That would be outstanding!

Here are the starts made by the top 5 pitchers for each NL club in 2007:

Chi - 152 (93.8%)
SD - 143 (87.7%)
Ari - 139 (85.8%)
Mil - 137 (84.6%)
SF - 136 (84.0%)
NY - 133 (82.1%)
Atl - 133 (82.1%)
Hou - 131 (80.9%)
Fla - 131 (80.9%)
Cin - 129 (79.6%)
Pit - 127 (78.4%)
StL - 125 (77.2%)
Phi - 123 (75.9%)
Col - 122 (74.8%)
LA - 118 (72.8%)
Was - 103 (63.6%)

Bob is right (staggering, I know): Kuroda (黒田) means "black field."

Who was the last quality lefty we had?

And the Dodgers treated him like a trash. Shame on them. And me.

Fernando
Reuss
Honeycutt
Odalis

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

Nice to see that he was able to fill the holes through free agency.

13 Never heard of him.

Hmm. Bonds and Aaron....IN-teresting...

2007 ERA+ 115
Optimistic: 136
Pessimistic: 92

2009 ERA+ 112
2010 ERA+ 105

vr, Xei

i know, who cares, right? but seriously, ned has to ask for SOMETHING back. maybe a single prospect of middling quality? i just hope we don't end up with joe crede on our hands.

Man, that 2003 pitching staff was good.

How many times will the 5th starter be skipped in April and May?

Fautino De Los Santos!

I will try to watch some of the volleyball game.

Well, unless we can get rid of that one problem.

I'm not holding my breath, though I'd love it if he turned things back around. Better chance we'll see Elbert and Kershaw within the year.

I'm down with this signing. Now just trade Pierre for the magic beans and it's a nice offseason.

It's almost like Colletti lost a bet. What he has done this off-season has been completely out of character, and as far as I'm concerned, he hasn't made a single mistake ('cept maybe to overpay, but what do I care?).

When the DBax and Rockies knocked out Philly and Chicago last postseason, I was hoping that Colletti would take from that the lesson that talent is more important than PVL. Whether he actually learned that, or, as I say, lost a bet that meant he HAD to keep all the kids for 2008, I don't care. For whatever reason, he has made a series of smart decisions.

Only one more to go.

He signed Kuroda, who is by all accounts a middling starter, and veteran (if not proven in MLB). But he's not an injury concern (Wolf, Schmidt) and he's not a proven disaster (Tomko, Hendrickson).

The big news is that he hasn't made (so far) a single trade of even a 2nd tier prospect for veteran garbage.

So, in retrospect, his moves have been brilliant only in comparison with the worst-case scenarios that were rumored, most likely without any basis in truth. Still, I'll take marginally good moves over marginally bad or pointless moves.

It ain't my money...

Newly Signed Dodger Hiroki Kuroda

2007 Central League ERA ranking: 9
ERA: 3.56
Innings: 179.7
Strikeouts: 123
Walks: 42
Homeruns: 20

Mystery Japanese Pitcher

2007 Central League ERA ranking: 12
ERA: 4.19
Innings: 166.7
Strikeouts: 163
Walks: 49
Homeruns: 21

The mystery pitcher is Kaz Ishii.

I hope this doesn't mean anything. Probably it doesn't.

Overall, it's too easy to give a GM credit for signing free agents. It's more about how much budget you have - not skill.

53 The #12 in ERA for 2007 in the Central League was Takayuki Kishi.

http://www.japanesebaseball.com/players/player.jsp?PlayerID=2147

fyi

Kuroi = black (drop the i)

ta = rice field (changes to da when combined)

Kuroda = black ricefield

the above is according to my wife (she is my informant on things japanese)

473 IP, 36-25, 5.8 BB/9, 7.3 K/9, 92 ERA+

Obviously the control was horrible, but if Kuroda can be just a bit better than Ishii (which he was in 2007), I'd be fine with that.

Now we just need to trade Pierre to the Sox, before the Angels trade them Matthews and we are set to start the year. I don't care if we even get a decent reliever for him, although that would be nice. Lets just get rid of the contract.

