Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
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1) using profanity or any euphemisms for profanity
2) personally attacking other commenters
3) baiting other commenters
4) arguing for the sake of arguing
5) discussing politics
6) using hyperbole when something less will suffice
7) using sarcasm in a way that can be misinterpreted negatively
8) making the same point over and over again
9) typing "no-hitter" or "perfect game" to describe either in progress
10) being annoyed by the existence of this list
11) commenting under the obvious influence
12) claiming your opinion isn't allowed when it's just being disagreed with
Five years ago, I kicked off my return to Dodger Thoughts (after the birth of my daughter sidelined me) with a look at the projected Dodger lineup. Take a trip down memory lane:
1. L Dave Roberts, CF .718 OPSA few days later, I looked at the starting rotation:
----Solid, and did well enough against LHP to deserve full-time chance
2. R Paul Lo Duca, C .731 OPS
----Had a more demanding, less productive year than in 2001.
3. L Shawn Green, RF .944 OPS
----So streaky: Barry Bonds one day, Barry Williams the next
4. R Brian Jordan, LF .807 OPS
----His whole season was in September: 30 RBI, .967 OPS
5. L Fred McGriff, 1B .858 OPS
----Had .946 OPS, 28 HR vs. RHP; .620 OPS, 2 HR vs. LHP in 2002
6. R Adrian Beltre, 3B .729 OPS
----Most promising Dodger since Mondesi Ð can he avoid being bigger disappointment?
7. L Joe Thurston, 2B .967 OPS
----196 hits in minors last year, but will he get half that in majors this year?
8. S Alex Cora, SS .805 OPS
----Surprisingly useful at plate, but Dodgers may still go with Cesar Izturis (.556)The best thing about this lineup is the mix of lefties and righties - it's a really good balance. I do think first base will be an improvement over last year, if the Dodgers platoon McGriff with Mike Kinkade (1.083 OPS, 1.219 OPS vs. LHP).
But Green is still the only hitter in this lineup that scares you, and he only scares you during his hot streaks. Similarly, Jordan and Beltre are each good for a couple of streaks of their own each year, but have been inconsistent. The other five players, even at their best, aren't going to kill you. There is room for improvement across-the-board - no one in this lineup exceeded their potential last year - but with the exception of Beltre and Green, it would be more likely that the players would see a dropoff. That's what's scary.
The biggest question mark is Thurston, who has only 15 career plate appearances. There's nothing to suggest he won't have some struggles - unless you think the Dodgers are due for some luck.
MEDIC!You can see how things ended up here. Joe Thurston did not get 98 hits, but the pitching was sure a pleasant surprise, wasn't it?Here are the projected starters:
Odalis Perez, LHP, 15-10, 3.00 ERA
----25 years old and outstanding last year; opponents had OPS of only .605
Hideo Nomo, RHP, 16-6, 3.39 ERA
----Fortunately, team eased off after he threw 254 pitches in two early Sept. starts
Kevin Brown, RHP, 3-4, 4.81 ERA
----Anyone's guess whether he has a good year left
Andy Ashby, RHP, 9-13, 3.91 ERA
----Was very good before All-Star Break in 2002, declined thereafter
Kazuhisa Ishii, LHP, 14-10, 4.27 ERA
----Wasn't even that good when he was goodThe story with the rotation is simple. The Dodgers have depth in the sense they have six starting pitchers, including Darren Dreifort, but four of them had injury-plagued seasons in 2002 and the other two have had serious arm troubles in the past.
Dreifort is said to be 100 percent now, but of the six, he's best suited to work out of the bullpen, so I'm putting him there for now. But no doubt, even if he doesn't begin the season in the rotation, he will find himself there at some point, much as Omar Daal did last year.
I would say that each member of this rotation has the talent to win 12-15 games - and if they all do that, the Dodgers will contend. But this is definitely not a staff like an Oakland or Atlanta, where you can count on the good guys being good and the great guys being great. If Brown is done, and if Ashby is done, and if Ishii and Dreifort don't recover and improve, and if Nomo and Perez tail off ... look out.
On the upside, we will have what is almost certainly the best bullpen in baseball history.
But, um, let's keep him away from Paul Lo Duca.
https://dodgerthoughts.baseballtoaster.com/archives/11076.html
I was gonna say "In 2003 I had never heard of TiVo"
Except for the bullpen -- that bullpen I remember like it was yesterday.
