No links to Gameday?

Does that mean Saito is ready for action?

First post.

Yay! Saito's shoulder is back.

Is Kuo out for the rest of the year? Isn't arthroscopic surgery generally a pretty quick heal? 6-8 weeks usually

From last thread:

101. Yep, based on Martin's statement I figured we'd be prudent and rest him today. But Grady thought otherwise :-)

>>> Russell Martin is expected to be available, even though he left Tuesday night's game in the eighth inning with a tight buttocks muscle. Martin said he originally felt discomfort several days ago and aggravated it on a swing just before his eighth-inning RBI double. <<<

http://tinyurl.com/yqladj

My LATed breaking trade news:

Linebrink to the Brewers. Padres receive minor leaguers being pitchers Will Inman, Steve Garrison, and Joe Thatcher. The Brewers got screwed if you ask me.

Got LAT'd:
Greg, I play violin, french horn, trumpet, tuba and kind of piano in addition to vocal music. I read music as well.

6 I saw that. And I'll be going back from time to time to look if anybody else wants to share. Thanks to everybody.

I hate it when I have to remove loose bodies. From any place.

2 - I assume they'll see how he feels Thursday. He did throw 40 pitches today, after all, so maybe he can go on Friday if he feels good.

It's surprising that the Brewers traded Inman.

Tour De France leader Michael Rasmussen has been kicked out of the race... by his own team. From ESPN:

"The expulsion, which Bergsma said was ordered by the Dutch team sponsor, was linked to "incorrect" information that Rasmussen gave to the team's sports director over his whereabouts last month. Rasmussen missed random drug tests May 8 and June 28."

I hate it when incorrect information catches up to you.

Who is this Will Inman that you guys are raving about?

11 http://tinyurl.com/3dxtgt

Just caught an ESPN radio interview here in Las Vegas with Will Carroll of BP. It was the same old tired "buyers and sellers" trade deadline stuff, and Carroll claimed that he's "talked to every team at least three times over the past week." Then he got to the Dodgers, and my heart just about sank. He couldn't hide his sense of disbelief, and he said "Ned Colletti is the new Sabean -- apparently, if you're not 30 years old, he thinks you're worthless." He went on to marvel at the "names (he) keeps hearing," saying that both Loney and Billingsley are being shopped, and implying that we're going to look back longingly at the days we watched all of the Dodger prospects in LV who went on to stardom with other teams. Lots of talk this time of year, I know, but it sure didn't make me feel good.

11 Basically, a class A pitcher currently doing his best imitation of Bob Gibson.

11
http://www.rotowire.com/baseball/player.htm?id=8796

He's good. Real good. I can't believe the Brewers traded him and two other prospects for a set-up man. This would be like the Dodgers trading Meloan - except Inman's a starter - and two other guys for Dotel. (And if they do that, I'll tear out my hair.)

13. If Colletti does anything with Loney and Billingsley, the net results had better be a Dodgers WS appearance this year.

I see that Inman was the Single-A Starting Pitcher of the year in 2006.

13 I wouldn't take much Carroll says about the Dodgers seriously at this point. Given what I've heard from him before, and what others mentioned in previous thread, he has a mix of blissful ignorance and some manner of distaste about the Dodgers for some reason I can't quite figure out. Ever since his confusion about Chad Billingsley I've stopped listening to him. And I can't believe for a second they're shopping Billingsley around. They need another starter, not to subtract their best young one. Sounds completely implausible.

13 Key quote: "Ned Colletti is the new Sabean -- apparently, if you're not 30 years old, he thinks you're worthless."

Notice that word "apparently." If Ned traded Loney and Bills for age 30+ players who aren't damn close to immortal in ability, he'd be run out of town on a rail. I think Ned has made mistakes. I don't think he's stupid.

I think that mixing young players with Veterans is somewhat of an adjustment for Ned. I don't doubt that if he were the GM of the Giants, he'd had done the same thing Sabean did (i.e. trade young players for Veterans to surround Bonds).

The Padres traded away a commodity they could afford to lose, a commodity that is both unreliable and fairly easy to replenish, for something that will give them great value down the road.

Damn you, DePodesta!

12
15

Where are his 2007 stats?

22
http://tinyurl.com/386ap6

Loose bodies... didn't know it was a medical term. Where is Dr Timmermann when you need him! vr, Xei

will carroll is becoming increasingly irrelevant to me as well. who thinks the braves got a shot at tex? it makes absolutely no sense to me...

Billingsley is NOT being shopped, no matter what he says. Totally illogical and ridiculous.

20 I like this perspective. Of course, with the Giants, Ned and Sabean never had this caliber and depth of young'uns to fall for. Speaking of which, is there a chapter in recent Dodger history that was more suited to starting a blog for those of us who are infatuated with "Dodgers" at every level of the organization? What a moment -- and a medium to match. Thanks (again) Jon!

