does it make me a bad fan that i was kinda happy to see loaiza/park get lit, so maybe kuo or maybe kershaw would replace them ASAP

right now we have one OFer playing well and that's it. I'm not ready to give up on the others just yet. Kemp and Druw BOTH look terrible. Lets give the same patience to Druw as we want management to give Kemp. Sure Druw was bad last year, but that was it. I'm not sure he's gone the way of the Gonzo just yet.

Lara's been stuck in Class A for a long time.

It'd have been better if the Dodgers could have attempted to get some catching depth, as opposed to another light hitting SS.

On the Druw thing, its unlikely for players to completely drop off at the ages of 30/31, but Druw is an "old" 30/31 when you consider how long he's been in the league.

Did the Braves even consider re-signing him? Was it strictly a salary thing, or did they see him as a declining talent?

Kind of annoying that Ned will pay Loaiza $7 million but will give Hull away for virtually nothing.

1 while I can't wait to see him and I certainly believe he is better than Loaiza or Park right now, I think I'd rather bring him up when our offense is clicking a bit more than it is now. I think he is better off where he is right now. He will have enough pressure on him without feeling like he can't afford to give up a run. Granted, everything I've seen from him leads me to believe nothing will phase him. I'd just prefer put him in the best possible situation.

Check that: it's very annoying. Loaiza is 36 and sucks. Hull is 28 and might suck, but might not. At the very least, he doesn't cost $7 million.

Stupid stupid stupid.

5 7 ya doesn't make sense to me.

There was a time, and it seems like only a week or so ago, when the Dodgers thought they had too many outfielders.

I'm so sick of this line. We had to listen to this garbage all the time last year with the pitchers. Just because you had 7 guys who claim to be starters doesn't mean you have a lot of good starting pitchers. Same with this year, just because you signed a guy who claims to be a good OF doesn't mean you have too many OF's everyone knows we'd be better off with Young as our 4th OF and Pierre off the time. Stop fedding this BS line about thinking we had too many OF, we all wish we only had the right 3 heading into this year.

How much longer will Ned be allowed to carry the check book? Seriously.

Lets pick up Piazza.
Cant he PH or emergency 1B/C? DH in the interleague games? It looks like he still has some skills.

So Eric Hull equals Christian Lara while Scott Proctor equals Wilson Betemit?

Makes sense to me.

10 I'd be surprised if he were much better than Mark Sweeney at this point. Plus giving Sweeney his guaranteed money, then releasing him a week later would be one of those wastes of money you seem to be unhappy with.

Whenever I see a deal like this, my brain's synapses take me to the chapter in Moneyball where Beane is fleecing Steve Phillips and Sabean. Then I wonder what Coletti said.

he's at it again

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3335681

12--Why not release Gary Bennett and sign Piazza?

If Martin is never going to get a rest, then the backup catcher spot really isnt that valuable. I'm sure Piazza could catcher 1 out of ever 30 games in which Martin gets a rest.

Im sure this has been covered but did anyone hear why Kershaw removed after 3 (not all THAT bad) IP last start? Is the thought that he will be limited to 150 or so IP this year so lets save a good chunk of those for LA?

I'd really like Piazza to retire as a Dodger.

16 yes

14

More fun with Rich Harden. Last month I enrolled in a fantasy league that autopicked my players, and I was upset that I got Harden as my first pitcher.

Only thing is, I misread the name. I ended up with Haren instead.

--

Cargill, outside of "Pierre 2-4", your simulated box score was accurate, if only in spirit. Would you be able to run another one for tonight's game?

15 Because then we'd be paying a guy extra money to catch 1 out of 30 games. The backup catcher isn't allowed to pinch hit, ever. I don't like it, but it's how things are.

20

So we have a 24 man roster.

We need to part ways with Loaiza ASAP. First we can start Kuo until his arm falls off again. Then we can call up McDonald. Then if we need to half way through the year, call up the Minotaur to destroy NL hitters will to live.

Minotaur doesn't start games, he gets unleashed.

Andrew made a good point in his post on the other site about Eric Hull.

What was stopping Eric Hull from filling the mop up relief role that Chan Ho Park currently has for the Dodgers?

19 ha, i thought the only thing i'd take credit for is the d'backs winning, and if you add up what park and loaiza did yesterday it's very close to what i projected out of loaiza... i did one on opening day that was fairly accurate.

