In the sample chart, Matt Kemp is batting .000 against all curvevalls thrown by righties.

Ooo ooo

http://tinyurl.com/62olm9

I'm sorry, wait, what were we talking about?

--

So, has Andy "The Rock" LaRoche taken hold of your subconscious yet?

1) Why is Mark Sweeney still on this team?
2) Does acquiring Berroa mean Furcal is further away from returning than is being reported?
3) What the heck is going on with Matt Kemp? Seems like he's made quite a few "bad decisions ™" over the past few weeks.
4) Danny Ardouin?

You need to sit behind home plate for every home game from here on out.

I already have three restraining orders against you.

Oh, the Dodgers will find someone. It sort of seems it's the point where they'd be reluctant to call up LaRoche if he were the last human being on earth. I wouldn't be surprised to see Rex Rundgren or A.J. Ellis or Fritz the Cat recalled instead.

Actually the Dodgers are 5-0 when I attend, so I'll do my best to get back there.

http://tinyurl.com/4lbe9p

35 Murray: You get a love triangle. You know? Fleetwood Mac situation. Well, there was four of them, so more of a love square, but you know, no one gets on.
Jemaine: Okay, I see.
Murray: Mind you, they did make some of their best music back then.
Bret: "Rumours"
Murray: No, that's all true.

http://tinyurl.com/6cocvv

Only Stepen Drew is having anything close to a succesful year. No wonder Furcal looks like the 8th wonder of the world when he's playing.

Basically, he's confirming 1 .

16 - here's my shot at answering those:
1. because Ned wants to torment DT readers
2. since Furcal's return date seems to be TBD, I'd say no.
3. Kemp's game has looked more well rounded to me lately than it has through out his (short) career. He's stopped trying to do the last thing the coaching staff has told him he had to do and is letting the game come to him.
4. would you prefer Garry Bennett?

(sorry to answer the last one with a question, but sometimes it's appropriate)

I was about to invest in ammunition.

DeWitt and Loney will exchange days off.

Should I toss my hat in the ring? I would pull the Pac-10 out of the BCS.

Andy LaRoche packing his bags for San Diego as I blog...

Andy LaRoche packing his bags for San Diego as I blog...

VIVA LAROCHE!

Which leaves Maza and/or Sweeney to be DFA'd. If we DFA sweeney, maybe another club will be willing to give him a shot. That would save us a little bit of money anyhow.

It would seem unlikely you could write in a contractual clause that would go against the CBA (granting another option, etc.).

Would Nomar be a good candidate for "backup infield duty" when he returns? Who else would be good for that? Um, what's his name? Um, er, hmmmm...La something. Something Roche. I can't remember anymore...I haven't seen him in a long time. (Dangerously close to a Rule 7 violation?)

Fixed.

That is really depressing.

85 - I'll take it!

Then Management will actually have to put LaRoche in the game.

Ethier says the right things.
Torre said he thinks the trouble Ethier has had hitting left-handers in recent weeks will go away.

Kuroda a reason not to skip 5th starter?
Hiroki Kuroda said he remains uncertain how his arm will hold up over an entire season pitching every five days.... "It's stressful," Kuroda said of his new schedule. Kuroda said his fear of fading at the end of the season prevented him from delivering every pitch with everything he had until Friday, .... "I'm thinking it's better for me not to think ahead," Kuroda said.

Waaahhh....???

In all seriousness, LaRoche does not appear to have regained his power after his numerous injuries. (Not that "having power" is anywhere close to a litmus test for being a Ned Colletti Dodger). He has been getting on base an awful lot, though, which is more than you can say about the other infielders (other than DeWitt), so he should help quite a bit in that respect.

Which isn't to say the team will start winning all of a sudden, but that's really beside the point.

In all seriousness, isn't that how Mike Sharperson died? Driving from Las Vegas to San Diego after getting called up to the majors? Hopefully they fly 'em in now.

68 Thanks!

The big issue right now is shortstop.

Sit Kent day game after night game.
LaRoche plays 2nd.

He'll get plenty of ABs.

Sit Pierre the other times, and play LaRoche in LF.

I'd leave DeWitt at 3b everyday until his OBP drops below .350.

For the first time since 2005, I don't think theere is a Dodger prospect in the minor leagues that would rank in the top 25 or maybe even the top 50. James McDonald and Scott Elbert would be somewhere in the top 100 but after that, its pretty bare. Sure Meloan is still here and there are some young guys like DeJesus, May, Bell, and Lambo. And there are some pitchers but outside of McDonald and Elbert, I don't see anyone that has the potential of who is now on the big club.

Any dissenters out there?

So who is the best prospect in the Dodger system at this time?

I think I'm going to enjoy the prospects of LaRoche's call-up quietly by myself with the Who playing in the background and a cat purring happily in my lap.

But again, as in recent years, we aren't addressing the problems we have...

