It's time to panic.

I'm going to start by making a large ball of twine.

I knew Repko would do damage this year just thought it would be to himself and not to our MVP. You'll never see Garret Anderson knocking out an infielder.

The biggest ball of twine in Cali-for-nia!

It's always the ankle with Repko, isn't it?

they mention x-rays yet? I guess this isnt the NFL.....

Of course, we have two first basemen. One of them a shortstop.

Nevertheless, my breath is held.

2-Yeah, Repko's bad news. Seriously.

And here I was feeling sorry for the Cardinals...

Initial prognosis:

"Sprained left ankle"

So its officially a 'sprain'. I guess its not as bad as something being broken, correct? I just dont want to pay Furcal like $15mm to sit around and do nothing the whole season.

sprain could be a week, could be a season.

Depends on the severity. I had a left ankle sprain that put me out for several months and still hurts two years later. Of course I didnt' have a crackerjack training group working on it. Let's see if Ned's investment into the Giant trainer pays off. If it was the old training group I'd already be writing him off.

A sprain is much less serious - depending how severe it is - than anything else it could have been. With these kinds of injuries you really have to wait til some time passes and X Rays are taken (which apparently where he's going), and so on, to know, because when it first happens it can look a lot worse gauging by the player's pain and all. So I'm crossing my fingers that it's not worse than that.

Hey, wasn't Repko formerly a SS? Maybe he can fill in.

Well at least we have a backup leadoff hitter..

Stiener is so bad

Gonzalez just hit one out... er, no, it was caught at the wall. Charlie Steiner really misjudged that one.

HAH!!!!

Steiner just got all excited about LuGo hitting a homerun!!!

It turns out the ball was caught!!!

Aren't the Lakers experts in sprained ankles?

So does this mean Betemit plays SS and LaRoche gets his time at 3rd?

This is like the softball game on Seinfeld with Jason Repko in the part of George and Wilson Valdez in the part of Bette Midler's understudy.

This means Wilson Valdez gets a spot on the roster, I'd guess. But yeah, maybe Betemit at SS (or, heck, Nomar at SS or 3b, Loney at 1st, God, who knows...)

19 I have to imagine. Either that or Nomar goes to third and Loney goes to first.

If only Garciaparra could play shortstop. I'm guessing instead we'll get Martinez.

19 -- Ned has already shown his willingness to trade for backup shortstops for no reason whatsoever. The good news is that this is finally curtains for Hendrickson. The bad news is that it will probably be for Royce Clayton.

Betemit did start his career backing up furcal at ss in ATL. I can't imagine Nomar going back.

Roch Kubato of the Baltimore Sun - I assume tongue in cheek:

http://blogs.baltimoresun.com/sports_custom_roch/2007/03/dodger_injury.html

Dodgers shortstop Rafael Furcal had to be carted off the field after colliding with center fielder Jason Repko while running down Corey Patterson's pop up. It doesn't look good.

So let's start those Miguel Tejada for Brett Tomko rumors.

Furcal is a tough guy, i bet he's playing in 2-3 weeks.

We're not fans of "tough guys" here though, are we?

I don't think a shortstop and sparkplug (forgive me) can rush back from a sprain unless it is truly minor.

Ouch. And ouch for me, as I have Furcal as a keeper.

Furcal has found a way to have an even less productive April than last year. And, please, someone tell Repko to slow down.

Tough to say- Running backs have.
We need to hear the update....
Soon hopefully.

Who is this talking with Steiner in the booth? He's literally putting me to sleep.

26 - Above that link, Roch questions Furcal's pain threshold. Has the guy ever had a sprained ankle? The fear of serious damage is as painful as the damage itself with those types of injuries.

Betemit was a backup SS about 30 pounds ago.

This has to be the worse possible scenario for any Dodger fan. See you guys were hoping for JP to go down and the Baseball God struck down our MVP because that is how he gets his kicks.

Bomko's back

Not that he ever left

Looks like our 5th starter golden boy is showing his true colors now. What a crappy day.

On the other hand, Tomko sure isn't impressing the Orioles much today - maybe he's doing this on purpose so he won't get traded to the O's.

Maybe the Dodgers were a tad premature in assigning Bills to the bullpen, yah?

Ah, Bill Mueller, of course, I'd forgotten. Likeable, but gosh, rather somnambulant.

Dollars to Doughnuts the Colletti Solution (sounds like a Ludlum title) will be to go with a Martinez/Valdez team to cover SS.

As always, not a horrible choice, unless you compare it to all of the in-house alternatives.

Personally, I'd move Betemit and Nomar and start Loney. But I'd be shocked to see that happen. Nomar is anchored.

In 2003, Rafael Furcal sprained his ankle on March 3rd, he returned to action on March 20th and he apparently suffered no relapses during that season.

Repko's hurt

Repko is officially "injury prone"

42 The question is do you move around your infield for a short term solution. My guess is, no you don't.

can this game get any worse?

ah, Toy makes a good point about Betemit's girth. He might not be an option for SS any more. That'd mean that a Martinez/Valdez team is almost inevitable.

Repko's one of those young players who's always trying to make selfish "highlight" catches. Hopefully his career lasts long enough such that he'll be more committed to winning.

This is the team I know and love. Good to see you back, blue. =)

There is no way Colletti will go with Martinez/Valdez. He had a backup shortstop last year and traded him for another backup shortstop because he lived in fear of Martinez at shortstop, even though Martinez played better than the backup shortstop he ended up acquiring (not to mention the backup shortstop he already had).

Early last season, Martinez got a lot of playing time. Later, Lugo was acquired because Colletti wasn't comfortable with having Martinez replace Kent in the lineup for, like, two weeks.

Oh, never mind ...

43
Thanks for the optimistic outlook. His numbers in 2003 were also solid.

Now Repko is headed out. Good riddance.

