Jon's other site:
Screen Jam
TV and more ...
Dodger Thoughts T-Shirts
On sale through February 16, 2008
Click here to order.
* * *
The Best of Dodger Thoughts
A 325-page book featuring the top selections from this website from 2002-2005.
Click here for more information.
* * *
Or, just make a donation to support the site. Many thanks.
"Dodger Thoughts, like TiVo, is one of those things you can completely do without until you start using it."
- Fanerman
SI.com
NL West Preview
Evaluating Defense
Colletti and Depo
World Baseball Classic
Minor League Broadcasters
Slow Starts
Eric Gagne
Groundball Pitchers
Dodger Prospects
Albert Pujols
Humbled Angels
You Be the Manager
Eric Gagne II
Unreliable Relievers
Revived Angels
It's Okay To Sell
Dodger Turnaround
Andre Ethier
Padres-Dodgers Showdown
NL Final Weekend
Mets-Dodgers NLDS
Postseason ratings
NL Wish Lists
Manny vs. J.D.
McGwire Controversy
Dodger Offense
Trainers Matter
Variety
Will Arnett
John C. McGinley
Laura Dern
Imelda Staunton
SAG Awards
Ellen Pompeo
Grey's Anatomy
2004-05 Rookie Dramas
Anthony Hopkins
NATPE
Scrubs
Award Shows
Topher Grace
Ashton Kutcher
Writing on Improv Shows
Rainn Wilson
T.R. Knight
Guest Actors
Animation Guests
Joey Carson and Tennis
Donald Trump and Golf
2006 Emmys Nominees*
*Comedy Series
*Comedy Director
*Comedy Writer
*Comedy Actor
*Comedy Supporting Actor
Blue's Clues
Lizzy Caplan
Ann Donahue
CMT: Giants
CMA Awards
Little Miss Sunshine
Actor-Directors
Freshman Series
Clint Eastwood
Showrunners vs. Censors
Little Children
Breaking and Entering
Tartikoff Legacy Awards
Jackie Earle Haley
Knights of Prosperity
Office Online
2007 Screenplay Noms
Friday Night Lights
Robert Benton
ABC Fridays
Rookie Actors
Global Casting
2007 Pilot Casting
Sublime Slime
Also ...
A Season in Savannah (Stanford Magazine)
Five Questions: Los Angeles Dodgers (2005) (Hardball Times)
Rick Monday (Baseball Analysts)
Baseball's Odd Couple (Baseball Prospectus)
Five Questions: Los Angeles Dodgers (2006) (Hardball Times)
Five Questions: Los Angeles Dodgers (2007) (Hardball Times)
Dodger home record: 39-30 (.565)
When Jon attended: 5-3 (.625)
When Jon didn't: 34-27 (.557)
Dodgers at home: 745-600 (.554)
Jon attended: 293-233 (.557)*
Jon didn't: 457-374 (.550)
* includes road games attended
Current Roster with Estimated 2008 Salaries
(updated March 28)
Most figures are estimates (some are wild estimates) but will be updated as information comes in. Corrections welcome.
More contract details here.
Starting Pitchers (5)
$12,300,000 Hiroki Kuroda
$10,000,000 Derek Lowe
$9,500,000 Brad Penny
$7,000,000 Esteban Loaiza
*$500,000 Chad Billingsley
Total: $39,300,000
Bullpen (6)
$2,000,000 Takashi Saito
$1,925,000 Joe Beimel
$1,125,000 Scott Proctor
*$500,000 Jonathan Broxton
$500,000 Chan Ho Park
*$400,000 Hong-Chih Kuo
Total: $6,450,000
Starting Lineup (8)
$14,100,000 Andruw Jones
$13,000,000 Rafael Furcal
$9,000,000 Jeff Kent
$8,500,000 Nomar Garciaparra
$8,000,000 Juan Pierre
$500,000 Russell Martin
*$400,000 James Loney
*$400,000 Matt Kemp
Total: $53,900,000
Bench (6)
$875,000 Gary Bennett
$600,000 Mark Sweeney
$424,500 Andre Ethier
$391,000 Delwyn Young
$390,000 Chin-Lung Hu
$390,000 Blake DeWitt
Total: $3,071,000
Disabled List
$12,000,000 Jason Schmidt
*$400,000 Tony Abreu
*$390,000 Andy LaRoche
Total: $12,790,000
Also Paying ...
