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About Jon
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1) using profanity or any euphemisms for profanity
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5) discussing politics
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When They Were Young
2008-09-12 11:14
by Jon Weisman

Ernest Reyes of Blue Heaven showcased some great Dodger minor league cards from his collection - then passed along a link to the collection itself. Pretty wonderful stuff.

* * *

Andre Ethier is everywhere these days - even The Wall Street Journal, which as Inside the Dodgers notes, profiles his ever-growing interest in food and food blogging. You might say that's a lot of attention for someone who has reviewed three restaurants in three months, but it's a fun read nonetheless.

We still have to be prepared for when New Baby Ethier takes his daddy away from the Dodgers for a couple games or so.

Comments
2008-09-12 11:20:50
1.   Bumsrap
I think it is Wall Street Journal newsworthy if Ethier has been eating something new for the last month or so.
2008-09-12 11:27:02
2.   Bumsrap
Ethier's rise coupled with the ongoing improvement of Loney, Kemp, Martin, DeWitt could allow the team below to be very strong if Pitching is ourstanding.

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

2008-09-12 11:30:19
3.   KG16
d'oh, LAT'd...

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)

2008-09-12 11:35:07
4.   Xeifrank
I wonder who gets the start(s) when baby Ethier arrives?

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

2008-09-12 11:35:11
5.   East Coast Dodger
396 Also LAT'd (for the first time ever!).

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.

2008-09-12 11:39:53
6.   Kevin Lewis
Anyone know Manny's numbers in Colorado?
2008-09-12 11:41:00
7.   LAT
5. There's a first time for everyone. Welcome.
2008-09-12 11:43:34
8.   East Coast Dodger
7 It does sort of feel like a right of passage here....
2008-09-12 11:44:03
9.   cargill06
4 B final answer
2008-09-12 11:44:11
10.   Louis in SF
5
Ultimately that is the real question and what I was also trying to say. Based more on a gut reaction than anything else, I tend to think that the next wave of youngsters will not be as good and will also not mature at the same time. Having watched the A's for a number of years and knowing how much Beane loves the young kids, the crop that is coming up now doesn't seem as strong as in earlier years-that is just the way things go.
Although a different time in baseball, you don't get a Lopes Cey Russell, Garvey every decade.
2008-09-12 11:45:09
11.   cargill06
6 In 36 career PA's .286/.459/.321
2008-09-12 11:46:21
12.   LAT
At the begining of the season, I bet a friend who is a Giants fan $50 that the Giants would lose 90 games. I thought this was the lock of the year. At one point I even offered to go double or nothing on 95 loses (thankfully he declined) but its looking like a terrible bet. They have to lose 9 of 16 for me to win. Who would have thought.
2008-09-12 11:46:51
13.   Gilberto Reyes
0 Great pics of some early 80's Dodgers!

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.

2008-09-12 11:46:54
14.   Kevin Lewis
11

Yikes, I was hoping for a better SLG%

2008-09-12 11:49:14
15.   Gilberto Reyes
14 I would be willing to bet than Manny will improve on those numbers this weekend.
2008-09-12 11:50:28
16.   Flonne
3

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?

2008-09-12 11:50:56
17.   fanerman
0 Andre is a man of exquisite taste.
2008-09-12 11:51:31
18.   Xeifrank
14. Very small sample, no problema.
vr, Xei
2008-09-12 11:52:52
19.   Bob Timmermann
16
>>Players raised in Japan's professional leagues normally need to
become free agents or use the posting system for opportunities to
play in the major leagues. However, Japanese amateurs can sign with
any major league club through free competition without having to
enter the amateur draft on either side of the Pacific Ocean.

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

2008-09-12 11:53:47
20.   Tripon
16 Tazawa is pitching for a corporation team.

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

2008-09-12 11:55:44
21.   East Coast Dodger
10 Don't get me wrong - I agree with Tripon, that we should all enjoy this ride we are on right now - no matter the cost (sorry scareduck!).

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....

2008-09-12 11:55:48
22.   Xeifrank
{Ethier Thoughts}
.. a week ago today, Amdre was a triple away from hitting for the cycle. Amazingly, that was the 4th time this year that he was a triple away from a cycle. He was also one triple away from a cycle once in in 2006 and once in 2007.
{/Ethier Thoughts}
vr, Xei
2008-09-12 11:58:36
23.   ChicagoDodger
While it may be true that the next wave of youngsters may not be as good a crop as the current one, the more important question is does it need to be?

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?

2008-09-12 12:01:11
24.   MollyKnight
Ugh. I'm in a bad mood, the nature of which I can't discuss without violating a rule.

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

2008-09-12 12:02:43
25.   Bob Timmermann
24
Somebody must have jinxed a no-hitter Molly was throwing.
2008-09-12 12:05:42
26.   bhsportsguy
21 What is your definition of decent, if they win the division this year, it will be 3 playoff appearances in 5 years, a feat only surpassed once in LA franchise history (1963-1966) and tied two other times (1974-1978, 1981-1985). And they have only won back-to-back, twice, 1965-66, 1977-78.
2008-09-12 12:07:28
27.   East Coast Dodger
23 The number of "ifs" in your scenario make me think that yes, at least some of the younger youngsters need to become good to supplement the current talent as they age and get more expensive. We lost a few high ceiling players in the trades in Morris, Santana and LaRoche, regardless of one's particular feelings on how likely each was to reach that ceiling. Other than Lambo, and perhaps Withrow, are there any others that have a similar ceiling?
2008-09-12 12:08:12
28.   Jonny6
I admit to being much less knowledgeable about the multitude of available statistics than most of the DT denizens, so I'm wondering if there's a general sabermetric consensus on the value (or negative value) of hitting into double plays.

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.

2008-09-12 12:10:27
29.   Jon Weisman
NPUT
2008-09-12 12:10:44
30.   underdog
Hate to quote Ken Rosenthal, but since we were talking about Manny...

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

2008-09-12 12:11:03
31.   bhsportsguy
28 He went over a month without hitting into one.
2008-09-12 12:11:05
32.   underdog
Curses!
2008-09-12 12:11:08
33.   Bob Timmermann
I'd really like to see a guy have 162 GIDPs in a year.

That would totally Bob Beamon the record.

2008-09-12 12:18:26
34.   Eric Stephen
11
Those are Manny's career numbers against Colorado.

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.

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