35 What offering must we make to appease the Baseball God? Catholic-style, we must repeat the Dodger's starting lineup, with Pierre in CF, 50 times? Pagan-style, we must sacrifice (hah!) a virgin in Mount St. Helens? Or shall we place a pile of gloves, balls, bats, and bats at the shrine of Pee Wee Reese in the Hall of Fame?

So, if Repko is hurt, does that mean Choo Freeman makes the opening day roster? Can Bigbie play center?

This is the perfect time for Tomko to melt down and put Kuo-fax back in the race for th fifth starter spot.

I'm compiling updates up top.

49 Is this a sample of sarcasm, I do think that Repko believes that his only way to make the roster is to go flat out on every play but that often leads to more chances of injuring yourself.

55
A better Catholic-style penance would be to organize a large pancake dinner.

Or buy lots of donuts to hand out after Sunday Masses.

You don't need a backup CF per se on the opening day roster. I think Bigbie is definitely next in line, if he wasn't on the team already.

56 Bigbie is playing CF right now.

I stopped listening to the game because I couldn't take it any more. So... what happened to Repko? Did he leap against the fence to try to rob someone of a meaningless home run? Why do the Dodgers even play Repko in spring training?

(Because Pierre plays every day)

60 What, you've never said the rosary as penance?

Off top of anyone's head, when was the last time the Dodgers started an outfield trio for more than one season.

I am guessing that it involved Green and Shef but it may go back farther than that.

Anyone before I check this out.

Injuries.....
Furcal: Valdez as a temporary stop gap or trade.(depending on severity)

Repko: Bigbie should take his spot and eliminate the problem of losing him to another team

54 - I don't get the animosity towards Repko, he seems to be a nice guy who plays hard and has a fair amount of talent. You could just as easily be mad at Furcal for not being careful in Spring Training. Or you could not be angry at all since it was an accident.

55
It is to late for the lot of you. He is an Eckstein fan which is why he's wearing two rings. Some people just don't grasp that you don't bag on the BG's favorites. He also has influence in other area's which is why Greg Brock is unable to get his dream job back home and D4P must continue to endure North Carolina.

I have no doubt that Repko is better than Pierre. The problem is that Repko gets hurt all the time and Pierre doesn't.

67 Valdez wouldn't be ahead of Martinez on the depth chart. The guy is a worthless commodity. Granted, that's not entirely unlike Martinez.

68 I agree with you except for the talent part. He's a nice spare part, but he should be far more disposable than he is.

The law of big numbers finally caught up with the doodler. I remember when he went to the bullpen last year and I thought: "Wow, Tomko has been really solid in the pen," only to see him meltdown a few appearances later.

66. Shef, Green and ...

Butler, Mondesi and ...

hmm. Who was that really tall left fielder from the mid nineties?

68
I always get a little animosity going when the 25th player on the roster takes out the MVP of the team. If he had run over Ramon Martinez I couldn't care less.

I think we were premature in placing billingsley in the pen. Kuo was completly spooked by reyes yesterday, and the Tomko/Hendrickson retread combo does not impress me.

Yeah, I have nothing against Repko, other than the fact that he is constantly getting hurt. I like him when healthy. I like that he plays hard too but he has to be smarter about it at times.

But (gulp), I'm an Eckstein fan too. The God of the Bible saved many a town from his wrath if there was just one good person living there. Doesn't the same principle apply here?

Oh man, did Greg Brock not get the job? I hadn't heard that.

66 Hollandsworth, Cedeno and Mondesi got the majority of the at bats from 96-97.

I love that Markakis guy. The Dodger pitching is going through a dead arm period all at the same time?

Ah, so Repko got hurt on that same play - I thought he stayed in and got hurt later. I was thinking he'd gotten hurt on purpose so he could be sent to the hospital to hang out with injured Raffy. That's just the kind of guy he is.

80 Er, or not. Tony Jackson: "Jason Repko just left the game, apparently after aggravating his right groin strain chasing a ball in the gap. Unlike Furcal, he at least left under his own power. Dodgers trail 5-0 now, but not sure how that happened, as I was in the media work room blogging about all the carnage. Stay tuned."

79 - Isn't he the one who got that Virginia Senator in trouble?

Valdez/Abreu/Hu/R Martinez/Betemit will be fine for few weeks. The Brewers were going to knock the snot out of us even with Furcal on the team. Last April we got about as small a production that you could get out of a SS and we did okay.

73 - You're probably thinking of Billy Ashley, but he ended up platooning with Hollandsworth until Holly took over the position full-time (it helps to be left-handed if you're going to be platooned).

65
Nope, never got a Rosary recital as penance. I usually just copped to lesser sins to get an easier penance.

Henson says it was his hand in the third inning - see above.

78 - according to Retrosheet, they are the only trio to get the majority of starts for two consecutive years since Gibson, Shelby and Marshall. I am not sure what that says about our franchise.

Repko out again with hamstring strain.

I trust Henson over Jackson, so I'll go with hamstring.

Billy Ashley... that takes me back. "Ol' Stonehands," I used to call him.

84 - thanks. yeah, he and Matt Luke occupy the same space in my brain.

I wouldn't be surprised to hear that Furcal has a "high ankle sprain." If Furcal has one of those, seem like he would be at less than full speed until May or maybe even June.

87 I wasn't making a judgment, historically, the club has done a good job with pitchers and infielders and catchers but outfielders have generally been brought over from other organizations.

This has been the story since a certain ToyCannon was brought over in 1974, Monday, Baker, Reggie Smith, Ken Landreaux, Gibson, Strawberry, E. Davis, Sheff, Shawn Green and Drew make up the best outfielders the club has had, with an occasional Mondesi or even Mike Marshall sneaking in.

Probably both a hand injury and a hamstring strain.