11 -- The conversation had turned to a hundred other subjects by the time I saw your post yesterday virtually equating Scott Proctor and Eric Hull, so I didn't comment, but this seems like a chance to revisit the issue. In the past I have been Hull's biggest advocate here, saying repeatedly that I wish we'd give him a shot, but I have no illusions that Hull is on anything like the same level as Proctor. In pure scouting terms, the difference is about 7 or 8 MPH on the fastball, and Proctor's two breaking pitches are also respected, while Hull has gotten by, in the minors, on guile. As far as what they have accomplished, Proctor has spent a couple of years as a set-up man for one of MLB's elite teams, while Hull is a 28-year-old AAAA player who has had a cup of coffee in the majors. Of course Proctor is worth more, and even then, what was he worth? An MLB bench player for the every MLB team that has had him.

Jon can feel free to eventually borrow this headline:

"Minotaur makes a-maze-ing major league debut"

22 i completely agree, or who knows maybe schmidt maybe ready in 6 weeks or so. and jason showed last year in the one start against SD, if he can throw 90-92 he can still be effective in this league, if he could do that with a damaged shoulder and some rehab, i believe he can still throw in that velo range with a repiared shoulder and all the rehab.

25 Do you think Hull can be as effective as not 2006 Proctor is? Of course Proctor is worth more since he's proven and what not, but could Hull have the same value with the same chance and a little luck?

23 -- Hull was DFA'd to make room on the 40-man roster for DeWitt, not for Park, who was sent to the minors at the same time Hull was DFA'd

The D-Backs looked very impressive yesterday, but they have a very strikeout-prone lineup. It will be interesting to see how a strikeout pitcher like Billingsly handles them...

29 But that could have easily changed by just not having Angel Chavez make the team.

I'm sticking with prediction of yesterday: Chan Ho in May and then Kershaw in the summer. Torre will want him back up.

32 Chan Ho won't last as a starter. He is done. Loaiza's gonna get a long look and if he fails, Kuo gets a shot.

10 If the LADs don't make the playoffs, NedCo is a goner. Star-struck McCourt will hire the GM of Torre's choosing, if not Torre himself.

So does Eric Hull make the active 25-man Boston roster, or does he go to Pawtucket?

33 I don't have him lasting long, but I think Torre will want Minotaur after that. I'd love to see Kuo get another shot, make no mistake, I'm just trying to read the front office.

35 Pawtuckett for now I'm guessing. They don't have anyone I'd be willing to send down for Eric Hull.

28 -- I don't know that Hull can be effective at all in the majors, let alone as effective as Proctor was in 2006. Once Hull put up good numbers in Vegas (something I respect) my position was: "Let's give Hull a chance to show what he can do in the majors." But we didn't give Hull a real opportunity, so he never even had the chance to improve his value beyond that of a really old Triple A soft-tosser. Giving MLB innings to a washed-up Roberto Hernandez last year instead of to Hull was the REAL outrage. Trading Hull for anything we could get, even if very little, after we had to bounce him off the 40-man roster to make room for DeWitt pales by comparison as something to be upset about.

Tomdricksoiza is probably out the door- Torre didn't even commit to the next time around in the rotation.

I don't want anyone who looks as sad-sack as Loaiza on the team. It's just bad karma. I feel like I've fallen into a vat of goop when he comes on. I don't think he's a loser, he's just got loser written all over him.

31 -- Chavez made the 25-man roster because it was assumed DeWitt would be badly out-classed in the majors from the get-go, and that wasn't a totally outrageous assumption about somebody who appeared to be as far away from being MLB-ready as DeWitt appeared at the end of the 2007 season.

40 He does have the nicest car on the Dodgers according to my friend, so he's gor that going for him.

41 I'd believe that if Chavez didn't get DFAed after three games.

39 If that's the case, then I'm looking forward to watching Kuo make hitters really uncomfortable.

39 don't get the "tomdricks" part of that, torre never had to deal with the horrid nightmares of tomko or hendrickson. but what quotes make you believe he won't even commit to him next start?

42 it's probably the car he was driving 110 on the freeway hammered.

I know that my opinion will be unpopular but I don't think Kuo is as good as most of us think. Aside from being extremely fragile, I have not seen the command that a major league starter needs. He doesn't neccessarily walk a ton of guys but he seems to constantly fall behind in the count, which of course leads to inflated pitch counts. To me he seems like a 5 inning pitcher tops which will tax our bullpen. That said, he's still a better option than Loaiza. I just hope we don't have another Tomdrickson situation in the 5 slot this year (at least until Minotaur is "unleashed").

46 i agree with you that with kuo you'll get 6 IP a start AT BEST, but as far as the ERA goes i'd be surprised if he is higher than 4.50

42 -- Believe it. What changed from before game 1 to after game 3? After game 3, DeWitt looked like the best player on the whole MLB team. Sure, nobody expected DeWitt to keep THAT level of play up, but it was enough to make Chavez look totally unnecessary.