$1,000,000 Brett Tomko
$750,000 Odalis Perez
$540,000 Yhency Brazoban
$500,000 Randy Wolf
$487,500 Jason Repko
$135,225 Rudy Seanez
$100,000 Mike Lieberthal
$50,000 Ramon Martinez
Total: $3,562,725
Working total: *$113,268,725
*Rough salary estimate
ESPN BR
BP
Cube Alvarez
ESPN BR
BP
Cube Abreu
ESPN
BR
BP
Cube Beimel
ESPN
BR
BP
Cube Bennett
ESPN
BR
BP
Cube Billingsley
ESPN
BR
BP
Cube Brazoban
ESPN
BR
BP
Cube Broxton
ESPN
BR
BP
Cube DeWitt
ESPN
BR
BP
Cube Ethier
ESPN
BR
BP
Cube Furcal
ESPN BR BP Cube Garciaparra
ESPN BR BP Cube Hu
ESPN BR BP Cube Jones
ESPN BR BP Cube Kemp
ESPN BR BP Cube Kent
ESPN BR BP Cube Kuo
ESPN BR BP Cube Kuroda
ESPN BR BP Cube LaRoche
ESPN BR BP Cube Loaiza
ESPN BR BP Cube Loney
ESPN BR BP Cube Lowe
ESPN BR BP Cube Martin
ESPN BR BP Cube May
ESPN BR BP Cube McDonald
ESPN BR BP Cube Meloan
ESPN BR BP Cube Miller
ESPN BR BP Cube Orenduff
ESPN BR BP Cube Park
ESPN BR BP Cube Paul
ESPN BR BP Cube Penny
ESPN BR BP Cube Pierre
ESPN BR BP Cube Proctor
ESPN BR BP Cube Repko
ESPN BR BP Cube Saito
ESPN BR BP Cube Schmidt
ESPN BR BP Cube Stults
ESPN BR BP Cube Sweeney
ESPN BR BP Cube Troncoso
ESPN BR BP Cube Wade
ESPN BR BP Cube Young
ESPN BR BP Cube Alomar
ESPN BR BP Cube Alvarez
ESPN BR BP Cube Aybar
ESPN BR BP Cube Baez
ESPN BR BP Cube Bako
ESPN BR BP Cube Beltre
ESPN BR BP Cube Bradley
ESPN BR BP Cube Cabrera
ESPN BR BP Cube Carrara
ESPN BR BP Cube Carter
ESPN BR BP Cube Chen
ESPN BR BP Cube Choi
ESPN BR BP Cube Cora
ESPN BR BP Cube Crosby
ESPN BR BP Cube Cruz
ESPN BR BP Cube Dessens
ESPN BR BP Cube Dreifort
ESPN BR BP Cube Drew
ESPN BR BP Cube Encarnacion
ESPN BR BP Cube Edwards
ESPN BR BP Cube Erickson
ESPN BR BP Cube Falkenborg
ESPN BR BP Cube Finley
ESPN BR BP Cube Flores
ESPN BR BP Cube Gagne
ESPN BR BP Cube Grabowski
ESPN BR BP Cube Green
ESPN BR BP Cube Guzman
ESPN BR BP Cube Hanrahan
ESPN BR BP Cube Hernandez
ESPN BR BP Cube Hundley
ESPN BR BP Cube Ishii
ESPN BR BP Cube Izturis
ESPN BR BP Cube Jackson
ESPN BR BP Cube Karros
ESPN BR BP Cube Ketchner
ESPN BR BP Cube Ledee
ESPN BR BP Cube Lima
ESPN BR BP Cube Lo Duca
ESPN BR BP Cube Lofton
ESPN BR BP Cube T. Martin
ESPN BR BP Cube Mayne
ESPN BR BP Cube G. Mota
ESPN BR BP Cube Mueller
ESPN BR BP Cube Myrow
ESPN BR BP Cube Nakamura
ESPN BR BP Cube Navarro
ESPN BR BP Cube Nomo
ESPN BR BP Cube Osoria
ESPN BR BP Cube A. Perez
ESPN BR BP Cube O. Perez
ESPN BR BP Cube Phillips
ESPN BR BP Cube Proctor
ESPN BR BP Cube Roberts
ESPN BR BP Cube Robles
ESPN BR BP Cube Romano
ESPN BR BP Cube C. Ross
ESPN BR BP Cube D. Ross
ESPN BR BP Cube Sanchez
ESPN BR BP Cube Schmoll
ESPN BR BP Cube Sele
ESPN BR BP Cube Seo
ESPN BR BP Cube Shuey
ESPN BR BP Cube Stanley
ESPN BR BP Cube S. Stewart
ESPN BR BP Cube Thompson
ESPN BR BP Cube Thurston
ESPN BR BP Cube Valentin
ESPN BR BP Cube Venafro
ESPN BR BP Cube Ventura
ESPN BR BP Cube Weaver
ESPN BR BP Cube Werth
ESPN BR BP Cube Wilson
ESPN BR BP Cube Wunsch
1) using profanity or any euphemisms for profanity
2) personally attacking other commenters
3) baiting other commenters
4) arguing for the sake of arguing
5) discussing politics
6) using hyperbole when something less will suffice
7) using sarcasm in a way that can be misinterpreted negatively
8) making the same point over and over again
9) typing "no-hitter" or "perfect game" to describe either in progress
10) being annoyed by the existence of this list
11) commenting under the obvious influence
12) claiming your opinion isn't allowed when it's just being disagreed with
Baseball Toaster runs on some experimental software called Fairpole. It's still under development.
