. Just like the rest of the team sure, but look at his past years averages : this guy can hit around .290 and his glove is real good. And he’s a decent clutch hitter. He is not going to hit much more than 10 hr, but we already know that. So instead of getting rid of an adequate player at his spot we should be trying to improve in other areas
Just my two cents..

Comment by Ryan— March 6, 2011 #

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- If Carroll were to play every day, it’d make more sense to have him at 2B and push Uribe to 3B.
  
  Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— March 6, 2011 #
  
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- Carroll won’t start at third, as long as Uribe’s healthy. On the days that Blake won’t start at third – either because he’s playing first or getting the day off – Uribe will start at third.
  
  Comment by nsxtasy— March 6, 2011 #
  
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- People aren’t bashing Loney because last year was bad, they’re doing it because the last three years were bad by first base standards. He does have a good glove, but he’s at a position where a good glove doesn’t make as much of an impact as it does in CF or middle infield. The best thing about Loney to me is his clutch hitting, which many discount. I get that RBIs are a team stat, but % of runners driven in is not a team stat, nor is BA w/ RISP, and Loney is solidly above average in both categories.
  
  Comment by Bip— March 6, 2011 #
  
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Well, now it turns out that Carroll needs a few days off to let a finger injury heal anyway:

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110306&content_id=16847072&notebook_id=16847074&vkey=notebook_la&c_id=la&partnerId=rss_la&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— March 6, 2011 #

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I would take Carroll over Blake, although it’s prolly only improve the club minimally. Boy alot of injuries so far

Comment by Ryan— March 6, 2011 #

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Not the first time i thought of that, i wanted Carroll to start last year when the team was awful, i have no problem with him being a starter over Loney.

Comment by DodgersKings323— March 6, 2011 #

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I like Carroll…. as the back up infielder. If we are already digging into the diddy bag for replacement skivvies….. it is not a good sign.

This team needs Loney, Ethier and Kemp to ALL have good to great years to compete for the Division. They ARE the offense. If we are going to compare this year’s Dodgers to last year’s Giants (some have) then everything has to go right for them. And that includes NO injuries to key players.

Comment by Rory— March 7, 2011 #

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Lindsey has been hurt, it appears. Knee injury, the broken hand has healed. He got into a game the other day.

I am headed out to spring training to talk to former/current/future Isotopes on March 15. Will have more then.

Comment by Chris Jackson— March 7, 2011 #

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Mike Scioscia's tragic illness