Was that the best bullpen the Dodgers have ever had?
If you agree with it, it's not a rant! Then it's speaking truth to power or something like that.
In my opinion this team had both the best Dodger pitching staff of all time, and the best Dodger defense of all time (by a country mile). The fact that they still managed to not win anything tells you a lot about how bad the hitting was.
Moving with 9 kids must be a hassle.
No team should ever be allowed to cross the Rockies, the Mississippi River or the Mason-Dixon Line (East of the Mississippi), in either direction.
That just sounds so odd.
Happy New Year, everyone. I did not expect to be this satisfied with the off-season at this point. No news is good news when it comes to Trader Ned.
Stay the course. 1000 points of light. Wouldn't be prudent at this juncture.
If you get tired of Walmart, you might want to check out "Henrickson's Home Plus" in the Sandy area.
and in response to, I believe it was Marty's comment made last Friday, There Will Be Blood did not happen at the ArcLight. When the wyf wants to see National Treasure 2 on the local screen...well, you know the rest. It was purty good for a popcorn movie.
Even though there are countless rational reasons not to bring Barry in (and countless more irrational ones), there's always a little SF devil on Ned's shoulder, I think.
Anyway, fielding percentage means bupkus. Shortstops who make a large number of errors tend to be the most underrated defensive players, because people relying on eyewitness observation tend to remember the screwups on the easy plays but forget all the balls the guy reaches that other shortstops don't. Furcal is basically the poster boy for this. Think of all the plays where he makes a spectacular stop and then throws it away, allowing the batter to go to second. Furcal gets an error where other shortstops wouldn't, because they'd never have reached the ball in the first place.
The bullpen was unbelievable...what an agonizing year...I remember my girlfriend at the time convincing herself that the only explanation for Shawn Green's dropoff was that he had an illness and was going to die soon.....
The conference tournament will be on Fox Sports with the final on CBS, I believe. But not many people get excited about the Pac-10 Tournament.
And I go to it every year.
61 crooked nineteenth-century industrialist
Whaa? That's not what they told us at Stanford. All I remember is Leland Stanford Junior dying of typhoid fever in Florence before he turned 16. The university was named after him, not his dad. His dad built railroads that connected this great country, and was just a simple man mourning the loss of his son. He did what any of us would do in that situation -- create a university.
Reacquiring Todd Hundley and signing Daryle Ward sure gives us some nice bench sticks!
Like building railroads.
I thought it was basketball since I don't think any Vanderbilt football games were shown on ESPN this year. I don't recall CBS showing any either.
Who would watch a Vandy football game except Buster Olney?
But Vandy basketball is fun to watch because of the funky arena.
Recently the ACC added Miami, VA Tech and BC which upgraded the FB program but to old ACCers (of which I am not one) it is still a BB conference.
I like UVA and VA Tech because I live in VA although I did not attend either university. I like PAC - 10 schools because I grew up just outside LA.
I dislike FSU football and UNC BB but I reserve my hate for the Yankees.
ACCer's always believe that the ACC has the best BB in the country and always have an excuse when ACC teams get hammered in the 2nd and 3 rounds of the NCAA tournament. It is a way of life here.
Speaking of hoping people are joking, Jamaal Charles' bid for the 2008 Heisman Trophy has been cut short by him declaring for the NFL draft.
barry in Dodger Blue & White makes me want to throw up. I'd have serious problems watching the Dodgers, I think, and may even have to cancel the family/friend holiday we celebrate yearly on Opening Day (home).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eyes_of_Texas
Either that, or they're out makin' love to Dinah.
I just read Kevin Starr's books on my own. But not all of them.
I also took a class at UCLA on the history of California and a seminar on the history of Los Angeles.
2) I know it's softened some by the fact that the contract is for only two years -- softened, hell, this signing is absolutely saved by that fact -- but I still wonder about the Dodgers' wisdom of giving Andruw Jones $18.1 million a year. Don't be surprised if his numbers are worse next year, in spacious Dodger Stadium, than they were in Atlanta in '07.
http://tinyurl.com/23vgzn
i enjoy a casual sim-building game from time to time.
Some dude works on the railroad, presumably to make money to have a nice home with a nice kitchen for his wife, Dinah. And all the live-long day, the captain's shouting, and he just wants to hear his wife, Dinah, blow her horn, because then he knows it's time to come home.