23

thanks! looks like he's struggling a bit in AA

13 That goes against pretty much every single quote I've heard from Dodgers brass about trading the youngsters. I have a feeling the only reason those names were even mentioned was to see if we could get a franchise player for one of them.

24 Sounds like something that goes straight to video.

28-He WAS struggling. His last few starts look pretty strong.

If Ned Colletti calls up the Twins and says, "We'll give you Chad Billingsley for Johan Santana and $10 million," then he has shopped Billingsley around. That's why all this talk is so meaningless. It's just lost on me how people get so interested in what others might do, when what they might do has no bearing on what they will do.

Inman was getting hurt by the longball (7 HR/39 IP) but has since settled down. Even when he was struggling, he was striking out over a batter an inning and had a 42/16 KW ratio.

31 judging by his height, is he one of those short, quirky windup, flame throwers? it looks like hes starting to turn the corner a bit, but he is still 1-5...

anyone got anything on inman's pitch reportoire?

And now Cofidis is pulling out thanks to Cristian Moreni testing positive for testosterone:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/cycling/6916422.stm

34-I don't have my Prospect Handbook handy at the moment.

32 Wait... you want us to pay attention to what is real as opposed to what might be real?

I won't do it. (Holding breath in corner, turning blue).

aw, the last thread was just getting warmed up!

Aaron Cook's 74-pitch gem today was only the 9th game of nine innings or more with fewer than 80 pitches since 1957. The 74 pitches matched Carlos Silva for the fewest in a 9+ inning CG since 1957.

Bob Tewksbury made the list twice. John Tudor made the list in 1988, but it was 3 months prior to joining the soon-to-be champions.

http://www.bb-ref.com/pi/shareit/nUJp

40 - Wow.

I bet those are the players other teams are asking for, not us necessarily offering them.

Loney plays everyday, I doubt we are getting ready to ship him off.

40- that was one of the worst offensive displays ive seen in quite some time. i knew aaron cook had a sinker but geez.

40 That list made me think of Greg Maddux last year. Maddux made only 68 pitches in his 8 innings in last year's great 1-0 over the Giants on Sunday Night Baseball, a game that featured Maddux vs. Schmidt, and a walk-off HR by Russell Martin in the 10th.

Linebrink's FIP era is 5.69 this year. Although the 9 HR allowed looks flukey given his 16% HR rate on FB vs. 9% career. SD has clearly read Jon's column on middle relief volatility. Heath Bell? Kevin Cameron?

A Rotoworld article back in April had this to say about Inman:

"Will Inman – RHP Brewers – Not a lot of noise has been made about their progress in developing youngsters, but the Brewers have quickly developed an impressive yet top-heavy minor league system. Yovani Gallardo and Ryan Braun are among the 15 best prospects in the game, and Inman is an up-and-comer who has the potential to crack the top 50 in short order. The club also has a number of interesting pitching prospects in Jeremy Jeffress, Manny Parra, and Mark Rogers to go with promising hitters Cole Gillespe, Angel Salome, and Lorenzo Cain. Add in that they've graduated Prince Fielder, Corey Hart, and Rickie Weeks over the last two seasons, and scouting director Jack Zduriencik probably doesn't get as many accolades as he deserves.

While Braun and Gallardo are potential All-Stars who should break into the majors this season, Inman is still another year or two away. The 6'0", 200-pound Inman was a third round selection in the 2005 draft out of a Virginia high school. He signed quickly and jumped into Rookie ball, posting an ERA under 2.00 with a 59/12 K/BB ratio in 47 innings of work. Inman was allowed to work out of the bullpen for a portion of those outings and it was a small sample against weak competition, but the debut still qualified as excellent.

Assigned to Single-A West Virginia to begin the 2006 campaign, Inman continued to overmatch hitters in the low minors. He posted an excellent 134/24 K/BB ratio while giving up just 75 hits in 110 2/3 innings of work. Overall, he went 10-2 with a 1.71 ERA in 20 starts and three relief appearances. The one negative in the season was that Inman missed most of May and June after going to the disabled list with a shoulder strain. He was as dominant as ever after returning, but even relatively minor injuries are a red flag for pitchers this young.

The Brewers thus figure to be cautious with the right-hander, and he's going to spend most of 2007 at High-A Brevard County regardless of how well he pitches. Inman, however, will do his best to test their patience. He's already off to a fast start for the Manatees, striking out 15 and giving up just one run over his first 10 2/3 innings. With excellent command of a fastball that can reach 93 MPH to go with a pair of above average secondary offerings in a curve and changeup, Inman's relative polish for a 20-year-old will further tempt the club's front office.