We go out and get Jones when we have already decided to go "young" in the outfield, Furcal is probably a lot further away than we are told, yet they get Berroa when Hu is superior defensively...

sometimes, I just don't get what they are thinking, if they are at all...

There should be ample opportunity for LaRoche to get some starts at all 3 positions.

The answer to the question may be Ivan DeJesus.

It's already happened; people just haven't noticed. In his last 17 games DeWitt is batting .224/.318/.293.

Anyone know what the deal is with Chris Withrow?

I got it.

I wasn't gonna say anything until his OPS dropped below .800.

That's out biggest hole. I don't care if my SS hits as long as he can catch, but we may get 20 extra base hits from our left fielder if were lucky. His worth is in scoring runs I get it, but he has scored 14 runs in his last 35 games. Now I know thats Matt Kemp's fault, but that anchor at the top of the order is pulling down the ship.

Uhhhhmmmm, and also- I just googled Mike Sharperson and you are correct. By the way, I had NO IDEA that Sharperson had died. That is awful. Where was I??? I actually saw some old footage the other day with Sharperson being interviewed about Gibson's homer. I had no idea he was gone. Dang.

If DeWitt continues to struggle in a part-time role with LaRoche, they can send him down knowing that they got a nice long look at what he can do and allowed him to play through a slump or two.

The Dodgers are at a point where the farm system can once again become a second priority.

There really isn't a spot on the big club that a high ceiling prospect would not be blocked at, either because the Dodgers have a servicable/high ceiling player already there, or because economics requires a lesser player to take that spot (coughleftfieldcough).

Assuming Hu plays short next year and DeRoche takes care of second/third, the only long term issues will be two of three spots in the starting rotation (Penny and Lowe are likely on their way out).

Plus, if everything works out the way it's suppose to, the Dodgers will be drafting later and later in the rounds.

123 - I wonder how pre-ordained Pierre's playing time really is (when the OF is fully reloaded when Andruw comes back). He got benched at the beginning of the year, got reinserted and got hot, then got the benefit of injuries (first Furcal, then Andruw). He hasn't hit, and the offense has sputtered with him at the top.

Once Furcal is back in the leadoff spot, and Andruw, Kemp, and Ethier are able to play in the OF, is it certain the Pierre remains a starter?

& I'll say it now, if NedCo gets canned I won't feel bad.

The farm system shouldn't be deemphasized though, because in just a few short years the current young ones will get more expensive. So whether we need cheap talent to round out the roster, or trade bait to complete a championship puzzle, the farm system will be a necessary and vital tool for success.

Yeah, a lot of prospects would be blocked right now if we had them. Still, that's no reason not to have prospects. Maybe the prospect turns out to be better than the guy you've got. Maybe the prospect can be traded for what you really need. An 18-year-old prospect entering the system right now will take four or five years to develop, meaning he'll be ready about the time that Kemp/Martin/Ethier/Billingsley/Broxton are hitting free agency. We're going to lose at least some of those guys, I'd imagine.

What the Dodgers can afford to do right now is focus on risky, high ceiling prospects --younger, high risk, high reward type guys. Which is what makes last week's draft seem all the more odd.

At gametime tomorrow night, the Dodger 25-man roster will have 10 players that were drafted after the Padres seletcted Khalid Greene in the first round in 2002.

That includes Loney, Broxton, Young and Martin in 2002, Billingsley, Kemp and LaRoche in 2003, DeWitt and Wade in 2004 and Kershaw in 2006.

The Padres 25-man roster has only 2 players that were originally signed by the club, Paul McNulty is the other one. (Jake Peavy is on the DL) and there is no one on the club that was signed after Greene.

An image of a stocky UConn point guard immediately popped into my head.

141 - I like the idea of focusing more on high risk/high reward guys right now. "Second priority" was probably a bad choice of words. Perhaps it would be better to say, as you suggest (and I agree entirely) to shift the farm strategy.

Consider Tiffee an insurance policy that had a claim made when LaRoche was maybe not yet healthy enough to call up. Apparently he now is.

Clayton, Kershaw, lhp (who won't be a "prospect" much longer)
Chin-Lung Hu, ss
Scott Elbert, lhp
Chris Withrow, rhp
James McDonald, rhp
Jonathan Meloan, rhp
Pedro Baez, 3b

And to that I'd add Ivan DeJesus. I wouldn't yet know to add from this year's crop, though I'd assume Ethan Martin will be on a new list sometime soon.

If Ned doesn't get fired, it will be an example of the McCourts having too much patience with the wrong guys, and not enough with the right ones.

Who knows, the next step could be packaging some of them for a pitcher like Danny Haren or something similar.

And really unlike the Diamondbacks and the Rays, the Dodgers have done without really high picks, only Kershaw was picked in the top 10.

I think the reason for the DFA was that the Dodgers wanted to use the roster spot right away.

And what I saw was a player just flailing away with no plan or idea of what he wanted to do. One at bat I think he was hoping to walk but then did not get a call and swung and missed for strike 3.

Its not like he didn't play at all.