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SI.com
NL West Preview
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Unreliable Relievers
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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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Dodger Thoughts, July 19:
In an interview with NBCSports.com this morning, I was asked which Dodger was most likely to have a big stretch run. And I thought, there's Russell Martin, but you'd expect him to taper a bit under his workload by season's end. There's Rafael Furcal, but we don't know whether his ankle will allow it. There's Nomar Garciaparra, who is too due. There's Matt Kemp and James Loney and Andre Ethier, but they're already doing so well that it's almost impossible for them to kick it up a notch.As it happens, Loney had a monster September and Billingsley got only four outs in his final start of the year Saturday. Still, Billingsley had a 3.12 ERA in the second half this season, capping a fine sophomore year and adding to the promise of a great career. As I like to point out, Billingsley is ahead of Don Sutton at this stage of the game.And my thoughts turned to the pitcher who struggled to get through five innings Wednesday: the one and only Chad Billingsley. He's young but improving. Overall, he's not overworked – in the season's first 95 games, he has thrown 65 2/3 innings and 1,145 pitches. And the closer we get to the end of the season, the more he is going to face NL West teams whose strengths are mostly on the mound and not with the bat.
Not to dismiss the importance of averaging five innings per start as opposed to fewer, but Billingsley is not reliable now. So stipulated. But something more than wishin' and hopin' tells me that he's going to start seeming reliable before the season's out. He's learning, and the difference between him and the likes of Brett Tomko and Mark Hendrickson is, at age 22 23/24ths, Billingsley is already ahead of the curve.
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From my vantage point at Saturday's meaningless game, thanks to great seats passed to me by Dodger Thoughts commenter LAT, Andy LaRoche looked agile at third, and Matt Kemp hustled. Call me crazy.
The crowd seemed like it was ready to fall in love with Chin-Lung Hu. He wins people over: first with his name, then with his game.
* * *
There is no tomorrow:
* * *
NL Smackdown
89-72 Padres
88-73 Mets
88-73 Phillies
88-73 Rockies
His only other starts in his pro career were rehab starts in the minors.
It's too bad about Chads last game, but In most of the second half, when our pitching seemed to collapse he was our "stopper" and you could count on a good effort almost always.
It looks like I'll see this last game on DTV. After yesterday I was afraid Extra Innings had decided there wouldn't be any LA or SF fans who cared. I can't remember where I have directed myself at the end of each season, but I seem to have survived.
Anyone else going to today's finale?
Pierre, CF
Valdez, 2B
Kemp, RF
Loney, 1B
Martin, C
LaRoche, 3B
Ethier, LF
Hu, SS
Stults, P
Russell will probably get an at-bat or two and then sit, maybe even the same for Pierre.
I might expect Tomato sighting and maybe Lucille too.
Maury Wills had a season where he got into 158 games (1965) without a homer.
The suspension is over!
4-0 Fish in the 1st.
2. go brewers!
3. go... only one of new york and philadelphia!
Out of a sheer sense of spite for me.
your the best Bob thanks for the heads up, that's pretty crazy, starting!?
I don't like their philosophy. ;-)
Actually, I have a visceral and irrational dislike of the Giles brothers.
He's batting over .500 this month.
I really hope he gets his 20th home run today though.
D4P is a secret Padres fan.
my divisional hierarchy in terms of dislike:
1. GIANTS
2. arizona
3. san diego
4. colorado
i used to hate the rockies a lot more, but now i kinda like 'em.
I hear you Vishal, I kind of have the same thing with Hillenbrand as well, everything he does is pretty much minus points.
Ok forget about the Mets. Go Nats.
In 1989.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN198905160.shtml
All the Cardinals pitchers bat 8th. La Russa has been doing that for the last two months of the season.
It's actually worked out well. Except that all the Cardinal players got hurt.
I go Giants/Pads/Yankees/Mets. AZ is working on me. I have a fondness for CO for some reason.
Yeah, even Bengie Molina scores from second on a bases-loaded double. ;)
I'm sure the Mets appreciate it.
They better knock Willis out for Green to get a chance to bat.
And that just doesn't sound right.
And it isn't right. Maybe they meant the Marlins were the worst.
The Yankees have 31 5+ runs innings this season.
I don't think they did it last year. They probably don't want to do it because they don't have the rights to show any tiebreaker games. So there's no reason for them to show a game that would publicize a game on another network.
Fish 7, Mets 1 after 1.
I mentioned this to ToyCannon and what does everyone think of moving someone like John Shoemaker or even Steve "Boomer" Yeager to the MLB staff next season.
Not that younger players need an "ally" but it would be similar to when Lasorda came up as a coach as Garvey, Cey, et. al., came up.
Yeager would be less of a threat as a possible managerial candidate and he has the Dodger legacy. And he played a 3B coach in the movies.
"This is one of the most critical off-seasons in memory, with the club having to decide whom from its core group of players it can afford to sign for next year and beyond."
http://tinyurl.com/36zsqg
The Cardinals could use 9 pitchers today, each for one inning.
The team was in first place with them and without them.
The old guys played until the past week, the only one who lost time was Luis Gonzalez, though I'm sure both Ethier and Kemp thought they should have played more.
1. LSU 1,593 (33)
2. USC 1,591 (32)
Kip Wells pitched a second inning, sorry.
Triple for Dontrelle Willis in New York.
USA Today
1. USC (45)
2. LSU (14)
that's not even close.
And a dark cloud settles over Denver.
South Florida. I don't even know their nickname!
Where no one knows your name
And they're ambivalent you came
Da Bulls.
Tony Jackson would be very displeased.
Old Friend Paul Lo Duca batting with the bases loaded and two outs.
Anything that happens before then will just be a rumor.
EQA:
Juan Pierre = .255
Jose Cruz Jr. = .258
OPS+
Juan Pierre = 76
Jose Cruz Jr. = 84
I don't remember why that's one of my specials...
We had a lengthy debate where I kept picking on you.
I suppose you've forgotten about it or succumbed to Stockholm Syndrome.
Which one...?
Prince Fielder isn't starting today and Brett Tomko is going through the lineup like a hot knife through butter.
There playing in Milwaukee (only a 3 run lead) & Tomko is home run prone so I think chances are pretty good that Tomko will meltdown.
The Rangers will likely join them.
Suppan is pitching poorly on his own. The Brewers look like they are just going through the motions. There is booing in Milwaukee.
Think of all the "Hold" opportunities!
Jason Lane may just help the Padres into the playoffs after all.
Most of them brief.
And angry.
Washington is second with 102.
Brandon Lyon leads the majors with 35 and Heath Bell has 34.
Neato. My hunch was correct.
The weird thing, though, is that the league leaders in Holds have such poor records...