Baseball Toaster: Dodger Thoughts : Coach Woodson

Jon Weisman's outlet
for dealing psychologically
with the Los Angeles Dodgers
and baseball.

Hot from the Toaster

Dodger Thoughts
'Or'

Bronx Banter
Toronto Blue Jays IV: Go, Go, Godzilla! Edition

Cardboard Gods
Yaz

The Griddle
Korea takes command of Olympic baseball on Day 6

The Juice
Federate

Catfish Stew
The End of Ziegler's Streak, in Photos

Bad Altitude
Season Continues, Despite Indicators

Humbug
Midnight, Cleveland

Cub Town
Just Like That

Fairpole
Layout Experiments This Weekend

Mike's Baseball Rants
Shades of September?

Toaster Sites
Baseball Toaster
Toaster.TV

BlogAds

Archives

2008
08 07
06 05 04 03 02 01

2007
12 11 10 09 08 07
06 05 04 03 02 01

2006
12 11 10 09 08 07
06 05 04 03 02 01

2005
12 11 10 09 08 07
06 05 04 03 02 01

2004
12 11 10 09 08 07
06 05 04 03 02 01

2003
12 11 10 09 08 07
06 05 04 03 02 01

2002
09 08 07

About Jon

Write to Jon

Jon's other site:
Screen Jam
TV and more ...

A kind of biography
"The Meaning of the Game"

Support Dodger Thoughts

Dodger Thoughts T-Shirts
On sale through February 16, 2008

Click here to order.

* * *

The Best of Dodger Thoughts
A 325-page book featuring the top selections from this website from 2002-2005.

Click here for more information.

On Sale Now at Lulu.com

* * *

Or, just make a donation to support the site. Many thanks.

"Dodger Thoughts, like TiVo, is one of those things you can completely do without until you start using it."

- Fanerman

Dodger Sites

Dodger Resources

Non-Partisan Baseball Sites

Partisan Baseball Sites

Baseball, Among Other Things

Invaluable Resources

Less Dodgers, More L.A.

All in the Family

Ask Greg (about Gargoyles)
Anatomy of a Shovel

Other Writing by Jon on the Web

SI.com
NL West Preview
Evaluating Defense
Colletti and Depo
World Baseball Classic
Minor League Broadcasters
Slow Starts
Eric Gagne
Groundball Pitchers
Dodger Prospects
Albert Pujols
Humbled Angels
You Be the Manager
Eric Gagne II
Unreliable Relievers
Revived Angels
It's Okay To Sell
Dodger Turnaround
Andre Ethier
Padres-Dodgers Showdown
NL Final Weekend
Mets-Dodgers NLDS
Postseason ratings
NL Wish Lists
Manny vs. J.D.
McGwire Controversy
Dodger Offense
Trainers Matter

Variety
Will Arnett
John C. McGinley
Laura Dern
Imelda Staunton
SAG Awards
Ellen Pompeo
Grey's Anatomy
2004-05 Rookie Dramas
Anthony Hopkins
NATPE
Scrubs
Award Shows
Topher Grace
Ashton Kutcher
Writing on Improv Shows
Rainn Wilson
T.R. Knight
Guest Actors
Animation Guests
Joey Carson and Tennis
Donald Trump and Golf
2006 Emmys Nominees*
*Comedy Series
*Comedy Director
*Comedy Writer
*Comedy Actor
*Comedy Supporting Actor
Blue's Clues
Lizzy Caplan
Ann Donahue
CMT: Giants
CMA Awards
Little Miss Sunshine
Actor-Directors
Freshman Series
Clint Eastwood
Showrunners vs. Censors
Little Children
Breaking and Entering
Tartikoff Legacy Awards
Jackie Earle Haley
Knights of Prosperity
Office Online
2007 Screenplay Noms
Friday Night Lights
Robert Benton
ABC Fridays
Rookie Actors
Global Casting
2007 Pilot Casting
Sublime Slime

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)

More Shameless Self-Promotion

Riverside Press-Enterprise

2008 Season

Dodger home record: 35-27 (.565)
When Jon attended: 4-3 (.571)
When Jon didn't: 31-24 (.564)

1991-2007

Dodgers at home: 745-600 (.554)
Jon attended: 293-233 (.557)*
Jon didn't: 457-374 (.550)
* includes road games attended

