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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
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For more information, please visit the Fairpole blog, or read the FAQ.
Within even a pitcher's park, there are places where hitters can thrive.
Dayn Perry of Baseball Prospectus notes that while Dodger Stadium clamps down on offense, it does so in very specific ways.
Perry borrows statistics from the 2004 Scouting Notebook by STATS Inc. that illustrate the effect Dodger Stadium has in various offensive categories. (The following numbers are based on the past three years, with the numbers indicating what percentage of the league average occurs in games at Chavez Ravine.)
92 - Batting average
82 - Doubles
52 - Triples
99 - Home runs
103 - Walks
106 - Strikeouts
93 - Batting average, left-handed hitters
95 - Home runs, left-handed hitters
92 - Batting average, right-handed hitters
101 - Home runs, right-handed hitters
As you can see, Dodger Stadium reduces batting average by a little and doubles and triples by a lot, but hardly impacts home runs at all.
Therefore, Perry concludes, the team should not pursue hitters whose strengths are limited to singles, doubles and triples. The park suppresses those numbers too dramatically.
Rather, the Dodgers should prioritize hitters who can draw a walk and hit home runs. (If they can knock out some two-baggers to boot, that's gravy.)
As an example, Perry suggests rumored Dodger target Adam Dunn, the Cincinnati outfielder. His slugging percentage from home runs alone is .283, which is near Sammy Sosa (.309) territory. And, nearly 61 percent of Dunn's slugging percentage comes from home runs, meaning that his slugging percentage is less likely to fall if he comes to Los Angeles.
"That's quite a bit of power devoted to only homers," Perry writes, "and it's why, despite hitting from the left side, the Dunn of '03 might be a nice fit in L.A. Granted, his component power numbers from 2003 are out of step with his previous two seasons in the majors, but his recent self illustrates the profile quite nicely."
Dunn, only 24, also walked 128 times in 2002 and 74 times in 2003. Dunn's health might be a concern, but at the right price, he could be a good pickup.
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