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"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
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Groundball Pitchers
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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
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Postseason ratings
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2006 Emmys Nominees*
*Comedy Series
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Blue's Clues
Lizzy Caplan
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CMT: Giants
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Office Online
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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
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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
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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.
A year ago, we were flared up for the Dodger ownership change. Things have been a little more sedate this week. But still, there's news ...
"They will work the 40-45 road games that Vin Scully will miss," according to Larry Stewart in Friday's Times. On those occasions, newcomer Charley Steiner, handling the play-by-play, will team with Lyons on television, and Rick Monday will team with Downing on radio.
"When Scully is there for the 110 or so other local telecasts, Steiner and Monday will be the radio team, although for the first three innings, Scully's call will again be simulcast on TV and radio. When Monday works with Steiner, he'll be the commentator. When he works with Downing, he'll do the play-by-play."
Why would Scully subject himself to such a thing?
"A lot of people may not realize this, but as the father of three married daughters, I was T.J.'s secret advisor when his other daughter [Kelly] got married," Scully said. "The big question was, should he spend the extra money on covered chairs or go with uncovered chairs. I told T.J., 'If you don't cover the chairs you will hear about it for the rest of your time on this mortal coil.' "
But, really, why would Scully subject himself to a double team from Simers and his daughter?
"Well, if it doesn't go like I hope it will go, there's always phone failure," Scully said.
Left-hander Kelly Wunsch made more than 200 appearances with the Chicago White Sox from 1999-2003 but sat out nearly all of last season because of a shoulder injury. Another left-hander, six-year veteran Mike Venafro, made 17 appearances for the Dodgers last season.
Right-hander Aquilino Lopez had 14 saves with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2003 but spent much of last season at triple A. Right-hander Ryan Rupe made 83 starts from 1999-2002 with the Tampa Devil Rays and spent last season in Japan.
Another right-hander with limited major league experience, Buddy Carlyle, also has pitched in Japan.
Lefties Wunsch and Venafro, along with righty Lopez, would appear to have the best shot at grabbing a spot on the staff for Opening Day - but any number of these guys could end up in AAA Las Vegas.
... last year Astacio was still in the final stages of recovery from the major shoulder surgery he underwent in June 2003, and his recent impressive, albeit brief, Winter League stint in the Dominican Republic was heavily scouted by clubs shopping for pitching. Some have concluded that his may be the best arm remaining on the open market.
According to newspaper reports in the teams' respective cities, the Mariners, Rockies and Rangers all have strong interest in Astacio.
A 12-game winner as recently as 2002 with the New York Mets, Astacio's upside intrigues clubs still looking for starting help. An ironman who averaged 210 innings in the five-year span from 1996 through 2000, Astacio has since exceeded 190 innings only once.
The pit stop with shoulder problems -- which included tears in the rotator cuff and labrum -- has, oddly enough, kept stress off and extended the life of his arm, giving him a new lease on his career.
I asked baseball medical reporter Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus and All-Baseball.com if there was any legitimate hope for an Astacio comeback.
"There's SOME indication that players take two years to come off labrum surgery," Carroll said. "It's a very small sample set and not the best even at that. Think (Gil) Meche or (Chris) Carpenter, falling off a cliff at some point and you get the picture."
As for that other contest, which proved to be purely about how much campaigning a blog's author and audience could bear, it appears Dodger Thoughts finished in second place. It took a great many people to make that happen - so thank you very much.
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