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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.
As Nomar Garciaparra moves into third base sooner than expected (i.e., tonight) and down in the batting order, I find myself wondering why no major paper has done a "What's wrong with Nomar?" feature.
After all, the Times recently ran a piece dissecting the struggles of a certain Boston Red Sox outfielder - giving it the kind of huge headline that betrayed some sense of glee in doing so. Why wouldn't someone who toils in our own backyard be worthy of the same examination (if not the same glee)?
Maybe there's no explanation for Garciaparra's performance other than speculation about his age or health, but it doesn't mean there isn't a story to be done. I know Garciaparra isn't the talkative type, when it comes to talking about himself. But at a minimum, it seems like someone would want to delve into what's going on with him. Instead, silence.
Even for those who haven't given up on Garciaparra (I myself believe he could easily have some bounce left in him, though not enough to get him back to where he used to be), it's worth talking about why he isn't generating any strength on his swings, worth trying to figure out whether it's a fixable problem or not.
Right now, the Dodgers are committing to playing Garciaparra ahead of Wilson Betemit at third base, even though Betemit produces more offense (despite making less contact). Betemit's on-base percentage is 17 points higher; his slugging percentage is 106 points higher. (And I'm still waiting for someone to explain why we should discount Betemit's pinch-hit at-bats while talking about his ability.)
As we saw in the comments today, Garciaparra has a higher OPS with runners in scoring position, but Betemit is better with runners on base. I call that a wash.
So far this year, even factoring in all his strikeouts, Betemit has been the better hitter. Not an All-Star, not at all. Just better than the alternatives. And he's at an age where we'd expect improvement, not decline.
As I wrote Monday, I'm willing to believe that Garciaparra could still be the better hitter - he certainly has the pedigree - but I'd sure like to know why he hasn't been.
If the answer is that Garciaparra has been unlucky, or has been nursing an injury, or has been sleep-deprived with the twins, or is having problems with his batting mechanics, or whatever, that's something we can factor into the discussion. If the answer is just that Garciaparra is declining, that's another story.
But the questions should be asked.
* * *
Tonight's 6:40 p.m. game:
Seinfeld,Jerry.
this may have been mentioned earlier but just saw that Randy Johnson is officially starting Thursday now, not Livan. Oh well. He doesn't scare me like he once did, but that'll be no easy game.
Still, I'm happy at least Loney's getting the starts at first.
Then I really want to know what the deal with Jeff Weaver is.
Personally, I don't buy that at all. Yeah, that's happened to some guys, like Derek Lowe. But there are lots of counter-examples, too. Carl Everett was at his most nutso during his career year of 2000, for example. In 2006, Lo Duca was all over the tabloids for having an extramarital affair with a teenager, and had his best season since his rookie year. etc etc
I'm going to have to see a heck of a lot of evidence before I believe there's any correlation.
And I too am happy for Loney at first (obviously, given the FJL campaign). But I do hope Nomar works the kinks out as well and gets back on track.
When did the liberian become the funny one?
My count is 3 good ones in 2 days. Maybe I haven't been paying enough attention.
At least with Johnson starting you know Kemp will as well.
We prefer liberrian.
The exceptions that I think of are Pete Rose and Bonds.
Make that 4.
Home .322 .377 .373 .750
Road .238 .265 .299 .564
A suite for the Garciaparras in every hotel!
(Although that .373 SLG at home is still not good.)
Lo Duca was all over the tabloids for having an extramarital affair with a teenager, and had his best season since his rookie year.
Yeah, but he was happy.
Are you a fan of thematic lineup arrangement?
I took a couple classes in college. It wasn't for me.
Actually, don't. We need you batting 1.000 on this blog.
Betemit's 2007 BABIP as a PH: .500
Can't get the batted balls breakdown by type split that way, so, this doesn't go as far to prove it's just luck as one might hope, but it sure does look like it.
And then there are times you wonder if he will ever hit a ball anywhere.
Would not surprise me to see Wilson come in as Nomar's caddie after pinch hitting.
But man, he's become quite the three true outcome player:
In 20 PA, he has walked 5 times, struck out 4 times, and homered 3 times. (60% 3TO).
He is 11 for 65 on balls in play as a 3B. In 127 PA, that's 33 K, 20 BB, and 5 HR. (That's 46% 3TO).
But I need to get out more.
Unfortunately, the results are often the same.
I'm not horribly unhappy about Nomar getting some time at third. It's probably worth giving him some more time to come around. But if he continues to be terrible, it'll be a problem, and the clock is running.
And after the last out is recorded, it's Phillips and over.
No matter what the PR people spit out these folks aren't like the rest of us.
I'd love to see him take batting practice and measure his bat speed from pre all-star game to current. He's got no juice in his bat and it might very well be because ....
But according to that AT&T commercial last year, Nomar & Mia do pretty much everything by themselves. Including the cooking. And it's all a competition.
Would celebrity spokesman Deion Sanders lie to me?
San Diego has Russel Branyan and we have Boom Boom. Don't imagine to many people watching them move through the minors ever figured they'd end up the same kind of hitter.
as PH .190/.271/.310 (48 pa)
as 1b .263/.346/.475 (320 pa)
Whatever...next you're going to tell me that Nomar doesn't mow the lawn or take his turn doing the dishes.
So, now we know why Grady has been holding out Kemp is this series. :-) He KNEW we'd be facing Randy Johnson all along.
3rd best is harder then first base though.
Your boy Chad is pitching!
BILL - INGS - LEY!
BILL- INGS - LEY!
Jon, you are right re: the need for a piece on No-mah's dilemma - lack of power. Good topic.
Go BLUE!
You have to have a strong enough arm for the throw, but I actually think first might be more difficult because of all the footwork/holding runners on/getting off the bag business.
Unless you really meant "3rd best."
Huh? When did I ever proclaim Chad as my boy?
There is a large international student exchange program there, so in the summer, there are literally thousands of students from Russia, Bulgaria and Poland there. Imagine thousands of scantily-clad (blonde and brunette even better looking than) Anna Kournikova types in one place. It was "interesting".
It's all Greek to me...
I think the word you are looking for is "meh" and not "eh."
After a while, I think the ideal order will be:
1) vacant
2) vacant
3) Martin
4) Kemp
5) Loney
6) Gonzalez
7) vacant
8) Kent
9) vacant
10) vacant
11) Nomar
12) Furcal
13) Pierre
14) Pitcher's spot
Ahhh!!
Good Lord.
Not to the crash test dummy! Sigh.
That ball was destroyed.
Well, maybe it did pick a fine time to die.
C'mon Chad, just settle down. They'll pick ya back up.
Anyone else having MLBTV issues?
Took me a while to figure that one out.
Yeah, hopefully that was first inning jitters. I also hope the Dodgers can get some offense against The Bouncer.
113 Exactly, thanks.
why do you think?
and-extra-base play.
Other notes are sure to follow but the root is still that note
Now this new note is the consequence of the one we've just been through
As I'm bound to be the unavoidable consequence of you