Expecting a Nomar injury in three, two, one ...

I have been named the new editor of the Opinion section of the LA Times.

There will now be more commentaries about punctuation.

Abreu is an option. See the bottom of Henson's story:

"Tony Abreu, who should be the second baseman at triple-A Las Vegas, has made a quick recovery from a bruised left shoulder and is ready to play."

95 Dear Editor:
Why don't your editorials contain more ... or !. There must be times when either are appropriate.

Free the puncuation marks aside from periods and commas, let loose the semicolons and question marks.

Thank you! And hopefully next time there will be more to come ...

92
Kal Daniels, Milton Bradley, Andre Ethier, Lugo, and Pierre as additional imports.

Yikes, we must have the worse home grown outfielders in baseball over the last 35 years. Billy Bucker, Mondesi, and Marshall over 30 years who you could say were above average. Help me out, we can't be that bad.

Kemp has a huge history to buck here.

96 That's good news, at least. I assume Abreu can play short, too, yeah?

96

abreu would be a pretty good option. his bat is farther along then Hu and he is decent defensively at SS.

As much as I would love to have Betemit play SS with Laroche starting at 3b, I have serious doubts that Betemit has the physical ability to play SS anymore with how much he has grown.

98 I always found that strange but it has been that way since I started going to games in the mid-seventies.

Actually Guerrero would be on the list too, Lofton and Steve Finley.

Betemit did play 18 games at SS last year, so he's at least somewhat of an option I would think. I remember that number vividly because if he'd played in 2 more games there he would qualify at SS in my league.

Diamond Leung of the Press-Enterprise:

Jason Repko, who was involved in the play with Furcal, has now left the game after diving for a ball on the warning track. He suffered what looked like a gash on his left forearm. ...

UPDATE: Repko has more than just a gash. Even worse for him, he pulled his left hamstring and was on crutches afterward. He will have an MRI on it tomorrow.

Why is the guys we wouldn't so much aren't getting hurt, but our team MVP? I guess this is the kind of bad mojo you get when people start hoping Tomdrickson/Gonzalez have problems in the spring.

Meanwhile, when will the Joe "Erickson" Mays Experiment be over with?

105
Hopefully after a Tejada grand slam

106
Rats, just a double.

I was actually hoping Tomko and Hendy would have better than decent springs - so they can get traded. Does that bring on bad mojo, too? Maybe I should stop hoping for anything good or bad, other than Furcal and Repko getting healthy.

101
I count Pedro as homegrown because when we acquired him from the Indians he was 18 and most of his dvlp came within the Dodgers minor leagues. So now we can drop Marshall off the list and the outfield of Buckner/Mondesi/Pedro is not so bad. Still over 30 years that is a terrible record.

As I said a few weeks ago, I just hope people get out of spring training healthy, their performances are usually not an issue unless they are competing for something.

Hopefully Raffy will be back soon.

The Dodgers have been outscored 41-3 this week.

111. Does that mean we have the better kicking game?

7 updates up top? wow, is that a record? :)
vr, Xei

Homegrown Dodgers Lineup (Since 1972)
C - Piazza, Scioscia
1B - Garvey, Karros
2B - Lopes, Sax
3B - Cey, Beltre
SS - Russell, Duncan
OF - Buckner, Guerrero, Mondesi
SP - Sutton, Welch, Valenzuela, Hershiser, Ramon Martinez
RP - Steve Howe, Eric Gagne
MR - Alejandro Pena

Probably missed some guys, I did not consder Pedro Martinez and Hideo Nomo because one was traded before he broke out as a starter and Nomo had already been a good pitcher in Japan.

One thing is that really after the early '80s, outside the Piazza, Karros, Mondesi group, the farm system was really dry until last year.

We should make up an overhyped team since 72.
I know Dave Anderson, Jeff Hamilton, Greg Brock, Franklin Stubbs, Roger Cedeno, Jose Offerman, Candido Maldonado, Karim Garcia, Jose Gonzales, and Rudy Law would make my list.

Dave Anderson, first round draft choice.

That always makes me giggle for some reason.

Jason Repko is our Alfred Aboya.

113 Same goes for Konerko.

The lineup many want to see:
C- Martin
1B - Loney
2B - Abreu
SS - Furcal
3B - La Roche
LF - Mattingly (ok, a little projection)
CF - Kemp
RF - Ethier

SP - Billingsley, Elbert, Kershaw, Kuo, (Lowe, Schmidt, someone)
RP - Broxton, Meloan, Brazoban, Miller.

It may be 2009 before the Dodgers have something resembling this.

Well, at least I didn't miss anything important so far. So I guess they either play Abreu, play Valdez (eep), or trade half of Tomdrickson for a lesser shortstop who probably wouldn't match Abreu's productivity. May you live in interesting times, I guess.

And the school in RB went with a long term sub instead of hiring a full time teacher (bitter).

116 Aboya has a better injury record. Also Repko may have better hands. I would gladly walk down a alley with Aboya at my side.

118 Did you see the note on your astronaut crush getting a new job?

114 Billy Ashley and General Soreness.

Dave Anderson career 630 OPS. Minor league career OPS was 828 with a high of 1062.

When Costas was making fun of the 88 team he was the poster child.

118 Their loss; sorry to hear about it.

122 I always crack up with the idea that he was the on-deck batter when Davis walked in the bottom of 9th.

Im a little worried a guy like Steve Trachsel can shut us out.

119
Aboya is quite good at injuring teammates because of how hard he plays. He also always has messed up fingers or something, but plays through it. His hand was all wrapped up last night for practice.

Chat now with Kevin Love:

http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/chatESPN?event_id=15082

Sorry to hear the news Brock. You will be back!