46 It's really a matter of health. He has looked great as a starter, and has looked wild, but he has never had enough starts for us to know. He DOES make hitters uncomfortable though:)

44

just the rotating door of over paid, ineffective #5s we have had to watch over the last few years....

""I didn't have no clue why they were taking me out," said Loaiza, who fell to 0-2 and saw his earned-run average inflate to 6.75.

Torre, on the other hand, wouldn't say if Loaiza would remain his fifth starter.

"I'm not looking to beyond tomorrow right now," Torre said. " -LAT

48 Can I make death threats to the front office for making decisions based on how Dewitt looked after game three then?

""I didn't have no clue why they were taking me out," said Loaiza

I didn't have no clue why they were putting you in.

51 They will surely get lost in the stack of "Juan Pierre for 5 years!?" death threats. They needed to make sure that DeWitt didn't have a complete meltdown. He showed that he could at least be serviceable.

49 I agree that he has some nasty stuff, if he could ever harness command of the strike zone, we'd have a formidable front 5.

53 Would now be a good time to point out the similarites in Andy LaRoche and Blake Dewitt's career numbers in the bigs?

Don't look now, but Joe Crede is off to a hot start in Chicago.

55 In doing that would you be assuming that I think LaRoche was treated fairly last year?

55
You mean Andy "he had his chance and didn't do anything LaRoche? :)

What's the fuss about? Didn't Loaiza throw a rule 9 violation after the Upton infield single? He face 17 batters and of those 17 batters, 3 of the first 4 squared up on him.

After that he was awesome. God forbid that he have some command issues spotting his below average fastball in his 1st start 8 days after the season started.

58 The very same. Would we think Blake Dewitt wasn't over matched if he had started off 1 for 12 and worked his way up to a .238 average?

Loaiza was doing fine last night after he stopped leaving his 84mph fastball up in the zone.

It felt like Torre wanted to see Young pinch hit and Park pitch long relief more than he wanted to see if Loiaza could give him a couple more good innings. It seemed like the best chance for the Dodgers to win would have been to let Loaiza continue pitching.

Torre and his coaches need to make up their minds about what they think each player is capable of doing.

I would prefer starting Kuo over Loaiza and Park.

60 If he looked over matched we might think so. We also would probably have seen Angel Chavez get a look.

62 "Torre and his coaches need to make up their minds about what they think each player is capable of doing."

Considering the stupid-crazy, globe-spanning spring training, I think that's what they're still doing.

And then in game 8, the ace gets to start. Yay!

40 Your comment reminds me of Odalis Perez. I was at the Jose Lima (the anti-Loaiza/Perez/might as well throw in Ismael Valdez) playoff game in 2004. What a game!! I was convinced that we would win the next two to beat the Cardinals in the NLDS and go on to the World Series. I was even interviewed on T.V. news predicting/screaming about this "team of destiny."

Ten minutes after the interview I happened to see next-game starter Odalis Perez driving joylessly out of the parking lot and I knew it was all over.

P.S. Odalis gave up 3 hits and 5 walks in his 2.1 innings the next night.

60
Having watched most of DeWitts ab's he hasn't appeared any more over matched then LaRoche did last season. So if you didn't think LaRoche was overmatched even though he produced a tiny batting average why don't you give DeWitt the same slack?
Kemp and Jones have looked over matched. Not DeWitt. Considering this is the 1st time he's faced this caliber of pitching, I'm impressed.

67 Dewitt's numbers coming into this year suggessted he wouldn't be able to handle big league pitching, LaRoche's suggested he would. I putting most of my faith in that rather than what I've seen out of Blake Dewitt with my own eyes.

I was making the comparison more for the "Andy LaRoche blew his chance" people anyway.

Canuck says it all perfectly above regarding Eric Hull, so I have nothing to add on the subject. Just thought I'd say that. :-)

Boy, people sure are grouchy this week. I hope the Dodgers win today, that usually takes care of (some of) that grouchiness. Temporarily at least.

Schadenfreude Thoughts:

Seattle trades excellent set-up man and excellent defensive outfielder [plus prospects] for starting pitcher. Team then loses multiple games because of poor relief pitching and defense. Starting pitcher misses start. What have the good people of Seattle done to deserve Bavasi?

69 no doubt. this place is a major bummer right now.

68 I don't think any of those people post on this board.

66 I too was at that game, and had a great time. I also knew that St. Louis had the far superior squad, and that Odalis was toast. There are countless anecdotes about Odalis' off the field behavior when he was a Dodger.

