Jon's other site:
Screen Jam
TV and more ...
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.
* * *
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
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)
Dodger home record: 50-35 (.588)
When Jon attended: 9-5 (.643)
When Jon didn't: 41-30 (.577)
Dodgers at home: 795-635 (.556)
Jon attended: 302-238 (.559)*
Jon didn't: 498-404 (.552)
* includes road games attended
Current Roster with Estimated 2009 Salaries
(updated November 14)
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)
$10,000,000 Hiroki Kuroda
*$475,000 Chad Billingsley
*$415,000 Clayton Kershaw
*$405,000 Eric Stults
*$400,000 James McDonald
*Total: $11,695,000
Bullpen (7)
*$2,500,000 Takashi Saito
*$1,300,000 Scott Proctor
*$1,500,000 Jonathan Broxton
*$425,000 Hong-Chih Kuo
*$420,000 Cory Wade
*$410,000 Ramon Troncoso
*$400,000 Scott Elbert
Total: $6,955,000
Also on 40-man roster
Mario Alvarez
Yhency Brazoban
Greg Miller
Justin Orenduff
Starting Lineup (8)
$17,100,000 Andruw Jones
*$3,000,000 Russell Martin
*$2,500,000 Andre Ethier
*$600,000 Matt Kemp
*$600,000 James Loney
*$500,000 Angel Berroa
*$410,000 Blake DeWitt
*$400,000 Tony Abreu
Total: $25,110,000
Bench (5)
$10,000,000 Juan Pierre
*$600,000 Jason Repko
*$410,000 Delwyn Young
*$400,000 Danny Ardoin
*$400,000 Chin-Lung Hu
Total: $11,810,000
Note: Team can buy out Ozuna's 2009 option for $200,000
Also on 40-man roster
A.J. Ellis
Lucas May
Xavier Paul
Disabled List
$12,000,000 Jason Schmidt
Also Paying ...
$2,000,000 Brad Penny (buyout of $9,000,000 option)
$50,000 Gary Bennett (buyout of $900,000 option)
Note: Kansas City is responsible for $500,000 buyout of Angel Berroa's $5,500,000 option for 2009.
Working total: *$68,020,000
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
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
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
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.
Andruw Jones is having knee surgery after all, and the Dodgers have recalled Terry Tiffee to take his roster spot. And that's the way the ball bounces ...
* * *
Keith Thursby of the Times shows us the sports section from 50 years ago, when the threat of the Dodgers moving away from Los Angeles was used to encourage city voters to approve the plan to develop a baseball stadium at Chavez Ravine.
By Frank Finch
Times Staff Representative
President Warren Giles of the National League, who warned the city of Los Angeles yesterday that he will recommend that the league take steps to move the Dodgers to another city unless the June 3 referendum is passed, said today that there would be no difficulty in finding another home for the team.
Giles did not mention any city specifically but it is common knowledge that such cities as Minneapolis, Toronto and Houston definitely are interested in becoming big league - just like Los Angeles did when the City Council, by a 10-4 vote last October, approved the Chavez Ravine contract with the Dodgers. ...
* * *
By Paul Zimmerman
Times Sports Editor
So you think President Warren Giles of the National League is bluffing when he says he will consider reallocation of the Dodgers if the Chavez Ravine vote fails?
Well, have a look at the Minneapolis-St. Paul picture for a minute. ... This is an area comparable to Milwaukee where the Braves have been such a huge success. There are no competing events like horse racing. The metropolitan population is sufficient. The pull from outlying communities is similar to that in Wisconsin. ...
* * *
http://tinyurl.com/6pvtys
>>Perhaps that changeup quota was responsible for what from afar might have seemed like some mild control problems last year. Kershaw walked 50 batters with Great Lakes and another 17 in Jacksonville, an average of 4.9 per nine innings. But scouts believe that Kershaw will have above-average command, and his walks—15 in 43 1/3 innings, or 3.1 per nine—are already down from last year, even though Kershaw was the second-youngest pitcher in Double-A.