121
How could I forget General Soreness. Career minor league OPS of 1019. Career Major league OPS 767. I knew when he hit a ball of the top of the wall in his 1st at bat he was doomed to failure. Same with Offerman.

120 Yeah, I saw that! Looks like ole Brock is taking a trip out to Texas!

I wonder how quickly I can get there without stopping? I know a way of avoiding bathroom stops...

From reading all the posts here it sounds like Repko literally came apart at the seams.

Kevin Durant is younger than Kevin Love?

Kevin Love's favorite player growing up was Larry Bird?

Kevin Love first dunked when he was 13 and it was in a game (really??).

If not a Bruin, Kevin Love would be . . . you'll have to click through, but it's a kind of dog.

Seems like a really nice, smart kid.

Tubby Smith just accepted the Minnesota job.

Sam (San Diego, CA): Being the biggest recruit for UCLA in recent memory, how are you going to handle all the attention from the hotties out and about in Westwood?

Kevin Love: (3:17 PM ET ) Dear Hotties: My primary focus is basketball, but maybe I can work you into my schedule. :-)

Did the Dodgers actually score 2 runs or is that a Gameday error?

Hallelujah, 2 runs!

Greg, you can come work at DT, Inc. The pay stinks but at least there are no benefits.

113 One thing is that really after the early '80s, outside the Piazza, Karros, Mondesi group, the farm system was really dry until last year.

Konerko (as mentioned in 117) and Beltre.

I still remember that brief period when we saw both of them up and in the lineup at the same time. The future never looked so bright, even with the horrid FOX trade.

The farm system would not look so weak if Konerko hadn't been given away and Beltre hadn't had that botched surgery.

134 Look out Westwood, here comes K-Love and Special Sauce.

137 Every time something goes wrong among my friends, we call it a "Dominican Appendectomy."

Me: Hey, how did your LSAT go?
Friend: Dude, it was a total Dominican Appendectomy

I once competed with the drummer in that band (G-Love) for a fine English gal's affections.

The drummer swept that girl away.

(But she and I were sure good friends.)

My friend was so sad when G-Love did that Coca Cola commercial.

Dodger baseball this week has been a "Dominican Appendectomy".

Aboya is a really nice kid. Smart and very conscientious. He took a class with me last year, and I had several long conversations with him. I still root for UCLA to lose every game (well, except against U$C), but I'm an Aboya fan.

137 But we got the hittable Jeff Shaw because you cannot finish out of the playoffs without a closer.

142 Amen.

Well, lunch is over. I'll try to chime in if Loney is hit by a meteor or Saito is decapitated in the bullpen.

What a nightmare.

141 G-Love was probably very happy about it.

140 Jon Stewart said that the world's worst bass player will always get more women than the world's best comedian.

Groan

146 But I was a bartender! That counts for something, right?

Re: 139

Groan again. Who knows how Beltre's career would have turned out if it wasn't for that operation.

WWSH

ESPN reports that Papelbon will be moved to the bullpen thus opening up a spot in the rotation. Hendrickson for ???

150. Manny. If we're going to make stuff up, might as well enjoy it.

144
Didn't Trading Tom give up Lilly, Konerko, and Wetteland during his far to long tenure as GM?

weight be damned, i'd like to see betemit at ss and la roche at 3rd until furcal heals. maybe on days when lowe pitches we can have martinez or valdez manning short, but unless somebody shows me otherwise, i don't think the dropoff is that significant. i mean, how fat is betemit anyway?

He has a week and a half to get on Atkins.

[153] okay, as a follow-up i just looked at the photo gallery. dude does NOT look fat. he looks athletic.

155. I don't know the answer, but I gather that the observation was of Betemit having a tough time playing 3b, in part because he didn't look that quick. So maybe sluggish got translated as "too big."

152 I think Wetteland was earlier. Wasn't he part of the Eric Davis trade?

153 Let's say Furcal is out for a month, and Betemit is an absolute butcher with the glove. Say an 85 rate2. If Valdez/Martinez is average defensively (100 rate2), the Dodgers will allow a little more than three extra runs with Betemit at short.

I have to believe that La Roche is worth far more than three runs in a month than our no hit utility players.

Using Martinez as an example, since he has a PECOTA card, LaRoche should contribute .234 more runs per game offensively than Martinez. Assuming 22 games in the month, La Roche is worth 5.15 more runs than Martinez offensively. Going strictly by those numbers, it's worth it to play Betemit at short, even if he is terrible.

158 I realize I may pounding my head in the wall here but has La Roche done ANYTHING this spring to justify him starting in L.A. next month.

Granted, he has done the job at every level and even last April in AA, he was horrible so maybe he needs sometime to get started.

But this is not a James Loney situation, heck Tony Abreu was playing better, Andy has to go down, brush off this Spring and start to play well in Vegas, 3B will be here when he is ready.

LaRussa's mug shot is on ESPN.com, the guy should have taken a cab.

152

www.baseball-reference.com: Carlos Perez, Mark Grudzielanek, Hiram Bocachica for Ted Lilly, Wilton Guerrero, Peter Bergeron, and Jonathan Tucker.

From my memory: Shaw for Konerko and Reyes, but I'll double-check in a second.

160 I feel the same way, bh. I think La Roche needs more seasoning, and his fielding this spring didn't help any. Again, spring training stats may not mean much but I was more impressed with Abreu both bat and glove than I was with La Roche this spring. He needs a little time in the minors before getting major league starts. I'd be happy with Nomar, Abreu Kent and Loney and/or Betemit filling in where needed, until Furcal's back.

Besides, if La Roche is on the big club something would happen to him. Rhino attack or some such.

[160] fine, if not la roche then put nomar at third, betemit at short, and let loney man first base.

i just really don't want to see martinez or valdez wind up with a starting job for a month or however long furcal is out. hell, maybe even give chin-lung hu a shot.