For more information, please visit the Fairpole blog, or read the FAQ.
When your modest expectations for a left-handed bat off the bench are Todd Hundley and Jeremy Giambi, and neither player has the backbone (almost literally) to stay healthy, Oliver Twist starts to look like Richie Rich.
The Dodger roster is shaping up to be the opposite of Musical Chairs: too many seats, not enough orbiting kids.
Here's how the roster projects today, with players meriting further discussion in italics:
Starting Rotation (5): Hideo Nomo, Odalis Perez, Kazuhisa Ishii, Jeff Weaver, Edwin Jackson
Bullpen (6): Eric Gagne, Guillermo Mota, Paul Shuey, Tom Martin, Wilson Alvarez, Darren Dreifort
Opening Day Lineup (8): Dave Roberts, Cesar Izturis, Adrian Beltre, Shawn Green, Paul Lo Duca, Juan Encarnacion, Robin Ventura, Jolbert Cabrera
Bench (6): Dave Ross, Bubba Trammell, Alex Cora, Jason Romano, Olmedo Saenz, Koyie Hill
Next in Line: Jose Lima, Joe Thurston, Steve Colyer, Chin-Feng Chen
Ishii will probably start the season in the rotation and may even stay there - he still has more strikeout potential than Lima, Perez or Weaver. But with a multitude of candidates and a dearth of leeway, Ishii figures to be on a shorter leash than in previous seasons.
It was probably my imagination, but Dreifort appeared depressed during his inning of work. He had a chance for an at-bat Sunday and some double-duty practice, but went out for a pinch-hitter.
Ventura gets the Opening Day starting nod based on the likelihood that the Padres' starting pitcher will be right-handed. That's the only criteria, and there are certainly other options. Ventura was signed to be a bench player, and in any semblance of an ideal world, that's what he would be.
Cora still doesn't have a Spring Training at-bat but could start the season as a reserve. If he gets a rehab assignment instead, Thurston will earn his spot. I watched Thurston on Sunday's exhibition telecast - he made good contact with his bat and with his hip, but is a hacker all the way. And, he got picked off at second base. He'll do well at this point if he can match Wilton Guerrero's career.
I can't say for sure how many hits Romano, the teacher's pet, has been racking up in the late innings of Spring Training against minor-league pitching, but I know it's a fair amount. Out of options, Romano has nonetheless taken advantage of this opportunity to build up appearances and play himself onto the roster - the team really wants him to succeed.
Saenz continues to be my pick over Jose Hernandez for the endowed Ron Coomer Memorial Professional Right-Handed Hitter Chair.
With Giambi's injuries, the Dodgers may be even more inclined to play catcher Lo Duca at catcher and first base, and have to be more inclined to find an alternative source for left-handed fuel. This spot could also go to Thurston - and hell, it'd be fun, albeit damaging, to see James Loney out youngify Jackson - but right now, Hill remains the best solution.
Lima got through four innings Sunday in 42 pitches, but against a AAA-level lineup. Certainly, the Dodgers want him as insurance and may placate him by including him in the bullpen. Even so, though he has said he won't go to the minors, he would do well to wait out Ishii, Dreifort or Alvarez if that turns out to be his only option. In fact, once the Dodgers pass two early season off days on April 8 and 12, they may decide to go to 12 pitchers and add Lima.
Colyer has not had a good spring but should stay on the ready, particularly with the fragile health of fellow lefties Alvarez and Martin.
Chen is 3 for 7 since solving his visa problems - maybe he'll sneak on somehow with a late run.
Finally, a word about Izturis. He batted second Sunday, as appears to be the plan. In the first inning, he sacrificed with Wilkin Ruan on second base - giving up a critical out to move a speedy runner 90 feet. He later came up with Joe Thurston in scoring position and two out, and made the third out. If Dodger manager Jim Tracy thinks he can hide a weak hitter in the No. 2 slot either by making him a full-time bunter or simply hoping for the best, it's probably wishful thinking.
Late in Sunday's game, Izturis singled Ruan from first to third. The wishful thinking will no doubt continue.
Comment status: comments have been closed.