My understanding is that Chavez was on the team not only as insurance in case Dewitt imploded but, more importantly, as an extra middle-infielder in case Kent's hamstring couldn't handle full-time duty (to backup up Hu and DeWitt when Kent was day to day). Once Kent proved himself healthy, Chavez went away.

Are people getting down on Blake DeWitt already? Good grief!

I guess the fact that he has struggled against three of the best young pitchers in the game must mean he sucks.

70 but wait, we have the worst GM and orgainization in the history of sports.

snark, snark, snark

72 Yeah, they do, as a LaRoche fan boy I notice these things.

How was Lara named Gulf Coast League RedSox player of the year when his OBP was only .325?

And when are we going to quit making random deals with the RedSox and Giants and their former players? Surely, there are other organizations out there.

69 71 i know we're talking about a team on pace to win 93 games, if they go 4-3 every 7 games i'll be happy.

if you put a gun to my head and i had to pick between andruw for 2 years or torii for 5 in november i'd have taken andruw i maybe starting to re-consider.

74 I don't think that anyone is getting down on DeWitt. Just getting to the bottom of roster decisions.

76 I think we're very fortunate to have both LaRoche and DeWitt. I'm looking forward to LaRoche's season starting.

If thats true, I guess the Tigers are on pace to go 0-162.

I'm still on board with 97 wins this year. The Dodgers have a lot of games to go and a lot of places where improvement is expected.

And when are we going to quit making random deals with the RedSox and Giants and their former players? Surely, there are other organizations out there

Like Tampa Bay, for example.

81 ya they are. in a perfect world we'd love to see martin, kemp, jones, hitting and odds are they all will hit (not so sure what to expect from druw), but fact of the matter is pitching is our strong point, and one of our best pitchers has yet to start a game. Lowe, Penny, Billz, and Kuroda along with our above average bull pen will win us a lot of games.

77
Lara had a .325 OBP last season, but he won organizational player of the year in 2004 when he hit .330/.429/.436 as a 19 year old.

69 I agree. For being 6 games into the season and having a team that started 4-2, this place is abysmal.

When did the Tampa Bay Devil Rays change their name to just Tampa Bay Rays?

Was everyone else aware of this change?!

86
We're 7 games into the season, and we started 4-3.

84 The only things I am worried about are Jones looking terrible at the plate and decent, but not legendary in center field, and Pierre getting starts.

87 Yes, and it's Rod Serling, not Sterling. Everyone knows these things.

88 Oh yeah I forgot about last night. My internet connection was dead and I forgot the world outside my apartment happened.

86 How so?....people are talking baseball. What's so "abysmal"?

I do think a number of people here have a tendency to go hyper-negative after a single loss. It's especially noticeable after Monday's game, which pitted our No. 6 or 7 starter against Arizona's No. 2. It's a downer and sometimes I wish it weren't the case, but I'm not sure what there is to do about it. I think any given loss often brings out fears for an entire season.

90 I could have sworn that I had always seen it spelled "Sterling".

77
You might want to take a look at what the league average OBP was in the Sally League when he won that honor. Then remember he was the best defensive SS in the league.

Ned has used most major league teams when making trades
One deal with Giants(Sweeney)
One deal with the RedSox (Lara)
Two deals with the A's(Ethier, Loiaza)
Two deals with the DevilRays
One Deal with the Brewers(Brady Clark)
Two Deals with KC(Dessens,Valdez)
One Deal with NYY(Proctor)
One Deal with NYM(Seo)
One Deal with Reds(Kozlowski)
One Deal with CWS(LaMura)
One Deal with Cubs(Maddux)
One Deal with Braves(Betemit)
One Deal with Nat's(M Anderson)

I'm sure I'm missing some but Ned does not play favorites.

What is interesting is how many times he has flipped someone he traded for. When it comes to trades, Ned has no problem in moving them again ASAP.

When it comes to trades, Ned has no problem in moving them again ASAP

It's sad that he has to see (junk) with his own eyes before he can recognize it as such.

95 Three with the D-Rays actually (Jackson, Navarro, Guzman).

Lara was the GCL player of the year, not Sally League. He did win best base runner in the Red Sox organization in June 2007 though.

95
I think technically the Loaiza deal was a waiver claim rather than a trade.

92 Just a lot of negativity and perhaps some undue paranoia about everything (Pierre's starts, Jones's struggles, Kemp's at-bats).

Anyone know how to tie a hangman's noose? I'm looking for a wobbly chair too. Thanks in Advance.

what about reynolds 1st inning HR, jeez, anything that flies thay far should have a damn stewardess on it.

100
Don't forget a pocket knif