159
Yes that sounds reasonable. So most DT posters seem to think the reasonable solution is Betemit at SS with:
A. La Roche moving 3rd, no other changes.
B. Nomar moving to 3rd, Loney to 1st.

I'm on board for option B just because I think Loney is ready to contribute offensively and defensively right now and I'm not so sure La Roche is. With Loney at 1st, I think he'll be able to help out the wild throws from Nomar.

Using Valdez or Ramon at SS for anything more then a week or two is probably not the optimal solution but probably the one Ned will go with. I am in fear that Ned will make a panic trade and we have no more JtD to just throw away unless he can turn Tomko or Hendrickson into a fungible SS. Barmes at Colorado would be a decent solution for Hendrickson. Not that Barmes is anything to get excited about but he is better then Valdez or Ramon. Maybe

160. You say that almost as if ST performance were an indication of anything other than non-death. La Roche continues to live (and walk!). That's all we've learned over the last few weeks.

La Roche has started to press on defense and it has messed him up. Once he relaxes, he would play a better third base than Betemit.

166. Ewww. Hendrickson for Barmes sound just yucky enough to be likely. Good thing I finished my lunch.

I should have said "just pointless and yucky enough." It's not like I'm a Hendrickson fan.

Looks like Furcal's sprain isnt too heinous according to Henson.

"Furcal writhed in pain after the play and was taken from the field on a mechanized cart. He was taken to a hospital for X-rays, which showed no break or ligament damage. He will be re-evaluated in a day or two after the swelling has subsided."

I'd rather it be a pointless trade then something like Kuo for Barmes, or Kuo for Berroa, or Kuo for Blum, or Kuo for Cintron if you get my drift.

The roto world is taking the Furcal injury very hard. The NFBC draft was last weekend and many teams drafted Furcal in the 3rd or 4th round counting on him to be the stolen base anchor. If he's gone for 8 weeks and his speed is effected their season is already toast before it started. Not a good way to blow $1300.

171. Yeah....Colletti should still trade Clayton Kershaw for Royce Clayton, just to be safe. That trade may LOOK balanced (one Clayton for another), but it nets a proven veteran defensive presence who wants to win for an unproven stat-hungry nobody.

Who's with me?

...someone revive Nate.

i spent a 4th round pick on furcal in a fantasy draft the other day. ah well. i'm glad it's apparently not too serious.

On KFWB, A Martinez said the Dodgers expect Furcal back within a week, but are proceeding on the notion that Repko will be out past Opening Day. If that were true, crisis averted - in fact, maybe the roster would include both Larry Bigbie and James Loney.

If La Roche isn't ready, but gets the call up anyway, what will that mean? Will he be worse than Ramon Martinez, because he isn't ready? Valdez isn't ready, and probably won't ever be. I'm not sure 'ready' is a useful concept.

Hendrickson for Barmes. It could happen.

I would be entertained if Nomar were at third, Abreu at ss, Loney at first.

175 and Valdez

I would go with Nomar at 3B but I would like to see him at least take a ground ball there first.

175

Holy Cow, lets hope thats even clsoe to being true.... Great news.
Id be happen if he is 100% May 1, honestly.

are the dodgers still on kfwb? i thought they switched radio stations

happy

175 As long as the words high and ankle sprain are not connected, that probably is a reasonable estimate, games don't count for 11 days so I think he will play in Milwaukee. If he doesn't play next week, look for Raffy to be put on the DL retroactive to tomorrow with his return during the SF series or the home opener.

181- Next year. This is the last year of the contract.

183 That DL manuever is probable for Repko too.

you all laughed at me and came with your weak stats about repko when i said he would fall down and hurt himself trying to steal a base.. .then he takes down their best player with him...

184 The problem will be, which station do they go to, the one that makes the most sense is 1580 the Ticket but I doubt they would pay enough for the rights, KLAC already has conflcts with the Lakers and UCLA while KSPN has the Angels (though they are in the last year of their deal with them, Moreno probably will move them to his own station).

Spring Training games dont really matter, but this stat is pretty incredible:

Dodgers have been outscored 41-3 in their last 5 games (0-5).

188- I read that somewhere.

188 Jon noted that above.

I believe the song "Demolition Man" was written in anticipation of the baseball career of Jason Repko.

If Mike Marshall is General Soreness, then Jason Repko is Captain Chaos.

Tomdrickson is Corporal Punishment.

Is it ironic that Repko could end up losing more time to his injury then Furcal? I don't want to have everyone go Alanis on me if I use the term incorrectly.

what about...Nomar at SS (gasp!) Betemit at third, kent at second, and Loney at first.

It really really REALLY irritates me when guys get hurt so close to the season.

193- Only if he was trying to take Furry out.

172 - Sounds like Angel Berroa could get released (or at least buried on the bench), so it's very doubtful that it would take Kuo to get him. Hendrickson is a more likely swap. Hopefully Furcal isn't out long enough to necessitate an outside replacement.

Has there been any indication from the FO that a scenario exists that moves Nomar off firstbase? SS or even 3B seems to be very wishful thinking.

Ironically, I stopped worry about Alanis Morrissette

AP article has been updated:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring2007/news/story?id=2808405

Furcal: "I was relieved with the results. I had a similar injury in 2002 with the Braves in spring training," Furcal said. "I may be out four or five days. I could play if it's 80 percent. You don't always play at 100 percent -- sometimes you play hurt."

199 - Welcome, and thank you.

From sidebar of SI.com's article picking the Dodgers to win the division==

"In his rookie season last year closer Takashi Saito put up a 3.73 ERA against NL West opponents but a microscopic 0.24 mark against teams from other divisions. Why the huge discrepancy? The 37-year-old Saito, who had never been a full-time closer during his 14-year career with the Yokohama BayStars franchise of the Japanese Central League, relies heavily on getting batters to chase a slider that he rarely throws in the strike zone; it's a neat trick but one that quickly wears thin the more times opponents face him.