2008 Payroll Worksheet

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

The 2008 Dodgers

ESPN BR BP Cube Alvarez
ESPN BR BP Cube Abreu
ESPN BR BP Cube Beimel
ESPN BR BP Cube Bennett
ESPN BR BP Cube Billingsley
ESPN BR BP Cube Brazoban
ESPN BR BP Cube Broxton
ESPN BR BP Cube DeWitt
ESPN BR BP Cube Ethier
ESPN BR BP Cube Furcal
ESPN BR BP Cube Garciaparra
ESPN BR BP Cube Hu
ESPN BR BP Cube Jones
ESPN BR BP Cube Kemp
ESPN BR BP Cube Kent
ESPN BR BP Cube Kuo
ESPN BR BP Cube Kuroda
ESPN BR BP Cube LaRoche
ESPN BR BP Cube Loaiza
ESPN BR BP Cube Loney
ESPN BR BP Cube Lowe
ESPN BR BP Cube Martin
ESPN BR BP Cube May
ESPN BR BP Cube McDonald
ESPN BR BP Cube Meloan
ESPN BR BP Cube Miller
ESPN BR BP Cube Orenduff
ESPN BR BP Cube Park
ESPN BR BP Cube Paul
ESPN BR BP Cube Penny
ESPN BR BP Cube Pierre
ESPN BR BP Cube Proctor
ESPN BR BP Cube Repko
ESPN BR BP Cube Saito
ESPN BR BP Cube Schmidt
ESPN BR BP Cube Stults
ESPN BR BP Cube Sweeney
ESPN BR BP Cube Troncoso
ESPN BR BP Cube Wade
ESPN BR BP Cube Young

Selected Recent Ex-Dodgers

ESPN BR BP Cube Alomar
ESPN BR BP Cube Alvarez
ESPN BR BP Cube Aybar
ESPN BR BP Cube Baez
ESPN BR BP Cube Bako
ESPN BR BP Cube Beltre
ESPN BR BP Cube Bradley
ESPN BR BP Cube Cabrera
ESPN BR BP Cube Carrara
ESPN BR BP Cube Carter
ESPN BR BP Cube Chen
ESPN BR BP Cube Choi
ESPN BR BP Cube Cora
ESPN BR BP Cube Crosby
ESPN BR BP Cube Cruz
ESPN BR BP Cube Dessens
ESPN BR BP Cube Dreifort
ESPN BR BP Cube Drew
ESPN BR BP Cube Encarnacion
ESPN BR BP Cube Edwards
ESPN BR BP Cube Erickson
ESPN BR BP Cube Falkenborg
ESPN BR BP Cube Finley
ESPN BR BP Cube Flores
ESPN BR BP Cube Gagne
ESPN BR BP Cube Grabowski
ESPN BR BP Cube Green
ESPN BR BP Cube Guzman
ESPN BR BP Cube Hanrahan
ESPN BR BP Cube Hernandez
ESPN BR BP Cube Hundley
ESPN BR BP Cube Ishii
ESPN BR BP Cube Izturis
ESPN BR BP Cube Jackson
ESPN BR BP Cube Karros
ESPN BR BP Cube Ketchner
ESPN BR BP Cube Ledee
ESPN BR BP Cube Lima
ESPN BR BP Cube Lo Duca
ESPN BR BP Cube Lofton
ESPN BR BP Cube T. Martin
ESPN BR BP Cube Mayne
ESPN BR BP Cube G. Mota
ESPN BR BP Cube Mueller
ESPN BR BP Cube Myrow
ESPN BR BP Cube Nakamura
ESPN BR BP Cube Navarro
ESPN BR BP Cube Nomo
ESPN BR BP Cube Osoria
ESPN BR BP Cube A. Perez
ESPN BR BP Cube O. Perez
ESPN BR BP Cube Phillips
ESPN BR BP Cube Proctor
ESPN BR BP Cube Roberts
ESPN BR BP Cube Robles
ESPN BR BP Cube Romano
ESPN BR BP Cube C. Ross
ESPN BR BP Cube D. Ross
ESPN BR BP Cube Sanchez
ESPN BR BP Cube Schmoll
ESPN BR BP Cube Sele
ESPN BR BP Cube Seo
ESPN BR BP Cube Shuey
ESPN BR BP Cube Stanley
ESPN BR BP Cube S. Stewart
ESPN BR BP Cube Thompson
ESPN BR BP Cube Thurston
ESPN BR BP Cube Valentin
ESPN BR BP Cube Venafro
ESPN BR BP Cube Ventura
ESPN BR BP Cube Weaver
ESPN BR BP Cube Werth
ESPN BR BP Cube Wilson
ESPN BR BP Cube Wunsch

Dodger Thoughts Land

Plant your flag!

Thank You For Not ...