Kershaw has bought into the Dodgers developmental plan for him, knowing that even if throwing his changeup more frequently results in a few more walks to minor leaguers, that doing so will have positive long-term ramifications when he faces major league hitters.
"You can't be a two-pitch pitcher and be a starter," Kershaw said. "So we started working on that immediately as soon as I got drafted. I started to throw the changeup, and it started to get better. It wasn't very good in the Gulf Coast (League), and then last year it got a little bit better. This year they really kind of almost forced me to throw it in games, telling me to start some hitters off with it, get behind in the count, start throwing it a little bit. When they force you to do that stuff, it will definitely make you work on it. It's there, just sometimes my confidence isn't there with it, but it's definitely a good pitch to have when I've got good confidence in it."<<
Awesome.
I wonder how long they have saved that article so they can release it when he got the call up.
Really nice article.
http://ballhype.com/video/kershaw_s_curve_3_9_08/
14 - Though I never had the rights to that clip, it bugs me that another site is getting all the hits for it.
I imagine the Burma cyclone is big news there, too, yes?
its around 30-35 I think.
Its news...Although I haven't been paying much attention to it.
You're too big to get away with fun stuff, but not big enough to quit your job, hire a staff to run the blog, and move to a permanent vacation in the south of France.
I (we) hope it also helps his psyche...
I can't stop laughing.
The organization's misutilization of LaRoche is baffling.
of course he's hitting the corners with 96MPH heat.
If Laroche isn't going to get the majority of ABs while up here, isn't it better to have him play all the time in AAA?
Nomar was placed on the DL on April 26, so the earliest he could come off is June 25.
we gotta hope the Ump stays consistent.
Yeah, but LaRoche is better than Tiffee so I'd rather have his bat than Tiffee.
Pedro Martinez:Delino DeShields::Clayton Kershaw:????
I'm kidding, right?
I guess some guys are only able to be throwers
So does this bad stretch for Penny completely invalidate anything he's done over the last few years? I don't get it.
You have four rotating lineups (the relative ratios of the lineups can be tweaked a bit) where 1B, 2B, and 3B are shared between Loney, Kent, DeWitt, and LaRoche like this:
Loney 1B, Kent 2B, DeWitt 3B, LaRoche BN (3/12 days)
Loney 1B, Kent 2B, LaRoche 3B, DeWitt BN (3/12 days)
Loney 1B, DeWitt 2B, LaRoche 3B, Kent BN (4/12 days)
Kent 1B, DeWitt 2B, LaRoche 3B, Loney BN (2/12 days)
That gives Loney 10, DeWitt 9, LaRoche 9 and Kent 8 starts every 12 games. Maybe that's more rest than we'd like to see Loney get, but it's not excessive. Kent could use the rest given his age. Andy and Blake both get to start 75% of the time, which seems (to me) like enough. (Add in PH/DH appearances, as whoever's on the bench will be the top hitter on the bench, and there's even more PT.)
The only question about this would be whether DeWitt can handle 2B, but seeing as Kent's not the most mobile guy anymore and he's our regular starter, the defense probably doesn't get worse.
Oh, and the lefty/righty platoons work out nicely (3B: LaRoche R, DeWitt L; 2B Kent R, DeWitt L; 1B Loney L, Kent R) so we could even stack the lineup in our favor depending on the opposing starter.
Does anybody see anything NOT to like about an idea like this?
I hope Kent never starts over James Loney for the rest of his life.
I'd also like to pry Norichika Aoki loose from the Tokyo Yakult Swallows and then adjust the order after sticking Pierre on the bench [or on the bus out of town].
If lose they must, at least stop losing this way. It makes a fan feel like he's wasting his life.
I hope as underdog suggested, although this reflects wholy on me, and not him, that the Dodgers get some good draft picks when it comes to contract time for Lowe and Penny.
And I think the rap on Penny was that he was going to throw a lot more home runs, not that he would lose his command.
1) Penny and Lowe both in a funk.
2) Kent not really hitting but still batting fourth.
3) Andruw Jones up to his late injury was batting high in the order for the most part and being treated like a productive player when he really wasn't.
4) Fifth starter a constant question.
5) Almost no power.