"Manager Grady Little should consider using hard-throwing 22-year-old Jonathan Broxton as his closer against the West, reserving Saito for the rest of a league that doesn't see Los Angeles quite as often. After his May 1 call-up last season, Broxton settled into the Dodgers' setup role and struck out 97 in 76 1/3 innings."

http://tinyurl.com/2l3ej9

The thought of Angel Berroa as a Dodger almost made me toss my lunch, even more than Barmes. Berroa is terrible, terrible. We'd be better off with any of the 6-7 in house options, or frankly, with me at SS.

At any rate, before we (or they) panic too much sounds like we should really get a better gauge on the extent of Furcal's injury. My guess is from what it sounds like, the Dodgers will go in house and not panic. I just hope they can trade at least half of Tomdricksonko before too long, and today's Tomko didn't help his value much.

202 And it sounds like we now do have a better sense of the injury, so I can keep my lunch in its proper place.

it doesn't look good for Furcal leading off at Milwaukee on April 2

Phew. Good thing we've got two leadoff hitters.

204. Yeah, because otherwise we'd have to start with the #2 hitter, and one out.

Oh, wait...

As it is, we'll only have to start with the #2 hitter and one out 70% of the time

70% is being generous.

Man, it's a good thing he wants to win... If 29 is veteran enough for ol' Trips Gonzales, that is.

207 - I think even JP can muster a .300 OBP (unless we were talking about Berroa as leadoff).

70% is being generous

Like my appreciation for Onslow, my philanthropy knows no bounds.

But you may be right: with an IsoD of 0.000, expecting him to hit .300 for the Dodgers might be overly optimistic.

The Dodger Injury Conversion Chart(TM) is a harsh mistress, but even harder on players who are in denial about their injuries (i.e., Gagne)

the quote from Furcal sounds uplifting...but please for the love of god don't come back too early. We've had enough of that. Sit out a week if you need it.

Someone posted something about if the organization has said anything about moving Nomar off first...correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Little bring up the possibility that he could get moved around? If we've gotta move Nomar around the infield for a couple weeks to get Loney some AB's I would be fine with it.

Furcal was off by a year (2003) but he was right about the timing.

212 - Yeah I was asking about Nomar. I hadn't heard anything recently (as in, all of ST). I would think that it would take a combination of Betemit, Furcal, and La Roche being unable to play to get Nomar off first and across the diamond, but maybe not.

210- Try as hard as you like, you'll never have as many philanthropies as Bridgette.

214. FWIW, Dodgers.com item very early in ST had Nomar telling Grady he was willing to play where needed.

215
Try as hard as I like, I'll never get that joke.

216 Yeah I thought that was one of the big excuses for us re-signing Nomar.

207
If JP has a lifetime OBP of 350 aren't we talking .650 instead of 700 or is there a new math I'm unfamiliar with? If you want to use last years 330 were still talking 670. I understand the need to dump on JP but can we at least stay in the realm of reality when doing so.

D4P meant batting average not on base, even if it was not worded that way.

216/218. Yes, that was mentioned. But I think blue22 is right - we're not likely to see Nomar anywhere but 1b unless about 6 things go wrong.

Which means that Kevin Bacon will be involved somehow, right?

We only care about OBP here unless we want to make a point and OBP doesn't work then we use batting average. I get it.

219
From 2001 to 2002, his OBP dropped by 46 points. From 2004 to 2005, his OBP dropped by 48 points.

A 30 point drop from 2006 to 2007 doesn't seem completely unrealistic.

D4P meant batting average not on base

No, I meant OBP, but I forgot the rule against making jokes.

I guess my dreams of being a mindreader are over.

At least, I predicted you would love Onslow.

222. No, D4P WAS talking about OBP. And the tongue-in-cheek part is in 210, which "predicts" an OBP of only .300, given his apparenty quest to amass zero walks this season (apparent from his ST performance). With no walks, a .300 OBP would require a .300 BA, which is unlikely. So more likely that .300 OBP would combine a .280 BA with a sprinking of free passes.

Of course, this was an exaggeration, because we know that JP will not REALLY try to get zero walks during the regular season. This is just ST, so clearly, he was just working on new ways to make outs. That doesn't mean he'll actually try them all in games that count.

Pierre will walk intentionally 5-10 times late in games when goofy-Grady double switches have left a relief pitcher in the 3-hole, with no PHs left on the bench.

er, SPRINKLING. Not sure what a sprinking is.

Usually D4P doesn't have any point at all, so this is a great improvement for him.

217- Well, I botched it, a little, since it was Megan, not Bridgette. Starting at 204:

https://dodgerthoughts.baseballtoaster.com/archives/586837.html

Another FWIW....it's just spring training, today's injuries may change the situation, and all that.

But of the Dodgers' 4 hits today, 3 were by players who may not be on the opening day roster--Valdez, Loney, and Bigbie. Nomar had the other.

Usually D4P doesn't have any point at all

I usually make my point after the 4th word in my posts

230
How quickly we forget

How quickly we forget

I actually got through this one. Too bad it doesn't have a point.

201 Does SI actually review the game logs? If the stated premise is correct, then we ought to see less runs early and more runs late. However, the last five last year were against the West and Saito pitched an inning in all five, gave up two hits, and struck out 9. Saito's numbers against the West are skewed simply because he plays in the division more and so there's more likely that if he gets bombed, it will be by a team in the West. Sure enough, we have 9/18 and 7/26 against SD, for three runs each game, 7/5 against Ariz for two runs, and then all the way back to May 2 and 4 against Ariz and SD, with two runs and three runs given up, respectively. From 8/9 through 8/27, Saito appeared in 10 games against Colo, SF and Ariz, pitching 9 innnings and giving up a lone run on 8/10 against Colo [on one hit, with no walks, while striking out two]. So the premise of the SI article is false and you can tell SI that I said so.