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

Syndication

About the Toaster

Baseball Toaster runs on some experimental software called Fairpole. It's still under development.

For more information, please visit the Fairpole blog, or read the FAQ.

Coach Woodson

2008-01-29 08:18

by Jon Weisman

Tracy Woodson didn't do much statistically for the 1988 Dodgers, but he bonded with Tommy Lasorda. Woodson is now the baseball coach at Valparaiso, and Lasorda paid him a visit as part of a fundraiser.

I don't recall Woodson's greatest moment as a Dodger, but I'm sure there was one. Who thinks they can find it?

Advertisement

Comments (53)

Show/Hide Comments 1-50

2008-01-29 08:31:34

1. D4P

Didn't Tracy have a peach fuzz mustache a la Cory Snyder?

2008-01-29 08:35:33

2. wireroom

I met my girlfriend at Valpo a few years back when the band I played in did concert at the college. Good ol' Northwestern Indiana. I will have to forward these links to her seeing as how much she gets to watch and hear about the Dodgers from me.

2008-01-29 08:39:26

3. ToyCannon

Tracy Woodson & Mike Busch always seemed like the same person.

Tracy hit a home run off of Nolan Ryan which turned out to be a the game winner but I don't know if that was his greatest moment. I remember him as an affable guy who just wasn't very good but someone you rooted for.

2008-01-29 08:47:57

4. D4P

I remember him as an affable guy who just wasn't very good but someone you rooted for

I don't know whether it was my age or whether the late-80s were a "simpler," more "innocent" time, but I don't recall being nearly as critical (or even aware) of bad players back then. I suppose part of it is that player evaluation has come a long way in 20 years, as players like Tracy look a lot worse to me now than they did back then.

2008-01-29 08:49:29

5. Penarol1916

4. Or maybe the years have just beaten you down and made you a more critical person in general, I know they have for me.

2008-01-29 08:49:50

6. Eric Stephen

I remember Tracy Woodson for two things:

1) The massive, bone-crushing bearhug he laid on Kirk Gibson amid the celebration of his Game 1 HR.

2) Striking out to end Tom Browning's perfect game in 1988 (which happened on Orel Hershiser's 30th birthday)

2008-01-29 08:50:19

7. Marty

Woodson was just another version of Jeff Hamilton wasn't he? Or I'm confusing my under-achieving third basemen.

2008-01-29 08:51:13

8. wireroom

4 I think the quality of pitching back then compared to nowadays has a lot to do with our perceptions of who was good or bad.

2008-01-29 08:52:38

9. old dodger fan

Woodson "knocks in" the 4th run in the Dodgers 4-3 win over the A's in Game 4 of the 88 WS.

DODGERS 7TH: Hamilton popped to first; Griffin walked; Sax
singled to center [Griffin to third]; CADARET REPLACED STEWART
(PITCHING); WOODSON BATTED FOR STUBBS; Woodson grounded out
(shortstop to second to first) [Griffin scored, Sax to second];
Hatcher flied to center; 1 R, 1 H, 0 E, 1 LOB. Dodgers 4,
Athletics 2.

2008-01-29 08:56:37

10. D4P

I think the quality of pitching back then compared to nowadays has a lot to do with our perceptions of who was good or bad

I doubt the pitching was better. Rather, I think the hitting was worse, at least in part because of PEDs.

2008-01-29 08:57:58

11. regfairfield

3 Brett Butler could tell the difference.

2008-01-29 08:59:37

12. Jon Weisman

4 - Even though I did look at OBP and slugging back then, there's no doubt that a .249 average with no walks and little power offended me less then than it does now.

2008-01-29 08:59:44

13. Bob Timmermann

Steroids. They even ruin our overly sentimentalized memories of youth.

Won't Congress do something about this scourge? D4P needs fonder memories of the late 1990s.

2008-01-29 09:01:13

14. paranoidandroid

Woodson's greatest moment was when he realized that Tommy Lardsoda was as fake and phony as Dr. Phil.

During an "inspirational" locker room speech, Woodson reportedly blew a fuse and shouted, "Stop your nonsense dribble right now Pillsbury!"

Mariano Duncan was seen snickering and quietly clapping in the background. Mike Piazza had to bite his fist to keep from breaking up.

2008-01-29 09:05:39

15. Kevin Lewis

So, how many of you are planning on going to the Coliseum game? A lot of it is going to depend on what type of seat I am able to get for $15 or $25 and whether they can show me with a diagram where I will be sitting.

I am starting to think the games at Dodger stadium might be more fun.