Inman shouldn't have much difficulty dispensing of High-A batters this summer, so the biggest key to his prospect status is staying healthy. If he can make it to August without experiencing any arm injuries, perhaps a late season promotion will be in order. Double-A will prove a better test for Inman due to his lack of exceptional fastball velocity, but he throws plenty hard enough to succeed and I'm expecting him to pass with flying colors. Should he remain healthy and effective, Inman will enter 2008 as one of the game's top 10 pitching prospects. He's on track to break into the majors late in 2008 or early in 2009."

Why do GM's feel the need to give Kevin Towers good players for mediocre players?

I think it's all a small market conspiracy.

So was Inman pretty much the Brewers Kershaw? or Macdonald?

[7] I hate it when I have to remove loose bodies. From any place.

that's just begging for an off-color joke to be made. but since this is dodger thoughts, i will leave it to our respective imaginations. ;)

40 Upon further review, it seems Baseball-Reference.com is missing some pitch count data from various years, so Cook's 74-pitch game might not be as rare. It's still amazing, but maybe not as amazing.

48 You'd think they'd be suspicious given that SD is in a race and their trading the "name" guy in their pen. This deal has 'exploit the deadline trade market' written all over it.

This will be the game chat thread.

51 Andy Ashby had a 75 pitch CG in 1998- oddly enough a July game between COL & SD:
http://tinyurl.com/yw3bay

wait, so the padres got inman AND two other pitchers for... scott linebrink?? he of the almost-4 ERA and declining peripherals? i thought the brewers were smarter than that.

i was wondering why we were talking about inman.

49 Somewhere in between

Anyone see this from the BA Jim Callis chat today?

Jem (Westchester): According to ESPN, the Dodgers might consider trading Chin-Lung Hu to the Royals for Dotel. If so, is he a guy the Royals would be able to pencil in at second or short for the future?

Jim Callis: He can play shortstop. That would be a good deal for the Royals.

Believe it or not the Phillies have a single A starter by the name of Josh Outman. An Inman vs. Outman matchup may only 2 years off. I'm going with Outman.

I would think, given the year Furcal is had, the Dodgers would hold tight to Hu for 2009 as insurance that Furcal won't be worth resigning at whatever he asks for.

Dodgers could have given the Brewers a plethora of better pitchers for that package. Ned needs to take some creativity seminars.

Does anyone else find it strange that Ethier-Nomar and Kemp-Betemit seem to play together these days? I would expect Ethier-Betemit and Nomar-Kemp instead...

I do not get the infatuation with Octavio Dotel. Sure, if we could get him for scraps go ahead.

61 why is that?

I swear someone once wrote something there is no such think as a pitching prospect.

From BA's midyear prospect report on Will Inman, No. 91 in their top 100 (note that Kershaw is now in the top ten overall prospects in baseball)

"Brewers righty Will Inman has done what scouts feared he might do—run into a wall in Double-A, giving up five homers in his first 22 innings. He'll have to adjust to avoid just being a Class A phenom."

Of the other two pitchers, one in the Florida State League (soon to be Calif)as 21 year old lefty starter. The other pitcher will probably be called up at some point, he's a 25 year old lefty with scary numbers but right now, don't know if he compares to Meloan or Mark Alexander.

60 I don't have Ned's trade record in front of me, but has he even once acquired a young player that wasn't major league ready?

[63] platooning.

65 - Ethier.

I don't have Ned's trade record in front of me

It's probably best if we all leave it behind us

Has Ned acquired any young player aside from Ethier?

69- Betemit

64 Sure, the Brewers didn't exactly give up any blue-chippers, but all three players acquired have a legitimate shot of becoming major leaguers. The only solace for the Brewers is that Linebrink will probably be a Type-A free agent so they'll get a couple draft picks.

65 - Mainly besides Ethier he got that one minor leager from the White Sox for Sandy Alomar. But also mainly he needs Creative Thinking Courses.

60 The Brewers are thinking today, so who on the Dodgers right now, has established record of getting outs in the 8th inning? Broxton.
That's it.
Okay maybe Joe Beimel but he is still more effective against lefties, anyways the Dodgers don't exactly have middle relief to deal right now.

I truly understand the fascination with young players but the Padres got two guys that are still in High A or just entering AA, that's great for their minor league depth, which is pretty poor but this deal outside of the PCL lefty they got, is not going to help them this year unless they spin these players within the next week.

And its a risk for them especially if Young goes down, they may have 4 starters who can only pitch 6 innings, if Heath Bell moves into the 8th, Meridith and Ring become your 6th/7th guys, etc. Now, the other thing is that Linebrink was in is arbitration year so the Padres did not want to pay 2 or 3 million for a middle reliever, which makes sense but for now, they will miss Linebrink more than you think.