I wonder if DT Rule #7 will ever be fully complied with? ;-)

Meanwhile, we should start a DT Dodgers' opening day roster pool, trying to guess the few open spots and who else will get injured.

and you can tell SI that I said so.

Yeah, that'll show 'em.

Our favorite math wiz looking pretty nice:

http://gofugyourself.typepad.com/go_fug_yourself/2007/03/well_played_win.html#more

Go fug yourself? What kind of sites do you visit?

236 It most certainly won't, but it does get irritating when we see Saito pitch lights out last year and he ends up well down on the list for Cy Young voting. It's irritating because people who are supposed to know [it's their job] apparently can't be bothered to read the box scores the next morning for purposes of updating themselves re just what occurred on the West Coast the night before while they were sleeping. And, sorry, but not my fault that the game logs in no way support the underlying premise of the SI piece, but on the contrary, prove just the opposite. Or if you prefer, not only do some apparently not read the box scores the following morning, it further appears that the same some also do not bother to review the game logs to see if the data supports the hypothesis. If the some went to UCLA as undergrads, they were probably found on north campus and not south campus, else they would have learned to not posit a proposition not supported by by the underlying data. Lastly, I was not otherwise blaming the poster here, who ought to be entitled to rely on those holding themselves out as expert, and so I am blaming the purported but not expert[s].

It's actually one of my daily visits. Right after Defamer

Is the site about attractive women wearing weird clothing?

Or just celebs that wear dumb clothes?

mostly celebs that wear dumb clothes. She ws actually praising Danica or I wouldn't have linked to it.

234. Maybe it'd be better if you told them==

letters@si.timeinc.com

You've done your homework. You might get a reply. You never know.

I'd like to hear more about why the SI writer thinks batters won't continue to chase Saito's slider..as if Saito couldn't adjust also, if needed.

Getting "familiar" with a closer is a relative thing. Pitching only an inning or so every couple days, then moving on to the next team on the schedule, a closer isn't likely to face a given batter often enough to lose his edge of keeping the batter guessing, IMO. Yeah, teams in his division will see him more often, but still...

Familiarity hasn't seemed to help NL West batters a whole lot against Hoffman and Fuentes and maybe a few others. Saito may not be a Gagne at his awesome peak, but he flat out has gotten the job done so far.

Tony Jackson has gone with irony (second paragraph):

http://www.dailybreeze.com/sports/articles/6650087.html

If regfairfield were serious about getting 1% of the best Dodger blog vote, he could release his gameday poaching machine on the Saito pitch by pitch data.

Meanwhile, old friend Jayson Werth returns to his roots as a catcher, at least temporarily and probably not too seriously:
http://tinyurl.com/ypgwga

Too bad to hear about Jason Werthko. Maybe when he returns the Dodgers will finally have that power bat they have been desperately seeking. :-)

PDH5204 is kinda like DT's version of old-school Dennis Miller or Bill Hicks. Smart, funny, and prone to rants.

Just don't have a political conversion and become incredibly unfunny, like Dennis did. Or die, like Bill did.

234
239

I totally agree with you and that is exactly what I was researching but you beat me to it.

What really bugs me about what is quoted in 201. Is the comment "relies heavily on getting batters to chase a slider that he rarely throws in the strike zone" Saito actually throws that backdoor slider for strikes most the time. Had you seen him pitch last year at all you would have seen that.

cr

Just getting to the Kevin Goldstein chat from yesterday, Dan Evans gets his endorsement for a GM job. The question was about Seattle, which would be a double bonus: Bavasi getting the boot, and Evans working in the AL.

Nationals beat writer Barry Svrluga, participating in the comments at his post.com blog:

Good point on the released pitchers. I have inquired about Paul Wilson, and it appears the Nationals do not have interest. But if there's a Mark Hendrickson or a Brett Tomko or someone else like that, they could make a change very late.

Latest update by Gurnick says that Kuo has been hurting his last two starts.

He is having shoulder pain.

The discussion continues at Nationals Journal.

Bethesda says: "i would love to get mark hendrickson. but the dodgers would have to release him or the nats would have to make a trade for him."

Hondo Lives says: "I can't see the Dodgers giving either Hendrickson or Tomko away, especially with Penny's shoulder situation. LA's looking to fortify its pen in front of Broxton and Saito, and I bet they'd ask for Wagner or Rauch in return for one of the starters. Tomko's age makes a trade for him something that wouldn't make sense, but would a Hendrickson for Wagner deal work for the Nats?"

Dateline: Dodgertown, March 22, 2007

I have been here for 3 games and here's a partial report:

1. We suck!

2. Three players have impressed me with their bats: Valdez, La Roche and Bigbee.

3. I had a 15 minute chat with Fay Vincent yesterday and I talked with Bill Shelly today for about a half an hour. Vincent is a very cool guy - Shelly is just a baseball junkie.

4. Abreu looked great yesterday (2 back-to-back jacks in BP).

5. Matt Kemp has a "hot mom."

6. Tomko, Hendricksoon, Kuo and Mays do not want (nor do they deserve) the Number 5 spot - Bring C-Bill back!

7. What does Grady Little do?

8. I've got Elbert's signature by itself on 1 ball - BTW- He looks 18!

9. I bought the very last "Dodgertown" book.

10. It' sad to have to leave here, but it is necessary.

More next week!

Baseball America picks us to win the NL West, and even talks about Martin being a contender for MVP:

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/majors/features/263520.html

Also, a great interview with Schilling Jon linked to...

WWSH

253 - Thanks. Added it to the pile.