So he comes home, and what does he find there? Someone he knows, in the kitchen with her -- "strummin' her banjo," if you know what I mean.
Right there in the kitchen! Where they eat! After he's been working all the live-long day to provide said kitchen and the food in it!
That song is very, very sad.
Maybe Dinah can make up for it by providing some fried chicken.
It also requires an extraordinarily large table.
The State Librarian for California is Susan Hildreth.
Starr is State Librarian Emeritus. I believe he was given some bowties as a parting gift.
One of these two has improved a great deal.
http://imdb.com/title/tt0086896/
High School Honor Student by Day. Hollywood Hooker by Night.
We've got that.
So can she not make new memories? Does she have to write a lot of notes to herself and tattoo facts about herself on to her person? Does she stay at a cheap motel where the front desk guy rents her multiple rooms because she can't remember which one she rented to begin with?
http://weblogs.variety.com/season_pass/2008/01/a-idol-plea.html
And that an Eric E. killed my family.
Anyone got a stripper pole handy...?
Was 2003 the year that Tracy didn't use Gagne in the 8th inning in the Arizona series in September, or so the claim was that Gagne wasn't used enough?
September 10, 2003 - L.A. at Arizona.
Mr. Finley meet Mr. Quantrill.
http://tinyurl.com/26a3w8
Did you see the heart of the AZ line-up from that day? Gonzo, Mondesi, and Shea.
Webb versus Ishii were the starting pitchers.
The Grittle's a veritable Juan Pierre.
I'll be at Clips game tonight, heading out soon. If you're going, give me a call. I'm in sec 111, row 10, seats 3-4.
http://tinyurl.com/34z3bm
Joe Torre won't pick sides between Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee, the former New York Yankees strength coach who accused the Rocket of using performance-enhancing drugs.
"You're not going to get me in that jackpot," the former Yankees manager said Wednesday. "I'd rather just stay away from making any in-depth comment about the whole steroid-HGH thing."
----Wasn't even that good when he was good
Nailed it.
Just like I felt about Paul Lo...oh.
Go Dodgers!
I guess I was in the shower at the time. Rick and I had a lot of catching up to do.
reading that reminded me of that horrible botched play Furcal made during crunch time in SF this past season (I think he made a HORRIBLE error for what should have been a double play) I know Jon remembers it cause he's mentioned it once before, it was just bad.
You mean the Manuel Barrios trade?
This guy is a complete dunce.
151 - Would that be the trade when the Padres picked up an ace with a World Series ring for some young 1B prospect named Derrek Lee?
Who knows if we'll ever get a shred of truth about all this stuff. I'm not counting on it.
It's a good thing we have character guys like LoDuca on the team for 2003. We don't have to worry about stuff like that in L.A.
I assume its the Sunday game but does anyone recall whether Fan Appreciation is always the last home game of the year or last home Sunday of the year? Thanks
I picked my best films of the year over on my blog and on GC and have Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium at #1. (But seriously folks.)
Ahhh, Joltin' Joe Thurston, he's gonna go places. Places, not necessarily major league baseball places, but places nonetheless.
Happy New Year everyone!
and no need to sing me Happy Birthday - you'd just have to pay the licensee for the privilege.
162 All this because of the backup catcher?
No, no, no. The backup catcher is just an aggravating circumstance. It's all about the tiny-headed elephant in the room, and whether he gets playing time at a position for which he's uniquely unqualified. That's my line in the sand.
Three players have had lower OPS+es while hitting at least 32 home runs: Tony Armas (1983), Vinny Castilla (1999), and Tony Batista (2004).
http://mlbfleecefactor.com/2008/01/03/hank-steinbrenner-yankees-still-involved-in-santana-trade-talks/
Thanks. The free BR options only let me see Tony Batista as the worst.
You're not going anywhere.
I'd start kissing up to him now
No need. Librarians can't resist little research requests. They like to look like know-it-alls.
They will receive a complaint letter from me. I will never fly them again, unless it is a free ticket, and I will only pack a carry on. The ridiculous thing is that my two cousins flew out to St. Louis on separate flights, and NWA lost their luggage too. And, my Father-in-law has a great story of how he flew from Alaska to Hawaii. He was the only passenger on the flight, but his luggage did not make it.
Thomas
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