Abreu/Furcal
Martin
Ethier
Loney
Kemp
DeWitt
Hu/DeJesus/Abreu
Free Agent/Lambo/Pierre/Jones

407 - of course, and that's why I said, "I'd like to see what he has". Maybe he's the next big thing, and maybe he's not. My point was only that after 4 years of college ball, a lot of players are able to make the jump almost instantly (Tulo is another, more recent example)

A) Andruw Jones to CF, Kemp to RF.
B) Pierre to CF, Kemp to RF.
3) Repko/Kemp CF/RF?
4) Delwyn to RF

didn't Loney play a few games in RF a couple years ago?
vr, Xei

My concern for the "plan", whether or not it has been successfully implemented, is whether the current minor leaguers (Lambo, DeJesus, etc.) can support the team when the present players become very expensive in a couple years, like Billz, Martin and Kemp/Loney did a couple years ago.

4 Loney did play a few innings in RF early last season. Until he had an unforgettable collision with the then newly installed Dodger Stadium advertising scoreboard which amazingly did not land him on the DL.

Yikes, I was hoping for a better SLG%

Surprise, the Red Soxs heads the number of suitors interested in him.

I thought there was a provision that disallows Japanese amateurs to bypass the NPB draft?

Only two players, Kazuhito Tadano and Mac Suzuki, have made
their major league debuts without having professional careers in
Japan. But neither case has had as much as impact on Japanese
baseball as that of Tazawa.

Earlier Thursday, Tazawa sent letters to all 12 Central and
Pacific League clubs requesting that they not pick him in the draft.

Japanese baseball commissioner Ryozo Kato said Tazawa's decision
is an option he is allowed to exercise under current rules.

''Mr. Tazawa is not a player in Japanese professional
baseball,'' Kato said. ''This has to be handled transparently under
the rules that are currently in effect. How to tackle this matter in
the future is a future issue.''<<

http://www.japanball.com/news.phtml?id=13013

Another loophole if is your high school doesn't have a baseball team, which disallows you from the NPB draft altogether.

But it has been a looooong time since the Dodgers were more than decent for more than ONE year in a row - it would be nice to have that feeling, ya know? And there really isn't any reason why they can't be fairly consistent contenders. Other than, you know, bad management....

Let's say Martin, Loney, Ethier and Kemp become fixtures for years, and players like a DeWitt and DeJesus or Hu fill in nicely at 2nd and SS or SS and 3rd.

If the next crop of pitchers, Elbert, Kershaw, and McDonald step in and become very good?

If all that were to happen? How good would the next crop need to be? How much would they play?

I would really like the Dodgers to be playing RIGHT NOW, so that I might turn this frown upside down.

Despite Loney's team leading BA (unless Ethier recently took the lead), I'm fairly unimpressed with his year at the plate from a strictly anecdotal/observational standpoint. He's really bringing me back to the post-Sheffield Shawn Green, where it seemed like he hit into at least one double play per game.

So without starting a fierce debate over Loney's overall value or potential, I'm just curious how some of the more advanced statistical measures adjust for a player's tendency to hit into DP's.

http://tinyurl.com/3ur58o

>>Evidently Manny Ramirez found a miracle cure for the sore knee that supposedly hindered him during his final days with the Red Sox.

Not only is Manny mashing for the Dodgers, he's also hustling. It's called, "pending free agency."

A scout who attended Wednesday night's Dodgers-Padres game at Petco Park clocked Ramirez from home to first in 4.48 seconds — a major improvement on his running times with the Red Sox.

"It was the fastest I've ever gotten him," the scout said. "I couldn't believe it."

Equally incredible were the two opposite-field home runs that Ramirez crushed at Petco, an extreme pitcher's park.

"He stayed back on (Shawn) Estes' curveball as good as I've seen a hitter stay on a ball in a long, long time — and he drove it 420 feet," the scout said. "All I could think was, 'Phil Nevin, where are you now?'"<<

(Yikes, another Phil Nevin reference, makes Matt Vasgersian happy.)

http://tinyurl.com/3ur58o

That would totally Bob Beamon the record.

6
In Coors Field, he has only played 3 games. 14 PA, .222/.500/.333 (2 for 9, double, 4 walks, 1 HBP). And that was all the way back in aught four.