70
Oh yeah, forgot he was on our team.

Here is tonight's lineup, with each player's stats since the AS break (small Billy Sample caveats apply):

SS Furcal - 339/356/482
CF Pierre - 306/358/347
C Martin - 261/346/326
2B Kent - 395/478/816
LF Gonzo - 282/300/385
3B Betemit - 474/545/737
1B Loney - 327/370/469
RF Kemp - 406/441/813

Tonight's eight starters have combined for a robust .335/.387/.512 in the 12 games since the AS break.

73 - Um Beimel.

73 - Sorry for 76.

Really nice write up there, I like your perspective about how this might be detrimental considering Youngs injury. I was just getting a little frustrated considering that they got Young/AGonzo for Otsuka/Eaton and from the scouting reports about Inmans Class A success I was angry that they might have done it yet again.

I stand corrected, Linebrink will be a free agent, last year he ranked 7th among NL relief pitchers per the Elias player ratings so unless his stats explode, he will probably still be a Type A free agent.

He is making 1.75 million this year so he is owed 40% of that for the rest of the year.

75
So basically our two best players before the break are now our two worst players?

I had suspected as much just from observation, but never dared to rip on Russell.

73 Ring just got optioned to AAA. Besides Bell and Meredith, they still have Hampson and Cameron who may not be the sexiest names but have been very effective this year.

77 Cool, that Young/Gonzalez deal will give Kevin Towers a lot of credits in the great deals column (and is Bradley deal is probably just a shade under that one, Barrett, I just can't shake the won-loss record (I want to say its now 6-13 when he starts) from him though I am sure it is totally unrelated.

Regarding this item at the start of this thread: "Mark Hendrickson is 0 for 40 as a Dodger hitter, putting him within two at-bats of setting an NL record for greatest batting futility with one team, according to Andrew Grant at True Blue L.A.."

In 1962, pitcher Bob Buhl was 0 for 1 with Milwaukee before being acquired early in the season by the Cubs. With Chicago, he went 0 for 69 that season. Wouldn't that top Hendrickson's record for futility?

Hmmm, with the Dodger game starting in 20 minutes I'm tempted to stay awake, especially since I took about a 5 hour nap earlier. On the other hand, the game will most likely keep me up until 5 am or so and I have to check out by noon.

Eh, screw it, I'll sleep on the train.

Last thing for a while but remember when the Padres run differential record was so much better than their actual record?

Well, its beginning to catch up, its now only two games better.

TJ said Meat might play 2B tomorrow.

65 BJ LaMura, the return from the Alomar deal.

If Ned wants another veteran pitcher, Scott Elarton was just released. Let's hope he avoids this opportunity to add veteran-ness to the pitching staff.

86 - Thanks,I knew he was Italian.

[82] yes, it would. interestingly he had an RBI, a stolen base, and scored two runs in his 0-for-70

82 - Not if he eventually got a hit with the Cubs in some other season.

Charlie Steiner shaved off his moustache?

I just noticed.

hmmm...

Nothing new, but Evan Grant seems to think that the Dodgers are still heavily involved with Teixeira, or at least that's what a source has told him. Also interested in Gagne or Benoit. I'm not sure how new the article is, but it's dated about 4:13p today.

http://tinyurl.com/yuujfr

85 They're showcasing him!!

Based on the comments in Diamond Leung's blog, he has cornered the market on DT commenters.

well, it still wouldn't set a record for futility to begin a career with a team, then.

i think part of mark hendrickson's problem is that he presents a fairly generous strike zone.

84Overkill, so are you in Bologna now ?
It's dangerous to start watching the game at 2am, but I'm even so, going for it too…

umm, why is martin catching?

At first I thought 93 refered to 91. It's much funnier that way.

96 Yup, last night in Bologna before I head over to Rome tomorrow.

I'm watching the game on KCAL-HD tonight.

only the 1st inning and D Lo is sweating like he's been playing for 2 hours.

97 Because he's our starting catcher, and is much better than Mike Lieberthal.

98 I meant it tragically anyway.

gah, kent didn't hustle all the way and it cost him.

99
don't sleep too much on the train - the tuscan - followed by the umbrian - countryside is beautiful… chianti vineyards…

Question for the group:

Which Baseball columnists/reporters do you (in specific or general) prefer or trust?

I like Kurkjian, Gammons and Rosenthal, but I'm probably in the minority here...

99 I'm envious. I'm 44 and I've never been out of the country. My wife has a passport that looks like a primer for a Geography final exam.

Enjoy the trip!

105
I like Larry Stone with the Seattle Times.

Through five complete, Fausto Carmona has an unmentionable against Boston. I mention this because:

a) He's on my fantasy baseball team and
b) I came thisclose to benching him today.

105 Gammons tops the list for me.