2008-01-29 09:10:17

16. wireroom

10 I guess I have a perception that pitching was better because guys pitched more innings on average, had lower era's, and pitched more complete games. With less injury it seems, but maybe there are stats that prove this assumption wrong?

2008-01-29 09:10:34

17. paranoidandroid

As a season ticket holder, I was forced to purchase two tickets to the Coliseum game for $20 each. I have no idea where the seats are or what would be a good seat. They haven't given any indication about when they will even assign seat numbers or anything. I'll go check the mydodgersaccount on dodgers.com and see if posted seat assignments.

I'll very likely sell them as I'd rather go to a regular season game. I much prefer the games that count unless I can get to a spring training facility and be able to chat with the players and coaches.

I suspect there will be people who want to get a glimpse of the Boston team though. You can cram a lot of people into that stadium. They might just make it general admission in two different price ranges.

2008-01-29 09:11:52

18. wireroom

But I do agree the steroids probably had something to do with it as well.

2008-01-29 09:15:29

19. regfairfield

16 Couldn't it be because hitters are worse? Or because we understand that running guys out there for marathon sessions don't result in long careers?

2008-01-29 09:18:14

20. Jon Weisman

If I had only one game to go to this year, I wouldn't make it the Coliseum game. But I'm very much looking forward to going to that Coliseum game, although it's going to be a challenge for me to get to.

2008-01-29 09:21:08

21. Jon Weisman

From Basketball Prospectus:

"Stanford has to be the least talked about top-15 team in the country. Never mind what you hear about alleged defensive stalwarts UCLA and Washington State. To this point the Cardinal has had far and away the best defense in the Pac-10. No, they can't score. I'm just saying, given the right opponent(s), they can make some noise in March."

http://www.basketballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=117

2008-01-29 09:21:36

22. paranoidandroid

No tickets or seats are posted yet on the 'My Dodgers Account'.

2008-01-29 09:22:29

23. Jason in Canada

I'm very excited that my dad has got tickets to the game on the 28th, the night before the Coliseum game. We are coming to visit family over spring break and are flying home on the 29th.

The best part will be bringing my 5 year old son and wife to their first Dodger game and Dodger dogs.

I will have to share with my boy how at one time there used to be this thing called "foul ball territory" at Dodger stadium. Right down where all those rich people are sitting. ;)

2008-01-29 09:22:37

24. D4P

12
I probably considered a .249 BA to be "average" or "decent". Not "good", mind you, but not terrible either, especially since I didn't consider other stuff.

2008-01-29 09:29:38

25. paranoidandroid

I seem to recall that the pitching mound was lowered at some point to increase offense in baseball. I thought this was in the 80's before steroids were rumored to be rampant. That would explain why pitchers dominated more in the 70s.

I wonder what a Bob Gibson would be like in today's game. They would protect him by not letting him go 9 innings so often, but I can't imagine a guy posting those sick E.R.A.s in the modern game.

2008-01-29 09:35:21

26. fiddlestick

Tracy Woodson hit a home run in a game my grandfather took me to.

2008-01-29 09:35:25

27. regfairfield

25 BP's translated stats do try to answer that question by moving everyones numbers to a neutral era.

Gibson '68: 278 IP, 2.23 ERA, 8.5 K/9, 1.9 BB/9, .8 HR/9

Peavy '07: 271.3 IP, 2.85 ERA, 8.5 K/9, 2.4 BB/9, .6 HR/9

Conclusion: Gibson would be pretty good still.

2008-01-29 09:36:17

28. Brent is a Dodger Fan

Woodson's greatest moment? Watching Gibson hit the Game One Home run. Wasn't that your greatest moment of 1988 too?

;)

2008-01-29 09:37:09

29. wireroom

19 are you saying today's average hitter is worse than in 1988?

2008-01-29 09:38:00

30. Andrew Shimmin

Compared to Stubbs and Alfredo Griffin, Woodson was decent. '88 was the first full season I followed, and I only followed the Dodgers (we didn't have MLB Extra Innings back in the day) so the other Dodgers were my only basis for comparison. I thought Mickey Hatcher was terrific.

But since Orel was my point of reference for pitchers, I thought Fernando was a bum.

2008-01-29 09:38:28

31. regfairfield

29 Yep. Though 1988 is really weird because offensive numbers collapsed for one year then they sort of went back to normal.

2008-01-29 09:39:00

32. regfairfield

29 Wait, no, I'm saying that today's average hitter is better.

2008-01-29 09:45:50

33. D4P

I thought Mickey Hatcher was terrific

We all did.