Probably no one cares tonight, but Kobe has 46 points with 11:30 to go.

And now he has 57, with 2:18 to go. At least according to Sportsline.

Speaking of things nobody cares about, what's going on at the LA Times is extraordinarily silly, even by usual LA Times standards.

Finished with 60. The rest of the team did manage to outscore him, with a combined 62.

261. Whassat?

Could be anything, but I think Steve means this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/23/us/23martinez.html?ref=business

I figured anything this messed up at the LA Times would have to involve Michael Kinsley.

Obviously, this is not the case.

Anything Brian Grazer did on the editorial pages would be 20 times more interesting than the crap the Times turns out on a daily basis. But every five years or so, the Times needs a good self-flagellation/ego boost to pretend that its journalistic integrity is still intact.

laobserved.com broke the story and has been all over it.

But you gotta like this turn of phrase:

made his tenure "untenable."

Or not.

259 - glad somebody's healthy

It could have been handled in one of two ways:

1) Scratch the entire thing, embarrassing a major Hollywood figure who didn't do anything wrong, subjecting us to the same nonsensical opinion section that we have to read every week, start a self-congratulatory noise chamber about journalistic ethics, enlist the aid of pompous blatherers who have nothing better to do than furrow their brows at non-scandals, sensationally force the editorial page editor out, followed (no doubt) by a new hire who pledges to uphold the high standards we've come to expect from the LA Times, followed by another self-congratulatory noise chamber about how wonderful the LA Times is.

2) Put a note in the lower right hand corner of the third page on Sunday disclosing who the editorial page editor is sleeping with.

Sure, #1 was clearly the way to go.

Put Furcal on the 15 day. Put Repko on the 60 day DL. That opens up a spot in the 40 man roster. Repko to be out (whether healthy or not) until after the All Star game. Let Bigbie and Valdez start the season with the Dodgers.

I have a devilish plan for the Dodgers to be able to use a 26 man roster. This is based on the fact that I keep reading (on the boxscore) that Saenz pitched the ninth inning. Apparently, these guys cannot tell saenz and Seanez apart. Keep a 26 man roster with both of them. Just don't use them at the same time.

I wish the Red Sox had someone stupid in charge, because right now they are going to go with Tavarez as their 5th man.

271 Your ideas intrigue me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

You, sir, have a plan. And I like it.

The only thing sillier than what is going on at the LA Times is what has been going on with my hometown newspaper, the Santa Barbara News Press. Incredibly sad. (Google it...)

5th starter struggles and woes of late or not, I'm up for trading Tomko or Hendrickson to the Nats but not sure what Wagner gives us that we don't already have or have in the minors. Can't they just give the Dodgers some money that they can use to solve the parking situation? ;-)

250 Thanks for the kind word and I too thought that something was rather amiss with the outside the zone comment, but since I didn't have the underlying data [the film] to support the hypothesis, I didn't comment on that part.

Now, to be fair to SI, here is a good piece on Saito, though presumably for purposes of us having an easier read and not otherwise boring us with too much detail, certain info is left out when it comes to just how and when Saito came to be closer:

http://tinyurl.com/28eqzx

244 Glad that you did not take personal offense as none was intended. I also thought what you thought re just how much familiarity there might be given the limited occasion to view the man pitch and then not seeing him for a while. But as both you and the SI article otherwise allude to, fine, they might adjust, but so can he, and it appears that he does have two more pitches that none of us has seen yet. Lastly, I will take your advice and email SI, castigating them for the one piece and praising them for the other [nothing like a little balance in life].

Sorry, one more. I wasn't otherwise trying to slight Broxton, since I picked him for my fantasy team after I took Saito and before I took Fuentes.

Bob Timmermann (your life is calling),

In a previous thread, you asked for reasons to visit Arkansas. I forwarded your request to my friends in my city's Chamber of Commerce. Here are their responses:

1) Frank "Jelly" Nash, famed mobster and colleague of Pretty Boy Floyd, is buried here. (Nash was killed in Kansas City's "Union Station Massacre.")

2) Our city has a truly unique name, crafted as a hybrid of the names of two railroad tycoons from the 1800s.

3) One of our schools just won the state basketball tournament.

4) There is at least one Timmermann within easy driving distance of our city.

5) We're about to get a Chili's.

6) Major leaguers Weldon Bowlin and Marlin Stuart were born here. (But, to be fair, we haven't seen either of 'em lately.)

Let me know when you're planning to visit. You can crash in our bonus room if you want.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that the Kentucky Headhunters got their start right here.

Right here, Bob.

The. Kentucky. Headhunters.

Wow, a Chilis.

Shhhh! If word gets out, pretty soon everybody will have one.

Also, I failed to mention that our city is home to the person who holds the record for the longest sentence ever written at DT. Some 316 words, IIRC.

Can't I just pass through Arkansas on the way to Louisiana?

If you want to ignore Mary Steenburgen's hometown or bypass Jerry Van Dyke's ranch, that's a decision you'll have to live with.

On my cross country trip in 1999, my car broke down in Forest City, Arkansas. I was stuck there three days. I had a tough time finding a mechanic because hunting season was opening.

Three days. In Forest City, Arkansas. Three days.

We self medicated much.

223
From 2000 to 2001, his OBP increased 25 points.
From 2002 to 2003, his OBP increased 29 points.
From 2003 to 2004, his OBP increased 13 points.
From 2005 to 2006, his OBP increased 4 points.

A 30 point drop from 2006 to 2007 seems unlikely.

I s'pose it's all about how one paints it.

New post up top.

It's easier for an OBP to increase in some years, if it declines in others. Like 2002 and 2005. It's not likely that Pierre will OBP .300, or less. About as unlikely as he is to SLG .410, according to PECOTA. So, there you go.

You're going to stop at only 17 updates?
vr, Xei