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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: 35-27 (.565)
When Jon attended: 4-3 (.571)
When Jon didn't: 31-24 (.564)
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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2) personally attacking other commenters
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4) arguing for the sake of arguing
5) discussing politics
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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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For more information, please visit the Fairpole blog, or read the FAQ.
In case you missed it and want to see it, I'm linking to Jeffrey Anderson's L.A. Weekly feature on Scott Boras.
I feel a little obnoxious saying this, especially since the story is nothing if not well-written, but I read this about a week ago and didn't find anything particularly revelatory within the piece. But people are talking about it, so I figured I'd make a note of it.
I think I've said before on Dodger Thoughts that I don't demonize Boras the way others do. As far as I'm concerned, he's doing his job, and it's up to major league owners and general managers to do theirs. If they don't like what he's selling, all they have to do is say no. If they do like what he's selling, why shouldn't they pay what the market will bear. (It's not as if the Dodgers don't do the same thing to their fans. I don't see that cycle ending soon.) And as far as the players he represents, they just have to remember that they're the boss.
To me, aside from providing some atmospheric details and a few small pieces of information, the article mainly gives Boras a chance to spin his case and people such as Dodger general manager Ned Colletti to spin theirs. On both sides, the spin at times is perfectly sensible and other times stretches credibility. Meanwhile, what's the insight?
If you don't know Boras' story - and no doubt a good chunk of the Weekly audience doesn't - it's a good read. But if you do know it, I think this article will seem awfully familiar.
* * *
Kate Sullivan's "Love Letter to the L.A. Dodgers" in the Weekly is disappointing for different reasons, but I suppose reasons just as personal. Consider this passage:
And I'm still a brand-new baseball fan, after all. And it's fun to be a new fan. One thing that bugs me about some veteran fans is their lack of foolish romance about individual players, and their tough-skinned acceptance that "baseball is big business." (Even Vinny, the eternal romantic, disappointed me with his dispassionate Zen reaction to the '04 trades.) Baseball is big business, all right, but that's because it's big entertainment, and entertainment is about much more than pure numbers.
I'll excuse her as a self-described new fan for not trusting enough in Vinny to see his attitude toward the 2004 trades as anything but a contradiction to his love of the game. Reading someone perpetuate the idea that if you didn't disapprove of trading Paul Lo Duca, you were no longer a romantic, that you no longer had foolish crushes on individual players, just makes me feel tired. Talk to me about R.J. Reynolds and Pedro Astacio. Talk to me about Buddy Carlyle. For that matter, talk to me about Lo Duca - I adored him. Even for those fans today who really are jaded, I'd be surprised if you could find many that didn't harbor a long lost baseball love. Irrationality and rationality can coexist.
I'm truly glad she's a new fan - I welcome her heartily to the club - and I can only hope her excitement is contagious. But she reopened some old wounds in an unpleasant way. Fortunately, she does end on a more agreeable note (for me).
Firstly, stadium staff need to shoot on sight anyone with a beach ball. Fans trying to start a wave should be forced to watch the remainder of the game in their underpants. Fans trying to perform a wave during tense late-innings moments should be lined up and tickled by the bullpen, then banished for the remainder of the season. Fans trying to start a chant that includes the word "suck" should be lightly beaten about the head and shoulders, and reminded that a truly great team doesn't need to insult anyone else.
Fans who choose instead to chant, "Let's go Dodgers, let's go!" should be given free ice cream as reward for their sportsmanship and good taste.
Let's go Dodgers, let's go!
A few years ago, I started making a list of 100 edicts I would hand down in the unfortunate and highly unlikely event that I am ever named commissioner. Edict #1: Snipers will be present at each game. Anyone seen behind home plate talking on their cell phone and waving will be shot on sight.
But times are getting better and it feels more like Spring then Winter for baseball.
I was thrilled when I was in San Diego at the ealier series and saw the stadium packed with kids. And when Alyssa Milano started her blog, it made me smile. So welcome new fans of all types. Be part of the club and we'll band together to make our tribe the World Champions.
... whose ineptness and greed were the inspiration for this episode.
http://www.snpp.com/episodes/CABF13
Fire Drew McCourt, hire her.
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