2008-01-29 09:51:12

34. ToyCannon

11
True.
Still all these slow large white 3rd baseman seemed to be cloned from 87-95. Hamilton, Woodson, and Busch. All big guys (6'3-6'5)who should have had some semblance of power but hit the ball as though they were playing in Petco. Man it was frustrating. I wanted a Mike Schmidt and all I got was a Bob Schmidt.

2008-01-29 09:52:35

35. wireroom

32 It is interesting that some people think that pitchers get hurt more now because they haven't built enough endurance, like pitching a ton of innings for years. Maybe with baseball having so many more teams now, a lot of mediocre pitching makes it up to the big leagues.

2008-01-29 09:56:42

36. greenchris

Around 12 years old, sitting in the old dugout seats in a game against the Astros, during BP a ball gets loose and Woodson comes over to grab it while I yell "tracy, let me have that ball"...about 10 mins later at the end of BP Tracy comes looking for me to give me the ball. Was the first time I went home with a ball from a baseball game. I was also fortunate enough to have Nolan Ryan sign the ball.

A little nostalgic because I hadn't heard/seen Tracy's name in a while.

2008-01-29 09:57:03

37. Inside Baseball

I was at the game when Gibson scored from second base on a wild pitch to win a game against the Expos?? in August of 1988. I'm pretty sure Tracy Woodson it a solo homerun maybe in the bottom of the eighth inning to bring the Dodgers within one run. Then Gibson tied it in the ninth with an RBI single and so on.

IIRC, I would characterize this as his greatest moment because it set up another great Gibson moment that season.

2008-01-29 09:57:20

38. ToyCannon

But you have the influx of the Dominican and now Japanese pitchers to make up for some of the expansion.

25
The mound was raised after 1968. It wasn't just Bob Gibson who went crazy that year. It was also the last year of a 30 game winner Denny McLain the greatest character in baseball in the 70's.

2008-01-29 09:59:19

39. GoBears

I think they lowered the mound in 1969, after Gibson's ridiculous season. Did they lower it again in the 1980s? Not that I recall.

2008-01-29 09:59:32

40. Xeifrank

I will most likely only go to one Dodger game this year and it will hopefully be the Colliseum game. Not so much because of who they are playing against, but because of the venue they are playing at. How often do you get to see a MLB game at a "throw back" stadium? I wasn't around for the Wally Moon era, and would like to see todays major league players play in the Colliseum, even if it is only an exhibition game. To me, it's a can't miss event and much more attractive than sitting in the "All You Can Eat" pavillion at DS.
vr, Xei

2008-01-29 09:59:50

41. wireroom

36 Dave Winfield did the same thing for me when I was a kid. Nice guy.

2008-01-29 10:00:14

42. GoBears

TC beat me to the year, but I win in terms of the direction of the re-moundification.

2008-01-29 10:01:03

43. kinbote

For never was a story of more woe
Than this of Bavasi and his Angelo.

(my deepest apologies to the poet)

2008-01-29 10:01:56

44. GoBears

44. Ya mean, "the bard?"

2008-01-29 10:03:39

45. kinbote

43 "Angelos"--rats!

2008-01-29 10:04:00

46. fanerman

Oh happy baseball talk. Where the thing that angers me most is Juan Pierre. Thank goodness.

2008-01-29 10:19:21

47. Jon Weisman

Baseball is killing the Hall of Fame game.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3220296

2008-01-29 10:22:07

48. ToyCannon

42
Doh

2008-01-29 10:23:13

49. Jon Weisman

Another tiny new post up top, or TNPUT.

2008-01-29 10:25:44

50. ToyCannon

40
I think JD will be the most likely to put up a Moon shot from both teams. Has to be a LH that can go the other way.

Show/Hide Comments 51-100

2008-01-29 14:14:20

51. Joe Pierre

TRACY WOODSON I remember him, but I can't remember anything anymore about him.

2008-01-29 14:56:07

52. tjshere

I seem to remember Woodson lining a walkoff single up the middle at some point during the `88 season. I was quite thrilled.

2008-01-30 05:50:16

53. Steve in Rochester

I must say I'm a little bitter about Mr. Lasorda visiting Valparaiso. I was a manager for the men's basketball team from 2000 - 2005 at Valpo, my alma mater. He visited in the spring of 2000 just before I got there and now went back just 3 years after I left. I would have KILLED to had a chance to meet him, since I'm pretty sure I was the biggest Dodger fan in Valparaiso during my time there. Oh well, I guess I just have bad timing.

But I can't be too bitter, at least it prompted a mention of my alma mater on the best Dodgers site on the web.

Advertisement