Good question. There are a number of different ways you can approach worth. The one I have in mind involves calculating some kind of dollars per win share figure. He'll be outperformed by a lot of pitchers making less money, and I think his salary will exceed the dollars per win share figure.

Ta (田) just means "field." It's usually used for "rice field," (after all, it's Japan), but not exclusively.

I really think we're just going to have to live with Pierre on the roster in ST; I think a lot depends on whether or not Torre is willing and able to make Pierre be a fairly valuable (if hideously overpriced) 4th OF. As a 4th OF, Pierre actually in my opinion becomes useful; he can play all three OF positions, has the speed to be an effective pinch-runner, and is left-handed. I'd much rather him be the 4th OF than Repko, and unlike Young, he can play CF.

WWSH

This regime's spending habits are truely late 1990's/early 2000s esque.

Of course, you'll have to compare Kuroda with other free agents, or make extrapolations regarding Dodger farmhands. And arguably, the only real apples-to-apples comparisons that could be made is with free agent pitchers available this season--i.e. the likes of Lohse and Silva.

WWSH

Plus, odds are that at least one Dodger starter will be hurt or ineffective in 2008, possibly opening up another spot. If a spot doesn't open up in 2008, that will be great for the team.

Who's going to put him in right field?
Sure, he can be a pinch runner. So can a ton of other players.
What does being left handed have to do with anything, if he cant get on base or hit for power?

Pierre acquiring any amount of playing time is bad. There's no redeeming value in Juan Pierre.

would you seriously want to see him in right field, ever?

if pierre was the mets' right fielder in that infamous playoff 2006 playoff game against us, both kent and drew would have scored standing up.

? D4P and JoeyP have been very pessimistic about the signing from the get-go. And Jon's been hardly optimistic. I think Nate's been the only really aggressively optimistic regular poster.

WWSH

You're fine with a guy making 12+ mils performing a little better than Kaz Ishii?

3 starters (Lowe, Schmidt, Kuroda) now make more than Brad Penny does. Thats just not right.

A lot of 4th OFs have poor defense; Pierre would actually have decent rage in RF--probably better than many regular LFs who are stashed there for a reason. His arm stinks, but if he isn't playing everyday, it's not as much of an issue.

WWSH

However, I tend to start worrying about the money we are wasting given Colletti's history. It would be nice to save some for next year and a big pitcher. This Kuroda signing may be two years too many as it is. I don't want that 4 year albatross of Pierre on us for much longer.

The baseball free agent market establishes how much a pitcher costs; if Kuroda is better than the likes of Silva, Lohse, or in-house options, then yes, he's worth 12 mil. The comparison isn't Kuroda vs. Ishii, it's Kuroda vs. Loaiza/Schmidt/McDonald/Kershaw/other free agents.

WWSH

I believed.

Baseball salaries aren't supposed to be an example of a meritocracy.

Having a RF'er with no arm is a huge issue. You are giving up an extra base on every hit to RF with a runner on first or fly ball to right with a runner on second not to mention the runners scoring from second on a single (which is an issue wherever he plays in the OF).

No way will we ever see Pierre in right. I still have my doubts whether we will ever see him there (I certainly hope not).

you just have to look at the team as a whole, and put it all in context. do we have a good team? yes. sure, $110 million or whatever is a bit on the high side to field a team, and you'd like a team like the dodgers to make the most of their financial advantages, but considering what was available this offseason, we didn't do too badly.

LA Times, 1/10/2002.

" In introducing Japanese pitcher Kazuhisa Ishii to fans Wednesday, Dodger pitching Coach Jim Colborn offered an encouraging comparison.

"He's a scaled-down version of Randy Johnson," Colborn said.

Ishii stands 6 feet 2, not 6-10. His fastball tops 90 mph but never hits 100 mph. He does not come equipped with scraggly hair or a Cy Young Award. But he is a left-handed pitcher who does not hide behind breaking balls.

"He's not a touchy-feely pitcher like Tom Glavine," said Colborn, who became familiar with Ishii when he worked in Japan. "He goes after the hitters."

Looking up Ishii's stats, he was worse than I thought.